3 Another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer. Much incense was given to him, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.
that He might add to the prayers of the saints – as on the Day of Pentecost, before the former rain of the holy spirit could be poured out, the prayers of the saints ascended to God.
The Angel that intercedes for the saints is always Christ, the Angel who appears in different forms throughout the Book of Revelation.
By the beginning of the twentieth Century, the saints were earnestly praying for the gift of the Holy Spirit, the promise of the former rain. In 1896, more than one hundred prayed earnestly at the Shearer Schoolhouse Revival, where Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians joined together to form the “Christian Union.” After much prayer, “a number were speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (.A.J. Tomlinson, The Last Great Conflict) And on the last day of the year 1900, Charles Parham asked the students of his Bible College to pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit. The next day, hands were laid on Agnes Ozman, and she began to speak in other languages. The other students said that a halo surrounded her face and head, and she began to speak in Chinese. For the next three days, she was only able to write in Chinese characters.
By 1906, the Pentecostal experience had reached the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles, where 13,000 spoke in tongues. In 1907, Bernt Berntsen received this experience at Azusa Street, and organized the Apostolic Faith Mission. This Mission sailed to China in 1908, where Bernt Berntsen met Zhang Lingsheng and Paul Wei.
In 1917, Paul Wei prayed and fasted for 39 days, and he received the promised Holy Spirit.