Revelation 5:8
Worthy Is the Lamb
8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
how did the elders get these prayers and why are they the ones presenting them to Christ?
Why is incense used which corresponds to the Catholic practice of incense symbolizing prayers to God?
Revelation 8:3
Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.
Same questions here.
Also why is there an altar in heaven?
Hebrews 12:22-24
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Why or How do we come to these heavenly people?