Catholics and Orthodox still incorporate incense in our liturgical worship.
I just did a Bible word-search for
incense using BibleGateway.com. Many pages of individual verses, from Exodus to Revelation.
God commanded that an ornate altar of burning incense be placed in the "Holy of Holies," before the Ark of the Covenant, in the Tabernacle room of the Sanctuary.
Exodus 30:1-8 wrote:
The Altar of Incense
30 “Make an altar of acacia wood for burning incense. 2 It is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high—its horns of one piece with it. 3 Overlay the top and all the sides and the horns with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it. 4 Make two gold rings for the altar below the molding—two on each of the opposite sides—to hold the poles used to carry it. 5 Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6 Put the altar in front of the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law—before the atonement cover that is over the tablets of the covenant law—where I will meet with you.
7 “Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. 8 He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come.
The priest Zechariah was serving at this altar when Gabriel appeared to him, telling that his son (John the Baptist) would become the prophet of the Messiah.
Luke 1:8-11 wrote:
8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
A large part of "Revelation" is devoted to the vision of what is happening before the eyes of Heaven as we perform our worship of the Divine Liturgy on Earth. We finally see, revealed in Scripture, why God commanded incense in our worship, so long ago.
Incense is the incarnation of our prayers.
Revelation 5:8 wrote:
8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.
Revelation 8:3-4 wrote:
3 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand.
Is this the biblical reason for those fog machines?