Issue 1469 – Pleasing Aroma – June 8, 2024
I was recently thinking about the impact of smells as I was reading about sacrifices in the Old Testament.
I remember walking into one of those soap and body wash stores. The variety of available fragrances was overwhelming. The chain carries a particular body wash fragrance that does not react strongly against my personal body chemistry. Some scents combined with my body can be … well … unpleasant. Odiferous comes to mind. Others may prefer rank. Pungent might be polite. In short, some perfumes stink if I wear them.
The pleasant staff member asked if she could help. She was young and fashionably styled, the epitome of upscale urban chic. I was wearing cowboy garb, denim, boots, and a bandana. I had already picked up the product I came for I came for, but out of curiosity, I asked where the men’s items were. She directed me to the appropriate area of the store.
It was filled with various floral and spice combinations that I couldn’t distinguish by name from the ladies’ fragrances. I come from an era when men’s fragrances carried masculine names, such as Stetson, English Leather, Old Spice, and the like.
The staff member showed me many items that could have been appealing, but their names threw me off.
I confess I showed my decided lack of urban cool when I asked her, “I mean, the true men’s scents?” When she asked what I meant, I replied, “Things like sawdust, WD-40, freshly mown grass, old leather, campfire coffee, a nice pipe tobacco, or beef stew.”
The poor young lady was horrified and said, “We don’t carry things that would smell like “that” sir.” She relaxed when I told her that I was teasing her. I thanked her, smelt some of the fragrances, and we rang up my purchase: several bottles of a Japanese cherry blossom body wash.
My joking with the poor sales girl aside, there is no doubt that smell is an important sense. It is frequently alluded to in the Bible. The words fragrance and aroma occur more than 60 times in the bible, not counting terms like perfume, scent, odour and the like.
Our Lord is a non-physical being, so he doesn’t have a nose (except for the incarnate Jesus). The Bible uses fragrance or aroma more to help us understand and relate to Him. The Scriptures speak of the stench of death and the pleasing aroma of the prayers of the saints.
In Numbers 15, the Scriptures speak of a number of offerings made to the Lord whose smell was pleasing to the Lord. A specific incense was burned in the Tabernacle and temple to remind the people of the presence of the Lord when they smelled it. It was forbidden for anyone else to duplicate the recipe.
Did you know that you smell like Jesus to God?
But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. 2 Corinthians 2:14-17
I must confess that I never stopped to think about what Christ smelled like. He was anointed of God, fully obedient and perfect in all of His ways. He was beloved of God.
The smell of Christ is likely an anthropomorphic metaphor to help us relate to how the Father sees the Son. It captures the atmosphere of perfect love, peace, joy, hope and more.
I can hardly wait to find out for myself one day.
Until next time, may you be the fragrance of Christ in a lost world filled with the stench of death.
Be blessed
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
Never let the enemy tell you that you are worthless or insignificant. Your value in God’s eyes is so great that it was worth dying for. You are a blessing to the world. You are so precious to God that his plan for heaven will not be complete without you.
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the English Standard Version (ESV)