Hebrews 5:14 - "But solid food is for the mature, who
because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil."
We come finally to the sense of smell and how it pertains to our relationship with Christ. This verse from Hebrews five tells us that we need to have our senses trained to discern good and evil. It doesn't pull out one sense to the exclusion of the rest and it doesn't give us a list of which senses we need to train, so I assume that every one of them is used in one way or another when it comes to our relationship with God. So how does the Bible speak about our sense of smell in relation to God, or does it?
The Old Testament in particular gives us quite a few different occasions that speak about a pleasing fragrance or a sweet smelling aroma, or savor. Throughout the books of Exodus and Leviticus we read of special oils that were to be mixed with which the priests were to be anointed, and sacrifices that were made as a sweet smelling aroma to God. In the Song of Solomon we read of all sorts of different smells that permeated the relationship of the bride with the bridegroom. The Bible is full of smells.
And, of course, all of these Old Testament types and pictures present to us New Testament truths. The bridegroom and the bride in the Song of Solomon are a picture of Christ and the church. The sacrifices all throughout the Bible picture and explain in one way or another the all encompassing sacrifice of Christ Himself. For instance, the book of Leviticus begins with 5 offerings. Each one of these offerings shows us a different aspect of Christs offering of Himself. The first one is the burnt offering and it is talked about in Leviticus chapter 1. The burnt offering was an offering that belonged completely to God. With some of the offerings the priests kept a portion, and with others the one who brought it kept a portion, but the burnt offering was wholly Gods. In Hebrews 9:14 we read - "how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" And not only in His death, but Jesus' life was also completely given to God. In both His life and His death we see the burnt offering pictured in Christ. And it's the same with all the other offerings as well, but for right now I'm just going to stick with the burnt offering. We read in Leviticus chapter 1 and verse 17 that the burnt offering is offered up in fire as a "soothing aroma to the Lord." In Ephesians 5:1-2 it says - "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma." Just like the sacrifices and offerings, Christ was a fragrant aroma to the God the Father.
God likes fragrances. In Exodus chapter 30 He speaks for 12 verses straight about the specifications, ingredients, mixing, use, and prohibitions concerning the anointing oil. When we looked at all the other senses we saw how we used them in our relationship with God, but so far with this one we've only seen that God seems to like soothing aromas. This doesn't speak to our sense of smell. Does the Bible speak to our sense of smell at all? Not very much, but we do have an interesting passage in 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 which says this - "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?" It says here that we are the aroma of Christ, both to those who are being saved and to those who are perishing.
Consider the anointing oil and the sacrifices in the Old Testament. They were sweet smelling savors to God, but He isn't the only one who smelled it. Anyone who entered the tabernacle would have immediately been overtaken by the powerful fragrance of the oil that had been used to anoint all the furniture. Anyone who came in contact with the priest would have immediately smelled the fragrance of the oil on him. Anyone present at a sacrifice wouldn't have been able to escape the smell of what was being offered as a sweet smelling aroma to God. So while they were primarily for a sweet smelling savor to God, those nearby would smell the fragrance as well.
And that's what these verses in 2 Corinthians 2 are saying about us. We are the fragrance of Christ to God, but we give off the fragrance to those we come in contact with as well. It's interesting, we see here that we can't create the aroma, we're simply channels through which God pours it. God is the source. He pours out the aroma of Christ through us and back to Himself. And in that process all humanity has the opportunity to smell the fragrance of Christ. To those who are being saved it is the aroma of life, a sweet smelling savor. When we come in contact with someone, a brother or sister who is walking closely with the Lord they just give off a wonderful savor, they emanate the fragrance of Christ, and they're a joy to be around because they give of the scent of life, true life. Not the superficial life that is passing away, but the abundant life that Christ talked about. And you can just smell the sweet aroma of the life of Christ. However, to those who are perishing, we give off the same scent, the aroma of Christ, but in their nostrils it's a putrid stench. The aroma of death. They don't have true life, and the sight of it disgusts them. They don't like Christ, and when we give off the aroma of Christ they don't like us either. In John 12, shortly before the Lord went to the cross, we read this in verse 3 - "Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume." Mary poured out the oil on Christ, and all who were in the house smelled the fragrance of Christ, a wonderful costly fragrance. But look at the next 3 verses - " But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it." The fragrance that filled the house which was coming off of Jesus through Mary was a wonderful one, and yet Judas saw it as a waste. We read here that Judas was already intending to betray Jesus, and he was a deceitful thief. He wasn't pursuing true life so when the aroma filled the house, and all who were in the house were affected by the fragrance, Judas didn't say "What a wonderful smell, Christ is so worthy of it." He said "Why wasn't it sold?" He was focused on the perishable rather than the eternal, so the fragrance of Christ to him was not a good one.
We have the amazing privilege of being the aroma of Christ to God and to the world. We can taste and see that the Lord is good, we can hear the voice of Christ and follow Him, we can fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, we can reach out and touch Him for our healing and none of these things depend on us. But God has chosen in His perfect will to use us to share His fragrance with the world. He didn't have to use us in this way, He didn't have to manifest through us the sweet aroma of the fragrance of Christ to God and to mankind, but in His grace He did. Let us not take this lightly. When others come into contact with us, do they sense the fragrance of Christ, or are we giving off the fragrance of the world? Do we hope in the same things they do? Do we pursue and follow after and spend our time the same way they do? If we are just like the world then we are going to give off the stench of the world. But if we allow Him to live His life through us, a life focused on things above not on things on the earth, a life that looks at the invisible things, hears His voice and tastes His goodness day by day and moment by moment, then our lives will give off the fragrance of Christ to God in worship, and the fragrance of Christ to the world around us.
2 Corinthians 2:14-15 - "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing."
We come finally to the sense of smell and how it pertains to our relationship with Christ. This verse from Hebrews five tells us that we need to have our senses trained to discern good and evil. It doesn't pull out one sense to the exclusion of the rest and it doesn't give us a list of which senses we need to train, so I assume that every one of them is used in one way or another when it comes to our relationship with God. So how does the Bible speak about our sense of smell in relation to God, or does it?
The Old Testament in particular gives us quite a few different occasions that speak about a pleasing fragrance or a sweet smelling aroma, or savor. Throughout the books of Exodus and Leviticus we read of special oils that were to be mixed with which the priests were to be anointed, and sacrifices that were made as a sweet smelling aroma to God. In the Song of Solomon we read of all sorts of different smells that permeated the relationship of the bride with the bridegroom. The Bible is full of smells.
And, of course, all of these Old Testament types and pictures present to us New Testament truths. The bridegroom and the bride in the Song of Solomon are a picture of Christ and the church. The sacrifices all throughout the Bible picture and explain in one way or another the all encompassing sacrifice of Christ Himself. For instance, the book of Leviticus begins with 5 offerings. Each one of these offerings shows us a different aspect of Christs offering of Himself. The first one is the burnt offering and it is talked about in Leviticus chapter 1. The burnt offering was an offering that belonged completely to God. With some of the offerings the priests kept a portion, and with others the one who brought it kept a portion, but the burnt offering was wholly Gods. In Hebrews 9:14 we read - "how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" And not only in His death, but Jesus' life was also completely given to God. In both His life and His death we see the burnt offering pictured in Christ. And it's the same with all the other offerings as well, but for right now I'm just going to stick with the burnt offering. We read in Leviticus chapter 1 and verse 17 that the burnt offering is offered up in fire as a "soothing aroma to the Lord." In Ephesians 5:1-2 it says - "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma." Just like the sacrifices and offerings, Christ was a fragrant aroma to the God the Father.
God likes fragrances. In Exodus chapter 30 He speaks for 12 verses straight about the specifications, ingredients, mixing, use, and prohibitions concerning the anointing oil. When we looked at all the other senses we saw how we used them in our relationship with God, but so far with this one we've only seen that God seems to like soothing aromas. This doesn't speak to our sense of smell. Does the Bible speak to our sense of smell at all? Not very much, but we do have an interesting passage in 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 which says this - "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?" It says here that we are the aroma of Christ, both to those who are being saved and to those who are perishing.
Consider the anointing oil and the sacrifices in the Old Testament. They were sweet smelling savors to God, but He isn't the only one who smelled it. Anyone who entered the tabernacle would have immediately been overtaken by the powerful fragrance of the oil that had been used to anoint all the furniture. Anyone who came in contact with the priest would have immediately smelled the fragrance of the oil on him. Anyone present at a sacrifice wouldn't have been able to escape the smell of what was being offered as a sweet smelling aroma to God. So while they were primarily for a sweet smelling savor to God, those nearby would smell the fragrance as well.
And that's what these verses in 2 Corinthians 2 are saying about us. We are the fragrance of Christ to God, but we give off the fragrance to those we come in contact with as well. It's interesting, we see here that we can't create the aroma, we're simply channels through which God pours it. God is the source. He pours out the aroma of Christ through us and back to Himself. And in that process all humanity has the opportunity to smell the fragrance of Christ. To those who are being saved it is the aroma of life, a sweet smelling savor. When we come in contact with someone, a brother or sister who is walking closely with the Lord they just give off a wonderful savor, they emanate the fragrance of Christ, and they're a joy to be around because they give of the scent of life, true life. Not the superficial life that is passing away, but the abundant life that Christ talked about. And you can just smell the sweet aroma of the life of Christ. However, to those who are perishing, we give off the same scent, the aroma of Christ, but in their nostrils it's a putrid stench. The aroma of death. They don't have true life, and the sight of it disgusts them. They don't like Christ, and when we give off the aroma of Christ they don't like us either. In John 12, shortly before the Lord went to the cross, we read this in verse 3 - "Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume." Mary poured out the oil on Christ, and all who were in the house smelled the fragrance of Christ, a wonderful costly fragrance. But look at the next 3 verses - " But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it." The fragrance that filled the house which was coming off of Jesus through Mary was a wonderful one, and yet Judas saw it as a waste. We read here that Judas was already intending to betray Jesus, and he was a deceitful thief. He wasn't pursuing true life so when the aroma filled the house, and all who were in the house were affected by the fragrance, Judas didn't say "What a wonderful smell, Christ is so worthy of it." He said "Why wasn't it sold?" He was focused on the perishable rather than the eternal, so the fragrance of Christ to him was not a good one.
We have the amazing privilege of being the aroma of Christ to God and to the world. We can taste and see that the Lord is good, we can hear the voice of Christ and follow Him, we can fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, we can reach out and touch Him for our healing and none of these things depend on us. But God has chosen in His perfect will to use us to share His fragrance with the world. He didn't have to use us in this way, He didn't have to manifest through us the sweet aroma of the fragrance of Christ to God and to mankind, but in His grace He did. Let us not take this lightly. When others come into contact with us, do they sense the fragrance of Christ, or are we giving off the fragrance of the world? Do we hope in the same things they do? Do we pursue and follow after and spend our time the same way they do? If we are just like the world then we are going to give off the stench of the world. But if we allow Him to live His life through us, a life focused on things above not on things on the earth, a life that looks at the invisible things, hears His voice and tastes His goodness day by day and moment by moment, then our lives will give off the fragrance of Christ to God in worship, and the fragrance of Christ to the world around us.
2 Corinthians 2:14-15 - "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing."
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