God Speaking

“Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”

(John 12:3)

One of the members of our Home Group was celebrating her 80th birthday this week and she was describing to us the fun filled weekend she had with her church group at the Sunday service and then later with her family. She had been given beautiful bouquets of flowers from her congregation and then later her family had also brought lovely flower arrangements for her. She told us that her apartment was filled to overflowing with these lovely presents and said to us, “My whole apartment was drenched in fragrance!”

Strangely enough our study that morning was also drenched in fragrance. Certainly a little different from what our friend was describing, but as we started to read the words in our study in Exodus, we began to realise that in all the detailed instructions on how the various sacred parts of the Tabernacle were to be constructed and how the priests were to be made ready to serve the lord, were all bathed in beautiful aromas of perfume and incense.

“Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil.” (Exodus 30: 25)

As the craftsmen worked and the priests obeyed the commands and instructions laid out by God, it would have been impossible not to have some of the beautiful fragrances cling to those exposed to them. We began to realise that there was definitely a purpose to this. We in our group started to exchange thoughts about aromas and many of us associated aromas with lovely thoughts and some of us were always stirred by a certain smell to think of a person, for some a grandmother when fresh bread was coming out of the oven.

God was making sure by his use of fragrance, that it would be a constant reminder of his presence when his children came to worship him,

“…Take fragrant spices-gum resin, onycha and galbanum – and pure frankincense, all in equal amounts and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer. It is to be salted and pure and sacred. Grind some of it to a powder and place it in front of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you.” (Exodus 30: 34- 36)

When God used perfume to place permanent reminders of who he was to his chosen people, he was drawing on one of our powerful senses and for us who know the Lord Jesus Christ it takes on a whole new and powerful meaning. When we choose to follow the Lord his fragrance will envelope us and as we mix with others, they too will want to know the source of the aroma that sweetens all our behaviours.

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” (2 Corinthians 2: 14 – 15)

I read a powerful quote about this theme;

When God’s people praise him, their praises rise to him as a beautiful aroma that blots out the stench of evil.