Fregrance of God

Incense

This passage is all about us being the fragrance of Christ to God. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (2 Co 2:15–16). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. But how did incense work before we had the New Testament? 34 The LORD said to Moses, “Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part), 35 and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ex 30:34–35). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Stacte-Plant

Onycha-Animal

Galbanum-Plant

Frankincense-Plants

This incense was mixed together and seasoned with salt. Can you tell me of a New Testament passage concerning salt? Matthew 5:13-16 Jesus tells us that we are the salt of the Earth. “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (Mt 5:13). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers. How then can this saltiness relate to God being pleased with the aroma from incense? It pleases God when we are the essence of goodness and truth, but it also displeases God when this is not done in a proper way; the way He has instructed us. 10 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Le 10:1–2). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ ” And Aaron held his peace.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Le 10:3). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. In other words we can use bad intentions and corrupt what can be pleasing to God. When we come to the altar and we do not come as forgiven and clean children of God. The aroma of Christ that we take on when we are made righteous through the Grace of God, which accompanies repentance, is evident in the Revelation 5:8 scripture. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Re 5:8). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. When we do what He asks from us we can become a pleasing fragrance.

God began to detest the smell of the fragrance emitted by his people because they began to not follow the steps that were necessary for a pleasing aroma. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Heb 4:16). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.