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3/3 Reading Portions: Exodus 14; Luke 17; Job 32; 2 Corinthians 2
2 Corinthians 2:14
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.
AROMA
Every sense of man was created to worship God in Christ. Since the fall, however, those truth behind the senses, their root as it were, can only be realized in the unseen spiritual realm until Christ returns. The Lord has given His people foreshadows of those senses, since the fall. We’ll concentrate on the aroma (1 Cor 2:15), as time prevents our meditation on the other human senses: sight, sound, taste, and touch. The sense of smell, in its gospel foreshadow, has been experienced by God’s people in the animal sacrifices offered by fire (Ex 29:18); and although it does not mention its aroma per se, the incense offered upon the tabernacle’s golden altar is “sweet” (Lev 16:12). The anointing oil for the priesthood (Psa 133:1-2) is fragrantly expressed for us in vivid gospel truth when the Lord Jesus was anointed prior to His crucifixion and burial by the woman with precious ointment (Mark 14:3-9). On the other side of it, the smell of death is prophetically uttered by Martha at the tomb of Lazarus when she says,
“Lord, by this time he stinketh.” John 11:39, KJV
Paul presents two spiritual effects of the gospel, depending upon a man’s condition, whether saved or perishing (2 Cor 2:15). The gospel is a fragrant aroma of death to the unsaved, but to the saved, an aroma of life (2 Cor 2:16). Though we do not smell it with our physical nose, the soul “smells” it. We smell of Christ and His gospel of both death and life, in that order. The smell of death is the cross. The smell of life is Christ’s resurrection. The unsaved must smell the fragrance of Christ’s death before the aroma of renewed life can flare the spiritual nostrils.
The gospel is illustrated everywhere, especially as springtime approaches. The fragrance of fields and flowers comes to our senses as the cold death of winter gives way to the warm life of spring. When you stop to smell the roses this year, may the Lord Jesus be exalted in the pleasing smell of His gospel fragrance. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
