What Does Your Worship Smell Like to God?

Exodus 30:34-38 (KJV)

 ³⁴And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight:   ³⁵And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy:  ³⁶And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy.  ³⁷And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the LORD.
 ³⁸Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people.

Amos 5:21  (KJV)

 ²¹I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.

God has given us the sense of smell so that we may better enjoy life and be able to identify unsafe conditions.  Smells are among the most powerful forces in human experience.  Smells are so powerful that they can leave a lasting impression in the mind that arises with the thought of that familiar situation occurs.   Think about these two illustrations. Suppose for your whole life you’ve dreamed of a vacation to visit a tropical island.  After planning and saving for years, you’ve arrived in the long awaited place of your dreams.  Flowers are blooming.  The sky is a deep blue.  The sun is brilliant.  The sights are more than you could have ever imagined.  The breeze is gentle, warm, and relaxing.  The ocean has a hypnotic color and sound.   But the first night there, as the breeze drifts into your beachfront condo your room is penetrated with an awful scent of sewage. You go outside and the smell of sewage takes your breath away.   You go to eat, the smell of sewage overwhelms the smell of your food. How long will you stay?  Will you ever forget that odor?  Can you ever disassociate the odor from the tropical paradise? Does the odor destroy your dream?

 Next imagine necessity forces you to have to take a much disliked trip.  Everything goes wrong.  You get stuck in a strange, dreary, airport for many hours.  When the flight finally leaves the plane flies through horrible weather.  Your rental car breaks down on a lonely, deserted road in the middle of nowhere.  Your cell phone has no reception.  You think you are traveling this road along because no one comes by for minutes.  You decide to walk for help.  A mile from the car a sudden, intense storm soaks you with a cold rain.  You decide to go back to the car.  When you turn around you see a truck speeding away from the car only to find they took all of your possessions. The rain finally stops and you take off to walk for help once again.  Miles from the car, you approach a house and smell the most wonderful food aromas you’ve ever smelled in your life. The people invite you in, feed you, and give you the much help that you needed.  Will you ever forget the aroma?  Will you always remember how wonderful the food was?  Will that aroma always remind you of one of life’s greatest moments?  

God himself even has a sense of smell.  2^nd Corinthians 2:14-16 says, “But thanks be to god who always lead us in triumph in Christ, and manifest 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.”  Smell played a very critical role in the Old Testament.  Before Israel existed, God “smelled” the smoke of animal sacrifices as an odor of sweet smell. Noah’s ark was a beautiful type of Christ.  The universal death sentence that was given by God in Genesis 6:7 which reads, “And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowl of the air , for it repenteth me that I have made them.”  this death sentence could not be reversed, but God’s grace provided a way to rise above it.  Not one perished in the Ark.  It mattered not how heavy the storms, how furious the winds, nor how deep the waters; the Ark rose triumphantly above it all.  Like Christ it provided absolute safety for all who were within, but it could help no one who was on the outside.  One of the first things Noah did when he left the ark was to offer many animal sacrifices to God (Genesis 8:20,21). 

 The smoke and aroma of those burning sacrifices was “smelled” by God as a “soothing aroma.”  After Israel existed, incense played a key, important role in Jewish worship.  There was an alter of incense used to burn incense in the tabernacle and later the temple (Exodus 30).   The Day of Atonement was the only day of the year in which the high priest (and he alone) could enter the Holy of Holies.  The high priest could not enter the tabernacle without a sacrifice of blood to offer for himself, and the errors of the people.  The first  piece of furniture in the tabernacle was the Brazen Laver. The brass for the laver was obtained from “the looking glasses of the women (Exodus 38:8).”  In James 1:22-25 God’s word is likened unto a mirror.   The water in the Laver typifies the Word of God, by which we all are judged.  The brazen laver is the place of sanctification.  Upon entering the tabernacle, the high priest had to wash his flesh with water.  When the priest approached the brazen laver, he saw his reflection in the water and a second reflection in the basin.  It is here that God showed the priest a true reflection of himself.  The high priest proceeded with utmost caution, “that he die not.” 

Next was the Brazen Alter. The Brazen Alter was three cubits high, which represented the Godhead.   This Alter was the one place where all sacrifices were to be offered.  The Alter is an obvious piece that represents Calvary.  God said in Leviticus 17:3-9 if anyone offers a sacrifice, “and bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer and offering unto the Lord...; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people.” 

When God gave Moses instructions for the building of the tabernacle, He also gave him very specific instructions for the garments that were to be worn by the priest.  Each priestly garment harmonized with the material and colors that God instructed Moses to use in the Holy place in the East Gate.  The priest was clothed in an ephod (a short smock) of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and of fine twined linen, a girdle, a breastplate, robe, linen coat, linen mitre (turban), and the plate of gold. 

On that day, the most holy place had to be filled with smoke.   If the most holy place was not filled with smoke and the aroma of incense before the high priest entered, he died (Leviticus 16:13).  Some “smell” had to mask the stench of sin when God’s people approached Him.  Throughout the Old Testament, smells and aromas were an extremely important part of worship.  To honor God, one had to approach Him with sweet, soothing aromas. The bible on many accounts records that the natural stench of evil is the smell of death.  A stench is a very strong and unpleasant smell. 

After the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, those who trust Christ and have accepted Him as Lord and Savior are the soothing, sweet smelling aroma that God “smells.”  To all who accept Christ’s liberation and salvation, the incense is the aroma of freedom from sin and death.  The smell is the sweet smell of holiness and purity.   But to all that hate holiness, and purity, Christ, and God the incense is the aroma of certain death.  

God was so very specific in every detail he gave Moses of the construction and placement of furniture in the tabernacle.  He was also detailed in how the priest were to wash, clothe themselves, offer sacrifices, and be anointed.   That lets me know how important it is that the people of God today worship Him and only Him in the way that He so desires.   I say only Him because He tells us in His Word that He is a jealous God and that we should have no other god.  Often times we curse ourselves,  yet think we have given God worship.  Have you ever just wondered how your worship smells to God?  Is the worship that you give him today a sweet smelling fragrance or the stench of death?