The Tabernalce – The Fragrance of Worship

November 2, 2009 at 2:43 am | Posted in Exodus | Leave a comment
Tags: Exodus, Highview Baptist, Tabernacle

The Tabernacle – Pt 3

The Smell of Worship

Introduction

• The tabernacle was a very sensory place.  It was designed to incorporate all five senses into worship of the Lord.  The people were to lay their hands on the goats and lambs that were to be slaughtered for their sins.  The priests used their hands to prepare the sacrifices.  Subsequently, they washed their hands in the bronze laver before ministering in the Tent of Meeting.
• Portions of the sacrifices were given to the priests and their families for food and drink.  They tasted the animals and the grain that were brought to God in order to bear the iniquity of Israel before the presence of God.  They were also to eat the bread of the presence that was placed on the table in the Holy Place.
• Imagine the sounds of the tabernacle:  The bleating of sheep, the cries of oxen, the prayers of the priests, the songs and rejoicing before the alter of God, the silence that accompanied the Day of Atonement.  The Tabernacle was a very busy place with a myriad of sounds that reminded the people of worship and of the God in whose presence they stood.
• It was the light of the lampstand that gave light to the entire Tabernacle.  The light shone so the priests could continue to minister in the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.  Being the only light, it was the source of all sight.  Also, the image of the cloud of God’s presence hovered over the tabernacle reminding the people of God’s intimacy with them.
• The last sense that the Tabernacle appealed to was the sense of smell.  Imagine the aroma (or odor) of the daily sacrifices.  Dozens, if not hundreds, of goats, lambs, bulls, and birds were sacrificed on the alter daily.  The fragrance of death and sacrifice wafted throughout the camp reminding the people of their sin and the provision that God had given to them.  The other source of aroma in the Tabernacle came from the Alter of Incense in the Holy Place.  It is there we now turn.

The Alter of Incense

• Read Exodus 30.1-10
• Within the ancient Jewish temple, the alter was positioned before the Most Holy Place, where God dwelt among His people.  What was the purpose of this alter?
  • The purpose of this alter was to offer incense before the Lord.  It sat in front of the curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies.
  • On the alter, Aaron was to make atonement once a year.  He was to sprinkle the blood of the sin offering over top of the alter before he entered the Holy Place.  On that day, he was also to take some coals from the alter with him into the Holy Place while he burned incense upon it so that it filled the Holy Place, protecting him from the presence of God.  See Leviticus 16 for more description.
• How do you think the incense smelled?  How long was it to be burned?
  • The incense was a sweet fragrance to the priests who ministered before God.  It was to be burned perpetually – night and day.
• What do you think is meant by strange or forbidden fire?
  • While this statement is not fully clarified in the text, it can be assumed that it is any incense that is not specifically prescribed by God.  It would be a presumptuous offering, one that was out of line with God’s command.  We have a very specific instance of this strange fire in Leviticus 10.  The sons of Aaron offered strange fire from their censors on the alter, and were immediately killed for their actions.  From the context, it would also appear that they were also drunk.  Suffice it to say, that strange fire would ignite God’s wrath and punishment.

The Smell of the Sacrifices

• In Leviticus 1-9, all of the sacrifices were laid out and explained to Moses and to Israel.  Numerous times, the phrase “an aroma pleasing to the Lord” appears.
• These sacrifices were pleasing to God when they were offered with obedience and faith.  The smell of worship wafted up to God so that he could see and smell the obedient actions of his people.

The Sacrificial Smells of the New Testament

• Ephesians 5:1-2 / 1 Peter 2:5 / Romans 12:1
  • Ephesians 5 tells us that Christ was also a sacrifice to God.  How was He a sacrifice and how was it “fragrant” or “sweet-smelling” before Him?
  • Peter tells us that we are now priests in God’s house, rather than the Old Testament priests at the temple.  What types of sacrifices are we to offer in place of the bulls, goats, and birds?
  • How are we to offer these sacrifices to God in everyday life?  Give specific illustrations.
  • How are they a “fragrant offering” before the Lord?

• Psalm 141:2 / Revelation 5:8, 8:3-4 / 1 Thessalonians 5:17
  • According to these passages, what is the incense we ‘burn’ today?
  • In Heaven, where are the bowls of incense located?  What does this indicate about our incense today?
  • If the incense in the temple was to be burned continuously, what does this say of our prayers?  How can we accomplish this in everyday life?  Give specific illustrations.
  • How is that a “fragrant offering” before the Lord?

• Obedience – Not to mitigate our actions, but how we act is also a pleasant aroma to our God.  We obey Christ because He is worthy of all we are.  We please and glorify Christ by giving to Him ourselves and our all.  Our lives are pleasing to Christ when we are obedient to Him, when we are sacrificing ourselves to prove His glory to the world.
• Actions and Attitudes – We give of ourselves, of our desires, our well-being, or perhaps our physical life for the cause of Christ.  We offer our body, our money, and our resources as an offering to God.  It is well pleasing to God when our actions are overwhelmed by an attitude of worship.  It is not necessarily what we do, but how we go about doing it that is pleasing to the Lord.  We can go burn bulls and not feel repentance.  We can build houses for the poor out of guilt; we can give money out of “duty” or compulsion.  Only if our heart is right, can we be well-pleasing.

The Aroma of our Lives

• 2 Corinthians 2.14-17
  • The passage bears the image of the Roman Triumph where a conquering Roman general would lead those whom he had conquered in battle through the streets of Rome in a triumphal procession.  He would parade before the emperor who was in his full, regal splendor.  The general would be in a chariot leading his captives to the arena where they would soon be put to death.  Along the entire parade route, there would be censors of incense burning throughout the city.  The fragrance would permeate the city reminding the people of the overwhelming victory that had been won.
  • Paul picks up this imagery as he pictures himself being led by Christ before the Throne of God.  The incense of Paul’s life rises up before the King and the rest of the people attesting to the reality that he has been conquered by Christ.  Christ is leading him to death, yet it is a death that ends in life.  Paul also pictures himself as being part of the triumphing army.

• Before we were Christians, what did our lives smell like?  What characterized us before we had a relationship with Christ?   (cf. Isaiah 64:6)
• Now that we are new creations in Christ, how then do we smell before God?  Why do we not smell like ‘new-Bob’ or ‘new-Judy’?  Why do our lives smell of Christ? (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21)
• Why do we smell like death to some and life to others?

• We are impacted by the world around us.  If we stay in a smoke-filled room, we will emerge smelling of smoke.  My first job when I was fifteen was a busboy in a small restaurant.  Every Saturday, I would go wash dishes, clean tables, scrub pots, clear trash, and mop floors.  After six hours or so of working in the kitchen, I would reek.  Anything from grits to dishwashing detergent, I would bring home with me the smell on my hands, on my clothes, and even in my hair.  As soon as I got back home, I would have to soak in the shower for quite a while to allow the soothing, hot water to soak over me as the soap and shampoo cleaned and cleared the stench of grease and potatoes and burnt biscuits out of my skin.  Before I could do anything else, I had to marinate myself in soap and body wash because nobody wants to sit next to a pile of human gravy and leftover fried eggs.  I couldn’t just run home and spray a dash of Old Spice on me and expect cologne to cover the rank smell of decaying chicken fingers that was ever so pungent about me.

We as people once reeked of sin and death before we met Christ and trusted in Him for new life and salvation.  We were like the leftover grits: hardened, stale, and stinking.  Spending all our time in the filth and stench of sin, our lives became associated with sin, bondage, and death.  Our lives began to reek of sin and death much like the possum I saw lying in the road on my way to church tonight.  As sinners, we had been run over by the freight train of sin and decay, left to die on the highway of life without any sense of hope or future.  We were in need of some major help, but we just didn’t need help, we needed to be made alive.

God in His holiness cannot even get a whiff of sin (Habakkuk 1:13).  His very nature prevents Him from allowing any sin near Him.  We as sinners cannot approach the throne of God without being clean from sin, without the smell of sin washed from our body.  Before we came to know Christ, we thought we could peel ourselves off the asphalt, drag our sorry carcass over to the shoulder, and clean ourselves up, make ourselves smell better—to smell of life—in order to approach God.  Yet how can dead people make themselves alive?  How can a muddy child clean himself off if he continues to sit in the mud pit?  The prophet Isaiah commented on our estate when he spoke, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.  We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” (Isaiah 64:6).  Nothing in our own power can made us clean and smelling wholesome, nor can anyone else with sin clean us up.  Two kids playing in the mud cannot clean one another off:  they must have someone who is clean to wash the mud and filth off of them.

Now Christ, by His death and resurrection, has made us alive if we trust in Him and put our faith in what He has done.  Because He bore our punishment and sins, He became the sacrifice for our sins, bearing the wrath of God in His own body on the tree in order to bring many sons to glory and everlasting life.  We no longer have to smell of sin, nor do we have to be controlled by it.  Knowing we can do nothing in our own power to wash ourselves, we believe in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation.

Those of us who are now Christians and believers in Jesus’ work have been redeemed from the torments of this life of sin.  We no longer smell like yesterday’s garbage in the presence of God.  For Jesus’ blood washed over us and took away our guilt, condemnation, and stain of sin that once dominated our lives.  We are now able to enter the presence of the Most High because we have been overcome by the “fragrant offering and sacrifice” of Jesus Christ in our place (Ephesians 5:2).  Therefore, because we are now redeemed and saved from the life of sin, we cannot go back to living and smelling like the rest of the world.  We must be holy for our Father is holy (1 Peter 1:16).  Because we are Christians, we are to smell wholesome, soothing, life-giving and long-lasting because we have been bathed in Christ.  We can’t keep living in the filth of this world and think we can just Febreze our lives once or twice a week in order to ‘refresh’ ourselves.  We are characterized by how we smell.  Our fragrance will tell people what we live for: either the stale beer from last Friday’s party, or the life-giving smell of Christ.

 

Let me try to illustrate this thought with a quick example.  Last year, I moved into a new apartment.  The former tenant had vacated (actually, the landlady had to kick him out) the apartment a few weeks prior to my arrival.  He had loaded up his truck and taken off with all his possessions, but his presence still lingered in the apartment.  Being a smoker, and a rather dirty person, he left his stain on the floors, the carpets, and in the walls.  The old tenant left the apartment smelling rather disgusting.  Before I moved in, the landlady installed new carpet, touched up some paint, and cleaned house in preparation of me, the new tenant.  As I moved in, it smelled Clorox clean.  However, after a short time, the old tenant’s effect on the apartment began to show up:  the cigarette smoke that was imbedded within the walls and floors began to show their presence and some of the quick fixes the maintenance man preformed started to fall apart again.  The old tenant that had vacated the apartment still had a major effect on my life as the new tenant.  To add to the old tenant’s influence on the smell of my new apartment life, the neighbors around me contribute to fouling the air inside.  The fellow above me enjoys his cigarettes too and sits on his balcony four to five times a night which allows the trailing smoke to enter into my open windows.  The lady below me is originally from India and enjoys the indigenous food of that country which produces an absolutely horrid odor somewhat akin to burnt hairspray and rubber.  Not to say that those folks are completely responsible for the air quality in my apartment, as I continue to learn how to cook, I will occasionally burn something, or let a pot burn over onto the stove top.  This in turn sets off the smoke alarm, and fills the kitchen with the pleasant odor of charred hamburger.  As you can see, my apartment life is heavily influenced by fragrances from past tenants, neighbors, and poor culinary skills.

My apartment life is exactly like our Christian life.  The old tenant is sin.  When it lived within our lives, it held complete control and reigned free doing whatever it wished.  Everything it did resulted in destruction, decay, and death.  But that tenant was evicted with the coming of Christ:  when Christ came, He began to cleanse our lives out, ridding us of that sin that reigned in our lives.  He changed the carpet out, painted the walls, and cleaned us out through His blood on Calvary.  Sin and Satan were thrown to the street, never to reside within us again.  However, when Christ moved in, sin had left its effect upon our lives:  the stench of sin continues to linger in our lives.  Its consequences still continue to haunt us like the broken ice machine in my freezer.  No matter how much the smell of the old tenant permeates back to the apartment, he does not live there, another has taken his place.  Sin does not have reign over our lives anymore and we are not characterized by it any longer.  When Christ comes into our lives to save us from that resident sin and ultimate death, he does not take us out of the world, but He leaves us here.  Just as my apartment continues to sit within the complex surrounded by other neighbors, our Christian lives are affected by the people and sin living in this world.  Despite our life within this world, we cannot allow it to influence us any longer.  We must close our windows and doors to bar sin from entering our life and affecting the quality of our new life.   As Christ moves into our lives, we are also not totally rid of new sin:  we will continue to sin while in this body in the same way I may continue to burn my dinner on occasion.  Our lives, however, are not characterized by that burnt spaghetti; it is to be characterized by the warming fragrance of the future marriage supper of the lamb.

In order to combat the influences of these three smells, I must in my apartment be always cleaning and running an air purifier.  If I leave for the weekend, I can still perceive the smell of the old tenant and neighbors, albeit faintly, upon my return.  Their effects are still around; therefore, I must be constantly in the habit of cleaning and burning candles and running the air purifier.  Our lives as Christians must be conducted in the same way: We must continually fight the smells and influences of our old life and the life of the world around us.  The effects of sin, both past and present, as well as the world continue to wage war on our mind and our will.  We must be immersed in Jesus and His Word.  We cannot allow ourselves to become slack in Bible study, devotional time, prayer, and fellowship with other believers.  For if we become lax in seeking to cleanse our lives, sin will begin to creep in and characterize our lives again:  the presence of Christ will be overshadowed by sin and this world if we do not fight their influence.

We want others to see and savor Jesus Christ just as we have.  Therefore, what we smell like will show people around us what we stand for and what we believe to be worth living for.  As Christians, believers in the soon-coming King, we are to stand for and live for the only One of eternal, all-sufficient glory and worth.  If we hang out in the world, we smell like the world.  If we hang out in the Word, we will smell like the Word.  As we hang out in the Word and marinate in its goodness, we will begin to reflect the life-giving fragrance of the Eternal King of Glory.  Before us is a choice:  to smell like death and decay, or to smell of life.

If you have seen the recent Old Spice commercials, it tells that smell is the sense closest tied to memory.  Now this gives us a rather fitting example.  If people walk by and smell your life, what will they smell and thereby remember?  Will folks remember Christ, or last night out on the town?  Will they be intrigued by you because you smell different, or will they take one whiff of you and realize you are just ‘one of the guys’ at the bar?  There is a proverbial line in the sand in this passage:  to smell like the world and its soon-coming death, or to smell like Christ and eternal life.

To disperse the fragrance of Christ to this world, we must be immersed in Christ himself.  We must be clean because we have showered in the life-giving river of Jesus Christ.  Remember when I came out of the restaurant, I could not just spray a quick blast of cologne and then go out to the mall.  Too many folks today think they can go to church once or twice a week to get their hit of spiritual, Christ perfume.  Perfume and cologne fade quickly, and the true fragrance of our body odor will permeate through our lives.  We must become clean through the blood, and continually bathe in the Word of Christ in order to be completely characterized by His resurrection life.  The more concentrated we are in His word, the more His fragrance will disperse through our lives.

Notice that the fragrance of our lives reaches both the nostrils of God and of other men.  Is our life pleasing to God?  Does He still smell sin on us, or the blood of His Son?  If we are redeemed, do our lives disperse an aroma of obedience, prayer, and sacrifice?  Do people around us at church, school, work, and at home smell Christ in us?  Nobody wants to smell you as you really are, just go to a sixth grade classroom or nearby locker room.  We as people stink, there is just no getting around that.  Just as we must bathe ourselves daily to wash the dirt and stench away of normal life, we must bathe ourselves daily in the Word and work of Christ to broadcast His Name to the world.  If we are soaking in His Word and in His presence continuously, we will not be able to contain the fragrance of Christ that will flow from our lives to this generation.  Because we have been with Christ, people will notice, and remember.  Like the Old Spice guy at the party, we will catch the attention of all those around us; for we do not smell like everybody else, because we have been made clean by the blood of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.