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Pastor Wade Burleson




Aroma Therapy

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Genesis 8:20-22 (KJV)
  1. And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
  2. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
  3. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

"Aroma Therapy"

Genesis 8:20-22

These verses contain a very interesting phrase. "And the Lord smelled a sweet savor" (v.21). The word "savor" (reah) occurs 46 times in the Old Testament and it comes from the same root word for man's spirit or inner being (ruah). The "sweet" is nihoah and carries with it the idea of rest (the name "Noah" means rest). So it seems as if Noah offers a sacrifice and "the soul of God was at rest." God had been judging the world through the flood, but just as the Ark came to rest on Ararat, so God is at rest because of the sacrifice.

How can we understand the satisfaction and approval of God for you and me? The key comes from understanding the sweet savor of the sacrifice. What does this aroma represent? The sacrifices of the Old Testament all point to the work of Christ and the aroma to God's approval of Christ. When one comes to faith in Christ, he is covered with Christ's righteousness.

  1. The sweet savor of Christ covers the reek of sin . . .
    This is why aroma plays such a big part in the sacrificial system of Old Testament worship. A "smell" or "aroma" had to mask the stench of sin when God's people approached Him.
    1. The sacrifices in Leviticus were said to be a "sweet savor" to God (Leviticus 1:13).
    2. There was an altar of incense in the Tabernacle and later the Temple (Exodus 30).
    3. If on the Day of Atonement the Holy of Holies was not filled with the smell of incense prior to the High Priest entering, the High Priest died (Leviticus 16:13). Some of the Roman Catholic traditions include the use of incense or sweet fragrances. "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God. (II Corinthians 2:14-16). "In Christ" you are acceptable to God because of Him!
  2. The sweet savor of Christ calls for resistance to sin . . .
    If God loves the fragrance of Christ, and He does (II Corinthians 2:16), and if your body is the Temple of the God, and it is (II Corinthians 6:16), then does He not drive out stench? "Being confident of this very thing that He who began a good work in you will perform it (carry it on to completion) until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). In the Jewish book Mishnah in Avot (5:5) it states that there were no flies in the area of the Temple, nor was a snake or scorpion ever able to harm anyone anywhere in Jerusalem as long as the Temple stood. God dispels Satan's evil from His home.
  3. The sweet savor carries the reminder of the Savior . . .
    But there would be some here who might object. Your soul is greatly vexed for you know Christ as Savior, but you smell the stench of sin. You are sick because you have done something that has not only embarrassed you, it has shamed you. What is the answer? Very simply put, great sinners have need of a great Saviour. What Jesus Christ has done for you is a "sweet savor" to God. Has evil stained you? Grace shall shower you. "But where sin abounds, grace super abounds" (Romans 5:20).
    "When I stand before the throne, dressed in beauty not my own, When I see thee as thou art, love thee with an unsinning heart, then, Lord, shall I fully know, how much I truly owe." Robert Murray M'Cheyne.



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Pastor Wade

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