In this brief series, I will attempt to describe an existent that goes beyond words and shapes, an entity as real as the sun and more permanent than the stars, namely, the smell of holiness.
As much as the fragrance found in perfumes exists for real, there is a scent evoking the unmistakable presence of divine sanctity. It is precisely this aroma that drives the devil mad, and this, ever since he faced the Son of man in the wilderness, only to return defeated and frustrated. Since then, for Lucifer and his demons, the smell of holiness is like the smell of a skunk; he dreads it and flees from it as a cat from water. This has been the experience of the saints who have resisted him: they stood firm, in the spirit of holiness, and saw him beat a hasty retreat (James 4:7).
A shadow of things to come
In the Old Testament this fragrance was represented by the holy anointing oil. It was originally intended to be poured on priests and high priests at their consecration and was also used to sanctify the articles of the tabernacle (Exodus 30:26). Once a person or object was thus anointed they were qodesh or most holy. No wonder the Israelites were forbidden to make any other like it (Exodus 30:32). Its scent was unique. It was made of myrrh, cinnamon, sweet-smelling cane, cassia, and olive oil. But its fragrance was mainly derived from its five hundred shekels of liquid myrrh.
The smell of Jesus Christ
It is interesting to notice that Jesus began and finished His life with myrrh. At birth, the wise men offered it to him (Matt. 2:11), and before his burial Nicodemus provided a hundred pounds (34 kilos) of myrrh and aloes (John 19:39).
In reference to Jesus we also read in the Song of Songs: “A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, that lies all night between my breasts” (1:13). And again: “His lips are lilies, dripping liquid myrrh” (5:13). This is the scent of the Beloved, but it is also the scent of His bride:
I arose to open for my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the lock” (5:5).
God wants us to send forth the smell of holiness. For as He is in this world so He wants us to be (1 John 4:17): “A garden enclosed, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed” (Song of Solomon 4:12).
The smell of holiness makes hell tremble
Jesus has received that holy anointing oil because He loved righteousness and hated iniquity (Hebrews 1:9). As I pointed out earlier, and as the Scripture testifies, the devil fears that smell and recognizes it from far:
Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” (Luke 4:33,34).
They knew he was holy, i.e., set apart for His Father’s use, and this reality scared them. The relevant question is the following: Do I have the smell of holiness? Or does the devil love to dwell around me, being attracted by the smell of my garment? One thing is certain: the Christian who makes “provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Rom. 13:14) will diffuse a carnal aroma that will draw Lucifer and his demons near. At times people complain saying, “The devil is always around me”. To such I answer: “Take the piece of rotten fish out of your pocket and the cat will stop following you.”
The apostle Paul seems to point to that direction when he says: “Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” (1 Cor. 5:6).
As Psalm 48 testifies, when we dwell in His holy mountain our enemies tremble:
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is in her palaces; He is known as her refuge. For behold, the kings assembled, they passed by together. They saw it, and so they marveled; they were troubled, they hastened away. Fear took hold of them there, and pain, as of a woman in birth pangs, as when You break the ships of Tarshish with an east wind” (Psalm 48:1–6).
In His holy mountain there is a protective fragrance. But “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place?” The answer should not surprise anyone: “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face. Selah” (Psalm 24:3–6).
Jesus and the fear of God
There is an interesting verse in the book of Isaiah that has caused some difficulties for the translators. It is found in chapter eleven, verse three. Referring to Jesus it says:
And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, and He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make a decision by what His ears hear” (Isaiah 11:3—NASB).
Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament has something interesting to say regarding this verse. It advances that the delight referred to in this verse originates in a specific fragrance, namely, in the aroma of the fear of the Lord. Actually, Keil & Delitzsch translate the first part of the verse as follows: “And fear of Jehovah is fragrance to Him”. So here we have Jesus delighting Himself in a specific smell, a smell that causes God’s enemies to agonize in an overwhelming phobia. You can read what Keil & Delitzsch have to say in the following link: http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/kdo/isaiah-11.html.
I leave you with two aromatic verses that may cause you to rejoice: “You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions. All Your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad” (Psalm 45:7&8).
The Smell of Holiness (part 2)
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