February 18
“Spices… for sweet incense” (Exodus 25:6).
Spices were also used to make the incense for burning! Read the instructions for preparing
them in Exodus 30:34-38. The anointing oil speaks of service which we should render in the
House of God, and the incense speaks of the intercession which ascends from the hearts of
believers before God’s throne.
In God’s Sanctuary the incense burned day and night on the golden altar in the Holy Place,
the whole day and the whole night. “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and
the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice” (Psa. 141:2).
We are God’s co-workers; that is why we have to pray. And even though we may never
receive an answer to our prayer upon this earth, when we reach heaven we shall know God’s
answer to every one. No prayer ever goes unanswered. The High Priest had to first burn
incense before the Mercy Seat (Lev. 16:12-13). Then only was the blood sprinkled on the
Mercy Seat (Lev. 16:6, 15-16). All this was a type or shadow of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. He brought His own Blood inside the Most Holy Place, thereby wholly satisfying
God (Heb. 9:11-12).
daily bread
Come, Lord Jesus Christ | February 17
February 17
“Spices for anointing oil” (Exodus 25:6).
Special spices were required by God, to be used in making the anointing oil. Read Exodus
30:22-33. That oil could only be used in the temple and in the Sanctuary, and upon those
who were serving in the Sanctuary; it could not be used for any other purpose.
The spices called myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia were used, along with olive oil.
In Song of Solomon 4:12-16, the Church is compared to a garden where those spices grow. Imagine a garden where frankincense, myrrh, aloes, cassia and calamus are all growing together. After much careful cultivation the bushes begin to blossom. Then the North and the South winds begin to blow, and the sweet fragrance of mingled spices flows out, giving great joy to the one who walks in the garden.
Can you sing to the Lord Jesus Christ! ‘Come, Lord Jesus Christ, into my heart, Thy garden of spices’. If you are not living a life to the glory of God, the Lord can smell no spices. But if you are living a life pleasing to Him, then that garden of spices, your heart can give joy to Him. We read in 1 Corinthians 3:9 that “We are God’s husbandry”, God’s garden, and in 2 Corinthians 2:14-16, that “We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ”.
That is how our lives ought to be, so that, when our Lord Jesus Christ walks in His gardens, He may smell their fragrance.