Spreading the Aroma of the Knowledge of Him

A Favorite Scent

Think about a warm batch of chocolate chip cookies or a hot apple pie baking in the oven.  I love walking into a room that has a vase full of star-gazer Lilies.  Their scent is distinguishable among all other flowers and is one of my favorites.  These aromas fill the air around us, are beautiful and pleasing, and they bring joy.  Paul describes the knowledge of God as an aroma.  That is why this verse quickens my heart:

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in Christ’s triumphal procession and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place.  For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.                              2 Corinthians 2: 14-15 CSB.

Old Testament Sacrifice

The fact that God allows us, you and me, to participate in something as beautiful as spreading the aroma of the knowledge of Him, boggles my mind.  The word aroma is found 42 times in the Old Testament.  When God gave Moses the Law, He gave the Israelites a way to make atonement because keeping all of His statutes and commands would be an impossible feat, just as it is for us today.  Each time God gave an instruction for a burnt offering, He said it would be a “pleasing aroma.”  The people were required to offer this sacrifice twice a day to cover the sins of the people of Israel and be in right standing with the LORD.

Jesus- The Perfect Sacrifice

In the New Testament, you will only find the word aroma three times.  All three occurrences are within verses 14-16 of 2 Corinthians 2.  In scripture, Jesus is the perfect lamb that was sacrificed as the once and for all sin offering, not to cover sin, but for the forgiveness of sins.  In the Greek, this means the cancellation of a debt.  His one-time sacrifice was the Lord’s doing and was enough to satisfy the wrath of God.

Christ is the pleasing aroma of the sacrifice, and because He lives in us, through the Holy Spirit, this pleasing aroma indwells us.  This is why Paul says, “We are the fragrance of Christ.”  As we share with others the testimonies of the powerful things that God does in, around, and through us, we spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him.  What a beautiful privilege!

Prayer

Lord, thank you for filling us with the fragrance of the knowledge of You.  Oh, that we could be so in awe of You, that Your fragrance overflows.  Open our eyes and hearts to the divine appointments You have set before us.  Give us the courage to be faithful to spread this beautiful aroma; the knowledge of You and Your goodness in our lives.

In Jesus’ precious and holy Name, Amen.