A Sweet Aroma... Or A Foul Stench?

This verse does speak of this fragrance being a “fearful smell of death and doom” to those who are perishing. So it would seem that this is actually an offensive odor to these people. However, when the Bible talks about an offensive odor, it calls it just that, a stench. Instead, the verse says that this is a matter of perception. Those who are perishing, perceive the sweet perfume as a fearful smell of death and doom, but regardless of how they perceive it, for all of them, it is a sweet perfume. And I would propose that sometimes those who are perishing need a good whiff of holy fear. When they see a hypocrite, it is just a stink to them, because they know that the hypocrite is really as evil as they are. However, when they see someone who is living out genuine holiness, it is unpleasant for them, but for a different reason. It is unpleasant, because that know that it is genuine. And if it is genuine, then they know that it may apply to them too.

So, the way we live, in holiness, but not a superficial holiness, or a self-righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ in us, is a sweet smelling fragrance, both to God and to other men.

III. The third way we can be a sweet aroma to God is through a worthy sacrifice.

A. Useless ritual is a stench in the nostrils of God.

Isaiah 1:10-15 10 Listen to the LORD, you leaders of Israel! Listen to the law of our God, people of Israel. You act just like the rulers and people of Sodom and Gomorrah. 11 "I am sick of your sacrifices," says the LORD. "Don’t bring me any more burnt offerings! I don’t want the fat from your rams or other animals. I don’t want to see the blood from your offerings of bulls and rams and goats. 12 Why do you keep parading through my courts with your worthless sacrifices? 13 The incense you bring me is a stench in my nostrils! Your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath day, and your special days for fasting – even your most pious meetings – are all sinful and false. I want nothing more to do with them. 14 I hate all your festivals and sacrifices. I cannot stand the sight of them! 15 From now on, when you lift up your hands in prayer, I will refuse to look. Even though you offer many prayers, I will not listen. For your hands are covered with the blood of your innocent victims.

Remember that Exodus 29:41-43 said that the sacrifice rising to God was a fragrant offering to the Lord. Here they are doing just that. They are offering the sacrifices to God. But instead of being a fragrant offering to Him, they are a stench. Obviously, it is not that the animals they are sacrificing smell differently now. There is something much deeper here. God says that they are just like the rulers of Sodom & Gomorrah. And remember that God had already said that Sodom & Gomorrah was a stench. The condition of their heart was what stank to God. It wasn’t the actual sacrifice itself that had brought the sweet smelling savor to God, but it was the repentance and the cleansing that accompanied such a sacrifice. But their hearts were not in the sacrifice. They were sacrificing, and all the while they were performing wicked acts. God says that their hands were covered with the blood of their innocent victims. Here they were involved in murderous crimes and they had the audacity to come before the Lord with all kinds of festive sacrifices as if everything were okay. They were just going through the motions. They thought that as long as they kept the ritual of the Law they could do anything they wanted. But this ritualistic keeping of the Law with no change of heart was a stench in the nostrils of God.