Sweet Spices, Sweet Jesus

ONYCHA

A FIGURE WHO WOULD BE KING

Onycha comes from a species of shellfish.

Hebrew word (shekhayleth) comes from Hebrew root for lion (shakhal).

The lion represents kingship.

"Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.” Jeremiah 23:5

Through the line of one of David’s sons, Nathan, was born a peasant girl. Her name was Mary. She brought forth a son, even though she was a virgin.

This “branch of David” was raised as high as the throne of David, but not politically.

He reigned and prospered not as the kings of the house of David, for they went backward in all their affairs.

He prospered by the chariot of His everlasting gospel by going and conquering and to conquer.

God raised Him up, and He prospered Him, because it is the good pleasure of the Lord to prosper the hands of those who do His work according to His will and way.

His kingdom to conquer was not any government, but the eternal souls of mankind, and the bondage of sin which held them hostage.

READ REVELATION 19:11-16

STACTE

A KING WITH A REPUTATION FOR GRACE & MERCY

Stacte is an aromatic gum resin of a shrub.

Its Hebrew root word means to prophesy, preach or give a discourse.

QUOTE OR READ JOHN 8:3-11

Jesus did not replace the law and its judgment, but put himself on the cross between the law and its judgment.

In so doing, He offered us a solution for the problem of sin that we could not afford, or even want to pay. He paid that debt with His blood, "For without the shedding of blood, there is no remission (forgivness) of sin."

FRANKINCENSE

A KING WITH A REPUTATION FOR PURITY

Frankincense is a white resin burned as a fragrant incense.

The instructions given in verse 34 say to use pure frankincense.

Its Hebrew root word means pure.

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21

Although, He was pure, holy and the image of the invisible God, Jesus Christ KNEW what it was to experience the pain and death of sin. God the Father had to turn His back on God the Son, and Jesus cried out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" He did all this just for me and for you.

GALBANUM

A KING WHO WAS TO DIE

Galbanum is a kind of resin or gum.

The plant that it came from had to be cut or bruised to extract the resin or gum.

The spices were then to be beaten, or crushed, so that they could be burned on a fire.

As they burned on the fire, they created a smoke that clouded God’s shechinah glory so that it could beheld by the priest in the Holy of Holies.

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him… Isaiah 53:10

God put a bitter cup in Jesus hand, and He obliged God by drinking it whole.

God considered Him to be a beaten and crushed satisfaction for sin.

We consider Him as wounded and bruised so that we can behold and possess the glory of God.

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:14-15

For Jesus the Cross was the way to glory; had he refused it, had he evaded it, had he taken steps to escape it, as he might so easily have done, there would have been no glory for him.

The same is true of the sinner. If you refuse, evade, or try to escape the truth of the cross of Christ and the salvation it offers, then you will be no glory in heaven for you.

It is also true for the born again. We can, if we like, choose the easy way; we can, if we like, refuse the cross that we are called to bear; but if we do, we lose the glory. It is an unalterable law of life that if there is no cross, there is no crown.