A Sweet Savour Of Christ

by Doodson, A. T. | Category: General | Jul 1962

The first reference to a sweet savour is found in Genesis 8.20-22 and the word "sweet" (Heb. "pleasant") is derived from another word which means "to rest or settle down." The name of Noah ("quiet or rest") is another derivative of that Hebrew word. The blessings of rest are prominent in the Scriptures, whether it be the rest which God enjoyed after the six days of His creative work or whether it is in the commandment concerning the Sabbath. The Christian comes to the Lord and finds peace and rest, and the thought is prominently associated with the house of God; especially is it dealt with in Hebrews 4. The enjoyment of rest, and acts which are in accordance with it, go up to God as a sweet savour. He delights to see His people manifesting their appreciation of the rest which is His in Christ and which is ours in Christ, and especially when such things are expressed by those in the house of God where rest finds its highest expression on earth, for those who find themselves there can devote themselves to doing the will of God in full priestly service which is in accordance with His will.

Noah, after many years among men of a wicked generation, was found righteous before God and taken away to be the first of a new generation. The sins of earth had been dealt with by the Flood, and when Noah returned to solid earth it was as to a newly cleansed place. There was in it no hindrance to his offering up to God an expression of thanks and of adoration in a burnt-offering.

"And the LORD smelled the sweet savour" (Genesis S. 21).

It was a thing so precious to God that at the outset there was set forth in type the rest and quietness of a new creation and He entered into a covenant that He would not again smite every thing living, as He had done. We little know the value of giving to God anything which today is accounted by Him as a sweet-savour offering. We are a new creation in Christ and, like Noah, can offer up the token of a devoted life. That devotion must be associated with the highest example of devotion as seen in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are accepted in the Beloved Son, and any offerings of human lives and lips are accepted when they have shown something of Christ.

Coming now to the words heading this article, they are found in a remarkable setting in 2 Corinthians 2.15, and analogous words are found in Ephesians 5.2. Verses 1 and 2 of Ephesians 5 are sandwiched between two passages of Scripture which are of solemn teaching, for in Ephesians 4.25-82 we have things said which remind us of the days of Noah, and in Ephesians 5.8-7 we are reminded of despicable things which can be found even among Christians. Between these two sombre passages we might have expected to hear of Christ the Sin-offering, but instead we get the lovely thought of Christ as an Offering of a sweet savour. A people among whom are things such as related in Ephesians 4 could be deserving of the utmost wrath of God, but the grieving of the Holy Spirit is not here judged as it was in the days of Noah. Sweet influences are brought to bear.

"Let all bitterness, and 'wrath, and anger, and clamour, and railing, be put away from you, with alt malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you" (Ephesians 4.31, 82).

He is a man of exceptional experience among Christians who has not known the need for some such exhortation and one wishes that more heed were given to it. Human nature comes out in works such as those referred to, but the Christian is exhorted to become an imitator of God, and to walk in love, after the manner of Christ, so that his works and life are offered to God in the Name of the Lord Jesus. If this were done by all believers earth would become heavenly in character, at least in that portion of it wherein there is Christian love and fellowship.

Then in 2 Corinthians 2 we find the apostle Paul writing of his work towards the unsaved and of his ministrations to the saved in the church of God in Corinth. Here again Christian forgiveness is touched upon.

"To whom ye forgive anything, I forgive also: for what I also have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, for your sakes have I forgiven it in the Person of Christ" (2 Corinthians 2.10).

Then He touches upon another side of the matter, for Satan would have us to hug our unforgiving natures and even would whisper words in our ears to suggest reasons why we should not forgive. Let saints realize that sometimes reluctance to forgive is due to a direct assault by Satan upon believers, and often he comes as if he were an angel of light instead of darkness, but the light is a false light, and well might Paul say, that forgiveness should be exercised,

"that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan: for we are not ignorant of his devices" (2 Corinthians 2. 11).

Paul's heart was so burdened by this matter that though there had been a door opened for the proclamation of the gospel in Troas he felt that he had to leave Troas because he was anxious about the Corinthians, and when he receives the good news from Titus he gives expression to the remarkable words,

"But thanks be unto God, which always leadeth us in triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest through us the savour of His knowledge in every place. For we are a sweet savour of Christ unto God, in them that are being saved, and in them that are perishing" (2 Corinthians 2.14, 15).

So we see how closely he links the two matters, right relationship between saints, and the proclaiming the gospel of God. As said previously we little know the blessing that can come from the offering up of a sweet savour of Christ, and it will be well for us to ponder the effect of a lack of forgiveness among saints on the proclamation of the gospel.

Doodson, A. T. | Jul 1962
General