Section Five—Sweet Spices

We come now to a new section in verse 34: "Take unto thee sweet spices." The Spirit of God presents what is precious to God in the thought of worship. We have come to that hymn:
The Person of the Christ,
Enfolding every grace,
Once slain, but now alive again,
In heaven demands our praise.

All the graces that meet in the Lord Jesus Christ were there in perfect balance. I believe the sweet ointment brings before us the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Israel was not to make the like of this sweet incense, the fragrance of which rose to God. God alone could appreciate that incense. It was for Him, although the Person of the Christ is precious to each one of us. When we think of His preciousness to God, we are in communion with God our Father concerning all the perfections of that One, who was full of grace and truth. We lack much, but in meditating on the Person of the Christ we enter into God's thoughts.
Some of the incense was to be beaten small. It was there for the fire to be put upon it. Was not that blessed Savior as He passed through the world, beaten small? He met with the opposition of Satan and the hatred of men, but it brought out nothing but good in Him. Satan tempted Him in the wilderness. What came of it? He replied in perfect dependence on the Word of God in such a way that Satan was met and defeated.
When Peter would seek to turn Him aside from the path of obedience saying, "Be it far from Thee, Lord," the Lord said, "Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art an offense unto Me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." Though the voice of Satan came through Peter, He would have none of it. What a savor to God! Let us trace that blessed pathway further. He met with the hatred of man, and utter poverty. "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head." All the pressing and all the beating small only brought out what was sweet to God. But there was more than that. It was not merely the life of the Lord Jesus Christ which was to be a savor to God; the fire had to be applied to it. The incense was beaten small and then it was laid up before God. When the moment came, the priest took the incense, and when tested by the fire the sweet savor came out to God's delight When the One who had been tested in every way during His life presented Himself to God, the fire of God's holy judgment came upon Him and brought out in full perfection all that was in Christ for the heart of God.
W. Fosbery