Unique things

Let's turn to the book of Exodus, please, chapter 30. We've been hearing about a fragrance poured out on Christ. Let's read about a fragrance from the Old Testament, verse number 34.

Exodus 30, verse 34. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take on to these sweet spices, stacte and anica galbanum, these sweet spices with pure frankincense. Of each there shall be a like weight, and thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apocryphe, tempered together pure and holy.

And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee, and it shall be unto you most holy. And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof. It shall be unto thee holy for the Lord.

Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people. Now we'll take another reading from 1st Samuel chapter 21. 1st Samuel chapter 21.

1st Samuel 21, we'll read at verse 8. David has been fleeing from Saul, verse 8, and David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? For I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste. And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If thou will take that, take it, for there is no other save that here.

And David said, There is none like that, give it me. Another reading from 2nd Chronicles chapter 9. 2nd book of Chronicles chapter 9. For our final reading, drop down to verse 17. 2nd Chronicles 9 verse 17.

Moreover the king, that is Solomon, made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold. So six steps plus a footstool, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on each side of the sitting place, and two lions standing by the stays.

And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps. There was not the like made in any kingdom. And the Lord will bless to us the further reading from his word with what we've been privileged to listen to already this morning.

I'm going to speak about some things that are unique, unique things. I noticed during the week, I was looking it up on the internet. Well, first of all, my wife's birthday was last weekend, and I happened to get her a purse for her birthday.

I was looking up the most expensive purse in the world. Not that I was going to get her the purse, but apparently the most expensive purse in the world is a heart-shaped deal that's encrusted with more than 4,500 diamonds made of gold and diamonds. There's clear diamonds, yellow and pink diamonds, and apparently it's worth 300, sorry, it's worth 3.8 million dollars.

Took four months to make it. Ten skilled craftsmen working full-time for four months to put this thing together for a Dubai-based designer, the House of Muawad. It's the only one of its kind.

The only one in the world. Encrusted with so many diamonds, it is absolutely unique and it's extremely valuable. 3.8 million dollars.

I don't suppose any of the ladies here today have got their purse that's valued at 3.8 million dollars. It's not ours, is it? But I want to speak to you about some valuable things from the Bible that are unique, valuable to every believer, and hopefully we'll be able to take something of them home with us. Something of value to our hearts.

We'll speak first of all about this unique fragrance, this unique perfume that we've read about from the book of Exodus. There was to be none like that. None made like unto this particular perfume.

It was incense. It was about 1400 plus years BC that this perfume was made. The law was given and man would fail.

But God was anticipating a life that would be lived in absolute righteousness, that would delight his heart, and in view of that, the life of Christ. God gave the specifications for this unique perfume. A perfume, an incense, that was offered by the priest daily, morning and evening, on the golden altar of incense, in that holy place in the tabernacle.

Reminding us of the Lord Jesus, who morning by morning, he awoke to breathe this poisonous air, but no contagion touched his soul, no sin defiled his prayer. He was a man that would live his life in total dependence upon God, in absolute devotion to his God, consecrated life as it ought to be, life that's lived for God. The life of Christ, fragrant to God.

I want you to notice with me five things concerning this perfume, this incense. We want to think first of all about its ingredients. The incense was made of stacty, we read, anica, galbanum, and frankincense.

They were all combined and made into one perfume. Interesting that each of these comes from different trees or shrubs. And it would remind us that the the life of the Lord Jesus is inescapably linked with the tree.

We want to think then of these four spices, no fixed quantity to them, but all equally brought together, reminding us that the Lord Jesus was equal in every virtue. There was nothing outstanding about him more than other virtues. He was perfect in every way.

He's still perfect in every way. Let's take this anica, first of all. The word itself is a strange word, anica, but it's from a root that means lion or roaring like a lion.

I would think that that expression, the lion, would link us perhaps with the life of the Lord Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. That particular gospel that presents him as the king. The anica was a resin, apparently, that was found in certain shrubs.

And I came across, looking it up, I came across an interesting thought linked with it. It said that in the ancient times, the Far Eastern shepherds would find that this resin was collected on the fleece of sheep or goats that had been grazing amongst these flowers, these shrubs. And so the shepherds would take combs, certain kinds of combs, and comb from the fleece this resin, which was then collected and sold to traders.

And so it was of value to the shepherds and it was fragrant. And I just thought of that linked with the care of the shepherd. Interesting in the Gospel of Matthew to see the care of the Lord Jesus for the people and for his disciples.

How often he sits down to teach them. And in Matthew, one of the features of Matthew is the sayings of the Lord Jesus when he had ended these sayings. The sayings of the Lord Jesus expressing his care for the people.

Just a word to the shepherds amongst us. It's quite a mundane thing to comb the fleece of a sheep, isn't it? And yet it is expressing care for that animal. Bring that into the spiritual realm.

Mundane things that are done for the people of God. Care that is taken even in preparing a little word of ministry, perhaps, or a little word of encouragement that's needed here or needed there. I would take it that that would bring forth something of the fragrance of Christ.

That would be delightful to the heart of God. The Annika. Let's take the stacti.

The word, again, indicates something that drops or distills. And apparently it's a resin that comes from the the storax tree. Which tree in the spring is noted for its beautiful scented blossoms that come out all over the tree.

Reminding us of one who in the spring of his life is instant in his service for God. Let's think of him in the gospel of Mark. That gospel that focuses upon his servant character.

Even in chapter 1, eleven times over, we have straightway, immediately, forthwith. The Lord Jesus energetically and instantly being about his father's business. Doing the mundane things of a servant in the gospel of Mark.

The stacti. A life that's fragrant to God in his service. When we come to the frankincense, that word means white.

Apparently it was a gum that was obtained from the boswilia tree by making a mark in its bark. So the wounding of the bark, if you will, produced this gum that was collected. And when it hardened, it was gathered as frankincense.

Frankincense was native to the trees in India, in Arabia, and in Africa. So as far as Israel is concerned, or the wilderness of Sinai, so far as that is concerned, this frankincense had to come quite a distance through the deserts so that it could be used in the tabernacle system. Reminds us, as we come to the New Testament, particularly to the gospel of Luke, to the Son of Man and his journeys, as he moved through this desert, waste, and wild, how that there was a life that was fragrant to God in every way.

As he moved along the dusty plains of this earth, a perfect man, one who has come as the Son of Man to seek and to save that which is lost. The key verse of Luke's gospel, chapter 19 and verse 10. And so we have the Lord Jesus in Luke's gospel in his fragrant life.

Finally, when we come to Galbanum, that was apparently a milky gum that was extracted, again, from a plant, from a word that the word itself means fat. Fat. Reminding us of the fatness of his life in terms of his total devotion to his God.

And we would trace that in the the gospel of John, surely, where we have one in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And so we have the Lord Jesus in the gospel of John. When we think of Matthew, again, come back to that, we have him fragrant in his care as a shepherd.

When we come to the Stati, and we're thinking of Mark, he's fragrant in his conscientious service. When we think of him in the gospel of Luke, as linked with the frankincense, he's fragrant in his course as the Savior. But when we come to John and we think of the Galbanum, we're thinking of one who is fragrant in his communication as the Son.

He came to express the heart of God to men. No one had seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he told him out. And in his ministry, the Lord Jesus is always directing men in their faith to God, his Father.

You notice that through John? I have glorified thee on the earth. And then to the disciples in the upper room, you believe in God? Believe also in me. And after the cross, we find that faith is finding its focus in the Son.

Son of man must be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Incidentally, I take it that that's what's meant when we come to chapter 17. In John 17, we read, Thine they were.

That is, they had believed in the Father, they had let hold upon God by faith, and thou gavest them me. And from now on they'll be functioning as those that are not merely followers of the rabbi Jesus, but those that are true believers in the Son of God, declared to be the Son of God by power by the resurrection from the dead. So the ingredients.

Secondly, we want to notice how that this composition was very small, made very small, it was beaten to powder, infinitesimal in its composition. All of those ingredients were brought together and then they were ground to powder and blended together in equal proportions, reminding us again of the perfect blending of the virtues that are found in our Lord Jesus Christ, always perfectly balanced. You could even take him and put him under the the microscope of hostile men, or even under the microscope of the hostility of Satan in the wilderness.

The Lord Jesus is perfect through and through, one who is without a trace of Adam's sin, a man unique in origin, all fair without and all pure within, our blessed Lord. Must have been lovely to have been with him, to see that righteousness that is transparent in him. There are no hidden corners with the Lord Jesus.

He was so effortless in his ways. He was just himself. He was a true man.

He was true in his words. He was true in his deeds. He was true in his rebuke of evil.

He was true in his forgiveness. There was no put-ons with him. There was no mere outward show of spirituality.

He didn't have to try hard, the way we do sometimes. He was just himself. He was always pleasing to God.

I do always those things that please the Father. Must have been lovely to have been with him, to see all of that. You know, we try.

We try, don't we? And we struggle. And maybe we're struggling at times to be something that we're not. But our rest and our peace will only be found when we come to realize this, that we are complete in him, the one in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

We are found in him before God, and complete in him. That's something of real value that we can hold on to. Now, this incense, of these ingredients that are brought from all kinds of places, brought together, beautifully compounded together after the art of the apothecary.

You know, the strange thing is, this whole thing was to be taken and burned. It was to be burned, incinerated. Burned on the golden altar, morning by morning, evening by evening.

Taken and put upon the golden censer, and on the Day of Atonement, taken in before the the Ark of the Covenant, into the holy place that the cloud of incense would fill the holiest of all. Reminding us that the fragrant life of Christ was always in view of Calvary. The fragrance of his life, the fragrance of his death, was of beauty, of fragrance, that delighted the heart of God, the one that would put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

You know, that golden altar that we have mentioned, found in the holy place, had a crown around it. Something like the ledge around this desk. It had a crown around it, so that nothing could fall off it.

There was nothing of Christ that ever fell to the ground. There was nothing of Christ that could ever be trampled upon. He remains distinct of all of earth.

Fallen humanity could not produce a life that was fragrant to God. But we find it enshrined in the beauty of his deity, a life of perfect humanity. Thou art further than the children of men.

Grace is poured into thy lips. If we are going to be like him, you and I will also need to move as he moved, enjoying the ungrieved presence of the Spirit of God, given not by measure unto him. But as we move in his energy, we too would produce a life of service that is pleasing to God.

It was indescribable that incense was not only burned, but some of it was actually taken and put before the veil, placed before the veil in the holy place. For the eye of God, as it were to see, reminding us that beyond our appreciation of the life of Christ, there was that about him that only the eye of God could fully appreciate. As he saw the inward motivations of his heart, as he saw the inward struggles, and the inward grief over sin and what sin had brought into this fair creation, the eye of God saw it all.

Sometimes we sing, don't we, but the high mysteries of his name, an angel's grasp transcend, the Father only, glorious claim. The Son can comprehend, and God savored the beauty of the life of Christ. This incense was never to be imitated.

There was none like it, and there's none like Christ. He stands absolutely unique in all the history of the human race. Let us treasure him up warmly in our hearts.

Let us appreciate afresh something of his person, something of the glory of his name, and take him home with us to enjoy him throughout the week that lies before in his will. Now we'll leave that and come to 1st Samuel 21, where here we're not just thinking of that unique perfume, but here we have a unique sword. There is none like it, says David.

Give it to me. David is fleeing from Saul. Saul is his mortal enemy.

He wants to take his life. David is moving in a hostile environment. He comes to Nab, and Ahimelech is there, the priest, and David asks him for this spear or a sword, and he's directed to the sword of Goliath, the Philistine, whom ye slew in the valley of Elah, is wrapped here in a cloth behind the ephod.

There is none like it, says David. Give it to me. David would be remembering that victory that was his just a short time before, and what a victory it was.

The whole of the army of Israel was impotent to take the battle to the enemy, but David came to him in the name of the Lord God of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, and how he slew the giant that day in the valley of Elah. What a victory that was. He went forward, you remember, and he took that sword.

It must have been a huge sword, and he took off the head of the giant. What a victory. What a sword.

And David could go in the strength of that. The people appreciated it. Saul has slain his thousands, but David his tens of thousands.

We're reminded that there was a huge giant against us. Satan, with all his skill and with all his power, was oppressing us. We were held in fear of death, captivated by fear.

Death loomed before us, the wages of sin, but Christ for us has won the victory. He has fought the fight and the triumph won, and you and I are brought into the value of that victory. We no longer fear death.

Yes, it has its sting. That won't be removed until death is swallowed up in victory, as we're reminded last week in resurrection, but the Lord Jesus by his death has slain death. There's no victory in all the world like that.

No victory like that. He has come forth from among the dead ones in the power of an indissoluble life, and David now can take hold on this sword and move on in the value of the victory already accomplished in the hostile environment in which he was found. Let's apply that to us.

You and I are found in a hostile environment. We're found in a world that hates God, that hates Christ, that hates his people, and hates everything to do with them. Oh yes, it may be glassed over with an air of respectability, but that hostility is still there.

We have the enemy within the flesh, the enemy around the world, and the devil with all his power. How can we ever win the victory over these things? Only by reference to that great victory at Calvary, and to remember that when Christ died, we died with him, and we're dead on to the world, we're dead on to sin, we're alive on to God, and by his resurrection he has brought us onto the other side of death, so that we can move in fellowship with God now, and we can enjoy his presence from day to day, as we live a life of service for him. So we have a unique sword.

Think for a moment of this unique throne. Solomon now has had the kingdom brought to its very high watermark, if you will, the glorious kingdom that was established under David, and now seen in all its glory under Solomon. And so Solomon has this throne built for him.

It's made of ivory, it's overlaid with pure gold. A unique throne. A throne with six steps to it, and then finally there is the the footstool.

Twenty-four lions round about the throne, two beside it. Now we read, there was not the like to be found in any kingdom. A throne that was absolutely unique.

But you know, the glory of Solomon, glorious and all as it was, fades into insignificance when we think of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, the man who has ascended to the throne. As you think of those steps, there's the six, and then there's the footstool. Seven steps in all.

We come to Philippians chapter 2. Wherefore God also has highly exalted him, his exaltation. Step number one. And given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.

A name of honor, a name of authority. Step number two. Of things in heaven, celestial rule.

Step number three. Number four. And things on earth, terrestrial rule.

And things under the earth, the infernal rule. He's got the keys of hell and of death. And every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, his sovereignty.

And number seven. To the glory of God the Father, his glorious majesty. Brothers and sisters, upon the throne of God today, there sits a man.

A man with glory crowned. A man who is destined to take up the reigns of government for this world. And a man whose reign will be seen to be like none other.

Of the increase of his government, there shall be no end. And we're linked with him in his glory. We're linked with him in his reign.

There will be no reign like it that has ever been before. And he's coming soon to take us home. Soon we'll leave earth.

Soon we'll leave assembly testimony on earth. Soon we'll leave the daily struggles of life. Soon we'll leave the aging process.

We'll leave it all behind. And to the air he'll come with a shout, with a voice of the archangel and the trump of God. And he says, surely I come quickly and my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his work shall be.

And so we're reminded this morning that our labor is not in vain in the Lord. He's coming soon. We're going to be with him.

We're going to be like him. We're going to reign with him. Let us enjoy him in our souls today at the conference and throughout the week to come in his will until we hear the shout and he gathers us home.

Lord bless his word.