INCENSE AND THE CHRISTIAN
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from the Afrikaans Version: Wierook en die Christen
Translator: Lynda Botha
Someone wrote to me and asked the following:
"I would like to ask something: In your thoughts from the Word you are talking about the oil which the people used to anoint someone, but I would like to understand the purpose regarding the incense used by the Catholics."
the Word which this person refers to are:
"Let them pray over him, after anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord."
Should you wish to read it, I will send this to you upon receiving your request.
Back to the incense.
We first read of Incense in Exodus 30: 34-38:
34 “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Gather fragrant spices—resin droplets, mollusk shell, and galbanum—and mix these fragrant spices with pure frankincense, weighed out in equal amounts.”
35 “Using the usual techniques of the incense maker, blend the spices together and sprinkle them with salt to produce a pure and holy incense.”
36 “Grind some of the mixture into a very fine powder and put it in front of the Ark of the Covenant, where I will meet with you in the Tabernacle. You must treat this incense as most holy.”
37 “Never use this formula to make this incense for yourselves. It is reserved for the Lord, and you must treat it as holy.”
38 “Anyone who makes incense like this for personal use will be cut off from the community.”
In Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38 and Luke 23:45, we read that the curtain was torn upon Jesus' sacrifice and His perfect redemption deed on the cross, which opened a new and life-giving way and gave us the freedom to confidently worship our Lord without any rituals or the burning of incense:
MATTHEW 27:50-51
50 “Then Jesus shouted out again, and He released His spirit.”
51 “At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart,”
HEBREWS 9:15
15 “That is why He is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.”
HEBREWS 10:19-22
19 “And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.”
20 “By His death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.”
21 “And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house,”
22 “let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”
Nowhere in the Scripture does it specify that Christians must make use of incense during their worship or during any other part of the Christian religion.
What I can say is, that many external Christian religions give a fairly large value to incense or frankincense. The Catholic Church, which I personally do not regard as a Christian denomination, is one of the religions that make ample use of incense – but then the Catholic church also amply utilizes so-called holy souvenirs, for example, things like, a piece of Jesus' cross. Although, I think once all these pieces of wood believed to be from Jesus' cross, be pieced together, you will have dozens of crosses.
What I can remember from my research at a time where I was very much interested in this, was the famous sacred souvenir in the Catholic Church's possession, the garment of Turin. Just to name one of the many blunders for me regarding the Catholic Church, is the biggest blunder giving Mary, Jesus’ mother, a godly status which cannot be found in the Bible. One might even say that she is regarded as the fourth person in the Trinity.
The reason I mentioned the Catholic church, is because this person asked me regarding the use of incense within the Catholic church, but I could have mentioned many other religions as well.
In addition to it smelling nice to some people, the incense has no other status within the Christian religion, and if there are other denominations making it part of their religion, for example, of their worship, it is unbiblical.
The only incense, so to speak, in your and my religion, should be ourselves. And my hero Paul express it like this:
2 Corinthians 2:14-15
14 “But thank God! He has made us His captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now He uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.”
15 “Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing.”
Greetings,
Sakkie