You look at the title of this article and wonder if you should continue reading. Let me assure you, keep reading. When you have read half of these words, you may wonder what they have to do with anything. Keep reading. You will be surprised at how often your reading of His words and meditating on them can be so rewarding. So, keep reading.
When God brought the plagues on Egypt, the Egyptians knew He was angry with them. When the water was turned to blood, they were thirsty. When locusts destroyed their crops, they were hungry. When the cattle were afflicted with pestilence (the King James calls it the murrain), imagine the stench of death there had to be as they dealt with decaying flesh. The same was true when hailstones killed whatever animals or men were in the fields. Finally, imagine the stench when there was the death of the firstborn in every house of the Egyptians.
The sister of Lazarus knew the stench of death when Jesus commanded that the stone be removed from her brother’s tomb. “Behold he stinketh” (KJV, John 11:39). Death is tragic, but the stench of death is even more hideous. We do all we can to avoid it.
Jesus’ disciples were so critical of the woman who anointed the body of Jesus with precious perfume that cost 300 days’ wages. This was just two days before His arrest. They saw it as waste; Jesus saw it as preparing His body for His death. When Jesus died, Nicodemus, who came to Him by night, brought nearly 100 pounds of spices to be placed around His body. We try to hide the stench of death, but it is still there.
Perhaps we should begin to look at death in a way that the world never could. The world would never describe the smell of the burning carcasses of animals in a positive manner, but God sees it differently. He describes it more than 30 times as a sweet aroma. Now think of how this is true of the death of a saint. The world thinks of death as a stench, but faith sees it so differently.
This is not to minimize the fact that death has a smell that is so repugnant. However, we do not see death as the world does. The psalmist says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Psa. 116:15). Death brings sorrow to those who remain. However, while we view death as the end, God sees it as a new beginning. From the prison in Rome, Paul spoke of death as being gain and expressed his longing that he might depart and be with the Lord. Death is wretched in many ways. Death has its stench, but faith all of changes that. There is no real stench in the life of His saints. Think about it.
