Welcome back with me in your
Bibles to John Chapter 19. I want to spend our time just
looking at this one word, basically, but the one word that speaks
of this spice. And it says in verse 39, there
came also Nicodemus, which at first came to Jesus by night
and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound
weight. Then took they the body of Jesus
and wound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the manner
of the Jews is to bury. I think it's so extraordinary
that the meeting of these two men who are trophies of the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ. the wonderful recipients of his
grace in what the Lord Jesus Christ had just done on the cross
of Calvary to bearing their sins in his own body and bearing them
away forever. and the Lord meet around this
spice. The smell of this spice perfumed
that meeting and so everything, all the details about the Lord
Jesus Christ and Him crucified according to the Scriptures are
extraordinarily significant. Even if we don't see any significance,
there's a depth to them and there's an amazing depth in this this
spice myrrh. You might recall that when the
wise men came from afar to the Lord Jesus Christ in Bethlehem,
what did they bring? Gold and frankincense and myrrh. It's an extraordinary thing to
bring at the birth of a child because myrrh, as well as having
so many wonderful uses and a really interesting perfume, actually
the word means bitter. And it's bitter to taste. There's a bitterness in it. If
you ever get to go on the internet and have a look at myrrh trees,
the trees look as if they're in pain, myrrh trees. They're
a spindly looking tree that grows in that Middle Eastern part of
the world. But the myrrh that you've seen
up the back there and smelled is actually extracted by the
wounding of the tree. The bark is wounded, you know
how they extract rubber and maple syrup, but the bark of the myrrh
tree is pierced and the sap that's collected is called tears. And the aroma is sweet, but the
taste is bitter. And if you think of that in terms
of what the Lord Jesus Christ went through on Calvary's tree,
what he went through was the most extraordinary bitterness.
He looked in the cup that the Father gave him. and his heart
broke, and his sweat-grain drops the blood. It was bitter to his
taste, and yet out of that bitterness Out of that wound comes this
sweet aroma that we speak of all the time. Myrrh was used
as a perfume and is also used as a medicine. Myrrh was used
as a narcotic. It dulled the pain in the senses,
which is why with the Lord Jesus, part of the reason for the Lord
Jesus Christ being offered it on the cross at Calvary, he would
take nothing to dull the bitterness of what he was going through.
So let's just look at something of the history of Mir in the
scriptures, and we'll try and see in all of these pictures,
all of these events, I want us to see the Lord Jesus Christ
in all of them, because he's there in all of them, because
he said he's there. And the only problem of us seeing him is our
sight, and if he gives us sight to see, we'll see him, because
that's what he says. All the scriptures speak of him, all
of them. So Mir speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ in marvellous
ways. You might recall the first Mention
of the word mir in the scriptures is when those people, Ishmaelites,
took Joseph down into Egypt. What did they carry with them? And when Jacob, when Joseph's
father Israel sent gifts down to this son, unknowingly his
son at that time, he sent him a gift of myrrh, that's in Genesis
43. The word myrrh actually means bitter. In Exodus Chapter 14
we have those waters. You remember when they crossed
the Red Sea and triumphed over the Egyptians? They came to those
waters and they were bitter waters at Mara, which is the root of
the word Mer. And how were the waters of Mara
sweetened? If you recall, Moses was told,
you cut down this tree and you throw it into the waters. It's
speaking of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. His cross
sweetens the bitterness because he drinks all the bitterness
himself and those waters became sweet. Sweet waters for us. You might also remember that
it's the word that that Naomi used when she came back from
her time in Moab. And she said, don't call me Naomi,
don't call me beautiful, don't call me pleasant. You call me
Mara, because the Lord has dealt bitterly with me. But if you
turn back in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 30, I want us to look
at how this particular Herb, the spice I mean, is used, this
lovely fragrance is used in the temple. And once again, everything in
the scripture speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ and everything,
everything in the tabernacle and everything in the temple
all speak of the Lord Jesus Christ, every little tiny thing. It was
all a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and salvation in Him. And Moses, when he made it, was
told, you make it according to the pattern that you've seen
in heaven. God provided the pattern, and you weren't to change anything
about it. But let's turn to Exodus chapter
30 and verse 22. Its talk speaks of this holy
anointing oil. Moreover, the Lord spoke unto
Moses, saying, Take thou under the three principal spices of
pure myrrh, five hundred shekels, and sweet cinnamon, half so much
even, two hundred and fifty shekels, and sweet calamus, two hundred
and fifty shekels, of cassia, five hundred shekels, after the
shekel of the sanctuary, and olive oil, and hen. And thou
shalt make it in it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound
after the art of the apothecary, and it shall be an holy anointing
oil." All of the temple had to be sprinkled with blood and anointed
with this oil. And thou shalt anoint the temple
of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the testimony,
and the table, and all his vessels, and the candlestick, and his
vessels, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering,
and with all of his vessels, and the laver, and his foot.
And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy. And listen to this, whosoever
touches them shall be holy. Isn't that remarkable that holiness
is transferred in the Temple? And thou shalt anoint Aaron and
his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me
in the priest's office. And thou shalt speak unto the
children of Israel, saying, This shall be a holy anointing of
oil unto me throughout your generations. Upon man's flesh it shall not
be poured, neither shall you make any other like it after
the composition of it. It is holy, and it shall be holy
unto you. Whosoever compoundeth anything
any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, shall
even be cut off from his people." You weren't to change it at all.
Like the incense that was used, God made a recipe and that recipe
spoke of his dear and precious son and anything that changed
it in any way at all was for people to be cut off. God will
not have the worship of his Son trampled on and trifled with
by men. To come into the presence of
a holy God, we need the very holiness of God, which is why,
that's a remarkable statement isn't it, whosoever, verse 29,
whosoever touches them shall be holy. So the temple, you went
into the temple, you went into the tabernacle and the place
was perfumed just as the tomb of the Lord Jesus Christ was
perfumed, just as the body of the Lord Jesus Christ was perfumed
with these remarkable perfumes. The next time the word, the term
myrrh is used, it was used for beautifying Esther. For six months,
Esther was beautified. Purified with oil of myrrh, 6
months as sweet-oathers and other things for the purifying of women.
Esther is a glorious picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and
Him saving His people again from their enemies. She is the one With all of this
extraordinary smell of myrrh on her, she's the one that goes
into the king's presence and she's accepted as his wife and
she goes in and he reaches out his scepter and she has her wishes
granted before the king. Great picture of someone interceding.
What was the plan of Haman in the book of Esther? destroy the
Jewish nation just like Pharaoh's was. And here was this lady anointed
and beautified with myrrh. It goes in there. We read Psalm
45 earlier. All thy garments smell of myrrh
and aloes. That Psalm 45 is the psalm of
the coronation. In fact, it's used in the coronation
of the Queen Elizabeth and King Charles. What number is it? Anyway,
whatever. I'm sorry. I should know. That's
embarrassing. But anyway. They quote these
very words, and it's extraordinary what they do. Anyway, I won't
talk about it. It seems to me to be just blasphemous
idolatry that they give him all of the emblems of what it is
for there to be a high priest, and there's a high priest already
sitting in heaven at the moment. So myrrh was used in the coronation
of the king. Myrrh was used by false religion. Myrrh is used by the harlot who
deceives people. If you want to read about false
religion, you can read in Proverbs 7, and in many other places you'll
see the harlotry of false religion. And she says in Proverbs 7 verse
17, she says, I have perfumed my bed with myrrh and aloes and cinnamon. False religion
can copy and use the things of God to entice people into their
adultery. Her house is on the way to hell,
going down to the chambers of death. Beware the harlot of false
religion. There is just one, and all of
it does is speak of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to what
Song of Solomon... I do love Song of Solomon. It's
such a precious, precious book of the Bible. It's just before
Isaiah, if you ever need to go find it. So it's right there
in the middle of your Bible. But I love how Song of Solomon
begins. This, the song of songs which
is Solomon's, And it's all speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let
him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. Let his words come
affectionately to me with the kisses of his mouth. For thy
love is better than wine. And then listen to this, Because
of the savour of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured
forth. Therefore do the virgins love
thee. The name, the character of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the character of our God revealed in the Lord
Jesus Christ and Him crucified, is a saver, the saver of his
name. And it's an ointment that's poured
forth. And listen to what the response
of the church is, draw me. Draw me. How does he draw his
people? Not with the whip of the law.
He draws them with love and affection. He draws them with the blood
of his cross. Draw me and we'll run after thee.
That's what Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were doing that
day, weren't they? They had absolutely no hesitation
in where they were going and what they were doing. And all
of the opposition that might have come to them, there's only
one thing that matters. They had feared the Jews, and
now they're only one person in mind. How do we honour our glorious
Saviour? In fact, in verse 13, if you're
in Song of Solomon, a bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto
me. He shall lie all night betwixt
my breasts. He's a bundle of myrrh. He carries
around with him the myrrh of his death and his crucifixion
and the glory of his burial and the wonder of his resurrection.
It's all one, isn't it? A bundle of myrrh, a bundle of
myrrh. A number of times this goes on
to speak of it. In Matthew chapter 2, we spoke
about that earlier, Matthew 2 verse 11, the wise men, the rich, the
men came from afar and they brought to the Lord Jesus Christ these
emblems. These emblems of who he was,
who he is, and what he will do. Gold. for a king. Frankincense, that
sweet smelling odour, the odour that we read about in Song of
Solomon, he sweetens the name of God to all of his people.
And myrrh, which as we've spoken about earlier, myrrh is sweet
to smell and bitter to taste. It was bitter for him, but it
was sweet for us. At his death, Myrrh perfumes
his burial. Myrrh reaches between his dead
body and the linen clothes that are wrapped around him and reaches
to the very people that he had worked so wonderfully in grace
to bring them to this point. I love thinking about the power
of God to do his will in the hearts of people. Don't you love
Psalm 110? They preached on Psalm 110 after
the cross of the Lord Jesus and the resurrection. It's such an
amazing psalm. But in Psalm 110 verse 3 it says,
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. All that is required for God's
people to willingly love him, to willingly serve him, to willingly
believe in him. Joseph and Nicodemus did what
they did that day, willingly, didn't they? No one was there
whipping them and coercing. In fact, everything around them
was saying, don't do it. God made them willing. I just
love the fact that the church is in the hands of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You feed the church of God which
he has purchased with his own blood, is the command of God.
You feed my sheep, Peter is told. You feed my sheep, the sheep
are his sheep. What's the sheep food? Tell us
again about how amazing our Saviour is. Tell us again about his love. Tell us again about the wonder
of his character. Tell us again, we did those S's,
didn't we, 25 of them? Tell us about his sovereignty.
Tell us about his successful sacrifice. Tell us about all
of the glories of what he's done. Comfort my soul with the fact
that he cried out, it's finished. Tell me again about the Passover
when God sees the blood. Not when God sees my obedience,
not when God sees my faith, but when God sees what I do and what
I don't do. God's looking for one thing in
Egypt, wasn't he? To bring his people out of there,
he's looking for one thing. And he saw the blood, and the
blood was on the outside of the house. And God saw the blood
and he passed over you. I need to hear about that. I
need to be here. I need the sweet perfume of the
glory of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. Psalm 110 verse 3. In the beauties of holiness from
the worm of the morning, thou hast the Jew of thy youth. All that the Father gives And
all that come to me, I'll never cast them out. Never, ever cast
them out. God is looking to his Son for
everything that he requires of all his people. God looks at
his Son and he's satisfied. He saw the travail of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He saw all of this that happened. He ordained it all. It's all
the determinant. counsel and full knowledge of
God, and he looks and he's satisfied. And he's satisfied with everyone
that's in him. He's satisfied with everyone
he represents. God is not trying to do anything. God is not offering anything.
God is operating in the hearts of his people. Thank God that
he does it all. He makes his people willing in
the day of his power. And what a sweet aroma we have
from our Lord Jesus Christ. This myrrh speaks of the unction
of the Spirit. If you go and have time to read
1 John it says again and again that we have an anointing from
the Holy One and we know all things. You know the Lord Jesus
Christ, you know everything. You know the Lord Jesus Christ
and you have all the wisdom of God. You know the Lord Jesus
Christ and you have all of the wisdom, all of the sanctification,
all of the righteousness, all of the redemption. Those people
inside that house when God was looking for the blood, they ate
the whole lamb. They ate a roasted lamb and they
ate all of it. And the words of the Lord Jesus
Christ are both spirit and life. He brings life to his people
out of his side, out of that wound that was now covered with
the linen and covered with the amazing smell of the myrrh and
the aloes. Out of that wound flowed blood
and water, blood to wash all of our sins away and water the
washing of regeneration by his word. What a sweet aroma there
is in the Word of God. You read the Word of God and
we look at this particular passage and what does it declare in the
loudest possible terms? God is faithful. God has declared
the end from the beginning. God is faithful. Every time we
read the promises of God they are yay and amen in the Lord
Jesus Christ. What remarkable promises he's
given to his people. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
is the sweet myrrh of the gospel. He's the fullness, he's the cluster
of it. And all of our blessings are
in him. And all of our blessings come
from the bitterness of the myrrh. And he drank the bitterness of
all of it. He drank damnation's cup dry. And there's none for God's people. We are now blessed in the Lord
Jesus Christ, as Ephesians 1 says, we are blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places. Is there anything lacking for
the child of God? has given His only Son. He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not with Him also freely give us all things? I love how these
men are trophies of the grace of God. Directly after the cross
of Calvary, we have these men coming as trophies of his grace.
And they come onto the scene of history, and they glorify
the Lord Jesus Christ, and they're gone forever, but not gone from
God, not gone from God's sight ever. His church, is wrapped
up as one with Him eternally. Who shall separate us from the
love of God, the love of Christ? Who shall separate us? Absolutely
nothing. We are as bound as tightly to
him as that linen was. And the aroma that comes out
is the aroma of myrrh. And as I said at the beginning
of our time today, when Joseph and Nicodemus went home, when
they got back to their house, what was the smell? The aroma
of myrrh when they spoke to each other, what was there? The aroma
of myrrh. May the Lord come and blow upon
his garden, so that the sweet fragrances of the gospel of his
glory come out. He comes in Song of Solomon,
in chapter 5, He comes to the house of his beloved, and his
hands are dropping with myrrh. And even though she's wickedly
disobedient, he leaves the aroma of a finished work on her door. May he fill our lives with the
aroma of the glory of who he is and what he's done, and the
wonder of what happened on Calvary's tree. May he give us all the
grace to drink in remembrance of him. and proclaim his death. This cup, he says, take, eat,
this is my body which is broken for that you do this in remembrance
of me. After the same manner he also
took the cup and after he'd stopped saying, this cup is the new covenant,
the new testament in my blood. This do ye as often as you drink
in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this
bread, and drink this cup, you do show forth the Lord's death
till he come." We're declaring the gospel to each other as we
take the bread and the wine. Christ in us, the hope of glory. Christ dying for us and from
his side comes the blood and the water. Let's pray. Our Heavenly
Father, we thank you again for your word we thank you again
for how it speaks so wonderfully of the glories of the Lord Jesus
Christ the sufferings of your dear son and the glories that
should follow we thank you heavenly father for glories that follow
we thank you that his suffering is not in vain that all these
people Saint Joseph of Arimathea, make us willing, Heavenly Father,
to bear the shame of association with his body, but also bear
the sweet aroma of his rule and his reign hearts of his people. His blood is precious, heavenly
Father, precious in heaven, precious to all who are saved. We pray
that you might make it precious to us as we drink in remembrance
of him. May we do so worthily by your
grace of faith in our hearts, our Father. For we pray in Jesus'
name and for his glory. Amen.