I’ve always wondered what it would be like if my Bible came with a scratch-n-sniff option.
Imagine what the Garden of Eden smelled like.
The fragrance of fruit trees and grasses and roses without thorns.
The aroma of a world brand new. Fresh and clean.
But it didn’t stay that way.
Decay and death soon entered.
In our scratch-n-sniff Bible, the rest of Genesis and a good chunk of Exodus smell like sweat and tears.
The aroma of perfection marred by sin.
But it didn’t stay that way.
God intervened and the glorious redemptive plan kicked into overdrive with the sacrificial system instituted in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Most of the Old Testament smells like blood and smoke and burning flesh.
The stench of a world under the law. Trying, day in and day out, to be good enough to blot out sin.
But it didn’t stay that way.
In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, there’s a distinct shift. The smell of blood and smoke lingers, but something sweet is in the air. A fragrance we can’t pin down but one that calls to us. There’s a memory here, something carried over in our DNA.
We’ve known this smell. Every cell in our body responds to the Creator. The Word made flesh, dwelling among men.
But it didn’t stay that way.
He died. He rose. He ascended.
The veil was torn in two and the holy fragrance of mercy and grace explodes from the pages of Acts. It grows stronger as we flip through the writings of Paul, Peter, James, and John.
The Revelation is an assault to our senses as all the beauty and all the evil the world has ever known collide in epic battle. Then we reach the end and all we know is this:
It smells like home.
A world brand new. Fresh and clean.
And it will always stay that way.
(Bible photo courtesy of Anita Peppers, www.Morguefile.com)
BIO: Lynn Huggins Blackburn has been telling herself stories since she was five and finally started writing them down. She blogs about living life at the intersection of fear and faith on her blog Out of the Boat. Lynn is a member of the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild and Cross ‘N Pen Writers. She lives in South Carolina where she hangs out with three lively children, one fabulous man, and a cast of imaginary characters who find their way onto the pages of her still unpublished novels. She drinks a lot of coffee.
Oh how wonderful. What a great take on the thread of redemption. Love it.