When Aaron the high priest went into the holiest there were two things which he must take with him. We read, "He shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail:and he shall put the incense upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not" (Lev. 16:12,13). And then, of course, he dare not go "without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people" (Heb. 9:7). The sacred record does not say that he brought back any portion of these things. It appears that both were completely used up there. But there was something that he could not help bringing back, for he could not be in the fragrant presence of Jehovah without taking on some of the fragrance. And while he performs the holy service of making atonement for the sanctuary and for the tent of meeting and for the altar, yea, until he has laid his hands upon the head of the scape-goat and confessed over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, he wears the linen garments fragrant with the perfume of the sweet incense he had burned within the holiest. But we read further on that he "shall put off the linen garments he put on when he went into the holy place and shall leave them there, and he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his garments and come forth" (Lev. 16:23, 24).

How careful the Lord is that not a trace of human effort or excitement should remain upon the body of the one who enters His holy presence. Even such holy service as Aaron had performed may, and often does, excite the flesh. Therefore that which speaks of the word of God (the water) must be fully and freely applied even in the midst of his service. Then Aaron puts on his garments that have been laid up in the holy place and comes forth to complete his service.

Of course, his was a unique privilege, not granted to the common people, nor yet to the priests. Even the dressing of the lamps in the morning and the lighting of them in the evening was his to do while the perpetual incense burned on the golden altar (Exod. 30:7, 8). But now the vail is rent, and we have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Therefore we may apply the lesson here to ourselves.

Surely the Lord would have our garments (habits) ever fragrant with that which speaks of the perfections of Christ. And that not only when serving in the holy place, hidden from the eyes of men, but when we "come forth." Therefore we need to guard against anything that would tell of fleshly energy or excitement. How necessary to have "our bodies washed with pure water;" the holy Word of God applied so that no foul, fleshly odors may mingle with that fragrance. And so let us put on our garments that have been lying in His presence and let them tell the wordless story of where we have been, and men will take note of us that we have been with Jesus.

How much our habits affect our ministry, our service! How often they hinder us from reaching some precious soul! If our approach to such were heralded by the sweet fragrance of the perfections of Christ, how much more welcome we might be! We live in a day of careless and even deceitful habits. Many, like Jacob, dress in stolen raiment and manage to deceive those whose eyes are dim. Therefore let us be "followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor" (Eph. 5:1,2), so that our garments (habits) may, to some degree at least, "smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces" of His presence. Carl Armerding.