[Biblemat] S) SAVOUR OF LIFE AND OF DEATH

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  Here is a study from my
files.  Use to the glory of God.

SAVOUR OF LIFE AND OF DEATH

     "For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, 
and in them that perish: to the one we are the
savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of
life unto life..." (2 Cor. 2:15,16 KJV).

     Because of their military power, no doubt there were many
celebrations in Rome as their conquering armies again and
again marched into the city after victorious campaigns.  Proud citizens lined 
the route of the march, scattered flowers
and burned incense as expressions of their pride and over-
whelming elation.  The captives in chains followed the triump-
hant army.  Some would be put to death; others would be spared.  The odor of 
the incense to some would be the sweet
fragrance of life, to others the aroma of death.  Since Paul was well 
acquainted with the Roman military, he often taught
impressive lessons by referring to the activities of the Roman
soldier.  Perhaps he had seen these triumphal processions.
In any event in the passage under consideration he teaches
the lesson of a fragrance unto life on the one hand and unto
death on the other.

     Through the scriptures there are examples of the principle
of a savour of life and of death.

THE FLOOD: -- "By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, 
moved with godly fear, prepared an ark
for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the
world and became heir of the righteousness which is accord-
ing to faith" (Heb. 11:7).

     At the time Noah lived man had become utterly wicked, so
wicked that "every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil 
continually" (Gen. 6:5).  Imagine the moral condition
of a society in which man never had a wholesome thought, in
which every thought was evil, and evil continually.

     In some remarkable way, under such adverse circumstan-
ces, Noah lived a different kind of life.  He was a "just man, 
perfect in his generations.  Noah walked with God" (Gen. 6:9).
Because man had become so abominably wicked the Lord
said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of
the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am 
sorry that I have made them.  But Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord" (Gen. 6:7,8).

     In preparation for the great flood that would bring its des-
tructive forces upon the face of the earth God had Noah build
an ark.  Though man was thoroughly wicked, God still show-
ed His longsuffering in giving sinful man a means of escape.
During the time of the building of the ark, perhaps 120 years,
Noah, "a preacher of righteousness" (2 Pet. 2:5) must have
made pleas to the people to change their ways and find escape in the safety 
of the ark.  Through that long period of
time his preaching fell upon stopped ears and hardened hear-
ts.  Other than his own family he was unable to reach even
one soul.

     When God gave warning that after seven days the rain
would come, Noah and his family entered the ark.  The rains
continued until the waters prevailed fifteen cubits above the
highest mountains.  So God "destroyed all living things which
were on the face of the ground."  Paradoxically, the flood that
destroyed the wicked, saved Noah and his family from the
wicked world.  That which was a sovour of life for Noah and
his family was the savour of death to all others.

THE RED SEA: -- "By faith they passed through the Red Sea
as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so,
were drowned" (Heb. 11:29).

     After the death of the firstborn Pharaoh called for Moses
and Aaron and said, "Rise, go out from among my people..."
(Exo. 12:31).  When, however, the children of Israel had gone
out, he could not bring himself to allow thousands of free
laborers to go.  With his strong army and six hundred choice
chariots he pursued them.  Without weapons, without an army, the children of 
Israel were doomed to a return to bond-
age.  The Red Sea was before them.  The pursuing army of
Pharaoh was behind them.  It turned out, however, that they
were defended by a power far greater than all the forces of
Pharaoh.

     When it seemed there was no way of escape.  God moved 
back the waters of the sea, and the chidren of Israel "passed
through as by dry land."  The Egyptians attempting to do the
same thing were swallowed up.  "So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the 
hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the
Egyptians dead on the seashore" (Exo. 14:30).  The waters
of the Red Sea, that which was a sovour of life for Israel was
a savour of death for the Egyptians.

THE GOSPEL: -- "For I not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who be-
lieves, for the Jew first and also the Greek" (Rom. 1:16).

     To those who obey it is the savour of life unto life.  It saves from sin 
(Acts 2:38), from fear (Matt. 10;28), from anx-
iety (Phil. 4:6,7), from want (Matt. 6:33), from a life without a
high purposeful goal (Matt. 5:16), from eternal death (2 Thes.
1:7-9).

     To those who disobey it is a savour of death unto death,
to suffering that knows no end.  In the great judgment day
Jesus will say, "And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the 
righteous into eternal life" (Matt. 25:46).
As long as one will be blessed, the other will be punished --
and that is forever.

     There is only one power unto salvation, and that is the
gospel.  He who is wise will seek to live by its guidance, for in
the end by it we will be judged.  "He who rejects Me, and does
not receive My Words, has that which judges him -- the Word that I have 
spoken will judge him in the last day" (Jno. 12:48).
--------- Billy Norris in Gospel Guide, Vol. 29, No. 7, July 1996.   </HTML>
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