Curious Christian

I have been reading Book of Leviticus and noting along the way the repeated use on two simple elements: oil and incense.

In Leviticus, they reflect particular ways of understanding worship. Oil is mixed into the offering—it soaks through ordinary things, permeating them. Incense is placed on top and burned—it rises, marking the offering as wholly given to God. Together they form a pattern: a life infused, and a life offered.

This pattern reappears in Jesus. At his birth in Gospel of Matthew, frankincense is brought to him, a recognition that his life is oriented toward God. Before his death in Gospel of John, costly oil is poured out on him, an act of extravagant devotion that anticipates his self-giving. What Leviticus expresses in ritual, Jesus embodies: a life fully saturated and fully given. He has become the offering.

By the time we reach Book of Revelation, the horizon widens. Incense is no longer tied to an altar but to the prayers of the saints, rising before God. Oil lingers in the background as the fuel for light and witness. The pattern has moved from ritual, to person, to people: lives infused with God’s presence, and lives offered back to him.

Oil and incense are no longer just materials of worship. They become a way of seeing the whole of life, permeated by God, and continually given to him.