Darlene Rose

We enter the wilderness testifying of the sacrifices we made to follow Christ. We emerge from the wilderness testifying of the sacrifice He made so that we could walk by His side.


Matthew 19:27 Then Peter responded and said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?

Psalm 45: 8 All Your garments are fragrant with myrrh, aloes, and cassia;
From ivory palaces stringed instruments have made You joyful.

Song of Solomon 3:6 What is this coming up from the wilderness
Like columns of smoke,
Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
With all the scented powders of the merchant?

Song of Solomon 8:5 “Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
Leaning on her beloved?”

Solomon, a type of Christ, is fragrant with the aromatic fragrances and scented powders of the merchant as he comes through the Wilderness, smelling like Wilderness fragrances; the fragrances of bittersweetness, intercession, worship, humility and authority.

The Bittersweetness of the Cross
For the word of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.” 1 Co 1:18-19

The Cross of Christ was very bitter, and only One was able to pick it up. He alone was able to die for the sins of all mankind that we would choose to accept His salvation and live eternally by His side.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but Have everlasting life.” John 3:16

As myrrh carries a bitter taste before it has been heated, and becomes sweetened by passionate love, so too, is the bitterness of the death on the cross and the sweetness of the resurrection of Jesus.

He Worships the Father Alone

 Luke 4:5-8 And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory, for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I want. Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.” Jesus replied to him, “It is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”

The fragrance of the aloes (which is actually sandalwood) is the fragrance of the worship to the Father alone.

The Intercession He Makes

Hebrews 7:24-25 Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is also able to save forever those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

Because He forever lives to make intercession for us, we can be at peace, knowing that He has reconciled us to the Father, and the accuser has been struck down. He is forever forgiving, and forever standing in the place between us and the Father. He is our Mediator, our Adversary, and our High Priest.

As there was no finer almug tree before Solomon received his treasure from the Queen of Sheba, nor any day after, there is no Intercessor finer than, before or after, Jesus Christ, our Bridegroom King.

The fragrance of aloes is the fragrance of worship He emits as He worships His Father alone, and the intercession He forever makes on our behalf.

There is a type of the Cross as His union with the Father is both vertical and horizontal, worshiping who He is and for what He has done.

Philipians 2:5-11 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross. For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

 Revelation 14:14 I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.

Let this mind be in you, too.

The Shulamite woman had come up out of the wilderness leaning upon her Beloved. She could not possess the fragrances on her own; she could not express them because of any work she did.

Who is this coming up out of the wilderness leaning upon her Beloved?

We enter the wilderness thinking we have left everything we had to follow Jesus, but it is by virtue of our leaning upon Him that His fragrance becomes ours without paying the cost He paid!

WE SMELL LIKE HIM AS WE CONTINUALLY LEAN UPON HIM!

(From “All Your Garments” by Darlene Rose – available on Amazon).