Exodus 30:22–38-Daily Devotional · Friday, December 19, 2025

Exodus 30:22–38 (Transcript)
Daily Devotional · Friday, December 19, 2025

Speaker: Pastor John Chen
Transcribed & Edited by: Joseph Wang(Yufan)
Category: Daily Devotional

Peace to you, dear brothers and sisters.

By the grace of God, we come to a new day to study our daily devotional reading. Today’s passage is Exodus 30:22–38.

Let us pray.

Gracious God, we thank You for Your kindness and mercy. It is by Your mercy and protection, and by the guidance of Your Holy Spirit, that You lead us to follow You. We ask that You would continue to guide us by Your Spirit among us, so that we may better understand Your heart.

In the name of Christ, Amen.

Today’s passage covers two matters: the making of the holy anointing oil and the making of the incense. After all the furnishings of the tabernacle have been described, the LORD now gives instructions concerning the anointing oil.

Beginning in verse 22, the holy anointing oil is made from myrrh, cinnamon, fragrant cane, cassia, and olive oil. If you look carefully at the measurements given in the text, the total amount of this sacred oil is substantial—approximately twenty kilograms in weight. This was no small quantity.

This holy anointing oil was to be applied to the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin with its stand. Aaron and his sons were also to be anointed with it.

In other words, nearly every sacred object in the tabernacle was to be anointed with this holy oil, and the priests themselves were also to be anointed.

This reveals two important elements in the consecration of the sanctuary. First, the objects were consecrated by the application of blood. Second, they were consecrated by anointing with oil. Blood made them holy, but the anointing made them most holy.

We have already discussed that the application of blood points to the covering work of Jesus Christ. Christ bore our sins and paid our sin debt, and He also fulfilled all righteousness on our behalf. This is what the blood signifies.

What, then, does the anointing signify?

The anointing represents the filling and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Brothers and sisters, on the path of sanctification, every Christian needs two things: the covering of Christ’s precious blood and the anointing and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes people mistakenly think that Reformed theology does not emphasize the work of the Holy Spirit. This is entirely untrue. In fact, the work of the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential in salvation and sanctification.

We are regenerated by the Holy Spirit. We were dead in trespasses and sins, and it is the Spirit who, through the Word, effectually calls us, grants us faith, leads us to repentance, and unites us to Christ. The Holy Spirit applies the finished work of Christ to us.

In the order of salvation—calling, justification, sanctification, adoption, and glorification—every step depends entirely on the work of the Holy Spirit. For this reason, it can even be said that Reformed theology takes the work of the Spirit most seriously.

The Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms repeatedly emphasize that the Holy Spirit freely bestows grace at every stage of salvation. Without the Spirit’s work, no one can walk the path of holiness.

Just as these sacred furnishings could not be used until they were anointed, so the Christian life cannot proceed apart from the Spirit’s guidance.

First and foremost, all of this points to Christ Himself. Christ offered the perfect sacrifice, and the Spirit was given to Him without measure so that He might accomplish His redemptive mission. Yet these anointed objects also point to believers who are united to Christ. We follow the path that Christ has already completed—not perfectly, but truly, because we are in Him.

From Exodus 25 onward, everything we have studied points to Christ and instructs us in how we are to live. None of these passages are irrelevant to us.

At this point, it is important to clarify what the guidance of the Holy Spirit is—and what it is not. The Spirit’s guidance is not primarily through extraordinary dreams, visions, or private revelations. The Spirit’s main work is to lead us to Christ, to illuminate Scripture, and to deepen our understanding of the gospel.

A person filled with the Spirit is not someone who constantly seeks supernatural signs, but someone who increasingly knows Christ, loves God’s Word, and desires to obey it.

The Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. He intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. He comforts us in affliction and assures us of the reality of the coming kingdom as a down payment of our inheritance.

The holy anointing oil was not to be imitated or used for common purposes. This teaches us that the work of the Holy Spirit cannot be manufactured, copied, or replaced. False spiritual experiences often arise when people confuse the Spirit’s true work with self-centered desires or deceptive influences.

The Spirit’s work always directs us to Christ, never to ourselves.

The passage then turns to the making of the incense. These costly spices were to be prepared according to the LORD’s instructions, ground finely, and burned on the altar of incense. This incense was most holy.

Yesterday we spoke about prayer as a way of life. Here, verses 34–38 teach us about the content of our prayers. The ingredients of the incense point us again to Christ. Our prayers must be shaped by the pattern Christ Himself taught us—the Lord’s Prayer.

Prayer is not self-centered wish-making. It is a God-centered response that seeks the sanctification of God’s name, the coming of His kingdom, and the fulfillment of His will.

Only prayers that align with God’s will can rise before Him as a pleasing offering. This incense was reserved exclusively for the LORD, reminding us that prayer is an act of worship, not a tool for personal gain.

As we reflect on these chapters, we see that every instruction—though it may seem distant from daily life—directly addresses our spiritual formation. All of it points first to Christ, and then shapes us to live as His people.

Christ Himself prayed perfectly, taught us how to pray, and even now intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father. Because He prays for us, our prayers are heard.

Yet this does not remove our responsibility to learn how to pray according to God’s will. We rely on the Spirit to guide us, to teach us, and to draw us continually into communion with God.

From Exodus 25 through chapter 30, the construction of the sacred furnishings is complete. These passages are not merely historical details. They call us to live lives shaped by heavenly worship, guided by the Spirit, centered on Christ, and devoted to the glory of God.

May the Lord help us to live above what is merely earthly, and to worship Him according to the pattern He has revealed, so that we may glorify Him in this life.

That is all for today. Thank you.