“…whose hearts God had touched …” (1 Sam. 10:26, NKJV)
The third spiritual sense we are looking at is the spiritual sense of touch. Let us begin by way of talking about what this sense is not: it is not physical reactions like experiencing goose bumps, nor of getting a certain ‘spiritual feeling’ about a place or a person or a situation, it is also not the experience of having a premonition. Many of these types of feelings are quasi-spiritual and actually strictly speaking mere fictionalised spiritual experiences. Some physical touch experiences of a spiritual nature, for instance the occurrence of hands becoming warm during prayer, has a demonic origin (see the teachings of Day 788-790).
It is important to remember that the spiritual sense of touch does not have a physical correlate, and although we often look for it we are misled in the process.
There are two specific ways in which this spiritual sense functions. Firstly, it happens because God or the Holy Spirit touches you. A beautiful example of this is found in 1 Sam. 10:26: “And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and valiant men went with him, whose hearts God had touched.” One finds the same concept being phrased differently in Ezra 1:5: “Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all whose spirits God had moved, arose to go up and build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem.” For Nehemiah (2:11-12) it was the following experience: “So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem …”
In 2 Cor. 8:16-17 God says the following about Titus – look at the synergy of events that unfold after God touched Titus in a specific way: “But thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus. For he not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent, he went to you of his own accord.” In Rev. 17:17 it is spelled out as follows: “For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.”
Interestingly enough Acts 17:27 says exactly the opposite about heathen nations, namely that God too can be touched: “so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us”.
This is certainly a spiritual process of touching and feeling, given that God too can touch!
Secondly – when Scripture speaks of our experience of feeling the Lord it is speaking about the other way in which this spiritual sense functions. From the book Genesis (3:2) we read of “the presence of Jehovah God” (ASV). In this way God for instance promises Moses: “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” (Ex. 33:14, ASV), but of Cain is said: “And Cain went out from the presence of Jehovah …” (Gen. 4:16, ASV).
From Ps. 51:11 we learn that the presence of God occurs through the touch of the Holy Spirit.
In 2 Cor. 2:17 Paul refers to this as being “in the presence of God”. A few chapters later he extends this by speaking of being “in the presence of God in Christ”. Please selah about this, especially in the light of your new understanding of Christ, as it certainly confirms the statement Jesus makes in Matt. 18:20: “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
In 1 Thess. 2:19 Paul makes this important remark: “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?” In the next while we will look at the different parousias or comings or appearances of Jesus (for instance: He comes as bridegroom; He comes as a thief in the night; He comes as the latter rain; He comes as a consuming fire, etc). But what is important now is that each parousia or coming of Jesus in your life today is a manifestation of His presence – literally an opportunity in which He can touch you. Do you remember the chorus of Elvis Presley’s famous old gospel song?
He touched me,
Oh, He touched me
And Oh the joy that floods my soul
Something happened and now I know
He touched me and made me whole.
It is also an absolute privilege to know that what Heb. 4:15 (ASV) notes concerning Jesus is an undeniable truth: “For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities …” He is the high priest that has mercy with our shortcomings.
The fourth spiritual sense is that of smell. It does sometimes happen that people smell an agreeable scent in the natural world for which no ostensible origin can be found, but this is not necessarily what we’re talking about here. I have for instance sat in a closed room and was enveloped by the sweet smell of green apples, and when I asked where it came from, I got Song of Solomon 7:8: “the fragrance of your breath like apples …”! 2 Cor. 2:15 notes it as such: “For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.” It’s starting to seem like a tendency that the spiritual senses become manifest in and through the Christ! This means that you can smell the Christ identity of the Bride! Ps. 45:8 declares that the Bride’s garments are “scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia”. It becomes quite insightful if you read Song of Solomon 1:3 along with this: “Because of the fragrance of your good ointments, Your name is ointment poured forth …” Anointing and identity in Christ carries a particular spiritual scent that can be smelled! It is “the aroma of life leading to life” (2 Cor. 2:16), in other words the spiritual fragrance of the identities in Christ is what allows you to live (the word live here is zōē, which is not just ordinary life, but life in the holy of holies!) These lives feature the mark of the umbilical cord of Christ, typologically reflected in the red rope Rahab hangs for Joshua in Jericho (Joshua 2:18 & 21; Matt. 1:5). The city name Jericho then also means “fragrance”. In many instances in the New Testament Paul refers to the fact that the spiritual sacrifices believers bring produce a pleasant fragrance, specifically for God (2 Cor. 2:14; Eph. 5:2; Phil. 4:18) to enjoy.
Fifth, and finally: the spiritual sense of taste. The Word dares us to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. 34:8). Heb. 6:4-5 points out that believers can “taste … the heavenly gift,” but also “the good word of God”. This word is rhema!
It is absolutely clear that our spiritual senses are directly related to the unfolding mysteries in Christ!
- Selah: Realise how important your identity in Christ is to your total spiritual functioning.
- Read: 46-51
- Memorise: 46:9-10
