Understanding the anointing
Part 1
The Anointing on Jesus In Old Testament times, the common layman (we'd call him a "believer" today) had no anointing in him or on him. The presence of God was kept shut up in the Holy of Holies in the Temple. But God would anoint the king to stand in that office; He would anoint the priest to stand in that office; and He would anoint the prophet to stand in that office. The Spirit of God would come upon these three types of individuals to enable them to stand in their respective offices. David had all of these anointings. David was king, and he also was priest and prophet. In the 92nd Psalm, David said, "...I shall be anointed with fresh oil" (v. 10). Oil is a type of the Holy Spirit. (Often we need a fresh anointing.) Anointings Today God is still anointing prophets today. Prophets are spokesmen for Him. The prophetic office includes anything that speaks for God—which would be all of the teaching and preaching offices—but especially that of the prophet, because that is the anointing involved. God is still anointing people to preach, to testify, and to sing. And He's still anointing priests. What was the function of the priest? He represented other people. Other people couldn't go into the presence of God in the Holy of Holies, but the priest— the High Priest—could go into the Holy of Holies, so he was the intercessor for the people. God is still anointing intercessors. He's anointing people to pray. There's an anointing there. And He's anointing kings. We're all kings, glory to God. Romans 5:17 says that we shall "reign in life." It's because of the 11 Understanding the Anointing anointing that we're able to reign. Other Old Testament references to the anointing include these texts from Zechariah and Isaiah. ZECHARIAH 4:6 6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might [or army], nor by power, but BY MY SPIRIT, saith the Lord of hosts. We always think of might and power in connection with the Spirit of God. When God speaks of might and power in this Scripture, He's talking about human might. He's telling Zerubbabel, "It's not by the power of an army, but it's by my Spirit that the battle is going to be won." It's by the Spirit of God that victories come, not by the hand of man. ISAIAH 10:27 27 And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed BECAUSE OF THE ANOINTING. Sometimes we turn that phrase around and say, "It's the anointing that destroys (or breaks) the yoke." That's saying absolutely the same thing: The yoke shall be destroyed because o f the anointing. This is true in our lives and ministries as well: The yoke of sickness or anything else that the devil tries to put on us will be destroyed because o f the anointing. In the New Testament, we see how the anointing was on the ministry of Jesus, and we can learn about ministering under the anointing. LUKE 4:14-19 14 And Jesus returned in the POWER of the SPIRIT into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. Notice in the fourteenth verse, the word "power" is used in connection with the Holy Spirit. Combining these two verses, 12 The Anointing on Jesus we could say, "He returned in the power of the Spirit and He taught," or, "He taught in the power of the Spirit" (for there is an anointing to teach). 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias [Isaiah]. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath ANOINTED me TO PREACH the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me TO HEAL the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Notice in connection with the Holy Spirit there first was the word "power" (v. 14) and then the word "anointed" (v. 18). Peter, preaching to Cornelius and his household, said, ''How God ANOINTED Jesus o f Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed o f the devil; for God was with him" (Acts 10:38). Jesus said, "The Spirit o f the Lord is UPON me, because HE HATH ANOINTED M E . . . . " (Luke 4:18). God anointed Jesus primarily to do two things according to this entire verse: to preach and to heal. (In connection with preaching, Jesus also was anointed to teach.) The Ministry o f Jesus Christ When you discuss the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, most people immediately respond, "Well, yes, but He was the Son of God." And, of course, He was. But what they fail to realize is that He as the Son o f God was one thing and He as a person ministering was another thing. He did not minister as the Son o f God—He ministered as a mere man anointed by the Holy Spirit. 13 Understanding the Anointing If people would just stop and think for a moment, they would see this in the passage of Scripture we have just been studying in Luke 4. He was in His hometown of Nazareth on the sabbath day, went to the synagogue, and was given the scroll of Isaiah to read from. He read the passage we just studied: "The Spirit o f the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me. . . . " After He had finished reading, Jesus handed the scroll back to the minister, sat down, and began to teach the people. He said, "THIS DAY is this scripture fulfilled in your ears" (v. 21). If Jesus had been ministering as the Son o f God, He wouldn't have needed to be anointed. Or, if He had been ministering as God manifested in the flesh, would God have needed to be anointed? Who is going to anoint God? In Philippians 2:7, it says that Jesus "made himself o f no reputation, and took upon him the form o f a servant, and was made in the likeness o f men. " The King James Version is a little unclear here. Other translations say He "laid aside" or "stripped Himself" of "His mighty power and glory" when He came into this world, even though He was the Son of God. He came as a man. How did He do it? I don't know. The Bible says He did it, and I believe it! As I've said many times, Jesus was just as much the Son of God when He was 21 years old as He was when He was 30 years old. He was just as much the Son of God when He was 25 as He was when He was 30. He was just as much the Son of God all those years—25, 26, 27, 28, 29, wasn't He? Yet in all of those years, He never healed a person or wrought a miracle! How do we know this? Because the Bible says so. The Bible tells us that Jesus was anointed after He was baptized of John in Jordan, and the Holy Spirit came upon Him in a bodily shape like a dove (Luke 3:22). God spoke from heaven and said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:17). 14 The Anointing on Jesus Jesus' First Miracle Then the Word of God tells us about Jesus' returning into the Galilee and attending the wedding feast at Cana with His mother. There He turned water into wine, and the Bible says this was the first miracle Jesus wrought: "This beginning o f miracles did Jesus in Cana o f Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him" (John 2:11). Jesus also had to be anointed before He could heal, because He had laid aside His mighty power and glory as the Son of God when He became a man. Although in person He was the Son of God, in power He was not the Son of God. Even though this may sound like a paradox, can you understand it? When people say, "Well, yes—but Jesus was the Son of God," that puts Him in ministry in a class by Himself. That would mean that nobody else could minister that way—or even come close to it—if Jesus in ministry is in a class by Himself. Now, as a person, because He is the Son of God, He is in a class by Himself. But in ministry, He is not in a class by Himself. Why? Remember what Jesus said in John's Gospel? JOHN 14:12 12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and GREATER WORKS THAN THESE SHALL HE DO; because I go unto my Father. Therefore, if Jesus' works—His ministry is His works— were in a class by themselves, as so many people believe, then Jesus told a falsehood. He said, "...the works that I do shall he [who believes on Jesus] do also; and GREATER WORKS than these shall he d o . . . . " So Jesus Himself did not place His works or His ministry in a class by themselves. Why has this not been properly understood? We have not thoroughly studied the Word on this subject because we have been religiously brainwashed. We have thought, Well, there's no 15 Understanding the Anointing need o f going into that, because Jesus is the Son o f God, and I couldn't minister that way, anyway. And so, of course, we've missed it. Jesus in the Fivefold Ministries Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:8 that when Christ ascended on High, He gave gifts to men. What were these gifts? They are listed in the eleventh verse: "And he gave some, APOSTLES; and some, PROPHETS; and some, EVANGELISTS; and some, PASTORS and TEACHERS These are commonly referred to as "the fivefold ministry gifts." Actually, Jesus stood in all of the fivefold ministries—every one of them—and He's our example in every one of them. First, He stood in the office of the apostle. He's called an apostle in the third chapter of Hebrews: HEBREWS 3:1 1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the APOSTLE and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. The Greek word apostolos translated "apostle" means "a sent one," so Jesus is the foremost example of "a sent one." He was sent by God and by the Holy Spirit. Second, Jesus stood in the office of the prophet. Jesus calls Himself a prophet in the fourth chapter of Luke's Gospel: "No PROPHET is accepted in his own country" (v. 24). Then you remember the story of the woman at the well in Samaria. She said she wanted the living water Jesus promised, but when He told her to go get her husband, she admitted, "I have no husband" (John 4:17). Jesus replied, "Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly" (vv. 17,18). In other words, Jesus said the man she was living with wasn't her husband. (In this modern day, we've encountered 16 The Anointing on Jesus some people even in charismatic circles who are living together without marriage, saying, "Oh well, God knows, and he's really my husband." He's no more your husband than you are a monkey's uncle.) The woman at Jacob's Well acknowledged, "Sir, I perceive that thou art a PROPHET" (v. 19). She left her waterpot, returned to the city, and told the people, "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" (v. 29). One aspect of the prophet's ministry is that he sees and knows things supernaturally. (In the Old Testament he sometimes was called a "seer.") So Jesus was a prophet. He also stood in the office of the evangelist. He said in Luke 4:18, "The Spirit o f the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to PREACH THE GOSPEL. . . . " That's what the evangelist is anointed to do: preach the Gospel, the Good News. Fourth, Jesus stood in the office of pastor. He said, "l am the good SHEPHERD" (John 10:14). The word "shepherd" is the same word that's translated "pastor." Peter calls Jesus "the chief Shepherd" (1 Peter 5:4). Fifth, Jesus stood in the office of teacher. The four Gospels say more about His teaching than anything else, if you go through and underline the word "teach" or "taught." Jesus taught more than He healed. He taught more than He preached. Teaching was first with Him. Matthew 9:35 says, "He went about all the cities and villages, TEACHING in their synagogues, and PREACHING the gospel o f the kingdom, and HEALING every sickness and every disease among the people." His ministry consisted of teaching, preaching, and healing. There is an anointing that goes with each of these offices. And if you'll function in your office, the anointing will be there. It can become stronger—it can be increased—or you can cause it to diminish and decrease, as we will study later. 17 Understanding the Anointing The Spirit Without Measure John the Baptist, speaking about Jesus, infers Jesus had the Holy Spirit without measure, inferring that we as individuals have the Spirit by measure: JOHN 3:34 34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth NOT the Spirit BY MEASURE unto him. There is a measure of the Holy Spirit in the believer for a certain purpose, but an anointing comes upon you to stand in the office (or ministry) to which God has called you. Although it's the same Holy Spirit, it's a different anointing. Because the Lord Jesus Christ had the Holy Spirit without measure, He stood in all five of the main ministry gifts, and He is the model for all of us to follow.
You must be logged in to post a comment.