Daily Bread - DEC/06/07

Genesis 28:18 - And Jacob rose up early in the morning and set up the stone that he had used under his head and he set it up as a pillar and he poured oil on the top of it.

The whole concept of being anointed began with Jacob anointing (mashach) the stone where God had revealed Himself (Genesis 31:13). The act of anointing something is then specifically tied to the consecration of the place where God dwells. That which was anointed by Jacob is the place where God's glory and power were revealed and the place where He was worshipped. From a New Testament perspective, all of these elements are more fully realized in that we have been made the living stones that are built up a spiritual house where God Himself dwells (1 Peter 2:5; Ephesians 2:21-22; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19). We were born of the Spirit and filled with the Spirit so that we can worship God in Spirit and in truth (John 4:23). Like Jesus, the Anointed One, we have been anointed with the divine ability of God too so that His glory and power may be revealed in our lives.

Anointing with oil was first extended to the priest in the sequence of events (Exodus 29:7). The anointing gave the priest the special ability of power and glory to minister before the presence of God in the sanctuary (Exodus 28:41; 40:13). The anointing oil was also used in a similar fashion as Jacob used it when it was used to anoint the dwelling place of God (Exodus 30:26; 40:9). The anointing oil was then used for the king and became more specifically tied to the empowerment of the Spirit of God given to those who were anointed. Saul was symbolically anointed by Samuel with the oil, but the actual event that brought the change and the divine power to be king took place when Saul met the prophets who were on their way to Bethel to worship (1 Samuel 10:1, 3). When Saul met them he was anointed with an oil of a different kind, and this oil was the power and glory of the Spirit of God that changed him into another man (1 Samuel 10:6, 10). The oil was also used to anoint the prophets which once again would be linked to the special endowment of divine ability to represent God (1 Kings 19:16).

Now those who were anointed king were referred to as the anointed (mashieach) of Yahweh or the messiah of Yahweh. It was from this that the whole concept of the Messiah - who is called Christ in the Greek - would be developed. We may understand then that every time we speak of Christ Jesus we are speaking about the anointing of the one who was anointed above all others (John 3:34; Colossians 2:19). Jesus is the one who was anointed without limitation and received the Spirit without measure. Jesus is the source and fountainhead of all the anointing (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Colossians 1:18; 2:19; Ephesians 4:12-15). The anointing that He has flows out of heaven into our souls supplying an unlimited flow of the glory and power of God like rivers of living water (John 7:37-39; Revelation 22:1-2, 17-18).

Be blessed,

Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
abidingplace.org