Opening illustration: The story is told of a man who once went to Alexander the Great and asked for some financial help. Alexander told the man to go to his treasurer and ask for whatever he needed. A little later, the treasurer came to Alexander and told him he was hesitant to give the man what he asked for because he asked for an enormous amount. Alexander replied, “Give him what he asks for, he has treated me like a KING in his asking, and I shall be like a king in my giving.”
That is exactly how our heavenly father is. He is willing to pour out His anointing upon us but are we at that place where we surrender all and exalt Him as our King of kings and Lord of lords?
Introduction: There is a difference between worship and anointed worship, between singing and anointed singing, between having a church and anointed church service, between preaching and anointed preaching. This is what is going to make the difference in your life. Sometimes we think that the anointing is only for the people in ministry, but it is not so. The anointing makes the difference in the market place. The anointing will make your gifts and the call of God upon your life become profoundly powerful and fruitful. What makes us effective is the anointing not what we possess physically or our charm, or if we have put all our ducks in the row to have church this morning or even any event, we do. Those things may be important, but the anointing is what separates us from everything else.
1 John 2:20 says, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.” This is the unction that is given to us by the Holy Spirit and abides in us. It is something about the anointing that gives us the unction … it quickens us. Paul talks about the ability to do something. To anoint means to smear on or to rub on which has a fragrance that we talked about last Sunday. In the OT they would pour a hin (6 quarts) of oil on a person to anoint them. What the text is getting at is that we must be drenched or saturated in the anointing. We don’t need mercy drops but a manifested outpouring of God’s Spirit upon our lives.
Today we are fighting bigger things than before. The prophet Joel said that in the last days God will pour out His Spirit. He is not just going to touch you or momentarily bless you. He wants His Spirit to be saturated in us. He wants us to be drenched in the anointing. He desires everyone in the body of Christ to have the anointing. It is not just for the Christian leadership but for every believer. The anointing comes out of the breaking, the crushing; the anointing comes out of that which is pounded that which has gone through something. Some of you can’t do anything because you have not been through anything. And when you go through something, you quit half way through. You must hold on because when you come out, you will come out with something in your hand that is called the anointing. And it is not about you or for you. It is for the edification of the body of Christ and God’s glory. It will help other people to get free.
How does the anointing make the difference in our lives?
1. COMPLETE CONSECRATION (vs. 26-31)
This signifies that which is communicative to all who receive in love and faith, is evident from the signification of "touching," as being communication; and from the signification of "being made holy," as being the influx and presence of the Lord; and as the influx and presence of the Lord are in love and faith, thus are with those who receive Him in love and faith, these are they who are here said to be "made holy" but it is the Divine with them, which alone is holy, and not at all what is their own.
That this signifies inauguration to represent the Lord in both kingdoms, is evident from the signification of "anointing," as being to induce a representation; from the representation of Aaron, as being the Lord in respect to Divine good celestial, thus in the celestial kingdom; and from the representation of the sons of Aaron, as being the Lord in respect to spiritual good, thus in the spiritual kingdom.
That this signifies in all things of the church, is evident from the signification of "generations," when said of the sons of Israel, by whom is signified the church, as being those who are of the church; thus, abstractedly from persons, the things which are of the church. It is said "abstractedly from persons," because the Divine things which proceed from the Lord make the church, and nothing whatever man does so: these Divine things do indeed flow in with man, but still they do not become man‘s, but are the Lord’s with man. This being the case, when the angels are speaking together, they speak abstractedly from persons; and for the same reason, neither does the name of any person enters heaven of whom mention is made in the Word, but the thing which is there signified by the person. That all names of persons and of places in the Word signify actual things; and that names do not enter heaven.
As the Jewish nation did not acknowledge anything holy in the Word except in the mere sense of its letter, which they completely separated from the internal sense, they fell into such darkness that they did not recognize the Lord when He came into the world. At the present day that nation is of the same character, and therefore, although they live among Christians, they, nevertheless, still do not acknowledge the Lord from the Word. That from the earliest time that nation was in external things without internal. Therefore, unless the Lord had come into the world and opened the interior things of the Word, the communication with the heavens by means of the Word would have been broken; and then the human race on this earth would have perished, for man can think no truth and do no good except from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord; and the Word is that which opens heaven.
When Moses was anointed, they had to put a veil over his face because it was shining with the glory of God. Stephen was so anointed that when he stood to preach, he could not resist with the spirit he spoke that his face was lit up like an angel. We must be lit up by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The anointing makes the difference. It makes the difference on your prayers, on your praise, on your spirit, on your house and on your family.
2. NO DEAL WITH THE FLESH (v. 32)
That this signifies that which is not communicative to what is man‘s own, is evident from the signification of "the flesh of man," as being that which is his own; and from the signification of "pouring," as being to communicate; for the like is signified by "pouring" as by " touching," but "pouring" is said of liquids, as of oil, wine, and water, and "pouring forth" of things Divine, celestial, and spiritual; while "touching" is said of things dry and bodily. That "to touch" denotes to communicate. Hence it follows that by the oil of anointing not being poured on the flesh of man is signified that the Divine good of the Lord’s Divine love is not communicative to that which is man‘s own, because that which is man’s own is nothing but evil, and the Lord‘s Divine good cannot be communicated to what is evil. That what is man’s own is nothing but evil.
Jesus said, Blessed art thou Simon, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father who is in the heavens (Matt. 16:17); that "flesh" here, and also "blood," denote that which is man‘s own, is very evident.
As many as received Him, to them, He gave power to be the sons of God, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God (John 1:12, 13).
By "bloods" are here signified the falsities which come forth from that which is man’s own in his understanding; and by "the will of the flesh" are signified the evils which come forth from that which is his own in his will. That "bloods" denote falsity from evil, thus what is man‘s own in the understanding derived from what is his own in the will.
In Romans 8:5-8 it says, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Galatians 3:3 says, “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” So many folks started out in the Spirit, and as they got matured physically they learnt how to go through the motions of ministry and the church that now you are leaning on the arm of the flesh.
Cursed is the man who trusts in man … who trusts the flesh. The flesh profits nothing. It is the Spirit that quickens.
Illustration: How David was anointed? God did not look at the external flesh but only at the heart. Is our heart pure and righteous before God? What was David doing out in the field? Worshiping God in private … that’s how you get anointed in public. When Samuel anointed him king, the word of God says that the anointing came upon David from that day forth. He did not have anything much. When he was asked to put on the armor to fight Goliath, he said I would rather take my sling than all this stuff. I would rather have the anointing on the little that I have than a whole lot without the anointing. There is a difference when the anointing is upon us. There is no giant that will NOT fall when you move in the anointing of the Holy Spirit. There is a freedom when the anointing comes, there is an unction when the anointing comes. No one will be able to stand against you when the anointing comes. The devil is afraid of you when you have the anointing. Out of our own convenience, we lean on other things rather than the anointing.
3. SEPARATES GOD’S CHOSEN (v. 33)
The Hebrew word for anointing is where we get the word Messiah, which means ‘the anointed one,’ or ‘the one set apart to God’; it is translated in the Greek as ‘Christ.’ We see Jesus, who fulfills the role of the promised Messiah, who holds the title of the Christ, speak of his anointing in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth.
What a fragrant aroma is this! Wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, the fear of the LORD. Isaiah goes on to describe the outflow of the Spirit-empowered life of Jesus in righteousness, equity, justice, faithfulness. Jesus is our great example of what the Spirit-controlled life looks like.
That this signifies separation and spiritual death, is evident from the signification of being "cut off" and of being "slain," as being to be separated from those who are in good and the truths thence derived, and to perish as to spiritual life; and from the signification of "peoples," as being those of the church who are in the truths and goods of faith; and thus to be "cut off from the peoples" denotes to be separated from them and perish. In the Word those who are of the church are sometimes called a "people," sometimes a "nation," as "the Israelitish people," and "the Jewish nation." By a "people" is there signified those who are of the spiritual church, and by a "nation," those who are of the celestial church. It is from this that "peoples" signify the truths and goods of faith; however, "nations," the goods of love.
If God’s Spirit does not dwell in you, that is evidence that you do not belong to Christ, because everyone who belongs to him has God’s Holy Spirit poured out on them. The anointing oil marked off and set apart things and people as God’s and gave them a distinct fragrance. God sets us apart as His by pouring out His Holy Spirit on us.
Matthew Skariah said, “God’s anointed vessels are not entertainers, comedians, soothsayers, nor are they stylish. They are real, broken, humble vessels that are sanctioned and empowered by God to share His unsearchable riches to a lost and dying world. When God breaks us, we become equipped, energized, filled, thrilled, enlightened, tried, purified, electrified, trained, and tempered. God’s refining process is unilateral.”
There are gifts lying dormant in you. What the anointing does is that it brings the best out of you. When the anointing is upon you, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are manifested profoundly from your life and ministry. The atmosphere around you and your ministry changes when the anointing is upon you … it is a sweet-smelling aroma. You don’t have to go around proclaiming that you are anointed. Everyone will witness it when it is upon you. They will know that there is something different and unusual about you. What is it about you? You have such a peace and joy in you? It is the anointing. And I am so thankful that it is available to us today.
Do not impart the anointing oil upon strangers or unbelievers. If you stay distant from God, do not expect to have the anointing. This is only for chosen vessels, those who are separated for God. The anointing is the witness of the Holy Spirit of a sanctified life. Hebrews 10:15 says, “But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us."
Ecclesiastes 9:8 tells us “Let your garments always be white, And let your head lack no oil.” The garments symbolize the purity in those who are consecrated, separated and chosen for God. Purity always produces power. We have come to a point in this generation where the word sanctification makes people gag. They do not want to do anything with being separated, holy, consecrated, sanctified or being different from the world. The only thing that anointing is attracted to, is a person who is holy, separated, consecrated, set apart and sanctified. My life is for Jesus, and I don’t care what anyone thinks about it. If anything is going to hinder my anointing, I don’t need it. I don’t want it. For me, I want the anointing more than anything else in the world. The anointing makes the difference.
When we try to do anything without the anointing, God destroys it because it doesn’t reflect His glory. In the Old Testament we read that Nahab from the Bihu tribe tried to do something that they were not anointed to do, and they were destroyed by fire. Saul tried to step into the shoes of Samuel for which he was not anointed, and his kingdom was taken away from him. What God is getting at is: Don’t ever try to do it in the flesh what I can only anoint to do by My Spirit.
The final thing I will touch here is that God instructs Moses not to make a substitute of the oil to use for something else other than what was instructed. Do not make something in its likeness and pretend that it is the real thing. Today in the church, we are living in an era of substitutes. We think we can substitute the anointing for other things when there is nothing that will get the job done like the anointing.
Ending illustration: In 2 Chronicles 12:10 the word of God tells us that Rehoboam took 300 shields of brass because the ones that were of gold were stolen by the enemy as Israel had back-slidden. He was afraid of what would happen to the morale of his country-men, so he put brass shields outside the temple and got them polished so that they would look like gold. The soldiers guarded them and when Israel gathered they were kept at a good distance to behold the shields which were shining in the sun looking like gold but were of brass. I wonder how much we have in the church today are just brass shields. We are trying very hard to imitate the real thing which is the anointing of the Holy Spirit. There is no imitation that can be compared to the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The anointing makes the difference.
Application: When the anointing is upon you, it will make things happen that you can’t make happen. God desires to anoint everyone who is hearing this proclamation. Only the anointing makes the difference.
