CHAPTER I
THIS IS THE HOLY GHOST
It should be noted at the outset, that the “Anointing” for us in this gospel age, is the Holy Ghost Himself. In Acts 10:38, Peter said how, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost”. The anointing was the Holy Ghost. In that case, the anointed was Jesus of Nazareth. Today, we are anointed by Jesus, or as some scriptures say, God (the Father). The anointing for us in any area of our salvation and of life is the Holy Spirit Himself. It is not a feeling, an experience or a touch, atmosphere or cloud. We may well know Him in our reaction to Him in those areas we thus verbalize but the anointing is to be known as the Holy Spirit Himself. It is the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead who works within us.
In the church, the Spirit is not said to work in “anointings” in the New Testament. We may call it such but His workings go much deeper. We are told in 1 Corinthians 12:7 that it is the “manifestation” of the Spirit operating in our midst. The Spirit is within the temple of the Living God whose temple we are, 2 Corinthians 6:16, and He manifests Himself as He will. He does this through gifts and graces that are given to different members of the Body of Christ. This is a greater operation than ever the “anointing” that came upon the kings and prophets of the Old Testament.
Thus the Holy Spirit, who comes in a way different from that of the Old Testament, manifests His works in whatever form, in our midst. He is the third Person in the Trinity. However, to us who are in Christ, He comes as the Spirit (Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ) who fills Jesus Christ and who is sent by Him. The Spirit comes as He who inter-penetrates the very Being of Jesus Christ, God and Man forever, the One who obtained redemption for us on the cross and through His resurrection.
2 Corinthians 1:21 says that “He who anointed us is God”. God is the Father. 1 John 1:20 reads, “But you have been anointed by the Holy One”. These are the only verses in the New Testament that speak of our being anointed. They are both in the past tense. The “Holy One” is Jesus Christ Himself, as in Acts 2:27,”For you will not forsake my soul in the grave, Nor give up your Holy One to suffer decay”; Acts 13:35, “You will not let your Holy One experience decay”; Mark 1:24, “The Holy One of God”.
The Holy Spirit is the same Person who came upon Jesus and who fills us. It cannot be said to be the same Anointing. It can be said to be of the same Anointing. We are not anointed to make an atonement. We are not “anointed as Jesus was”. We do not have the Holy Spirit “without measure” as Jesus did. We cannot dispense the Holy Spirit as Jesus now does.
Jesus was anointed particularly as the “Servant of the Lord” who was specially sent. We are not sent like He was. He was sent from heaven. Jesus was not born again. We are born again. He is the Redeemer. We are the redeemed. Throughout the Old Testament He is not only spoken of as the Servant but as a Divine Person. In Isaiah 9:6 He is called, “Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God” and in Isaiah 42:1 as the “Servant of the Lord”.
The manner of His birth is prefigured in Genesis 2:7, “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being”. This was the first Adam. The birth of Jesus bears a similarity. His body was created by God through the Holy Spirit, “breath”. This is revealed to Mary in Luke 1:35, “The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God”. This was the last Adam.
In His birth and manhood, He was graced, filled and led by the Spirit. Jesus was not an ordinary man. It is said in Isaiah 48:16, “the Lord God has sent me (the Son) and His Spirit”. The Spirit of God had a part to do in the incarnation and in the whole mediatorial work of Christ.
Jesus received the unction or anointing of the Spirit for ministry. It was upon Him as the God-Man and not only on Him as a man. His humanity was taken into hypostatic union by Him as the Son of God. He had two natures, on earth. It was the Person of Christ who was anointed. We read about it in John 1:32-34, “Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.
Also in Matthew 3:16,17 “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased’.” This was the Christ. It was not that He became Christ. He was Christ at His birth, as in Luke 2:11, “Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord”.
It was as that One Person with the two natures that He ascended to heaven He received from the Father, the promised Holy Ghost “to pour out” as it was experienced, seen and heard in Acts 2:4,33. The unction of the Christ had a place in the incarnation, at His baptism, in His ministry, in His crucifixion and resurrection and in His ascension. The Spirit worked on Christ’s humanity throughout all His mediatory acts, on earth and in heaven. It was His divine Person who was anointed by the Spirit.
We need to understand what the anointing on Jesus was and is all about. The Spirit was given to Him, Luke 2:40, in the personal union of the two natures. Deity in Him communicated with His manhood by the Holy Ghost. Isaiah 61:2, shows He was anointed for the office of Messiah or Christ. He did His miracles by the power of the Spirit. His human nature was victorious by the Spirit in the temptation from Satan. He brought the Kingdom of God to the people, casting out devils by the Spirit of God, Matthew 12:28. By the eternal Spirit, He “offered Himself without spot to God”, Hebrews 9:14. Christ, in the union of His two natures, Divine and human, died on the cross. What He did in either nature, belongs to the whole Person of Christ. He is not divided. We can never be said to be anointed as Jesus was.
Jesus Christ in heaven is our Mediator. He is also the deposit of the Holy Spirit Himself. We cannot now say He is “The Anointed”. He is “the Anointer”. He is the deposit. Not only that, as He has the Holy Spirit without measure, the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus are One. The Holy Spirit comes to us through the Person of Jesus Christ, who is human as well as Divine.
Therefore, after the ascension of Jesus, the Holy Spirit has a knowledge of the human that He did not have before. Jesus is the Man of Glory and the Holy Spirit is so intimate with the Spirit of Jesus that He can be said to be the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are still two Persons, each being Deity. The Lord Jesus Christ is no longer “the Anointed” on earth and it never will happen to Him again. He is now “the Anointer” who anoints us with the “Anointing”, the Holy Spirit.
In recent years amongst certain Charismatics and Pentecostals, much is said about “the anointing” in relation to a preacher. Sometimes the term “the Anointed” is used of Jesus.
Perhaps saying, “the anointing”, as Benny Hinn does, removes the need to think of being filled with the Spirit and speaking in other tongues from within? How is it that the deception is ‘the anointing’ can be imparted by blowing on people, waving the hand or coat or by the laying on of hands even by “slaying” people? Perhaps it is that by calling Jesus “the Anointed” His essential Deity on earth is being denied while there is an emphasis on His “manhood, able to sin and not as God on earth”? These things are unscriptural.
The single title, “Christos”, or “Anointed”, is sometimes used without the Article “the” to signify the One who by His Holy Spirit and power indwells believers and moulds them in conformity to His likeness, Romans 8:10; Galatians 2:20; 4:19; Ephesians 3:17. Look at “Christ in you, the hope of glory” Colossians 1:27 and “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him” with “if Christ is in you”, Romans 8:9,10.
Those preachers who are always saying “the Anointed” should understand that it is “Christ” who was “Anointed” and this was not as “the Christ”, “the Anointed”, who is in us. We as human beings do not have the totality of the Being of Christ in us. Do we have the right to misrepresent the Scriptures and convey them wrongly? Jesus is never spoken of while in heaven, as being “Anointed”.
After Jesus went back to heaven, it is only in Acts 4:27, “Thy holy child Jesus whom you did anoint as Messiah” and Acts 10:38, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power” that He is spoken of as being “anointed” and that while He was on earth. The only other verse is Hebrews 1:9, “God has anointed you above your fellows”, that is a quotation from Psalm 45:6. The verses preceding verse 9 in Hebrews 1 are also various quotations from Psalms. They are all prophetic of the Christ who was to be born. God the Father is speaking of the eternal Son who left heaven to be born as a man. From Hebrews 1:1 to 2:18 we see the greatness and unparalleled exaltation of the Son of God.
The title of “Christ” or “Messiah” was given to Jesus because of the particular anointing of the Spirit given upon Him as the Person He was. He is unique. That anointing was unique. His nature was different from that of any other man’s. The extent of the anointing was different from that of anyone else’s. Christ was different. He was given an infinite fulness of the Spirit. The fulness never ceased for one second. There were never any failures, weaknesses or inabilities to interrupt it. He had none of those. Sin never touched Him and He did not have any tendency to sin. This was also the result of His humanity being taken into union by Himself as the only-begotten Son.
He not only received the total fulness of the Holy Spirit. His right and power was to give the Spirit to others. He came to “baptize with the Spirit and with fire”, Matthew 3:11. He was given authority to pour out the Spirit after His exaltation. He who has the power to give the Spirit has to be Mediator as well as a divine Person. Zechariah 12:10 shows He would pour out the Spirit of grace and supplication. The Messiah would be crucified. The reception of the Holy Spirit by believers and the anointing of us as believers does not fall into the same category as that of Jesus. He is exalted. We are different. We cannot receive “the same anointing as Jesus” as persons or in degree, category or purpose.
The graces, gifts and operations of the Spirit in the lives of believers are given according to God’s callings and also the promises of the Word of God. The various anointings as the Holy Spirit Himself moves in and through us are to be longed for, sought after and experienced. We are to drink at the fountain that is everlasting and without measure.
In the book of the Acts, it was never said that the apostles or believers were “anointed”. The Scriptures say they were “full of the Holy Spirit”, Acts 2:4; 4:31; 6:3, 6,8 (Stephen, full of faith and of the Holy Spirit).
CHAPTER II
THE MEANING OF MESSIAH, THE CHRIST
The word “Messiah” the Hebrew of “Christ” means “the anointed”. In the first sense, it is used in the Scriptures of a person or a thing anointed with holy oil, such as in 1 Samuel 2:10,35; 12:35.
This word was used in the Old Testament as referring to the expected Prince of the chosen people of God. He would arrive to complete God’s purposes for them and to redeem them. He was the Messiah, the Anointed, i.e. consecrated as king and prophet by God’s appointment. He would come.
The word is used in the New Testament of Jesus. John 1:41; 4:25; “Messias”. The earliest gleam of the gospel is found in the account of the fall. Genesis 3:15. The blessings in store for the children of Shem are remarkably indicated in the words of Noah. Genesis 9:26. Next follows the promise to Abraham. Genesis 12:2, 3. A great step is made in Genesis 49:10. This is the first case in which the promises distinctly centre in one person. The next passage usually quoted is the prophecy of Balaam. Numbers 24:17-19. The prophecy of Moses, Deuteronomy 18:18, claims attention. There are numerous passages in the Psalms that are applied to the Messiah in the New Testament; such as Psalm 2, 16, 22, 40, 110. The advance in clearness in this period is great.
The name of Anointed, i.e., King, comes in and the Messiah is to come of the lineage or house of David. He is described in his exaltation, with his great kingdom that shall be spiritual rather than temporal. Psalm 2, 21, 40, 110. In other places He is seen in suffering and humiliation. Psalm 16, 22, 40. Later on the prophets show the Messiah as a king and ruler of David’s house, who should come to reform and restore the Jewish nation and purify the Church, as in Isaiah 11, 40-66. The blessings of the restoration, however, will not be confined to Jews; the heathen are made to share them fully. Isaiah 2, 66. The passage of Micah 5:2 (compare Matthew 2:6) left no doubt in the mind of the Sanhedrin as to the birthplace of the Messiah. The lineage of David is again alluded to in Zechariah 12:10-14. The coming of the Forerunner and of the Anointed is clearly revealed in Malachi 3:1; 4:5, 6. According to Daniel 7:14 “his dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed”. This is the Ancient of Days of verse 13.
The Pharisees and those of the Jews who expected Messiah at all looked for a temporal prince only. The apostles themselves were infected with this opinion until after the resurrection, when they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. They were then given true insight into the promises regarding the Messiah. Matthew 20:20, 21; Luke 24:21; Acts 1:6. Gleams of a purer faith appear in Luke 2:30; 23:42; John 4:25.
Acts 2:36 shows God has made Jesus Lord, meaning “proprietor, master, sovereign”. It is that He has been exalted as the long expected King and that God has given Him dominion in the heavens. He has made Him ruler of all things. In this office He now rules in heaven and in earth. He will come to judge the world. Israel had put to death, Christ, or Messiah, or the hope of their nation, the Holy One of God. They were guilty of crying out, “Crucify Him”. As God’s Holy One Christ was set apart, sanctified, to His holy service. Because this Jesus of Nazareth was raised from the dead, He is their hoped for Christ or Messiah.
“Messias” (anointed), is the Greek form of “Messiah”, John 1:41; 4:25. The only times “anointed” (krio) or “anointing” (krisma) are mentioned in the New Testament in relation to believers are found in:-
a. 2 Corinthians 1:21 “and has anointed us, is God” as the prophets of the Old Covenant said He would. Here it expresses the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit upon believers. They are consecrated or set apart as priests and kings unto God. In this anointing, God consecrates believers to His service and creates them with a “new self”, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness”, Ephesians 4:24. As told in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” We are to be transformed from glory to glory from the Lord, the Spirit, unto the likeness of Christ, the Anointed One, Highest of all, 2 Corinthians 3:18. All the graces of the Spirit were poured into Christ. He has the Spirit without measure. The Spirit is within Christ and not on Him, Isaiah 11:1-5. All the wonderful qualities of this Divine One are such that they are not “on” Him but within Him. From Him the anointing has flowed to within each believer.
b. 1 John 2:20,27 “you have an unction from the Holy One”. “But the anointing which you have received of”. In relation to verse 20, the correct translation is “You all know” and not “You know all things”. Believers “know” the real Truth. It has nothing to do with Words of Knowledge. It has nothing to do with Gnostic beliefs some of which John was refuting. Gnosticism, that is even in our ranks today, teaches the need and possibility to receive new revelations from within. The Greek “Chrio” refers to the anointing with the Holy Spirit in the act of God the Father sending the Spirit at the time of salvation, to live in the believer, Romans 8:9, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him”. Also, James 4:5 reads, “Do you think the Scripture says in vain, The Spirit who has been caused to take up His permanent residence in us has a passionate longing to the point of envy?”. This is not the baptism with the Spirit. It takes place when the person is born again of the Spirit of God and of the Word. This is shown in John 3:5, “Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water (the Word) and the Spirit”. We know water is the Word from Ephesians 5:26, “cleansing her by the washing in the water, with the Word”.
As John says, this Spirit teaches us. The Spirit does not teach those who will not receive the Truth. In verse 1 John 2:27, “The anointing which you have received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you (meaning the Gnostics). But as the anointing you have received from Him is capable of serving as your teacher in everything, and true likewise that it embodies the truth, with no admixture of falsehood, and moreover, that it is by him that you have been taught, so it is your duty to make him your dwelling place”. Cassirer.
The Spirit cannot teach a believer in those areas where he departs from the Word of the Truth of the gospel. In that area he will remain untaught even as he stays in the particular error or errors. Each has to “will” to know the Truth, as Jesus said. Sadly, it is often the case in the church that believers having departed from the Truths of the gospel, will stay with the error or errors. The Spirit cannot show them the Truth of the matter unless they repent and are willing to leave the error and listen to the Spirit. “Let him who has ears to listen hear what the Spirit says to the churches”.
CHAPTER III
CHRIST ASCENDED TO HEAVEN
When Jesus ascended into heaven, He could then pour out the Holy Spirit. He had become “a life-giving Spirit”, 1 Corinthians 15:45. He became essentially “Spirit”. This “Spirit” has expressed itself in the form of a “spiritual body”, 1 Corinthians 15:42-49, as is recorded, “If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body”, “The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual”, “”the last Adam, a life-giving spirit”. Then Christ could pour out the Spirit in fulness from the ever springing- fountain of His own Spirit-life. He is exalted. Although our elder brother, He has pre-eminence even in the “Anointing” given to us. The Holy Spirit comes to us from the fount of the ascended and heavenly Jesus Christ our Lord. As does Jesus, our Man in the glory, the Holy Spirit can now understand our humanity, as was not the case in the Old Testament. Jesus was made like us. He sympathizes with us and understands us.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Lord’s glorified humanity. He is the Spirit of Christ, not just the Spirit of the eternal Son. He is the Spirit of Him who is the ever-living human as well as being divine. Because the Holy Spirit is One with the Divine, human Son of God, He also understands our humanity. He understands our needs for the Divine One and how to satisfy them. Saint Augustine expressed in thus, “You have made us for Yourself, O God, and our soul is restless until it finds its rest in You”. In eternity in heaven, He is our personal union with the Godhead, so great is our need of God. We can never live apart from Him. The Spirit of Christ who comes into us on being born again, is His own Spirit, Romans 8:9,10. In Acts 16:6, He is spoken of as “the Spirit of Jesus (“Jesus” emphasizing Christ’s humanity)”, when it reads “the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them” to go into Bithynia.
In the Old Testament, the priests, the Tabernacle, the utensils were all “anointed”, which meant that oil was sprinkled upon them. Saul and David were anointed with oil by Samuel. This symbolic anointing meant that the one anointed by oil had been chosen and set apart by God for accomplishing something connected with God’s glory. He was made fit for the task with necessary gifts from the hand of God. The better the office to which any one was anointed, the greater was the supply of actual gifts through the grace of the Spirit in this anointing. This is evidenced when we compare David’s life with that of Saul’s. One distinguishing factor was the difference of heart and spirit within the two men’s character. The anointing of oil on the body was symbolic of a real act of grace within by the Spirit of God.
It is said of the Holy Spirit that “He came upon”. The Spirit fell on the leaders, Moses and the elders, Numbers 11:25, on the judges, Judges 3:10; 6:34. The Spirit fell on the kings, 1 Samuel 11:6; 16:13 and the prophets, 1 Samuel 10:10; 2 Samuel 23:2; 1 Kings 22:24; Hosea 9:7l Micah 3:8. Under the New Testament, the anointing or the Holy Spirit does not “come upon”. He comes within us in salvation and fills us in the initial experience of the baptism with the Spirit and its speaking in tongues. Thereafter, there is intended to be a continuation of the experiences of salvation and of infilling with its speaking in tongues. The Spirit exercises His will and power to perform certain benefits, blessings and ministries within us, in accordance with our faith and obedience. This is intended to happen to all believers and not just leaders, kings or prophets as in part it occurred in the Old Testament.
Therefore, the general use of “anointing” for believers as is found in Charismatic circles (and now Pentecostal) is not warranted. The “anointing” means and I quote from Tasker, “Those who are concerned with the stupendous affirmation of the gospel, whether they be those who preach it or who respond to the preaching of it, need to be themselves firm and sure in their loyalty to Christ, without any trace of fickleness (Christ is ‘Yes’ and ‘Amen’) and this is precisely what God enables them to be. He ‘anoints’ all believers, consecrating them to the service of Christ. He gives them ‘in their hearts’, i.e. in the innermost recesses of their being, His Spirit’. It is God who makes men Christians; it is He who anoints them, seals them and imparts to them the Holy Spirit”. The latter concerns that anointing by the Spirit in relation to the knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If we are willing to receive it, we are then sealed in the experience of the baptism with the Holy Spirit, according to Acts 2:4. This is shown by Ephesians 1:13, “Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit”. A mark or seal is placed upon an object. Salvation is within first of all, noticing “having believed” (past tense). After that, we are to be sealed in the experience of the baptism with the Holy Spirit. The experiences in many denominational churches is not criterion. What counts are the words of the Apostle Paul in the Scriptures. We are to follow the Word and not what men teach wrongly from it.
The anointing is not “feeling” or “being slain”, shaking, clapping, shouting or falling and these are not Holy Ghost manifestations. If such happen, they are the reactions by the person to the Holy Spirit moving mightily within him or her or may be humanly or demonically induced. In Daniel 10:5-20, when Daniel saw the vision, the men with him did not see it but there fell on them “a great trembling and they fled and hid themselves”. That was their human reaction. They received nothing in spirit. However, Daniel fell unconscious, in a trance, as a spiritual experience. Then a hand touched him and roused him to his hands and knees, saying “I am going to speak to you, stand on your feet”. Then Daniel stood up trembling. This was human fear because in verse 12 He said, “Do not fear, Daniel”. Daniel’s experience was in spirit with the Angel of the Lord, who appeared to John in Revelation 1:13-16 as the glorified Son of Man.
Trembling according to this scripture in Daniel, was not the “power of God”. Yet sometimes we seem to experience such an overwhelming supply of the Spirit of God that we almost do not know what to do. Having had the salvation experience, one must then surrender to Him in all that He is and have speaking in tongues, the vision, the prophecy or the revelation of a Gift of the Spirit.
In the baptism in the Spirit, according to John 7:37-39, the Holy Spirit flows out from the believer’s inner spirit where He already is in salvation, John 4:13,14; Isaiah 12:3, Titus 3:5,6. When He flows from within as rivers of living water, the believer receives the experience the disciples received in Acts 2:4 on the Day of Pentecost. Always, he is to speak in other tongues as they always did in the book of Acts, when they had this Pentecost experience. There is not a verse in Scripture that reverses the necessity of speaking in tongues.
The power of God is basically displayed through the gospel, Romans 1:16. It is the power displayed by God for the salvation of everyone who believes. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ, who was anointed, Acts 4:27, i.e. Christos, the anointed. The general anointing of all who believe in Jesus Christ is from God by the Holy Spirit. Salvation is made available through the redemptive/salvation work of Jesus Christ, the incarnated Son of God who was anointed on earth by the Spirit. All He procured for us on the cross comes through the operation of the Holy Spirit. “Christ” means the “Anointed One” but it involves belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, John 20:31. We cannot separate the “Anointed One” from all that He was shown to be. The Old Testament promise of the Messiah (the Christ) showed clearly He would be the the Lord of the Old Testament, Malachi 3:1, “coming to His Temple”, which is the temple of His Body as He was incarnated. He is the Messenger of the (New) Covenant, the Angel of the Lord of the Old Testament. We quote, “’Then suddenly, the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple, the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,’ says the Lord Almighty (the Lord El Shaddai)”.
There are many anointings by which the Spirit works. Jesus is the one Person spoken of as being “Anointed”. This was in Acts 4:27. Peter or the other disciples and not even Paul, ever state that they themselves are anointed ones. See Isaiah 61:1-3; Luke 4:17-19, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me”. Paul says he is “selected”, “appointed”, as in Acts 9:15; 26:16. Moreover, he never becomes “the Servant”, as was Jesus, Isaiah 49:6 but is the servant of the Servant, Ephesians 3:1,7. Paul considers that he is a “light”, Acts 13:47, where it says, “I have made you (singular) a light for the Gentiles”. Also Jesus said, “You are lights set upon a hill”, Matthew 4:14. The light is in us. Our light is shown forth in our good works, verse 16.
CHAPTER IV
MINISTRATION BY THE SPIRIT
Every time there is “an anointing”, it could be said to come as being part of the anointing for salvation, bought by Jesus in His death on the cross.
Anointing for salvation specifically comes within as we believe and confess Christ. . Romans 10:6-12. It brings deliverance Isaiah 60:1-3. It is symbolic in 1 Samuel 10:6. It comes because Jesus Christ who was anointed and filled without measure by the Spirit is now seated in heaven, being Lord of all. In this plenteous supply of spiritual grace and blessing He accomplished our redemption. Believers are spiritually united to Christ, “But he who unties himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit”, 1 Corinthians 6:17. What He has without measure is also in a measure theirs. They too are “anointed by God”, or “have the unction of the Holy One, but within, teaching them all things”, 1 John 2:20. This means that anything they may know about spiritual things is always only through the Holy Spirit showing it to them.
The Spirit in the Word, particularly Romans 6 that speaks of the baptism of the death and burial of Christ, helps us understand the symbolic nature of water Baptism. Jesus had a different kind of water baptism, Matthew 3:16. However, we should be obedient to the book of Acts and take water baptism after being born again, even as He asked for water baptism at the preaching of John’s kind of water baptism.
We are to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Acts 1:8; 2:4; Ephesians 1:13; John 7:38,39 and Ephesians 5:18, “Be (being) filled with the Spirit” and is Present Continuous tense in the Greek.
The Spirit opens the Word of God to us, John 15:3; Ephesians 1:17; 1 John 2:2,3,4,25,27; John 6:63. When born again the Spirit gives us a renewed mind, (Romans 12:1,2), as indicated by “You have the mind of Christ”, 1 Corinthians 2:16. Clearly as shown we already have the renewed mind. “Be transfigured IN the renewing of your mind”, Alf – “by the new ideals that mould your mind”, Wuest – “by its new ideals and its new attitudes”, Amp. – “by the complete change that has come over your minds”, TCNT, all translations of Romans 12:1,2. Note that the renewed mind belongs to the believer. It came with the new birth, as in Titus 3:5, “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit”.
On the other hand, we do have to take steps ourselves to have our minds renewed in a practical way. It is good to fill the mind with Scripture. The Holy Spirit then has something within us to enable Him to continue working. “He will bring all things to your remembrance”. The teaching of the “Two Kinds of Faith” that includes our efforts of using the Word and confession to get a renewed mind is not scriptural. These teachings are those of Word of Faith that comes through Hagin and Copeland, originally from Kenyon.
The Holy Spirit is to be the source of our prayer, Romans 8:15,26 Ephesians 6:18, “praying at all times in the Spirit”. In prayer, as in Acts 15:8,9, the Holy Spirit brings a cleansing in our soul, heart, mind and emotions.
Worship is acceptable to God only in Spirit and in Truth, Ephesians 5:18,19 John 4:24. Jesus said to the woman of Samaria, “The time has come and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth”. This worship is in the Holy Spirit and the in accordance with the Truths of the Gospel as begun to be preached by Jesus and continued by the Apostles. There is no mention of music and the worship is to be gospel orientated. The current teaching of “worship” with its emphasis on music follows the wrong teaching of the restoration of the Tabernacle of David, begun about 1950 by Reg Lascelles of Vancouver. James clearly showed in Acts 15:13-20 that he knew that the restoration of the “tabernacle” of David was the raising up of Jesus Christ as King over the heavenly Jerusalem, the church. This church would bring in multitudes of Gentiles, a matter surprising almost beyond belief, to the Apostles and the Jewish believers. James quoted Amos 9:11. Different translations say “David’s fallen house. I will repair walls, gaping holes.”; Tay, “I will restore David’s capital city”. The prophecy is obviously about Jesus Christ and His gospel of the Kingdom and has nothing to do with an order of worship as David had. Isaiah 11 prophecies about this as well. In the lust of youth for worldly music, the Pentecostals in many places, have substituted music for the Holy Spirit in their worship. There is scant evidence of His Presence and Power. Regarding the winning of souls we should remember it is through the operation of the Holy Spirit in and through us, Acts 1:8 Mark 16:15-20 Matthew 28:19,20 and in the hearts and lives of sinners in particular, John 15:26, “When the Counsellor, the Spirit of truth comes, he will testify about me”; 16:8, “When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment”.
The Spirit produces the fruits of Holiness, Galatians 5:22-26; Romans 8:13. The Old Testament tabernacle is the shadow or symbol of the true Church. The consecrated God-indwelt area is to experience the pouring out of the Holy Spirit and He is to sanctify the unclean and draw them within the sphere of God’s habitation, thus making them fit, Exodus 40:9-11; Ephesians 5:26; Romans 15:16.
Guidance is needed in being led by Spirit to live pleasing to God, Romans 8:14; Acts 13:2; 15:34; 16:7.
The Holy Spirit is to fill the Body of Christ 1 Corinthians 12:13 (into); verses 4-11 (variety).
Being baptized in the Spirit makes us members of Christ’s Body, to operate supernaturally by the Spirit, according to 1 Corinthians 12 to 14, noting 12:12,20,27,30; Romans 12:3-8/ Each member is dissimilar as each is a different member of the Body. All do not have same gifts of the Spirit and all are not ministry gifts of Christ, Ephesians 4:16.
The Holy Spirit flows in the Ministry Gifts that are specified clearly in Ephesians 4:10-12 and 1 Corinthians 1:28,29.
Preaching needs the Spirit, as in Luke 4:18,44 “anointed me to preach the gospel” “kept on preaching”; Mark 16:15 “preach the gospel to every creature”; Acts 1:8 “You shall receive power and shall be witnesses of me”; Acts 10:42 “commanded us to preach”; 16:6 “must not preach”; 17:3 “This Jesus whom I preach unto you”; Romans 1:15 “I am ready to preach the gospel to you”; Galatians 1:8 “preach any gospel unto you other than my gospel”; Romans 15:19 “have fully preached the gospel of Christ”; Colossians 1:23 “which was preached to every creature”; 1 Peter 1:13 “the gospel which you have proclaimed to you”; Galatians 1:16 “I might preach Him among the heathen”. 1 Corinthians 12:28-30 should be considered in this connection. We should remember the warning of Paul, and not preach another gospel as is prevalent all around the world, Galatians 1:8,11, “But even if anybody or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned” and “the gospel I preached is not something that man made up”, of which man is guilty today.
The Spirit is needed for the teaching of the Word to believers. 2 Timothy 4:2; 1 Peter 2:22; Hebrews 6:1,2,3; chapters 7 to the end. Note “Doctrine”. Ephesians 4:14; 1 Timothy 4:6; Titus 1:9.
Healing the sick requires the Holy Spirit’s work and His gifts, Mark 16:17,18; Acts 6:3-6.9-10. These acts would also be through ordinary believers, who are not one of the ministry gifts of Christ. Gifts of Healing are to heal the sick, Matthew 10:8; Acts 4:30; 8:6-8; 10:38. There were signs/miracles; Acts 13:8-11; 14:3 according to Luke 5:17 where the “power of Lord was present to perform healing” and also Hebrews 2:4, “God added his testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles and y gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will”. It is the will of the Lord for these things to happen today. There should be miracles but they are to be added to the preaching of the gospel. The preaching of the gospel is the most important thing and healing for the body comes in as a far less important last! Hebrews 2:3,4 “This salvation which was first announced bye the Lord was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will”. Miracles are to be added to the preaching according to God’s will.
It is possible that when the sick are healed, the Spirit of God works from within them to their bodies. The Word of God gives no indication as to how it happens but God does it.
Casting out devils and raising the dead are by the Spirit of God.
Different gifts and different ministries are supplied by the Spirit.
Pastor/teachers and Apostles (who are “sent” ones) are to teach and preach.
We are to beware of false prophets, teachers and apostles, 2 Peter 2:1,2, 10,14,18,19; Revelation 3:20-24 (both immorality); Matthew 7:23.
It should be noted that there will be no more Old Testament prophets. 1 Peter 1:10-12, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them, was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow”. It is to be noted that the grace has come. It has come to all in the age of gospel preaching. There was a time and it is past. Christ’s sufferings have finished and the glories are in process of happening even into eternity. There is no necessity for any prophets today to be like the Old Testament prophets. Unfortunately, there is a multitude world-wide trying to be such. No wonder there is also very numerous false prophecies that do not happen!
There is to be no addition the Word of God. Revelation 22:18,19. Nevertheless, the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches and what is known as sects, abound with additional revelations. These are all unscriptural and can be proved to be wrong to the unprejudiced and open-minded. No one should act outside of what the Word of God says and claim it to be a new “revelation”. This means all things must conform to the entirety of the Scriptures.
We all need the Anointing to hear and understand the Word. Revelation 2:7,11,17 etc. Ephesians 1:17,18 Matthew 4:25 It is the Spirit who will lead us into all truth. Man leads us into error, being “blind leaders of the blind”, both falling into the ditch, as Jesus said.
The Spirit is to lead in giving to the Lord, 2 Corinthians 8:7-9; 9:6-12; Galatians 6:6-10 (sowing to the Spirit). Ministers are to be supported as well as the poor in Christ. We do not have a social gospel! Some are called to the ministry of Helps and giving of their finances is one area of such ministry. All are to give to the ministry, including the poor, as led by the Spirit. The Spirit would never lead us to give to false T.V. preachers. It is carnality that is at the root of that kind of generosity in giving!
Present day teaching in Pentecostal and Charismatic churches regarding tithing is something that was not known to us in Australia at the beginning. It has taken a prominent place in church services. How amazing that preachers cannot understand what they read! Here is one instance, this verse being used for new members to follow as a necessity, Leviticus 27:30, “A tithe of everything – will be holy to the Lord”. Surely they have read the following verses to the end, verse 34 that says, “These are the command the Lord gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites”. If they did not, they should have. If they did, how is it that even a child could understand that verse! Another one is to bring in the firstfruits once a year! That again, was for the natural nation of Israel that had been given the Promised Land with God as Ruler. The bringing in of tithes as in Malachi was for the people themselves to use as food when they went up to Jerusalem for the Feasts of Israel. Are we those kind of people? Do we also bring sacrifices of animals? Do we celebrate the Feasts of Israel? Paul clearly shows no one is to celebrate any Feast.
Still another one is the wrong use of 2 Corinthians 8,9. All churches where I have heard this mentioned each Sunday morning to incite (or is it con?) the people into giving, misread it. Firstly, it was in connection with a collection from the Gentile churches for the poor in Jerusalem. Secondly, it was not for church buildings or for Pastors. Thirdly, the quoting of 2 Corinthians 8:9 is misunderstood or deliberately used wrongly. It says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sakes He became poor that you might be rich”. Paul is not speaking about material poverty. He is referring to Philippians 2:5-11 that shows the utter humiliation of the Lord of glory, eternal God. God’s will is not for us to be rich in material goods as in fact we are commanded, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth but in heaven”. God’s will for us is to be rich spiritually. Ephesians 1:3, “Who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ”.
There are different manifestations of the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. This covers all manifestations of the Spirit. It does not include shaking, falling over or shouting.
The anointing through the Word discloses heresy and doctrines of devils. 1 Timothy 4:1; Titus 3:10; 1 Corinthians 11:19; 2 Peter 2:1; Ephesians 4:14,18.
The full anointing as believers:
a. Involves the Armour, the provisions for us in our salvation, Ephesians 6:11-18; Isaiah 52:7.
b. Is by Being Filled with the Spirit, Ephesians 5:18.
c. Being Filled with the Spirit and joy, Hebrews 1:9; 1 Peter 1:8; Acts 13:52.
d. The Spirit gives us hope, Romans 15:13 “abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit”.
e. Peace comes by the Spirit, Galatians 5:22 “the fruit of the Spirit is peace”; Ephesians 4:3 “unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”; Love, Galatians 5:22 “the fruit of the Spirit is love”; Romans 5:5 “the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us”.
There is anointing for missionary work. Isaiah 60:22 (God has promised to give a clan or people); Isaiah 59:21 “My Spirit which is upon you and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring”; 19 “they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. for He will come like a pent-up stream which the breath of the Lord drives on”; Isaiah 2:1-3; Isaiah 42:6l “I give Thee a covenant of the heathen people”. God has given His covenant of mercy and of the Spirit; Ezekiel 36:23,26,27 “I will give you My Spirit in your inward parts”; Jeremiah 31:33, ” I will write My law in their hearts”. This is under the New Testament.
CHAPTER V
WHAT ABOUT THE “ANOINTED ONE”?
Let us look at the things John writes. He tells us the reason in John 20:31 “These are written so that you may come to believe (‘come to’ means ‘may continue to believe’) that Jesus is the Messiah (the Christ), the Son of God and that through believing you may have life in His name”.
All that is written in his gospel. Therefore we must go back to the beginning, chapter 1, from which the entire proof begins and ends here in this verse. Chapter 1 says He is the Word (Logos) made flesh. While flesh He was still the Logos. Verses 1-5 show He always existed as the Logos. Verses 6-18 show the appearance of the Logos in history. Here, on earth, was the Logos in the flesh. He was not on earth as a human who did not retain His state of being “Logos”. That would be an impossibility. Verses 14,15 show His dwelling among men, Incarnate, as the Logos. “And the Word (Logos) became flesh and lived (or tabernacled) among us and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me’.” “He” was before me means that the same “He who was before” John (in eternity) is the same One who was there with John in the flesh on earth. The Word left the immaterial state of divine being to assume a body (soul and spirit). He confined Himself within the limits of time and space but it was the same “He” who was in eternity. That “He” came into the world as “He” assuming flesh. In John 3:13, Jesus said, “No one has gone into heaven except the Son of Man who came down from heaven”.
That which was to believed, John 20:31 and the things to be proved or the doctrine or truth or fact to be proved is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. He is not just the “Anointed One”. An anointed one can be a mere man. Jesus is “the” anointed One but it cannot stop there. This Anointed One, in the same breath, must be said to be the Son of God, while here on earth also. John believed that Jesus, was the Christ, the Son of God. First, the disciples believed He was the Messiah. Then a higher belief came, “He is the Son of God”. “Messiah (Anointed One)” is His office. “Son of God” is His Person.
Thomas said, “My Lord and my God”, John 20:28. He had the revelation that Jesus was as He is, God, always was and always will be. Jesus had not assumed Deity after His resurrection. He assumed an immortal body. He had Deity all through His life on earth, His death and resurrection. He did not lay aside His Deity at any time. He acted (within His self-imposed limits) as God, on earth. 1 John 1:1,2 “We declare to you, what we have heard, seen with our eyes we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life. This life was revealed and we have seen it – the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us”.
The promised Messiah, this Anointed One of the Father is not just “Anointed” as generally said. The meaning is much deeper. It is He in whom all the law types and shadows are written about. This Anointed One fulfills all the types and shadows of the Old Testament, in Prophets, Kings, Priests (Melchizedek), the Sacrifices, the Tabernacle and Temple buildings, the prophecies etc. The promises of God are “Yes and Amen in Him”, 2 Corinthians 1:19,20. This Anointed One in the unity of His Person, is the eternal son of God, one in essence, equal in power and glory with the Father. The thing to be believed is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. The Old Testament prophecies do not fit an “Anointed One” but rather the “Anointed One, the Son of God”.
There were claims by “The Anointed One” Himself. He possessed divine attributes, on earth – eternity, John 8:58, where He said, “Before Abraham was, I Am”. He said He was the “I am”. In John 17:5 He prayed, “Now Father. Glorify me in your very sight, with that glory which, in your sight, belonged to me before the world ever began”. He claimed omnipotence, Matthew 28:20,; 18:20, “Peter said, ‘Lord, you know all things’.” and Matthew 11:27 “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him”; John 23-25; 21:17; omnipresence, Matthew 18:20; John 3:13.
He claimed, manifested the power and empowered others to perform wonderful works (before they were baptized in the Holy Spirit and its “Anointing”). He said in Matthew 10:8, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers (includes several diseases), cast out demons”. Matthew 11:5 showed miracles, being proof He was the Messiah, the Son of God. See Matthew 14:19-21; 15:30,31; Mark 6:41-44; Luke 8:41-56;9:1,2.
He claimed Divine prerogatives, such as being Lord of the Sabbath, Mark 2:28. He could forgive sins on earth and spoke as God or for God, Matthew 9:2-6, when he forgave and healed the paralytic. When men let down a man with palsy through roof, Mark 2:5-12, because He also forgave his sins, the Pharisees said, “Who can forgive sins but God?”. In Luke 5:24, Jesus said, “Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”. He knew the Father in a direct and perfect manner, as in Matthew 11:27. As the Son of God in a unique manner 10:34, He said, “I have come to bring, not peace on earth but a sword”. Only Deity can do this. Matthew 16:17, He said, “My Father in heaven” and in verse 27, regarding His second coming, He said, “The Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of His Father”. Jesus accepted worship, Matthew 14:33 . “Those in the boat worshipped him, ‘Truly you are the Son of God’.”
The meaning of “Messiah”, or “Christ” is derived from the Hebrew word “mashiah” meaning “rubbed with oil”. In English, it is “anointed” and in Greek, “christos”. It denotes a ritual action used to designate and appoint someone for a special task. Christ, the Anointed, shows His appointment in a particular office. He would be anointed for the office of Priest, similar to Aaron, Exodus 28:41. Kings were anointed with oil, as Samuel anointed Saul, 1 Samuel 10 and later he anointed David, 1 Samuel 16. He had been anointed as a Prophet, Isaiah 61:1. In Deuteronomy 18:15 He would be a prophet like Moses.
The Messiah would be King. This was the expectation of Israel. He would first of all be King, then Redeemer King in the line of David, as in 2 Samuel:7; Psalm 89. Since the time of Malachi, there was hope of someone coming probably in the spirit of Elijah, Malachi 4:5. Jesus in John 6:14 “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world”, reveals it is John the Baptist, as in John 7:40, “This is really the prophet.” In verse 41, others said, “This is the Messiah”.
The Messiah would be a High Priestly figure, as in Psalm 110:4, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek”. His right to be this High Priest is because of His indestructible life, as in Hebrews 7:24, “While he, seeing that he endures forever, holds his priesthood in perpetuity”.
No other human was ever be a priest after the order of Melchizedek as is sometimes taught wrongly.
Later, redemption was sometimes linked to a vague Messianic figure, or seen as the work of God himself, in Isaiah 56-66. The Old Testament does not describe one particular coming Messiah but uses different ways of speaking about human agents whom God would appoint in history and “anoint”. They were types of the Messiah to come.
There was to be a universal call regarding the Messiah. God said, Isaiah 49:6, “I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth”.
There was a Jewish national hope for God’s people. Also, the prophets of the Old Testament revealed there was to be individual salvation. There was belief in God for resurrection. The coming Messiah would give assurance for the nation as a whole, particularly to the remnant and also to the individual.
For many centuries to this day, Jews looked for salvation and the Kingdom of God as material, political and on earth. When Jesus came the nation of Israel rejected Him. He did not free them from the yoke of Rome. Instead He died on the Cross to bring in the spiritual kingdom of God.
Sadly today, multitudes of believers follow the carnal Jewish hope of a Messiah coming to stand on the Mount of Olives to begin a rule on earth. He is supposed to restore glory to national Israel and make it the chief of the nations. The craze for national and natural Israel is indeed a craze. It is totally unscriptural.
There are different titles for Messiah. They are, Son of David, Shoot or Branch of David, Son of God, the Righteous One, The Messiah (Anointed) King, Son of Man.
CHAPTER VI
THE SON OF GOD, THIS CHRIST (“ANOINTED ONE”)
Jesus Christ was unique as He walked His way through life on earth. John 1:18 “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known”. Coming and acting as a man only, albeit anointed, could never make the Father known. “Unique” is “Sole-born” “peerless”. No one else can lay claim to the title “Son of God” in the sense in which it applies to Christ. No one can call Him brother in this sense. Christ’s sonship is eternal, innate, essential. Believers are adopted as and made sons. In eternity and after His incarnation He had intimate fellowship with His Father.
He alone could reveal the Father’s love, John 3:16; 1 John 4:9, “God’s love was revealed to us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him”. He is different from all others, including all believers, because He is the One in whom we place our faith, John 20:31 “that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name”; the way of everlasting life, John 14:6 and the way judgment from God is given, John 3:18 “those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God”, not in the “Anointed One” (although He is the Anointed One).
Acknowledging that He is “the Anointed One” must involve belief in His Deity even while He was on earth. We cannot emphasise He is the “Anointed One” without stressing His Deity, on earth and now. It must go back to John 1:18, as it is the beginning of all that follows and ends at John 20:28-31. John 1:1 speaks of the “Logos” (the “Word”), who was in eternity and pre-existent before creation. In John 1:18 He is the incarnated Son. In John 20:28 we see the Risen Christ. We cannot talk of “the Anointed One” without meaning all these things. Thomas confessed Christ’s Lordship and Deity. Thomas did not say Jesus was the Father. Thomas said, “It is Jesus Himself, and now I recognise Him as divine”. John did not write his gospel to prove just that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, meaning the Anointed One.
John 20:31 shows more than simply the Davidic Messiah. The Gospel is written to cause us to believe that Jesus was the promised Jewish Messiah and that this Messiah was none other than the one and only Son of God who had come from the Father. We read John 11:42, “believe that you sent Me”. If Jesus had no attributes of Deity on earth then there would be no knowledge of His heavenly “Father”. When He says “Me” He is speaking about Himself as the same Deity who had been in heaven before He came to earth to be born as a baby, Immanuel, “God with us”.
There is John 17:8 “they know in truth that I came from You”; He shared His Father’s nature, John 1:1,18; 10:30, “The father and I are One”. There was fellowship between Father and Son, John 14:11 “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me”. Unique Sonship implies Deity. John 5:18 “was also calling God his own Father, thereby making Himself equal with God”. In John 19:7 “he has claimed to be the Son of God”.
They recognized Jesus as Son of Man, Matthew 16:28 “see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom”; 24:30 “will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory”; Mark 8:38 “of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of the Father”; Mark 14:61-64 “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One” “You will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power” (to High Priest); Acts 7:56 “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God”.
Jesus was Son of God. Matthew 11:27 “no one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son and”; Mark 15:39 “Truly this was the Son of God”; John 1:18; Romans 1:4 “declared to be the Son of God with power”; Galatians 4:4 “God sent His Son born of a woman”; Hebrews 1:2 “In these last days he has spoken to us by the Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds”.
Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. Matthew 16:16 “You are Messiah, the Son of the Living God”; Mark 14:61 “the high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?’ Jesus said, ‘I am; and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven'”; John.20:31, “believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God”.
Jesus was Lord. Mark 12:35-37 “How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David”. “The Lord said to my lord”, John 20:28. See Romans 10:9, “Confess Jesus is Lord”. In 1 Corinthians 8:5,6 the confession is “one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ through whom are all things and through whom we exist”. In 1 Corinthians 12:3 “Jesus is Lord”; 1 Corinthians 16:23 “grace of the Lord Jesus”, Philippians 2:11, 1 Peter 2:3 “tasted that the Lord is good”; 1 Peter 3:15 “in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord”.
Jesus was and is God. John 1:1,18; 20:28; Romans 9:5 “according to the flesh comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever, Amen”. In Titus 2:13 “the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity”. Hebrews 1:8 shows the Father speaking, “Of the Son He says ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever'”. In 2 Peter 1:1,2 it is “the righteousness of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ” and “knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord”.
What brings eternal life is the belief in the messiahship and divine sonship of Jesus, recognising He is Lord and God. In the womb, He was human as well as Divine. All through His life on earth, He was human as well as Divine. On the cross, He was still Divine.
Regarding Colossians 2:6 “As you therefore have received, the Messiah, Jesus the Lord”, we have received this Christ, the Messiah, into our hearts. “Of His fullness we have received”, John 1:16. We cannot speak of the “Anointed One” (Christ or the Messiah) without also including and recognising that He is God, Jesus the Lord and Saviour and that He is over all.
CHAPTER VII
ABOUT BREAKING THE YOKE
Isaiah 10:27,”In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be broken because you have grown so fat”. N.R.S.V., translates correctly, “On that day his burden will be removed from your shoulder, and his yoke will be destroyed from your neck”.
The King James Version is apparently wrong in translating and is the only one to do so – “The yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing”. In the year 1611, when the KJV appeared, they did not have access to present day manuscripts, computers and knowledge etc. Also, it was based on previous translations from the Hebrew and the Greek. The Hebrew for what is translated “anointing” is actually shamnan, which is always used of “well-being and prosperity”, except for Isaiah 6:10 where it is “hearts are fat – insensitive, unresponsive)”. It is to be translated “fat”, as a state of being well fed and healthy. The King James Version is not the original as the Spirit of God gave His word. It is a translation only. In the main, it is accurate but another factor is that it uses the kind of English that we do not use today. Even the New King James does not use fully today’s English.
The mistake occurs because “shemen” is the word for “oil”. and is commonly used in the Old Testament. It is used in a literal sense. It means olive oil. It sometimes is used metaphorically. There is anointing oil also that have special ingredients according to the instructions given to Moses. Later, oil became a symbol of prosperity, read about Asher, Deuteronomy 33:24,”Let him dip his foot in oil”. Isaiah 61:3; Psalm 45:7, “oil of joy, blessing of God”.
On reading Isaiah 10, one must admit that the translation “The anointing shall break the yoke”, is entirely out of context with the whole passage. This must be taken into consideration with the above explanation.
Therefore Isaiah 10:27 does not have any connection with the “Anointing” as spoken of by present day Charismatics and some Pentecostals. Rather, in type, it has connection with the salvation of God through Jesus Christ. Many scholars disagree as to the meaning of this verse. Its meaning can be rather unclear.
As this is the case, the use of that verse today in our church scene is rather unscriptural. It is taken out of context and in fact the manner of usage is contrary to the gospel. The yoke of sin was broken by Christ at the cross. Faith in the Christ of the cross is sufficient for salvation and victory over sin. We do not need that yoke to be broken. It has been broken. We have been set free from the power of sin, as Romans 6:13,14 says, “Present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not have dominion over you”. It is past tense. We should know this aspect of the gospel of Christ. The accomplished fact is our victory that is worked out within us by the power of the Holy Spirit as we walk in the Spirit. One may well ask, “What anointing is intended and how is it applied?” Is it through some preacher? Is the person to “get slain”? Is the person meant to “confess” verses of Scripture?
Isaiah 14:25, has a prophecy in relation to Assyria, Babylonian Empire. The prophet, by the Spirit, says, “I will break by Assyrian in my land … his yoke shall be removed from them, and his burden from their shoulders”.
The original meaning of the broken yoke as spoken by Isaiah was in relation to Assyria, the nation that captured Israel, the ten northern tribes, is the subject of Isaiah 10:5-34. It was during the time of Sargon of Assyria, the King, 722 B.C. on. It was during the first period of Hezekiah’s reign (after Ahaz) in Judah. It is prophesied that Assyria will fall on account of its pride. She had been the whip in the hand of God, Isaiah 5:26; 7:17; 8:7. This prophecy was given about 715 B.C.
Assyria is the rod of the Lord and His wrath is the club with which Assyria strikes. God’s wrath is also against Israel, captured about 730 B.C., 2 Kings 15:30,31.
There is a salvation promise. Assyria is to be destroyed, Isaiah 10:24-27. “Do not be afraid My people, dwelling on Mount Zion”. Judgment on Judah will leave a remnant. There is a word of comfort. “My people”. They would trust in God. Even though the majority would perish, these will dwell on Zion, a further guarantee of security. Yahweh Almighty dwells there.
The use of the word “fat” meaning “opulent” is found in Psalm 92:14 (“they shall be fat and flourishing”) and Isaiah 30:23. “Fat” meaning “oil” is found in Isaiah 28:1,4. Obviously in Isaiah 10:27 God was speaking about the prosperity and flourishing condition that would come to His people.
Please note that salvation comes from without not of ourselves. It is from an external source, Christ Himself, who comes and lives within us by His Spirit. The grace of God bringing deliverance, snapping the yoke, then is at work within the person who believes.
“Sozo”, “soterion”, means, “to save (all of material and temporal deliverance from suffering and sickness)”, Matthew 9:22, “made whole”; Mark 5:34; Luke 8:48; James 5:15.
It is spoken of spiritual and eternal salvation granted immediately by God to those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, Acts 2:47 “The Lord added to the church those who were saved”. Ephesians 2;5,8 “By grace, through faith, not works”.
Romans 1:21 “unto salvation” – it lies in the future, means man’s eventual journey through human troubles and divine judgment to eternity in heaven.
It means to be saved from the wrath of God, Romans 5:9 “saved from God’s anger”. The Gospel is also the operation of God’s power working towards salvation, not merely an announcement that salvation will at some future time take place but a divine activity or power leading to salvation.
There are present experiences of God’s power to deliver from the bondage of sin. Matthew 1:21 “Call His Name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins” Jesus, same name as Joshua means “Help of the Lord , deliverance, salvation and that springing from the Lord”, “from their sins” and the consequences and dominion of sin, both the penalty and the power of sin (all kinds of sin).
1 Corinthians 15:1,2 “Let me remind you of the essence of the gospel that I proclaimed to you, on which your faith is based by which you are being saved”. If the gospel is not preached, on what can faith stand? How then can salvation happen? Salvation is not possible unless Christ who is crucified and resurrected becomes a reality.
Hebrews 7:25 “save to the uttermost”, because He is High Priest He is able to save the believer in his totality of being, body, soul and spirit and do all that to the point of termination, an unending state of salvation in eternity”. “Save” is in regard to a salvation supernatural, spiritual, eternal.
James 1:21 “Receive with meekness the implanted Word with power to save your souls”. (that has the power to save your souls). Word is rooted like a seed that roots itself. Matthew 13:21, no root in itself, persecution comes and one is offended (see verses 3-23).
Romans 5:10 shows we are saved by His life. His life comes into us and delivers us from the power of sin within. Not “saved in their sins” but “saved from their sins”. “Sin shall not have dominion over you”, Romans 6:14 or “sin shall not have mastery over you”/ “is not meant to be your master”/”shall not be lord over you”, Romans 6:22 “now you are free from the claims of sin”.
Salvation is a divine act that happens within, first of all, while we are enemies. A change takes place. It is a supernatural act by the Spirit of God. In the depths within. Romans 1:16 “power of God unto salvation”. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus the power of the Gospel preached brought salvation and they experienced the “powers of the age to come”, Hebrews 6:5. It is God’s power that is at work in salvation, not man’s. This power of the gospel is not dependent on any human activity or condition. It is not human goodness, human wisdom, nor works done in obedience to any law, or man’s efforts or charismatic manifestation – the Gospel is the operation of God’s power acting. It is for everyone who has faith. Romans 1:17 God’s righteousness is revealed on the basis of nothing but faith – not “being slain” or any charismatic operation. It is by faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross, from start to finish.
Salvation is explained in Titus 3:5 that says, “according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit”. The sinner, inwardly, is cleansed in the Blood of Jesus. God’s free act of mercy and power takes the sinner out of the kingdom of darkness and translates him into that of light. There is introduced righteousness and holiness into the life, thus purifying and cleansing it. The person is continually renewed in his spirit by the Spirit of God as stated in 2 Corinthians 4:16, “our inner nature is being renewed day by day”. We are separated from our sins. 1 Peter 2:24 “Who Himself carried up to the cross our sins in His own body”.
Also in Isaiah 52:13-15 and chapter 53 He is said to become the Suffering One on the Cross as the sacrifice for sins. Before his martyrdom, Stephen said, “They killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the ‘Righteous One'”. This is the understanding to be given when we speak of Jesus being “The Anointed”. Without this understanding, we get a wrong picture.
“Fatness” is within us. The Holy Spirit is within us, in salvation and should be in the fulness of that Spirit. This being the case, every yoke in our lives can and should be broken as we submit to the Holy Spirit and the Word in faith. Whether the yokes are in our souls (emotions, weaknesses, sins, inhibitions, addictions or even demonic) in our bodies or in our circumstances, relationships and economic lacks, they can all be broken. Our victories and deliverances come to us through the cross of Christ and its application in our lives as worked out by the Holy Spirit who lives within us. This is in our surrender to that Spirit. The blood of the cross is to work powerfully, as it is applied. It is full of life and Divine power now as from the time when Christ took it into heaven as the blood of His sacrifice, John 19:30; Leviticus 16:14-19, (“in and out” and “the blood” ); John 23:46; Hebrews 9:12; 1 John 5:7,8. The Holy Spirit does not descend upon us in an anointing to bring deliverance. He is in us and we glory in the cross, experiencing the power of Christ’s resurrection life within. We already have that “fatness” within. From there the Holy Spirit will bring great deliverances through faith.
CHAPTER VIII
CHRIST THE ANOINTED
A SUMMING UP
The true and scriptural understanding of Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah as being “The Anointed” is as follows.
The anointing on Jesus as prophesied in Isaiah 61:1-3 and as read by Jesus in the synagogue in Nazareth, Luke 4:18-21, concerned the redemption of God that came in the Person of Jesus Christ. It was not signifying that Jesus, the Man, was anointed to do the works of God as a mere man. It was as the Son of God, that God’s Suffering Servant came to be the Presence of God in redemption.
Jesus Himself rarely called Himself, the Messiah, or the Christ. Generally He revealed Himself as the Son of God, as One with His Father and as the Son of Man. It was not until after His resurrection that He said, “the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory”, Luke 24:26. He revealed He was the Christ in Luke 4:18 above and in Mark 8:27,28 when He asked Peter who He was.
Matthew disclosed Jesus in relation to His being King, Son of David, Matthew 1:1,6,17,20; 9:27; 15:22; 20:30; 21:9,15. Mark reveals Him as the Son of Man, Mark 1:13; 3:22,26; 4:5; 8:33. John points out that He is the Son of God, particularly chapters 1-6. He is referred to as the “I AM”. The Jews had thought of the Messiah or Christ who was to come, as being an extraordinary human being who acted on God’s orders. This is what the present teaching on “Jesus, the Anointed” would emphasise.
However, Jesus appeared to His disciples as the direct manifestation of God’s redemptive will, as “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God”. Jesus’ Messianic work was done as the Son of God. The portrait of Jesus in the Gospels is far greater than what the Jews had expected.
John’s gospel was written “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, (the Christ, or the Anointed), the Son of the Living God”. Jesus as the Anointed can never be separated from considering Him at the same time as the Son of the Living God.
The work of this Messiah or Christ, agreed with all the promises of God to His people found in the Old Testament. The early Church believed that Jesus was Messiah or Christ because His ministry and its outcome, the Cross and Resurrection, were the fulfilment of Scripture. See 1 Corinthians 15:1-3.
The power of the Christ or the Messiah, the Anointed One, was found in His atoning sacrifice on the Cross. Of course, Copeland does not believe in that sacrifice, as written and stated publicly. See Luke 24:20; John 1:29; Romans 3:25; Ephesians 5:2; Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 2:15; 1 Peter 1:18; Revelation 5:6. The above should show the folly of thinking “I myself am also anointed as was Jesus”.
The Jews looked for a Messiah who would be apocalyptic, or in other words, who would bring to a close human events by His earthly Kingship and authority over all their national enemies. They had a Jewish Messianic ideology – just as many Christians have today.
However, the Old Testament promises found fulfilment in a spiritualization of their types. Jesus came to bring redemption for all the world on the Cross and through His resurrection and glorification to the right hand of God. God’s past works were for a spiritual fulfilment. They were also in fulfilment of God’s Covenant with Abraham that in him “all the families of the earth” would be blessed.
Thus the early Church, particularly Paul and his Gentile converts, were happy to consider Jesus by the Jewish title, “Messiah” because they understood the redemptive purposes of God through that Messiah. They, although many were Jews themselves, saw that the Jewish ideas and beliefs were wrong and were forced to give way to the spiritual purposes of God. These were made effective by the blood and the Spirit – not through circumcision, the Law or national Jewishness. See John 1:14,15; 12:38; 1 Corinthians 2:9; Galatians 3:8.
The Judaizers in the Jerusalem and early churches did not leave their Jewish slavery to Law keeping. They did not understand the real truth of the gospel. We note this in Acts 21:18-29. where at Jerusalem, they said to Paul, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed and all of them arte zealous for the Law”. They did not know the truths of Galatians!
Then they went on to Paul, “They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs”. They still retained the same kind of spirit the Pharisees and Jews had when Jesus ministered to them. Then they prevailed upon Paul and his associates to purify themselves. This was the Paul who wrote so zealously and strongly about keeping the Law. They shaved their heads. Paul went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end.
Perhaps a disciplinary action or judgment came upon Paul from God. because when the seven days were nearly over, the whole city was aroused. They seized Paul, dragged him from the temple and shut the gates. They tried to kill him. They began beating him. In the middle of all this the commander of Roman troops arrested him and order him to be bound with two chains. In chapter 23:14-25, Paul’s nephew had to go to the commander and inform him of a plot by more than forty men to kill him. Adhering to the Law and obeying the Judaizing believers surely brought great trouble upon Paul.
Jesus and later the Apostles, taught that Judaism had become the slave of the letter of the Old Testament Law, see John 5:46 and Romans 7:6. Because of this, the Jewish nation was cast aside in their failure to realise that Jesus was their Promised Messiah and the Final Revelation of God’s redemptive purpose. He was the Lord of Scripture. All subsequent revelations bore witness to this and can never bear witness to anything else.
Now the glorious gospel has gone out. Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour. Whoever calls upon Him, believing in their heart that Jesus died for them on the cross and rose again and confessing with their lips “Jesus is Lord (the Lord or God)” shall be saved from hell, eternal death and sin. This gospel is for the Jew first and then the Gentile. A Gentile is a person from any nation other than Israel. Jesus came as a “Light to the nations” as promised in the Old Testament by Isaiah the Prophet.
Jesus Christ is in heaven as the exalted Lord and Saviour. He is on the right hand of God the Father. He has all authority in heaven and in earth. He has the fulness of the Holy Spirit so that His Spirit can renew us within. Then we are born again, our sins forgiven and have the Spirit of Christ living within. That is the anointing that all believers have, 1 John 2:27. He is also the One who will fill and baptize us with the Holy Spirit. He disperses the anointing from His great reservoir of the Spirit, to be within us.
When people say today that someone is anointed it really means the Holy Spirit is working in or through that person in one or more of His ways and acts. It means that in a certain area of ministry, God’s people can recognize that the Holy Spirit is doing a work.
There are those who refer to Jesus as “the Anointed”. While that is the meaning of “Messias” they use the word as referring to Jesus in an entirely unscriptural fashion. Hinn considers “the anointing” to be greater than the promised baptism of the Spirit. His idea of “the anointing” is what comes through him, whether by his blowing or touch, that results in the person falling over – supposedly “under the anointing”. That is unscriptural. It would be egotistical and full of self if anyone thought he had “the anointing” that God intends for all believers and all mankind. He is acting as if he himself is God. That is an Anti-Christ.
There is a certain T.V. evangelist, Kenneth Copeland, who places much emphasis, in nearly every Telecast, on “Jesus, the Anointed”. He also wrongly uses “the anointing shall break the yoke”. The real translation is “the yoke shall be broken because of the ‘fat’ (of the necks of the animals)”. His use of the term that is a translation of Christos meaning “The Anointed” is done in a very unscriptural fashion. He said, “Jesus has the traits of his mother, Mary”. This means Jesus was born with a sinful nature. His use of “Jesus the anointed” leaves his followers thinking of Jesus, on earth and now, as merely “The anointed”. This pleases many as they then go from there in their thinking to “I myself am also anointed as was Jesus”.
It also leaves the strong impression that Jesus on earth and on the Cross who also went to Hell was a mere man, albeit one who was “anointed”. In hell, he says, Jesus took on the nature of Satan and was the first man to be born again! That would be blasphemy.
He completely overlooks in his teaching, Acts 4:27,28 and Acts 7:52 as well as 2 Corinthians 5:16, “From now on we know on one simply as a man. Even if we have known Christ simply as a man, yet now we do so no longer” or “even if we used to think of Christ in a human fashion (after the flesh), we do so no longer”. There Peter speaks about God’s “holy servant Jesus”, whom He “anointed”. This refers to the lowly Servant, promised in the books of the Prophets.
There is a thinking that “I myself am also anointed as was Jesus”. This leaves the strong impression that Jesus while on earth and on the Cross was a mere man, albeit one who was “anointed”. Paul showed in 2 Corinthians 5:16, that, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view: even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know Him no longer in that way” or “even if we used to think of Christ in a human fashion (after the flesh), we do so no longer”. In Acts Peter speaks about God’s “holy servant Jesus”, whom He “anointed”. This refers to the lowly Servant, promised in the books of the Prophets. No one can say he is anointed as Jesus was.
Anything from God has to be a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, whether inwardly or also visibly. It is the baptism in the Spirit that opens the door for a person to be used in any or every manifestation of the Spirit, as in 1 Corinthians 12:7. It is not a manifestation of the Spirit that opens the door to Holy Ghost filled believers to be used in ministry for “manifestations” of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not exercise the gifts. We do, sometimes correctly and sometimes incorrectly. The gifts are His. The operation of them is ours by faith.