Anointing By Warren Zehrung – November 12, 2011

There are many among us brethren, who are sick from time to time, and some of us have been diagnosed with chronic ailments.

While we pray for the brethren, and wish them a speedy and full recovery, it does not always happen in the time-frame that we would prefer – and for some, not even in this lifetime.  But our faith is that our well-being is according to God's Will, and that the ultimate healing is sure and positive.

But the all-encompassing blessing is to know that God wants no one to perish, and would have everyone live a more abundant life (John 10:10).

To anoint means to make sacred, or to consecrate for office or religious service.  The anointing is done with the laying on of hands and the application of oil, according to God’s instructions  (Hebrews 6:2, James 5:14).

II Peter 3:9   The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

We know that God is not willing that any should perish.  That is not talking about just in the physical life, but that is talking about in God’s eternal realm.  God gave His only begotten Son so that we could all eventually be saved.  Unfortunately, Satan does his dirty work, and there are those who will not follow in sincerity and truth the things that God would have us do.  There is a weeding out process that is going on right now.  God’s desire is that we might have life, and have it more abundantly.

John 10:10  ...I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

So what is going on when we do not always receive healing quickly?  What is our part in the healing process?  Actually, our part in the healing process is a great deal.

I thought it might be encouraging to look into this subject about anointing, and the many aspects that are mentioned in the scriptures that tell us about different kinds of anointing, and extensions that take off from anointing.  Anointing is not always exactly as we picture it in the church.  In the Church of God, when we think of anointing, we usually think of a phone call to the minister.  Or maybe we will catch him before or after Sabbath services, and say that we would like to be anointed.  We do not think of it too much past that.  The minister says a prayer, and we pray, and we hope that God will answer.  We look at it from our perspective.

Sometimes that is the only way that we think of “anointing.”  We think only of the prayer of faith for the sick.

Here are the instructions from God:

James 5:14  “Is any sick among you?  Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

If that was the only kind of anointing that there was, we could simply say just “anointing him,” and you would not have to mention “with oil,” as it would be known.  We saw that Jesus Christ anointed the blind man with the mud that He had made from the spittle.  And the verse says, “anointing his eyes.”

James 5:15  And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”

We see that God is doing the healing here.  This word ‘anointing’ is aleipho in the Greek, and it means anointing, or to anoint.  As we go through this subject of anointing, we will find often that there is a laying-on of hands associated with anointing with oil, and healing (Hebrews 6:2).  We will look at a couple of those verses and tie them together.

Luke 4:40  Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto [Jesus]; and He laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.

Now there is no mention of oil there.  It just mentions that Jesus Christ laid His hands on every one of them, and they were healed.  We associate anointing a great deal with the healing process, but we will see that anointing is for other things besides healing.

Luke 13:10-12  And [Jesus] was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.  And, behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.  And when Jesus saw her, he called her to Him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.

Jesus Christ said, “It is all over with, you are healed.”

Luke 13:13  And He laid His hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

That is a beautiful story, and we will see some more of them.  Jesus Christ is the healing God.

Mark 6:4   But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.

In other words, when you go home you are not going to have the respect and the honor, even if you are a prophet of God, that you would somewhere else.  He was not even recognized by His family as the Prophet that He was.

Mark 6:5a  And He [Jesus] could there do no mighty work, Jesus could not work mighty miracles there.  Here is Jesus Christ the Son of God, and He should be able to go anywhere and work mighty miracles.  What is this telling us?  He is telling us that because of the attitude of the people, the attitude of unbelief, that Jesus Christ was unable to work any great miracles.

Mark 6:5b  …save that He laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.

Jesus went ahead and healed some people, because of a number of reasons.  First of all it was prophesied that the Messiah would heal, and that is a really important reason.  And, another reason was that Jesus Christ had compassion.

I would like to add one note here that has been a point of consternation in the Church.  I have been in church organizations, and maybe you have too, where people would not pray for somebody that was not in the Church of God.  If somebody asked for prayers for their parents, or their sister, the minister would ask if they were in the church.  Well, we will say a private prayer for her, but we are not going to mention it.  Here is a challenge for you: Go through the entire scriptures and try to find one single place where Jesus Christ ever healed a converted person.  Yet, Jesus Christ laid His hands upon a few sick folk, and He healed them.  Everywhere that He went He cast out demons, and He removed all manner of sickness.

Mark 6:6  And He marveled because of their unbelief.

They lacked faith.  Brethren, if you saw someone bowed over, and Jesus made her stand up straight, you would have to say that there is something really big going on right here.

Mark 6:7, 12-13  And He called unto Him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and He gave them power over unclean spirits;  And they went out, and preached that men should repent.  And they cast out many devils, and anointed [aleipho] with oil many that were sick, and healed them.

So Jesus Christ gave this gift to the disciples.  They could not begin to go out and heal anybody of their own power because they did not have it.  The power comes from God.

Luke 10:33-34   But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

We have heard this story many times, and it can easily go over our head.  But I like to take these well-worn stories out of the life of Jesus Christ, and pick out certain little points and key in on them, to make these scriptures come alive for us.

Luke 10:33  But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,

Here was a man all beaten to pulp.

Luke 10:35  And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

It is right and proper that we should always do what we are able to do in the physical realm.  Sometimes in God’s Church, we run into the concept that some people hold that God is going to heal them, but they do not have to lift one finger to get out of the rain or the cold, or to stop what they are doing that is causing them to be sick.

Brethren, we have our part to do.  So we see that the good Samaritan poured in oil and wine.  The oil keeps the flesh supple and soft.  The wine acted like an antiseptic, and cleaned the wound.

We start to understand what is going on in the physical realm about healing.  Keep these two realms separate.  There is the physical healing, and the spiritual healing, and we like for those to come together.  When we send an anointed cloth to somebody, we always try to thank them for their faith in God’s healing power.  They are looking to God, knowing that He is going to intervene in their lives.  That is a reward in itself.

God says that you “call for the elders of the church,” because He wants this petition to be done in a proper and formal way (James 5:14).  The minister says a prayer, which is in effect bringing a petition directly to our loving Father, as the person has requested.  The anointed cloth that is sent along represents the faithful prayer.  There is no power in the cloth, there is no power in the olive oil, but it is God who heals, and that is according to our faith.

Matthew 9:29   “Then Jesus touched their eyes, saying, ‘according to your faith be it unto you.’”

We know very clearly that faith is one of the things that is considered when it comes to healing.

People sometimes get confused on the matter of faith, in association with the healing process, and they will say, “I really, really with all of my strength believe that I am going to be healed.”  That is not the kind of faith that Jesus Christ is speaking of here.  The correct kind of faith is faith towards God, and His will being done.

Do we believe that God is all powerful?  Do we believe that God promises us healing?  Our faith has to be toward God, and His will, and what He knows is the right thing.  When we pray the prayer of faith, we understand that God is going to apply the stripes of His Son Jesus Christ for healing.  This healing is an additional gift that we receive, over and above Jesus’ selfless act of love for us, in giving His life.  Jesus gave His life so that we could have our sins covered (Romans 5:8-9).

1 Peter 2:24  “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”

Because Jesus has done His part, it is a done deal, and healing is positively assured!

Peter was quoting Isaiah when he said – “by whose stripes ye were healed.”

Isaiah 53:5  But He was wounded for our transgressions [our rebellion], He was bruised [beat to pieces, crushed, torn] for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; [For our welfare, He took upon Himself the punishment that we deserve] and with His stripes we are healed.

Jesus’ death paid for our sins – that would have been enough - but He went further and suffered so that we would be healed.  By Christ’s suffering, wounds, and bruises, we have healing.

Our past guilt is removed, and our past sins are covered, when we are redeemed and justified by the precious blood that He shed.  Some think that Jesus Christ did it all, and that we do not have a part in it.  We have a huge part in it.  We cannot hate, despise, or reject any of the saints; as that behavior defines not discerning the Lord's body.  We are told that we are to discern the Lord’s body, and that is what we are talking about here with this healing process.  Hating someone defines not discerning the Lord’s body.  We are obligated to extend our love, our care, and our realm of fellowship, to include all, especially those who have the earnest of God's Holy Spirit
(Galatians 6:10).

Paul characterized our self-examination as a priority.  He said that we must be properly "discerning the Lord's body."

Do we understand the full intent of this Scripture?  Let us not think of anointing as just calling for the minister, having him pray, and now it is all on God’s back.  Some surmise, “If something does not happen, then God is not coming through.”  [Not true!]  We hear people say that God is not healing people today.  [Also not true!] We will touch on that in a minute.

First of all, we must absolutely grasp the definition of the Lord's Body from the Bible itself.

The Body of Christ is the Church of God.  This concept of Christ’s Body, being composed of all Church brethren, is solidly established in the scriptures many times over.

We must realize that this entire healing, and salvation process, is contingent on our having direct positive interaction and unity with God’s children.

If we, who are called of God, do not possess a genuine devotion and Godly tenderness for all
of the brethren, we diminish the sacrifice of Christ, and we will suffer sickness and death
(1 Corinthians 11:30).  God is not going to come in and heal us in spite of ourselves.  If we want to be despicable people, and live our lives in vile hatred of others, we cannot ask God to come in and be a part of that, with an anointing – and heal us.

“He bore our sins in His own body on the stake, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: [in other words Jesus suffered so that we could be considered righteous.  In God’s eyes we are imputed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ] and with His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:1-5, 1 Peter 2:24)

It is good that you have chosen to exercise faith in God, and follow His instructions in asking for prayer for your healing, according to the Scriptures.

When a minister is unable to visit and perform an anointing in person, we follow the Biblical example of the Apostle Paul.  Paul understood that some of these things, like anointing, are pictures of a greater reality.  The reality is taking place in our minds and hearts, and in God’s mind and heart.  It is not happening with the oil, or the cloth they have no power. Please notice that it is God who works the miracle of healing.

Acts 19:11-12   “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or cloths, and the diseases departed from them.”

Notice that it was God that did it.  It was a common occurrence.  Paul did not do this once, but as a matter of course.  As we do today, he sent out an anointed cloth.

There are things that God does, and there are things that we do.  Please take care of yourself, and do everything you can to receive the best physical care that you can obtain.  God expects us to do all that we can to take care of our health.

My wife and I had not been in the church for many years, when our oldest daughter, Joette, became deathly sick.  She had what is called an adhesion, and that is when your bowel kinks.  Adhesions involving the bowel can cause a bowel obstruction, blockage or strangulation.  An adhesion is a condition in which bodily tissues that are normally separate grow together.

Adhesions are a leading cause of secondary infertility in women, and can cause substantial abdominal and pelvic pain.  Have you ever been watering your yard, and your hose kinks, and all of a sudden you lose pressure and the water just dribbles and then stops.  Well that is what had happened in her bowel.  When that happens, it shuts off everything, and the process of digestion is shut down, but that also includes the blood supply and nerve supply to the bowel, and everything.  Her bowel began to die, and it began to turn gangrenous.  Gangrene is a potentially life-threatening condition that arises when a mass of body tissue dies (necrosis).

We were in the church in the days when you did not go to the hospital, or to the doctor.  We had not come to the understanding yet, that you do what you can physically for yourself.  In those days we were taught that you just had to put it all in God’s hands.  So we waited, we prayed, and we fasted.  Our daughter could not eat for eight days, and she lost weight, and became dehydrated.  She finally became comatose.

I went to the pastor, and I said there must be something that we can do, she is just laying there dying.  She needs some intervention, she needs some relief.  The minister sort of had to wash his hands of it, and step back, because you were not supposed to get in trouble with Headquarters; you were supposed to hold the company line and everything.

We felt horrible, we felt terrible, and we felt like we had no faith.  We were being told that it was our duty to step back, and watch our daughter die, even though we knew that there were things that could be done. We knew people that had had procedures done.  So finally, we brought our daughter to the emergency room of the hospital, and when we arrived it looked like an episode from E.R.  Nurses, doctors, and orderlies were running everywhere, getting drips, instruments, monitors… and she had all kinds of tests done.  They put fifteen tubes in our daughter.  They took out a large section of her gangrenous bowel, and we did not know if she was going to live or die for two more weeks.  We worried if she would be able to have children.  She lost a year of school.

I finally learned in this terrible time.  I will tell you the end of the story.  She is alive today, and she is married to a minister in God’s church, and they have four healthy, beautiful children.  God is merciful and He is loving, and He is the one who does the healing.  In doing the best that we could for ourselves, we learned that no matter what we do physically, from taking aspirin on one end of the scale, all of the way to intricate surgery on the other, they are only physical remedies, and we were asking God to intervene on our behalf in His much higher perfect miraculous spiritual way.

Isaiah 55:8   “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.”

Our loving Father knows our needs before we ask.

Going through that trial with our daughter early on in the Church, taught us a lot of things.  We felt helpless, and we had to have reliance on God.  It teaches you compassion and understanding.  So that is the way that we have counseled people.

There are some brethren who count that as a lack of faith, and feel that we should have believed that she would be healed, and that God would work a miracle, when we were unwilling to lift a finger.  God acts before and when we do not know how to act.  God’s Spirit knows the answer even when we do not know the question  (Romans 8:26).

We do not wait on the mailman to deliver the anointed cloth.  When we ask, God has heard immediately, and it is in the spiritual realm.  God begins to answer prayer as soon as we ask Him.  But He does want us to ask.  It is a very powerful thing to get God involved.  It is not a matter of putting your head on the pillow and saying, “God heal me.”  God wants it to be formal – that is why we are told to call on the elders.  It is formal because God is involved.  Always think of that when you are looking at an anointing.

The oil on the anointed cloth is a symbol of God’s Holy Spirit, and as such, represents His healing power.  The Bible puts no limits on how many times you can go to God and ask to be healed.  There are some ministers that say because Paul asked God three times to be healed, and God did not intervene, that is a limit, and you can only ask three times.  That is a stretch, brethren.  You can go to God a thousand times and beseech God to intervene.  Ask for anointing again every time that you know something new, every time that there is a change, or every time that there is a new condition.  You can cry out to God as many times as you want.

We have to understand when God is going to intervene, when God is going heal and when God is going to be actively involved in a miraculous powerful way in the healing process.

I John 3:22   Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

It is a prerequisite, a must, that we must be doing those things with all of our might, and with all of our heart.  We must have that relationship with God, and be reconciled to God, to even be able to talk to God.

If there is a drunk down at the tavern and he says, “Oh God make me sober.”  God is not going to make him sober.

I John 5:14  This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He hears us:

So it has to be in accordance with the will of God.  When somebody gets to be 98 years old, and their body is riddled with cancer, and they have had a good life, and God is ready to take them, we pray, “Father whatever your will is”.

I John 5:15  And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. [That is our faith, that God is going to answer the petition – that God is going to do the healing and God is going to do the work.]

David shows us the attitude that is necessary when we go to God for healing:

Psalm 35:13   But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.

We have to go to God, in heartfelt prayer and fasting, for serious situations as well.

In Christ’s day, rubbing a little oil on the face and head was a sign of being neat, tidy, well-groomed, and well-kempt.  When you arrived from a long journey, sometimes the host would wash your face and oil your head.  I picture it a little bit like the treatment that you would get at a barber shop with some after-shave and lotion.

Luke 7:46  My head with oil thou didst not anoint [aleipho]: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.

I bring this one out, because we are talking about anointing.  Anointing is not just for healing, but it is for other things.  This particular anointing was a prophetic sign that Jesus was about to give His life for all mankind.

Mark 14:8   She hath done what she could: she is come afore hand to anoint My body to the burying.

Jesus counted that anointing of His feet as a prelude to His death, and being anointed.  There are other scriptures that show that they came and anointed Jesus’ body with the good smelling spices.

There is a movement in the Church about healing oils.  These pressure groups profess that if you get the right kind of oils, like those used in the scriptures, they are much better oil to use than olive oil.  It is of the pagan world to get caught up in those kinds of things, and think that certain oils have some kind of very special power.  Do not go off on those kinds of tangents.  People go off on every tangent under the sun.  Think to the spiritual, and look to God – the olive oil that we use in anointing is only symbolic – but it is symbolic of God’s spiritual power of healing.  

God established anointing in order for us to see His direct intervention in our lives, and because He wants us to look to Him.  The reason that God tells us to bring a formal petition to Him, through the ordained elders, is because an anointing for the sick represents God’s direct formal intervention in our lives.  That is why I always kneel down, whenever it is physically possible, when I am anointing someone. We are coming in the presence of God, and we are bringing Him into the equation. It is on the level of miracles, because that is what it is.  Do not listen to those people who teach that God does not formally intervene when we are ill.  Some people are saying that there are no healings today.  That is blindness, and a lack of faith.  I believe that it is blasphemous when you are denying God’s power and involvement.  If in some person’s life there is no healing taking place, and he knows of none, I suggest that the problem is on that end – not on God’s end.  We draw near to God, and He will draw near to us, that is a promise.

From the biblical perspective there is a whole lot to be known about anointing.  To anoint means to make something sacred, to consecrate someone for healing, or an office or religious service.  Anointing is used in all kinds of ways.

We see that Jesus Christ is the Anointed One.  He was anointed by the Father.  If you have never seen that concept before, let us understand that “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name. “Christ” comes from the Greek, “Christos,” meaning “anointed or Anointed One.”  The Messiah is anointed to rule over all the earth, and rule over the Kingdom of God.  To be the Christ, or the Messiah, is to be “the Anointed One, chosen of God.”  Make no mistake about it, Jesus Christ is the only anointed Messiah.  Jesus is the Messiah, the soon coming Christ of the millennium.

In the Old Testament we find the prophecy of Christ, the Anointed One:

Isaiah 61:1   “The Spirit of the Lord God [the Father] is upon Me (Jesus Christ); because the Lord hath anointed [Hebrew ‘mashach’] Me to preach good tidings [Gospel] unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.”  

This anointing consecrated Jesus to perform His two-fold coming.  Jesus Christ came two thousand years ago, and He is about to come again.  The first coming was His earthly ministry for three and a half years, and the second will be His one-thousand year reign on earth in the Millennium.

Jesus Christ quoted these words that He inspired Isaiah to write:

Luke 4:18-19  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed [Greek  ‘chrio’ means  consecrated, anointed] Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Did God the Father use some olive oil, before the world was created, to anoint Jesus?  Do we understand that the oil that we use today is an outward token of God’s Spirit in action, in power, and in force?

Let me give you a Bible tool that I use.  Whenever you find an Old Testament verse quoted almost verbatim, you can find the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word by comparing the two.  For the two examples that we have just looked at in Isaiah 61 and Luke 4, the word ‘Mashach’ and ‘Chrio’ are equivalent.  If you look at those two words you will see that ‘Mashach’ is very close to the ‘Messiah,’ and ‘Chri’ is the first four letters of Christ.  The Greek word ‘Christos’ is where we get ‘Christ’ from and it means the exact same thing as the Messiah, the One who will rule in the Millennium.

When God the Father appointed, anointed, and consecrated Jesus Christ to be the ruler, the King of Kings during the Millennial reign, He did not take some oil and anoint Him like we do at a healing.

Hebrew 1:8-9   But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom.  Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed [Greek chrio – consecrated, anointed] Thee with the oil of gladness [exultation] above thy fellows.

When God the Father was anointing Jesus Christ there was a spiritual ceremony  taking place, and we must understand that.

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. [Greek Christos]  For of a truth against Thy holy [servant] Jesus, whom thou hast anointed [Greek chrio – consecrated, anointed], both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,

I want you to pick up on the fact that God the Father anointed Jesus Christ.

Acts 10:38  How God anointed [Greek chrio – consecrated, anointed] Jesus of Nazareth with Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.”

God anointed Jesus Christ with Holy Spirit and with power.  I point that out because a lot of times people very simply say, ‘The Spirit of God is the power of God’.  They do not look into the Spirit of God any more than that.  God’s Spirit is so much more than that.  It is the mind of God, the love of God, and His compassion, His mercy, His forgiveness, His wisdom … and it is every good and spiritual characteristic of God.

Jesus Christ was anointed with Holy Spirit and with power.

Here is the incredible thing that we can so easily overlook.  In the same way that Jesus was anointed to perform His duties, we, too, are anointed with a special calling.

We are begotten by God the Father’s Spirit, and it makes us His Children, with His Spirit, just as Jesus became the Son of God.

This Spirit of God is the earnest, and the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ.

II Corinthians 1:21  “He who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, [Greek chrio – consecrated, anointed] is God [the Father];

Who is it that has anointed Paul and us?  It is God the Father.

II Corinthians 1:22  Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.”

Brethren, we are established in Christ, and we are members of the Body of Christ.  God the Father has anointed us, just as He anointed Jesus! He has sealed us as His children.  The Father has given us the pledge of His Spirit.

John puts it this way in 1 John 2:20: “You have an unction [the special endowment] from the Holy One, and ye know all things.” 

Anointing is something very special and important.  Anointing is the prescribed procedure for performing a number of divine functions:

You can go through the scriptures and you can see that Kings were anointed:

I Samuel 15:1  Samuel also said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint [Hebrew mashach] you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the LORD.

Prophets are consecrated and anointed:

I Kings 19:16   "Also you shall anoint  [Hebrew mashach] Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. [Heb. mashach]

The pillar stone was anointed by Jacob:

Genesis 31:13   I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed [Hebrew mashach] the pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family.’"                           

The sons of Aaron, and the priests, were anointed and consecrated:

Exodus 28:41   “So you shall put them on Aaron your brother and on his sons with him. You shall anoint them, consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to Me as priests.

Exodus 29:7  "And you shall take the anointing oil, pour it on his head, and anoint him.

Holy bread was anointed:

Exodus 29:2   "and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed [Hebrew mashach] with oil (you shall make them of wheat flour).

The altar, and the sin offering bullock, was anointed:

Exodus 29:36   "And you shall offer a bull every day as a sin offering for atonement.  You shall cleanse the altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to sanctify it.

Exodus 40:10   "You shall anoint the altar of the burnt offering and all its utensils, and consecrate the altar. The altar shall be most holy.

The Tabernacle of the Congregation, and everything in it, was anointed:

Exodus 30:26  "With it you shall anoint the tabernacle of meeting and the ark of the Testimony;

Exodus 40:9   "And you shall take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it; and you shall hallow it and all its utensils, and it shall be holy.

The Ark of the Covenant was anointed:

Exodus 30:26   "With it you shall anoint [Hebrew mashach] the tabernacle of meeting and the ark of the Testimony;

King David was anointed more than once:

I Samuel 16:13  Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.

II Samuel 2:4   Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, "The men of Jabesh Gilead were the ones who buried Saul."

II Samuel 5:3  Therefore all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD. And they anointed David king over Israel.

Jesus was anointed for burial:

Mark16:1  Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him.

The Two Witnesses are called “Sons of oil” in the Douay-Rheims Bible:

Zechariah 4:3, 11-14 describes the “two olive trees,” and also “the two anointed ones, or Sons of Oil, as it reads in the original, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”  They pour golden oil into the bowl on the head of the golden candlestick.

When we are baptized with the laying on of hands we receive the promise of the Father, which is God’s Holy Spirit in us.

We use anointing in our lives to point us to God, so that we might know that we have been anointed by God the Father for a special calling, to be His children, to be healed, to be whole for all eternity, and to be with Jesus Christ and rule in the Millennium.

There is so much to understand about this relationship that we have with God, and God’s direct intervention in each and every anointing.

WZ/pp/sl

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Sermon:

"Anointing"