WHAT IS THE ANOINTING
In Luke 4:18 (KJV), Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised and to preach the acceptable year of the lord.”
To be “anointed” is, among other things, to be made sacred (consecrated) ; To be set apart and dedicated to serve God; To be imparted with enabling gifts and grace; To be divinely designated, inaugurated, or chosen for some purpose. We know this subject is important to God because the words anoint, anointed, and anointingappear in more than 150 Spirit inspired Bible verses, including 22 New Testament scriptures. Indeed, the English word anoint derives from the ancient Latin inunctus, meaning “smear with oil”.
The anointing therefore is the divine enablement to accomplish God’s purpose on the earth i.e. it is the power of God that comes upon you to enable you to do what you are called to do. It is the spiritual ritual of enthronement, i.e. God enthroning you here on earth. The anointing is divine selection. It means nobody voted you into where you are, you got there by anointing. The anointing is the central message of the Bible, Every person who must excel in life is supposed to deeply study, understand and receive the anointing for sustenance, performance and success. A person without the anointing is like a well dressed soldier at the warfront without a weapon. What differentiates Christianity from other religion is the anointing. The anointing is spiritual in nature therefore; there is no price too much to pay to receive the anointing. Your success in life depends heavily on the Holy Spirit’s anointing and when it comes upon you, the first beneficiary is yourself because your yoke shall be broken, once your yoke is broken then you can think of assisting others.
FUNCTION OF THE ANOINTING
The anointing ensures that you belong to God and that you are under His protection because he says “Touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm.” It means that others without the anointing can be touched and harmed. It promotes physical wellbeing. Once the anointing of God is upon your life, you don’t normally fall sick. The anointing brings wealth, it makes you to recognize and defeat your enemies. It ensures the presence of God is released into the atmosphere, the rain of God’s power that increases the rivers of the Holy Spirit which is inside of you.
THE FIVEFOLD OLD TESTAMENT TYPE OF ANOINTING
- The Anointing of David is the anointing to rule.
- The Anointing of Samson is the anointing to destroy the enemy
- The Anointing of Gideon is the anointing to destroy poverty
- The Anointing of Elisha is for Signs and wonders
- The Anointing of Elijah is to witness
TYPES OF ANOINTING
There are two types of anointing. Everyone here has these two types of anointing
- The Anointing Within
- The Anointing Upon
The Anointing Within
IJohn 2:20 (NNAS) But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know
I John 2:20 (GWT) The Holy One has anointed you, so all of you have knowledge
This is the anointing that we have within us. Every born again believer has this personal anointing. This takes place at the time of salvation. It is the Holy Spirit that lives within us. The personal anointing is the inside presence of the Holy Spirit when He comes to live inside of us. The personal anointing is given by God so we can minister to Him as priests.
1 Peter 2:9 (NNAS) But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
Isaiah 61:6 (NNAS) But you will be called the priests of the LORD; You will be spoken of as ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast.
All of us are chosen to be priests. We have been called to be ministers or servants of the Lord. These things cannot be taken lightly.
1 John 2:27 (GWT) the anointing you received from Christ lives in you. You don't need anyone to teach you something else. Instead, Christ's anointing teaches you about everything. His anointing is true and contains no lie. So live in Christ as he taught you to do.
All Christians are anointed, according to 2 Cor. 1:21; and 1 John 2:20, 27, and thus are authorized and empowered agents of God. The message of those 1 John verses is that no Christian needs a mediator between him or her and God. We all have direct access to God and His truth; all believers have the Spirit within who will lead us into all truth, in Christ and enable us to be His witnesses. Thus, the anointing is not something that comes and goes. What does change is the experience of the demonstration of the results of God's anointing by the Holy Spirit through an individual, according to the need and His purposes in the situation. But the biblical concept of anointing is that all Christians are anointed, meaning they are all authorized and empowered agents of God. All have the Spirit within and thus the power of God can be released through them at any time that He wants to and the person is yielding.
Personal anointing is given to us for our own edification or instruction. This is so that we can make it in the Christian life. This anointing brings power into our life. It is impossible to live the Christian life without the anointing. This is why a lot of Christians are dying, because they are trying to live the Christian life without the anointing within them.
The Anointing Upon
The Hebrew word for the verb to anoint is mashach and is the root of messiah, which means “anointed one.” The basic idea of anointing in the Old Testament culture is a hygienic practice of applying oil or grease to soften and protect the skin in a dry climate (Amos 6:16; compare Ps. 23:5 which uses a different verb for the same idea). It can be used of pouring or smearing. This would be very soothing and refreshing. Oil and grease were also used to protect wounds and aid their healing. In one place the verb is used of oiling a leather shield to keep it from cracking (Isa. 21:5), and in another place it refers to painting a house (Jer. 22:14).
The specific practice of anointing by pouring oil on the head was used as a symbolic act for officially, designating and setting apart a person for a certain, public, leadership function in the community. It was a one-time event much like an inauguration or ordination. Things could also be sanctified or dedicated to a special purpose for God by anointing (Exo.29:36). The three kinds of leaders anointed for their ministries in the Old Testament were: priests, Exo.28:41; kings, 1 Sam. 10:1; and prophets, 1 Kings. 19:16. A major difference between Israel and the other nations was that when God had someone anointed or authorized for leadership He also provided the empowering of the Holy Spirit to do the job (1 Sam. 16:13; Isa. 61:1).
Thus, an "anointed one" or mashach was an authorized and empowered leader. It is interesting to note that Cyrus, the Persian king in Isa. 45:1, is called by God "my anointed" or messiah, meaning God had chosen him to accomplish a part of His plan whether he was a believer or not. The ultimate anointed king in the line of David, who was promised by God to come and accomplish salvation, later came to be called the Messiah during the intertestamental period, though the first use of Messiah may be back in Dan. 9:26. Otherwise, messiah or “anointed one” was not used as a title with a capital "M" in the Old Testament. (Note that the word Christ is from the Greek word for “anointed one.”)
Let’s look at I Samuel 10:1 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him and said: “Is it not because the Lord has anointed you commander over His inheritance? When you have departed from me today, you will find two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, the donkeys which you went to look for have been found. But now your father has ceased caring about the donkeys and is worrying about you saying, what shall I do about my son? Then you shall go on forward from there and come to the terebinth tree of Tabor. There three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall receive from their hands. After that you shall come to the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is. And it will happen, when you have come there to the city that you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with a stringed instrument, a tambourine, a flute, and a harp before them; and they will be prophesying. Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.
Notice there was a symbolic anointing where Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it over Saul’s head. Saul was literally drenched with oil. In the Old Testament days, that was how they pour the anointing oil. Psalms 133 tells us the anointing of God was like the oil that flowed down from Aaron’s beard down to the border of his garment. If I were to pour just a little bit of water over you, it wouldn’t even get beyond your eyebrow, let alone reach your beard, if you have one. Now there is plenty of oil flowing all over Aaron. Some men of God try to follow it literally. It is not very practical to do it. Can you imagine if I were to do it with everybody that way? I would have to use gallons of oil. The way the Old Testament folks used plenty of oil was symbolic of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
CONNECTION TO OIL:
The Bible Dictionary mentions only two types of anointing: with oil or the Holy Ghost. In short, anointing and oil are much more integrally related than most people realize, which explains why Bible translators sometimes use anoint and oilinterchangeably as synonymous verbs (e.g., Isa. 21:5).
WHY FRAGRANT OIL
God is obviously a lover of sweet smelling fragrances and perfumes, words (or forms of them) which appears in Scripture 41 times and 35 times, respectively. Spices – in the context of anointing oils, perfume, food, and incense – are mentioned throughout the Bible: 16 verses containing frankincense, 17 with myrrh, 5 with spikenard, and many others featuring cinnamon, cassia, calamus, camphor, stacte, aloes, onycha, cedar, honey, hyssop, henna, mandrakes, pomegranates, lilies, roses,and saffron. Our faith is deepened and we are enriched and brought closer to God as we begin to study and understand the spiritual meaning of these exotic biblical fragrances.
FIRST SCRIPTURAL REFERENCE
The great Hebrew patriarch Jacob (divinely renamed “Israel”) makes a sacred vow to God after anointing a stone pillar by pouring oil on top of it [Gen. 28:1622; 31:13; 35:14]. Jacob names the pillar’s locale “Bethel” (or Beit-El, meaning “House of God).
THE HOLY ANOINTING OIL: In Exodus chapter 30, the LORD tells Moses to make a very special and “holy anointing oil” of “the finest of spices”, including “flowing (liquid) myrrh”, “sweet smelling cinnamon”, “fragrant cane”, “cassia”, and “olive oil”. This highly perfumed oil was used to consecrate (set apart) the articles used in Temple worship, including the ark of the testimony, the holy tabernacle, and all its furnishings, which made them “Holy” (Kadosh in Hebrew) unto the Lord. This word Kadosh, meaning “set apart”, is written on all of ABBA’s anointing oils. However, God gives an admonition NOT to reproduce the exact formula or use it on ordinary humans—an admonition that ABBA takes seriously. (We do not attempt in any way to reproduce this formula).
THE LAMPSTAND: In Biblical times light was usually provided by oil lamps (ormenorahs, a Hebrew word translated lamp stands”, “lamps or, less accurately, “candlesticks”). Often made of clay, brass, silver, or gold, these simple “lamps” slowly burned oil typically olive oil. This explains scriptures such as Exodus 27:20 (“…order the people of Israel to bring you pure oil of pounded olives for the light, to keep a lamp burning continually”); Exodus 35:14 (“…the menorah for the light … and the oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense…”) ; And Exodus 35:28 (“…oil for the light and for the anointing oil…”). It also deepens our understanding of the parable of the wise and foolish virgins [Mat. 25:112].
PRIESTS: In Exodus, the LORD identifies anointing oil is an acceptable offeringunto Him [Exo. 25:6]. Furthermore, He directs that Aaron and his sons be anointed, consecrated, and sanctified as holy priests to minister unto Him [Exo. 28:41 and that Aaron be anointed as Israel’s High Priest through the pouring of anointing oil on his head and garments [Exo. 29:7,21,29]. (Psalm 133:12 compares harmonious brotherhood to “fragrant oil on the head that runs down over the beard of Aaron…”).
KINGS: In Scripture’s first kingly anointing, the prophet Samuel pours oil on the head of King Saul [1Sa. 10:1].
DAVID’S ANOINTING: David, the “man after God’s own heart”, is officially anointed with oil (by others) not once but three times [1Sa. 16:1213; 2Sa. 2:4; 2Sa. 5:3]. In Psalm 23:5, he says to God, “You anoint my head with oil.” This is confirmed by Psalm 89:2021, wherein God declares, “I have found David my servant and anointed him with My holy oil. My hand will always be with him.” in addition, Davidanoints himself while trying to shake off grief over the death of his child and just before entering the Temple to worship God [1Sa. 12:20].
QUEEN ESTHER & OIL OF MYRRH: In Esther’s era any Queen to be had to undergo a year of preparations prior to coronation [Est. 2:3, 613]. Esther underwent “a six month treatment with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and other aloes”. One translation states it as “…with olive oil and myrrh…” In ancient times, the average woman’s perfume was her anointing oil.
MARY OF BETHANY & SPIKENARD OIL: One of Scripture’s most poignant, bittersweet scenes [Mat. 26:613; Mark 14:39; John 12:35] memorializes Mary of Bethany: A woman with an alabaster jar filled with very expensive perfume (pure spikenard oil worth an average laborer’s annual wage) approaches Jesus, breaks the jar, and begins pouring the precious oil over His head and feet. As the house fills with the oil’s pungent fragrance, the Lord says to those nearby: “She has done a beautiful thing for me…She poured this memory.” Obviously, our Lord was deeply touched by Mary’s unselfish, thoughtful, heartfelt, sacrificial expression of devotion and profound love. Some Bible commentators deem Mary’s faithful act as the utmost example of what God desires in believers.
FRANKINCENSE & MYRRH: The “Magi from the east” honored the child Messiah with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh [Mat. 2:11]. The gospels recount that before his death, Jesus was offered myrrh mixed with wine, which he refused, and that after his death his body was treated with “a mixture of myrrh and aloes.” Frankincense comes to be associated with Christ’s role as our intercessor (the bowl of incense in Rev 5:8 is frankincense, representing the prayers of the saints), myrrh with his suffering and death. In Song of Songs the writer refers to the bridegroom Jesus as “who is He coming in a pillar of smoke smelling of myrrh & frankincense?” Many have suggested that the gold, frankincense, and myrrh represent the three roles of Jesus respectively: King, Priest and Prophet.
FRAGRANCE OF MESSIAH: The apostle Paul writes: “…thanks be to God, who in the Messiah constantly leads us in a triumphal procession and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of what it means to know Him! For to God we are the aroma of the Messiah, both among those being saved and among those being lost; to the latter, we are the smell of death leading only to more death; but to the former, we are the sweet smell of life leading to more life [2Co. 2:1416].”
JESUS COMMAND’S:
According to Revelation 3:18 (NAS), Jesus Himself says to the believing community in Laodicea:“I advise you to buy from Me gold…white garments…and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.” Speaking of “white garments”, consider the advice of King Solomon: “Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil [Eccl. 9:8, NIV].”
BELIEVERS ARE ANOINTED: Believers are “in Jesus” and He is “in us”; thus we, too, have been and are divinely anointed, as affirmed by both 2Corinthians 1:2122 (“…it is God who sets…us…in firm union with the Messiah; He hasanointed us, put His seal on us, and given us His Spirit”) and 1John 2:20, 27 (“…you have received the Messiah’s anointing…the Messianic anointing you received from the Father remains in you…His Messianic anointing continues to teach you about all things…so remain united with Him.”). So, whether or not you use anointing oil, you’re already one of God’s anointed!
OTHERS CAN & SHOULD BE ANOINTED: Some believe oil should be used to anoint only kings and priests; According to Scripture, however, believers in Jesusas the divine Son of God and as their Savior and Lord are “priests” [1Pe. 2:5,9]; They are kings (by virtue of having the King of Kings “in them” [Gal. 2:20]); And they may justifiably view their being anointed with oil as a physical manifestation of their being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit [1Jn. 2:20; 2Co. 1:2122].
Indeed, according to most Bible scholars, in God’s Word anointing oil typically symbolizes the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, “ordinary” ancient Israelites anointed themselves and each other with oil [Ruth 3:3; 2Ch. 28:15; Dan. 10:3; Amos 6:6], and the B’rit Hadashah (Hebrew for New Covenant) actually directs “ordinary believers” to do this [Mat. 6:17; James 5:14].
WHY & WHEN TO USE BIBLICAL FRAGRANT OIL TODAY:
- As an act of consecration and dedication, a setting apart for a special purpose in God’s kingdom. Consider anointing yourself every morning, praying scriptures over your mind, heart, ears, eyes, hands and feet. It WILL change your day!!
- As the Priests of the home, husbands are encouraged to anoint their wives and children for consecration, protection, peace, pronouncing a blessing upon them as did the Fathers of Old!!
- As a preparation to bible study, devotional time, fasting, and praise and worship In times of sickness, fear, anxiety, oppression of the enemy, end of mourning, ALSO in foot washing ceremonies.
- As bath oil—the olive oil is great for your skin and the fragrance is divine!
ALL OF ABBA’S ANOINTING OILS ARE MADE FROM EXTRAVIRGIN, KOSHER OLIVE OIL FROM ISRAEL, BLENDED WITH PURE ESSENTIAL OILS AND SPICES, USING SOME OF THE SAME APOTHECARY METHODS AS IN BIBLICAL DAYS. BIBLICAL FRAGRANCES AND THEIR SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE
Frankincense: used on the Altar of Incense in temple times, one of the 3 gifts brought to Messiah (intercession)
Myrrh: Queen Esther bathed in oil of myrrh for six months before her presentation to the King (purification, dying to self, and preparation for the KING)
"Holy Fire"/Hyssop: exotic Biblical plant used in religious rituals of the Hebrews (cleansing, purification)
Cedars of Lebanon: fragrant wood used to build Temple, also to anoint a restored leper’s house (strength, permanence, wholeness, restoration)
Pomegranate: highly prized fruit mentioned in numerous scriptures motif used to decorate temple, embroidered on high priest’s garment (fruitfulness, abundance, blessings, favor of God)
Spikenard: fragrant oil used by Mary to anoint head & feet of Jesus (intimacy, extravagant worship)
Rose of Sharon: flower depicting the beloved (beauty)
Lily of the Valley: white delicate flower (honor & purity of heart)
In Conclusion: - How can we get the full blessing of the Anointing Oil.
- Be born again
- Have the deep knowledge of the oil
- You must be spiritually anointed
- You must be filled with word of GOD and humility
- You must be clean before the LORD
- Separated unto the LORD
- You must be available all the as a vessel
- You must be determined to make impact
- Five major places – GOD expect you
- Your home
- In the House of GOD
- In your community
- Among unbelievers
- Among the whole word
- You must be filled with undeniable love
- You must be willing to serve in any capacity.
