“ARISE, ANOINT HIM”

D. J. Wright

Luke 2: 41–45; 1 Samuel 16: 11, 12

I suppose, dear brethren, it would be right to say that the life which we live is a journey, life’s journey; we could perhaps refer to it as such. But for the believer in Christ that life ends in glory. Every day is a part of life’s journey. There were those here in Luke 2 who went a day’s journey and they supposed they had the company of Christ—“supposing him to be in the company that journeyed together”. I am sure we all know what it is to go a day in life’s journey just supposing Him to be in the company, supposing Him to be with us. His parents went yearly to Jerusalem at the feast of the passover. It was a custom; it was the thing to do.

You might get into a routine in your life, and it seems to be the right thing to do, but, just speaking for myself, it can become mechanical, and you may go through a day, and it might have to be said that you have gone a day’s march nearer home and not known the company of Christ. We have been challenged recently as to what kind of friend each of us is to Jesus. We often speak of what a Friend He is to us, and that is perfectly true. But how important it is—I feel it for myself—that individually we start each day in life’s journey by seeking the Lord, seeking Him on our knees, not only to speak to Him in relation to the needs that may lie before us in the day, but to seek the strength that we need to be here in a way that is pleasing to Him. He would be ever near us, and so we proceed through the day.

There is too the importance of reading the living word of God before setting out in the morning.

When you are retired you have more time, of course, but for others it is sometimes a bit of a rush. But just a verse or two of Scripture, God’s living word, will give you something to start the day, another day’s journey. I feel the importance of this for myself; it is the way, I believe, in which we are sustained in our souls; preserved too, for we need preservation in the day in which we are. Then at the end of the day too it is just as important. The psalmist speaks of the Lord teaching us to number our days (Psalm 90: 12). We can commit ourselves afresh to the One from whom we have experienced help and experienced the sense of His love toward us. We can close the day in relation to what may have entered into it, speaking to Him about it simply. I fear just falling into a routine, “supposing him to be in the company”

as it were. I would just like to apply this scripture in that way, beloved brethren, that we need to be sure, to have some sense of the company of Christ, and some sense of His approval.

Paul knew it; he sought it; he said, “the Lord stood with me” when all others deserted him (see 2 Timothy 4: 16, 17). What an increase in the knowledge of the Lord we would thus have, speaking simply; how much more He would mean to me. We had a touch in the preaching a few weeks back as to the One who is indispensable to us. Well, that is not automatic, it is not mechanical, it is something that is to be known in real experience in a simple way. All these things would underlie the health of our souls, and therefore the health of the local company.

I read in Samuel because there was, speaking simply, a meeting proceeding there, and David, a type of our Lord Jesus, was not there. Samuel, spiritual man as he was, was impressed with the kind of man that Eliab was, the height of his stature, and so on. The seven sons came in, each representing a whole line of things that had

been rejected, and there was, in type, the absence of the Lord. I fear, beloved brethren, our coming together in a mechanical kind of way. We know a good deal, we have the ministry on our bookshelves and we could hold it mentally and say the right things, but unless the Lord comes in with His own touch it will not be living, there will not be vitality.

So Samuel says, “Are these all the young men?”, and Jesse replies, “There is yet the youngest remaining”. You see, things had been negative up till then; nothing much had happened; they had been together but they had not got anywhere. Samuel says, “Send and fetch him; for we will not sit at table till he come hither”. What a suitable attitude that is, beloved brethren, as we approach any occasion. When David was brought in he stood out in his beauty, in his uniqueness. It says, “he was ruddy, and besides of a lovely countenance and beautiful appearance”. He is the One who is altogether lovely, the One in whom there is no spot. One who is fairer than the sons of men, who is the chiefest among ten thousand. He alone can bring in that quickening touch which sets aglow the hearts of those who love Him. What a word this is, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he”. There was no mistake about it. O, beloved brethren, what a word that is—“Arise, anoint him; for this is he”. Would that it were more and more our language as we have a sense of His own touch. May we not be satisfied in any comings together until we have some sense of that quickening touch which will result in our giving Him that supreme place in our affections that He is worthy of. He will gain a greater place among the saints as this is experienced, and we too will appreciate more the beauties of the One of whom the spouse could say, “As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, So is my beloved among the sons”, Song of Solomon 2: 3. What a

privilege, beloved brethren, to be among those who anoint Him with the oil of gladness. What a wonderful thing it is that you can look around on the company and see features of Christ in the saints; but there is One who stands out unique above all others, and as His quickening touch is known there will be this answer in each soul, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he”.

Well, that is the simple impression I had. He is the One who is indispensable to us; firstly we prove it, I think, in an individual way in life’s journey, but that would bring in the good ground, the healthy soil, as it were, in which He can be free among His own, and where He can have that place supremely, and where we can have our part in spontaneity in anointing Him. May we know it increasingly, beloved brethren, for His name’s sake.

Word in meeting for ministry, Redbridge
8 August 1989