THE ANOINTING OF THE SAINTS
[p. 368] THE ANOINTING OF THE SAINTS
2 Corinthians 1: 21; 1 Corinthians 12: 12,13; Exodus 30: 22 - 33
I want to speak a word on the anointing of the saints. God began early with this means of asserting His sovereignty and of dignifying those who were to be employed in His service and testimony. You will recall how that it is said of Satan, as represented in the king of Tyre, in the book of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 28: 14), that he was “the anointed cherub that covereth”. Evidently, God had committed Himself to that exalted being by the anointing, and, in that way, we understand how early the principle had been adopted by God. And so right through, God has been pleased to employ it, and I wanted to speak of it, as the apostle does in writing to the Corinthians, in its application to ourselves; for it is well to be practical and simple in the ministry of the truth.
I want to bring home the truth that it is God who has anointed us. I desire that we should be reminded of that. Now, anointing is for the head, as we learn from Scripture, and in that way it is what is to be seen. It dignifies us, as representing God here. Our anointing by God is that we should be in suitable dignity as set here in this world. You will observe that the apostle says, “Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ” 2 Corinthians 1: 21. It refers to what we are as before God, not as before men; and then he continues, “and hath anointed us, is God”. In other words, the apostle would first remind the Corinthians that God had set them up and established them “in Christ”. It involves that one has a status before God. What a thought that is!
In Ephesians we are not only in Christ, but we are raised up together, and made to sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. That is, Ephesians presents to us the full result of the great love of God.
[p. 369] We are accustomed to the love of God, and who can exhaust such a theme, expressed as it is in the gift of Christ, the love of God “shed abroad”, as it is said, “in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us” Romans 5: 5. When we come to Ephesians it is not only that, precious as it is, not only the covenant — the disposition of God towards us in Christ, but it is on account of His great love wherewith He loved us. I want you just to notice for a moment how the great love of God embraces all the brethren. He quickens us “with the Christ”, and raises us up together; as we come under the influence of that love, we value its thoughtfulness in associating us thus together. So that from the very outset God has associated us with one another in the operations of His love; and also as quickened “with the Christ”. How precious to think of the operations of the great love of God, embracing us all and associating us all with the Christ in His quickening! Then he says, “and has raised us up together” Ephesians 2: 6. As we are under the influence of the great love of God we embrace all the brethren, for in His Jove He embraces all, and He raises us up together and makes us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. That is what the great love of God does. The result of His quickening power in every one of us, sets us down in holy dignity in Christ Jesus in the heavenlies; so that there is no disparity between us and the position that the great love of God has accorded to us. That is Ephesians.
But Corinthians is to bring about establishment of soul. We should see that it is God who has done it; He has set us up in Christ. He has set us up, while down here, in relation to His testimony; for remember, 1 and 2 Corinthians have in view the assembly in the wilderness. It is not an Ephesian position, that is the land; the great love of God leads us into the land and sets us down there in holy dignity — as it is said in the song in Exodus 15: 17, “Thou shalt bring them in,
[p. 370] and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established”. But 1 and 2 Corinthians refer to us, not as in the land, but as down here, as God’s assembly in the presence of the world, and we are to be here in holy dignity before the world. The secret of it lies in the fact that God has established us in Christ. As one moves about, whatever our status of life in this world, think of the holy dignity of soul that one has as one thinks of the place in which God has set us, even “in Christ”! All the distinctions of this world fade as in the power of the Spirit we lay hold of that precious thought, that God has established us “in Christ”. We cannot be robbed of it, for God has done it; He of whom it is said, “he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast” Psalm 33: 9. But that is a secret for your soul; men will not understand that; it is a secret that I carry about with me, that God has set me up — has established me in Christ.
But what will tell before men is the anointing. And so I want now to say a word about the anointing oil, as it is described in Exodus. It is well, in dwelling on the anointing of the saints, to apprehend what it is that God employs in this honour conferred upon us; so I read these verses in the book of Exodus, because they give us, in type, what this holy ointment or oil is. In some anointings we get the word “fresh oil”, and we get simply “oil”, without being told what it is, but in the book of Exodus God prescribes things. Divine prescriptions must not be deviated from, and that is one of the leading features of the book of Exodus: if God is to have a tabernacle, it must be made according to pattern, it must be made according to specification, and it must be anointed; and, not only that, but it must be anointed by a certain holy compound. I would just call attention to it, dear brethren, for in a way nothing affects the heart more than the ingredients of [p. 371] this holy compound. It is undoubtedly a type of the life of Christ on this earth. Does not that appeal to your heart? It does to mine. What a holy compound was the life of Christ under God’s eye in this world! No irregularity, no discrepancy, everything balanced, according to the divine specification, the suffering love of the Lord Jesus Christ shedding its holy fragrance throughout His entire pathway! Do you read the gospels? I have no doubt we come back to the gospels after we have learned the epistles, and they become the profoundest study of all Scripture. You have before you there the infinite perfection of Christ in manhood. This holy compound, as I said, marks every step of that way. And God would have it, as it were, extended! Hence in the first letter to the Corinthians the apostle says, “so also is the Christ”. That is, the body of Christ is taken up as coming under the anointing. The saints are regarded as brought together in love, and they come under that covering. As the body, they are said to be “the Christ” (1 Corinthians 12: 12). And then the apostle, in order to amplify, as I apprehend, what he has in mind in touching this great thought of the Christ, says, “For by one spirit are we all baptised into one body” 1 Corinthians 12: 13. That is the secret of it. The anointing is not to be put on the flesh of man, and the baptism of the Spirit is that I am merged, as regards my individuality, in the company. Whatever I may have been, however distinguished in this life, all that is merged, or rather submerged, it is not to appear in the body. It is not to be anointed: that which distinguished me in this life is not to be anointed; that must go. Then I ask myself, Is it gone? Or, am I like Saul, head and shoulders above others according to the flesh, yet seeking to adorn myself with the holy anointing oil of God? Alas! many do that; but the Scriptures forbid it with the severest penalty. You must not take this and adorn yourself with it according to what you are in the flesh. It must not be put on the flesh of man. How, then, am I going [p. 372] to come into this anointing? The first thing is to be baptised. Water baptism means that I disappear out of this world; it is negative: as baptised to Christ I disappear under the water, I disappear out of this world. But then I am baptised to Christ, and now, what will He do with me? He will place me in the body; He baptises with the Holy Spirit. We need to be baptised by the Holy Spirit, and I believe this is where the defect lies with many of us — that we are not truly baptised by the Holy Spirit. I am, of course, not calling into question what the Lord does, and how that, from the divine side, every one that has the Spirit is in principle baptised; but the question is, Am I merged in the company of the brethren? or am I, like Saul, according to my natural dignity, in my own reckoning head and shoulders above them? Remember that the one that was truly after God’s heart was the man that was neglected, well-nigh forgotten in the family, even David. Eliab, the eldest, in his natural dignity, and all the others, one after the other, pass before the prophet. Samuel says to Jesse, “Are here all thy children?” 1 Samuel 16: 11. Jesse says, No, there is another, the youngest, and he is keeping the sheep. Samuel says, “Send and fetch him”. I mention that so that you may see the anointing is for those who are little in their own eyes, not for those who are dignified according to nature. The anointing is not for such. It is a serious thing to be passed by in this respect.
So David arrives; and as he appears he is ruddy, he is full of the energy of youth, as one may say, and withal of a beautiful countenance; and the Lord says to Samuel, “Arise, anoint him: for this is he” 1 Samuel 16: 12. The least is the anointed one. Well, how is that brought about? — It is by the work of God in us. The moral beauty indicated in David can only thus be produced in us. There must be the reduction in me of every element of the flesh; the Holy Spirit will not brook anything of the flesh; it must come down: so the baptism [p. 373] of the Holy Spirit must take place; I must be merged among the brethren, I must be one of them, without pretending to be more than they are. And now I come into this holy dignity; for how could God put upon me the Spirit of the meek Man, of the lowly in heart, unless I am lowly in heart? Morally He cannot do it, nor will He do it. He did it to Saul; it is wonderful to see the patience that God exhibited toward that man, but it was only to prove to us the incorrigible character of the flesh, for God anointed it, and He helped Saul, and in the spirit of David gave him every possible opportunity to right himself, but it was futile; he died on Mount Gilboa. Nothing, in a way, bespeaks the magnanimity of David’s heart like his poetic reference to the shield of Saul, “the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil” 1 Samuel 1: 21. He had respect to the oil. But God is not anointing any Sauls today; the day for that is past; He has found David, a man after His own heart. He has Christ, and He will have no other kind of man; He is going to fill the universe with men like Christ. The body of Christ is the first family thus brought into conformity to Christ. It is a wonderful thing to be dignified by the anointing in this way. The Spirit of Christ is put upon one. Will God do it to any save one who is in some sense like Christ? — No. He said to Samuel, “man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart”, 1 Samuel 16: 7. Of course all is the work of the Spirit, but I speak of the moral order in which things stand. As I speak now God is not thinking of what I am saying simply, He is thinking of what is in my heart, of the motives I have; and He is thinking of what is in your heart. I think of God looking into our hearts at this moment, weighing up what is there; and so the meek and lowly in heart are those who come in for the anointing. Have you, my brother and my sister, come to the end of all flesh? God has. “The end of all flesh is come before me”, Genesis 6: 13,
[p. 374] He says. The Lord says to Samuel, “How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him?” 1 Samuel 16: 1. There is a limit, and we must not retain our Sauls, for God will not have them. But nevertheless He will have men, and so He brings about in us, through discipline, a belittlement, which qualifies us for the body. How are we to have the body without it? You cannot even be in the kingdom unless you become little: “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” Matthew 18: 3. How much less then can I have part in that which is to express the mind of God in Christ, unless I am like Christ! It is impossible. So verse 13, as I said, enables us to understand verse 12: “For by one Spirit are we all baptised into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many” 1 Corinthians 12: 13,14. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the secret of our coming in for the anointing. I am speaking now of the thing become practically expressed down here. It is no use my saying I have the Holy Spirit if I do not show it; the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an act of Christ, He does it, but it is practical. John the baptist says, “he it is who baptises with the Holy Spirit” John 1: 33. Christ does it; and it means that I become merged in the company; my individuality according to the flesh, disappears, and now the Lord is pleased to put His own dignity upon me. And we may be assured that He will not be diverted from any one that He is pleased to dignify and qualify in this way for His work. Let us take it down into our souls, that the Lord baptises with the Holy Spirit; and in baptising us He intends to bring us into accord with His sovereign pleasure in His service and testimony down here. “So also is the Christ”. There is that down here which is anointed of God, the Spirit of Christ is upon it, and it is thus dignified before men, and in it is expressed the mind and affections of Christ.
[p. 375] It is a very wonderful conception. I believe that presently the thought will become even more extended — that God will stamp, by the Spirit of Christ, every family; so that there will be a presentation of Christ in all. They are all named of the Father, as the apostle says, but they are named according to the measure in which Christ is to be presented in each.
I want to say a word in closing about the drinking “into one Spirit”. It is quite obvious that drinking is our act. My baptism is not my act; my anointing is not my act; but drinking is my act, and it is brought in here as enforcing the truth being developed, and I would ask, dear brethren, as to whether we know what it is to drink into one Spirit? Drinking is for satisfaction. God would have us dignified; He would have us united; but then He would have us satisfied. Obviously, the truth of the body is not developed in a complaining people, a complaining christian does not enhance the body; the body is composed of satisfied people. Baptism by the Spirit here, has no doubt reference to water baptism; and drinking into one Spirit has reference to the Lord’s supper. The two ‘sacraments’ are brought together here — the one is what Christ does, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the other what we do, even the drinking of the cup in the Lord’s supper. I would say here that there is only one cup. The supper is a memorial of Christ but it is intended also to promote unity, and how blessed it is to have the unity of satisfaction! I do not know of anything, in a way, that is so abiding as the unity of satisfaction, if I may express the truth in that way. We have in Ephesians 4: 3 “the unity of the Spirit” which we are to endeavour to keep; I apprehend that is the unity of affection one for another. And then we also have “the unity of the faith” in Ephesians 4: 13; that I think is the unity we have of mind in the doctrine; we speak the same thing, we do not agree to differ — away with such a thought as that, it is foreign to christianity! Unity is a great principle of christianity. So we have [p. 376] the unity of the Spirit; the unity of the faith; and then as I venture to call it, the unity of satisfaction. Hence there is only one cup, as there is only one loaf. Here, the reference is that we have all been made to drink into one Spirit. Referring to the cup, Mark says, “They all drank of it” Mark 14: 23. They all drank out of the same vessel. This expresses mutual affection. The Spirit of God calls it, “the cup of blessing”. Think of drinking into the cup of blessing! We eulogise it; for it presents to our hearts the love of God in Christ in all its fulness. Surely we should speak well of that! And in blessing it, we all drink out of the cup; we all participate in the same holy love of God. So that it is a unifying principle, as I said, it unifies in satisfaction. I believe many christians are not satisfied; they are held by a sort of conscientiousness in regard to what they are brought up in; but it is the unity of satisfaction we need. The love of God in our hearts by the Spirit satisfies. Think of the greatness of it! So as the Psalmist says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Psalm 133: 1. But what kind of unity? He goes on to say what it is like. “It is like the precious ointment upon the head” Psalm 133: 2 — that holy compound that was prescribed in Exodus 30. It is like that; for Aaron was anointed with it, and it flowed down his beard even to the skirts of his garments. Further, it is like “the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion” Psalm 133: 3, the place of God’s purpose; for the unity of the saints links them on immediately with the purpose of God, on the sure foundation on which we rest. “There the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore” Psalm 133: 3.
May God bring it about in us! It is wonderful that in these last days there should be those who are to be held together in holy bonds, merged in a common brotherhood, dignified by the holy anointing, and set up thus as a witness for God here, as of the body of Christ. May God bless the word!