THE ANOINTING

J. N. Grace

Leviticus 8: 1–3, 10–12, 30; Acts 16: 6, 7, 23–28

I have been thinking of the anointing. It has often been said that the intention is that the dispensation should finish in the way in which it began. It may be difficult sometimes to see that, but we have just been reminded that the level of things is going to be maintained in the overcomers, and I am sure we would all like to be among them. It must have been a wonderful time when the tabernacle was set up, a divine system in which God found His abode. Everything in that tabernacle was anointed with oil, and it was an oil of perfume, which of course looks forward to the fragrance of Christ, the tabernacle system in its full bearing really involving the whole universe. Think of that—finally it is the fragrance of Christ which will be before God throughout the whole universe. It refers to what came out in Christ as Man, the perfection of it, the life of Jesus so fragrant to God.

When instructions were given for the anointing oil to be made a large part of it referred to ingredients which speak of suffering (see Exodus 30: 23). Myrrh was the first component. It speaks, of course, of the sufferings of Christ. But it was not all sufferings; there were the sweet spices as well as the myrrh; so that we gather up in our minds the spirit of Jesus as here under the eye of God. What He suffered only served to bring out the fragrance that was there.

It is quite evident from the accounts we have in the gospels that the greater the pressure the more it served to bring out the perfection of that holy Man. When you think of Pentecost, you think of the Lord having completed His life here,

the fragrance of it going up to God; you think of His death having been effected and His blood having been shed, and the Spirit being poured out from on high.

It is very remarkable really that everything, everything in the tabernacle was anointed with oil, and then Aaron and his sons are brought forward. Aaron is anointed without blood, the distinction of Christ being thus foreshadowed. Then his sons are brought in, and we come into that. One was thinking, beloved brethren, of the need there is in the time we are in that the anointing should come into evidence. We are able to gather together, as on this occasion, for the service of God, in our enquiries together, and for the preaching of the glad tidings, and then we have to do with men. We long that what we do might be effective for God. We can do things rightly, we can do things intelligently, but are they effective in the divine system, bringing about something for God? Paul says, “Now he that ... has anointed us, is God”, 2 Corinthians 1: 21. What He looks for is the expression of Christ, particularly in the spirits of the saints, in the time we are in; that is why I referred to Paul and Silas in the prison in Philippi.

It is an extraordinary thing, is it not? There they were at the beginning of the extension of the glad tidings and the truth of the assembly into Europe, in the prison, suffering, their backs smitten, their feet in the stocks, and yet they were “praising God with singing”, showing manifestly the Spirit of Christ. And we may say that in one way, at the end of the dispensation, we are in a position of captivity publicly, limited maybe in our movements, and maybe things being done to the saints that have never been done in our lifetime before. What is it that God is looking to see? He is looking to see the Spirit of Christ coming out in us. Our committal is that the service of God should go on in the undiminished power of the Spirit, our hearts and souls buoyant in the sense of the One who has gone before us. He has trodden a path that we will never have to tread, and yet in the closing days of the Lord’s life here it says, “And having sung a hymn, they went out to the mount of Olives”, Mark 14: 26. I have often thought of that, coming as it does in that ‘pressure’ gospel. The Lord was equal to it all so that the spirits of His own should be buoyed up and not depressed.

So in Acts 16 it says, “the prisoners listened”. I think we little realize that the eyes of others are upon us, and the ears of others are open to what we are saying. Do they hear recrimination? Do they hear any bitterness as to what has come in by way of suffering? Who is standing for the Lord now in the midst of suffering? I think the main thing is that when the Lord looks down He sees the anointing oil coming into expression in the Spirit of Christ in the hearts and lives of His people. I think that is what brings in the answer, the divine answer; that is what brings the earthquake; that is what makes the foundations of the prison shake.

The bonds of the prisoners were loosed. That is what we want; we want to see the bonds of the prisoners loosed. And I think if we can be in keeping as to fewness of numbers—there were only two, were there not, in that gaol—if we can be in keeping at the end of the dispensation, then what God may do! He could work with the gaoler, could He not? It is the same God, the same Spirit, working, the same Spirit of Christ, the same Spirit of Jesus as where we have read.

The Holy Spirit, it says, forbade them to speak in Asia but led them to turn toward Europe.

Who could have foreseen the sufferings that were involved in the extension of the testimony as it came into Europe and its outgoings? In Australia and New Zealand it is the outgoings of Europe. It says that the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to

go to Bithynia, but there was an area in which the Spirit of Jesus should find an expression.

Paul speaks of this in writing to the Philippians. He says, “the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ”, Philippians 1: 19. The supply lines, dear brethren, are still open, involving all that is needed for the maintenance of the testimony in conditions of suffering and pressure, so that the suffering that we are going through may be sustained in meekness of spirit.

In that anointing oil there were sweet spices, and I think they allude to the fact that it brings out something unique in the hearts of the saints of the sweetness of Christ in the midst of an area of things that as to the flesh could only bring out bitterness and hatred. Now what a triumph that is for God! That is the gospel; the same blessed gospel that was preached by Paul in that prison is available today to maintain us in the face of conflict, in the face of pressure, in the face of suffering, not only to go through, but to go through in victory, so that our brethren can be loosed from their bonds. God can act, and maybe He will. If He sees a reflection of Christ as He is looking for it and an expression of the assembly in the various localities that are available today, maybe God will come in in an unexpected way to answer the prayers of the beloved brethren.

Word in meeting for ministry, Motueka, New Zealand
20 November 1979