THE ANOINTING (2)
[p. 162] THE ANOINTING (2)
Psalm 105: 12 - 15; Genesis 28: 10 - 22; Genesis 35: 9 - 18
JT The passage read this morning in Exodus 30 is to be borne in mind, in which it is said that Moses was to take the best spices: “And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, And thou, take best spices — of liquid myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon the half — two hundred and fifty, and of sweet myrtle two hundred and fifty, and of cassia five hundred, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil a hin; and make of it an oil of holy ointment, a perfume of perfumery after the work of the perfumer, it shall be the holy anointing oil”. It is to be remarked that as the manna alludes to Christ personally, so the anointing oil alludes to the Spirit. We have an account of both; the manna is in chapter 16, the word meaning, ‘What is it?’ It is a question that we should have answered in our souls, what the manna means. So now we have the anointing oil. The question mark is not so pronounced here, but we have the component parts of the anointing oil which are to be considered in a typical sense. We should be reverential as alluding to the anointing, because the Spirit as a divine Person is operating in such a remarkable and holy way; and first we see Him in connection with Christ as we had this morning. We shall see the matter now in relation to individual believers, how it worked out in Jacob and his becoming sensible of the house of God. Then we shall see it in the views of the tabernacle and the priesthood and the prophets. It is of the utmost importance that we should speak reverentially, for it involves nothing less than a divine Person, God as seen in this way, One who was used to garnish the heaven. See the beautification there! And then in Genesis He hovered over the face of the waters. Therefore the [p. 163] Spirit should always be apprehended in our souls as equal with the Father and the Son. The name to which we baptise is the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; the passage in Matthew 28 implies that the name includes each Person. We have the Spirit in our souls thus, and regard Him in a worshipful way. Operating in us, He is never less than God, but in relation to the incarnation He has taken a lowly place with Christ, and even more so because He keeps Himself out of view. Still He is the Same, and entitled to that term. In coming so low He does it Himself; it is a question of lowliness, how low He will come. He humbled Himself and He is here in that way and operates as the anointing; that is why we suggested the scripture spoken of this morning and now again brought forward because it informs us typically of what comes out from the Father. What He hears He speaks — a most remarkable thing! And He does speak here below. It is all to impress us with the importance of reverential feelings. A severe penalty is attached to any imitation of the anointing oil, for it is not to be imitated: “Whoever compoundeth any like it, or whoever putteth any of it upon any strange thing, shall be cut off from his peoples”. Any of these ‘holy orders’ and the like, making a natural effort to put on the Spirit, are highly displeasing to God. If there is to be anything in the way of the anointing it is to be this holy compound.
LES Do you think Paul in the epistle to the Corinthians has a very similar thought where he says, “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” 1 Corinthians 3: 16?
JT That is very appropriate — the three Persons are linked together in that chapter as in Matthew 28. Our very baptism introduces us into that.
ANW How do we enter into the love of [p. 164] the Spirit?
JT I would say it comes out from Him as the love of God and the love of Christ. I do not know how we could doubt it. We have too the communications of the Spirit that have just been noted, and we have of course in the type in Numbers 21 the well springing up, alluding to the Holy Spirit; and the children of Israel sang unto it.
JWD Do you think we are to be conscious of the Holy Spirit’s personality, not only His control but the infinitude of that divine Person personally among us?
JT That is what I wanted to bring out — the need to make allowance for His own way instead of His being in the background. Christ having come in in humility supports that, and all that is in keeping with it is to be worked out in us, the Spirit becoming in us the Spirit of Christ.
JWD In the end of Revelation it is the Spirit and the bride. Is it right to say that that is the last phase of the Spirit’s work personally?
JT We had that at recent meetings and it is linked on with what we are saying now; the Spirit speaks to us and witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God. The movement of the Spirit is distinct from our spirits. That passage in Numbers 21 is especially important because the word is, “Sing unto it”. The word ‘sing’ alludes to alternate singing, persons are answering, but answering in that inquiry-like function. It is like Miriam’s response when the women went out after her in Exodus 15. She answered them: “Sing to Jehovah, for he is highly exalted”. It was to the Lord there and not to the Spirit, but it is the same idea, the masculine side and then the feminine, alluding to subjective feeling. And again we have, “Saul hath smitten his thousands, and David his ten thousands”, 1 Samuel 18: 7; the women answered one another there. Throughout the New Testament too we have instances in the scope [p. 165] of song, but the Spirit Himself keeps in the main out of view, and the aim is to work out holiness with us.
GAT Does not Scripture say He will not speak of Himself?
JT “From himself” is the word properly there. He does not speak from Himself but He speaks as God; for instance, “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul”, Acts 13: 2, that is God speaking. Now we might consider in detail these ingredients, the first myrrh, then cinnamon the half (the word ‘half’ is introduced), then sweet myrtle and cassia, and finally the olive oil, bringing in the thought of oil — “make of it an oil of holy ointment”. The first word would be the key word, ‘myrrh’, and all the rest come in their places making a single compound. In order to get the gain of the Spirit in Exodus the rock had to be smitten, linking with the suffering suggested in myrrh.
Rem Regarding the anointing oil, would you touch on the numbers two hundred and fifty and five hundred? How would they enter into the service of God?
JT It is not easy to say much beyond the fact that the compound would yield results. The measurements suggest things to the mind in their proportions, and are to be worked out in the Spirit, so that we have the Spirit of Christ. All that is anointed must be in relation to that.
NB Do you see any connection between these ingredients and the king’s garments in Psalm 45, “Myrrh and aloes, cassia, are all thy garments”?
JT These are things to be worked out, and I think they are worked out in Christ first. The leading thought in all God’s operations was the incarnation. We have the types and certain thoughts in the Old Testament but the real truth was in relation to the incarnation, so that we have it permanently established [p. 166] in the universe.
Rem God presents the best to us in Christ.
JT Yes, the very best, Christ is the very best. These are just types and they awaited the incarnation to come fully into man’s view. God dwells in thick darkness but it awaited the incarnation to permanently effect in man down here what God looked for.
Ques So they are anointed to God. Is that the thought?
JT Each ingredient has to be worked out, and the Scriptures afford means of investigation; the Spirit searcheth all things, but He does it for us, and the field of investigation is Himself. We get something all the time we are investigating.
LES So that Paul presented himself to the Corinthians as “always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body; for we who live are always delivered unto death on account of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh”, 2 Corinthians 4: 10, 11. Would that correspond?
JT That is seen in a living way in the believer, which means permanent establishment. The thing is permanently established, as he says to the Corinthians earlier, “He that establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, is God, who also has sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit”. We see in our minds that everything is objectively established in Christ as the Yea and Amen, but the subjective thought is in us.
JWD Are you thinking of the myrrh as the subjective thought in us?
JT I am thinking of the initiation or key word, mentioned first. The last word is ‘cassia’, the same measure as the myrrh, but inasmuch as it is the last mentioned and not the first, I think the first mentioned is the key idea. The apostle speaks of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.
Rem It says the measurements are “after the shekel of the sanctuary”.
JT They are weighed out according to the measure of the sanctuary, because we are dealing with the anointing from God’s side. He is prescribing what should be used. God brings it into Exodus because Exodus sets out divine requirements in matters. In Genesis persons were not given regulations, hence the oil that Jacob used could not be “holy ointment” for it was his own composition. Oil was used too for anointing Saul and David, but God says, I must have this. He is still maintaining His own standard, and what should mark us is this oil, that is, the sufferings of Christ, the Spirit of Christ, the “supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ” as it says.
Rem How does the ointment used by the woman in the gospels fit in with this?
JT That is another thing, it leads us on to further thoughts now, to what is called “the incense”, that is the second prescription, from verse 34 to the end of the chapter. It is what is before God in fragrance, whereas the other is what He would have from His priests.
ANW The ointment of the woman in Luke 7 was myrrh. That was designed, was it not?
JT Quite so, it would be part of this, and certainly she had what would be accepted. What Mary had was pure nard and it is said to be very valuable. There are things presented thus from our side, but God has a standard seen antitypically in the Spirit coming on Christ incarnate and resting on Him, bringing out the personality of Christ; and this same oil is to anoint the tabernacle. Our business is to keep to that standard and not to suggest any less than that standard in representing God here.
Rem “Upon man’s flesh shall it not be poured”.
JT That is it here; we are not to imitate it or put it on [p. 168] our persons.
JWD Do we not come to these measurements that you suggest by taking on the matter soberly?
JT Hebrews speaks of persons who “insulted the Spirit of grace”, which is apostasy; so we must be on our guard as to the attitude of our souls on these occasions.
Ques What do you say in regard to the word, ‘unction’ in 1 John?
JT It is the same thought. How does it read?
Rem “And ye have the unction from the holy one, and ye know all things”, 1 John 2: 20.
JT Unction is the thought, but it is something derived from another. It says later on that “the unction which ye have received ... teaches you as to all things”. We surely do not trust to the clerical systems or colleges that bring in some other way of setting up religious systems. The extreme thought of this is seen when anyone says anything against the Holy Spirit; so the word is, “Touch not mine anointed”.
Rem To whom does this reference in the psalm apply?
JT There is no reference, no scriptural record, of the actual anointing, but the allusion would be to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The word is “mine anointed ones”, so evidently God held them in that way as proof against any other demands. And so with both Abraham and Isaac, they stood aloof from any alliances. Abimelech came to Abraham; he was a military man and sought to make a great show before Abraham who was a man of God; he was conscious of his power because he had established royalty attached to him, and he brought his captain with him to make a military show, but Abraham was not drawn into it, nor was Isaac. When Abimelech came to Isaac he brought his friend as well as the captain but Isaac overcame that too. To such God says, “Touch not mine anointed”, whether you are friendly or hostile, “and do my prophets no harm”. That shows how the idea applied before Exodus; God established the idea of His own in Genesis, that they were His anointed.
Ques Would all you are saying now apply to the testimony at the present time in regard to the military display and so on?
JT That is what the young brothers should lay hold of, what God is doing and saying. He would say, You are the ones I am watching. It is a question of your spiritual manner; is it the real anointing you are displaying before these men? You are by yourself but God says, You are one of My anointed ones. God is very fair to Abimelech, saying, I know you do not intend to do wrong and I kept you from doing wrong. God knows what is in the minds of the authorities; if a man in authority has respect for God, God has great respect for him. This is a matter that needs great attention, and all of us need to keep in mind that the anointing had to do with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jacob was the last one and when he has recourse to the anointing he brings in the drink offering, an intoxicating thing; he would stimulate and please God and then he poured oil on that and called the place Beth-el. The very fact that I am to represent God here means that there is going to be a house. In Genesis it is abstract, but God is taking account of those who please Him. He has come down now, it is true, but Jacob got the sense that God was pleased to be with him.
JB Would Hannah be in line with what we are having here when she says, “He will ... exalt the horn of his anointed”, 1 Samuel 2: 10?
JT Just so, she had the idea; that word ‘the horn’, belongs to Samuel. That is part of the prayer of Hannah, but there is not a word of prayer in it. The priest is to walk before the anointed, it is royalty that she has in mind.
[p. 170] Rem She brings a priestly offering to the house of God.
JT Yes, it is in keeping with her loaning her son to the house of God. She belonged to the house of God herself; she was a real priest, and in her words you do not get prayer, it is praise. One would like to help the brethren now to see how we come into this, and so we see in Genesis 28 that Jacob has a sense that this is none other than the house of God. He does not think much of it, he says it is a dreadful place. How much does each one here think of it?
GAT Jacob says another strange thing, that God was there but he did not know it. Would that mean that I might be with the brethren and God be there and I not be in the good of it?
JT Just so, but you remember God was on the ladder above. In the first passage God brought him a ladder from above and He was on the other end; the angels were the link between Jacob and God. When he comes back to the same spot many years later it is a real house of God, because the presence of God makes it His house.
GAT Has the pouring on of the oil anything to do with taking away the hardness from the stone?
JT I think it rather suggests the discipline that Jacob went through. You remember that he was fleeing from his brother who was intending to murder him, and he had a long way to go. The sun was set and this is all he had for a pillow. There was no one to exercise hospitality, but God did: He exercised hospitality in a position of danger. That was all foundation-making time.
Rem This place Haran in Scripture suggests a halfway stopping place, and Jacob’s ideas are hazy here. Halfway stopping places are always rather hazy.
JT Just so, and behind that he has left a dark situation. Think of the terribleness of feeling you have a brother that hates you! Think of having [p. 171] such a one in the assembly! It says, “If any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha”, 1 Corinthians 16: 22. God says, I hate Esau; I love that man Jacob but I hate Esau. Jacob was fleeing from his presence. He did not start from Esau’s place but from Beer-sheba, but there was the dark thought of the hating brother behind him. We can well understand the exercise he was going through, the sun was going down and there was only a stone for a pillow; but then heaven interfered and he began getting some light. God is going to exhibit the wonderful thought of entertaining, for it is His house. Where would Jacob get the thought of anointing? It was in the family, I would say to any young man or woman here, the idea of anointing is in your family and you should look out for it. Well, as I was saying, the thought of the anointing was in Jacob’s house; his father had contributed it to him, and he was coming into it now. There is mention in Psalm 105 of “his covenant — the word which he commanded to a thousand generations — which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac; and he confirmed it unto Jacob for a statute, unto Israel for an everlasting covenant”. That is an immense thing for young people who have believers for parents. It is not simply that I am connected with what my father has been; God says to Jacob, “Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance”. God will say to every believer, if he wants to come into the things that are there, I am dealing with you directly, and what others have you may have. It says Abraham dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob, but it was God’s estate and Jacob was heir to it. We are heirs of God and joint heirs of Christ. We are talking about persons like Abraham and Isaac, and now Jacob is coming into these things. Abraham is not here nor is Isaac, but Jacob is here and God says, I want you. You do not get mention of God’s house in Abraham’s or Isaac’s history but you get it in Jacob’s.
LES Isaiah 59: 21 is a very interesting scripture, “And as for me, this is my covenant with them, saith Jehovah: My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith Jehovah, from henceforth and for ever”.
JT Quite so, I think this is very important from a gospel point of view, that young persons in a christian household may see things and perhaps not be despising them, but still they may not be using them. How did my father get converted, my mother and brothers? But Jacob is sent away by himself. He has not renounced his relations with his father and mother, but he is by himself in this position with a stone as a pillow, and God has to say to him directly. God would say, Your parents are not here, this is between Me and you and I am going to give you what they have but not from them; it is not an inheritance from them but an inheritance from God.
GAT Would you say He calls Samuel directly as a child?
JT It is Jehovah and Samuel. This is a principle to make clear to all young people. You are getting what your father has got but you are not in the enjoyment of it until you get it from God, not from them.
Rem So He would say to the young people as He says here, “I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham, thy father”. He would bring that same thought today to the young in our households.
JT God is discriminative all the way through and brings each one before Him. He says, Why don’t you get this? From heaven above, the ladder reaches down to Jacob; God is not standing by Jacob here, but He is in [p. 173] chapter 35.
GAT Would God hold the young people accountable if they do not pay attention to what is said?
JT God takes account of every word that comes from them and He takes account of the path that their parents are enjoying.
MO Does chapter 35 suggest the gain that is derived from being brought to an understanding of the anointing as having dealings with God?
JT We have to examine the history of Jacob from this point onward to see what comes in before chapter 35; he was conscious in that chapter of being more to God than he had been before. God did not come down to him here in chapter 28, but retained His place at the top of the ladder. We have to examine the history to see what intervenes before chapter 35. God had said to him to return to the land of his fathers, not simply to the house, though that is a beautiful idea, but to the land.
UOG Would you say that this bargain he made with God would mean he was now confessing that the blessing must come from God Himself?
JT One thing hangs on another. He says, “If God will be with me, and keep me on this road that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and a garment to put on, and I come again to my father’s house in peace — then shall Jehovah be my God”; that is the bargain. It is a hypothetical thought when he says, “This is none other but the house of God” in verse 17, for he also calls it a dreadful place; he is not at home there. But he rose early in the morning and took the stone and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. When he said it was a dreadful place he had been in a different state. Where would he have got the oil? Why would he bring it with him? In a christian household he had something that would enable him to answer to the light that he had gotten in his father’s house. He had [p. 174] changed his mind clearly about the place and called the name of it Beth-el; he was like Adam, he had to call the place by a name. And then it says, “Jacob vowed a vow”. It is a great thing when a young person vows a vow. Jacob feels he can make a vow to his advantage, and he says, “This stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house”. It shows how the believer comes into the anointing. The anointing was there already, but now Jacob gets the idea and he is to come into it; the idea is really becoming a living stone.
GAT And this being the case he is now going to have power.
JT That is what we get in chapter 35. The intervening history covers about thirty years. There was very little spirituality in his wives; Rachel had some but there was very little there. God can work out His thoughts in the most difficult circumstances. He says, They are not overwhelming, and I am working out something in you. This matter of wages is an important thing among the brethren. Jacob had to deal with a hard sort of man in his father-in-law; it is not always well to seek employment from our relatives and look for help from them. It came into his mind when Joseph was born that he must go back to his family, but his father-in-law knew he was a producer; Laban knew that God was blessing him through Jacob. Jacob says, My wages have been changed ten times, showing that they had a great place in his mind and he remembered it. That is a very important thing just now because some people are working on the Lord’s day for extra wages. Wages are very detrimental to us if we make them a major point, so Jacob was detained a considerable time at Padan because of wages when he should have gone back to Isaac.
Rem What should be done in a case like this? Should we be prepared to suffer?
JT [p. 175] The matter of wages is detrimental if it goes beyond what is normal, beyond what God gives us. Increased wages will not do for God or for us.
Rem How about a case where wages are in consideration and a brother is working on the Lord’s day?
JT That is a matter that has to be considered; the point is whether wages are involved. The Lord says, There is one day to which I have two titles; one, that it is the Lord’s day, and the other that it is the first day of the week, I am not asking for Monday or Tuesday but for the first day of the week, or the Lord’s day; I am taking that one day out of seven for Myself.
GAT It is not exactly what I lose that matters so much, but what the Lord loses from me.
JT Yes.
Rem Would the violation of other divine principles come in here?
JT The Lord’s day involves rights, and one great saint says, “I was in the Spirit” on that day. If I am ignoring principles, I must consider how long this condition will rule me. We are able to count from the money point of view, but are we able to count from the shekels of the sanctuary?
Ques Do labour unions enter into this inquiry?
JT That is another matter, but connected with it in one sense. There is positive lawlessness connected with the trade union.
Rem The drink offering would be in keeping with the sacrifice. If wages are not in my mind God would accept the drink offering from me.
JT That is the thing, the drink offering is a most interesting matter. What his reasons were for employing it we are not told, but it is intoxicating, it stimulates God. The Lord Jesus was not without that in the way He pleased God; speaking reverently. God could do nothing without Jesus. He lost Him [p. 176] for three days and three nights but He was there before anybody else to raise Him. What infinitude in that anointing! And we are in God’s counsels; why should we deprive Him of ourselves? God wanted to be near to Jacob; He came down to his side in chapter 35 just to talk to him, and it says, “God went up from him in the place where he had talked with him”. The drink offering would be the first suggestion of how he was pleasing to God; God would say, You are pleasing to Me and I can use you.
Rem God had said to him, “I am the Almighty God”.
JT It is an outstanding thought, the mighty God of Jacob. Jacob is conscious now that he is seeing God and that it is the house of God; he is coming to the house on these lines, a house pleasing to God. Although there may not be many in fellowship in a locality the thought is that God can be there. He would say, I will make My abode with you, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We must make a sacrifice in view of this. And then the next thing is that God is to have a place in the hearts of the brethren locally; the saints are a witness to God there.
JWD I think that is a very stimulating thought. We think we are poor and weak and feeble, but we are acceptable to God.
JT This would encourage us especially where meetings are small numerically.