THE ANOINTING (1)
[p. 149] THE ANOINTING (1)
Luke 4: 16 - 22; Acts 10: 34 - 38; Exodus 30: 22 - 33
JT I was thinking of the anointing; we get it first seen in the Lord Jesus. In this series of meetings I want to refer first to the Lord, and then to the way a believer comes in as having part in it; then to how the assembly comes into it in a collective sense, and then to the priesthood in which the saints come into it as priests and as prophets. It is thought that the consideration of this great subject will help us in view of current conditions. I have in mind how they affect the saints individually and in our local settings, our care meetings, the meetings for the service of God, meetings for discipline, in fact all meetings. The idea is that it implies dignity in a moral sense in us and ability to take in divine things and speak of them one to another, and, especially, ability in those who serve, specifically essential gift. It is thought that we should consider it first as seen in Christ, as setting out the full thought, and so Luke has been selected. Both books selected in the New Testament were written by Luke, and he has in mind order and dignity, ornamentation in christianity, especially in the specific services. Hence this incident in Nazareth is selected because it is a local position where the Lord was brought up, where He is seen in His service as representing all these things, beautification in the service. He is seen in a personal sense as serving, but He is also seen in a personal sense as known in the place. Therefore we shall not lose power in the locality where we reside if the anointing has its place with us.
It is significant that the Lord began, according to Luke, in the synagogue at Nazareth. In this gospel He bases his service on a scripture from the Old Testament, linking on at once the ministry in the Old Testament with the New, so that both Old and [p. 150] New Testaments are bound together in His ministry as having equal authority. The Lord’s own personal attractiveness is seen in this passage; it is said they wondered when He sat down: “The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon him”; and then He said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your ears. And all bore witness to him, and wondered at the words of grace which were coming out of his mouth”. In Acts in Peter’s account of Him it says that He was anointed by God and went about doing good, and it adds that the anointing was “with the Holy Spirit and with power”. So we have this specific instance of the anointing with power. Anointing carries the idea of power with it, and then God follows up what He does in selecting a vessel by being with Him in His services.
Ques Would the incident of the baptism of the Lord in Luke 3 give us an indication of what kind of experience preceded this? The fact there of the Father speaking after the Lord comes out of the water, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”, expresses the feelings of the Father, so that when He goes to the synagogue in Nazareth He is in dignity and power in the sense of it.
JT That is very good, entering into our inquiry. It is what precedes the anointing, what is historical; and then the Person anointed comes into view. There is always a moral ground for what God does and what may be added is that in the beginning of chapter 4 He was led by the Spirit: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness”. That is not simply that He was led into it, but led in it, laying the basis as an example for us, “for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God”, Romans 8: 14.
One of the main features of the anointing is that God can identify Himself with it. Jesus by Himself represented God, as it says, “God has been manifested [p. 151] in flesh, has been justified in the Spirit” (1 Timothy 3: 16), so that everything He did was approved by the Spirit. But then further Peter says, “God was with him”, that is, He joins the vessel He selects, the vessel is dignified enough for that. That, I think, is of prime importance, so that there is the representation of God here and He can join the Person who has been anointed. And so in the book of Job we have Job representative of God in the first two chapters, and then Job really failing God, for he dropped to the level of his three friends in arguments. Then Elihu comes in; he justifies God in everything and God comes in after him and identifies Himself with him, which brings about the end of the work in hand, and Job is delivered.
ANW Why does Isaiah say, “The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me, because Jehovah hath anointed me”? Is the anointing seen in Luke 4?
JT Yes, that is what he is alluding to. It says, “And the book of the prophet Esaias was given to him; and having unrolled the book he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach glad tidings”. That is, he associates the Spirit of God coming upon Him with the glad tidings. The Spirit is the anointing really.
Rem The Spirit comes down in chapter 3. The Spirit descending and abiding is an inward sort of thing.
JT Yes, and the Lord bases what He is doing in chapter 4 on an Old Testament scripture; it is not what He is saying Himself authoritatively, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me”. Anointing and the Spirit of the Lord upon Him would synchronise.
ANW “The Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as a dove upon him; and a voice came out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son”, Luke 3: [p. 152] 22.
JT The dove character would mean that He was sensitive; the sense of complacency in the Person would mean that the anointing synchronised with the Spirit’s presence. It is a matter between heaven and earth, between Father and Son, in the third chapter, but it comes out here where the service is more in mind in a way that affects us. We have the earnest of the inheritance, God is upon us, He has sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. The sealing indicates divine ownership.
JWD (Remark about the anointing of Old Testament kings.)
JT Just so, we should see how kings are anointed. The whole position seems to be set out in the Lord, that is to say, in what was true of Himself. He says, “If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then indeed the kingdom of God is come upon you”, Matthew 12: 28. The approval of God had come upon Him because He was operating by this inward power, though in Luke it is evident in outward power and the beautification of the service.
JB (Remark as to our learning to take character from the Lord.)
JT That is what we get into in time. We follow this example, the perfection of it, of the Lord in His own time. And note how He links with it the Old Testament; so that the Old Testament should never be dissociated from the New Testament as being of less value.
This is the best example that can be given of how order marked the Lord. Take yourself as a minister of the gospel or of the truth, and then look at the Lord here. It is said, “He entered, according to his custom, into the synagogue on the sabbath day”. He would not be a stranger, because it was the town in which He was brought up. He had been serving already but now He is serving in His own town,
[p. 153] suggesting what we are to be in our respective places of residence. “He entered ... into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read”. It would be quite enough if we were just told what scripture He read, but it says, “He ... stood up to read”, and it is for a purpose. His movements and the fact that He stood up are taken account of. If we extend that to the meetings, it bears on how we sit there; it would not be with our legs crossed as though we were in a railroad station; we should recognise that we are in a holy place and the Spirit’s presence should be seen and felt. “The book of the prophet Esaias was given to him”. It belonged to the synagogue; it was the local meeting room, we might say, and the Bible was there, the Holy Scriptures, and the Lord was treated with respect by those who were there. “And the book of the prophet Esaias was given to him; and having unrolled the book he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach glad tidings to the poor”. He was not there simply on His own account but, as before pointed out, as One who could do this in the representation of God. So the very selection of Scripture is in keeping with this matter of how we serve. It is of great importance that the Spirit enables us to find what is suitable and gives power in every movement. It would have been much more difficult to find a scripture then than now. We must be in power in these details because the congregation will lose interest if we lose power.
In spite of the underlying opposition the Lord was not affected by it. All the eyes were fixed on Him. But to go on, it says, “He has anointed me”, and then He says what the anointing is for, “to preach glad tidings”. He would be a preacher, an evangelist, a prophet, whatever God had in mind. And then it goes on to say what He is to do, “to preach to captives deliverance, and to the blind [p. 154] sight, to send forth the crushed delivered, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord”. Then it says He rolled up the book; that is another part of the service, and “when he had delivered it up to the attendant, he sat down”. What would that teach us? The Spirit of God tells us all about it in a perfect Model, it shows that all movements should be controlled by spiritual power. And then it says, “And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon him”. He had the great advantage of being in such power in His ministry as to overcome the opposition which was there against Him. We have the whole thing put before us, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your ears”. It applies to this very place and this very day; that is the way Scripture should be looked at.
LES (Remark as to Peter’s preaching in Acts 10.)
JT That is the apostle, and they were attentive to him. You cannot think of them being anything else. But think of Peter starting out to preach and the local brethren not knowing about it! The local position should be attended to. Some complain because others go off to preach and they do not know anything about it. We must be attendants on the Word; if I go off and the brethren in New York do not know, I am neglecting the position there. Going out to preach is somewhat attractive; but day in and day out looking after the brethren is eldership, and that is what we need. We have both things to think of; we may accept an invitation to preach but then there is the local position to be attended to as well, and that is very often neglected.
Remark as to “attendants on the Word”.
JT The attendant here handed Him the Bible, but in Luke 1 the writer speaks of “those who from the beginning were eye-witnesses of and attendants on the Word”.
Remark as to 2 Corinthians 6, “fellow-workmen”.
JT Paul is making much there of what the apostles were, because they were being neglected.
UOG (Question as to inviting brothers to preach.)
JT In your locality do you invite brothers to preach because they are brothers, or because they have a gift? As it has been remarked, in chapter 3 “the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as a dove upon him”, pointing to personality, and then “a voice came out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”. That stresses the Lord’s personality; you look at Him as well as hearing what He says. The spirit of the bride in Canticles would fit in here; how she would admire Him!
Ques (Further question as to inviting preachers.)
JT Oh, yes, I think the idea of invitation is good: “Pass over into Macedonia and help us”, Acts 16: 9. But I am sure it is not right to put the service of preaching on one who does not have the ability. The ministry should be in dignity.
ANW The hearers are thus attracted.
JT If they turn against the Lord afterward they are doubly responsible because they have seen Him in His attractiveness suggested by the servant.
Remark as to standing up and sitting down in serving.
JT Sitting down suggests that you are reposeful and deliberative, you are settled to go through with a matter; but a discourse is usually given standing up.
Rem You were speaking of those who preach, but the angel could say to Mary, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and power of the Highest overshadow thee”, Luke 1: 35. Is what you are saying more from the masculine side?
JT Yes, because we are dealing with specific gift, “according to the measure of the gift of the Christ”. Correspondingly in 2 Corinthians 1 it is said that “he that ... has anointed us, is God”, but the “us” there would include all christians; we are all sealed and given the Spirit as the earnest. Yet even if we confine ourselves to gift the idea of prophecy is connected with sisters as well as brothers in the Scriptures; their service would be connected with a personal word but yet they have power to serve in a gifted way. We have for example Mary, the Lord’s mother, speaking in a most beautiful way, a prophetic way; then there are Hannah and others, and the daughters of Philip were prophetesses. So we have to be careful in looking into a subject like this that the sisters are not shut out. God has anointed us and they are in it from the standpoint of spontaneous ministers, so it reaches every one of us.
LES (Remark as to the message given to Mary of Magdala in John 20.)
JT She does not announce what she carried to the brethren as merely something she had taken note of; but she had seen the Lord and He had spoken these things to her and she put it in the most informal and simple way, not in the words He used but to convey His mind.
JWD So I am to fill out my part in the grace of the anointing in whatever service I am called upon to do.
JT I think we shall see that more fully as we come to Exodus 40 where we get the subdivisions all working together in the power of the anointing. Now the second scripture helps as to the positive position. It was a very formal occasion, one of the most remarkable we can get. God had wrought in the congregation and they had sent for Peter; the Holy Spirit had had to do with it because He said to Peter, “I have sent them”. Now the Spirit of God is telling us what Peter said to these people. It is a scene where there is no murderous scheme in the congregation as there was in Nazareth; those in that [p. 157] synagogue may not have been conscious of it, but the truth brought it out. There is nothing underlying here; they were listening intently to the word while it was being delivered, therefore Peter would have much liberty in the place. So it says, “Peter opening his mouth said ...”. Why does the Spirit of God say he opened his mouth? Is there something in the way he did it? He says, “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him”. This is something he probably never said before. You could never get another congregation like this in Scripture, with the spirit that was there, “The word which he sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, (he is Lord of all things, ) ye know”; he was dealing with what was universal — Lord of all things; “the testimony which has spread through the whole of Judaea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached”. He was giving them credit for knowing something, so we appeal to what persons do know. And then he says, “Jesus who was of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power; who went through all quarters doing good”. He was not raising storms and stirring up troubles but He went about through all quarters doing good; that is universal.
Remark as to Peter opening his mouth.
JT And the Lord’s mouth was opened too; gracious words came out of His mouth. It is wonderful how that organ has so much place in Scripture.
LES (Remark as to Moses’ mouth in Exodus 4.)
JT That is an excellent allusion. It should be connected with the Lord’s own deep feelings in Mark 7 where he found a man that was deaf and could not speak right. Aaron could speak well and God had dealings with Moses as to that matter because of the state of his mouth, the state of the organ. It is an [p. 158] important consideration because a converted person who is taken up today is one whose mouth has been full of wickedness, the poison of asps under his lips. We need to know how to speak properly.
LES (Remark as to what a change God made in Peter’s mouth.)
JT I am sure He did. Think of Peter, how quickly he returned to his own natural way and cursed and swore! He had been with the Lord but he did not yet have the Holy Spirit, but now he has been anointed.
Ques What do you think of the attitude of Peter in approaching this company? It is a company that God could look upon as qualified, that He could anoint collectively.
JT Peter is reserved in his view of this great matter, the entering in of the gentiles, but God is saying, I have something to say about it. Then Peter would be satisfied. Why should he say anything? God is doing it! Acts 10 has to do with the sovereignty of God; God is speaking of the creatures in the sheet according to what they are going to be, not what they are. We could say, What I used to be is one thing, but what I am now is another. Paul could say, “But by God’s grace I am what I am”, 1 Corinthians 15: 10. You would be afraid to go near the creatures in the sheet, but it is what they are going to be.
JB (Question as to foreknowledge.)
JT With each one He has foreknown, I am sure He has foreknown him not as wicked, but as to what he is going to be. He selects according to what is going to be because He is going to make them according to His counsels.
ANW God is able to see underneath the surface.
JT Peter does that same thing in effect in Acts 3. The lame man at the gate of the temple called Beautiful wanted to be healed, and Peter discerned [p. 159] it. Perhaps we have not the discernment to know who wants to be healed. It is a matter of getting God’s mind. What does He foreknow? He sees someone walking daily, and the gospel has in mind that in due course that person will be a believer because he is foreknown. I think it is well to take in the idea of what is foreknown; it is what pleases God and what is made real through the gospel: “Because whom he has foreknown, he has also predestinated”, that is sovereign. Those He has predestinated will be called, and whom God has called He justifies, and whom He justifies He glorifies.
Rem So Peter said, “I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him”.
JT Quite; He is no respecter of persons; if any one love God the same is known of Him. He salutes you if you love Him; you are an attractive person if you love Him. God knows everybody, but we must read it contextually that He knows you because you love Him. The fact of God foreknowing you is sovereign, it is in view of what He can see in the distance, what you finally appear to be. He is going to predestinate you, call you, justify you, and glorify you.
Rem God does not think in terms of time.
JT He can look on in time as in eternity; He looks down and sees time and sees us acceptable to Him in time, and then all these other things are stated of us.
LES “If there be a revelation ... let the first be silent”. I was thinking of Peter being silent and making way for the Holy Spirit.
JT Quite so, he was thoroughly with God in what he was doing: “While Peter was yet speaking these words the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were hearing the word”. And then he says, “Can [p. 160] any one forbid water that these should not be baptised, who have received the Holy Spirit as we also did?” This is a good lesson for us in endeavouring to preach the gospel. It is not the length of the address that counts but meeting the current condition. The whole congregation was clearly saved. It was a very short address but a perfect address for the moment, and the Lord says as it were, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your ears”.
ANW (Remark as to Peter saying just enough.)
JT Yes, enough to make them fit for the Holy Spirit. The point is that they are to be brought in. God has prior right in all His services and Peter said enough. Paul said to the Ephesians, “In whom ye also have trusted, having heard the word of the truth, the glad tidings of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise”, Ephesians 1: 13. Luke, who recounts this for us, was a vessel the Lord brought in in sovereignty and grace. What he was writing he had heard from others and he did his work well.
We shall have to leave what was in mind about Exodus, in regard to the anointing in the types. It is the Spirit of God giving an account of the anointing so that we might have in our souls a clear idea of it; God uses it in this setting directly for Himself. He is inscrutable, so we have everything to learn about the three divine Persons, and the types would help us.
Remark as to the anointing making persons suitable to convey God’s mind.
JT Yes, that is the idea of it, that one is made fit to speak. That means that he is not simply a man going to the seminary to learn to be a preacher; when God takes up a man he must submit. Paul, in Acts 9, says, “Lord”, to the blessed Person he had never seen! He says, “What shall I do, Lord?” Acts 22: 10.
[p. 161] The natural will is not to come in or it will spoil all.
Remark as to the book of Job.
JT God says to Elihu, You must speak. Elihu says, I am ready to burst! Think of Elihu sitting down with those four men! It does not say he said a word while they were talking, but he was being filled up ready to speak out when God prompted him. And when he does begin every word is pure gold.