Part Three - Anointing Ourselves

Woe to those who are at ease in Zion and to those on the mountain of Samaria who are careless and feel secure, the notable men of the chief of the nations to whom the house of Israel comes! Woe to those who lie upon beds of ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the stall, who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and invent for themselves instruments of music like David’s, who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved and sick at heart over the affliction and ruin of Israel! Therefore, now shall they go captive with the first who go into exile and the revelry and banqueting of those who stretch themselves shall be ended. The Lord God has sworn by Himself, the Lord, the God of Hosts, says: I ABHOR, REJECT AND DESPISE the pride and false, futile glory of Jacob (Israel), and I hate his palaces and strongholds; and I will deliver up the city with all that is in it. Amos 6:1,4-8.

God is not impressed when we manufacture the anointing and anoint ourselves or pretend that we are anointed when we are not. This was strictly forbidden under the Old Covenant. The anointing oil was to be HOLY, set apart. And you shall make of these a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer; it shall be a sacred anointing oil. And say to the Israelites, This is a holy anointing oil sacred to Me alone throughout your generations. It SHALL NOT BE POURED UPON A MAN’S BODY (flesh) NOR SHALL YOU MAKE ANY OTHER LIKE IT IN COMPOSITION; it is holy, and you shall hold it sacred. Whoever compounds any like it OR puts any of it upon an outsider shall be cut off from his people. Exodus 30:25,31-33. It wasn't ever to touch the flesh (draw attention to the flesh or person) it was poured or smeared on the Head only.

The Israelites did anoint themselves daily as a part of their cleansing and dressing, they would wash themselves, anoint themselves with perfumed oil and dress themselves. But this was a DIFFERENT oil to the holy anointing oil; remember that God had told them that they were to manufacture no other oil like it, it was to be sacred. The holy anointing oil was for dedication and consecration. We cannot anoint ourselves with it, that is the role of our High Priest - Christ.

This is a "dangerous" subject. We must not play games with the Holy Spirit and His Holy Anointing; pretending we ‘own’ it or can give it away whenever someone wants it. That is equivalent to "making" and manufacturing it. We cannot just "impart" the anointing to anyone whenever we choose; if you did those things under the Old Covenant as a priest, you were cut off from the people. To claim that we have the anointing of God to give to all and sundry when we feel like it or when someone wants it, is not supported by the Bible.

We do not have God’s power to use at will; to do so would be akin to practicing witchcraft. In witchcraft there has to be someone through whom to ‘transmit’, a channel to pass something on and they can often use this power at their will; they claim or believe that it is available whenever THEY want to use it. With God He WILL use people for His purposes because we His Body, but He will only give us power when HE wants to; not always when WE want Him to. We are priests in submission to God through our High Priest; we do only what He tells us to.

Another way of looking at being anointed in more modern day terms is that being anointed with the holy anointing oil was like a qualification; they weren't qualified or appointed as a priest, king or prophet until they had been anointed/qualified. For us, when we graduate we receive a 'qualification' which then qualifies us to do that which we're qualified for. It is the same with the anointing oil - it is a dedication and setting apart of a person for a purpose. If you're qualified as a Doctor and try to be an electrician; you get into trouble! The Holy Spirit can anoint us for any particular thing; He qualifies and enables us to do what He requires of us. So if He's anointed/qualified me to draw a picture of something and I decide I'd rather paint instead of drawing and have not been anointed/qualified by the Holy Spirit for painting; it would be a waste of time and effort on my part! When something is anointed/qualified by God, it will perform what it is meant to. The Spirit of the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and afflicted; He has sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound. Isaiah 61:1.

When a person is qualified, say as a surgeon, they have the necessary skills and qualifications to do surgery; the person who was operated on would KNOW the person had been qualified as a surgeon, they would have experienced first hand that person's qualification for their own benefit. They wouldn't then jump up and down and say "I've been qualified; I experienced that qualification!" yet this is what some people do with the anointing: "I've been anointed, I experienced the anointing!" So when a person is anointed/qualified by God to heal for example, they have the necessary skills/qualifications to do that work and the person who has been healed through that person, has experienced that the person was indeed anointed/qualified by God for that work. They wouldn't then jump up and down and say "I've experienced the anointing", they'd say "I've been HEALED" because the person was anointed TO heal! The anointing oil was a means; NOT an end in itself!

In a broader sense than just a professional qualification, God can and does anoint and qualify us for many small, every day things also. It is a bit like a boss asking his secretary to go and deliver a letter from him, the secretary is qualified and authorised to hand that message on. In the same way He may ask us to send someone a note, and will inspire us with what to write, and because we are qualified or anointed by Him for this little job, it will DO that which it is anointed for in the person receiving it. I think we need to be very careful in what we define as having the anointing and authority of God, because if that little anointed message were read by someone other than who it was intended for; they may sense no anointing upon it at all because it had not been anointed for any purpose for them, but rather for someone else.

Oil for Healing

In James we are told to anoint with oil for HEALING, and the disciples anointed with oil for healing; not for some powerful anointing to be imparted, but to be anointed with oil FOR healing! The oil used was not the same as the holy anointing oil of consecration in the temple, but was medicinal. Jews used oil to cleanse wounds like in Luke 10:34 when the good Samaritan "Went to him and dressed his wounds, pouring on oil and wine". We seem to have combined a symbolic medicinal use of oil with the spiritual use of holy oil.

"James 5:15 Anointing him with oil— That St. James neither means any kind of incantation, any kind of miracle, or such extreme unction as the Romish Church prescribes, will be sufficiently evident from these considerations:

1. He was a holy man, and could prescribe nothing but what was holy.
2. If a miracle was intended, it could have been as well wrought without the oil, as with it.
3. It is not intimated that even this unction is to save the sick man, but the prayer of faith, James 5:15.
4. What is here recommended was to be done as a natural means of restoring health, which, while they used prayer and supplication to God, they were not to neglect.
5. Oil in Judea was celebrated for its sanative qualities; so that they scarcely ever took a journey without carrying oil with them, (see in the case of the Samaritan,) with which they anointed their bodies, healed their wounds, bruises, etc.
6. Oil was and is frequently used in the east as a means of cure in very dangerous diseases; and in Egypt it is often used in the cure of the plague. Even in Europe it has been tried with great success in the cure of dropsy. And pure olive oil is excellent for recent wounds and bruises; and I have seen it tried in this way with the best effects.
7. But that it was the custom of the Jews to apply it as a means of healing, and that St. James refers to this custom, is not only evident from the case of the wounded man ministered to by the good Samaritan, Luke 10:34, but from the practice of the Jewish rabbis. They had, therefore, recourse to this as a natural remedy; and we find that the disciples used it also in this way to heal the sick, not exerting the miraculous power but in cases where natural means were ineffectual. Mark 6:13. On this latter place I have supposed that it might have been done symbolically, in order to prepare the way for a miraculous cure: this is the opinion of many commentators; but I am led, on more mature consideration, to doubt its propriety, yet dare not decide. In short, anointing the sick with oil, in order to their recovery, was a constant practice among the Jews. Mark 6:13. And here I am satisfied that it has no other meaning than as a natural means of restoring health; and that St. James desires them to use natural means while looking to God for an especial blessing. And no wise man would direct otherwise." (2)

Christ is the ONLY One who can impart His anointing because He IS the Anointing. The apostles didn’t pray specifically for the anointing to come upon someone! They obviously had a different understanding of the anointing than many do today. They knew the Old Testament far, far better than we, and had a much more practical understanding of all its symbols.

Did something change between the Old and the New Testaments that would have given them a new understanding of the anointing? Definitely! The Holy Spirit of whom the anointing oil had been a symbol of in the Old Testament, was now LIVING within them through Jesus the Christ, as He also does with us! So why did they not need to pray and ask for anointing to be given? Because THE Anointed One HAD already been given and was now dwelling within them through the Holy Spirit so they were already anointed and they knew that He was the High Priest who would anoint! Why would they pray for someone to receive an anointing when they understood it to be simply a symbolic act of the Holy Spirit who was now living as the Anointing within them and the other person? We seem to have developed a wrong understanding of what the anointing is. There is no reference in the Bible of praying for the anointing to be given to others.

Anointing Points to THE Anointed One

The TRUE anointing of God will never draw attention to itself but will always point to THE Anointed One, not just ANY anointed one! After all, many have been anointed and have stayed anointed even when the favour of God is no longer upon them and He has in fact rejected them. Our examples of this are King Saul, Balaam and many kings in the Old Testament who were anointed by a prophet or priest of God to be king and yet were wicked kings. Many today lift up any apparent "anointed one" that happens to come along as if THEY were the source of the anointing! This is idolatry and can lead us away from Jesus Christ especially if these ones were once anointed, yet are now rejected by God. Remember that Saul ended up involved in witchcraft.

Saul got tied up in who HE was. He still had the title of king and he didn’t want to let that go, so he felt threatened by David, God’s replacement for him. Not much has changed, many today are enamoured with titles and with themselves. But what’s more important, the title or the function? We need to simply forget the titles, and just DO whatever job God has anointed us to do. We sometimes spend far too much energy and time trying to work out which nice little "label" or "5 fold ministry" we might fit into (maybe because of an insecurity in who we are in Christ?) instead of simply listening to the Holy Spirit and being obedient to what He says without concerning ourselves with what the 'name' or 'title' of what we're doing might be... What is important is knowing the Father and His will (what He's told you to do or say) and getting on with the job and DOING it.

Some herald the arrival of this or that anointed prophet or apostle. When you have to TELL someone what your title or role is instead of simply BEING what you are, then you are likely to be false. But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. 2 Corinthians 11:12-15 (NKJV) Maybe if we as humans weren't so quick to put people in boxes and give them titles, we wouldn't be in the situation we are in today with people idolising the "titled" and many of the "titled" being blind and proud as a result. Titles appeal to people's pride.

In fact, were a genuine prophet or apostle to really come along, they would often be rejected because people would not take kindly to what they were saying. They will not only reject the message, but also the messenger. Many actually use the messenger as a reason to reject the message. A true spokesperson of God will bring God’s Truth, and truth reveals and illuminates what was nicely hidden away. Jesus was like this, He exposed the hypocrisy of the religious people without apology (Matthew 23). People like to have their ears (and maybe egos?) tickled. It’s not always nice to see things how God sees them, but it is absolutely vital that we see.

The anointing in churches today is often portrayed as a feeling, power, or something that is sensed and makes people feel good. The term ‘anointing’ when used in this way, is not Biblical. At best, it is wrongly termed; at worst, it is simply false.

2 From CLARKE’S COMMENTARY, THE NEW TESTAMENT, VOLUME 8 by Adam Clarke

Go to Part 4 - Counterfeit Anointing