The Anointing Oil
Exodus 30:22-30
We often talk about "the anointing". We pray for the anointing of God on our lives, our ministries, our activities - everything. We recognize that we need the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Our own strengths can sometimes be weaknesses because we so easily abandon our reliance on God. We must depend on God.
Zechariah 4:6 – “It’s not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord.” We must minister in the power of God - under this "anointing" of the Holy Spirit. What is "the anointing". We talk about it all the time. We desire it. We pray for it. But what is it exactly?
The most simple definition of the anointing is to be "set apart". When God anoints something He sets it apart for His use.
When a new king was anointed in Israel the prophet would take a horn full of oil and pour it over his head, and it would run right down his clothes. This person was "set apart" - to be used by God.
When we say someone "preached under a real anointing", or "that was an anointed song" - it means it was set apart. God had His hand on the preacher or the song and was moving. The anointing is really nothing other than the presence of God in favour.
In the Old Testament, the Tabernacle and all the furniture and utensils that were used for worship had to be anointed before they could be used. They didn’t anoint with just any old oil - they had special oil for this anointing. We read about it in:
READ: Exodus 30:22-30
22 Then the LORD said to Moses,
23 "Take the following fine spices: 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much (that is, 250 shekels) of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of fragrant cane,
24 500 shekels of cassia-- all according to the sanctuary shekel-- and a hin of olive oil.
25 Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil.
26 Then use it to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the Testimony,
27 the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense,
28 the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin with its stand.
29 You shall consecrate them so they will be most holy, and whatever touches them will be holy.
30 "Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so they may serve me as priests.
(NIV)
God prescribed the ingredients that were to be used, and how it was to be made. It was a capital offence in Israel to make this oil and use it for any other purpose - punishable by death!
The recipe for this oil gives a picture of what we need in our lives to know God’s anointing.
The first ingredient was …
1. Liquid Myrrh.
Myrrh was used to prepare bodies for burial. To get its beautiful sweetness you had to crush it.
Myrrh speaks of death. There is no anointing without death. If we want to know God’s anointing we have to die to ourselves. Die to the old person that we once were. Die to our own agenda - our own desires and dreams. If we’re going to depend on God we have to die to our own abilities and resources.
And if we don’t come to this place of dying to ourselves on our own, then God may have to bring circumstances into our lives to bring us to the place where we will die to ourselves.
Sometimes we’re really quick to say it’s the devil’s work - it may just be the Lord dealing with us because He wants to bring us to a place of anointing so we can be used by Him. It’s far better for you to come to a place of brokenness by yourself, seeking the Lord in prayer. Then He can anoint you, and it’s far less painful than God having to allow those crushing experiences into our lives.
There’s a story in Matthew 26 of the woman who brought an alabaster box of expensive perfume and anointed the feet and head of Jesus. And the fragrance filled the room. This was the kind of box you wouldn’t want to break – it was precious. But unless the outer box is broken, there can be no fragrance. The perfume is locked up to itself, never to fulfill it’s purpose.
Unless there is a breaking in our lives, the fragrance of Christ in us will never be smelt. Sometimes we hold our lives, and control our lives which are so precious to us. We treasure it more than anything. But those things need to be broken.
We need to come to the place of brokenness.
The second ingredient was …
2. Sweet Cinnamon.
Cinnamon was used for flavouring, and it gave off a very pleasant smell. Its fragrance was beautiful in the Tabernacle because it counteracted the smell of the animal sacrifices.
Cinnamon speaks of sweetness. If you want God to anoint you to use you, there has to be a sweetness about your life. God will anoint you and use you if there’s a sweetness about you. The sweetness of Jesus.
This is what the fruit of the Spirit is all about. Read: Galatians 5:22-25.
The third ingredient was …
3. Fragrant Cane (or calamus).
The Calamus plant grows in miry soil. To get this plant to smell you had to beat it. The more you beat it the better it smells.
Again, God’s anointing is able to increase in your life the more you pass through the difficulties of life, and God is able to fashion your character.
Have you been through some hard knocks? Some are harder than others aren’t they. But they are working in you character – as long as you respond to them as God wants you to. He’s shaping you for the anointing.
God is more interested in anointing character than great abilities.
The fourth ingredient was …
4. Cassia.
This spice grows only at elevations above 8000 feet. You’ve got to get up on the mountain to get it.
If you desire God’s anointing - you’ve got to look up. Get on the mountain with God. There’s no shortcut to the anointing - we’ve got to PRAY. Jesus lived in the anointing of the Spirit. He maintained a close walk with the Father in prayer at all times.
Finally,
4. All the ingredients were mixed with olive oil.
And it was the mixture that was called "holy".
Over and over again in the Bible, oil symbolizes the Person of the Holy Spirit. In so many ways, in so many types and pictures, oil represents the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the principle character in the anointing of God. Of the three persons of the Godhead, anointing is primarily to do with the work and moving of the Holy Spirit. When God anoints, it is the outpouring of His Spirit.
All these ingredients mixed together with oil produced the anointing oil that was called “holy”. The Lord will combine all the good and difficult things in your life with the oil of His Holy Spirit. A sweet anointing will form in you, and He’ll be able to use you in incredible ways.
I need God’s anointing – so do you. But we ought to pray for the RELEASE of God’s anointing. The anointing which has already been formed in us. This anointing flows from within us … “out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water” Jesus said.
1 John 2:27 – “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”
One of the great problems we have seen in the church has been the idea that we can live any way that we please, and then we have an opportunity to minister or witness, and simply ask for the anointing of God – and He’ll help us for that moment, and then we can go back to being our normal unspiritual selves.
If God uses a person who is cold hearted toward Him or living in sin, that is only His amazing grace – and probably because of His love for those who are being ministered to. You should never presume the Holy Spirit’s anointing – but cherish it – pursue it – and guard it.
Here is the wonderful thing. If you put the old man to death every day and live for Jesus, and if you keep a sweetness about you (dealing with others in grace), and if you allow life to make you “better not bitter”, and if you daily seek God’s face in prayer and fellowship with the Holy Spirit – THEN, you won’t just have an occasional anointing. God’s anointing will be cultivated in your life, and equip you for every good work. You’ll reside in that anointing, even as it resides in you. And you’ll just minister out of the release of that anointing.
Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2 – “be instant in season, out of season”. In convenient times, AND at other times. All the time. How are you going to do that. LIVE in the anointing of the Spirit.
