The Unction from the Holy One.
'And ye have _an anointing from the Holy One_, and ye know all
things. And as for you, the anointing which ye received of Him
abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach you; but as His
anointing teacheth you concerning all things, and is true, and is
no lie, and even as it taught you, ye abide in Him.'--1 John ii.
20, 27.
In the revelation by Moses of God's Holiness and His way of making holy,
the priests, and specially the high priests, were the chief expression
of God's Holiness in man. In the priests themselves, the holy anointing
oil was the one great symbol of the grace that made holy. Moses was to
make an holy anointing oil: 'And thou shalt take of the anointing oil,
and sprinkle it upon Aaron and upon his sons, and he shall be hallowed,
and his sons with him.' 'This shall be an holy anointing oil unto me.
Upon man's flesh shall it not be poured; neither shall ye make any other
like it; it is holy, it shall be holy unto you' (Exod. xxix. 21, xxx.
25-32). With this the priests, and specially the high priests, were to
be anointed and consecrated: 'He that is the high priest among you, upon
whose head the anointing oil was poured, shall not go out of the holy
place, nor profane the holy place of his God; for _the crown of the
anointing oil of his God_ is upon him' (Lev. xxi. 10, 12). And even so
it is said of David, as type of the Messiah, 'Our king is _of the Holy
One of Israel_. I have found David, my servant; with my _holy oil_ have
I anointed him.'
We know how the Hebrew name _Messiah_, and the Greek _Christ_, has
reference to this. So, in the passage just quoted, the Hebrew is, 'with
my holy oil I have _messiahed_ him.' And so in a passage like Acts x.
38: 'Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, whom God _christed_ with the Holy
Ghost and with power.' Or Ps. xlv.: 'God hath _messiahed_ thee with the
oil of gladness above thy fellows;' in Heb. i. 9, 'Thy God hath
_christed_ thee with the oil of gladness.' And so (as one of our
Reformed Catechisms, the Heidelberg, has it, in answer to the question,
Why art thou called a Christian?) we are called Christians, because we
are fellow-partakers with Him of His christing, His anointing. This is
the anointing of which John speaks, the chrisma or christing of the Holy
One. The Holy Spirit is the holy anointing which every believer
receives: what God did to His Son to make Him the Christ, He does to me
to make me a Christian. 'Ye have the anointing of the Holy One.'
1. _Ye have an anointing from the Holy One._ It is as the Holy One that
the Father gives the anointing: that wherewith He anoints is called the
oil of holiness, the Holy Spirit. Holiness is indeed a Divine ointment.
Just as there is nothing so subtle and penetrating as the odour with
which the ointment fills a house, so holiness is an indescribable,
all-pervading breath of heavenliness which pervades the man on whom the
anointing rests. Holiness does not consist in certain actions: this is
righteousness. Holiness is the unseen and yet manifest presence of the
Holy One resting on His anointed. Direct from the Holy One, the
anointing is alone received, or rather, only in the abiding fellowship
with Him in Christ, who is the Holy One of God.
And who receives it? Only he who has given himself entirely to be holy
as God is holy. It was the priest, who was separated to be holy to the
Lord, who received the anointing: upon other men's flesh it was not to
be poured. How many would fain have the precious ointment for the sake
of its perfume to themselves! No, only he who is wholly consecrated to
the service of the Holy One, to the work of the sanctuary, may receive
it. If any one had said: I would fain have the anointing, but not be
made a priest; I am not ready to go and always be at the call of sinners
seeking their God, he could have no share in it. Holiness is the energy
that only lives to make holy, and to bless in so doing: the anointing of
the Holy One is for the priest, the servant of God Most High. It is only
in the intensity of a soul truly roused and given up to God's glory,
God's kingdom, God's work, that holiness becomes a reality. The holy
garments were only prepared for priests and their service. In all our
seekings after holiness, let us remember this. As we beware of the error
of thinking that work for Christ will make holy, let us also watch
against the other, the straining after holiness without work. It is the
priest who is set apart for the service of the holy place and the Holy
One, it is the believer who is ready to live and die that the Holiness
of God may triumph among men around him, who will receive the anointing.
2. '_The anointing teacheth you._' The new man is created in
_knowledge_, as well as in righteousness and holiness. Christ is made to
us _wisdom_, as well as righteousness and sanctification. God's service
and our holiness are above all to be a free and full, an intelligent and
most willing, approval of His blessed will. And so the anointing, to fit
us for the service of the sanctuary, teaches us to know all things. Just
as the perfume of the ointment is the most subtle essence, something
that has never yet been found or felt, except as it is smelt, so the
spiritual faculty which the anointing gives is the most subtle there can
be. It makes 'quick of scent in the fear of the Lord:' it teaches us by
a Divine instinct, by which the anointed one recognises what has the
heavenly fragrance in it, and what is of earth. It is the anointing that
makes the Word and the name of Jesus in the Word to be indeed as
ointment poured forth.
The great mark of the anointing is thus, teachableness. It is the great
mark of Christ, the Holy One of God, the Anointed One, that He listens:
'I speak not of myself; as I hear, so I speak.' And so it is of the Holy
Spirit too: 'He shall not speak out of Himself: whatsoever He shall
hear, that shall He speak.' It cannot be otherwise: one anointed with
the anointing of this Christ, with this Holy Spirit, will be teachable,
will listen to be taught. 'The anointing teacheth.' 'And ye need not
that any one teach you: but the anointing teacheth you concerning all
things.' 'They shall be all taught of God,' includes every believer. The
secret of true holiness is a very direct and personal relation to the
Holy One: all the teaching through the word or men made entirely
dependent on and subordinate to the personal teaching of the Holy Ghost.
The teaching comes through the anointing. Not, in the first place, in
the thoughts or feelings, but in that all-pervading fragrance which
comes from the fresh oil having penetrated the whole inner man.
3. '_And the anointing abideth in you._' '_In you._' In the spiritual
life it is of deep importance ever to maintain the harmony between the
objective and the subjective: God in Christ above me, God in the Spirit
within me. In us, not as in a locality, but _in us_, as one with us,
entering into the most secret part of our being, and pervading all,
dwelling in our very body, the anointing abideth _in us_, forming part
of our very selves. And this just in proportion as we know it and yield
ourselves to it, as we wait and are still to let the secret fragrance
permeate our whole being. And this, again, not interruptedly, but as a
continuous and unvarying experience. Above circumstances and feelings,
'the anointing abideth.' Not, indeed, as a fixed state or as something
in our own possession; but, according to the law of the new life, in the
dependence of faith on the Holy One, and in the fellowship of Jesus. 'I
am anointed with fresh oil,'--this is the objective side; every new
morning the believer waits for the renewal of the Divine gift from the
Father. 'The anointing abideth in you,'--this is the subjective side;
the holy life, the life of faith and fellowship, the anointing, is
always, from moment to moment, a spiritual reality. The holy anointing
oil, always fresh, the anointing abiding always, is the secret of
holiness.
4. '_And even as it taught you, ye abide in Him._' Here we have again
the Holy Trinity: the Holy One, from whom the holy anointing comes; the
Holy Spirit, who is Himself the anointing; and Christ, the Holy One of
God, in whom the anointing teaches us to abide. In Christ the unseen
holiness of God was set before us, and brought nigh: it became human,
vested in a human nature, that it might be communicated to us. Within us
dwells and works the Holy Spirit, drawing us out to the Christ of God,
uniting us in heart and will to Him, revealing Him, forming Him within
us, so that His likeness and mind are embodied in us. It is thus we
abide in Christ: the holy anointing of the Holy One teacheth it to us.
It is this that is the test of the true anointing: abiding in Christ, as
He meant it, becomes truth in us. Here is the life of holiness as the
Thrice Holy gives it: the Father, the first, the Holy One, making holy;
the Son, the second, His Holy One, in whom we are; the Spirit, the
third, who dwells in us, and through whom we abide in Christ, and Christ
in us. Thus it is that the Thrice Holy makes us holy.
Let us study the Divine anointing. It comes from the Holy One. There is
no other like it. It is God's way of making us holy--His holy priests.
It is God's way of making us partakers of holiness in Christ. The
anointing, received of Him day by day, abiding in us, teaching us all
things, especially teaching us to abide in Christ, must be on us every
day. Its subtle, all-pervading power must go through our whole life: the
odour of the ointment must fill the house. Blessed be God, it can do so!
The anointing that abideth makes the abiding in Christ a reality and a
certainty; and God Himself, the Holy One, makes the abiding anointing a
reality and a certainty too. To His Holy Name be the praise!