Ok, as soon as you see that there is more than one part, you’ve got to think it can’t be that simple. Please bear with me, for the main reason there are multiple parts is because my time to write is in short sessions.
A lot of people, including me, talk about the importance of “the anointing” on a ministry, or we talk about how someone is or was “anointed”. What do we mean by that? Is it just another example of “Christian-speak”, with a meaning that can only be understood after years spent in the Christian culture? Or is it a code word or phrase that we use to express how much we enjoyed or agreed with the ministry? I believe it is something real, a gifting from the Creator for the benefit of the church. I hope to make it simple to understand, as His anointing to teach flows through me.
The first recording of anointing is when Jacob poured oil on the rock on which he was sleeping when God appeared to him the first time.
Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. Genesis 28:18
Jacob re-named that location Bethel, or House of God. God remembered the anointing of that place, because when he called Jacob to return to Canaan, he referred to himself as the God of Bethel. (Gen 31:13) When Jacob returned to Bethel in chapter 35, God re-emphasized Jacob’s name change to Israel, and Israel then set up another rock and anointed it with oil. In both cases, the pouring of oil was in response to the presence of Jehovah, God Almighty.
God instructed Moses to make anointing oil to be used to anoint the high priest and the furniture of the tabernacle, each vessel used in God’s presence (detailed in Exodus chapters 30 & 40).
The connection between anointing with oil and the anointing of the Holy Spirit is shown in David’s call to be king of Israel. “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.” (1 Samuel 16:13).
