Thursday, August 7, 2008

Freedom's Call Name Study "Anointed of God"

This is part of one of my study on this. I need to "work it out" here...leave a comment and give me some feedback!

ANOINTED OF GOD

If we were asked to make a list of people that we thought were anointed of God, I bet our lists would be similar. They may include our pastor, worship leaders, Bible study teachers, authors, speakers….maybe even your closest friends!

This week as part of our Freedom’s call study on the names of God, I’ve been asked to ponder and think on “Anointed of God” as an attribute/characteristic of God.

First things first, what does anoint mean? Here are the definitions from dictionary.com.

1. To rub or sprinkle on; apply an unguent, ointment, or oily liquid to.
2. To smear with any liquid
3. To consecrate or make sacred in a ceremony that includes the token applying of oil:
4 .to dedicate to the service of God

During Old Testament times, the first definition was a common practice. Anointing with oil was part of their daily personal grooming, as well as in traditions such as preparing a body for burial. Anointing with oil also had medicinal purposes but the third and fourth definitions, those are the definitions that are applicable here.

Sacred anointing was used to dedicate (set apart) things or persons for God’s service.
As I think about a sacred anointing, I picture an ordination service. The ordination service is a precious time when deacons and other ministers pray over a man who has been called to lead. There is nothing mystical or weird about it, it is just concentrated time of prayer and commissioning.

When I asked God to tell me who this attribute described in respect to Himself, I immediately had two thoughts, The Son and the Holy Spirit. Number two and three of the Trinity.

THE SON ~ JESUS

Jesus quotes part of Isaiah 61 in Luke 4 where He says

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted; to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:18-19)


Let’s imagine it. God the Father turns to His Son and tells Him it’s time. It’s time for Him to leave Glory and come to earth. There is a task that only Jesus Christ can carry out, but before God can let Him leave, He must do one more thing.

I see my Jesus, knowing full well what His earthly assignment would involve, on His knees before God.

Wouldn’t you have loved to see their faces as their eyes focused on one another and God the Father lovingly anointed His only son? Can you imagine the way God’s voice sounded as He gave Jesus Christ his Holy anointing? Perhaps is sounded something like this:

“My precious Son, my Spirit is on you and in you. I am setting you apart to preach salvation to the poor. I’m sending you to mend the brokenhearted. Those that are held captive by sin, you will deliver! You will show them how to really live. You are going to give sight to those that can’t see, physically and spiritually. And to those who have been beaten down and feel lifeless because they are so consumed by the law…you will teach them and you will give them liberty! You can do this because I have covered you and will empower you to complete this assignment. No one else can do this, you are it my Son. You are the Anointed of God and I am so pleased with you.”

Jesus Christ was anointed by God to die for the sins of each one of us. That was His task. His entire ministry was to bring reconciliation for man’s sin. His sacrifice on the cross was to restore my fellowship, your fellowship with God the Father.

Jesus means “Savior”; you probably knew that BUT….

Did you know that “Christ” means “the anointed one”? Yes it does!

Now, when you say “Jesus Christ” you are saying “Savior, the Anointed One”. He was and is the Anointed One sent by God to be the Savior of the world.
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Part two of this "the Holy Spirit" is coming in the next day or two. Thanks for your input. :)

I'm off to practice for our churches "Music and a Movie" community event tonight! We will be playing movie themes for a little over an hour and then once the sun goes down, we will enjoy "Horton Hears a Who" out on the corner of Fence and Dacula Road. If you are in this area come by and say HI! It's FREE and a lot of fun. :)

6 comments:

BethAnne said...

“My precious Son, my Spirit is on you and in you. I am setting you apart to preach salvation to the poor. I’m sending you to mend the brokenhearted. Those that are held captive by sin, you will deliver! You will show them how to really live. You are going to give sight to those that can’t see, physically and spiritually. And to those who have been beaten down and feel lifeless because they are so consumed by the law…you will teach them and you will give them liberty! You can do this because I have covered you and will empower you to complete this assignment. No one else can do this, you are it my Son. You are the Anointed of God and I am so pleased with you.”

I love this. I would have loved to have seen their faces. I would also have loved to have seen the looks on the faces of those in the temple when Jesus "let the cat out of the bag" so to speak and told the crowd that HE is the one who was annointed to preach the Good news, HE is the one who would free the captives, HE is the one who would be the fulfillment of the prophecy.........I would have loved to have been there.

lori said...

wow that is an awesome study you are doing, very deep.
The thought of God the father annointing Jesus and telling him he is the one, it's beautiful and sad all at the same time. I think I will think a bit harder before handing out the annointed title, it's a big title one with a holy purpose.

Kara Akins said...

Hey sweet thing. I thought I'd come by to say hello. I am sitting here with Paris (my 14 yr old). We just watched Beth Moore, Joyce Meyers and a guy named Mark who spoke on Life Today on marriage. He was funny.

And the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon YOU!

Donna @ Way More Homemade said...

I would like to have time to put more thought into this comment, but I'm at work... shhhh..

This post was beautiful and I love what you described as you pictured God the Father anointing Christ the Son.

But here's what I wish I had more time to think about and research right now... When I think of Christ's anointing, I also think of how they anointed a body for burial in that time. How the wise men brought gifts that would be typically used for that purpose. I think of how that's what Mary & Mary went to the tomb to do when they found He was not there.

Like I said, I wish I had more time to think about this, but you asked for thoughts and this is where my mind went.

I look forward to your post about the HS involvement with anointing.

Fran said...

Oh their faces. I bet their was something so beatuiful between those two. Wouldn't you love to know exactly what it looked like and was said?? One day, we'll know.

This was just beautiful Stephanie.
Thank you so much for sharing this with us.

Have a great weekend. We are just days away aren't we???!!!

Hugs,
Fran

Carol said...

Good stuff. I'll be thinking on this for a while.