Wednesday, February 10, 2016

You Are Anointed! - Give God Thanks Series - Week 10

You Are Anointed!



Do you know that you are anointed of God? You, believer of Jesus Christ, are anointed! God Almighty chose you. He has a commission for you on earth. You are a member of the priesthood of the kingdom of God. You are part of a holy group.  That’s right, sit up straight now and hold your head up high. You are anointed of God! Just hearing those words alone, do you feel a sense of responsibility and pride?

Let’s try again. You, Christian reading this right now, are anointed. God chose you. He consecrated you into the membership of priesthood. God dedicated you for his purpose among a holy group. God anointed you!

How does it feel to hear that you are anointed? I am sure that several emotions and thoughts have passed through you. You may feel a little bit afraid of such a holy thing and the responsibility attached to it. You may ask, “Can I be trusted with such a position?” Or you may feel blessed and honored to know that God chose you for anointing. You could feel suddenly worthy and more fulfilled knowing you have a purpose from God. There are many things these words can evoke in you. You may feel that I could not possibly be speaking to you when I speak of anointing. Well I am speaking to you if you are a Christian, a follower of Christ.

Sit back and relax as I explain what this anointing means for you. Don’t feel anxious in any way, for this is good news. You are going to learn something very special about yourself living on earth in this time. It will give you reason to rejoice and once again give God thanks.

1 John 2:20
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
John writes these words to believers in this verse. You have been anointed.

Before I explain your anointing, I want to give you a history lesson of God’s anointing. This will help you gain a better understanding of the role of anointing today. You will see how important your life on earth is to your heavenly Father. I think your identity in Christ will soar to a new level. So enjoy this lesson as I express to you God’s vision of his loved one – you.

God has anointed people on earth for a very long time. God instructed Moses to anoint his brother Aaron with oil to consecrate him as high priest over the Israelites. This was shortly after God gave the people the law and the Ten Commandments. Moses was also instructed to anoint Aaron’s sons for priesthood.
The role of priest was to mediate between God and the people. The priests were leaders consecrated by God alone. Ritual anointing was very important to the Israelites because God ordained the priests, kings and prophets as channels of communication. These anointed ones were set apart to function as messengers of God’s revelation to the people, as well as representatives of the people to God. In this old covenant, before Christ, anointing of God was considered the way to God.

As for the position of high priest, he was the only person who could enter a place in the tabernacle reserved for God. The high priest entered this place called the Most Holy Place once a year on the Day of Atonement. The Most Holy Place held the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the original stone tablets with the Ten Commandments. On the Day of Atonement the high priest would make a sacrifice for atonement of the sins of all the people. The high priest had a highly significant role for the people on earth.

I want you to go back in time and visualize the priests as I describe God’s plan for them. This will be a tremendous aid to you when we discuss your anointing and its function on earth. To give you an idea of the high regard God gave the priests we will look at the priestly garments that God himself designed for them. Exodus 39: 1 says “They also made sacred garments for Aaron, as the LORD commanded Moses. “

The Priestly Garments:
(From Exodus 39)

The Ephod:

• Similar to a vest

• Made from gold, blue, purple and scarlet yarn with finely twisted linen

• Hammered out thin sheets of gold worked into the yarn and linen

• Mounted with onyx stones in gold filigree setting and engraved with names of the sons of Israel (Jacob)


Breastpiece:

• Made from gold, blue, purple and scarlet yarn with finely twisted linen
  •  Mounted with 4 rows of precious stones in gold filigree settings:
  • 1st row – a ruby, a topaz and a beryl
  • 2nd row – a turquoise, a sapphire and an emerald
  • 3rd row – a jacinth, an agate and an amethyst
  • 4th row – a chrysolite, an onyx and a jasper
 
• Braided chains of gold fastened to gold rings connected to ephod.

• Pure gold plate engraved with “HOLY TO THE LORD” attached to a turban.

It may not be easy to visualize these garments, but you know they were no ordinary garments of the day. This was God’s design with much meaning given to it. God wanted his priests, those he anointed, to possess dignity and authority on the outside as well as the inside. God assigned skilled craftsmen to make the garments. He had given these craftsmen wisdom to make them. God chose the fabrics, the stones, the design and the people who would make the garments. God’s hand was in every aspect of making the sacred clothing worn by the priests. Do you think God considered the role of priest important? God took care in what his anointed priests would wear.

This is not a lesson about clothing and what you choose to wear today. This is a lesson to show you how vital the position of priest was to God, so much so that God invested interest in their garments. So you see that anointing of God held a powerful place on this earth. The anointed priests were the way to God for the people.
 
Exodus 29:44-45
“So I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.

The tent of meeting was a tent pitched outside the Israelite camp where the Lord would speak to Moses. The altar was where sacrifices to God were offered. To consecrate is to sanctify and make holy. God consecrated the tent of meeting, the altar and the priests. It was necessary to sanctify these human beings to be holy so they may enter the holy place where God dwelled. To serve God as a priest, they had to be consecrated. In Exodus 29:1 God says, “This is what you are to do to consecrate them, so they may serve me as priests.”

Let’s return to 1 John 2:20 for a moment.

1 John 2:20
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.

John is speaking to believers, those who received the Holy Spirit when they accepted Christ as their Savior. That would be you! You have an anointing from the Holy One. You are anointed. I have other verses of further proof to show you in future studies, but for now just know that you are anointed based on John’s words here.

This week meditate from this verse. Focus on “you have an anointing.” Let yourself accept the fact that God has anointed you. Also think about God’s care and planning for the priestly garments. Consider how God must have felt about these human beings on earth -that he would consecrate them to be holy to enter his presence.

It may feel as if we are a far cry from understanding our anointing in today’s world with this lesson, but there is more to come. I did not want to give you too much information at once – you are busy women. I will show you the significance of your personal anointing in God’s timing. To realize that you are an earthly being anointed by God for his purposes will change your perspective on life and possibly your goals in life. It is going to continue to be a very exciting study that will give us more reasons to give God thanks.

Meditate and give God thanks this week because:

You have an anointing from the Holy One!

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