Having had the priest cleansed, consecrated, commissioned and ordained,
Moses was instructed to prepare fragrant sacred anointing oil. It was to be a
mixture of the finest of spices. It was to contain “of
flowing myrrh five hundred shekels, and of fragrant cinnamon half
as much, two hundred and fifty, and of fragrant cane two hundred and fifty, and of cassia five hundred, according to the shekel of the
sanctuary, and of olive oil a hin….” Essentially all these were expensive ingredients
carefully distilled in olive oil to produce a sacred perfume.
When the
anointing was produced, it was used to anoint “…the tent of meeting and the ark
of the testimony, and the table and all its utensils, and the
lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense and the altar of burnt
offering and all its utensils, and the laver and its stand.” They anointed
the identified items probably by sprinkling a few drops of the anointing oil
upon each. What the purpose of this anointing? Verses 29 says it was to “… consecrate them, that they may be most holy; whatever touches them
shall be holy.” This meant that those things that were anointed were set apart
for service unto the Lord. Not only were the tabernacle and the furnishings
within and without anointed, verse 30 tells us that the priests were also to be
anointed. God specifically said that the anointing oil was to be worn by the
priests only. No one else was allowed to wear it.
In the New
Testament, we are all priests, and the anointing we have received is the Holy Spirit,
the special oil of God. We are set apart for the service of God to do His work
in the world today. What a high calling! Let’s consider this implication. We
are bought at a great price and we belong to God. He has drawn us out of
darkness to serve Him as a priest in the Kingdom of Light. We are to be set apart
for His work and to help us be His set apart vessels, He anoints us with His
Spirit. All that we are and can be potentially and all that we do and will do
in life must be done with the purpose of honouring Him. We cannot fully fathom how
God will be glorified when all that we all and all that we do flow from a heart
and a life totally consecrated and set apart o for God. This is a call to be
totally surrendered in sweet abandon to the Lord, yes even the very last thing
that we have.
No comments:
Post a Comment