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He Who Hath Anointed UsBy: Joseph H. Murray“But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in Him was yea. For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (2Cor. 1:18–22). The prophet Isaiah, in the Spirit of the Lord, said this in reference to the anointed One, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified” (Isa. 61:1–3). “Comfort ye my people.” The prophet wrote this concerning the office of Christ 698 years before Jesus was born, and this was verified by Jesus, Himself, after he was baptized in the river Jordan by John the Baptist. “And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered” (Luke 4:1–2). “And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from Him for a season. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of Him through all the region round about” (Luke 4:13–14). After He returned into His home town Nazareth, where He was brought up, He went into the synagogue as was the custom on the Sabbath day, and there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written, “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. And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on Him. And He began to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?” (Luke 4:18–22). We, who are anointed of God today, shall not be surprised or astonished when they shall say unto us, “Is not this So and So’s son,” using, of course, our family name, who has been here with us all the time. I’m sure we, as servants of God, shall not receive any more favor with man than did our Lord. It is written in the Scripture that, “The servant is not greater than his lord” (John 15:20). Jesus said to his disciples in St. John 20:21, “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” What did Jesus send His disciples to do? He sent them to do the same works that He, Himself, had done before them. This was all in harmony with what He said to his disciples in John 14:12: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” He even gave them power to forgive sins. These are His own words: “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained” (John 20:23). The secret to being able to carry out this commission is being obedient to the Lord’s commandment to “receive ye the holy Ghost.” We know by the Scriptures that these first disciples did as he said and went up to Jerusalem and received the power at Pentecost to do these mighty works. Was this promise to the first disciples of His only? No! I think you will find that Jesus included all believers in His prayer in the 17th chapter of John: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:20–21). Yes! These precious promises are ours today, who believe on Jesus through the first disciples’ words in the Scripture. The root of this great Vine (God) has neither withered nor died, and life still flows through this Vine and its branches. Where these branches are alive, it brings forth its fruit in its season, but the branches that are not letting this life (Spirit or Holy Ghost) flow through them are ready for the pruning knife and the fire. If this anointing is in us, it will do the same works it did in Jesus and His first disciples. We must, however, keep Jesus in the front part of our vessel and not in the hinder part asleep. Remember, He had to be awakened and brought out on deck to rebuke the storm. We should never put ourselves ahead of the Lord for we will only fail and cry, “[Lord], carest thou not that we perish?” (Mark 4:38). “But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him [or it]” (1John 2:27). |
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