(079) – THE ANOINTING 2

 

The anointing qualifies a person for a specific function. For example, Jesus Christ was anointed to do good. “…Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38).

Aaron and his sons were anointed to administer the Levitical priesthood forever  (Ex. 40:13-16). A priest is one who sacrifices. It was the priest’s job to condemn the transgressor to death, by Jehovah’s deliberation. The law forbade men to work on the sabbath day. A certain man was caught gathering wood on the Sabbath. He was taken before the priests, who consulted Jehovah, who condemned the man to stoning (Num. 15:32-36).

Paul, the great apostle to the Gentiles, revealed that the Old Testament was the ministry of death, because Jehovah was a god that killed, and his anointed were all killers. We will transcribe the text that proves that the anointed were killers. Elijah, the prophet, anointed other men to unmercifully kill. “And Jehovah said to him, ‘Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king over Syria; and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholat you shall anoint as prophet in your place. And it shall come about, the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death’” (1 Kings 19:15-17).

Ben-hadad was the king of Syria, and Hazael was his servant. As Ben-hadad was very sick, he sent Hazael to enquire of Jehovah, by the prophet Elisha, whether he was going to recover from his sickness or not. The prophet sent message that Ben-hadad was going to die. And how did he die? Hazael killed him (2 Kings 8:7-15). Obviously, it was all a scheme of Jehovah, who had anointed Hazael to kill. Afterwards, Hazael also killed the Israelites (2 Kings 13:3).

Jehu was a captain, and Elisha ratified the anointing of Elijah, the Tishbite, by sending one of the sons of the prophets to anoint him again, and the anointing was to kill and execute the vengeance of Jehovah, to destroy and to kill all the house of Ahab, old and young, children and women, that is, everyone, innocent or not, for vengeance is always unjust (2 Kings 9:1-10). And Elisha was a killer. “Then he(Elisha) went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, young lads came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, ‘Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!’ When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of Jehovah. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number (2 Kings 2:23-25). Elisha was the man that coordinated the killings executed by Jehu (2 Kings 9:1-10).

The anointing to kill was frightful. Saul was anointed: he had to be a killer; and he received the mission to kill the Amalekites. This was the vengeance of Jehovah, who had sworn to be an enemy forever to Amalek, five hundred years before that day (Ex. 17:16). Saul spared Agag, king of the Amalekites (1 Sam. 15:7,8). He was rejected as king of Israel because he spared Agag’s life (1 Sam. 15:26). Jehovah executed his vengeance killing Saul and three of his sons (1 Sam. 28:17-19).

David, anointed in the place of Saul, was a killer. He killed so much that Jehovah forbade him to build the Temple. “But God said to me, ‘You shall not build a house for My name because you are a man of war and have shed blood” (1 Chr. 28:3; 22:8)

Solomon, son of David, was an inexorable killer. As soon as he sat on the throne of Israel, he began to kill. He killed Adonijah, his brother, who was direct heir to the throne. He killed him so that Adonijah would not reign (1 Kings 2:22-25). The second one to die was Joab, David’s general (1 Kings 2:30-34). The third one was Shimei, who had cursed David. Solomon had told Shimei to stay in the city, but Shimei left after two servants that had run away, and Solomon killed him for this (1 Kings 2:42-46). The text ends with the following words: “Thus the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon” (1 Kings 2:46). David’s mighty men, thirty-seven in all, were the great killers of Israel (2 Sam. 23:8-39).

Paul called the Old Testament the ministry of death for this exact reason, because the ones who escaped the sword of the anointed, Jehovah himself killed them (2 Cor. 3:6-9).

In the New Testament the anointing was for the purpose of raising the dead. The disciples, one hundred and twenty of them, were filled with the Holy Spirit, that is, they were anointed (Acts 2:1-4). Their message was the resurrection. “And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard, and the Sadducees, came upon them, being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead” (Acts 4:1,2). A Christian woman named Dorcas, a pious woman and full of good works, died, and Peter raised her up. And why did he raise her? Because his ministry was the ministry of resurrection (Acts 9:36-42). The disciples resurrected in two ways: physically—the dead people, and spiritually—the sinners that believed in Jesus (Cor. 3:1-3; 2:12).

Paul preached nothing but the resurrection. “And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. And some were saying, ‘What would this idle babbler wish to say:’ Others, ‘He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,’ — because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection” (Acts 17:18). Paul preached that, without resurrection, there is not Christianism. He said, “…and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain” (1 Cor. 15:14). Paul preached so much about the resurrection, that the Sadducees and others judged him, and his life was threatened (Acts 23:6-11). In Troas, Paul preached long into the night, and a young man by name Eutychus was overcome by sleep and fell down from a high window, and died. There was a commotion, but Paul resurrected him in the name of Jesus (Acts 20:6-12).

The message of the Old Testament was: DEATH TO ALL. The message of the New Testament was and is: ETERNAL LIFE TO ALL.

What is a Christian? He is an anointed. The word “Christ” means, “anointed”. And the anointed of the New Testament have the function of raising the dead, contrary to the anointed of the Old Testament. Finishing this message, let us understand what is resurrection. When Jesus returns, everybody will rise up, physically, either bad or good, saved or lost (John 5:28,29; Acts 24:15). Physical resurrection is unto judgment and it is not accompanied of glory and virtue. Spiritual resurrection, to which Paul refersin Col. 2:12 and 3:1-3, is reserved to the ones who, by faith, are delivered from sin. “…and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6:18). Well, spiritual death is the result of sin (Ezek. 18:4). In order to be raised up, Christ needs to deliver this person from sin, for whoever sins does not know Jesus Christ (1 John 3:5,6).

 

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira

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