Lev. 8:12 And he poured some of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him, to sanctify him. Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me [Jesus], because He has anointed Me to announce the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to send away in release those who are oppressed, (19) To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, the year of jubilee."
Leviticus 8 speaks of Aaron being anointed and chapter nine refers to his offering of sacrifices. Before becoming king, David was also anointed by Samuel, and then he began to serve God according to the ministry which God had bestowed upon him (1 Sam. 16:12-13). This shows us very clearly that ministry follows anointing. A person who has a ministry before God must have first received an anointing before God. This is true even of the Lord Jesus. We can see from the Word of God that a person who is useful in the hand of God must have first received the anointing before Him. One who has not received the anointing before God cannot serve or work for Him. The anointing is referred to in many instances in the Old Testament. The anointing had only one significance in the Old Testament: to indicate that the person belonged to God. When I say that this book belongs to me, I affix a seal upon it; when God says that a person belongs to Him, He anoints him. Ointment is for separation as well as sanctification. To anoint means to separate unto Jehovah or to belong to Jehovah for holiness. This kind of absolute belonging to the Lord constitutes the primary requisite for the ministry. Anyone who has a ministry before God is separated unto Jehovah. Only those separated to Jehovah can have the ministry; only they can participate in the work. Whenever consecration ceases, the work will also cease; whenever there is a change in consecration, there will be a change in the ministry.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Watchman Nee, General Messages, Vol. 37, in The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, pp. 31-32. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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