Chapter 3
Anointing
*From the beginning of the Scripture we have a display of two systems. In Genesis 2:9, “The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Scholars have debated on why God would allow Adam the choice of sinning, and why would Adam sin?
*I believe that what is happening here is God is putting on display to Adam that there are two ways. Before the creation of the Garden, Satan had fallen, for, “Satan was in the garden,” Ezekiel 28:13. In the tree of life, you have the ways of God. In the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you have the way of the principalities and powers of darkness. These are polar opposites and at war with one another. The one promotes the glory of God; the other promotes the glory of man.
*Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and sin entered the world. What is necessary to understand is that this event was not small. It didn’t only put depravity upon mankind. It brought a cosmic shift, a universal collapse, catastrophic entropy upon both realms, seen and unseen. The ramifications of what took place in eating of a piece of fruit were so beyond mankind’s understanding that only God would know as to what were at stakes in the cross of Calvary.
*The trees were to be a teaching tool for Adam. In every situation, even in our lives today, we have these two trees in the core. You could choose life, or you could choose knowledge. This is staggering that God would put knowledge as the source of death. What is it about knowledge that is wrong? What does knowledge do to affect us negatively?
*Knowledge isn’t bad. There is nothing wrong with it. The reason it was the tree of knowledge of good and evil instead of the tree of human exaltation is because it is this kind of knowledge, and how it is obtained, that leads to pride. When God teaches, knowledge brings us low. It creates humility. When man teaches, or strives to learn on his own, it exalts him. There is a strange paradox (and who can understand it?) between the knowledge of the Lord, and the knowledge of man.
*These two trees both represent knowledge, in essence. The one represents the knowledge of God; the other represents knowledge. I don’t know how to say this without going in circles. With the tree of life, the knowledge of God is revealed, and the wisdom of God is imparted, and the fear of the Lord is given. With the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, morale is revealed, the wisdom of man is imparted, and knowledge is given. With one you have God being the epicenter; with the other you have knowledge being the epicenter.
*What we must do with this little bit of understanding is apply it to our lives. When we learn something new, is it by revelation of God, or is it by our own intellect and ingenuity? When we decide to serve another, is it by revelation of God, or by our own discernment to what is good? In every action, word, thought, motive, and precept, we have these two trees at the root. One is good; the other is perfect.
*Good things can sometimes, and usually do, distract us from the perfect. The common ideology of the Church today is to do “good things” by donating money, helping the communities, holding events and fundraisers, etc. I fear these good things might in fact be eating of the tree of knowledge. A perfect example is from a conference. A man had to leave his wife at home because he could not afford to pay for both of them to get there. The man’s wife was not saved, and he had hoped that God would provide the funds to get her out to the conference.
*When a speaker heard this, he asked the crowd if they would be willing to chip in and buy a plane ticket for the man’s wife. But what tree are they eating from? How quick the excitement caused for these people to give so that they could do such a good thing! They emptied their pockets and hoorayed and hoorahed themselves. Yet, where was the consultation of God? Did anyone pray before giving his or her money away? What if God wanted that woman to stay home fumigating her ego and pride, so that when her husband came home completely changed and different, there was a testimony that she couldn’t refuse? The people would have ruined the plans of the Lord!
*How many times in our daily lives do we act out of our own ideas of what is right and wrong? How many scenarios do we hop on board with simply because it is a good thing? I fear that we have made a grave mistake in our ideology of what the tree of life is. What is difficult is that it might have, indeed, been the will of the Lord that they give. So the question doesn’t stem from what is the good or right thing to do, but what is the will of God in every situation?
*I also look in the first chapter of Genesis. The first thing that God does with the chaos that was the universe was separating light and darkness. “In the beginning God created, and said let there be light. He then separated the light from the darkness and called the light day, and the dark night.” I wonder if even in this we have a showing forth of these two trees and their meaning. You have the utter contrast between light and dark. In the same way, we have the utter contrast between the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
*Light is a metaphor, or synonym, for purity. That which is light is perfect and pure. The darkness is an obvious contrast by being that which is evil and corrupt. Light has a path. It moves. It has a point A and a point B. Darkness is stagnant. Isn’t it interesting that the one would be moving and the other is still? When we follow God, He will take us to and fro from place to place. There isn’t predictability. Though it is true that sometimes God uses the mundane and repetitive, it must also be made known that even within the mundane and repetition, God consecrates and makes holy all things. Therefore there is not any day or moment that is the same. The Holy Spirit has made all things new and fresh. So it is with these two trees.
*When examining these two trees, there is something that leaves me unsettled. Why did Adam not eat of the tree of life? God told Adam not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life was not off limits… Why, then, did he not have the slightest inclination to eat of it?
*It almost appears that the one was good and appealing to the eye, where the other was something that caused scorn. One looked like it would be well pleasing, the other looked as though it should be rejected. What was the difference? There had to have been something about the tree of life to cause Adam to eat of every other tree, but neglect and reject the very tree that would grant him eternal life.
*If we were to look through our New Testaments, we would find Scriptures like, “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life,” Romans 6:4. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old as gone, the new has come,” 2 Corinthians 5:17. There are many more, and more precious words from the mouth of our Lord Jesus, but with these we can make do.
*If we have been “baptized into death” so that “we too may live a new life,” then is it safe to assume that new life only comes from death? Is it safe to assume that those who have died and rose again cannot die (Romans 6:9)? If this were true, then would it be a different truth for the garden? I have to wonder if the tree of life were a cross and the fruit thereon was death, but the seeds within give resurrection.
*If this is the case, then we can see why it would not be appealing to Adam and Eve. In fact, it would most likely be down right offensive. To even take of this tree is to suffer. Any true suffering is a bearing of your cross. You can have grief, but unless it is a suffering that vexes the very soul, you will not find the relief of life.
*We are a people who shun pain, though. We are a society that cannot live with grief, let alone suffering. By neglecting the suffering unto death, by that of a cross, we reject the opportunity to receive the life of God. Every medicine that we take to relieve ourselves of headaches and muscle pains is a rejection of the tree of life. Man wants to avoid suffering. God wants us to embrace it.
*It is a sweet fragrance to the Lord to offer you up. Any obedience to God, including the receiving of a revelation or knowledge from Him, is a suffering. Everything in your Christian faith will inevitably lead you to a cross. There will be nothing that you receive in this life that does not lead you to bearing your cross. Even the joy and peace we dwell within is a suffering, because with our joy comes the condemnation by the world, and even the majority of the Church. We might have peace, but this world does not. Any one who has the fruits of the Spirit is looked at as an outsider and freak.
*How great is the irony that even when we feel peace and joy we can feel alone and rejected? This is what it means to take of the fruit of life: to bear ones cross before the men and women of this world. It is in the bearing of our crosses that we “make manifest the wisdom of God to the principalities and powers of the air,” Ephesians 3:10. Is it true to say for the majority of us that we have rejected this tree of life, just as much as Adam had?
*How much of our lives are constituted by overindulgence? Instead of taking just enough we take even more than our need. Even this is a taking of the tree of knowledge. We’ve overindulged in even the area of comfort. When you look at the houses of most Believers today, they aren’t simple. Why are we just like the world to buy the nice houses with two car garages, multilevel, television in every other room, cabinets full of food, top of the line gadgets, matching furniture, and guest room that goes empty for most of the year? Why do we have houses with air conditioning in them, cars with air conditioning, and even church buildings with air conditioning?
*I’m not saying that these things are bad in themselves. But why are we giving ourselves over to comfort? Would it kill us to sweat a little bit? Do our appliances need to be the biggest and best on the market? What do you think Jesus will tell you when you get to Heaven to find out that some of the Body, even within your congregation, had nothing to live on? Do you think He will applaud your convenience?
*Our whole livelihoods and modes of being are predicated on what we desire and ourselves. The truth of the matter is that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is predicated on human convenience and comfort, success, and image. The principalities and powers are the gods of this world, and their system tells us to look out for number one. If it doesn’t feel good, don’t do it. Ensure your self-image so that you get what you deserve. Everything is relative; there are no absolutes.
*Where the beginning of the wisdom of God is our suffering for the betterment of others and the glorification of God, the beginning of the wisdom of this world is our preservation. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is self-preservation, the fruit thereon is human exultation, and the seeds within are death. To the human eye, it looks very appealing. Who wants to have to suffer if you can live in success and glory? The deceit is that to live in success and glory is to suffer.
*You might not be feeling bad, but you don’t have fulfillment. You don’t have freedom. You are stuck to a methodology. You are stuck to a universal calamity. You are depraved, and to stay in that condition is to suffer. To pile wickedness upon wickedness is to suffer. Wickedness is the willingness to go against the Lord and to do wrong even when you know better. The people of this world know better. They know that murder is wrong. They know lying is wrong. They know that stealing is wrong. If they didn’t know, they wouldn’t get upset and angered when someone did these things to them.
*I am amazed in the understanding of God placing these two systems before us. It not only reveals something about God’s plan and purpose, but it reveals something about God. God Himself takes of this tree of life. In fact, He is a full representation of this tree. God suffers. Have you ever considered that? God Himself suffers with His creation.
*It is the very meekness of God to humble Himself and suffer with us for the greater good. The greater good, in context of the creation itself, is that God desires to dwell with His creation in the immediate context of community. What is the greater good? God loves, and within that love He suffers with us and for us so that we might share in the community of God. Being Triune, God Himself is a community.
*What is the reaction of man? You see it every week. The reaction is the exact same as when the children of Israel saw God. God comes down onto Mount Sinai, and the children of Israel push Moses forward and say, “You go talk to Him.” God revealed to Israel His very glory, and they were too afraid to be with Him. In the revealing of His glory, God shows forth that He longed to dwell with His people, but they didn’t want to dwell with Him. Therefore, Moses was the spokesman. We have the same thing in our congregations: a pastor or some sort of leader is the exclusive person who stands before the congregation each week to tell them or teach them what God has to say.
*This begs certain questions. If the tree of life is ultimately community with God, then why is there evil in the world? If our sin separates us from God, then why doesn’t God get rid of sin? Is He not sovereign? Does He not have the power or ability to commune with His creation?
*What does this teach us about Heaven and Hell? If Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, meaning here and now available to all, then is the same true about Hell? Is Hell a place or is it a condition? What implications would it give to sin and death versus freedom and life? Is life and death a progression? Do you need to move forward to one or the other? If Hell is separation from God, and sin separates us from God, then is Hell now? Is the tree of life Heaven, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil Hell?
*What about the realm of truth and deception? What would this imply for us here and now? If we know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump, then does a little bit of human knowledge damn the whole soul? If a little leaven leavens the whole lump, then if we have a little sin in our bodies when we die, does that mean we won’t make it to Heaven? If the tree of life is a cross, and the fruit upon it is death, does this mean that we are once saved and always saved? How can we die twice? If we take of this tree of life, how could we then take of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? If all has been put to death, then where does that leave us in relation to freewill?
*Does God suddenly become a slave driver when we’re saved? Is it required of us to put away our desires and our will for the sake of taking up our cross? How do you, then, explain how it is still a relationship? If we are to be relational to God, then why are we supposed to give up our own personalities and talents for Him? Why must we surrender all? Why must we forsake our own lives? Why must we take up His life?
*Where do we even begin to express these things? With one question come a million more questions. Suppose that God does humble Himself and suffers with and for us. If it is His nature to suffer so that there might be an ultimate good, then at what point do we say we have reached that ultimate good? I ask these questions to try and get you to reach out of your traditional theology box and to really try and pursue after God’s heart.
*It is my conviction that these two trees are indeed systems. They are indeed exposing to us the ways of God and the ways of the flesh. Yet, now where do we go from there? How is this applicable to real life scenarios? I believe that it is completely applicable, and might even be the single most important truth of all Scripture. We need to mete all things in by the plumb line of God. If it doesn’t measure as straight, then we are off the path that He intends. The paradox, that really is best unanswered, is that by our humbling of ourselves to the will of God and by the giving up of our freewill, God then honors us by giving us freewill and ultimate freedom in our slavery to God.
*Once again we have the paradox of God’s sovereignty and man’s freewill. Unless God calls a man, they cannot be saved. Yet, unless that man willingly heeds that call and repents, he cannot be saved. There are two parts to the process in salvation, and there are two parts to the process in the taking of the tree of life. I wonder if maybe Adam didn’t eat of the tree of life because God had not yet revealed these things to him. It is also an equal assumption to ask if Adam wasn’t willing.
*This is where anointing begins. Those who have eaten of the tree of life are the anointed of God. To the degree that you have suffered and bore your cross is the degree to which you have an anointing. Yet, just like all the great words of the faith, there is a false anointing. How do you distinguish the true from the false?
*Whether we are speaking of righteousness, holiness, anointing, repentance, signs and wonders, or prophets and apostles, the false will be dictated and predicated upon the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The true will always follow the path of the tree of life. It is possible that the supreme understanding is to understand what the two trees in the garden represent. In understanding that, we can both interpret and live out all of the things of God. So before we get into what anointing actually is, and what it is actually used for, let us consider what the false is.
*False anointing is simply the working up of something apart from God. When a speaker is trying to pump up a crowd, they are not using the anointing. The discernment must come in as an ability to be able to see the difference between a speaker who is trying to pump up the crowd and a speaker who is passionate about what he is saying. There is a distinct difference. The one who is following the Spirit of God will not be looking for a reaction, whereas the man who is falsely anointed will be forced to use whatever means he has to in order to get the right reaction.
*I have heard men that when they say something, if they don’t get an amen, they will say, “Come on, now,” or, “Can I get an amen?” This is what our seminaries and Bible colleges teach. You need crowd support. If they aren’t with you, then do what you need to do, whether asking for an “amen” or pausing to let them speak the next word or phrase, to get the congregation involved. Their involvement ensures that your words are getting to them. But it isn’t trusting in God. We’re still trusting in our methods.
*When we are following the reactions of the crowd instead of simply giving what God has given to speak and trusting in His Holy Spirit to do the rest, we fabricate a false anointing. This anointing might even penetrate the souls of men. It might induce a heartfelt sorrow or excitement. Yet, this is soul. It goes beyond the emotions of flesh and into the emotional level of soul, but it still doesn’t touch the Spirit. If our spirits are unaffected by the preached word then we will leave the buildings the exact same as when we came in.
*It is such a trap, and it is so easy, to fall into using a synthetic anointing. In the parable of the 10 virgins who had the oil lamps found in Matthew 25, we are given a glimpse of true and false anointing. The 5 virgins who had a false anointing couldn’t last until midnight. They had to run back to the marketplaces and “buy” more oil. What exactly does this resemble?
*It is my intuition that leads me to believe that the 5 virgins found wanting had synthetic oil that could last for so long, but in the hour when it was needed most, it was utterly desiccate. They were forced then to run back to the marketplace, which is the prayer room, and “buy” more oil. The word buy could be interpreted as forge. I don’t get this from the original language; I get this from the Holy Spirit. These 5 hyped themselves up, riled up their emotions, manipulated their own souls, and forged an atmosphere of excitement.
*They thought that you must “work up” the Spirit, and that is the exact teaching that most Pentecostal and Charismatic churches teach. We want to work something up, but God must bring something down. The true anointing doesn’t come by working ourselves up. It comes by waiting. The others waited until midnight and they had enough. Their lamps did not burn out. They spent quality time with God, even in silence.
*Which group do you fall in? Do you fall guilty of trying to work and manipulate the Spirit? Or is your heart gladdened to wait upon the Lord for His outpouring? To wait is to suffer, especially for us here in America who have such an instant society. We don’t want to wait on anything. Yet it is in the waiting that we find satisfaction, even until the hour of midnight.
*What is the anointing, anyway? What is its purpose? The anointing is the residue of the Spirit of God that emanates and permeates through our lives, conduct, and character. It has even a fragrance to it that when others are around, they can feel and sense in the air something of God. It is not of us. It is totally of God, and it is by grace that any man or woman can have it. The anointing is mainly for the purpose of displaying Christ to a world that has no Gospel.
*The anointing is not for some sort of “atmosphere” or “fuzzy feeling.” When these are the things that we look for, we will find ourselves working outside of the anointing, and we will inevitably sin against the Lord by cranking up the amplifiers and hyping ourselves up. The anointing is precious. It is to be used only as a testimony of God. Elijah called fire down from heaven. It was not by his prayer. It was not because Elijah was “worthy” of fire falling. If the fire didn’t fall, there would have still been a prophet to die. It would have been Elijah. The fact that the fire fell for Elijah, and not for the 850 prophets of Baal, is a testimony that Elijah was anointed.
*When Moses anointed Aaron and his sons, they offered the sacrifices to God, and the fire fell to consume the sacrifice. There is a distinct relationship between anointing and fire. When the man of God is anointed, the fire of God will fall for that man. In every speaking there will be a fire to fall. It will either burn up the sacrifice or it will burn up the people.
*Charles Finney expresses that some places he spoke were dead. No fire fell. I believe that the fire did fall. The people’s unresponsiveness is a sign of it. The fire didn’t consume the sacrifice of repentance; it consumed the people. They had no spirit. Their spirits were burned by the flame of God to leave cold, dead, slaughtered “saints.”
*Every obedience to God is a suffering. To choose His will instead of our own will cause bother. The degree to which we submit ourselves to His will and not our own is the exact degree that we are anointed. When we live in comfort and luxury without a slight bit of concern for the poor, don’t be surprised when you are found with your face out, and no anointing. When in times past the principalities and powers must say, “Jesus we know, and Paul we know, but who are you?” they will now look at you with fear and trembling if you are willing to accept this truth.
*One of the things that I seem to say so often is that suffering precedes the glory. There cannot be a glory without suffering. It is the very nature of God to suffer. He would rather have created this world and suffer with the creation than to be alone. When people make statements like, “God doesn’t need you,” they warp the meaning of need. In a sense, I don’t need my wife. I need water, food, air, and shelter. But in a different sense, I do need my wife. Any one who is married will be able to tell you that. God does need us. He needs all of His creation, and I believe that our anointing, or our display of the character of Jesus, affects nature.
*He is willing to suffer, and actually desires suffering over comfort for our sakes. If we have been anointed in any way, the same should be said of us. Are you willing to suffer? What about the bigger question: do you desire suffering over comfort for the benefit of others? This is a deep and soul-searching question. Who actually enjoys suffering? It is not in our nature to enjoy suffering. Yet, the enjoyment isn’t in the suffering itself, but in the benefiting of others. The joy comes from glorifying God, even if that means suffering. This is still counter what human nature says. Human nature desires comfort, and complains when it suffers. The spiritual man or woman doesn’t complain when suffering comes, but takes their stripping with joy.
*Just how far are you willing to go in your commitment to God? Are you willing to be the disgrace of your family and friends because you’re “too serious?” How much are you willing to suffer? It isn’t until you drink down that cup that you will find the anointing of God flowing through you, and it will be flowing through you even when you feel nothing.
*My God, I ask that we would be conscious of your Kingdom. Let us be coveting your glory to be made known in all the Earth. Help us Lord to see our ever present need. Give us strength and the will to live. Give us the courage to continue on and press toward life instead of death. Open our eyes to understanding that which is deceiving and that which is true. Open our eyes to the areas we have given ourselves over to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Open our ears to hear what your Spirit would say. Help us to be jealous for your honor over our own image and reputation. As we deny ourselves and take up our crosses, let us not be shamed by an absence of your power. Only you can sustain us, and only you can resurrect us. It is in that we trust. Help us to live in a manner that is worthy of the calling, in Jesus Christ’s name, amen.