My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
| 33 |
| ANOINTED |
| Psalm 2:2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, |
| To be anointed. To be anointed is to have oil smeared or rubbed oil on the person being anointed. It has many connotations nowadays, but in the Old Testament, to be anointed was to be chosen, to be set apart for a special task or office, even to be given protection. I understand one of the earlier uses of anointing, in a practical sense, was by the shepherds as they sought to protect their sheep from gnats and lice. By rubbing oil on the sheep, the parasites would not be able to reside on the sheep and therefore be protected by the oil. Eventually for one to be chosen by God, such as a priest or king, a ceremony would be held, where the one in question would have oil rubbed on them to signify a special call on their life. Therefore, the Old Testament often refers to kings or priests as anointed one, and with that designation, a separation also was associated with it. A called one, that is an anointed Aaronic priest was not to take on a task associated with a king, and the anointed king was not to take on a task associated with an Aaronic priest. Two independent offices of anointing for men. Prior to the law, one man appeared on the scene that was both king and Priest. His name was Melchizedek, and so great was this man that even Abraham bowed to Him. Many hundreds of years later, an itinerant preacher showed up on the scene, who was anointed, not with oil, but with the Spirit of God, and was not only the greatest prophet to walk on earth, but was the High Priest of God, and the true King of all. All three offices came together in Jesus Christ, and all three offices were associated with an anointing. He is the Anointed One, for the Greek term Christ, or Messiah is actually the same term as Anointed. He was and is the Christ, the Anointed One, who is our Prophet, Priest and King. It is good to remember that just prior to His death, He experienced an anointing by a no-named woman. An anointing for His death, for another office that our Messiah was to fulfil was that of a sacrifice for lost sinners. With that last anointing He went to the cross, and as typical of our God, He laid the protection down willingly in order to become the full expression of Prophet, Priest and King for men and women to join, to follow and to adore. He is the Anointed! |
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
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