In this message we will go on to see another aspect of abiding in the Lord and enjoying His life, that is, experiencing the cleansing of the blood and enjoying the anointing of the ointment.
The main items in the first two chapters of 1 John are the Lord’s blood and the holy ointment. The Lord’s blood is for the cleansing of our sin, and our sin is of two aspects: the inward sin, the sin within us, in our heart; and the outward sins, the sins in our actions. The inward sin is our sinful nature that we have from birth. Adam fell, and sin entered into him. As the descendants of Adam, we were born with a sinful nature (Rom. 5:12). No one needs to go through a training after birth to learn how to commit sin; everyone sins naturally.
Sinning comes from human nature, from the fall. Just as a bad tree does not need to bear bad fruit to become a bad tree, so man does not need to commit sin intentionally to become a sinner. In God’s eyes, human beings sin every day. Man’s entire being is altogether a lie, and every part of him is a lie. The eyes can lie, the nose can lie, and even the hair can lie; sometimes even his gestures are lies. This is because the human life is a lying life. A bad tree automatically bears bad fruit without being taught, and a good tree naturally bears good fruit also without being taught. In the same way, because our nature is sinful, whatever we do, without any special intention, is naturally sinful. Inwardly we have the sinful nature, and outwardly we have the sinful actions, which are the sinful deeds. The precious blood cleanses us from our sinful nature inwardly and our sinful deeds outwardly. This is the efficacy of the precious blood.
The other item is the holy ointment. The holy ointment here does not refer to the ointment itself or to its essence; it refers to the anointing of the ointment. The English word anointing here refers to the action of the ointment. According to our understanding of the Chinese word for ointment, it can be a noun referring to the ointment itself or a verb referring to the action of the ointment. In Greek, this word is used not as a noun or as a verb but as a gerund; it does not refer to the ointment but to the function of the ointment. This is a function of grace, and this function is the anointing of grace. Thus it is not bad that the Chinese Union Version uses an expression here that means unction of grace. The New Testament Recovery Version in Chinese directly uses an expression which literally means ointment-anointing.
We must understand the thought of 1 John. First the blood cleanses us, then the ointment anoints us. It is as if we were treating a wound on our physical body; first we cleanse it, then we rub on some medicinal ointment. In the same way, the blood first cleanses us and then the ointment of God, which is the Spirit of God and God Himself, comes to anoint the place which has just been cleansed by the blood. In this way we obtain not only forgiveness through the blood but also God Himself by the anointing.
Now this ointment remains in us constantly, anointing us continuously. In other words, God Himself functions within us to anoint us with His substance. This is like painting; you apply and spread the substance of the paint onto a surface. In the same way, God operates and functions within us to anoint His own substance and element into us. This causes us to subjectively know God Himself.
Home | First | Prev | Next