Most people know God as a God outside of them who is on high. This is an objective, outward knowing. Our God, however, is our Redeemer today, and by the cleansing of His blood and by His becoming the Spirit He now abides in us. He anoints us inwardly, painting His substance and element into us. Thus, we have a feeling within us and know that God wants to do a certain thing, so we follow Him to do it. At other times we know that God does not want to do a certain thing, so we do not do it.
This kind of knowing is not obtained from an outward, objective knowledge. Instead, it is received subjectively from the inward anointing. For example, small children like to eat sweet things and hate to eat bitter things. This knowledge does not require outward teaching. Rather, it is the knowing a child possesses naturally, and this knowledge comes from the nature of life. The life of the little child naturally wants sweet things and hates bitter things. This knowledge of sweet and bitter does not come from outward teachings but from an inward function of life. This function is a kind of knowledge that is subjective, not objective.
The anointing is God’s functioning within us. He is our life. As the Spirit, He dispenses Himself into us as life. Thus, the anointing is the anointing of God, of the Holy Spirit-of the Spirit and of life. By this anointing of life, we can walk in fellowship with God. We must have this anointing before we can have fellowship with God and before we can live in this fellowship.
John’s Gospel speaks of grace and truth, whereas John’s Epistle unveils that the fellowship of the divine life brings us to the very sources of grace and truth, which are love and light. The truth is the shining and the expression of light. For example, if there were no shining of light here, this place would be dark, and we would not be able to see anyone’s face; but once the light shines, everyone’s real condition is manifested and everything becomes clear. In the same way, love is the source of grace, and grace is the manifestation of love. God Himself is love and also light. Therefore, if we remain in the anointing and walk in the fellowship of life, we enjoy God Himself, and the substance of God, which is love and light, is anointed into us. The expression of love is grace, and the manifestation of light is truth. Hallelujah, how good this is!
The anointing refers to a central matter, that we who believe into the Lord and are saved need to abide in the Lord to enjoy His life. The Lord has given us His life, and this life is simply Himself in us as life. We who are saved need to enjoy this life every day. In the preceding chapters we pointed out repeatedly the way to abide in the Lord in order to be able to enjoy Him as our life. In this chapter our subject is “Experiencing the Cleansing of the Lord’s Blood and Enjoying the Anointing of the Holy Ointment.” According to the truth of the Bible, this is a solid and profound matter.
Experiencing the cleansing of the Lord’s blood and enjoying the anointing of the holy ointment are completely different from most people’s concept. The Lord’s blood first cleanses us, then the holy ointment anoints us. This is explained very clearly in the first two chapters of 1 John and is something that is according to God’s economy, but this matter does not exist in most people’s concept. Many people feel that since they have offended man and God, they must beg God to forgive and pardon them. They may never think that the blood can cleanse people. In most people’s concept, the sight of blood is frightening and any blood that is sprinkled onto people makes their body dirty, so they may wonder how the blood could cleanse them. We can see how the matter of forgiveness and cleansing goes against the average person’s concept.
In God’s concept, however, we are fallen, sinful people. Our sin does not merely need forgiveness; it also needs cleansing. For example, when you get your clothes dirty, it is an offense to your mother. Even though your mother forgives you, the dirt is still on your clothing and needs to be washed off. In the same way, to forgive, to pardon, is one thing, while to cleanse, to remove the stain of sin, is another. Therefore, 1 John 1:9 says that God not only forgives us but also cleanses us. Forgiving is to forgive the trespass, and cleansing is to wash away the stain of the trespass.
Before God and according to His law, we have sins and trespasses, while as to our person, our being, we have been stained. For our trespasses we need God’s forgiveness; for our stains we need God’s cleansing, which is by the precious blood. First John 2 says that after being cleansed, we have received something of grace from the Holy One. Within us there is something that is constantly moving and anointing, which is the holy ointment. Actually, this holy ointment is God Himself coming into us to anoint us based on the cleansing of the blood.
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