The anointing of the ointment is the anointing spoken of in 1 John chapter two. In the New Testament age, God comes to man as the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not just the oil, but the ointment. God comes to man to be the ointment moving within him. This moving is the anointing. First John 2:27 speaks not only of the Spirit being the ointment in us, but even more of the ointment anointing in us. Hence, the anointing of the ointment does not speak of the ointment itself. Rather, it speaks of the anointing action of the ointment, which is the moving of the Holy Spirit in us. The continuous moving of the Spirit in us keeps us remaining in the fellowship of God and thus abiding in the Lord. Thus, the anointing also maintains the fact of our being in the Lord.
Therefore, the first means by which fellowship is maintained is the cleansing of the blood, and the second is the anointing of the ointment. This precisely corresponds to the types in the Old Testament. The types in the Old Testament show that when man desired to contact God and fellowship with God, he had to first sprinkle the blood and then apply the ointment. When speaking of maintaining the fellowship, the New Testament brings up the matters of sprinkling the blood and applying the ointment. The sprinkling of the blood is to cleanse away all that should not be there. The anointing of the ointment is to anoint us with the elements of God, even with God Himself. It is just like someone painting furniture. As a result of the painting action, the paint is applied to the furniture. The Spirit coming to man is God coming to man. And by the Spirit moving and anointing in man, God is wrought into man.
Therefore, on the negative side, the blood cleanses away all the things that we should not have. On the positive side, the ointment anoints us with what we should have. What we should not have are the sins, and what we should have is God Himself. By the continual cleansing and anointing of the blood and the ointment, we maintain our union with the Lord always.
The Lamb and the Dove in John 1 are parallel to the blood and the ointment. The blood is the Lamb, and the ointment is the Dove. The Lamb denotes the Lord shedding His blood for us on the cross to take away our sins. The Dove denotes the Spirit coming to man to add the elements of God into man. Hence, we must learn to constantly receive the blood for the cleansing of our sins and to move according to the anointing of the ointment within. On one hand, as soon as we sense we are wrong, we should immediately confess our mistake and receive the cleansing of the blood. On the other hand, whenever the Spirit moves within us, we should immediately move according to the consciousness of that anointing. Thus, we abide and remain in the Lord. This should be our continuous and uninterrupted practice.
The Christian life is a life of abiding in the Lord. If you continuously abide in the Lord, your life will surely be holy, victorious, and spiritual. Every aspect of our Christian life is included in the life of abiding in the Lord. There are several points in this living that we need to learn properly:
To walk according to the Spirit is to walk according to the anointing of the ointment. We have said that God comes to us as the ointment within us, always anointing us and giving us consciousness. If we walk according to this consciousness, we are walking according to the Spirit. For example, while you are speaking, if your inner consciousness prohibits you from going on, you ought to stop. If your inner consciousness urges you to take some action, you should obey it and take that particular action. You may be about to express a certain attitude. If it seems that there is an inner feeling restraining you, then you should stop quickly and not express it. Whether in great things or small things, learn to follow the inner consciousness. To obey the inner consciousness is to walk according to the Spirit. And to walk according to the Spirit is to obey the anointing of the ointment. This is to abide in the Lord according to the anointing of the ointment.
Immediately following our salvation, we have the Spirit as the ointment anointing us and moving in us. Hence, we inevitably have a consciousness of the anointing. Our responsibility is to strictly take heed to that consciousness in the depths of our being. Do not think or reason with your mind. Once you think, consider, argue, or analyze, you will surely come out of your spirit and no longer remain in the abiding. Your thoughts, your reasoning, and your natural insight can often interrupt your fellowship with the Lord. Therefore, pay no attention to them, but take care of the consciousness in the depths of your being. The more you walk according to this consciousness, you will discover that you are more deeply abiding in the Lord. And, simultaneously and spontaneously, your life will be one of abiding in the Lord.
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