This crucial and central matter of the anointing has been neglected by many Christians. Today many have a religion with doctrines and regulations, but they neglect the inward teaching of the anointing of the all-inclusive Spirit. Some teach concerning the cross. However, they may have only the doctrine of the cross; they may not have the life-giving Spirit imparting the effectiveness of the cross of Christ into their being. We may try to reckon ourselves dead. But we may do this without having the effectiveness of Christ’s death imparted into our being through the anointing Spirit. Apart from the Spirit, reckoning ourselves dead is merely a vain practice. Years ago, I tried to follow this practice, but I found out that it did not work.
Christians today may also teach about resurrection. Although they teach the doctrine of resurrection, they may not have the reality of Christ’s resurrection wrought into them through the life-giving Spirit. The life-giving Spirit is the reality of Christ’s resurrection. The doctrine of Christ’s resurrection cannot impart its reality into our being. This can be done only through the life-giving Spirit, who is actually the resurrected Christ Himself living in us. The doctrine is not the reality. It is the resurrected Christ Himself as the life-giving Spirit who is the reality of His resurrection. It is not sufficient to have the doctrine. We need the life-giving Spirit as the reality of the doctrine. Realizing this, in 1958 I began to give message after message saying that merely the doctrine of Christ’s death and resurrection is vanity; only the Spirit can convey the effectiveness of Christ’s death and the reality of His resurrection into us. If we realize this, we shall see that many of today’s Christians have merely the doctrine without the Spirit.
All that God is, all that God has, and all that God has attained and obtained, are included in the life-giving Spirit. This life-giving Spirit is the compound Spirit as the ointment anointing us. In this anointing we have God with all His attainments in a living, substantial way. We should not have God merely in an objective, doctrinal way. We should have the subjective God, a God who is substantiated in our spirit through, by, in, and with the all-inclusive Spirit.
Because the all-inclusive Spirit is neglected and even ignored by many Christians today, certain believers are, in a sense, anti- the anointing ignorantly. They may worship the Father and believe in the Son in an objective way, believing in Him as the One who is the Lord far away in the heavens, but not caring for Him subjectively as the anointing Spirit who has come into their being and is now dwelling in them. Instead of caring for such a living and subjective Christ, some actually oppose the truth that Christ today is the life-giving Spirit who lives in the believers. This means that they are anti the Christ who is the indwelling, life-giving, anointing Spirit.
Due to the influence of traditional teaching, many think that the term “antichrist” refers only to the man of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians 2 and to the beast in Revelation 13. However, the term antichrist is not used in either of these chapters. The title antichrist should not be applied merely to the man of lawlessness and the beast. According to 1 John, the antichrists are those who are anti Christ, the anointed One, as the Son of God. Actually, in the New Testament the man of lawlessness is not called the antichrist. This title is found only in the Epistles of 1 and 2 John, where it is used to refer to those who deny that Jesus is the Christ, that is, those who deny that Jesus is the anointed One, as the Son of God. According to 1 John chapter two, whoever denies Christ in this way is an antichrist. “Antichrist,” without the article, in verse 18 denotes the category, not a particular antichrist. Hence, “many antichrists” are mentioned in the following clause.
The anointing Spirit within is the consummation of the Triune God, and in this Spirit there are the elements of divinity, humanity, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. He is the all-inclusive Spirit comprising all that God has accomplished, attained, and obtained. This Spirit is now the anointing One within us.
First, Christ was the anointed One. Then as the anointed One, He became the anointing One who dwells within us to anoint us. However, most Christians either neglect this or are ignorant of it, and some actually oppose this truth. We thank the Lord that, by His mercy, we are experiencing and enjoying the wonderful anointing of the all-inclusive Spirit within us.
I am encouraged by the fact that many saints in the Lord’s recovery, especially the young people, are enjoying this anointing. I expect that in the years to come the saints will go forth to preach and teach the wonderful, divine mysteries that are unknown to so many believers today. Many of us will be able to anoint others with the compound Spirit, applying this divine “paint” to them. If we would do this, we need to be “painted” persons, those who are saturated with the anointing. We should be those on whom the paint is “wet,” always having a fresh application of the divine paint. Because this painting is taking place all the time, the paint on us should never dry. Then as such painted persons, we should go forth to paint others with the compound, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit.