The numbers three and five indicate that the building element is also included in the compound Spirit. Here we have three complete units of five hundred shekels each. Therefore, we have the number three. The number five appears in the number five hundred. Furthermore, we have the five elements, the olive oil and the four spices.
According to the Old Testament, the numbers three and five are related to God’s building. The first building of God was the ark made by Noah, and the second was the tabernacle. Concerning the ark, Genesis 6:15 says, “And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.” Here with the dimensions of the ark we have multiples of the numbers three and five. Moreover, Genesis 6:16 says that the ark was to be made with “lower, second, and third stories.”
The tabernacle was of three sections: the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. According to Exodus 27:13, the width of the outer court on the east side was to be fifty cubits. Then verses 14 and 15 say that the hangings on either side of the gate were to be fifteen cubits with three pillars and three sockets. Furthermore, verse 18 says that the height of the linen curtains of the outer court was to be five cubits. Actually, each curtain of the enclosure in the outer court measured five cubits by five cubits.
If we believe that everything in the Bible has a significance, then we should believe that the numbers three and five signify something. A careful study of the Word shows that these numbers are related to God’s building. Therefore, in the compound Spirit we have the Triune God in resurrection mingled with His creature, man, for the power to bear responsibility, and we also have the element for God’s building.
All together we have ten ingredients, giving us a full portrait of the compound Spirit. In the compound Spirit we have the unique God, the Triune God, the man Jesus, the death of Christ, the effectiveness of the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the power of Christ’s resurrection, the mingling of divinity with humanity, the power for responsibility, and the element of God’s building. All these are ingredients of the compound Spirit.
Now we come to the function, or the anointing, of the compound Spirit revealed in 1 John 2:18-27. The function of the compound Spirit is to anoint us. According to typology, the tabernacle with its furniture and the priests were anointed with the compound ointment. This indicates that we are anointed with all the ingredients of the compound Spirit. We are anointed with God, the Trinity, the humanity of Jesus, Christ’s death, the effectiveness of His death, His resurrection, the power of His resurrection, the power for responsibility, and the building element.
First, the compound Spirit anoints the believers with the Father and the Son, conveyed in the anointing Spirit. This is to be anointed with the Triune God, for it is to be anointed with the Father and the Son, conveyed in the Spirit. We may use as an illustration painting a wall with oil-based paint, a paint that includes oil as the base along with other ingredients. The Spirit of God is the base, with the Father and the Son as elements. Now we are being anointed with the Triune God by the compound Spirit. According to 1 John 2:23 and 24, the Spirit is anointing the believers with the Father and the Son.
The compound Spirit also anoints the believers with the eternal life conveyed in the anointing Spirit. This is referred to in 1 John 2:25: “And this is the promise which He promised us, the eternal life.” Eternal life here is mentioned in relation to the anointing.
The anointing of the compound Spirit inoculates the believers against the heretical teachings concerning the Person of Christ. Before John speaks of the anointing in 1 John 2:20, he speaks of the antichrists in verse 18 and refers to them again in verse 19. Furthermore, in verse 26 he writes to the believers “concerning those who are leading you astray.” In 1 John 4:3 John speaks of the “spirit of the antichrist.” According to the full context of this Epistle, the anointing functions to inoculate the believers against heretical teachings.
Eventually, we have the abiding in the Lord according to the teaching of the anointing that abides in us. First John 2:27 says, “The anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, abide in Him.” In the next message we shall consider in more detail the anointing of the compound Spirit as seen in 1 John 2:18-27.