First, let us explain briefly the Body of Christ and the anointing. Please read 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 and Psalm 133. Christianity is truly peculiar. What is so peculiar about it? It has to do with God gaining a man on earth. This man subjected Himself perfectly to God; He absolutely represented God and absolutely lived out the life of God. Today God has made this man both Lord and Christ. God has poured out His own Spirit upon this man, Jesus the Nazarene. When God poured His Spirit upon Him and endued Him with the Spirit, God did not pour the Spirit upon Him individually. He poured it upon Him as the Head of the Body. God’s anointing is on the Head. The Lord Jesus did not receive the anointing from God as an individual; He was standing in the position of the Head of the Body when He received the Spirit upon His head. In other words, He was anointed by God for the sake of the Body.
This is why He is called the Anointed One, and we are also called the anointed ones. His name is Christos, while our name is Christoi—Christians, Christmen. He is the Head, and the church is the Body. God does not want to have one individual man on earth. Rather, He is after a corporate man—the church. In itself, the church on earth cannot satisfy God; it cannot carry out what should be carried out; and it cannot maintain God’s testimony, because it does not have God’s power. Therefore, God has to anoint the church. When the church receives the anointing, it can satisfy God’s demand. The anointing signifies God’s authority. God’s authority is poured upon the church through His anointing.
However, God does not anoint one or two members, nor does He anoint all the members. God only anoints the Head. In order for God’s children to know the Holy Spirit, they must first know the Body. The Holy Spirit is not given firstly to the Body but to the Head. The whole Body receives the anointing because God has anointed the Head. Is this clear? It is not a matter of a single member receiving the Holy Spirit. It is neither a matter of all the members receiving the Holy Spirit. It is a matter of the Head receiving the anointing.
How then can we receive the anointing oil? We must stand in the position of the Body in order to receive it. If I stand in the position of the Body and take a proper place within the Body, the anointing will come to me spontaneously when it is poured upon the Head. The anointing is not given just to me. It is impossible for me to ask for the anointing for myself. Many people are deprived of any blessing because they come to God alone, hoping to receive the Holy Spirit and the anointing by themselves.
Please remember that the oil was poured upon Aaron’s head. It flowed down to his beard and then to his garment. Aaron had a long garment which reached his feet and covered his whole body. As the oil was poured upon his head, it flowed to the lowest part of his body. Today a person enjoys the anointing because of his position in the Body, not because of his condition before God. If you stand under the Head, the anointing will reach you. If you do not stand under the Head, the anointing will not reach you. Receiving the anointing is not a personal matter, nor a matter of the whole Body. It is a matter of being in the Body and under the Head. When the Body submits to the Head and stands on the proper ground, it will receive the anointing.
In our spiritual walk, we need the power of the Holy Spirit. We will not walk according to the flesh only when the anointing becomes our power. The anointing is not poured upon man’s flesh. Let us remind ourselves of this. We cannot act according to our own ideas. We need the anointing, but we cannot receive the anointing through asking and praying for it by ourselves. It is only as we stand in a normal relationship to the Body that we will receive the anointing.
We must see that the Bible never speaks about the anointing of the Body. Only the Head is anointed. But when the Head is anointed, we as His Body are also anointed. The anointing was not poured upon Aaron’s body but upon his head. But the anointing flowed from Aaron’s head down to his garment and eventually all over of his body. Only foolish ones will seek for an individual anointing or an anointing just for the Body. We must all submit to the Head and stand in the position the Head wants us to stand. Only then will we receive the anointing.