June 2, 2017

 

Felicitations and Blessings, everyone!  We are all aware of the cliché that comes with Friday: TGIF.  Nope!  Not for me, and not for our family!  Our labors run seven days a week.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  Sunday is a day of rest, and that’s because the total change of routine and activity is a break – and a rest – from the business activities that go on Monday through Saturday.  But it is still a very busy day of ministry, of sharing, of teaching, etc., and the refreshing that comes in the presence of the Lord brings a rest that no amount of sleep can replace.

 

Last week we wrapped up – OK, we just decided to close out – our discussion on the Table set before us in the presence of our enemies.  We could have taken that discussion a lot farther, but I felt like it was time to move on to what we could easily consider one of the most significant highlights of our Psalm 23 adventure – and that’s the anointing that comes following our experience with the Table.

 

This is among the most significant of moments in the life of those who walk faithfully with the Lord, who walk in obedience, and who refuse to compromise or alter in any way the commands of the Lord.  It is absolutely life-changing!  We will spend more time on this topic than we have with some of the previous adventures that take place as we follow the Lord in the Paths of Righteousness.

 

We’ve already covered this very briefly as we began this series on the Psalm 23 Adventure, but here’s what David writes:

 

Psalm 23:5b: Thou anointest my head with oil.

 

Now, take a look at the significance of what this meant to David — and what it means to us.

 

Psalm 89:20-37:  I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:

With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.

 

The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.

 

But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.

I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.

 

He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.

My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.

 

His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.

If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;

If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;

Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.

 

Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.

My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.

 

His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.

It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.

 

You just can’t get a better picture of this event than what God promised and covenanted to and with David.  Remember, David was anointed to become King of Israel when he was still only 17 years of age.  There was going to be some walking out of this covenant in his life, and he was going to experience first-hand just how stupendous the anointing of the Lord was going to be in his life in the weeks, months and years to come.  David was going to come to understand “anointing” like no one else before him.

 

Let’s first understand just what “anointing” is all about.

 

Both the Hebrew and Greek languages denote physical contact when anointing take place.  The most common Hebrew word is, mashach, and it means: to rub, to smear, to spread like a liquid.

 

The corresponding Greek word is, chrio, (from where we get the words, chrisma, and charisma) and Thayer defines this word like this: through the idea of physical contact, to smear or to rub with oil, to consecrate and set apart.

 

The concept of physical contact is what is striking, both in Hebrew and Greek.  To come into physical contact is literally a picture of the Lord having physical contact with you and imparting the dynamic power and authority which is intrinsic to His nature, character and makeup by His very touch!  There is something dramatic that occurs when the Lord touches us and imparts Himself.  His authority is released to function in and through us.  A notable and demonstrable power has been infused into our spirits and very beings that empowers us to be an extension of the rulership of the Lord over situations, over diseases, over the power of the Enemy and over death itself.

 

Let’s go another direction for a few minutes to look at what happened with Jesus.

Consider that Jesus knew Who He was, even at an early age.  At age twelve, He is confounding the wisdom and understanding of the Scribes and Pharisees in the Temple with His knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures.  Yet, until He was 30 years of age, we have no record whatever — even in contemporary, historical documents — that Jesus was anything but a normal young man with the learned and practiced skills of carpentry.

 

Did Jesus know throughout all those early years just what His destiny was?  Of course He did, but there was a practical walking out in His life of Father’s plan and purposes.  He was — as Paul writes in Hebrews 5:8 — learning through experience.

 

Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered.

 

Jesus was already the Son of God when He came into this world.  But being released to function with the anointing and empowering of Holy Spirit in His life did not come until He was roughly 30 years of age.

 

It’s an interesting parallel to see that although David was anointed to become King over Israel at age 17, he had some years of learning and overcoming ahead of him.  David had to learn how to rule and reign in a practical sense before the rulership of the nation would be given to him.  The practical lessons he would have in those intervening years would pay off in abundance when he actually ascended to the throne of Israel.  David was not handed the sceptre of rulership until he was 30 years of age — and even his first years of rulership were only over Judah — and not the entire nation of Israel.

 

It has been interesting for me to see the differences in some of those whom the Lord has instructed me to anoint with oil.  Some folks laugh at me because the cliché, “a little dab’ll do ya,” has never worked.  When I’ve been instructed to pour oil over people and anoint them for various kinds of ministry and endeavors, things tend to get pretty generous.  I just don’t see Samuel taking a little dab of oil and touching David on the forehead.

 

Take a look at a couple of verses in I Samuel 16.

 

I Samuel 16:1: And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.

 

You see it, right?  “Fill thine horn with oil.”  Does that sound like “ a little dab?”  Then there’s this one.

 

I Samuel 16:12b-13: And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he.  Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward.

 

Anyway, where I was headed with my comments was that it has often taken anywhere from a year to a fair number of years before we’ve seen the purpose of the anointing actually manifest itself and be revealed or show itself in the ministry that follows.

Guess I got a bit off track for a moment.  We were going to take a look at what happened with Jesus.

 

Matthew 3:13-17:  Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.  But John forbad Him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?  And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

 

And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him:  And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

 

First we see the physical contact as the anointing occurs when the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus in the form of a dove and rests upon Him.  Then we hear Father’s decree and declaration in the words, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

 

There is a dramatic event unfolding here that may not be immediately obvious at first glance, and in order to get the perspective of what is taking place, let’s go back to something that we see recorded in both Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28.  We have Isaiah’s and Ezekiel’s prophecies against Lucifer, his pride, his arrogance, his rebellion and his effort to usurp the Throne of God for himself and pronounce himself as God.

 

Without getting into all of the details (and I will come back to this picture a bit later to show you an even greater dimension of what God is doing in our lives when we reach this place where He anoints us for His destiny in our lives) the once empowered Lucifer, “Son of the Morning,” is removed from his place at the Throne and thrown out of Heaven, along with a third of the angels, who had joined him in his rebellion.  From that moment forth, he became known as “the Serpent,” or “the Accuser” — Satan, if you will.

 

The anger in him over his being removed from his place before the Throne of God now propels him to target this new species of being God has created as his replacement — man.  With the deception he has managed to pull on Adam and Eve, God makes a promise that will haunt him for his entire existence on earth.

 

Genesis 3:15:  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

 

From this moment on, Satan will know that there is coming One who will put him under His feet and crush him and his power.

 

When Jesus is born, He comes into this world as “the seed of a woman” — born of a woman and thus qualifying to be a member of the human race, and yet having been implanted in Mary’s womb by Holy Spirit, thus being free of the curse and the law of sin and death imposed on the human race as a result of Adam’s fall.  Satan absolutely must do everything in his power to defeat the One who will permanently eliminate him from access to the Throne.

 

If he can successfully manage to get Jesus to respond to any of his requests, he will have stopped the threat to his existence.  We won’t record the entire event here from Matthew 4, but the essence of it is that Jesus “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”  (Hebrews 4:15)

 

Here’s what makes this event critical for all of us, and it is why we’ve had the Table of the Lord set before us in the presence of our enemies — those same enemies who are still in attendance when the anointing takes place.

Matthew tells us the following:

 

Matthew 4:1-2: Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.  And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered.

 

Do you see it?  It was the Holy Spirit that led Him into the wilderness for the express purpose of being tempted — and yes, this is not just testing, this is tempting.  Jesus had to beat Satan at his own game for our sakes because of what was (and is) to come.  Because of the fasting, his flesh was it its weakest and he would have been the most vulnerable to the temptations.  Understand that Father knew exactly what would take place, but it was critical to the pattern that Jesus would set on our behalf because of the dimension of anointing that would follow.

 

This is a topic with a whole lot of ground to cover, and we’re not even going to scratch the surface today, so let’s stop here and continue this picture next time.

 

 See you next week.

 

I remind those of you in need of ministry that our Healing Prayer Call normally takes place on the first Monday of each month at 7:00 PM Eastern (4:00 PM Pacific).  Our call-in number is (712) 775-7035.  The Access Code is: 323859#.  For Canadians who have difficulty getting in to this number, you can call (559) 546-1400.   If someone answers and asks what your original call-in number was, you can give them the 712 number and access code.

 

At the same time, in case you are missing out on real fellowship in an environment of Ekklesia, our Sunday worship gatherings are available by conference call – usually at about 10:45AM Pacific.  That conference number is (712) 770-4160, and the access code is 308640#.  We are now making these gatherings available by Skype.  If you wish to participate by video on Skype, my Skype ID is regner.capener.  If you miss the live voice call, you can dial (712) 770-4169, enter the same access code and listen in later.  The video call, of course, is not recorded – not yet, anyway.

 

Blessings on you!

 

 

           

Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES

RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Temple, Texas 76504

Email Contact: CapenerMinistries@protonmail.com

 

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