VICTORIOUS LIFE OF THE ANOINTED

Victorious Life of the Anointed

By:joyalministries

If we will achieve victory and success in our spiritual struggle with Satan, we must be divinely anointed. Thanks to divine anointing, God’s people are more than conquerors (Rom. 8:37)!

One of the dramatic stories of God’s anointing power in the life of His people for success is found in Zechariah 4. Here, the prophet is shown a vision of a golden lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lights on it. The seven lights are fed by seven channels, and on either side of the bowl stand two olive trees.

In his curiosity to find out from the angel in the vision what the two olive trees could mean, the angel threw the question back to him: “Do you not know what these are?”

When Zechariah answered ‘no’, the angel gave an utterance that immediately seemed unrelated to the question asked.

The angel said, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD Almighty.

“What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground” (Zech. 4:1-7).

Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah from among the Jewish returnees from Babylon, faced a tremendous challenge: He was leading in the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple amid unrelenting opposition from their enemies (Ezra 4). Together with Joshua, the high priest, he provided badly needed leadership in Judah’s national rebuilding (symbolized by the Temple) after the exile years.

In Biblical language, a tree represents man. (See Matt. 3:10 for reference to John the Baptist’s description of man as a tree). In this instance, the two olive trees were Zerubbabel and Joshua who, for the great work they were occupied in, had received an abundance of God’s Spirit, symbolized by the oil in the bowl, to complete their mission.

 

The golden lampstand represented the glory of God which is only seen when anointing is present. To keep the 7-branched golden candlestick ever burning in the Tabernacle, God commanded the Israelites to supply it with oil continually (Ex. 27:20-21; Lev. 24:1-4).

In Rev. 1:20, Christ makes a direct link between the golden lampstand and His Church. He explains: “The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks … are the seven churches.”

As New Testament ‘candlesticks’ in God’s sight, there is an obligation on us to keep glowing with the glory of the LORD. We must be careful not to quench the Holy Spirit fire (1 Thess. 5:19; Matt. 25:1-13).

Our new birth status as N.T. believers makes divine anointing doubly significant for us, if not more. As the N.T. temple of God, we ought to be anointed just as the O.T. Tabernacle was anointed (Ex. 40:9-11; 1 Cor. 3:16-17, 6:19).

But that’s not all. As kings and priests of the N.T. Church-Kingdom of God (1 Pet. 2:9)—two categories of people routinely set apart for anointing in the O.T.—we are divinely anointed.

And no one dares touch the Lord’s anointed (Ps. 105:14-15). This was what was said of Israel as they journeyed on from Egypt.

 

Baptized into Moses (typifying Christ - Heb. 3:2-3) in the cloud and the Red Sea, as well as consecrated with the blood of the covenant (1 Cor. 10:1-4; Ex. 24:8), ALL ISRAEL WAS ANOINTED! Consequently, no sorcery or divination could work against Israel. Not even their little ones could be harmed by Satan’s power! (Num 23:23). If in doubt, go ask Balaam!

The consequences of ‘touching the Lord’s anointed’ can be deadly! King Belshazzar of Babylon learnt this the hard way when he and his band of revellers defiled the anointed vessels of the Jerusalem Temple by drinking from them (Dan. 5:1-6, 22-30). He was overthrown and slain that very night!

Indeed to touch the Lord’s anointed is to touch the apple of His eye (Zech. 2:8)! Can you imagine what the consequences of striking the Almighty’s eye could be?

With anointing, we are anchored in God’s Supreme Power, and nothing can shake us—not sickness, neither witchcraft nor evil plots!

2 Cor. 1:21 states: “Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God.”

Anointing is Truth, and nothing can be done against the truth (1 John 2:27; 2 Cor. 13:8). (It identifies us with the truth that God’s universal power is unchallengeable and before Him all other powers fall!).

Where divine anointing is present, the sick will not remain sick, the captive will not continue in his bounds or the oppressed left suffering. Anointing brings healing, liberty and joy (Luke 4:18; Isa. 61:1-3; Acts 8:5-8).

This was the kind of life of anointing Christ lived during His earthly ministry. The apostle Peter, in summing up His ministry, recalled:

“How God anointed Jesus Christ of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38).

 

Anointing makes Emmanuel! It makes ‘God be with us’ so He can demonstrate His power of deliverance. In a previous sermon, I talked about the need to develop strength for victory. I wasn’t talking about mere human strength minus God’s Spirit. I was talking about the kind of super strength that comes from the enablement of God’s Spirit causing mountains to be removed!

This is what divine anointing does. Once we have received and practise the truth, the anointing is on us. Like Israel of old, we are ALL ANOINTED as we serve one Lord and have one Father, even one ‘Anointer ’ (Eph. 4:4-6). But we must persevere and pray without ceasing (remember for more ‘oil’) to receive more grace upon grace (Jam. 4:6).

The miraculous life of God’s two witnesses in Rev. 11 will be due to tremendous divine anointing (Rev. 11:3-6). They will receive a Zerubbabel-like abundant supply of God’s Spirit in their restoration of divine truth. With anointing, the supernatural becomes common to man! HalleluYah!