Beth Moore - Feast The Soul - Part 3
Christ set our table with a feast for the soul. Everything our soul needs to feast is represented, symbolized on this table. Christ set our table with a feast for the soul. Now, it was under that particular point that we learned our parallels. And I want you to tell me what they are, the parallels on our table, because we're talking about something that was literal for the people of Israel in the Old Testament, but it is spiritual for us. That does not make it any less. In fact, it makes it all the greater, because the literal is confined to its literal component. In other words, the grain gets no bigger than this right here. Spiritual means, listen, all those boundaries are off. Can fill the heavenlies. He fills all things. There is no limit on it.
Never think to yourself when something, when we are people, Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3, that have every single spiritual blessing in Christ, never think for a moment that that's a gyp, when we could've had the physical blessings. Hey, no, spiritual blessings mean there is no limit. There is no limit. It's not just limited to bread we could pick up. It is unlimited in its application. So, the grain, it parallels to what? Everybody say it again. The Scriptures; the oil, the anointing; the wine... Perfect; each element on the table requires what? Process and participation.
In other words, when they went into the promised land and he promised them all this grain, what if they would've thought that this is all they were to do with it? But he said, "No, no, I want you to put it in the fire. I want you to add some heat to it". 'Cause that's when that thing is going to rise. When heat hits the grain, when it's been ground in, I mean, we have pressed ourselves into it, and the heat has been added to it, something beautiful happens, and it begins to turn into bread. Those who feast their souls know that God has dealt wondrously with them. Look around you and go, "God has dealt wondrously with you". I mean, he has. Remind me one more time, before we go to our second element on our feast table, what did the grain represent? Okay, let's proceed now to the oil, we're gonna proceed now to the oil.
Now, oil is used, like, several hundred times in the Word of God, all the way from Genesis to Revelation. Forty of those times in Scripture, the word "oil" is in the context or outrightly next to the word "anointing". It is for anointing oil. Many more times than that, it is inferred that's what, when it says that they anointed them, the word "oil" might not be there, but it is inferred in the anointing that they are doing forty times. And that's one reason why we're using this as our symbolic meaning, our metaphor for us, this side of the cross and resurrection. So, an act of anointing, many, many, many, many times, and other times the word oil is used for the source of the lamp, which has great implications for us. We're called to be the light of the world, and we're not to hide our light, our lamp, under a bushel.
We're to be like those that were a part of the wedding, the wedding party, who kept the oil in their lamps. It has all sorts, you almost cannot find an application of the oil that you could not make to us somehow in the spiritual realm in the New Testament. You also find that anointing oil is used for praying for the sick. Anointing oil, you might be really blessed to know, it's even inferred as a hair product. Yes, it is. You need to jot that down. It's Matthew 6:17, 6:17, that he told them, listen, this was Jesus talking. He said, "When you fast, do not feel the need to look so miserable and so disheveled so that everyone out there will know you're fasting". He says, "Wash your face and put oil on your head".
Now how many of you used oil on your hair this very morning? I did, too. My hair does not lay like this. You cannot believe the oil. I put a quart of oil, almost, on it just to get it to lay down like this. So, that's a beautiful thing. Now, another big service of the oil is what is told to us back in our very beginning Psalm, where we learned about the three connections between them. The grain was going to strengthen a man's heart, and the oil was going to make his face shine. That will become important to us today. But for one thing they would use it when it was separate from the anointing for a sacred purpose, it would be because they lived in such a dry land.
Have any of you ever been to the Holy Land? You talk about bone dry. Now, your hair will look fabulous, absolutely fabulous, but your skin will age 20 years overnight. Some might know what I'm talking about. Because it is bone dry, bone dry. Picture that they also wore sandals, so picture that even young feet, just dry, crusty, old before they were even old, because they lived in such a dry place. So, that oil on their skin, it was just refreshing to them. All the dryness and a lot of the age, just with the oil coming on their face and their arms and their feet, it was just like putting the youth, a little bit of youth right back on them. Those were all purposes for the oil. But in our context today and in this series, we're gonna talk about the oil as it regards anointing, the sacred anointing of God. We're gonna see it in the Old Testament so that we know what we are applying spiritually to us in the New.
Now, I want you to know what it was about. This is what the anointing signified. It was something, it was oil that was symbolic of something God was doing. The anointing signified four things: divine appointment, divine authorization, divine empowerment, and divine accompaniment. So, whoever was anointed in the Scriptures, that person was divinely, not by man, but by God, that person was appointed. Then that person was not only appointed, that person was authorized. In other words, God himself said, "I have sent them to serve in this capacity". A gorgeous thing. Not only were they appointed and authorized, they were empowered.
Now listen, I am not talking today about a human power, even on their best day. I'm not talking about something that you could do pull-ups and push-ups enough to somehow be able to gain. I am talking about that if we happen to find today that we are anointed, you need to understand that with the anointing came a supernatural strength to do the job and fulfill the position that the person was set forth to fill. Anybody hear what I'm saying? I want to say this to you. You do not have what it takes to fulfill your calling; neither do I. You cannot fulfill the purpose you have for being on planet earth in the tenure of your lifespan, based on your best. The best you have to give of your humanity, not your noblest, not when you're trying to be as authentic as you know how. You cannot possibly fulfill your calling in your natural self. What God has brought forth for you takes something only he can do.
If you're not connected with the Holy Spirit that is anointing you, if you disconnect from that, even though he's in you, but you quench the Spirit because you give him no notice whatsoever, then what happens is we do not end up fulfilling our calling. We might've been in the position, but we did not take him up on the divine power. When the Spirit comes, Acts chapter 1, he comes with power. You cannot be the one Christian on the planet with the Holy Spirit living in you that has no divine power. You are not big and bad enough to break through. It is a theological principle, what God set apart. He said, "Whoever is anointed is divinely empowered".
Gorgeous. And then accompaniment. Y'all, to me, this is the best part. I love all the rest of those things. The accompaniment, what the anointing meant is "I will be with you," that Jesus himself, and listen, see, when we disconnect from that, if we somehow think that our anointing is all about us looking good instead of the fact what it means is my God is with me in everything that I do, in every way that I serve. The anointing means his Spirit, the very Spirit of Christ, Romans 8 says, the very Spirit of Christ is with me. It is with me. He accompanies me. He never leaves me. He never forsakes me. If that means anything to anybody, somebody say amen.
In the Scriptures in the Old Testament order, prior to the new covenant, under the old covenant, three kinds of people were most often anointed. The third one just, I mean, every now and then, I'm thinking of one time in particular, but normally the anointing was for priests and kings, priests and kings over Israel. Now, he could also anoint, I mean, we could get into this in Isaiah, because he honestly could pick out a pagan and work through his Spirit on that person to do what he needed to do among his own people and get them freed from Babylon, as he very clearly did in the Scriptures. So, he can do all of that. But what we see for the official and sacred anointing in the Old Testament, we see it up on primarily priests and kings.
Now, there is a time, like Elisha, there's a time when a prophet might be anointed; but, primarily, it's about the priests and kings. Tell me primarily who was it for? I need you to tell me one more time. Because what I hope to prove to you today is that if you don't already know it, that you will come to recognize that you and I, who are in Christ, are doubly qualified for the anointing, doubly qualified for the anointing. There's this gorgeous thing. Does anybody remember when Isaiah sees the vision of the Lord high and lifted up? Isaiah chapter 6, verse 1. "I have seen the Lord. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord". He saw him high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple, and he was enthroned. He was enthroned.
Well, that's supposed to throw us off a little bit, because what we've got to understand is that in the heavenly realm, which is a greater reality than earth, in the heavenly realm, the king is in a temple. It is the total coming together of the priesthood and royalty. From the very beginning, he said this early on in the life of the Israelites. He told them there would be a kingdom, and it would be of priests. He does the same thing over and over for us. Listen, according to 1 Peter 2:5, do you remember in the last part of our series when I said it's gonna become important to us that the Word of God says in Jeremiah that he will give a feast for the souls of the priests? You and I, every believer in Christ, under the new covenant, is a priest, is in the priesthood. You may be going, "That just really freaks me out".
Please look and see. And I hope today we will not be freaked out about it. I hope we understand we are a priesthood, 1 Peter 2:5. "You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood". Everybody say, "Holy priesthood". "To offer spiritual sacrifices". Everybody say, "Spiritual sacrifices". "Acceptable to God through Jesus Christ". All Christians are priests. We offer spiritual sacrifices. We offer up our praise to God, the fruit of our lips. We bring our bodies forth as living sacrifices. In other words, we're not slaughtered. We just try to die to our own flesh and live in the Spirit, Romans 12:1. So, all these, the spiritual implications of this, 1 Peter 2:5 says that we are a holy priesthood.
1 Peter 2:9 says, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood". And listen, he's talking, if you look at the very beginning of 1 Peter, who it's to, when it's to those who live in Bithynia, Cappadocia, the province of Asia, all of these places that were where Gentiles lived. So, he's not talking to a bunch of Hebrew people here. He's saying you are a holy priesthood. If you are in Christ, you are not only a holy priesthood, you're a royal priesthood. So, it's bringing in the royalty and the priesthood. It's bringing in kings and priests. Listen again, in case that's not enough proof. Revelation 1:5-6, "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen".
So, when I'm about to draw the parallel to you that you are anointed, girlfriend, listen to me carefully. You have a double qualification. You and I are told in Romans chapter 8 that we are joint heirs with Christ, joint heirs with Christ. Let me tell you what that means. The firstborn got the double portion of the inheritance. Jesus is the Son of God, and he said, "My people share in the double portion of my inheritance". We come in a double portion, because we are a priesthood and we are royalty. We are priests, and we are queens. Anybody get that with me? Priests, and we are princesses, and that doubly qualifies us to be anointed. Now look with me, oh, you know what? Leave something here, 'cause I'm gonna need you to go to the New Testament with me.
Go with me to 2 Corinthians 1. Anybody just glad to hear the sound of pages turning? Or it may be that you're doing this on your iPad. I love that, too. I love that, too. I use an electronic Bible. I used one this morning. I just absolutely love it. But one Sunday, we were in worship service at my church. I got a really good friend, one of my very best friends, is the most gifted and wonderful, I want you to picture it, 'cause it goes with the story. She's African American, and she was standing across from me. I could see her over here, and she was wearing the most gorgeous aqua blue you have ever seen. And I could see her. I thought, my goodness, she is radiant with the Spirit, and she's a woman who lives in the Spirit. And I just kept looking at her. I thought, good grief. I mean, the Spirit is just alive on her, I mean, just, like, I mean just all over her, radiant on her.
And I looked over at Melissa, and she was sitting to my left. This is my youngest daughter. I looked over at her. I said, "Look at Evangeline. I mean, she is just shining with the glory". Melissa does like this, she just, I love her so much. She's just perfect. She goes... And then she does this... "Mom, that is her iPad". Well, it has shekinah glory, because it was emanating on her very face. Where are we? Oh, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22. This is gonna be good. Somebody say, "This is gonna be good". All right, 2 Corinthians 1:21 and, well, I have to start at 20: "For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory".
Every promise of God finds its yes and amen in Jesus Christ. For all the things that never took in the Old Testament, he brings Christ. He gives his life on the cross. He's raised from the dead, ascends to the right hand of God, and has a seat right next to him, to be our High Priest. And what the Word of God says is because of him, everything that was a no, God gets to say yes and amen. Verse 21 says this: "And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee".
Notice two things with me. One thing in 21, we have been established in Christ. And because of Christ, we have been anointed by God, and then we're told in verse 22 that he put his seal upon us. So, we're anointed and sealed. Everybody say "anointed and sealed". Say it again. Say, "If I am in Christ, I'm anointed and sealed," because that's gonna have some implications for us. Look with me now to 1 John 2, verse 20 and then 27. "Why do I have to go here with you"? To prove to you in Scripture that you have this anointing on you, and that when John says this, we're just going, like, "Okay, we have the anointing". No, it is no small thing, and I'm gonna prove that to you, I pray, through the Scriptures in the Old Testament, what it meant to them to be anointed, for us to understand that this is what has happened to us. We just could not see it with our eyes. Could anybody be into that with me, today?
Listen, listen, 1 John 2, verse 20. Listen to what this says. If you like to mark in your Bible, or if you want to highlight it on your iPad, do it, because this is important. "But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge". "But you have been anointed by the Holy One". If you are in Christ, look at one another and say, "He means you". You have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I'll get to what that knowledge was in just a moment. Now, verse 27, look at this, same exact chapter, 27, "But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie", I love what the NIV says: "And is no counterfeit". "Just as it has taught you, abide in him".
Okay, what in the world does it mean that we don't need anybody to teach us? Because we know that that does not, if we understand that the way we're prone to, how in the world does that stand up with so much of the rest of the New Testament, particularly the epistles that talk about the gift of teaching and staying under teaching, and that we're to learn and study God's Word? We know that that's not what it could mean. But listen what was happening. Context is gonna be king. Context is king. And in their culture, what John was addressing was that people would come along with a new knowledge. "Actually," they were telling the little nascent church where John was serving, "actually", what they were saying is, "As it turns out, Jesus did not actually come in the flesh. I mean, it looked like the flesh, but it wasn't the flesh, because actually God would not want to touch any kind of human flesh". So they were bringing, like, "We have more knowledge for you".
So, John is saying back then, "Listen, what did I tell you"? You know how it starts in 1 John 1? "I am telling you about the one we have seen with our own eyes, the one we have touched with our hands, the one we have heard. I'm talking about the one, we have been with him, this Jesus Christ, who came and wrapped himself in human flesh," to John and to us. He said, "You want to know what antichrist spirit is? You just tell me that Jesus Christ did not come in the flesh". Because if he did not come in the flesh and give his life in the flesh, that means that we are as lost as geese. Anybody, anybody? So, what he was saying is, "You have already been taught. You know better than that. Don't you let somebody teach you something that is altogether different than what you have been taught in Christ". That's what he means. You have the anointing on you.
Somebody needs to hear today. For somebody brand-new, this is not gonna make any sense. Somebody else, the Holy Spirit's gonna make this life-changing for you. It's gonna be a new beginning for you. Your anointing has not left you. There are people in this room that think, "You know what? I think I honestly had it, but I don't know where it has gone". Some of you are absolutely convinced it has moved to someone else at your church. I mean, that used to be me, and I mean it's, like, moved off of my head, and it's moved onto them. I want you to know, it has not moved off of you. It has not shifted. It has not passed on to someone else. They have their anointing, and you have your anointing.
Listen, if you and I would learn to operate in our calling, through the power and authorization and accompaniment of God, in what he has called us to do, we would never be jealous of somebody else's anointing. The only reason we are ever jealous of someone else's anointing is when we are not walking in the anointing. Every time. You can take that one to the bank. The anointing may be in us, but it is not empowering us because we are jealous. We've got it all bound up. We've quenched the Spirit, and we're in the flesh. When you and I are operating in our anointing, we're not gonna be jealous, we're not gonna compete with anybody else, because we're feasting.