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Transcript 251B — The Significance of Anointing with Oil
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Hello. I was wondering what the anointing with oil means. And also, I was wondering if you could tell me where the Ten Commandments are in the Bible.
HC: Let me answer your second question first, and then I'll look at your first question. Where are the Ten Commandments found? They are found in two places. You'll find them in Exodus 20 and in Deuteronomy 5.
The question is raised concerning the anointing of oil. We find in the Bible that anointing with oil was used to commission someone for a particular task in the Old Testament. We find that when a man was commissioned to be kind, he was anointed with oil. Or if someone became a priest, his head was anointed with oil.
Now this practice of anointing with oil, while it was used in the Old Testament particularly for these two reasons, became a form of greeting in the New Testament days. We read in the Gospel of Luke, I believe it is, yes, in Luke 7, that Jesus is in the house of a Pharisee named Simon. And Simon is not giving Jesus a very warm greeting at all, because the Pharisees ordinarily were really at great odds with Jesus. And now there comes this woman into the house who is weeping, and she has an alabaster flask of ointment, and she wet His feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and anointed His feet with the ointment. And then this Pharisee Simon remonstrates with her. And then Jesus says this to Simon in verse 44 of Luke 7, "Turning towards the woman He said, Simon, do you see this woman, I entered your house and you gave Me no water for My feet. But she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss. But from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss My feet. You did not anoint My head with oil. But she has anointed My feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins which are many are forgiven, for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little."
Now here we see three greetings, the washing of the feet, the kiss, and the anointing with oil. Now interestingly enough, there are statements in the Bible that indicate that we Christians are to practice these three greetings. Now watch out. We have to be very careful what we do with these. We read, for example, in a number of places, "Greet one another with a holy kiss." We read in John 13 where Christ washed the feet of the disciples, and He said, "I have given you an example. Do so one to another." And we read in James 5, "If anyone is sick among you, let him call for the elders of the church and anoint his head with oil." And then it goes on to say, "The prayer of faith will save the sick one."
And so under certain circumstances we find references to all three of these practices. Now the question right now is asked about the anointing with oil, and so I won't get into the foot washing, although that has a very interesting and Biblical explanation as to what God means by that. But the anointing with oil really has to do with bringing the Gospel.
You see, in the Old Testament, when a man became king, he was anointed on the head with oil. When a priest was made priest, his head was anointed with oil. Now when we become saved, we become a priest. Oh yes, we do. The Bible says, "Ye are a holy priesthood." The Bible says in Revelation 1:8, "You are a kingdom of priests." We become a priest. That is, we have an office of intercession. And we also become a king. We become seated with Him in heavenly places. We reign with Him on earth. And when we leave this earth we go to live and reign with Christ in Heaven in our soul existence
And so in order to be a priest, in order to be a king, we must have our head anointed with oil. Incidentally, this was already anticipated in Psalm 23. Do you remember? We read there in verse 5, "Thou prepares" a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup overflows." This is a figure speaking of the fact that I have become saved, I have become a priest, I have become a king in the service of God.
And so when God talks about anointing someone with oil, He is not talking about literal oil. He is talking about the fact that we are to bring the Gospel. We are to share the Gospel with that person, because in sharing the Gospel we are making provision for the possibility of his salvation. In the Old Testament it was actually a practice that was utilized in anointing a king or a priest. But the larger meaning is simply pointing to the fact that it is a command that we are to bring the Gospel. It was used in Jesus' day as a greeting, but it had far greater implications.
And actually, if we study out the washing of the feet, and I think the holy kiss (although I've never really done extensive work on the matter of the kiss), I think we would find that all three of these greetings relate to the matter of sharing the Gospel.