The Spirit Anoints us for God’s Building and as the Cloud He Leads and Guides us

After the tabernacle was erected in the wilderness, Moses anointed every piece of furnishing and all the priests for service with the holy anointing oil, as per God’s instructions; in the church as the house of God we have the Spirit anointing us as the anointing oil, and He is leading and guiding us just as the pillar of cloud and fire lead the people of Israel in the wilderness.

What God desires to gain on earth, from Genesis to Revelation, is a dwelling place, a corporate expression of Himself; for this, He created man in His image with His likeness so that man may express Him and represent Him to deal with His enemy (Gen. 1:26).

However, Adam fell, and God chose Abraham and his descendants to be His people, so that they may build Him a sanctuary, a dwelling place, where He can rest, be satisfied, and dwell among men.

At the end of the book of Exodus we see that, as a result and consummation of all that God did with and for His people in Exodus, they erected a tabernacle according to God’s instructions, and God’s glory filled it while the cloud covered it.

This was the fulfillment in type of God’s heart’s desire to have a dwelling place with His people, and this was fulfilled in reality in the Lord Jesus who came as the tabernacle of God with man. God became man and tabernacled among us, full of grace and reality, and His disciples and the people around Him beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father (John 1:14).

Furthermore, John the Baptist saw the Spirit (the reality of the cloud on the tabernacle) descending on Christ (the tabernacle of God) and the glory of God was manifested (the glory filling the tabernacle). Wow, God was manifested, expressed, defined, explained, and seen in the flesh in the person of the Lord Jesus!

Through His death and resurrection, this Christ has been enlarged to become the Body of Christ, the corporate manifestation of God in the flesh as the church, the house of God. Now there’s glory to God in the church, and God is at rest, satisfied, and living among His people in the church life.

Consummately, God will gain His enlarged tabernacle, the New Jerusalem, for eternity, where He will dwell among His people and He will be their God; He will be fully expressed through them, and He will rest, be satisfied, and dwell among His people in rest and satisfaction. Praise the Lord!

The Spirit Anoints us for God’s Building and as the Cloud He Leads and Guides us

In Exo. 40:9 God commanded Moses to anoint all the furnishings, utensils, and items of the tabernacle, including those who served in the tabernacle (the priests) with the holy anointing oil. The anointing oil used in Exo. 40:9 is the holy anointing oil in Exo. 30:26-30 which was compounded of four spices together with pure olive oil.

This anointing oil typifies God the Spirit compounded with the Triune God, Christ’s humanity, Christ’s death with its effectiveness, and Christ’s resurrection with its power. The olive oil signifies the Spirit of God as the base of the ointment.

The three units of five hundred shekels each – the measure of the spices signify the Trinity, the three of the Godhead; the middle unit was “split” into two halves of 250 shekels each, signifying that Christ was “split” in crucifixion, as the cleft rock (see John 19:34; Exo. 17:6).

One hin of olive oil – signifies the unique God, the four spices – Christ’s humanity, since number four denotes God’s creatures, of which man is the head (Ezek. 1:5; Gen. 1:26). The four spices used for the anointing oil were myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia (Exo. 30:23-25).

Myrrh was a spice used in burial, and it typifies Christ’s death. Cinnamon is sweet and effective, sustaining the heart, typifying the sweetness and effectiveness of His death. Calamus is a reed growing in marshy ground, and it typifies the resurrection of Christ. Cassia was used to repel insects and snakes, and it typifies the power of Christ’s resurrection.

These four spices were mixed together with the olive oil, and the anointing oil was used to anoint every part of the tabernacle (see Exo. 30:26-30; 40:9-11, 13). Everything in the tabernacle was “painted” with the holy anointing oil.

The anointing oil refers to the Spirit who “was not yet” before Christ’s resurrection; in His resurrection Christ became the compound Spirit, a Spirit “compounded” by God in a mysterious way with His humanity, His divinity, His death, the sweetness and effectiveness of His death, His resurrection, and the power of His resurrection.

Now Christ as the compound Spirit anoints everything and everyone in God’s building. In order for us to serve God and enjoy God in His dwelling place, we need to be anointed by the compound Spirit, that is, we need to turn to the spirit and allow the Spirit to apply Christ’s divinity, humanity, death, and resurrection to our being.

Day by day, whether by ourselves or in meetings with the saints, we need to be continually anointed and saturated with the compound Spirit, and we need to allow the Lord to apply all the elements of His death, resurrection, humanity, and divinity to our being.

On the one hand the Spirit anoints us for God’s building, but on the other hand the Spirit leads us, just as the pillar of cloud led the people of Israel by day and the pillar of fire by night.

First, the Spirit anoints us as the anointing oil, and then as the pillar of cloud and fire, He leads and guides us (see Rom. 8:14). All throughout the day we need to be freshly anointed and saturated with the Spirit, and we need to let the Spirit lead us and guide us.

He guides us when there are dark situations by shining as the pillar of fire in His word, and He guides us during the day as the pillar of cloud. The Spirit’s anointing and leading with His guidance are in the church, the enlargement of Christ as the tabernacle of God.

Thank You Lord for becoming the compound Spirit in Your resurrection to anoint us with all the elements of Your divinity, humanity, death, and resurrection. Anoint us more today for Your building. May we be those who are freshly painted with the Triune God, with Christ’s humanity, divinity, death, and resurrection. Amen, Lord, we love Your anointing, and we want to be led by You as the Spirit. Keep us walking according to the Spirit to be led by the Spirit in the church for God’s building!

The Triune God is Embodied in Christ to Dispense Himself into us for us to Enjoy the Riches of His Being

The tabernacle with all its furnishings, arrangements, serving ones, and setting, doesn’t speak only of God’s desire to dwell among man and with man; it also speaks of God’s dispensing.

The Triune God was embodied in Christ as the tabernacle for the purpose of dispensing Himself into His redeemed people for their enjoyment of all the riches of His being. The tabernacle and the offerings, which also typify Christ, show that the Triune God mingles Himself with His people to dispense all the riches of His being into them for their enjoyment and their portion as their eternal inheritance so that they might become His enjoyment and His portion as His inheritance for eternity. (The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word, p. 50, by Witness Lee)

Today we need to realize that the Triune God was embodied in Christ for the purpose of not only redeeming us and bringing us back to Himself but to dispense Himself with all His riches into our being and make us His enlargement, His corporate expression.

When we get into the church as the tabernacle of God we get into a realm of mingling and dispensing; here God is embodied in Christ to dispense all the riches of His being into us. We need to enjoy all the riches of His being.

We may think we need more love or patience, but truth be told, we don’t exactly know where we are and what our real situation is. We simply need to come to the Lord and open to Him to let Him dispense Himself into us. He knows what we need, and we just need to open to Him and let Him work Himself into us and become our enjoyment.

Most times we don’t know what we need, but we can come to the Lord, take Him as the reality of all the offerings, eat Him, drink Him, feast on Him, and He will become our inheritance to be our portion. As we enjoy Christ as our inheritance and portion, we ourselves become God’s enjoyment and His portion as His inheritance. Hallelujah!

When we come to the Lord to enjoy Him, He may touch certain aspects of our being, and He may want to remove certain things and get rid of other things; we simply need to go along with Him and let Him deal with the things need to be dealt with, so that we may enjoy more of His riches.

In order for us to enjoy the riches of His being we need to open our being and let Him come in, have access to our innermost being, and dispense Himself with all His riches into us. It is good to tell the Lord,

Lord, we would like to enjoy something of the riches of Your being today. Dispense Yourself into us and give us a further enjoyment of all Your riches. We open our being to You, Lord, and we let You touch what needs to be touched in order for us to enjoy more of Your riches. Lord, You know us, You know where we are and what we need: just dispense Yourself into us according to what You see we need. May our being be filled with the riches of Your being so that we may become Your fulness, Your dwelling place!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by brother Ron K. for this week, and, The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word, ch. 5 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (part 4, 2016 Summer Training), msg. 12 (week 48 in the HWMR), The Erecting of the Tabernacle and the Tabernacle, the Cloud, and the Glory Being a Full Type of the Triune God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Divine anointing in me dwelleth, / And it teaches me all things; / It ever leads me in the Lord to live / And to me His presence brings. / With God’s own essence it anoints me, / God to know subjectively, / That I may have His very element / Fully saturating me. (Hymns #266)
  # Oh, how glorious! Oh, how precious! / Now the Spirit dwells in me. / Life imparting, truth revealing, / Shining, leading constantly. (Hymns #1360)
  # God intends that all His being / Be my full supply; / With Him I must be united, / In spirit nigh. / All God’s being, all His riches / In the Spirit flow; / I must exercise my spirit / Him to know. (Hymns #612)