Right, But Not Ready by Dr. Rick Flanders
“And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and
all that is therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the vessels thereof: and it
shall be holy.”
(Exodus 40:9)
The book of Exodus ends with the
successful completion of Israel’s great wilderness project: the construction of
the Tabernacle. And they had done it all
just right. The thirty-ninth chapter (next
to the last) ends with these words:
“And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as
the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them.”
(Exodus 39:43)
Then the fortieth chapter begins
will the account of the assembling of the Tabernacle worship center. The tent was set up (vs. 1-2), the ark was
put in and the veil hung (v. 3), the table of showbread was set up with the
right things put on it (v.4), the candlestick was brought into the tabernacle
and its lamps lit (v.5), the incense altar was placed before the ark and the
door hung (v. 5), the brazen altar was put before the door (v. 6), the laver
full of water was put between the altar and the door (v. 7), and finally the
court was set up (v. 8). In many ways,
it was perfect. Truly it can be said
that the Tabernacle in the wilderness with its prescribed rituals was the most
perfect object lesson depicting the Person and Work of Jesus Christ ever to be
made. It was just right, but we note as
the book comes to a close that the Tabernacle and its ministers were not yet
ready. Something had to be done before
ministry at the Tabernacle could begin.
The LORD told Moses that he must
“take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein,” and
by anointing it with the oil, all of it would be hallowed and holy and useful
in the service of God (v. 9). So he
anointed the brazen altar with the oil, and then the rest, and also the priests
in their special garments. The
Tabernacle and the priests were not ready until they were anointed.
Of course, anointing with oil was
the ritual that symbolized the anointing with the Holy Spirit. In Old Testament
days, men were anointed as they began their service for the Lord. In the sixty-first chapter of the book of
Isaiah the prophet we read
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me; because he hath anointed me to
preach the gospel unto the meek…” (Verse 1)
“…to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion,
to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for the spirit of
heaviness…”
(Verses 2 and 3)
The First Book of Samuel tells
the story of David, and includes this record,
“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.”
(Chapter 16, Verse
13)
Throughout the era of the Old
Testament economy, anointing oil represented the Spirit of God. And so Exodus 40 is teaching us that our
witness for Christ can be right, perfectly right, while we are not yet ready
for ministry. It is the power of the
Holy Spirit that makes even the Gospel effective. The Word of God is a beneficial sword when it
is the “the sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17), but it is actually dangerous
to preach the Word without the ministry of the Spirit, “for the letter killeth,
but the spirit giveth life” (Second Corinthians 3:6—read Verses 5 through 18 to
see the distinctive work of the Spirit in the New Testament ministry). Often Bible-believing Christians concentrate
on being right about every detail of doctrine, while missing the fact that we
often are not ready to be used of God.
I want to be right about
everything. I’m not saying I have
everything right, but I am saying that I want to have it all right. Don’t you?
What Christian does not want to please God in every detail? Our doctrines and practices should all be
biblical.
Jesus taught us that every Bible
truth is important, but that some teachings are more important than others.
“Think not that I am come to
destroy the law, or the prophets: I am
not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For
verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall
in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one these
least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the
kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be
called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
(Matthew 5:17-19)
Clearly the “least commandments” of God are
important. None of them are
unimportant. But the fact that Jesus
designated some of them as “least” (as opposed to great) indicates that some of
His commandments are in some way more important than others. He told the religious hypocrites that they
had been wrong to be so certain to pay tithes, even of “mint, and anise and
cummin,” and yet to “have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment,
mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone”
(Matthew 23:23). Some biblical matters
are “weightier” than others, but all are important, and none should be left
undone, even if least.
Certainly the weightiest of Bible truths are the
cardinal doctrines of the Gospel, the ones essential to the soul’s salvation. Find them in First Corinthians 15:1-3, where
the Gospel itself is defined. The
fundamentals of the Gospel are the authority of the scriptures, the deity of
Christ, His blood atonement for our sins, His bodily resurrection from the
dead, and salvation by faith in Him.
Without all of these doctrines, you don’t have the Gospel. Without accepting the Gospel, you are not a
Christians. True Christians are
sometimes confused about lesser doctrines, but if they deny any of these
fundamentals, they are not true Christians.
I am a Christian, and affirm the fundamentals of the faith, and rest the
security of my eternal soul upon them.
A Fundamentalist is a Christian who insists that
these cardinal truths are fundamental to the Gospel. Some “Evangelicals” (the term comes from the
Greek word for “Gospel”) say they believe the Gospel (you are not an Evangelical
unless you do) but can accept a Liberal as a Christian who denies some of
them. This kind would be an Evangelical,
but not a Fundamentalist. I am a
Fundamentalist Christian because I hold the fundamentals to be fundamental to
the faith, and will not acknowledge any other set of teachings as
Christianity. Yes, I am a Christian and
also a Fundamentalist Christian.
A Baptist is a Christian who practices New Testament
practices. Questions of practice among
groups of Christians have often been called matters that are “distinct” to that
group. Church history defines a person
like me as a Baptist because I practice what are called “the Baptist distinctives.” Among them are: believer’s baptism by
immersion, regenerate church membership, two ordinances of the church, two
officers of the church, the church of Jesus Christ as local and visible with
Jesus as the head of each congregation, the separation of church and state, and
individual soul liberty. So I am a
Baptist, and it is important. The
Baptist distinctives are taught in the Bible.
But being a Baptist is not as important as being a Christian. A person might get to heaven without being a
Baptist, but he cannot get to heaven without being a Christian.
Even Baptists disagree about what the Bible is saying
about lesser issues of doctrine or practice.
Personally, I have strong convictions about the preservation of the
biblical text and how it relates to the choice of a Bible translation. I also hold to views about what I understand
the Bible to teach about dress, about the security of the believer, about
election, about issues of personal “separation,” about principles that apply to
church music, about revival, about prayer, and about victory through Christ
over sin and the devil. These are very important
matters but they do not have the same biblical weight as do the fundamentals of
the Gospel or the distinctives of New Testament practice. I want to be right about these issues, all of
them. As I understand the light I have
on these issues from scripture illuminated by the Holy Spirit, I identify
myself to be a Fundamentalist Christian who is a Baptist by conviction. I also think I am using the right Bible and
the right music, and dressing the right way.
I want to be as right as I can be in my point of view, but being right
has never been enough.
Notice that the priests were not ready to serve in
the Tabernacle until the Tabernacle and its furniture had been anointed with
oil (read again Exodus 40:1-11). Then
“Aaron [the high priest] and his sons” (Exodus 40:12-16) were to be washed,
clothed, and anointed for service. When
He was baptized by John, the Lord Jesus was anointed with the Holy Ghost (Acts
3:36-38). On the great Day of Pentecost,
all believers in Jesus Christ were anointed with the Holy Spirit (see this in
Luke 24:45-49, John 14:15-27, John 16:5-14, Acts 1:1-8, Acts 2:1-18, Second
Corinthians 1:21-22, Ephesians 1:12-14, Ephesians 4:30, Ephesians 5:17-18, and
First John 2:26-27—it will be worthwhile for a servant of Christ to review
these passages and study the anointing again).
We are His priests, but the enduement of power our Lord promised
resulting from the anointing of the Spirit does not happen until those sealed
with the Spirit when they believed are finally filled with the Spirit when they
surrender. And this happens after they
are washed from their sins (John 13:4-10 and 15:1-5) and clothed with Jesus
Himself (as in Romans 13:11-14). Washed,
clothed, and anointed, we are finally ready to be used of God to impact the
dark world around us.
Dr. Rick Flanders
Revival Ministries
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