The Anointing: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

by R.T. Kendall

Dr. Lloyd-Jones’s wisdom was invaluable. Although he tended to err on the side of caution, he would often say, “Very well, you go on.” He was not a man who took many risks himself, but he would often set me free to do so and to preach what was burning on my heart. He loved, for example, my vision of “Isaac,” that for thirteen years Abraham sincerely believed that Ishmael was the promised son. But one day God said to Abraham, “Wrong. Isaac is coming.” (See Genesis 17:15–21.) In much the same way, some sincere Christians have assumed that the Charismatic movement is “it”—the revival the church has been praying for. Wrong. Isaac is coming. This means a movement of the Holy Spirit will be so vast and powerful, surpassing anything the previous century saw, even in proportion to the promise and significance of Isaac when compared with Ishmael.

One of the most frightening comments I have heard since I entered the ministry was uttered by an Episcopalian priest in America: “If the Holy Spirit were taken completely from the church, 90 percent of the work of the church would go right on as if nothing had happened!”

“to the spiritual person the supernatural seems natural.”

The word anointing, or unction, is translated from the Greek chrisma. I shall stick to the term anointing. The dictionary definition refers merely to the application of ointment or oil. The anointing of oil, sometimes called Extreme Unction, is one of the seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church, generally used when a person is dying.2 It is based on James 5:14: “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.” But there is no indication this should be done only when someone is dying. While I was pastor at Westminster Chapel, we administered the anointing of oil and had a number of people testify to being healed. The word anointing comes from the root chrio in the Greek and is the word that underlies “Christ,” which means “Messiah” or “the Anointed One.” The word chrisma is used in 1 John 2:20, 27, but it is not the same word as charisma (which usually refers to someone’s electrifying personality) or even charismata (which mainly refers to gifts of the Holy Spirit). And yet, as we shall see, the latter words, charisma and charismata, are nonetheless the result of the anointing.

In the Old Testament the term anointing is used in at least five ways. First,

In the fourth century an African by the name of Athanasius was in the minority when he held to the eternal deity of Jesus Christ. He stood alone, claiming that the Word that became flesh was coeternal, cosubstantial and coexistent with the Father. “The world is against you,” his critics shouted at him. “If the world is against Athanasius, Athanasius is against the world,” he retorted. The anointing is the reason Martin Luther could turn the world upside down in the sixteenth century. He stood alone in his claims that we are justified (declared righteous) before God by faith alone. The Western world was never to be the same again. The anointing is the explanation for John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. Dedicated to the king of France and published all over Europe, these four books did more to refine the theology of Protestantism than any other publication. Said Henry Emerson Fosdick, to read the history of Western civilization apart from Calvin is to read it “with one eye shut.” The anointing is what gave courage to the Marian martyrs. During the reign of Mary Tudor (“Bloody Mary,” who reigned 1553–1558), men gave their lives for their faith. As the flames came up over the bodies of Bishop Hugh Latimer and young Bishop Nicholas Ridley, Latimer shouted back to Ridley, “Fear not, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle in England that I trust shall never be put out.” A year later the martyr John Bradford could say to his friend a...

God will use me only to the extent to which I am true to what I know.

burnout is what we bring on ourselves by taking on what God did not command.

A poll was taken not long ago that revealed how much time the average clergyman or church leader actually spent alone with God in prayer and private devotions every day. The average: four minutes a day. We may wonder why the church is powerless, generally speaking, but this is part of the reason for the spirit of death on the church. Listen to these words that came from Martin Luther’s journal: “I have a very busy day today. Must spend not two, but three, hours in prayer.” John Wesley prayed no less than two hours every day.

At the age of forty Saul was yesterday’s man.

One evidence that we may have lost touch with God is by imagining that we are still on the cutting edge of what God is doing today merely because we defend what God was doing yesterday. Some may think they are in the battle because they are “sound” theologically. Jonathan Edwards therefore taught us that the task of every generation is to discover in which direction the Sovereign Redeemer is moving, then move in that direction.

D. L. Moody sat on the platform and heard the speaker say, “The world has yet to see what God could do with one man totally resigned to Him.” What the man meant was this: someone who wants only God’s honor, not man’s; someone who has no grudge against a soul and who doesn’t care what people think as long as one follows the Holy Spirit. Internally, D. L. Moody said, “I propose to be that person.”

Suffering was David’s passport to a greater anointing.

A friend is someone who knows all about you and still likes you! If

How can we become open if we fear we are not open but want to be open? Be sure there is no unconfessed sin in your life (1 John 1:9). Be sure there is no bitterness or grudge against anyone (Eph. 4:31ff). Be sure you do not speak against anyone (James 3). Be sure you have a life of solid prayer and Bible reading (Luke 18:1; 2 Tim. 2:15). Walk in all the light God gives you (1 John 1:7). Learn to know the Spirit’s voice (Heb. 3:7–8). Develop a familiarity with His ways and the ability to recognize His presence (Heb. 3:10–11).