The Lord God has the authority and the might to anoint anyone He pleases. What would it take for the Lord God to anoint a person? Simply said, it would take the Lord’s election for a person to be anointed by Him. His authority to anoint a man or woman lies in the testimony that He Himself is a creator of them. His might in anointing a person of His choice is proved by the way He leads and uses that person. This is never done under a cloak of darkness, but is made visible to all that the Lord God is eternally glorified. If His creation of man is for His delight, His anointing a person of His choice is for His glory in the midst of His creation. Or else, what is the point of anointing according to His choice? Yet, each chosen one is anointed according to the purpose that God has stored for him. If one is willing to accept, this is a miracle. How can one be chosen and the other left? Or, how is one given a purpose and the other with none? It is a miracle to the one anointed. On the other hand, there is none who can question His works and be justified, because of the kind of righteousness and justice He possesses. Of this righteousness and justice mankind has no knowledge, because of the sin present in them. Hence, each time a person questions God and His choice, He does so only in sin i.e. apart from the righteousness and justice with which man was manifested with before his fall. Adam did not question God about his nakedness when he was created, but when sin entered him, he questioned God’s choice. This he did when he covered his nakedness. Adam was the anointed of God until sin entered him.
Questioning God by way of speech must not always be thought as the only means to offend Him. Man’s works and even his mere thoughts can be a means to question and offend God. This is obvious after having considered the man Adam. It is widely understood by Christians that sin is the primary reason for man’s parting away with God. Yet, the loosely understood is the forms of sin. It is for this reason that many Christians, though claim to have been cleansed by Christ’s blood, quite commonly sin. This has been plaguing Christianity from its early days; and now has only become much more prevalent. Remember, Ananias and Sapphira, and how many are present that habitually lie in these days! What Ananias and Sapphira thought was that they could get away with their sin by lying to men, but their loose understanding of the forms of sin questioned the omnipresence and all knowing power of God. What have they learned from the former times? Obviously, nothing!
There is a reason why God parted away with His chosen nation, Israel. It is not their questioning of God with their mouth, but with their heart, mind and eventually their works. They received His Law, but did not consider keeping it. By this, they questioned His authority and were scattered. For this reason, He anointed another by His choice and was determined to glorify Himself through this new avenue. “Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, Whom I have taken by the right hand, To subdue nations before him And to loose the loins of kings; To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut”(Isa. 45:1). Ananias and Sapphira did not understand this anointing of God’s choice, though the nature of God was made known to them from the Scripture. God anointed Cyrus to build Jerusalem. That God chooses and anoints to build and not for fall was not understood by them. In other words, they loosely understood the importance in God’s choice of anointing. Hence, they were instantly killed by God. As part of the building process God separates all liars and the immoral from His house, not only through death, but also by other means.
Have today’s Christians understood God’s choice for anointing? O, the enormity of Christians’ sin that provokes God to choose others in their stead! There was another incident that occurred in the days of Paul. When the Jews rejected the gospel of Christ preached by him, God sent him to the gentiles. O, what a shame on part of the Jews! The Christ, who was their own, was no longer theirs. When they could not come out in unison to be the church of the living God, when they did not desire the anointing of God, God chose to anoint others willing to be His church. The Jews too did not question God with their mouth, but rejected the proclaiming of Christ by His servants. This meant they questioned God’s choice even after having known God from the Law. For this reason, Christ somewhere said to His disciples that if they rejected them, they had indeed rejected Him. One only rejects, when he has already questioned.
Let the Christians of these days know the righteousness and the omnipresence of God. He is the One, “Who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’ to nobles, ‘Wicked ones’” (Job 34:18). For what reason does He call them worthless and wicked? For the only reason that He is able to see and know all that is in man. If a king and a noble are as such before Him, what are a common man and a man who commonly calls himself a Christian and yet, does not fear his sin? Many Christians do not fear sin, because they have failed to impress upon God. They terribly failed, since those who lead them have become like Adam who covered his nakedness and the Israel that received the Law, but did not consider keeping it. Thus, they became leaders of the forms of sin. O, the kind of goodness that God desired to see in men! It is worth more than the precious things and when there is one seen with it, it is uplifting and promising to a believer. Uplifting, because he or she is in the same flock; promising, because of the kind of harvest he will reap in God. “So David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, ‘Go up to Carmel, visit Nabal and greet him in my name’” (1 Sam. 25:5). Such goodness must have been born of God alone. Rather than plundering Nabal’s flocks, he protected them and their shepherds day and night. He did not consider Nabal’s house an enemy and hence, sent his greetings to receive back for his kindness. He based his greetings on his righteousness. The manner in which David pressed upon God all along his life is a testament to the works he performed. His works, justice and righteousness, were impeccable for the only reason that he feared sin and loved God.
David was the anointed of God by God’s choice. He kept His anointing all the days of his life by refusing to question God in any form, whether by words, works or thoughts. The most difficult is to keep our thoughts from going against God. Yet, the heart of David pressed God for purity and reverence, and became a man after God’s own heart. Are Christians without anointing? On the contrary, they are called by God through Christ for the purpose of being anointed; man and woman, the Jew and the Greek, servant and master, and the rich and the poor. They are anointed by the Spirit of God to overcome sin, to overcome the deeds of darkness and perform the works of righteousness and to be lifted up on the last day. This is the might of God in anointing a person of His choice for He leads him according to His will. His anointing is the like the working of the sun whose “…rising is from one end of the heavens, and its circuit to the other end of them; and there is nothing hidden from its heat” (Ps. 19:6). Just as the sun declares the work of God’s hands, so too the anointing which is upon His chosen ones and this will be is clearly visible to all. Because of such declaration, the lives of the anointed are pressed upon others in order that they too might receive the anointing of God, which is by His choice.
On the other hand, the result of committing abominations is not only severe, but shameful. A sin must not be twice repeated and once heard, must be as twice understood. Are we capable of understanding what the Lord is saying? “Behold now, I have stretched out My hand against you and diminished your rations. And I delivered you up to the desire of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd conduct” (Ezek. 16:27). Why did Israel bring upon them such curse of God? If only they had believed in Him and observed His precepts, a blessing would have come instead. Time and again the churches need to admonish its people by observing the cursed lives of their predecessors. This is not the hour for rejoicing, but an hour to mourn and weep on our different means of questioning God. If the gentiles too are ashamed of our conduct, for what reason are we rejoicing and celebrating? Yes, celebrate Jesus and hope in the mighty deeds of God, but only when your loose thinking regarding His omnipresence and all knowing nature has been completely removed by Him. To observe the commandments of God just as they were given is acknowledging His omnipresence and His all knowing nature. This is the step to enter into the way and know the mysteries hidden in the word of God. Whatever may be the times and places when the commands of Christ are kept, you have not questioned God’s choice of them. “Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment” (Luke 23:56).
Do the works you must do according to the precepts of God, but do not forget to keep the commandments of Christ. The commandments are the source for righteous works. For in neglecting the commandments you will force God to diminish your provisions for life. Your struggle to live on this earth will be heavily influenced by the works of the gentiles. This causes excessive suffering. The anointing that is supposed to be yours through Christ will not be upon you and others take your place. Christians are not called out to be cursed or fall away, but to be built or receive a blessing. This blessing is of the light, which is the Son of God. Those who are of the light cannot receive the curse of darkness. For this reason, it is written “for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness” (1 Thess. 5:5).