Anointing Oil

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day you and I, we get together, we have a little bit of coffee, we get into God's Word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2023, Lord willing, we'll make it from Genesis through Leviticus. So glad to be with you today. Why don't we have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much that you have been a gracious God to us. Lord, we thank you that you have cared for us and watched over us. Lord, we pray that you would please help us today as we read your word, that we would understand it, that you would work in our hearts in Jesus's name, amen. All right, so why don't we go ahead and jump into God's word today. We are at Exodus chapter 30. Grab my spectacles there, grab my Bible, and here we go. Exodus chapter 30, beginning at verse 22.
Moreover, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, also take for yourself quality spices, 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much, sweet-smelling cinnamon, 250 shekels, 250 shekels of sweet-smelling cane, 500 shekels of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hen of olive oil.
And you shall make from these, so I got to flip the page here, and you shall make from these anointing oil and ointment compounded according to the art of the perfumer. It shall be a holy anointing oil. With it, you shall anoint the tabernacle of meeting and the ark of the testimony, the table and its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils and the altar of incense. the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the laver and its base. You shall consecrate them that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them must be holy. And you shall anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them that they may minister to me as priests. And you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, This shall be a holy anointing oil to me throughout your generations.
It shall not be poured on man's flesh, nor shall you make any other like it according to its composition. It is holy, and it shall be holy to you, whoever compounds any like it. or whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people."
Well, we need to ask ourselves, A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? All right, so what is this about? Well, this is this anointing oil that God is prescribing. It's the Lord he's speaking to Moses and he's giving him all these instructions for the tabernacle. None of it's actually built yet. The priests don't have the garments. They aren't consecrated yet.
This is the blueprint for everything that's supposed to happen and the standard operating procedures by which everything is supposed to be carried out. And so here we have, okay, there's gotta be an oil that's going to be anointing everything. And it's a lot of oil. I mean, a hint of oil, it's about a gallon's worth of this stuff, right? And there's all sorts of people who argue back and forth about what all these things are and how they're to be made, right? Some people will say, is this more of a concentrate than they would add more oil to to make it more?
People debate about this casea versus the cinnamon, and true cinnamon is stuff that comes from Asia, places like Malaysia today. It's pretty rare, but the Keisia would be more like what people actually sell as cinnamon today, is what one commentator says. Myrrh is this resin that would come from Arabia. It's not in Canaan, but places like Africa and Arabia. So all these different ingredients. The point is, is that this is, this is not meant to be, you identify it explicitly with these things while it is important, right?
But the point of that is what this is getting at is those costly ingredients for this perfuming, could only be afforded by royalty and temples. And so this was meant to be God's palace, and God's palace was to smell the way God wanted his palace to smell, right? This was a luxurious thing. And it was meant to be that when the people would walk by the tabernacle, it was this sense that they could smell the anointing oil on the high priest. They could smell the sacrifice. They could go into the courtyard and they would be able to know that this was the Lord's presence they were entering into.
That the things in this weren't common, but they were set apart, that they were holy. And so anything that was set apart had this oil put on it. Other people weren't supposed to touch, right? Because it was set apart for God's use, not an ordinary use, right? There's a difference between the altar and their barbecues outside their own tents, right?
So this is God's royal home. This is God's abode with his people. And it's supposed to be different. There's this elevation of who God is as their Redeemer, as their King, as their Lord. And so they were to anoint all these different things to set them apart as holy. And then the last thing, and we're gonna actually see this in the first part of Leviticus, I think it's chapter eight, where the high priests themselves are actually anointed with oil. These things actually come true.
And if you'd like, sometime go look at Psalm 133. And this is a beautiful psalm about, and you can even sing this, right? We sing it quite regularly, actually. It's this last psalm we sing every time we have a presbytery meeting. Behold how very good it is, a pleasant thing to see when brothers live to dwell as one in unity. It's like the precious oil poured upon Aaron's head, pouring down upon his beard and on his garment spread. It's this picture of God's sanctifying, God's consecrating, God's setting something apart as holy. And so what's the best verse to summarize this one?
In my Bible, I have the very end of this underlined. I have, well, I have a bunch underlined, nevermind. 29, 30, and 32 I have underlined. I'm always cheating. I got like three things underlined, but maybe you would underline something else, let me know.
What is this calling you to do? It is Jesus Christ who is the anointed one of God. It is Jesus. who was anointed, not with this. But do you remember what happened to Jesus when he was with Mary? She took that alabaster jar filled with, with nard and she poured it out upon his head. And they're mad because this is expensive. And he says, you guys don't know what she's doing. She's anointing me for my death. Jesus being set apart for a holy use, he was going to be that perfect sacrifice. He was going to be the high priest to offer himself up upon that cross of Calvary.
And he has now marked each and every one of us with an anointing. out of a precious nard, but with his own spirit poured out upon us that our lives might be lived as a living sacrifice. And so we come to Jesus even here. And we see the one who is anointed with a costly anointment, not to be treated as common, but when we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, we come to him as one who is holy, one who is highly exalted, one who is our Lord. when we can follow and know that when we are in His presence, we are in the very presence of God.
Let's go ahead and pray. Father, we pray that we would look to You more and more, trusting in You for Your great salvation. Lord, we thank You for giving us our high priest. We thank You that each and every one of these things is just a shadow, a type, a picture of what is true in heaven and the better tabernacle. And so, Lord, we pray now. that you would please let us look to you and trust in you.
In Jesus's name. Amen. Well, may you have joy today. May you have peace knowing that God is with you. And may you walk with confidence, knowing that he watches over every step you take and counts every hair on your head. He's your shepherd. Have rest today. I'll see you next time. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.