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Your Anointing & Union with Christ • Jun 01st 1969

The Anointing Oil Part 1: The Holy Spirit, Priesthood & God’s House

Gene's Messages to the Church in Isla Vista, CA New Testament Old Testament The Epistles

In this powerful teaching, Gene Edwards unfolds the deep spiritual meaning behind the anointing oil in Exodus and reveals how it points directly to the Holy Spirit and the building up of the Church.

Beginning with Jacob at Bethel, where oil was poured upon the stone, we see the first biblical picture of oil representing the Spirit. When oil is poured upon the stone, it becomes the house of God. This sets the pattern: the Spirit and the building always go together.

Moving into Exodus 25–30, we discover the holy anointing oil used in the tabernacle. This oil was poured upon:

  • The tabernacle
  • The altar
  • The utensils
  • The priests

But most importantly, it was poured upon the head, and flowed down to the body. This reveals a profound New Testament truth: the Father anoints Christ, the Head, and that anointing flows down upon His Body — the Church.

The anointing oil was not merely olive oil. It was compounded with myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia. These elements symbolize:

  • Myrrh – death
  • Cinnamon and calamus – resurrection life rising out of death
  • Cassia – ascension and enthronement

This means the Holy Spirit dwelling in believers is not merely divine presence — He carries within Him the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and the enthronement of Christ. The anointing in us is the Spirit plus the finished work of Jesus.

The teaching then turns to the priesthood. A priest’s primary calling is not activity, evangelism, or outward work — but ministering to the Lord. In Acts 13, the church at Antioch was fasting and ministering to the Lord when the Holy Spirit said, “Separate unto Me Barnabas and Saul.” Out of ministering to God came world-changing mission.

Gene emphasizes that the Church is built up together under the anointed Head. The anointing teaches corporately as believers are built together into one Body. The oil is never poured directly onto “the flesh” — it flows from the Head downward.

Finally, 1 John 2 declares: “You have an anointing from the Holy One.” The anointing abides. It teaches. It is reality. This anointing is not independent spirituality — it is the corporate life of Christ flowing through a built-up Body.

This message calls believers away from religious activity in the “outer court” and into the Holy Place — where the lamp is lit, the bread is eaten, incense is offered, and Christ is ministered to under the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

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Now there are two things related here. I want you to look at it very carefully. There is something related to the pouring on of the anointing oil. And that is what? The blood. Okay. The blood.

Now then, in verse 29. And the holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him, to be anointed therein and to be consecrated in them. Now then, you perhaps are not aware of this. So let me just say to you that the garment, when it is described in the Old Testament, the Lord is giving the building, and He gives the anointing oil, he gives the priest, and he puts on the garments, and everything that the garment is, the tabernacle is; the building. Everything that is in the tabernacle is on his garment. There is no difference. It has stones on it. The tabernacle has stones. It has gold on it; the tabernacle has gold. It has silver; the tabernacle has silver.

The clothing is just exactly like the tabernacle. Now this means a great deal. The tabernacle is the Lord Jesus Christ. And the clothing we put on is the Lord Jesus Christ. Surely by now, as a Christian, you have found that the New Testament teaches us that the Lord Jesus not only gives us righteousness, but he is righteousness and clothes us with his righteousness.

And the priests were to put on the garment, and they were to be in the garment, and then they were to be poured upon. They were to be in the garment and had it poured upon them. Let me just talk to you for a moment, brothers and sisters; the priests are so important. I have spent all this week just looking at priests. This is fantastic. We have to be God’s priests, and all that the priests do is to take care of God’s house. They take care of the Lord Jesus. Priests are not servants. They are people who just take care of Christ. They worship Him. They offer up Him as sacrifices as all the day long. They burn the incense. They light the lamp. They eat the fruit, and they go into the Holy Place. The tabernacle is their dwelling place. And praise the Lord, that’s just where they live. And that’s where they sleep at night; it’s their rest. And the oil is poured on them. And the oil comes down from the head onto the body.

Oh, brother, I will not be able to deliver my burden today. I know I won’t. I don’t think I can express in human words what I want to share. I don’t believe I can deliver this, but this, brothers and sisters, is so important for the church. May the Lord just be with us now. May He help us just a little bit.

Alright, let’s see. Exodus, chapter 30, verses 22-32. And we have to read all of it. Now, brothers and sisters, this is the anointing oil.

Moreover, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take also for yourself the finest of spices: of liquid myrrh, five hundred shekels, and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, 250, and of fragrant cane 250, and of cassia 500, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil a hin. You shall make from these a holy anointing oil, a fragrant mixture of ointments, the work of a perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil. And you shall anoint the tent of meeting with it, and the ark of the testimony, and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin and its stand. You shall also consecrate them, so that they may be most holy; whatever touches them shall be holy. And you shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, so that they may serve as priests to me. Furthermore, you shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations. It shall not be poured on anyone’s body, nor shall you make any like it in the same proportions; it is holy, and it shall be holy to you.

 Who does a priest minister to? The Lord. Have you ever seen priests walking around the country? They are always taking care of somebody else. Priests were made for one thing: to minister to the Father, and that was all a priest was for. You just anoint the priest with oil, consecrate him, and he spends his entire life doing nothing but ministering to the Lord. What more can I say to you? He does nothing but minister to the Lord.        

Now, brothers, the Plymouth Brethren 150 years ago recovered the idea of the priesthood of what? Have you ever heard that term? The priesthood of the believer. But all they did was to say that there is no individual priest who ministers in front of us, and we’re a bunch of peons in the congregation; the Plymouth Brethren said, “We’re all the same.”  Well, give them 150 years, and they’re beginning to today have their pulpits and their preachers who stand up front. Oh, the shame of it. But all they saw was the believers all as the priesthood. They did not see the office. It is not to work, it is to be anointed and to minister to the Father. That’s all you have to do. Don’t ever do anything else. You say, “Brother Gene, how’s the world going to get saved?” I will tell you that if you will minister to Christ, to the Father, if you will minister to Him, the Father Himself will do far more; you just wait and let Him. He will do far more than if you abandon the priesthood and go out and try to do His work.

Let Him build up the stones. Brothers and sisters, the winning of this world to Christ and even the saving of souls is not an individual matter. It is the matter of the building. It is the matter of the church. And our job right now is to be built up into a house, a house of a holy priesthood who do nothing but minister to the Father. You just believe there must be a group of people on this earth who believe that the Father can mind His kingdom. He wants a group of people who will minister to Him. And in order to do that, they must be anointed with oil to minister to Him.

Listen, you want to read in the New Testament the greatest piece of a priesthood there is? Then read Acts 13. Boy, that was a gathering of eagles. Acts 13 are five brothers of the local church, just doing what they normally do from time to time. They were praying and fasting. Were they praying and fasting for the salvation of the world? What was it? What were they doing? They were…this is the New Testament, brother. I’m not reading the Old Testament. In Acts 13, they were praying and fasting, ministering to the Lord. Ministering to the Lord. Brothers and sisters, you just sit here and minister to the Lord. Oh God, oh Father. You minister to the Father. To Christ, to the Father.

(When the woman poured oil on Jesus, he said that wherever the work goes out, that will be spoken of. She has anointed Me, but it was a burial, and He said wherever the gospel goes out, what she has done in preparing Me will be remembered.

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