The Anointing vs. Grace
The anointing of God is a mystery which first surfaces in the Old Testament. Men like Elijah, Moses, Levi and Samson are renowned for abiding in the anointing of God. David was anointed King of Israel by Samuel the prophet. The anointing in the Old Testament symbolized Gods favor and strength. In the New Testament if a man was anointed he was considered to be “filled with the Spirit.” There are also sporadic verses in the New Testament that mention the anointing of God directly (2 Corinthians 1:21; 1 John 2:20,27). It is my purpose in this interpretation to demonstrate that the anointing of God resting upon a man my not be as profound or should not be as respected as one might think. I want to emphasize that it is God’s grace, separate from any participation from man, that deserves the credit for the overall victory.
In the book of judges there is a man named Samson. He was a Nazarite from his mother’s womb. Samson had supernatural strength which was a characteristic of the Spirit of God resting upon him (The Anointing).
Judges 13:7, 24-25
…Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bare a son; and now
drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall
be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.
And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and
the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the spirit of the Lord began to move
him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Samson was blessed of God and was even called from his mother’s womb. Like John the Baptist in the New Testament, he was full of the Spirit and anointed of God.
These verses below refer to John the Baptist.
Luke 1:15,17;80
For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine or strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mothers womb… And he shall go before him (The Lord) in the spirit and power of Elias…
And the child grew, and waxed strong in the spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Isreal.
Both Samson and John the
Baptist were called and anointed of God from their mother’s womb. These two men symbolize a special calling and
a predestined purpose appointed by God.
They symbolize a special calling or anointing of God.
The verses below refer to
Samson.
Judges 14:6, 19; 15:14
And the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand…
And the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave changes of garments unto them which expounded the riddle…
And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted
against him: and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the
cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his
bands loosed from off his hands.
In the above examples the
Spirit of the Lord coming upon Samson resulted in supernatural strength. The Spirit of God, or the anointing of God,
gave Samson the strength to overcome his enemies.
Judges 16: 20
And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed form him.
The Lord had departed from
Samson. Samson told Delilah, the woman
he lusted for, that his supernatural strength came as a result of him being a Nazarite
from his mother’s womb. He told her that
if his hair were to be shaved off then he would loose his strength and would
become as weak as any other man. It
happened.
Judges 16:21, 28-30
But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought
him down to
And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the Lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.
All of Samson’s life he
was called of God. He was anointed of
God. God’s favor rested upon him. Samson represented a man who had the special
anointing of God, something today the Church, as well as people everywhere,
respect very much.
In the text it says in
Samson’s death he slew more than he ever did during his lifetime. All Samson’s life he was anointed of God and
God used him to bring
Before Samson dies he
calls to God in prayer to remember him and to strengthen him one more time, even
though he knew he had erred (Psalm 19:12) by revealing where his special
strength came from. This was a prayer of
repentance. This was a prayer of
repentance which resulted in God forgiving Samson and honoring him one more
time. This example is God’s grace in
Samson’s life directly overshadowing God’s calling of Samson as a
Nazarite. God’s grace was stronger than
God’s calling… shown by the repentant prayer resulting in more deaths of the
Philistines than Samson ever accomplished during his anointed life as a
Nazarite.
This interpretation is
important because of its focus. The
anointing of God and the calling of God are sure (Romans: 11:29), I am not
belittling this. I am worried that our
focus today is too much on the special calling of God rather than on the
strength of repentance. We need to
remember that it is God who justifies.
We are vessels of His grace. If
Samson’s repentant prayer yielded a bigger victory than his anointed life, then
I need to say that the repentant prayer of a broken human being is more
powerful or sure than any calling. We
need to put the emphasis back on the strength of God. The anointing and calling of God is sure and
necessary, but the strength that comes from brokenness and repentance is a
higher level of God’s grace at work. It
is my prayer that the psychoanalysis of this interpretation doesn’t run to
deep. I am not after God’s power. I am after God’s truth. I want the Church to put its focus back on
what is important. If an anointed man is
anointed of God then so be it. But we
need to put the emphasis back on prayer and repentance so that the anointed men
will have something else besides an anointing (fruits mostly). Samson had an anointing and it eventually
brought him to his knees with both his eyes gouged out. The anointed men need to remember and focus
on the grace of God, not on His calling on their lives; and they need to
remember to help others to focus on that grace and not on the petty things of
the anointing. The focus needs to remain
on the grace of God, not on man’s calling or anointing. If we can understand this, we will have
greater victories in the body of Christ.