Today’s Reading: Isa 10:20–12:6, Luke 4:1–44, Job 3:17–26
Today’s Theme: God’s Anointed
Today’s reading is all about The Anointing that comes from God. God’s anointing comes upon us and is inside us through the word of God and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the Anointed One and has anointed us for service.
Isaiah 10:20–12:6
Breaking the yoke with fatness
And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.” Isaiah 10:27 (ESV)
The word translated as fat is the Hebrew word šemen which is the same word used for olive oil, olive tree, oil, fat, rich food and fertile.
The original picture given here is of Israel as an ox, which is a beast that would be used to work hard in the fields with a yoke fastened around it’s neck to plough the fields of its master (The Assyrians). The word burden gives us the impression that the ox has been ordered to work under obligation and not freely.
The text tells us that the neck of the ox will become so fat that the burden of the yoke will snap off and fall away setting the animal free.
God liberates us in Christ setting us free from the burden and slave master of sin. However this picture shows us that deliverance comes from within as well as from outside. Romans 6:16.
The anointing God has given is inside us and makes us healthy from within. This growth and strength mean that the bondage that once held us cannot hold us anymore because we are bigger and stronger than the enemies yoke. 1 John 2:27.
Greater is He who is in you than he in the world. The anointing you have is in you and teaches you all things. Continue to take in God’s word which gives you the fatness of the anointing to break the burden and bondage of sin. 1 John 4:4.
The Spirit Resting
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. Isaiah 11:2 (ESV)
The prophecy of Jesus the coming Messiah, as a branch from the root of David is one of the clearest messianic prophecies. So much so that Jesus quotes it Himself in our New Testament reading today.
Jesus was the anointed one prophesied about in this verse. This helps us understand the anointing in a practical way. For us the anointing of God comes through God’s Holy Spirit resting upon us and empowering us for service.
So we have seen so far today that the anointing is inside us through God’s Spirit and word and also comes upon us externally by God’s Holy Spirit to equip us for work in the kingdom.
Don’t attempt to do anything without God’s anointing. Anointing in he Old Testament was used to set aside priests, kings and prophets. Now in the New Testament the anointing of the Holy Spirit sets us apart for God to be used as His priests, kings, ambassadors and prophets in the earth.
Affirm the truth in your heart today that the Holy Spirit is resting on you. Do not grieve or quench Him, live with the reality of God’s anointing and calling in mind.
The victory of the Anointed
In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. Isaiah 11:10 (ESV)
The root of Jesse is Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God. This passage is estacalogical in meaning, it speaks of the glorious end when the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. The king will be on His throne ruling with justice and mercy and Israel will be finally gathered as promised.
We look forward to the victory of The Anointed One, The Christ, Jesus. (Christ means the anointed one).
Luke 4:1–44
Full of the Holy Spirit
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness Luke 4:1 (ESV)
Like Jesus, we have been filled with God the Holy Spirit. We are filled for a purpose, we are at war and need to be fat with the Spirit so the yoke the enemy tries to catch us with cannot get a hold of us.
Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit and was led into the wildernesses by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan.When the temptation began, the fullness, the fatness of the anointing came out in the form of the written word.
Jesus shows us how to defeat the enemy through the anointing. It is by using the written word of God in the Bible while filled with the Holy Spirit, this will defeat the enemy EVERY time.
Be filled with the Spirit and be filled with the word.
The Devils anointing
When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. Luke 4:28 (ESV)
The enemy has a negative anointing as well. In this case the people are filled with anger rather than being filled with the Spirit.
What will you allow yourself to be filled with and taken over by today?
We are all like the ox we read about. We will take a yoke and have a master, but which one, Jesus said in Matthew 11:30 “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Anger is a hard task master causing you stress, don’t submit to that anointing, instead be filled with the Spirit.
The authority of God’s anointing
And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” Luke 4:36 (ESV)
The anointing God gives comes from the highest authority in the universe, God. God’s anointing gives us authority and power over the enemy. We don’t need to get into a long prayer or discussion towards the enemy, we just stand in the authority of the anointing / calling we have from God and command the enemy to bow to God.
The anointing makes you an ambassador for God’s kingdom in a dark world. Use the power of the anointing inside and on you today to defeat the enemy.
Job 3:17–26
Delivered from fear
For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.” Job 3:25–26 (ESV)
Jesus the Anointed One delivers us from our fears, Hallelujah!!
Most of the above post is a copy of the original notes from the same date in 2014.
Additional resources
The Gospel Coalition on Luke 4