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1 John 2:20: You have an anointing from the Holy One.
As I said in the sermon, John uses the word "anointing" to refer to the Spirit. We are led into truth, and enabled to persevere in the truth, because the Spirit has been poured out. But John uses this particular word to refer to the Spirit because of its biblical usage. In the Old Testament, kings and priests are anointed, and occasionally prophets. To say that we are anointed means that through the gift of the Spirit we have been made kings and priests to God.
And it's as kings and priests that we come to this table. This is a table of kings, where we sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. This is a table for priests, since we have a right to eat from a sacrifice for sin that not even the priests of the Old Covenant were able to eat from. This is a table for priests, holy things for a holy people. This is a table for the company of prophets, who gather around the greater Elisha, who multiplies loaves to feed His people.
This table is also one of the ways that we abide in the anointing that we have received. As we come to this table every week, we are renewed as priests, kings, prophets in Jesus, who is the High Priest, the High King, the Chief Prophet. Each week, we come to this table to be renewed in the Spirit, so that the Lord’s anointing abides in us and we in Him. This is one of the expressions of a living, persevering faith: That we come to this table with the expectation and hope that the Lord will refresh us to serve Him as priests, kings, and prophets.
So, come to this table, for you kings and priests. Come to this table, for you have an anointing from the Holy One.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, November 05, 2006 at 08:52 AM
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