Enablement for Divine Office

 On the day of Pentecost, Jesus anointed new believers with the power of the Holy Spirit.  This anointing was parallel to the anointing Jesus Himself had received after his Baptism by John the Baptist.  God anointed Jesus by sending the Holy Spirit down upon Him in the form of a dove and saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” With these simple words the living God had opened the windowS of heaven and equipped Jesus with the power of His Holy Spirit so that he could perform his office of Redeemer for his people.

What a marvelous wonder it is that Jesus equips us to serve in his Kingdom the same way that God had equipped him to perform His great work of Redemption in our behalf.  Acts 2:33 informs us that Jesus, “Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.” First on his Apostles and then on all who soon believed in Jesus, our Savior “poured out” the Holy Spirit, thus Baptizing into the faith and Anointing them to Divine Office all at the same time.

This is almost too much to take in all at once!  But it is really what took place: TWO UNSPEAKABLY WONDERFUL THINGS HAPPENING ALL IN A MOMENT!  First, by His Baptism, the Holy Spirit creates new life in this crowd who heard Peter’s sermon in Acts 2, then by that same Baptism he gives them the power to serve Him as officers in His Kingdom.   It is really two amazing things that happen all at once, rather than in two steps as I seem to say here.  I am saying it this way just to help us see that it really was TWO UNSPEAKABLY WONDERFUL THINGS HAPPENING ALL IN A MOMENT!

 My fear is that too few professing Christians really grasp the sheer immensity of this reality.  Do YOU?

Do you really understand that your new birth in Christ means what the Word of God is teaching us here in Acts 2, that by the power of the Holy Spirit you have been given New Life and Anointing to Divine office all in the same moment of time?

And it is this ANOINTING ASPECT that gives such special quality and character to our new life in Christ.  As the Savior’s anointing to Divine Office gave him specific direction and purpose in life, so does our anointing to Divine Office give us specific direction and purpose.  By that anointing Jesus was equipped to give himself heart and soul to accomplishing our redemption. By our anointing we are equipped to give ourselves heart and soul to serving Jesus as LORD.  By our anointing the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to the compelling beauty, glory and power of LORDSHIP of Jesus Christ.

Before our new birth and anointing we could see the Lordship of Jesus only as a threat to our freedom.  Under His Lordship we would not be able to do all the sinful things that our fallen hearts desired.  But our hearts have changed.  We see those sinful things as ugly, grotesque, despicable.  We see obedience to the Savior as the most attractive life-style imaginable.  We see serving under his Lordship as the most perfect form of freedom.  It is the most reasonable thing in the world to follow Him with all our hearts. Serving Him as Lord is the great joy of our lives.

And what is that DIVINE OFFICE to which we are ANOINTED?  Jesus was  ANOINTED/ordained to the office of Redeemer.  What is our DIVINE OFFICE?   We will think about that in my next blog.