Book 3 of Musings Anointed With Joy

The Father has anointed the Lord Jesus with the oil of joy, because the Lord Jesus loves righteousness and hates wickedness.

We also will be anointed with the oil of joy when we love righteousness and hate wickedness.

You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. (Psalms 45:7)

What a remarkable verse the above is!

"You," refers to the Lord Jesus Christ.

"Your God," refers to the Father.

Who "Your companions" are may be creatures whom God created through Christ and who became the companions of Christ, just as animals were the companions of Adam. The animals were not a suitable companion for Adam, and the seraphim, the cherubim, the angels, the Melchizedekian order, and whoever else there may be, did not prove to be a suitable companion for the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. So Christ is forming a companion from His own body and blood.

So the Father set the Word above His former companions.

And how did God do this? By anointing Him with the oil of joy.

Why did the Father lift Jesus above His former companions?

Because He, Jesus, loves righteousness and hates wickedness.

Now, if all these facts are not something to think about, I don't know what is.

Of all the inhabitants of Heaven, the Lord Jesus, the Word at that time, was distinguished by the fact that He loves righteousness and hates wickedness.

That's remarkable, isn't it? You would think the angels, the cherubim, the seraphim, the Melchizedekian order, and all those other personages, would love righteousness and hate wickedness.

I have a theory about this. I believe prior to the giving of the Ten Commandments there wasn't much understanding of what God approves and of what He disapproves.

How could that be, one may ask?

Well, those other personages were never human beings and never shall be human beings. It may be true that human beings, having been created in the image of God, are unique on the basis of having that marvelous instrument known as a conscience.

If the other personages were not created with an innate understanding of good and evil, as man is; and if there were no Ten Commandments at that time, then how would they know what was righteous and what was wicked?

Personally, I don't think they did know. I don't believe the knowledge of good and evil was prevalent among them. Perhaps I am wrong in this.

My opinion is that the Ten Commandments are a revelation given through man that the heavenly personages can understand. In fact, I think much of what is taking place among people is a great audio-visual presentation to the creatures in the heavens.

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, According to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ephesians 3:10-11)

We usually don't think of such things, do we? But it appears, from what Paul wrote, that we humans shall judge angels. We shall decide which angels will be permitted to enjoy the Presence of God and which, because of their wickedness, will not longer be allowed to enjoy the Glory of God.

When you stop to think about it, it makes a lot of sense. But it is a bigger picture than we are accustomed to.

On what basis I do not know, but perhaps because He came out from God rather than being created like the rest of the personages of the heavens, the Word had an instinctive love for righteousness and hatred of evil.

Then I said, "Here I am, I have come-it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart." (Psalms 40:7-8)

We may not realize it, but the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ has two massive dimensions, not just one. The first dimension is the shedding of His blood to make an atonement for the sins of the world. We probably are acquainted with this first dimension.

The second dimension appears to be not as commonly known. It is that Christ came to bring righteousness into the creation of God.

The scepter of His Kingdom is a scepter of righteousness.

We have placed so much emphasis on the first dimension, on forgiveness, that we have neglected the second dimension-that of loving righteousness and hating wickedness.

Just think! Today, as well as throughout the Church Era, the Gospel of the Kingdom has been thought of as the mercy of God in forgiving the sins of mankind.

Forgiveness is not the emphasis of the Kingdom of God! If everyone on earth accepted the forgiveness of God, what good would that do? It would do no good at all. God would have to keep on forgiving, forgiving, forgiving, forgiving our behavior for eternity.

And we would have nothing to look forward but what we experience now in the churches.

The emphasis of the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit-not forgiveness!

The main part of the new covenant is the writing of the eternal moral law of God in our mind and heart. Forgiveness is the means of making the program of moral transformation possible.

You can understand readily, I am certain.

So here comes Jesus, the Word of God. What is Jesus? He is the Word of Righteousness. He is the Covenant of God, the eternal moral Law of God made flesh.

Christ has come to bring righteousness into the world, not imputed righteousness primarily but actual righteous behavior. He came to take away our sins.

When the program of redemption has been completed there will be a new world of righteous behavior. Because there is righteous behavior, the Presence of God will be among us. Because the Presence of God will be among us, every desirable relationship, thing, and experience will be here-vastly more blessing than we could ever imagine.

But all depends on righteous behavior-the righteous behavior made possible by the coming of Him who eternally loves righteousness and hates wickedness.

We Pentecostal people talk about the anointing of the Spirit and want the anointing. We covet the joy that comes with the anointing and the ability to bear witness of the atoning death and triumphant resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

We may not be as familiar with the power of the anointing to enable us to overcome sin and live righteously.

It is interesting to me that Jesus is distinguished by the amount of joy He has.

You know what I think? I believe if we will set ourselves to love righteous behavior and hate wicked behavior, the Father will anoint us with the same joy.

How do you feel about this? Shall we give it a try?

And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 13:52)