There are certain appointments in life that children learn to hate early in life. The trip to the dentist office when the doctor discovers your first cavity. The visit to an Emergency Room late at night which results in several follow up appointments. A routine checkup that seems annoying at the time but uncovers a terminal or rare condition. Yet not every appointment brings bad news.
But as for you, the anointing (the sacred appointment, the unction) which you received from Him abides [[o]permanently] in you; [so] then you have no need that anyone should instruct you. But just as His anointing teaches you concerning everything and is true and is no falsehood, so you must abide in (live in, never depart from) Him [being [p]rooted in Him, knit to Him], just as [His anointing] has taught you [to do], 1 John 2:27.
In the passage above, one of Jesus’ former disciples refers to a sacred appointment. This unction as John calls it is when an elder or priest anoints someone with oil. Apostles in the book of Acts had a tendency to anoint missionaries or spiritual leaders prior to a special trip. While modern anointings are often associated with healing services, this is something special about this sacred appointment.
And when they had appointed and ordained elders for them in each church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in Whom they had come to believe [being full of joyful trust that He is the Christ, the Messiah], Acts 14:23.
The passage above highlights one of these anointings. According to Luke, prayer and fasting were always part of this sacred appointment. In other similar passages, the laying on of hands was done by church leaders as a form of spiritual protection. One of the secrets to Job’s spiritual strength was the hedge of protection placed around him by the Lord, Job 1:10. If you are fortunate enough to ever be part of one of these ceremonies, may you embrace this spiritual anointing.
by Jay Mankus
ExpressYourself4Him 