Heb.1:8 – THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU
WITH THE OIL OF JOY ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS.
This passage is one of those overlooked and misunderstood passages in the New Testament. This was the whole point of why Jesus came, He didn’t only remove our sin but He also brought us to God. Jesus is our heavenly representative taking His place and our place at the Father’s right hand. In this passage Paul is quoting from the Psalms describing the Lord anointing His Son for His heavenly ministry with the oil of gladness. This anointing was not just for Jesus but this is intended for all who are thirsty. This is the source of the River that flows from the throne of God. This oil of gladness is the anointing for the baptism In the Holy Spirit. Here is how Andrew Murray describes this.
“Therefore, because He loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God anointed Him. When He ascended to heaven, and sat down on the right hand of the throne, He received from the Father anew and in fullest measure, as the Son of Man, the gift of the Holy Ghost to bestow on His people. That Spirit was to Him the oil of joy, the joy that had been set before him, the joy of His crowning day when He saw of the travail of His soul. An anointing above His fellows, for there was none like Him; God gave Him the Spirit without measure. And yet for His fellows, His redeemed, whom, as Head, He had made members of His body. They become partakers of His anointing and His joy. As He said, “The Lord hath anointed Me to give the oil of joy.” Christ, our King, our God, is anointed with the oil of joy, anointed, too, to give the oil of joy: His kingdom is one of everlasting gladness, of joy unspeakable and full of glory.”
The apostles preached often about the ascension of Jesus and His glorification at the right hand of God. There is no coincidence that this preaching is closely associated with the power of God that was present with that first century church. The power flows out from Jesus on the throne of God. This is the power of the Holy Spirit that is literally being poured out on the whole world. Looking to Jesus seated at the right hand of God is critical in order for us to walk in the power of God.
