#6 Experiencing the Anointing by Knowing Christ, and the Principle of Antichrist
Brother Michael Stewart shares with us on Experiencing the Anointing by Knowing Christ, and the Principle of Antichrist.
Scripture Reading: 1 John 2:20, 27; 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7
I. In order to experience the anointing, we need to know Christ as the anointed One, as the anointing One, and as the anointing—Matt. 16:16; John 20:31; 2 Cor. 1:21; 1 John 2:20, 27:
A. We need to realize that Christ is related to the anointing—Matt. 16:16; 1 John 2:20:
1. The Christ refers to the Lord Jesus as the One anointed by God—Matt. 16:16; John 20:31.
2. The Greek word for Christ is Christos, and the Greek word for anointing is chrisma.
B. Christ as the anointed One has become the anointing—Matt. 16:16; 1 John 2:20, 27:
1. Because Christ is the anointed One, He has an abundance of ointment with which to anoint us; the anointed One is also the anointing One—John 20:31; 2 Cor. 1:21.
2. When the Lord Jesus entered into resurrection, He became the compounded, all- inclusive, life-giving Spirit:
a. This Spirit is actually Christos, the anointed One, becoming the life- giving One— 1 Cor. 15:45b.
b. When we believed in the Lord Jesus, we received Him into us; the One we received is the anointed One, who through death and resurrection has become the anointing One to anoint us with the Triune God—1 John 2:20, 27.
c. Christ has been anointed with the divine element, and the ointment that is upon Him now flows into us—Psa. 133:2.
d. Because we have been attached by God to Christ, we are spontaneously anointed with Him by God—2 Cor. 1:21.
C. In order to experience the anointing, we need to be kept from having a living that is in the principle of antichrist, the principle of being against Christ and replacing Christ; this is the principle of being “anti-anointing,” which is to be “anti” the moving, working, and saturating of the Triune God within us—1 John 2:20-27.
II. First John 2:18 says that many antichrists have come; the fact that there have been many antichrists implies a principle, the principle of antichrist:
A. First John 2:22 speaks of denying that Jesus is the Christ and also of denying the Father and the Son; here we see that the principle of antichrist is to deny what Christ is:
1. What makes a person an antichrist in principle is that he denies an aspect of what Christ is.
2. To deny that Christ is the eternal Father (Isa. 9:6) or that He is the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b) is to be anti these aspects of Christ’s person; to make such a denial is to follow the principle of antichrist.
B. The Greek prefix anti has two meanings—1 John 4:3; 2 John 7:
1. First, it means “against”; second, it means “in place of” or “instead of.”
2. To be an antichrist is to be against Christ and to have something instead of Christ, something that replaces Christ.
3. The principle of antichrist is first to deny something of what Christ is and then to replace Christ with something else.
III. The anointing is the moving and working of the indwelling compound Spirit to apply all the ingredients of the processed Triune God and His activities into our inner being so that we may be fully mingled with Him for His corporate expression— vv. 1 John 2:20, 27; cf. Eph. 4:4-6.