Cornerstone Curriculum, Official Certification Edition

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Oil as an image of the Holy Spirit, took on an even more important symbolic role because of the biblical practice of anointing. Prophets (1 Kings 19.16), priests (Exod. 28.41), and kings (2 Sam. 2.4; 1 Kings 1.34) were anointed with oil to set them apart for ministry. This pouring on of oil was a symbol which showed visibly that the person was having the Holy Spirit poured out on them. The anointing with oil shows that God had chosen and equipped a person to minister life, health, security, and abundance to his people. In the Old Testament Scriptures this special anointing (empowerment) of the Holy Spirit was usually limited to those who served as prophets, priests, or kings. In the New Testament, every believer in Christ, receives an anointing of the Spirit to be a minster of life to others. (1) 1 Sam. 16.13a (cf. Isa. 61.1) (2) Luke 4.18 (3) 2 Cor. 1.21-22 (4) 1 John 2.20, 27 (compare with John 14.26) c. Fire – the protection (purification) of life. The ancient world did not have microbe killing medicines. The primary agent for cleansing and purification was fire. Garbage was burned to keep it from becoming a breeding ground for disease (Lev. 8.17). When disease had broken out, burning the infected person’s clothes was often the only way to stop the disease from spreading (Lev. 13.47-59). Fire also refined metals and made them pure and useful (Mal. 3.2-3). Throughout the Scriptures God uses the symbol of fire to speak about the purification of his people. The prophet Isaiah, for example, speaks about a day “when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning” (Isa. 4.4). (1) Matt. 3.11-12 (2) Acts 2.3-4 (3) 1 Thess. 5.19

Ibid . p. 19.

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T heology and E th i c s