This symbol appears in Exodus xxx. 23-33. The "blood" always stands for Christ and his work, and the "oil" for the work of the Holy Ghost. God calls it the "holy ointment" and "anointing oil."
As a symbol it strikingly sets forth the blessing of sanctification, or holiness. We call attention to some things about it that places its meaning beyond all doubt.
It was made under divine direction. Holiness is no humanly devised affair. It is not the product of a heated brain or the ravings or wild imaginations of a fanatic; it is of the Lord. He, so to speak, compounded and gave us the blessing.
It was very costly. Let the reader glance at the Scripture and see how many shekels it required for the preparation of the holy oil. Then let him recall what it cost to give the Church the blessing of holiness. Think of the life, suffering, groans, tears, bloody sweat, and death of the Son of God. Paul said He suffered without the gate that he might sanctify the people. Truly this blessing at which so many are sneering today cost an infinite price. It was very fragrant. The myrrh, calamus, and cinnamon combined made a most delightful odor. But it was not as fragrant as holiness itself. Think of perfect love, perfect peace, perfect faith, and perfect joy all poured into a purified heart. The fragrance of such a life soon steals through the home, is felt in the Church, distributes itself through the community, and even goes round the world. The spices of Ceylon can be smelled leagues away at sea; but the perfume of a holy life crosses seas and lands, belts the world, and even after hundreds of years is as fragrant as the first day it started forth to bless mankind.
It was never to be placed on a stranger; it was for the Israelite. So sanctification is not for the unconverted, but for the regenerated. This is the blessing Christ came to bring to his people.
It was not put on the flesh. The flesh stands for carnality, and not until the child of God renounces it, and by a mental act dooms it to death, does the oil of holiness fall upon him.
It was put on the blood. In Leviticus xiv. 14-20 a full description is given. Let the reader turn back to the chapter that describes "The Two Anointings" to see it fully explained. Suffice it to say that in the cleansing of a man he was first anointed with blood, and afterward with the holy oil.
The oil was put on the blood; not simultaneously, but subsequently. Here is plainly seen the second blessing. So on the bloodwashed disciples came the anointing of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost. So with the Ephesian disciples and with Cornelius. So has it been since and will ever be. The bloodwashed may look for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The blood; after that, the oil.
It was never to be imitated. Alas that any one should try! But every converted man who insists that regeneration is sanctification, that what he obtained at pardon is what others have obtained in sanctification, such a man is imitating the holy oil. Whenever an unsanctified man thrusts forward
his experience before men, and claims to have what the illumined mind can see he has not, the oil is being imitated. God pronounced death on any one imitating the holy oil of Israel. And judgments descend today from heaven upon those who confuse God's people and call a creation of their own, the defective experience of an untempered heart, the blessing of holiness which God sends upon the consecrated heart in answer to faith.
This holy oil that appears in the passage in Exodus did some things. It made holy. This is the statement of the twenty-ninth verse. In Leviticus the word "clean" is used. Let the reader look well here. It is not until the oil is placed upon the blood, a subsequent work, that the person is said to be clean or holy.
It prepares for service. This was so true that Christ told the disciples to tarry in Jerusalem until they had received it. After it came upon them the whole world knows how these anointed men flew to the work of saving the human race.
It is amazing how devoted and tireless and successful in soul saving a Christian becomes after he has had the oil of holiness poured upon him.
It ends friction. We have no lack of machinery, men, and methods in the Church today. This is not the trouble. The trouble is slowness, creaking, complaining, friction. O for a baptism of the holy oil! How swiftly, easily, and delightfully everything would then run. The writer affirms this not only from the spectacle given us in the book of Acts of the apostolic Church after the baptism of the Holy Ghost had descended, but from what he has beheld for two years in the church of which he was pastor. He has also noticed that there is no religious gathering that runs so easily, powerfully, successfully, and with such utter absence of friction as a holiness meeting. The holy oil is the explanation.
It makes the face to shine. Whenever the holy oil comes upon the heart the countenance is transfigured. When Moses got it he had to put a veil over his face. When the reader obtains the anointing the shadows and darkness of his face will be bound to go, under the drippings of that oil that brightens and glorifies the countenance.
It means healing. The trouble in the Church today is the number of the spiritually sick and wounded. Invalids are seen on every side. We feel the need of wards named according to the ailments of Church members. Let the people obtain the second blessing, or the oil of holiness, and the Church invalids will at once disappear and the wards be uninhabited. The blessing of sanctification heals the heart. Chronic complaints end, all tongue diseases vanish, and fretfulness and fault finding disappear with the plague of inbred sin which sanctification casts out. The man is well and whole and ready for the work and service of God at all times.
It is preparation for death. Christ said about Mary: "She hath anointed me for my burial." When we obtain the blessing of sanctification we are ready for death, burial, and the judgment. Reason tells us that there should be such a grace or blessing. In a world of falling trees, burning vessels, colliding trains, and flying pistol bullets, we need a constant preparation of heart and readiness to end life and see God. God has not overlooked our need nor left unsupplied our want. There is a blessing
subsequent to regeneration typified by the holy oil that when received fits us as never before for life and also keeps us continually ready for death and the coming of the Son of Man. Methodist preachers a hundred years ago had the blessing and were known to be ready to preach a sermon or to die at a moment's warning. A good many of them today require more time in each event. But whoever has the oil, whether he be in the pulpit or pew, is willing at any time to pray, preach, and testify for God, and is ready at an y hour or moment to be summoned into the presence of his Lord.
Would that every reader could say that the "oil" is now on the "blood;" that he has received the anointing of the Holy One!
THE SECOND BLESSING IN SYMBOL By Beverly Carradine
Chapter 11