Then you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and consecrate it and all its furniture, so that it may become holy. (Exodus 40:9)
Physical acts and spiritual realities.
People refer to the symbolism of certain acts. As though it’s not really what’s going on outside that matters, but more about the unseen significance. Yet, I cannot help but wonder if that’s what God is going for. I wonder if God is saying that what is taking place physically is significant as the expression of what’s going on beyond the physical. That is to say, what is happening isn’t just to hint at what’s going on underneath. The goal is to establish a connection between the two. So it’s significant on the surface, and it’s significant for what’s going on in the unseen.
Look at the wedding and the marriage. The amount invested in the ceremony and surrounding activities is not just for the sake of symbolism. That man and that woman have declared to the world that they are now husband and wife. They are making that commitment public even though the power of the connection is what’s going on inside between the two of them in ways that cannot always be tangibly quantified and assessed.
The wedding and marriage are fitting for what God does in a relationship with His people. He doesn’t just give them His law to imprint on their heart so they understand the nature of the new relations; He places His presence with them. He says you belong to me, and I belong to you, and to mark here is my own tent among all your tents. I am among you. I am with you.
He also ensures that the people understand the serious nature of this by physical acts that express spiritual realities. His tent is already distinct from the other tents in its design and framework. What marks out His tent further, however, is that it must express His nature, and His nature is holy. This holiness is a crucial aspect to understand who He is. It is this holiness that makes Him distinct from His creation. It is this characteristic that defines everything else about Him. To understand His holiness is to appreciate why we are right to have reverential awe before Him. To understand His holiness is to come to terms with why He wants to be with us, but we recognise that He is not like us, and so we cannot treat Him as a familiar in the casual and loose sense. To understand His holiness is to engage with the mystery of how He truly cannot be seen face to face because we would be obliterated. To understand His holiness is to be amazed at the grace that even allows us to engage with Him at all. It is marvellous, awesome and dreadful in ways our human comprehension cannot fully fathom, but we can get enough to know that He, as God, is worthy of honour, praise and glory.
Thus, that which is His, likewise, should carry that sense in which it is no ordinary, regular item. That which is His is likewise given aspects of this majestic character of holiness, and this is enacted with the task of anointing. It looks like a weird act to put oil on things, but there is a recognition that in the same way we mark territory and objects, this oil marks out what belongs to God. This oil expresses physically a spiritual reality. It’s not just symbolic in the sense of a ritual that has no physical value, but we get what the “real” meaning is. No. The real meaning is being physically marked, and in that physical marking, there is a declaration of the reality as God sees it. As that is the reality in all dimensions, so there is the acknowledgement that items and people can be distinguished from others because of how God chooses to use them. Just as He is keen to live, so He is keen to ensure steps are taken to make those distinctions between what is His and for Him in contrast to what is considered common.
Made distinct for Him. Marked for His use. Established as exclusively His by that which makes Him unique in all His creation. That has enormous implications for how we treat such items and people. It has significant implications for the purpose and ownership of those items and people.
This preparatory work with its physical acts was not something that was left to what occurred with the Israelites. It indicates what God is doing with those who are married to His Son. The reality of the Holy Spirit poured out on all flesh is not something symbolic – it’s expressed in physical ways. That outpouring makes people distinct for God. This outpouring marks those for His use. The outpouring establishes those that are exclusively His as known through the quality that marks God as unique in all His creation.
Recognising this, acknowledging this, humbly submitting to this has huge implications for how He sees and treats us. It has significant implications for how we see and treat others. It also propels us to why we should be eager to extend this beyond us so that others can be a part of this awe-inspiring work of our Holy Father.
For His Name’s Sake
C. L. J. Dryden
Shalom
Life With CD 