Unction

 “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.”-1 John 2:20

The word unction in the English language, in the formal sense, means the act of anointing.  Before Jesus, the unction, the anointing presence of God, was not something that would be considered abiding.  Today, because of Jesus, we can have an abiding unction from the Holy One.  The unction from God is an abiding presence that can be obtained and sustained, as long as we keep our faith in Christ.

In the book of the Exodus, God instructed Moses on how to prepare Aaron and the sons of Aaron for their priestly duties.  Proper dress, rites and rituals were required.  Among those, the anointing oil to be poured upon the head of the sons of Aaron.  This oil brought separation and distinction to the office of the priest; sanctifying them to the service of God while simultaneously segregating them from the rest of the world.  The priest existed as a medium between God and man, ministering to the people the absolution and restitution that the law could bring.  This was the way to God, until Jesus.  When Jesus came, he never wore an ephod or a miter, a girdle or breastplate, the holy oil never ran down his head.  He wasn’t even a son of Aaron, and yet he was the great High Priest forevermore!  He was the perfect instrument, the Holy One, to bring complete redemption and justification back to you and me.  Under the law, there had to be a temple, and Jesus was the temple.  There had to be a sacrifice, and he was the sacrifice.  There had to be a priest, and he was the priest.  Jesus was the fulfilment of all things, and the only one that could bring in the everlasting unction.  Jesus paid the price on the cross, he rose from the grave, and ascended to heaven, to dispense the Holy Ghost to one hundred and twenty waiting in a forgiven state in that upper room.  Fast forward about sixty years later, John is writing to believers who are being attacked by doctrines contrary to Jesus Christ, and he tells them “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and know all things.”  Does this mean that they were omnipotent?  Of course not.  In the next few verses he tells them that the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you…teacheth you all things.  What the Apostle is telling these believers is the same thing that he is telling us in our day and generation.  That when you get the Holy Ghost abiding on the inside, the unction, the anointing of the Spirit; you have access to all the things of God and all the truth of God!  Within that access is the fundamental truth that persists from the first priesthood, down to every sanctified person that lives today, which is righteousness.  When you have the Holy Ghost on the inside, you have righteousness on the inside.  Therefore, you will not have sin; because righteousness within creates righteousness without.  The unction will keep you from sin, as long as you keep the unction.  The unction will keep you in the path of righteousness, as long as you seek the unction and heed the unction.

The Holy Ghost is the office worker of the Trinity.  The Holy Ghost is the sanctifier, the adoption, the educator, the exalter, the anointing, and the unction.  It will change you, abide in you, and guide you.  We need the Holy Ghost in our hearts and in our lives.  You can be forgiven, you can be converted, but unless you have the Holy Ghost dwelling on the inside, you will revert to your natural state and fall back into sin.  If, the Holy Ghost abides in us and we abide in him; then we are of a new nature, we are born of God, and “whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” (1 John 3:9)