Fresh Oil: Maintaining Our Lamp to Radiate His Glory- Lesson 2: Holy Spirit Our Oil

In the Bible oil often symbolizes Holy Spirit. Today we will look at oil in relationship to Holy Spirit and his work in our lives.

First, oil as a symbol of God’s presence and faithfulness. 

Exodus 27:20-21, “Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning. In the tent of meeting, outside the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law, Aaron and his sons are to keep the lamps burning before the Lord from evening till morning. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for the generations to come.” (NIV)

Considering that the Menorah represents the eternal light of God, what does the practice of keeping the lampstand lit overnight tell us about the presence of God? The simple answer is, we are never without it. i.

Keeping this in mind, let us look at 1 Samuel 3:1-4, Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. The word of the Lord was rare and precious in those days; there was no frequent or widely spread vision. 

At that time Eli, whose eyesight had dimmed so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. 

The lamp of God had not yet gone out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was lying down. 

When the Lord called, Samuel! And he answered, Here I am. (AMPC)

In the first three verses of 1 Samuel 3, we can see a correlation between what was happening in that moment in the temple and the moral condition of Israel.  The word of the Lord was rare, Eli’s eyesight had dimmed, the Lamp was going out, and Eli and Samuel slept.  At that time, Israel, under the priesthood of Eli and his sons, had turned away from faithfully following and serving the Lord. However, God is faithful to his Word.  He had promised to always be with His people.  

In 2 Corinthians 6:16, Paul says, What agreement [can there be between] a temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in and with and among them and will walk in and with and among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (AMPC)

Here Paul is quoting from Exodus 6:7, And I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to you a God; and you shall know that it is I, the Lord your God, Who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. (AMPC) and Jeremiah 31:33, But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, says the Lord, I will put My law within them, and on their hearts will I write it; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. (AMPC)

Just as the lamp in the temple was kept burning through the night, God had prepared Samuel during a dark season in the history of Israel to keep His lamp burning.  Holy Spirit rested upon Samuel throughout his lifetime, using him to lead the people back to God. 

As He was faithful to Israel, God is faithful to us. When we come to God, through Jesus, He deposits Holy Spirit into our spirits. We know he is with us always, for God promised that he would never leave or forsake us (Deut. 31:6, Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5). 

Second, oil represents Holy Spirit’s anointing/empowering.  

We will look at two different types of anointing: calling and consecration.  

Anointing for Calling (Ministry/Work)

1 Samuel 16:13-14, Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah. 

But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented and troubled him. (AMPC)

After David was anointed with oil, he was filled with Holy Spirit.  David was anointed to fulfill the call of God on his life; to rule as Israel’s King.  At the same time, Holy Spirit left King Saul because he had turned his back on God through rebellion and disobedience and was no longer called to be the King of Israel. God had rejected him as he had rejected God.

Isaiah 61:1, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners. (NASB)

Matthew 3:16, And when Jesus was baptized, He went up at once out of the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he [John] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him. (AMPC)

Acts 10:38, You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. (NASB)

Jesus was anointed by Holy Spirit at his baptism to fulfill his call. Philippians 2:7-8 tells us, Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. (AMPC) Jesus took on the form of a man and ministered as a man while he was on earth.  He was dependent upon Holy Spirit for the anointing to fulfill his call just as we are.  

We are not all called to the five-fold ministry offices (Apostles, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, or Teacher) found in Ephesians 4:11; however, we are all called to be salt and light in our area of influence.  No matter our occupation, situation, or education, we all have people in our lives to whom we can minister. Holy Spirit anoints each one for the area in which we find ourselves.  We must learn to rely on, listen to, and obey Him as we go throughout our day.  As we see in the lives of King David and King Saul, obedience maintains the flow of anointing in our life, however, rebellion and disobedience stop that flow.

Anointing for Consecration (Holiness)

Scripture teaches that we were created for a two-fold purpose; fellowship with God and to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth.  Both facets of our purpose require consecration/holiness.  

Throughout the Bible we see the need for consecration/holiness demonstrated.  In 

Exodus 30:30, we see that Aaron and his sons were sanctified/separated so they could minister to God as priests. 

In Leviticus 11:44a God commands all of Israel, For I am the Lord your God; so consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am holy. (AMPC)

In 1 Peter 2:9 Peter tells us, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (ESV)

Again in 2 Timothy 2:21 we read, So whoever cleanses himself [from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences] will [then himself] be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work. (AMPC)

Holy Spirit anoints/empowers believers to live lives of holiness.  Apart from Him we cannot maintain a holy life.  It is necessary for us to live lives of holiness to be fit to serve our Master and to see the Kingdom of Heaven come to earth.  It is also necessary for us to walk in holiness to maintain our intimate relationship with God.  

Hebrews 12:14, Strive to live in peace with everybody and pursue that consecration and holiness without which no one will [ever] see the Lord. (AMPC)

We know that God will never leave us, however, when we fail to walk in holiness we draw back from our intimacy with Him and open the door for the enemy to speak accusations, doubt, and unbelief into our hearts.  Holiness is the only way to silence the enemy’s voice and maintain our intimacy with God.  

In closing, we have learned that oil is a symbol of God’s presence and faithfulness, as well as representing Holy Spirit’s anointing/empowering. To fulfill our call and to walk in holiness and faithful obedience, we must maintain our dependency upon Holy Spirit’s oil of anointing. 

Work Cited 

i. https://firmisrael.org/learn/what-is-a-menorah-lets-see-both-in-the-bible-and-today/#:~:text=Menorah%20%E2%80%93%20the%20Lamp%20of%20God,27:20%2D21)..