Touch Not Mine Anointed — Jacob Prasch

Hello, dear friends, this is Jacob Plath coming to you. Greetings in Jesus. Turn with me, please, to the Book of Acts, Chapter 2. The Book of Acts, Chapter 2. Today, much is bantered about on the subject of the anointing.

The Biblical Meaning of Anointing

The anointing. Many people use the term, this one has an anointing, that one's anointed, don't lose your anointing, touch not my anointed, do you have the anointing, go get the anointing. What does the Bible say about this subject, this important subject of the anointing?

Let's read the Book of Acts, Chapter 2, Peter's Kerygma on the day of Pentecost. In verse 33, we read the following. Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, harocha kodesh, he is put forth this which you both see and hear.

For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my hand until I make thine enemies a footstool for thy feet. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for sure that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, or Christ, this Yeshua, or Jesus, whom you crucified.

The anointed one is Jesus. The ancient Hebrews anointed three kinds of people. They anointed high priests, kings, and prophets. There were many anointed ones. Many people carried an anointing. However, only the Messiah could be all three.

When Israel had kings, although there were certain kings who, in their own right, prophesied, like King David and also King Solomon, the prophets were generally a separate office who came as God's messengers to the kings, the way Isaiah was to King Hezekiah.

Secondly, we have the high priest. The high priest needed to be descendant of Aaron. A king could not be a priest. Later, in what we call the intertestamental period, there was a king of the Hasmoneans who was a priest.

His name was John Hadachanus, but this was not scriptural. A king had to be a descendant of King David, but a priest had to be a descendant of Aaron. A king could not be a priest, nor could a priest be a king.

When King Uzziah tried to function as a priest and burn incense in the temple, the Lord smote him with leprosy as a judgment. Kings, however, were also anointed. They were descendants of David. Now, the Messiah was to be a high priest, albeit not of the order of Aaron, but rather of the order of Melchizedek, Melchizedek, the King of Righteousness.

But the Old Testament Levitical priesthood and the Aaronic high priest was a type or a foreshadow of the Lord Jesus we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews. But then, of course, the kings were God's anointed.

Jesus as Prophet, King, and High Priest

So, the Hebrews anointed prophets, high priests, and kings. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, however, we read something very interesting. You see, Moses said that the Messiah would have to be a prophet like Moses.

In the introduction to the Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 1, verse 1, we read that Thus, Jesus is our ultimate prophet, the prophet like Moses that Deuteronomy 18 predicts. He is also the king, the Davidic king, according to Acts chapter 2, as we just read, from Peter's Kerygma on the day of Pentecost.

But Jesus, as it says in Hebrews, is also our high priest. Only the Messiah could fill all three roles. Remember when Jesus was suffering on the cross for our sin? He took our sin. Now, the cross was typified, or foreshadowed, by the author in the Old Testament, which in Hebrew we call Amesha-Beach.

So, when Jesus was dying on the cross for our sin, it was the high priest offering a sin sacrifice on the altar, as Jesus died on the cross. The cross-collar falling to the altar, Jesus being the priest.

Yet Pilate hung a sign on the cross saying, Jesus Christ, King of the Jews. Only the Messiah could be king and priest. He is the anointed one. He is the anointed. There are many anointed ones, many kings, many prophets, many priests, but he is the Messiah.

That is what Messiah means, the one who is anointed. In Hebrew, Hamashiach. Now, let's understand this even further. On the day of Pentecost, on whom was God's spirit outpoured? Some people think it was outpoured on the church.

But Acts chapter 2, as we just read, tells us it was not. It was poured out on the Lord Jesus. He is the anointed one. The church is His body. God has made Him Messiah. God has made Him the anointed one, Hamashiach.

Psalm 133 and the Anointing of Christ’s Body

To understand this, we have to turn to Psalm 133 to realize what Peter is talking about, the Jewish idea of anointing. In Psalm 133, it begins by talking about unity. And it's a popular Hebrew chorus.

Behold how pleasant it is, and how good it is when brothers dwell together in unity. But then it continues, it is like the precious oil coming down the head, coming down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, coming down upon the edge of his robe.

The oil was poured out on the head of the high priest. The high priest, we're told in Hebrew, is being a picture of Jesus. Now, Jesus is the head of the body. When it says in John's Epistle, you have an anointing, that is the anointing we get from being a member of Jesus' body.

We are under His head. The oil is poured on the head. Notice the oil goes off the head, down the beard, and over and down the robes to His feet. It never touches the flesh. That is why there are some people who can do miracles, who can do signs and wonders and practice spiritual gifts.

It doesn't necessarily say anything about them or their lives. It only says something about Jesus. The oil does not touch the flesh. It's nothing to do with us. It's God's office, God's commissioning, God's anointing.

That's why Jesus said you'd know them by their fruit, not by their gifts. Lord, Lord, we not do miracles in Your name, signs and wonders in Your name, as Jesus said in Matthew 7, 22? Yes, you did. Now, get lost.

I never knew you. Miracles, signs, wonders prove nothing about anyone or anyone's anointing. They only prove about the Anointed One, the Lord Jesus. Never about a man. Today, when you see these unfortunate people who will follow these money-oriented television preachers who are always talking about money and putting on a show and blowing on people and waving their coats and, by the way, I myself am a Pentecostal, when you see people doing this and when you criticize it and say it's not biblical and it's financial manipulation, they respond by saying, touch not my anointing.

Believing that the signs, wonders, gifts have something to do with these people proving that God's anointed. But Matthew 7 says otherwise. Those gifts prove nothing about anyone anointing, only that Jesus is the Anointed One.

Jewish Midrash and the Members of Christ’s Body

Psalm 133 talks about unity and then the oil coming off the head covering the body. We are the body, but Jesus is the head. To understand this, we have to look at Jewish Midrash. We are the members of the body, we're told in 1 Corinthians.

For instance, how lovely on the mountain are the feet of him who brings good news. And in Ephesians 6, Therefore, poor life, shod your feet with the shoes of the gospel of peace. Who are the feet? The feet and the body are evangelists.

They're under the head, but they're the ones who bring the good news. The eye is the lamp of the body. If the eye is sound, the body will be sound also. But thy word, in Psalm 119, thy word is a light to my path and a lamp unto my feet.

If the eye is sound, the body will be sound, but thy word is a light and a lamp. Who are the eyes of the body? The eyes are teachers. If the eye is sound, the body will be sound. If a congregation has right doctrine and right teaching, it will be healthy.

If it has false doctrine and false teaching, it will not be. You can be a very good eye or a very good foot, but a foot is no good unless it's attached to a leg and an eye is no good unless it's in a head.

Any member, any organ of the body, to be effective, must be attached to the body and under the head. Be very careful of people who are free agents, who are not accountable, who are not members of local congregations, but are running around having words, giving pictures, doing exactly what they like.

Those people are not attached to the body and they're certainly not under the head, which is Christ. The oil is poured out on the head. For us to have an anointing, we must be attached to the body and under His head when we understand the Judaic background of anointing.

“Touch Not My Anointed” and the Abuse of the Saying

But there's more to it than this. Once again, it's always the same story. Touch not my anointing. Yes, but these television preachers are only into money and they're behaving in ways that are unspeakable.

They practice fetishism and gimmickry and con artistry always to manipulate people. They pervert the Bible out of context. They twist scriptures the way Satan did in Matthew chapter 4. And when you say this, touch not my anointing.

Again, falsely believing the gifts prove the anointing. Well, if we've looked at the anointed one of Jesus, the only way we can get an anointing is being under His headship. The oil does not touch the flesh.

David, Saul, and the Meaning of 1 Samuel 24

But let's look at where this story comes from. Touch not my anointing. It comes from 1 Samuel chapter 24, verse 10. The story, of course, is the one of the cave of Ein Gedi where King David is hiding from King Saul who was out to murder him.

Now, King Saul, of course, was indeed, quite legitimately, God's anointed. And therefore, King David would not and could not within the womb of the Lord touch him despite the fact that Saul was corrupt.

Would David touch him? No. In verse 10, King David says, I will not touch the Lord's anointed. And this is commemorated, of course, in the Psalms. Touch not my anointed. No, Saul, despite the fact that he was corrupt and a backslider and a murderer, David would not touch him.

But did that ever stop King David from telling the truth about King Saul? That he was a murderer? That he was a backslider? That he was demon-possessed? Not only did David tell the truth about Saul, but Samuel wrote the truth about Saul.

If anyone is silly enough to think touch not my anointed means you do not stand up against corrupt leaders who are perverting the word of God, who are misleading God's people, and name them and say what they are doing.

If anyone is silly enough to think that's what touch not my anointed means, well then, King David and the prophet Samuel both touched God's anointed. I wish those poor people who would read that verse and always quote it would try reading it in context.

King David must have touched God's anointed if it means what they think it means, but it doesn't mean what they think it means. It does not mean you don't tell the truth about heresy and corruption and wickedness.

David said exactly what Saul was and so did Samuel. As a matter of fact, every king of Israel and most of the kings of Judah were backsliders. First Chronicles, Second Chronicles, First Kings, Second Kings all give detailed accounts of these anointed kings and of their sin and the way they misled the people.

Yes, First Kings, Second Kings, First and Second Chronicles point to God's anointed and show how they misled His people into the way of rebellion, even wickedness. High priests were God's anointed, but let's look at Ezekiel.

Ezekiel warned about Peltiach, Benazur, and Jairus, the high priest. He named the high priest who were also God's anointed and said they were wicked men. Let's look at false prophets. Jeremiah 28. Jeremiah says, Watch out for Hananiah, the false prophet.

Jesus and the Apostles Naming Corrupt Leaders

He predicts things that don't happen. He's a false prophet and he publicly names him and warns people against him as Ezekiel warns against the high priest. When we get to the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all four Gospels seem to touch God's anointed.

Along the lines people think touching God's anointed means... Let's look at it. It names Ananias, it names Caiaphas, it names the high priest. It says they were wicked men. Yet they were God's anointed.

Herod was the king, but Jesus called him a fox. Go tell that fox. Did Jesus touch God's anointed? What about the Epistles? John names Diocese. Look out for that leader. He wants to be first among them.

Paul says, look out for Philetus. Look out for Alexander the copper smith. Watch out for Hymenaeus. They're teaching error to lead you into deception. Paul stood up publicly and named the names rather than say the church misled.

No, these people didn't touch God's anointed. They simply stood up against corruption and heresy. Yet today when we stand against corruption and heresy, we're told by ignorant Christians we're touching God's anointed.

These corrupt men need to be named and withstood the way that Jesus, the apostles, and prophets withstood such people as this. If anyone is silly enough, foolish enough, carnal enough to think that touch not my anointed means we don't stand against corrupt leaders and their heresy because we're looking at the show they put on, well you better tear first and second kings out of the Bible because they're touch of God's anointed.

Then tear first and second chronicles out of the Bible because also touch of God's anointed. Tear out the prophets. Tear out Jeremiah. Touch of God's anointed. He names Hananiah. Tear out Ezekiel. He names the names of the high priests.

Turn to the gospels. Herod, go tell that fox. Caiaphas, Ananias. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Jesus. They're touching God's anointed. Quick, rip the gospels out of the Bible. Get rid of Paul's epistles.

Get rid of John's epistles. It touches God's anointed. They name the names of the leaders. If anybody is silly enough and ignorant enough to believe touch not my anointed means we can't stand against corruption and heresy.

Just throw the Bible away and go write your own. You know, if the apostles had this attitude, Satan would have destroyed the early church. If Israel's prophets had this attitude, Satan would have seduced Israel and Jesus never could have been born.

If the reformers followed their mistakes to that attitude, there would have been no reformation. There never would have been any kind of return to even a semblance of biblical Christianity. If the pre-Nicene church fathers, the patristic writers, like Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, believed such nonsense, Satan would have destroyed the church in the second and third centuries.

Fortunately, that is not what touch not my anointed means. You know, there's even more to it than this. Anointing has very little to do with anything other than the commissioning God gives someone. In biblical typology, different liquids represent the Holy Spirit in different aspects of His nature and His person.

Anointing as the Crucified Life

For instance, the new wine in Isaiah 24 -7 is the Holy Spirit in worship. What we call in Hebrew, Mayim Hayim, or living water, is the Holy Spirit outpoured. But the oil, or the sherman, is the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Let's look at the signs of anointing. Did Jesus do miracles? Yes. Did He do signs and wonders? Yes. But what was His anointing? You see, before Jesus was anointed on the day of Pentecost, before the Spirit was poured out upon Him, He was anointed for something else.

In John 12 -7, Jesus says He was anointed for burial. Before the Lord Jesus was anointed for power or dominion or victory, He was anointed for burial. And He said, a servant is not above his master. The Son of Man had no place to lay His head.

Five-star hotels, chauffeured limousines, expensive suits, these things don't prove someone's anointing. It's a crucified life. So it was with St. Paul in 2 Corinthians. His apostleship was being challenged by false apostles.

And indeed, St. Paul also had the signs of a true apostle as evidence of his apostleship. He spoke about this in chapter 12, verse 12. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance by signs, wonders, and miracles.

What we call in Hebrew nesim, beniflaot. However, before St. Paul talked about those things, before he talked about signs and wonders as the proof of his apostleship, he spoke of his anointing as an apostle in chapter 11.

And this is what he says. Verse 23. I suffered far more imprisonments and went through far more labors, beaten many times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Judeans 39 lashes.

Three times I was beaten with rods once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I spent in the deep. I've been on frequent journeys in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from countrymen, dangers from Gentiles, dangers from the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren.

I have been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, is the daily pressure upon me of concern for all the churches.

Paul, too, was anointed for burial before he was anointed for anything else. The truth of anointing, the anointing someone has as a crucified life, co-death with Christ, people who are willing not to love their lives in this world for the sake of the Lord, for the sake of others, and for the sake of His gospel.

It's not a Mercedes limousine. It's not a Rolls Royce. It's not a big ring. It's anointed for burial. But there's one final aspect of anointing that people are misunderstanding today. Remember, anointing is oil.

The Anointing Is Holy and Not Transferable

Let's look at Exodus 30. Your anointing is holy to you. In Hebrew we say, mei kudesh lecha, to a male, mei kudeshet lak, to a female. Holy, meaning set apart by God unto you. Your anointing is your anointing.

It's not transferable. It's something God has given to you. My anointing is my anointing. I can't transfer it if I try to make it in the same measure to give to another. It's an abomination. Think of Elijah and Elisha.

When Elijah was about to be raptured and the chalice of God came down, Elisha asked for a double portion of his spirit. Elijah said, I can't give that to you. You wait here on the plain of Jericho. When I'm taken up at the mantle fall, that's God giving it to you.

It's not mine to give. Only God can give an anointing. It's an abomination to try to transfer an anointing. But what do you see people doing today? They're going to Toronto. They're going to Pensacola, Florida in America to get the anointing.

They're getting people to lay hands on them. Do you have it? If you don't have it, get someone who has it to lay his hands on you and transfer it to you. You can't transfer an anointing. It is nekodesh lecha, holy unto you.

It's an abomination to try to transfer your anointing. Only God can give it. The oil does not touch the flesh. More than that, look at this passage again more carefully. The oil is the spirit himself.

The Holy Spirit as a Person

It's not an it. The Holy Spirit is a person. The Jehovah's Witnesses may disagree, others may disagree, but the Bible speaks of the Holy Spirit as a person of the triunity of the Godhead. He's a person.

And they're saying, do you have it? Go get it, the anointing. Get it. My pastor went to Toronto to get it and he brought it back to us and he gave it to me. I didn't have it, but someone who went to Pensacola to get it put his hands on me and gave it to me.

The Holy Spirit is not an it. He's a he. I don't want it. I want him. They are denigrating God's spirit by referring to him as an it. The whole thing is crazy. Touch not my anointed. That first and foremost we mean Jesus.

And it certainly does not mean we cannot stand up to leaders who lead us astray no matter how many signs and wonders they do or we may think they do. Many of these signs and wonders are bogus and not even real and so are the healings false.

Final Exhortation on the True Anointing

Now I believe in true healings and true signs and wonders but today much of what you see is simply fanfare, hype and deception. The anointed one is Jesus. And he was anointed for burial before he was anointed for dominion.

You cannot stand for your anointing. I cannot stand for my anointing. It is holy unto us. The Lord give it and the Lord only can take it away. Only God. Only God can take it and put it on somebody else.

He doesn't do these things the way people think. It's not transferable. It's yours and yours alone. Dear friends, so much is being said about anointing today and the people who talk the most about anointing seem to understand at least.

Read the word of God for yourselves. We all have an anointing and that anointing comes from being attached to the body and under the head. This is Jacob Plask. God bless you and thank you. Bye.