“Christ” Is Not a Name • The Anointed Ep. 1

[Music] Today on the podcast we begin a brand New theme study all about the practice Of anointing people with oil sounds a Little obscure but we picked this theme Because it's the title applied the most To Jesus in the New Testament Jesus the Christ meaning Jesus the anointed one It's the Greek word Creo which when you Talk about a person who has been poured Or smeared with oil the title of that Figure is cristas which is the title Christ and that is a Jewish Greek way of Describing an ancient Israelite practice Of pouring oil on certain people and Places and the Hebrew word for that is And what you call someone who's had oil Smeared or poured over them is mashiach From which we get the word messiah in The Hebrew Bible the people Anointed With oil were priests prophets and Kings To be the anointed one means you've had This ritual where you've got the oil Placed on your head and it marks a Person or a place as a portal Between Heaven and Earth and with the Kings the Priests and the prophets you get this Image of a portal of God's rule for the King the portal of God's presence Through the priest the portal for God's Word and purpose through the prophet all Those heavenly realities are brought to Earth so to speak through this one who's Marked by the oil why couldn't priests

Prophets and Kings be Anointed with Water or wine or something else what Makes oil so special well if you've been Listening to the podcast for any amount Of time it won't surprise you that oil Has to do with the Garden of Eden this Is all about the Garden of Eden and the Garden plants and oil becomes a symbol Of the Abundant restorative Heavenly Life of God the infinite inexhaustible Life and power of God in the heavens That can touch down here on Earth Through these representative people who Get the oil port on them the oil because Comes itself the symbol of the liquid Life of God that touches down here on Earth today Tim Mackey and I dive into The theme of the anointed I'm John Collins and you're listening to Bible Project podcast thanks for joining us Here we go Okay hey Tim hey John hello Hey we are starting a new set of Conversations we're on a new theme yes We are yeah this will be a little Shorter than normal we're not going to Be as thorough with this theme in our Conversations yep but we're gonna dive In deep when we want to and the theme is The theme for this series of Conversations is Drumroll everyone actually Knows by the Time they've gotten to this part of it Too because it's like part of the name

Of what you click on but I'm still so Much suspense uh the anointed the Anointed one or anointing the anointed The anointed one the anointing yeah what We are going to meditate on is moments In the biblical story where someone gets Oil poured on their head or when an Object gets oil poured on top of it Yeah it's a very um specific thing to Care about yeah totally yeah yeah yeah Yeah actually maybe we need to take a Few moments and make a case for why this Is a worthy of being categorized as a Biblical theme because over the years What we have tried to do in our theme Videos is let the biblical authors set The agenda so it's good to come to Scripture with our questions and our Felt needs and try and see what you know The biblical authors have to say that Might overlap with that but what we're Trying to do in this project is listen How to hear the biblical authors on Their own terms what they care about in Their time and culture and way you're Telling me that you haven't been in a Situation in your life where you were Trying to put oil on you and you're like You know I gotta figure out am I doing This the way the Bible wants me to do it Yeah well you know what's interesting is Unless you grow up in a church Community That's true some traditions do yeah yeah We're in we're in a synagogue you know

Jewish Community okay various practices So I did grow up my parents followed Jesus and they did they hadn't been Following Jesus very long before I was Born But when I was Six seven years old I got this really Rare virus that attacked my spinal cord Yeah it was like an autoimmune thing Really really rare thing and my little Growing spinal cord started Eating itself like you know my immune System was attacking it and I couldn't Walk for about four or five months wow a Little boy wow and I have just a few Vivid memories of that experience Juan Was going to the doctor and getting a Spinal tap yeah that's gnarly I've had Those oh holy cow wow so that's a vivid Memory another memory I have is after I Don't know a month or two my parents Brought me to church my dad would just Like carry me around and our family was A part of a house church at that time And so I remember everybody coming Around me to pray for me at this one Gathering and somebody had a little bowl Of oil and they like dip their finger in The oil and made the cross on my Forehead and they prayed for me oh And what's really astounding is that my Pediatrician at least as my mom I don't Remember a lot of these details my mom Tells the story the uh the pediatrician

Said it could be like a year If things go well before I'm able to Have full use of my legs again and I Think by Within month four I was able to Start walking again wow and it was maybe A month or so after that prayer meeting And then by month six I was it's like it Never happened wow and the pediatrician Was just astounded by it so anyway so That was your experience with oil that Was my first yeah so I have anointing Actually anointed I haven't thought About that for a really long time oh Yeah but somehow when you just said that I that's an early memory I have and it Involves getting anointed and then Prayed for that the healing power of God Yeah would heal my spinal cord and I had A remarkably rapid healing that Surprised all the doctors involved Not interesting yeah Is anointing with oil also a Catholic Church thing yes I mean it's an ancient Christian thing okay it's mentioned even In the apostolic writings yeah and so It's a practice that has spread into all Branches of the Christian tradition Orthodox Catholic not mind growing Protestant really there wasn't any Prayer once prayer because that's in the New Testament we would pray no prayer But praying for people and anointing Them smearing a little oil on there Never once foreheads really no I

Remember actually I I worked for Um a Christian bookstore when I was a Senior in high school and I think it was The first time I encountered like Anointing oil because they sold it at The Christian book yeah because they Sold little vials of it and I just was Just like what what do you do with this Yeah I wish I could remember Yeah okay So these are modern Reverberations of this practice Right yeah in current Christian practice And in the Christian tradition it has Roots and stories and poems that we're Going to look at in the Hebrew Bible But in the New Testament actually I Think if you follow through This will be the last time that the Actual practice is mentioned it's in the Letter of James that's why I was Surprised that your church didn't do it Because because it's in the Bible if You're a Bible if you're a Bible Church Which for most Protestant means a New Testament Bible Church I don't think They were against it and maybe it Happened without me being aware but I Never encountered it yeah check this out James chapter 5 verse 14. Is anyone among you sick he should call For the Elders of the church they should Pray over him anointing him that means Smearing or wiping him with oil in the

Name of the Lord And the prayer offered in trust will Restore the one who was sick cool Now this is embedded in a paragraph That's a lot more Nuance than how that Sounds just ripping it out of context But my point is this is a practice Rooted in early Christianity of praying Prayer and anointing to ask for the Healing love of God to come and meet his Suffering hurting people that's the Thing and so this practice has different Variations in almost all strands of Christianity that I'm aware of yeah so Anyway that makes sense of why you came Across it in the bookstore Right and it was in direct response to This passage for why my parents had the People in their house church pray for me Mexico police says yeah so we're at the End of the chain here yes why would you Do this besides the fact that the Bible Is telling you this is a thing you do Yeah what does it mean what does it mean Where did the practice come from yep so That's one way into this question and What you find if you go from here in James and start going backwards you'll Find that all the trails lead you back To a particular word for anoint or smear With oil it's the Greek word Creo which When you talk about a person who has Been poured or smeared with oil the Title of that figure is cristas which is

The name Christ versus excuse me the Title Christ And that is a Jewish Greek way of Describing in ancient Israelite practice Of pouring oil on certain people and Places and the Hebrew word for that is And what you call someone who's had oil Smeared or poured over them is mashiach From which we get the word Messiah Okay Yeah yeah so say this back yeah there's A word in Greek well let's start with Hebrew oh okay I was going backwards Yeah you're going backwards okay let's Go backwards yeah so James would have Been using the word to anoint Creo He actually uses a synonym of it alefo But it means the same it means to put a Thick dense oil liquid on someone okay So to put oil on someone there's a word In Greek uh there's actually a couple There's a couple words in Greek one is Creo yeah and then if you are someone Who has had this done to you you're a Christos yeah Christos and that's where We get the word Christ so they're called Jesus the Christ is say Jesus the one Who's been Anointed with oil correct Jesus the anointed one Jesus the Anointed one an anointed one I don't Have a lot of categories for but when You say Messiah that's another very Familiar term yeah and you're saying That in Hebrew the same idea has the

Hebrew word meshiach which we get the Word Messiah yep so to be the anointed One in Hebrews to be the meshiach the Anointed one in Greek is to be the Cristos either way it's the same idea Some idea different vocabulary different Vocabulary yeah the one anointed yep and To be anointed or to be the anointed one Means I'm someone who had oil poured on Me Specifically my head Right but I'm imagining for a very Specific purpose yeah oh yeah it's fully You wouldn't be like loaded with tons of Symbolism yeah which we'll talk about Yeah Would you I mean like if you were like Walking down the street and someone Spilled some oil on you on accident You'd be like oh um [Laughter] That's a good question yeah I think you Probably would probably use the word Poor or spill there okay so Creo and Mashaq these verbs Is referring to a ritual so this is a Sacred ritual okay so which is like what Happened to me you know in that church Gathering or what the oil was being sold For in your Christian bookstore it's for A special ritual it's not just for like I could use it to put on someone's head Or I could use it to like fry up some Mishiaki fries yeah so something like

That yeah it's not that it's specific Oil used for a sacred ritual purpose for Things that are connected to the Presence of God in some way okay I mean It's very general it has way more Specific symbolism that we're gonna Explore So we are going to release a video Exploring this theme in the storyline of The Bible and we've actually already Written the script for that video Yeah In real time that's what we're talking Right now it's in production and so what We're doing now that we've written the Script is kind of taking what we learned And then some of the notes that I put Together and kind of sessioning our way Through them that's the mission So one way to start this conversation is Just to start with the unique and odd Practice once you step back and think of It of pouring oil on each someone's head As something that's like cosmically full Of meaning you know like okay but what's That for another way to get at this Is to notice that the name of Jesus the Name that he's typically known or called By actually has this word anointed one Built into it and it's a title not a Name well exactly exactly so Jesus Christ Jesus the Christ Jesus Christ Well I'm just saying the way people Normally say his name is Jesus Christ

Only when you're cussing what no I Follow Jesus Christ do you say that I Usually say I follow Jesus yeah but Jesus Christ I feel I feel like I only Hear the full thing Okay isn't that wild it's yeah no but is That what you hear when you read the New Testament Oh no First Corinthians chapter 1 verse One Paul called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God do you hear The cuss word no no so when you're Reading it in the Bible it doesn't feel Like the cuss word phrase but you're Just saying in normal speech if you say I follow Jesus if I say I follow Jesus Christ that sounds funnier it does sound A little odd because I'm mostly here I Follow Jesus yeah but when you just say Jesus Christ Oh yeah then yeah it just sounds like a Cup yeah that's a Yeah there's a whole thing to meditate On right there so what's interesting About the phrase Jesus Christ is The way that it sounds in English is as The way that an English or western Culture we structure personal names Which is your given name yeah and then Your family name and usually we don't Include the middle name I call you John Collins yeah and you call me Tim Mackey Actually I call you John all right if I'm talking to someone else about you

I'll clarify John Collins So what's interesting is that I think in Run-of-the-mill American culture and Because this name has become a cuss word Or cuss phrase That it's widely assumed that Christ is Just like Jesus's last name like his Family name right Born to Joseph Christ Joseph Mary Christ had a son Jesus Christ And I think most people after they Follow Jesus a while figure out that That's not the case I don't know when That became particularly clear to me but It was connected with me coming to Understand The fact that Christ was not a name that It's a title so that's just that's the Main point of this whole last 10 minutes Of conversation Christ is not a name It's a title and it's a title connected To an ancient practice yes of pouring Oil on someone yep for a very specific Meaning you got it So what's interesting is here we'll just Sample the way the phrase gets used in The New Testament so let's just turn to The gospel of Mark chapter one Reads the beginning of the good news About Jesus Christ the son of God So it's the Greek words Jesus It's Jesus name in Greek and Christos Jesus Messiah so what's interesting is In the New Testament predominantly when

The phrase Jesus Christ is used the word The is not put in front of Christ Jesus The Christ right it happens occasionally But because of the lack of the word the It's very easy to feel like they're Using it as a family name But you get other instances like later On in Mark where Jesus asks his Disciples like who do people say that I Am and they say ah you someone say John The Baptist or Elijah and Jesus says but Who do you all say that I am and Peter Answers you are the Christ And there in English reflecting the fact That they're in Greek the word the is in Front of it so it's very clearly a title So essentially what I think what we need To do in our minds Is Supply that word the mentally every Time you see the word because it always Retained its Nuance of meaning as a Title not a family name yeah so here's An interesting example in John chapter 1 Jesus is cruising around Galilee and He's starting to recruit his crew his Little discipleship crew and when he Gets to Andrew He goes and finds his brother Simon and Says we have found the Messiah And then John interrupts the story and He whispers in your ear the narrator Speaks in your ear and says translate it Into Greek that means Christos

So what's the word he uses first yeah so When you quote Simon's speech he spells The Hebrew word mashiach with Greek Letters oh so he transliterates he Transliterates mashiach into Greek Letters Messias and then John Whispers The New Year says yeah and that Translated into Greek means Christos So the biblical authors have not Forgotten that this is a title right and I guess that's maybe that's not that big Of a deal to make the point but mentally For me I just started saying Jesus Messiah hmm To because in English it just sounds Like a last name just the way it works Christ does yeah and Messiah doesn't Messiah doesn't right so I've gotten Into the habit of just when I see the Phrase Jesus Christ or Jesus Christos Just say yes Or Jesus Messiah which just begs the Question of well so what does that mean And it reminds you of what it means Yeah what does that mean to be the Messiah What does it mean so first we're going To explore its meaning in multiple steps Of the conversation but maybe let's get At it this way let's do a quick survey Of who or what gets oil poured on them Or it in the storyline of the Bible and It's actually a fairly limited number of People and places and just working

Through that list itself can I think get Us closer let's take an inductive Approach before we dial in or give a Dictionary definition let's just see [Music] If we can begin to track with the Meaning based on who or what gets Anointed so now a little tour of people Who get oil poured on their head in the Storyline of the Bible Foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] You probably know the first one because It's fairly common if you're an average Follower of Jesus you've gone to church Gatherings for a while and heard the Bible thought you probably know of one Main category of people Oh priests oh oh interesting yes yep yes Yes to priests Not very many it's not but it yeah it is Mentioned okay yeah wait the fir the First group of people in the Bible the First group of people in the Bible I Know I did with oil are priests that's Right yeah yeah that's right yeah and But the most numerous group of people Who get oil poured in their head in the Bible would be Kings is Kings yep that's Right and then maybe one time A prophet mm-hmm So let's start with priests since they

Come first okay So in when Moses is up on Mount Sinai in The midst of the lightning storm seeing The Heavenly Temple and getting the Blueprints for the Tabernacle there's a Whole two whole chapters about the Humans and the dress that they're going To have who are going to work in and Around this sacred Tabernacle when it's Finally built on the land down below and By humans you mean the priests the Priests exactly right the people who are Going to work in the Tabernacle and how They're supposed to dress that's part of The vision that Moses is getting outside You got it yep so Exodus chapter 29 is All about the special clothes the shiny Glimmering brilliant colorful clothes That Aaron's going to wear it's Moses Brother and he gets a special like Garment this golden chest piece with all These jewels and shoulder pieces and Tassels and robes and then chapter 29 Verse 6 you will set a turban on his Head and put a holy crown on the turban And you shall take the oil of anointing And you shall pour it out on his head Ooh and anoint him notice the pouring And the anointing are separate steps see Poor And then as you pour there's like a Smearing or a oh uh you're waving your Hand at me yeah I am I'm if I poured oil From my vantage point yeah I'm pouring

Oil on you and then I'm then you're Rubbing it in yeah I'm rubbing I'm kind Of wiping it on your forehead okay yeah That's the idea and then you shall bring His sons and their robes and do the same To them So this is the first figure in the Bible Who gets called that and then when the Ritual actually happens is in Leviticus Chapter 8 when Moses does all of this oh Interestingly he sprinkles the oil on Seven times and anoints the altar we'll Talk about that in a minute and then he Put some of that oil on Aaron's head So he's the first one and after that Point he's called the mashiach Aaron is An anointed one He's called by two titles the priest or The high priest The great priest or the anointed one Okay so that's the priest okay next are Kings and so priests come first in the Storyline of Israel and then it's only Much later in the story Joshua leads Them into the land of Canaan they Establish themselves They are constantly getting defeated by The nation's hostile Nations around them And so God raises up deliverers for them By empowering them with the spirit But it's after many cycles of this that Eventually the people come to their Prophetic leader at the time Samuel and Say listen we we want a king

And so the first king that Israel Chooses is a guy named Saul and what We're told is that Samuel the prophet Actually here we'll just read the story So one day before Saul's arriving the Lord had revealed to Samuel this saying About this time tomorrow I will send you A man from the land of Benjamin and you Shall mashak him to become a hmm leader And numerican standard has prints Whenever I see the word Prince anywhere I just think of medieval princes wearing Those like Poofy sleeve type shirts and with like Feathers and they're You know what I'm saying what's the why Is it translated Prince here uh well It's um It's the word for Chieftain or leader English Standard Version yeah or Wouldn't it be king I mean this is Saul Becoming King yeah yeah and he will okay After he undergoes this but it's the Hebrew word nagid which is a more General title New American Standard Anoint him as ruler that's NIV yeah it's Interesting interesting word Chief Leader But you're right the word Prince very Specifically means son of the king at Least for us in English in English yeah And that's not what this word means in Hebrew that's why it's a bit misleading Yeah okay so that's an aside you kind of

Paused on that word that's right so you Shall anoint him to become a leader Over My People Israel and he will deliver so Here it's God setting aside one out of The many okay and marking them as a Deliverer coronation yeah that's right So Samuel does he gets a flask of oil Out the next day and he pours it on his Head he kissed him and said hasn't Yahweh anointed you to be a ruler over His inheritance so that's Saul After Saul blows his chance at being Israel's leader that's the whole story David is the next king who's anointed And what's interesting about the story Of David is when he gets anointed an Additional thing happens So In first Samuel 16 verse 13 Samuel took The Horn of oil and anointed David in The middle of his brothers Who they thought they were going to get Oil poured on their heads well yeah one Of them Dave is the youngest of all my Brothers yep and when the oil gets Poured on his head the spirit of Yahweh Rushed mightily upon him from that day Onward So that's very significant connection as We're going to see for the meaning of This ritual the connection of oil and Spirit oil and spirit yeah liquid and Spirit Because this liquid is clearly a symbol

Of something And what is it a symbol of and here in The story of David It's associated some Way in the coming down of the oil on his Head is associated with the coming upon Him by the spirit Um The other king who's mentioned who gets Anointed before they become king Officially is a king named jehu he's the King up at the northern tribes we've Never talked about jehu ever I think in The history of the project jehu Jay so These Saul David and jehu get anointed Before they publicly become king There are three kings that get anointed By prophets at their like inaugural Ceremonies not Solomon then two kings From the line of David later on joash And jehoi has in the book of Second Kings And what's interesting is all three of The kings that get anointed before they Become king publicly it's all by Prophets who were specifically Instructed by Yahweh to go do it so it's Like a secret anointing or a little Maybe a private anointing before the Public won which is more of the Coronation exactly okay yeah all right So at least we can put together somehow This anointing is God's way of setting Apart or marking someone and what Priests do is they represent

The presence of God to people and they Represent people to God so they're like Mediating figures between the Divine and The human And kings are also portrayed in a Similar role in the Bible we might think Of Kings just mainly as rulers but in The biblical story they're very much Mediators between God and the people But not in the Sacred Space But more out in the day-to-day Affairs Of Leading the People so God will hold The Kings accountable for what the People do and the people often hold the King accountable for what he's doing in Relationship to God so there's the Commonality we begin to kind of isolate The profile the commonality being that Anointing someone is setting them apart As a leader to Um as a representative of some kind they Represent the people Well in a leadership capacity I guess The king is more of a leader than a Priest is that why you're just a Different kind of a different kind of Leader yeah I mean I guess the high Priest is a leader in the tabernacular Temple so you're right the leader but The reason why their leadership role Matters and is not just like an Operations role is there some Representative uh function they play Because there's other elders and you

Know tribal Chieftains or whatever yeah That's right they're leaders too yeah That's right yeah but the priest and the King Represent all of the people to God in a Unique way yeah represent represent what Do you mean by the word represent Represent Oh I get it no yeah so there's a group Of people yeah that God's Covenant Relationship with in the storyline of The Bible and all of those people stand In a covenant obligation and they've Said yes to the terms of the Covenant These are the laws of the Torah and so On but the primary mediator Representative figure of the people In the life and function of Israel and The story of the Bible there's two key Figures and then a third that we'll talk About in a second and one of them is the King So God will hold the king accountable For what the king allows or doesn't Allow the people to do God will hold the priest accountable as A representative of all of the people Then this is explored in the Torah where They're in Numbers chapter 18 and 19 Where if the people defile the land or Do something terrible or break the terms Of the Covenant God will hold the high Priest accountable and his household That's representative okay there's an

Accountability yeah yeah there's also a Almost like a um a delegation of like Instead of God talking to everyone he Can just go directly to that person and God will address the king or the priest When he wants to address the people so a Representative role So there's a third category of people That's associated with anointing but It's not very common and that's profits So there's actually only one time That a prophet is supposed to be Anointed to Mark the beginning Of his career as a prophet when Elijah Is about to retire though not fully but He's going to appoint a successor God Tells him go find this young guy Elisha And anoint him and it's not clear that He ever did that he does go meet Elisha But it's never said whether he pours oil On his head or not so that's interesting But I just just to complete that list Priests Kings and Prophets and all of These figures are figures who represent Some part of Yahweh to the people Whether the priest is God's presence the King represents God's Authority and Rule And Prophets represent God's purpose and Word they speak the word of God to the People so all of them are in this role To be an anointed one is to be somebody Who brings What is from God in his Heavenly Realm And mediating it to people here on the

Land and then vice versa the an anointed One is somebody who represents the People on the land Before God in this heavenly realm in some way So that's where we're at so far okay Does that feel fairly clear or intuitive It's a bridge yeah a bridge but it's a Person bridging together the Divine and The human and the human Or another way to say that is they are Bridges Between Heaven and Earth or or a Gate a gate Between Heaven and Earth and Where this really began to take on Significance for me or I feel like my Light bulb moment happened a number of Years ago when I paid attention to the Handful of places that get anointed with Oil in the Bible because typically when You think of the anointed one it refers To a person but to really get the Meaning of what anointing means you have To look at these places the first Practice of anointing in the Bible Happens not to a person but to a pile of Rocks Where I actually took one big rock you Know among some other rocks and this is The story of Jacob who was fleeing from His brother and his father in The Book Of Genesis chapter 28. fascinating Fascinating story should we read it oh Yeah [Music]

[Applause] [Music] Thank you Genesis 28 10. and yaakov Sorry my translation I try and spell the Names the way they're pronounced in Hebrew so yaakov Jacob went out from And he went to haran and he encountered The place The place and he stayed the night there Because the sun had gone down and so he Took some stones of the place and he set His head rest and he laid down in that Place it's very clearly like something About the place there's something about This place yeah is that a normal thing He's a stone to sleep on Sounds uncomfortable you know it does But you know in Egypt have you ever seen These ancient Egyptian headrests oh man They're this little pillar and then it's A big cups your head yeah it's a big U-shaped thing and it's exactly sized so That if you're sleeping on your side Your head doesn't go down doesn't go up It's just straight and Yeah I've actually seen some Modern Pillow makers trying to recreate Versions of this because I think it Actually is really good for you this is Not cushion I just feel like you just Need a little cushion there I like the Idea of the structure yeah just add a Little cushion yeah yeah well so there

You go so uh the fact that it's a stone For the head rest is also symbolic Importance for the because the Stone's About to get anointed no yeah yeah You'll see all right so now he's Sleeping his You know State of Consciousness is made More vulnerable to perceiving Other dimensions of reality and so he Has a dream And behold there was a ramp set on the Land sometimes translated ladder Or stairway most accurately a ramp or Stairway but a stair stair ramp you know Some driveways are like this you know Like it has the ramp for the tires oh But in the middle middle of stairs Stairs to walk oh yeah I've seen this That's what I'm supposed to imagine I I Don't know okay yeah sulam it people Debate these things if it's actually a Proper stairway or a ramp but It amounts to the same thing okay Now its head was in the skies the head Of this ramp on the land Was up in the skies Now that's not the first time you've Heard about something with its head up In the skies before you're talking about Genesis 11 the Tower of Babel Tower of Babel lawn Yeah they built The structure and its head was in the Skies I built a city with a tower to

Make a name for themselves with its head In the skies yeah yeah this is the exact Same phrase okay yeah so what the people Of Babylon were striving to build hmm Which was a gateway to Heaven a gateway To heaven and in fact the word Babble or Babylon in the Semitic language in Acadian means the Gate of the Gods oh Yeah Bob eel means gate of the Gods oh Wow in Acadian yeah which is a cousin Language just a medical language cousin Semitic language to yep ancient Hebrew So just tuck that thought away instead Of L yeah that's right it's for God Ill the Gate of the Gods so what Jacob Sees is a ramp going up into the skies Set on the land but its head is up in The skies and look messengers of Elohim God we're going up and going down upon It there's traffic between Heaven and Earth on this ramp And look Yahweh was standing on it and Then Yahweh has this long speech where He says to Jacob repeating the promises That he made to Abraham and then to Isaac his father saying the land that You were lying on I will give it to you And to your descendants and your Descendants will be like the dust of the Land you're going to break out to the West the East the north the South and in You all the families of the ground are Going to find blessing and also in your Seat

Okay that's classic promise to Abraham Okay I am going to go with you I'll keep You wherever you go I'll return you back To this ground I will not abandon you Until I've done what I've spoken to you Bring you back to this spot bring you Back to this ground Yes ground yeah like the other meaning Oh no no no Jacob's fleeing and he's About to leave his homeland the land of His family okay are you still Technically in it yeah he's on the Border he's on the border yeah I see Yeah okay he's running North away from His brother So Jacob woke up from his sleep and he Said surely Yahweh is in this place and I had no clue this place I didn't know It this place And Jacob was afraid and he said how Terrifying is this place this is none Other than the house of Elohim This is the gate Of the Skies He found the secret Temple yes or it Found him it felt him Yeah yeah so the phrase House of Elohim Is bait Elohim he's going to call the Name of this place bait l or Bethel Bethel L is short for Elohim so House of God See he gets up in the morning and he Took that stone that he used for a head Rest and he set it upright now with the

Pillar and he poured olive oil on its Head and he called its name Bethel House of L And formerly the name of the place in The beginning was almond tree Uh or lose And then he makes a vow saying if God Will protect me then I'm come back here And the stone that I have placed as a Pillar it will become the house of Elohim And I will give to God a tenth of Anything he gives to me The story Lose a city yeah apparently he's in Proximity to a city called a walled Enclosure called lose which means almond Tree So everything in the story is about the Place yeah the place it's a place he Doesn't recognize what its true Significance is and it's only when he Falls asleep that he's open to see What's there and what he sees is it's a Portal Between Heaven and Earth and so His response is to pour oil to anoint it With oil so surely this story is Actually foundational for helping us Understand the meaning of the simple This ritual practice yeah what we could Deduce is that to pour oil on An object that's marking a place as I Say this place Is a bridge between Heaven and Earth

Is a connection here between Heaven and Earth it's to anoint it is to signify That place's connection to the Divine Now the place isn't in some way Mediating I mean there's a stairway so Like yeah Angelic beings God himself There's access so in some sense the Place is a mediator of the Divine yeah And and specifically he took a stone From the place he used it as his head Rest then he has a dream about a ramp Being set on the land with its head up In the skies so his head is now on the Ground yeah oh and he's dreaming of a Ramp right there yeah on that rock as His head's on the Rock then the rock Becomes a Stairway leading up the rock Becomes the stairway well he had a dream His head is on this rock yeah yeah you Can imagine that yeah and then in his Head he's all of a sudden seeing a dream There's some connection between the rock His head the ramp and its head got it up In the skies all right and then when he Says I'm going to take the Rock That I use for a head rest and set it up As a pillar Then the thing on which his head rested He turns upright pointing up to the sky And this was very common the Hebrew word Is For pillar and these ritual Stone Pillars were very common in fact there Are many that still exist today from the

Period of ancient Israel okay that you Can go to Israel and goes to the ancient Temples then there'll be these Then it's not even that tall it's maybe Like oh 16 18 inches tall Like a rock and often archaeologists Will find rocks like this tipped over But usually they'll have some sort of Little ritual circle of rocks placed Around them and let's say a wall Collapsed and it got buried and then They dig it up and they're like oh So the rock that becomes the headrest Becomes the ramp with its head in the Skies becomes symbolized by the Rock for The headrest that he turns up right into A pillar The thing that he's anointing is the Stairway is what you're saying you Connect all those areas and he poured Olive oil on its head on the head of the Stairway on the head of the stone which Is the symbol of the stairway yeah yeah His head was in the skies Is there an idea then that The role of a king or a priest And the prophet is for their head to be In the sky Well I think uh it just in this story Things being on the ground or things Being low and things being high yeah Heaven and Earth high and low to be able To mediate Between Heaven and Earth yeah Your feet are on the ground but in some

Way your mind yeah needs to be connected To the Divine yeah so if pouring oil on A place marks it as a portal with its Feet On the ground or in this case his head On the ground but its head up in the sky That becomes this really powerful Narrative image of what is the mashiach What is a person who is Anointed They must in some way play a similar Role to this stone or this ramp That they are a person set aside in Ritual spaces To be portals Between Heaven and Earth And we go back you know think about the King mediates God's Heavenly rule here On Earth that's how humans are presented In page one of Genesis as images of God So God's rules In the heaven above and he installs Earthly rulers on the land below Now we're not told well in the next Conversation we'll go to the Garden of Eden story because I do think there's an Anointing there that if you have eyes to See it It's all over just the word is not used In the garden of Eden's story but humans Are portrayed as the archetypal anointed Ones As the Earthly Representatives Of God's Heavenly rule And Priests are presented in the same Way in the Sacred Space and then

Prophets are a portal for the word of God to come to Earth So it's very connected to the idea of Being the image of God Yeah the image of God is a related idea For talking about someone as a Representation yeah of the Divine yeah Are they like adjacent ideas or are they Like pretty much synonyms well to be the Anointed one means you've had this Ritual where you've got the oil placed On your head and that doesn't happen With Adam and Eve [Music] So it's rad about the story is that it Shows us the meaning of this practice That it marks a person or a place as a Portal Between Heaven and Earth and with The Kings the priests and the prophets You get this image of a portal of God's Rule for the king a portal of God's Presence through the priest a portal for God's word and purpose through the Prophet all those heavenly realities Are brought to Earth so to speak through This one who's marked by the oil in the Same way that this place and this rock Becomes a portal Between Heaven and Earth and that's what this whole story Is about with Jacob So that raises all these other questions About like what is What does that mean To be a portal between him and her yeah

Like what's What does that really mean yeah I don't Know if that's the question that comes To you yeah I mean we've talked a lot About being the image of God And so I guess I'm just assuming it Means that but instead of saying because Well generally when we say you're the Image of God we're talking about Everyone everyone's role representing God oh sure yeah yeah where to be an Anointed one is more of a specific task Of representing everyone's image of god Set Apart yeah like the high priest you Know and the kings are set apart from The many right The question that lingers in my mind Is how is this connected to what James Is telling the church to do oh okay can You experience yeah yeah yeah you know When you were seven and you were sick Yes like yeah that had nothing to do With making you some sort of Representative on behalf of them It was because you were sick yeah and They wanted God's healing that's right So there's got to be some sort of Connection there and I don't fully Appreciate it yeah so where we'll go Next in the next conversation is about The symbolism of oil specifically okay And this oil of anointing and there's a Recipe for it [Laughter]

In the book of Exodus and the recipe Itself has all kinds of important Hyperlinks to the Garden of Eden and This is all about the Garden of Eden Okay and the garden plants and oil Becomes a symbol of the Abundant Restorative Heavenly life of God the Infinite inexhaustible life and power of God in the heavens that can Touchdown here on Earth through These representative people who get the Oil poured on them and So somehow the oil becomes itself the Symbol the liquid life liquid life of God That touches down here on Earth so this Is what we'll explore in the next step To the conversation but just to let the Cat out of the bag notice how oil and Prayer are connected in that passage in James that we looked at and so what is Prayer prayer is asking for the release Of God's Heavenly purpose And power and life here on Earth in Specific people and moments and so it's As if the oil And the prayer for healing or the God's Power for healing Are linked symbols of each other I think it is connected you know those People around me were praying that God's Healing power would Touch down on my spinal cord hmm and Then I was able to walk months before

Any of the doctors thought I would be Able to Just interesting Interesting turn of events yeah Okay we'll we'll probably get to it Later then but there seems to be a step That happens between because it seems Like this ritual of anointing was Specific for leaders and then a few Cases of like places yeah that's right And then at some point yeah the early Christians were like yeah let's let's Actually use this for more than just Appointing leaders yeah and how did that Happen yeah and why and um and it sounds Like the next part though is to talk About the significance of what oil is Yeah okay yep oh yeah dude because Remember what Jesus followers eventually Come to be called in the book of Acts They're called nazarenes First in Jerusalem and followers of the way but Once the followers of Jesus Spread out and make the city of Antioch Their home base this is in the book of Acts they start being called cristianos Anointed ones hmm plural so how is it That this practice of marking just one Out of thousands comes to be Democratized right to refer to everybody In a whole group of people like what's Going on with that yeah so these are the Mysteries that we will ponder as we go On okay

[Music] Well hey this is Dan gummo with the Podcast team and I'm back with another Employee outro and in the studio today Is a friend of mine you want to Introduce yourself yeah my name name's Anna and I live here in Portland Oregon And I work on the global team at bible Project well tell me a little bit about What your day-to-day is yeah so I am the Spanish product manager so everything That we do for Bible project Spanish Espanol I help with that so we kind of Work as a squad right now so there's Someone that's on the marketing team Someone that's on strategic Relationships someone that's on web and My job is to kind of get everyone Together to collaborate and coordinate And make sure we're all on the same page And outside of the biologic English Channels yeah Spanish is the second Largest right yeah we have over 800 000 Subscribers on YouTube wow so that was Exciting you'll be at a million here We're hoping yeah maybe end of the year Really yeah that's kind of the Projections and the 2023 a million on Yeah yeah Wow tell me a little bit about your life Outside of work outside of work I Have a dog okay good I was about to be a Chief if she doesn't mention this dog I'm about to just throw the mic I bring

My dog to work almost every single day Her name's Scout and she's a golden Retriever yeah I like running I run Along the like Portland Bridges a lot Which is really fun did the Scout run With you she does actually yeah yeah She's gotten pretty good she's gotten a Little bit faster you used to have to Like tow her from behind like Not exactly but she used to just get Really distracted I think now she knows Like Hey we're on a run this is what We're doing would you like to read our Outro I would yeah our credits Today's Show came from our podcast team Including producer Cooper Peltz an Associate producer Lindsay Ponder our Lead editor is Dan gummel additional Editors are Tyler Bailey and Frank Garza Tyler Bailey AKA Tyler the Creator also Makes this episode and Hannah Wu did our Annotations for the Bible project app Bible project is a crowdfunded Non-profit everything we make is free Because of your generous support thank You so much for being part of this with Us Foreign [Music]

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