GOD LOVES OLIVE OIL
By Father Harold Hammond

There is one thing of earth that God really loves-olive oil.
He talks about olives and olive oil all through the Bible.

In Jesus' time, olive oil was used for cooking, for fuel for lamps to provide light, for healing and for anointing prophets, priests and kings.

Jesus talks about olive oil in Luke 4:18 when he says,
"The Spirit of Yahweh the Sovereign God is upon me, for he has anointed me." This means that "God Himself has poured oil on me." That's what "anointing" means.

Jesus Christ means, Jesus, the Anointed One.

Here Jesus is reading from the prophet Isaiah who talks about oil quite a lot. (Isaiah 61).

Oil was also used for rubbing into the skin to give it a shine and anointing the head to make the hair shine.
This beauty from oil was used to anoint those objects consecrated to God's service in the temple.

Prophets, priests and kings were anointed with oil because they were separated, consecrated, made holy to the service of God.

The use of oil in Jewish worship services was so important that it became an offense leading to excommunication to use holy oil (sacred oil) for common purposes..

The anointing with oil, such as that of a King, meant the person who had received it was to be obeyed.

The prophet spoke to the people from God.
The priest represented the people before God.
The King established God's law.

Oil was seen as a gift from God, and so was associated with God's outpouring of the Spirit.
Therefore Jesus said the Spirit of God was upon him because the Lord has anointed him, poured over him the oil of the Spirit.

A person was consecrated to God by anointing because oil was from God. And also because oil on the skin and hair made persons look beautiful, as the face of Moses was radiant when he came down from the mountain covered with the Holy Spirit.

The word for pouring oil over a person is MASEIAH, or Messiah.

I have heard that the olive tree never dies. It will live on and on and on. The only way you can kill it is to rip the roots out of the ground and burn them.

We know for sure that our spirit is like that of the olive tree. As our spiritual roots go deeper and deeper into God's love, we grow stronger and closer to our beloved Lord Jesus, the anointed one.

Blessing in Jesus,
Father Hammond

Please check out our pages with articles for men and women. Powerful and
well written.
http://fairfaxshepherdsheart.com//WomensMinistry.html
and http://fairfaxshepherdsheart.com//Men.html

Visit my church's website at (www.shepherdsheartcec.org). Previous messages may be read here under Saints Alive (archive). I would also love to hear from you as to how Saints Alive touches your heart. Write a note to me at (dhammond2@cox.rr.com).

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