From
today’s Psalms reading: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of
uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and
hated wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of joy
above Your fellows” (Psalm 45:6,7).
In
Hebrews 1:8,9, it is God the Father (see 1:5). Who speaks these words about
another Person Whom He calls “God.” He identifies Himself as “God, Your God,”
yet says He anoints another One called “God...with the oil of joy.” Who could
this be?
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| Blooming soaptree yucca (New Mexico's State flower) with Cookes Peak in the background. |
“Of
the Son He says...” The writer of Hebrews tells us that God the Father is
saying these words to God the Son. It is the Son the Father calls “God.” It is
the Son Who is “anointed...with the oil of joy” by the Father. Both are called
God. Yet both Old (Deuteronomy 4:35,39; 6:4; Isaiah 45:5,6,21,22; 46:9; Joel
2:27) and New (1 Corinthians 8:4,6; Galatians 3:20; Ephesians 4:6; 1 Timothy
2:5; James 2:19) Testaments affirm that there is only one true God. This is the
most blessed treasure of the Church: the belief in the Scripture’s teaching of
one eternal, true, living God our Creator and Savior Who is three Persons,
blessed Trinity. These three are not three gods, but one God. The Father is not
the Son or the Spirit. The Son is not the Father or the Spirit. The Spirit is not
the Father or the Son. But these three are one.
I
would suggest that the “oil of joy” is God the Holy Spirit. We know that joy is
an aspect of this Person of the Trinity (Romans 14:17; Galatians 5:22,23). We
know that the Son’s anointing as Christ the King by the Father (“begotten”
language is enthronement language – see Psalm 89:27) is marked by the presence
of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16,17). In fact, the verb “anointed” is used of
the Holy Spirit 3 times in the New Testament (Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38; 2
Corinthians 1:21).
Glory
in the Trinity – the Father eternally anointing the righteousness-loving,
iniquity-hating Son as absolute King with the joyful Holy Spirit.
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