“But as for the incense which you shall make, you shall not make any for yourselves, according to its composition” (Ex. 30:37a).
God gave strict instructions concerning the use of the anointing oil and incense. The Israelites were not allowed to make any other oil or incense of the same composition, and they were not to pour the special oil on anyone except the priests. Henry says this is typological and indicates that only the children of God, those in Christ, are “anointed” and have the Spirit of the Lord: “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Rom. 8:9–10). The Spirit of Christ dwells in all those who have been made alive by Christ, all those called the sons of God: “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father’ ” (Gal. 4:6).
Only those who have been chosen by God and regenerated unto newness of life can call God “Father.” This is because only those who have been made new by God have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them. Unbelievers do not have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in their hearts. Hypocrites and formalists cannot claim to be sons of God because they do not live by the Spirit. They make false imitations of the Spirit’s work through ritualism and human inventions designed to imitate the ministry of Christ. But these are only false shows, and by them hypocrites prove that they have not been anointed by the Spirit, but that they remain dead in their sins.
The fruit of the Spirit cannot grow on a dead tree. If the root of the tree is not made alive, then it cannot bear fruit. We cannot make the mistake of confusing natural temperaments with the fruit of the Spirit. A person might be soft-spoken, patient and kind, but unless these come from a living faith, they are not fruit of the Spirit. Only those who believe in Christ can bear spiritual fruit, for barren soil cannot bear life.
Another error that must be avoided is the notion that a believer in Christ might not have the Spirit of Christ. Every person who has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is indwelt by His Spirit. There are no second-class believers in the kingdom of Christ, for all believers, as New Testament priests, are anointed by the Spirit.
Read Romans 8:1–17. What does it mean to walk according to the flesh (Gal. 5:19–21)? What does it mean to walk according to the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–26)? What confidence do you have as a child indwelt by the Spirit of Christ (Rom 8:12–17)? Using Galatians 5:22–26, what fruit do you need to cultivate? Pray that God will help you bear much fruit.
