[339]All of those who are thus inducted into the body of Christ receive the anointing through the head of the Christ, Jesus the beloved One.  This is illustrated or pictured by God’s dealings with Israel.  In the type Aaron the high priest was anointed.  “He [Moses] poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head, and anointed him, to sanctify him.”  (Leviticus 8:12) This anointing oil was poured upon Aaron’s head and ran down upon his garment. (Psalm 133:2) Aaron the high priest was a type of the entire Christ, head and body.  As the oil was poured upon his head and ran down to the skirt of his garments, so in antitype, Jesus the head, at the time of his baptism in the Jordan, received the anointing of the holy spirit without measure (Matthew 3:16,17); and at Pentecost his disciples received the anointing of the holy spirit.  And thereafter during the gospel age all who come into Christ receive this anointing through Christ Jesus the head by virtue of being inducted into the body of Christ.

[340]Those who are thus anointed have the spirit of the Lord and by virtue of his spirit are able to understand the mystery of God and to appreciate the fact that they have the promise of being joint-heirs with Christ Jesus in his kingdom.  To be anointed means to be assigned to a place in the body of Christ.  “The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:  and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”—­Romans 8:16,17.

SANCTIFICATION

[341]These new creatures in Christ, otherwise called members of his body, must now be transformed and made into the image and likeness of their Head. (Romans 8:29) They must be sanctified.  Sanctification means to be set apart for the use of Jehovah.  It means the process of making us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.  (Colossians 1:12) It is the process of perfecting the saints. (Ephesians 4:12) This process begins when Jehovah accepts our consecration and begets us; and must continue until birth upon the spirit plane.

[342]Sanctification, then, is to be made holy, in the likeness of our Lord.  Concerning such Jesus said:  “Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth”. (John 17:17) The Christian now must feed upon or study the Word of God, learn its principles, learn of Jehovah’s character and that of the Lord Jesus, and strive to conform his own life thereto.  He now has set before him the hope of being made like the Lord in glory; and “every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure”. (1 John 3:3) This process of sanctification is done by the Lord through his Word.  “Both he who sanctifies and those whom he is sanctifying have all one Father, and for this reason he is not ashamed to speak of them as brethren.” (Hebrews 2:11, Weymouth) Here we see the sanctifier is the Lord Jesus Christ, and those whom he is sanctifying are the members of his body; and all of these have one Father, Jehovah God; therefore all of the one body, constituting the mystery of God.