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Two Anointings for Everyone
God has promised that every Christian can and should have two anointings.
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Two Anointings for Everyone

Many Christians have a couple of erroneous ideas about anointing. The first misconception is that only special people are anointed. The second is that the anointing comes and goes on a person. These two thoughts might be summed up in sentences such as, “Gee, our pastor was really anointed today.” The idea is that the anointing is only for certain people and specific times; and that—on other occasions—the pastor was less anointed.

Whether we mean to believe this way or not is irrelevant. The fact is that in some ways, our basic understanding of anointing is skewed, especially when we try to convey it in a New Testament sense. That is mainly due to the fact that we hear very few sermons dealing with the issue of anointing. After all, the Church has erroneously reserved it for the few.

Anointing can be understood as the power and authority of God bestowed on a person to accomplish the will and purposes of God. God is the one that calls a person to do a certain thing—then empowers them to do it. A calling, without an anointing, accomplishes little. That is a significant problem in the Church today. Many people, called to the ministry, attempt to do that ministry in their own power. When a person is anointed, he or she can do things that they could not do in their own power, strength, or intelligence. This is one reason we are seeing such burnout in the ministry these days—there is a lack of anointing.

Consider Moses at the burning bush. The bush burned, but we are specifically told it was not burned up (consumed). The anointing on the bush did not destroy the bush.

In this essay, we want to look at the true New Testament anointing. We often see the anointing symbolized by the pouring or rubbing of oil. Of course, we understand this to represent the unseen application of the Holy Spirit. Oil almost always represents the Holy Spirit in the Bible.

But what is important, the symbol or the reality? The reality, of course!

In the New Testament Church, we are often content to go through the outward ritual of “anointing with oil” but fail to realize the true anointing that has come to abide with the Church and individual believers. We tend to view the anointing only in terms of a specific result, such as a great sermon or an answered prayer. The Holy Spirit, however, does not come and go in the life of the believer. He abides! The apostle John tells us, “The anointing that you have received of him abides in you” (I John 2:27).

One thing is sure, though, there was always a definitive act of anointing. The anointing is a line of demarcation that marked the past from the present and the future. With a vial or horn of oil, a man was “anointed” to a calling. He did not cease to be anointed just because he failed to walk in it at all times.

With these thoughts in mind, I want to look at two specific anointings revealed in the New Testament.

“Then the same day at evening, being the first of the sabbaths, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, Peace to you! And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Then Jesus said to them again, Peace to you. As My Father has sent Me, even so I send you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.” John 20:19 – 22 MJKV

“Truly, O Theophilus, I made the first report as to all things that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day He was taken up, having given directions to the apostles whom He chose, through the Holy Spirit; to whom He also presented Himself living after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them through forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And having met with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to await the promise of the Father which you heard from Me. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Then, indeed, these coming together, they asked Him, saying, Lord, do You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And He said to them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power, the Holy Spirit coming upon you. And you shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the end of the earth. And saying these things, as they watched, He was taken up. And a cloud received Him out of their sight.” Acts 1:1-9 MJKV

(Emphasis mine in both passages.)

Setting the Stage for Two Anointings

The events mentioned in these two passages of scripture take place forty days apart. John chapter 20 takes place in the upper room on the night of the resurrection. The events in Acts 1 take place forty days later on the Day Jesus is taken up into heaven, “being seen of them forty days,” according to verse 3.

The events in Acts chapter 2 occur ten days later, “When the day of Pentecost had fully come.” Thus, we have a complete fifty-day setting for these events.

That is especially important. It is precisely this forty-day period (and then ten more days) that helps us to understand two crucial things about the anointing of God in our lives.

In John chapter 20 Jesus has risen from the dead on the first day of the week. Not yet having ascended to the Father and presented his own blood in the heavenly Holy of Holies (Hebrews 9:12), He tells Mary not to touch Him. As the true High Priest, he cannot be defiled before performing the all-important task of obtaining eternal redemption.

Later that evening, having visited the heavenly Holy Place and having obtained that redemption, He now returns to proclaim the accomplishment of His mission and commission His followers to carry on from where He left off. His message was, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

Jesus then does a strange thing. He breathes or blows on them and says, “Receive the Holy Ghost.” We often read passages of scripture like this with a vague feeling that there is something more there than meets the eye. However, we often continue reading without stopping to search the matter out.

Why would Jesus breathe on them? Why not lay hands on them as we (and they) might have expected? They were used to Jesus laying hands on people and seeing things happen. They had even experienced the power of God flowing through their hands as Jesus had sent them out two by two. Later, we find the Apostles laying hands on people and imparting the Holy Spirit to them. But this night, Jesus deviates from what they might have expected—and breathes on them. This deviation should give us pause.

The reason, I believe, is found in Genesis 2:7:

“And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. “

When God created man, He BREATHED life into him. The Bible tells us that when the “breath of life” touched the dead flesh of Adam, the inanimate man became a “living soul.”

We know that God told Adam the day he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would surely die. Since Adam did not die physically that day—or for hundreds of years in the future—we are left with the reality that Adam died spiritually that day, since we know that sin and death (physical and spiritual) passed to all men through him (Romans 5:12). One fundamental fact of the gospel message is that a person is spiritually dead until they repent and accept Christ as Savior (John 5:24-26).

Romans 10:9 tells us that the requirement for salvation is to believe that God has raised Jesus from the dead. Without faith in the resurrection, we cannot be born again. That brings us to the upper room on the evening that Jesus rose from the dead. For the first time in history, a person could believe that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Earlier in the day, Mary did believe, but the work had not been completed yet. It was not until Jesus reappeared to His disciples that evening that eternal salvation could find its first recipients.

Finally, the plan of the ages was beginning to bear fruit. Jesus showed them His hands and feet, and they believed in His resurrection. They had now fulfilled all the requirements for salvation. Jesus took a breath; heaven waited; the disciples knew something was about to happen. Then Jesus breathes out. The Spirit of God rushed back into humanity for the first time in 4000 years. Once again, God had found the dwelling place he had longed for—a temple made without hands.

With this one act, Jesus brought life to humanity for the second time. Humanity now had eternal life. God did not have to breathe physical life into a man again. Just as Adam passed physical life (and death) to the entire human race, the disciples gathered that night were to propagate eternal life to humanity.

Just as you and I are direct descendants of Adam and Noah, so are we direct spiritual descendants of those gathered that night in the upper room. One of them preached the message or shared the gospel with someone who in turn shared it with someone, and on and on it went for nearly 2000 years until it reached the person who was instrumental in leading you to the Lord.

You have a spiritual family tree as well as a physical one. If it were possible, it would be fascinating to see our spiritual family tree. Could you be a direct spiritual descendant of Billy Sunday, John Wesley, Martin Luther, Brother Lawrence, or even Paul? Was it Peter or John or even Mary who started your spiritual family tree? If we could only know the route the anointing took to reach us, we might be overwhelmed. But reach us it did, and that is the important part. The anointing breathed out on that spring evening in Jerusalem has come to find a resting place in you.

With this anointing came the commission: “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” You are to continue passing the anointing of eternal life to others, continuing the chain of eternal life. How many people have no spiritual offspring? How many spiritual family trees have existed for nearly 2000 years only to have a branch die with our generation because someone did not understand that one reason they were saved was to pass it to someone else?

This anointing with the Holy Spirit for salvation transcended the Old Testament anointings of the prophet, priest, and king. Now the Holy Spirit resided in a man instead of just coming upon him. Jesus’s prophetic words recorded in John 14:16-17 had come to pass.

“And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, so that He may be with you forever, Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him nor know Him. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and shall be in you.”

That is a significant statement, “He dwells with you (now) and shall be in you (future).” Jesus referred to the anointing of salvation, the transition from Old Covenant to New Covenant—from an external anointing to an internal one.

This first anointing with the Holy Ghost brought the power of resurrection life to a person’s soul. Paul refers to this in Titus 3:5:

“…not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit….”

The word translated “regeneration” is the combination of two Greek words:

1. RE: Palin (Strongs 3825) This word carries with it the idea of a repetition of a cycle as if you took something back to the place where it started and started over again.
2. GENERATION: Genesis (Strongs 1078) literally “Nativity” or birth

The idea conveyed is that God takes us back to the original state in which man was created. Jesus visually demonstrated this principle when he breathed on the disciples, causing them to be regenerated or born again. A Christian is—in the truest sense—recycled.

Following through on this idea of “recycling,” Paul reveals an essential truth in I Corinthians 15:45-49:

“And so it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul,” the last Adam was a life-giving Spirit. But not the spiritual first, but the natural; afterward the spiritual.  The first man was out of earth, earthy; the second Man was the Lord from Heaven. Such the earthy man, such also the earthy ones. And such the heavenly Man, such also the heavenly ones. And according as we bore the image of the earthy man, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.”

 Jesus is given two names here: 1. The “last Adam;” and 2. The “Second Man.”

Where Adam failed, Jesus triumphed. What Adam lost; Jesus regained. What Adam did, Jesus undid. The term “Second Man” tells us that the cycle started over. The term “Last Adam” tells us there is no need for another cycle. Jesus succeeded where Adam failed. The incarnation of Jesus brought us to the beginning of the original cycle. God brought a man who would be victorious over the lies of the enemy and the power of sin. Thus, He would be able to pass those spiritual genetics on to a new “genesis” or generation of spirit men. II Corinthians 5:17 says:

“So that if any one is in Christ, that one is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation….”

We find here that the born-again person becomes a “new creature” or a new creation. Salvation is not simply moral reformation. It is not turning over a new leaf, ‘getting religion,’ adopting a new philosophy, or an alternate lifestyle. Salvation involves a transformation of the soul. We are no longer simply human beings; we have become new creatures—Spirit Men. Because of this, Paul tells us we will bear the image of the heavenly, just as we have born the image of the earthly.

We are not human beings going through a spiritual experience.
We are spiritual beings going through a human experience.

I saw a poster that summed up this whole thought. It said, “We are not human beings going through a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings going through a human experience.” That simple reframing of our existence changes the whole point of our perspective. Our bodies are temporary; It is our spirits that are eternal. Therefore, it is our spirits that should be the emphasis of our lives. Salvation brings this point into sharp focus.

You will notice once again this transformation comes with a responsibility. We have been given the “ministry of reconciliation,” a commission to pass it on.

The sum of all of these thoughts is this: When a person is born again, he or she receives the genuine anointing of the Holy Spirit to become a new creature. John put it this way in John 1:11-13:

“He [Jesus] came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Salvation cannot originate with man. You must receive POWER to BECOME. That is the anointing we receive at salvation.

Wait in Jerusalem

The story now jumps forty days into the future. In Acts chapter 1, we find Jesus has been showing himself alive for forty days. At one point, over 500 people saw him at once. As He leads his band of disciples to a mountain for one last earthly visit before His ascension, He shares with them his final instructions: Wait in Jerusalem until you have received the promise of the Father and have been endued (invested or anointed) with power.

Luke puts it this way:

“And behold, I send the promise of My Father on you. But you sit in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24:49 MJKV

In Acts 1, we find Jesus instructing his disciplines to do something that might seem strange when we stop to think about it. He tells them to tarry or wait for a few days, and they would receive the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and be clothed with power from on high.

The thinking person might say, “Hold on a second, I thought that just happened back in John chapter 20 in the upper room, forty days ago. Why is Jesus telling them that they must now wait a few more days for the anointing of the Holy Spirit to come upon them?”

Good Question. There are one of two possibilities.

1. Jesus breathed on the disciples, saying, “receive the Holy Ghost,” but they did not receive it until fifty days later on the day of Pentecost.

Or

2. That there are two anointings taking place on two different occasions for two different purposes.

If we subscribe to the first theory, nobody was saved on the night of the resurrection or in the ensuing forty days that people saw Jesus and believed in His resurrection (the condition for salvation). It would also mean that the picture Jesus painted by breathing into them the Holy Spirit would be marred. Jesus breathed out the Holy Spirit, but it wandered around for fifty days, waiting to get into them. He would not have instructed them to do something they could not have done at the time—receive it.

If language means anything, we are left with the impression that they did receive the Holy Ghost on the night of the resurrection when Jesus told them to receive it. This means that the command to wait in Jerusalem was for something different than what they had already received.

Let’s look at the terminology used to describe the soon-coming anointing.

1. The Promise of the Father – Acts 1:4
2. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit – Acts 1:5
3. Clothing (KJV: enduing) with power – Luke 24:49

In both passages, Jesus links the “promise of the Father” to an anointing of spiritual power to come upon the believers. In Acts, He relates it to the “Baptism with the Holy Spirit” in fulfillment of John the Baptist’s prophecy that he baptized with water, but that Jesus would baptize them with the “Holy Ghost and fire.”

Clothed With Power

The King James Version of the Bible uses the word “ENDUED” to speak of how this power would be given to them. Most modern versions use the word “CLOTHED.” While either term is correct, we are more familiar with the concept of putting on a garment. “Endued” is a transliteration of the Greek word ENDUO which means, “to invest with clothing.” The combination of Greek words literally means to “sink into a garment.

This distinction is particularly relevant to the study at hand because it shows us—not only a distinctly different event—but a distinctly different experience. The first anointing was internal. It changed the nature of the person. It was symbolized by breathing out and breathing in.

This second anointing is portrayed in a word picture as putting on a garment or sinking into a garment. The idea is that you are immersed in it or swallowed up in the garment. Therefore, the term BAPTISM with the Spirit is used. The Greek word “baptizo” means “to wholly whelm” or, in other words, to immerse.

Conceptually, the person being baptized with the Holy Spirit is whelmed or overwhelmed by the Spirit. He or she is vested with a garment of power. The whole idea is of an external anointing, not an internal one.

Next, we discover the purpose of this anointing or spiritual baptism. It was not for salvation, as was the first one. It was for the power to serve God. Specifically, to “Be witnesses.” Jesus told them not to go out and spread the gospel until they had the power to do so. That power came on the Day of Pentecost. The result was that Peter preached a message by the power of the Spirit, and 3000 people believed in Jesus and accepted Him as the Savior in one day.

Setting aside the controversy raging in the Church over the Baptism with the Spirit and how one is baptized in the Spirit—or with what proof they show that they are, we discover that there were indeed two separate events in the lives of the first Christian believers.

As the Bible says, “In the mouth of two are three witnesses, let everything be established.” Another scripture bears this out also. In Acts 8, we find Phillip traveling to Samaria and preaching there. We are told that they respond to the message, repent, and are baptized in Jesus’s name (8:12). Sometime later, the Apostles come down and laid hands on them, and they were Baptized with the Holy Spirit (8:15-17). It is not possible to say that the Samaritans were not born-again Christians as they believed and had been baptized in Jesus’s name. Once again, we see two distinct experiences and two distinct anointings.

One last Biblical picture should suffice. While it is not in the scope of this essay to delve too far into the Feasts of the Lord, we see a consistent picture there also.

God gave Israel seven individual feasts grouped into three periods. The first three feasts were: Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and The Feast of Firstfruits. These three feasts grouped together occurred at the time of Jesus’s death and resurrection. Jesus died on Passover and was raised on the Feast of Firstfruits. The Bible tells us that Jesus is our Passover (1 Cor. 5:7) and that He is the “Firstfruits from the dead” (1 Cor. 15:20). It is significant that Jesus died and rose on these two feast days, fulfilling the Old Testament prophetic types and shadows. These three feasts combine to represent salvation and its ongoing effect on the life of the believer.

Counting fifty days from the Feast of Firstfruits, we come to the Feast of Pentecost. A distinctive feast that set apart from the first three—and the last three that would occur a few months later. We have already discovered this was related to the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. The last three feasts were the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. These three occurred over 22 days in the 7^th month of the Hebrew ceremonial year. They prophetically portray a third and separate anointing, as well as events of the last days.

God specifically commanded Israel to “appear before Him three times in the year.” (Ex. 23:17 and elsewhere.) These were separate feasts representing three different times and purposes. We are left with the distinct impression that they prophetically symbolize three distinct experiences in the New Testament believer’s life. These three experiences or anointings would be salvation, the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, and final sanctification.

In conclusion, we find the two anointings being discussed are entirely different:

1. They are demonstrated scripturally to be two separate events (although they may occur closely together chronologically in the life of a believer).
2. One is inward; the other outward
3. One brings salvation and regeneration; the other brings power to serve
4. One has to do with our lives being transformed; the other has to do with us being used in transforming the lives of others.
5. One anointing results in the nine inward fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-26); and the other results in the nine outward gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4-11)

We must conclude that God has two (if not three) anointings for every person.

Many people try to operate in the Church without any anointing. They try to ‘be Christian’ without first ‘becoming a Christian.’ In other words, they have never experienced the anointing of salvation to regenerate and transform them.

Others operate on only one anointing. They have been born again, and their lives are changing. However, they have no power to serve Christ. In the opinion of most Christians, this anointing is for pastors or missionaries. Some have been taught that Baptism with the Spirit is not for today; only the early Church needed the power to get the job done. However, a quick look around shows that the need is the same. Sin still controls people, demons still exist, and people still need the gospel shared in an anointed way to get saved.

In Acts 2:39, we find Peter holding out the same promise to those listening to his sermon as Jesus held out to His disciples ten days prior, “For the promise (of the Holy Spirit) is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”

God has not left His Church to do spiritual things with carnal power (1 Corinthians 10:4). Peter assures us that the power of the Holy Spirit is available—indeed promised—to every person, not just the clergy. And that it is available for all time, not just in the first century.

The anointing is not some ‘extra’ portion of spirituality given to a select few in the Church. In the truest sense of the word, God wants every man, woman, and child to experience the two-fold anointing of salvation and Baptism with the Holy Spirit so they might have the power to live for and serve God acceptably.

My Personal Testimony

I was born again in July of 1980 at the age of twenty. My life changed radically at that point and my wife and I began attending a Baptist church regularly. I took a class at Church on soul-winning and started doing door-to-door visitation with my Church. Later I started attending a different Baptist Church. I taught a teen Sunday School class and became an altar worker – praying with those who came to the altar seeking God.

in Spite of all of this, there was something missing. I was reading my Bible, praying, and serving in the Church. To everyone else, I was a great Christian. The problem was, I did not see the power of God working in me or my Church. The people who came to the altar to pray went back to their seats the same way they came — nothing was happening. I began to say, “There has to be more to Christianity than what I am experiencing. My religious instructions said, “No, you are doing all the stuff, everything is fine.” But it was not fine. The hunger in my spirit grew. I told God, “I just want to see the reality of your word. If it is in the Bible, I want to see it. My pastor told us that we got everything we were going to get when we got saved. This was it.

However, my sister had recently rededicated her life to the Lord and started going to a Spirit-filled church. There she learned that Jesus promised to Baptize believers with the Holy Spirit and give them spiritual gifts as a result. Her women’s Bible study group began to pray for me. I really fought against it. The Baptist churches I went to taught that speaking in tongues was of the devil. However, as I studied to prove my sister (and her group) wrong, the Holy Spirit convicted and convinced me of the truth of God’s Word. As the Bible says, “Faith comes through hearing God’s word.” When I begin to read God’s word without the doubt attached to it by my Baptist friends, it did its work and produced faith in my soul and spirit.

A few weeks later I was given some teaching on the truth and purpose of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, and I was utterly convinced I need this Holy Spirit anointing in my life. We asked a Spirit-filled pastor to talk with us personally. He was gracious and answered all our questions. We made the decision to ask Jesus to Baptize us with the Holy Spirit and give us the gift of speaking in other tongues (languages).

That night, January 4, 1983, my wife and I yielded to the ministry of Jesus and asked to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. The pastor laid hands on us, and we both received the Baptism with the Spirit and the gift of tongues.

I can honestly say that my life has changed even more radically since being baptized with the Holy Spirit. There have not been very many days in the past 38 years that I have not prayed in tongues. I count it as a significant spiritual discipline in maintaining my spiritual life.

Beyond the personal aspect of being filled with the Holy Spirit, I regularly use other gifts of the Spirit in my daily ministry to help other people. While tongues are particularly a gift to me, the other gifts of the Holy Spirit are gifts through me to other people, allowing God to use me to minister to others by the Holy Spirit.

The Bible tells us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” James 1:17

The Holy Spirit is a good gift, the gifts the Holy Spirit gives to us after we are Baptized with the Spirit are good gifts. Everyone comes from God. Why then do so many Christians reject them? Why do they ignore them? Why don’t they desire them?

How about you? Do you want everything God has for you? Do you think God would give you a bad gift?

Jesus asked His disciples a rhetorical question, expecting them to answer for themselves. I repeat it here:

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

Ask Him to baptize you with the Holy Spirit. If you still have questions, ask God to show you the truth. Please do not ignore this important gift that Jesus died and rose from the dead for you to have.

If you have questions or want to talk about any of these things, please feel free to write to me at steve@stevehighlander.com, and I will be glad to help you understand these things more clearly.

Be Blessed

Steve

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About the Author: Dr. Steve Highlander is a Missionary to Papua New Guinea, working with the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and the Foursquare Gospel Church of PNG. He holds a doctorate in Pastoral Theology from Faith Bible College in Independence, MO. He is also a Certified Christian Counselor with the Association of Scriptural Psychology Therapists. During the past 40 years, Steve has served the Body of Christ as a pastor, teacher, and apostolic leader. He has been pastor of several churches in the Midwest, and done church planting, prison ministry, and multi-media ministry, in addition to international mission work in several countries. He is a published author with several books to his credit. Steve currently serves as Senior Pastor of the Community Foursquare Chapel in Ottawa, Kansas.