Apply the Compound Spirit as the Compound Ointment

As a believer in Christ, have you ever asked, “How can Christ’s  living, death and resurrection become my experience?” The answer is both simple and profound. It’s by His Spirit. So we need to see and apply the compound Spirit of the Lord Jesus in our Christian living and service.

Your obvious response might be, “What do you mean by the compound Spirit?”

The compound Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, compounded and enriched with all the elements of Christ’s person and work. This Spirit includes His incarnation, human living, death and resurrection as the reality of that compound ointment revealed in Exodus 30:23-25.

This means that the Spirit–Whom we receive from the moment we believe in the Lord Jesus (Gal. 3:2)–is not merely the Spirit of God with the element of God’s divinity. Rather, the Spirit we receive today, is the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19), the compound Spirit with all the elements of Christ’s person and work as active ingredients for us to apply.

We can now experience and enjoy all that Christ is and has done by applying the compound Spirit.

Sadly, this divine truth concerning the compound Spirit and its application have been hidden from most believers in Christ. Such a missing frustrates the genuine experience and enjoyment of Christ we need to fulfill God’s eternal plan as revealed in the Bible.

So in this post we’ll consider the truth of the compound Spirit as typified by the compound ointment found in Exodus 30:23-25 and see how we can apply it to our Christian life today.

The revelation of the compound Spirit is typified by the compound ointment in Exodus 30

Exodus 30:23-25 says,

23 You also take the finest spices: of flowing myrrh five hundred shekels, and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, two hundred fifty shekels, and of fragrant calamus two hundred fifty shekels,
24 And of cassia five hundred shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil.
25 And you shall make it a holy anointing oil, a fragrant ointment compounded according to the work of a compounder; it shall be a holy anointing oil.

How can we say that the anointing oil or ointment typifies the Spirit?

Quoting from Isaiah 61:1-2, the Lord Jesus said concerning Himself,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to announce the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to send away in release those who are oppressed.” (Luke 4:18)

As the Old Testament priests needed to be anointed with the holy anointing oil for their priestly service (Exo. 28:41; 29:7, 21) , Jesus needed to be anointed with the Spirit in order to carry out His God-given ministry in announcing the gospel and building the church, His Body. It’s the same with us today.

The anointing oil or ointment described in Exodus 30:23-25 is a marvelous type, not merely of the Spirit of God, but of the compound Spirit as the reality of the compound ointment.

A wonderful thing about the ointment is that it isn’t intended for a select few. It’s intended for all of us! That’s because God intends that every believer be a part of the New Testament priesthood today (1  Pet. 2:5, 9). In fact, we need this compound Spirit to bear any part in God’s service.

Now let’s consider the ingredients in the compound Spirit typified by the compound ointment

First, the base of the compound ointment was one hin of olive oil signifying the Spirit of God (Gen. 1:2).

The one hin of olive oil signifies the unique God. This oil as the base of this ointment is the Spirit of God with the element of divinity. It gives this ointment eternal effectiveness (Heb. 9:14).

Second, to the olive oil were added four spices–myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia–to make a compound ointment.

Four is the number for the creatures (Ezek. 1:5), the leading one of which is man (vv. 8, 10) signifying the element of humanity being added to the Spirit (Acts 16:7).

In addition, each of the enriching spices signify a particular aspect of Christ’s process as an essential ingredient:

Myrrh

Myrrh signifies Christ’s precious death.  It was one of the spices used to embalm the Lord’s body in His burial (John 19:39).

Spiritually, “myrrh,” as an ingredient in the compound Spirit is a real balm stopping many wrong secretions in us. Whenever, we apply this compound ointment by calling on the Lord Jesus, the myrrh of Christ’s death comes in to stop our anxiety, anger, jealousy and other foul things that damage our Christian life and service (Rom. 8:13).

Cinnamon

Cinnamon signifies the sweetness and effectiveness of Christ’s death. It was used  in ancient times to stimulate a weak heart. Even many people today realize there are certain therapeutic benefits to cinnamon physically.

Whenever, we apply this compound ointment by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 12:3) the “cinnamon” in this compound Spirit stimulates our weak heart to rise up, love the Lord, and pursue after Him with our entire being  (Phil. 3:12-14).

Calamus

Calamus signifies the precious resurrection of Christ. As a kind of reed shooting up out of marshy places, Calamus signifies Christ’s rising out of the place of death (Eph. 2:6).

Our soul, including our mind, emotion and will–is often such a “marshy place” from which we need to escape. When we call on the Lord’s name–“Lord Jesus!”–we’re saved (Rom. 10:13) not just from perdition, but from every “marshy place.”

In this way, the resurrection of Christ in the compound Spirit delivers us from a deadened and downtrodden condition.

Cassia

Cassia signifies the repelling power of Christ’s resurrection (Phil. 3:10). Cassia was an ancient repellent for insects and snakes and able to withstand any kind of environment.

The “cassia” in the compound Spirit enabled the Apostle Paul to endure unspeakable hardships for his Master (2 Cor. 11:23-28).

This same repelling power is fully available to us today. When we come under trial for our faith in the Lord Jesus, we need to contact Him as the compound Spirit. In this way we experience the power of His resurrection repelling the old “snake,” Satan (Rom. 16:20)  and  strengthening us to stand in the spiritual battle (Eph. 6:10).

Third, the measurements of the spices reveal the Triune God

We saw that the four kinds of spices in the compound ointment signify Christ’s humanity.  But the measurements of these spices being of three units of  five hundred shekels, signifies the Triune God.

In the compound ointment that we enjoy there is both the perfect Man and the complete God. That’s because our Christ is the embodiment of the entire Triune God (Col. 2:9).

This significance is strengthened by the fact that the middle unit of five hundred shekels was split in half (250 shekels of cinnamon and 250 shekels of calamus). How wonderful that the second of the divine Trinity as the “middle unit” was “split” for us on the cross (John 19:34)!

The compound Spirit as the reality of compound ointment is for God’s dwelling place

This ointment wasn’t for just anyone to make or use. It was only for the service in God’s dwelling place. It enabled God’s serving ones to fulfill their proper service to Him.

If we want to experience such a compound Spirit today, we also need to rightly related to today’s temple, the church, the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 3:16-17) and be those cooperating with Him to carry out God’s purpose (Rom. 15:16; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9).

Such a Spirit is the power for us, God’s serving ones, to bear responsibility (Acts 6:3) and this Spirit is now in the spirit of every believer (Rom. 8:16).

May we learn to live in the union of the two spirits  (1 Cor. 6:17) for the building of God’s dwelling place so that God’s plan can be fulfilled through us.

References and Further Reading:

This post was inspired by my reading of the Life-study of Exodus, Messages 157-166, by Witness Lee.  The light in these messages is crystallized in the Holy Bible Recovery Version footnotes, especially note 1 on Exodus 30:25 and note 1 on verse 26.

Photo by Roberta Sorge on Unsplash