But it is remarkable, that after the Babylonish captivity this ointment, so far as we are informed, was never made. And this seems to have been per- mitted of God, in order to direct their minds to that richer unction, which they were to receive from their Messiah. Previous to the time of Christ, the Holy Spirit was very sparingly and partially bestowed ; as it is said, " The Holy Spirit was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorifiedb :" but after the ascension of our Lord and Saviour to heaven, "the Spirit was shed forth abundantly" upon God's Church0 ; and from that time, multitudes, both of priests and people, have been wholly sanctified unto the Lord. Under this dispensation it is our happi- ness to live ; so that, with a special reference to our- selves, I may well proceed to shew,
I. The universal need there is of the Holy Spirit's influence —
There was nothing wider the Law so holy, but that it needed this divine unction —
["The tabernacle" itself, the immediate residence of the Deity ; and " the ark," wherein the tables of the Law were placed, and which was a preeminent type of the Lord Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the Law for us ; these, I say, were anointed; as were also "the table" of shewbread, and the candlestick, the one representing Christ as the bread of life, and the other " as the light which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world." Now, whence was it that these needed such purification ? They were used in the service of sinful man, and therefore were polluted, and needed to be so purified ; as heaven itself, the abode of all the glorified hosts, is said to be : for " the patterns of things in the heavens were purified with these earthly sacrifices, whilst the heavenly places themselves were purified with better sacrifices than these d."
That " Aaron and his sons" needed this holy ointment, we do not wonder, since they were sinners like unto us. But taking the whole together as used for sinful man, they serve to shew us, that there is not a thing or person in the universe that must not be so sanctified, before God can find pleasure in any services presented to him.]
Nor is there any thing under the Gospel which does not need it —
b John vii. 39. c Tit. iii. 6. d Heb. ix. 23.