Passages might be multiplied, but the above are amply sufficient to prove that it was not in incarnation, but in death, that Christ took a position in which His people could be "quickened together with Him." Does this seem unimportant to the reader? Let him examine it in the light of Scripture. Let him weigh all the consequences. Let him view it in its bearing upon Christ's Person, upon His life, upon His death, upon our condition by nature in the old creation, and our place through mercy in the new. Let him consider it thus, and I feel persuaded he will no longer regard it as a light matter. Of one thing, at least, he may rest assured, that the writer of these pages would not pen a single line to prove this point did he not consider it to be fraught with the most momentous results. The whole of divine revelation so hangs together--is so adjusted by the hand of the Holy Ghost--is so consistent in all its parts, that if one truth be disturbed, the entire arch is injured. This consideration should suffice to produce, in the mind of every Christian, a holy caution, lest, by some rude touch, he mar the beauteous superstructure. Every stone must be left in its divinely appointed place; and, unquestionably, the truth as to Christ's Person is the key-stone of the arch.
Having thus endeavored to unfold the truth typified by the "fine flour _mingled_ with oil," we may remark another point of much interest in the expression, "He shall _pour_ oil upon it." In this we have a type of the anointing of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Holy Ghost. The body of the Lord Jesus was not merely formed mysteriously by the Holy Ghost, but that pure and holy vessel was also anointed for service by the same power. "And it came to pass when all the people were baptized, and Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape as a dove upon Him, and there was a voice from heaven, saying, 'Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased." (Luke iii. 21, 22.)
The anointing of the Lord Jesus by the Holy Ghost previous to His entrance upon His public ministry is of immense practical importance to every one who really desires to be a true and an effectual servant of God. Though conceived, as to His manhood, by the Holy Ghost; though, in His own proper Person, "God manifest in the flesh;" though embodying in Himself all the fullness of the Godhead; yet, be it well observed, when coming forth as man to do the will of God on the earth, whatever that will might be--whether preaching the gospel, teaching in the synagogues, healing the sick, cleansing the leper, casting out devils, feeding the hungry, or raising the dead--He did all by the Holy Ghost. That holy and heavenly vessel in which God the Son was pleased to appear in this world was formed, filled, anointed, and led by the Holy Ghost.
What a deep and holy lesson for us! A most needful and salutary lesson! How prone are we to run unsent! How prone to act in the mere energy of the flesh! How much of that which looks like ministry is only the restless and unhallowed activity of a nature which has never been measured and judged in the divine presence! Truly, we need to contemplate more closely our divine "meat-offering"--to understand more fully the meaning of the "fine flour anointed with oil." We need to meditate more deeply upon Christ Himself, who, though possessing, in His own Person, divine power, nevertheless, did all His work, wrought all His miracles, and, finally, "offered Himself, without spot to God, by the eternal Spirit." He could say, "I by the Spirit of God cast out devils."