OTHER SHEEP AND ANOINTED SHEEP EXIST TOGETHER

By: Richard Rawe, Soap Lake, WA., U.S.A.

The whole nation of Israel was considered by Jahweh to be a nation of priests. They weren't all priests but He considered them to be such because the 12th tribe, the tribe of Levi, took the place of the firstborn of the other 11 tribes. Even though they were all considered to be priests, there were only a very few that were anointed priests in Israel. Only the high priests, Aaron and the sons of Aaron, were anointed as the priests in Israel.

Aside from the priests there were few other anointed ones. For example, the kings in Israel were anointed kings. Saul, a Benjamite, was the first king in Israel, and you will remember that Samuel, at God's direction, anointed him to be king. The other kings of Israel were also anointed by the prophets in Israel, and, of course, the prophets themselves were anointed by God (commissioned by Him) to do certain works. But they could only do that which: how, when, where, and why Jahweh directed them to do. All others in the nation of Israel were un-anointed believers in the true God, Yahweh; these included the mixed multitude, the strangers. the aliens, the proselytes; all were citizens and they had the benefits of the sacrifices that the priests conducted for the entire nation for the forgiveness of sins. They had the benefits of the laws of that nation; they also had the court systems that brought about justice, and, when the kings were righteous, all citizens had God's favour through those anointed kings. All of them, of course, were living in a promised land and they realized that they had many other benefits of living in this promised land; that is, they did not have to put up with the degradation of the nations around them like sacrificing their children to Molech, to those false gods and to so many other wicked adulteries and idolatries that were being carried on so, truly, they were a privileged people; yet they knew that in all this the land of Israel was merely being used by God as a small scale pattern of what the entire world was to be like in God's due time. They were looking forward to life on this earth in a perfected state via the resurrection in God's due time.

When Christ appeared here on earth, there was an interesting situation. They had the genealogical records so they knew who the high priest was to be in Israel, but there was no prophet to anoint the high priest; therefore the high priest couldn't use the Urim and the Thummin in a miraculous way to get the Divine 'yes' or 'no' answer to national crisis, in other words, God's direction for the nation, because God had not anointed any prophets in Israel for some 400 years before the birth of Christ. They also had the genealogicalrecords showing who the kings could be, the line of the tribe of Judah, but there, again, there was no prophet to anoint that king. Not only that, but because of the failure of the nation they were no longer a sovereign state; they were "under the thumb" of other nations round about them. So they were in a terrible situation but they had great hope because, according to the prophecies in Daniel, the time was there for this Anointed One to show up; this Great Anointed One, the Prophet greater than Moses, the One who would do all the thingsthat they had expected of the other prophets in Israel.

They were looking for that One to make His appearance. He did make His appearance and right on time. With Him He brought a new and living hope. All of Israel's anointed then, the priests, kings and prophets, were replaced by this Anointed One. This Anointed One had the powerto anoint others and He chose His bride, His body, His temple, His church. As He chose them, He anointed them and gave them Divine evidence that they were His body members, and thus they would be kings and priests with Him to rule with Him in this Kingdom to govern, notonly on the earth, but the entire universe. This group replaced the few anointed in Israel.

Now, who would they rule over? The Great Anointed One indicated in John.5:28,29, that there would be a resurrection of the just and the unjust, the righteous and the unrighteous. Who would be the unrighteous? I suggest they would be the billions of people thathave lived on the earth and had never heard of Jahweh, the Creator, and His righteousness; never heard of a Jew, never heard of the Bible, never heard of God's Anointed One; that is, those mentioned in Acts 17:30,31 who lived during the times of ignorance both before andafter Christ, as many in the Dark Ages. These would be brought back to the earth and educated about all of God's matters.

The righteous would be people like Abel, Moses, Noah, David, and John the Baptist, and the Jews who lived in Israel as citizens under that old covenant arrangement and showed they truly had faith in God and in His promises, and in His coming Anointed One. Then, too, I believeit will include all the non-anointed ones who were saved and were believers from Jesus' time forward; all these were called by Jesus, "The other sheep" as compared to His body members, His bride, those who would rule and reign with Him as kings and priests whom Jesustermed the little flock in John 10:16. So, here we have the "little flock", His bride, and the "other sheep", the non-anointed ones.

Thus, like in Israel during the first century of the Christian era, there existed the anointed and the non-anointed together at the same time with no conflict. Now, maybe that will raise a question in your mind. Where do you find anything about these non-anointed in theNew Testament?- They are all over the place: for example, John the Baptist said of himself that he was not of the bride of Christ in John 3:26-30; also Jesus said that John was not of His bride, the chosen anointed ones in Matthew 11:11-15. Then we haveCornelius who was not a Jewish proselyte; he was a pagan and yet he believed in God, and up until the time that Peter came and the Holy Spirit was poured out upon him and he spoke in tongues, which indicated that God had selected him to be one of the body members,the bride, of Christ, he was one of the non-anointed believers in God.

We have many others, such as Lydia and her associates, that God used Paul to convert. It says that Paul baptized them in the name of Jesus, but where does it ever say he baptized them in the Holy Spirit, or anointed them to become body members? Were they the chosen? You'llread and read and read in vain to find where they were part of the chosen ones to be the bride of Christ. Along with them the jailer, (remember that pagan jailer!) he was not a Jewish proselyte either. Paul was in jail, the earth shook, the jailer was about to killhimself, - he became a believer through the preaching of Paul, and it says that Paul baptized him and his household, children and all, apparently. He was a believer, but was he anointed with God's Holy Spirit? Nothing is said about him being baptized in the Holy Spirit,or that he became one of the anointed ones - one of the chosen ones. He had no evidence that he was one of that elect "little flock". And how about the Ethiopean eunuch? Again, where do we find that he ever became one of the anointed? He was a believer, he was baptizedin the name of Christ; true, both very important. And many, many other occasions. What about Apollos? We read great things about him and what a zealous person he was, preaching Christ. He was baptized in the Name of Christ, but where does it ever say that he was one of theanointed, the chosen, the bride of Christ? Never! You never find that - never baptized in the Holy Spirit! (See Acts 18: 24, 28). Another contrasting example: How about the 12 men who for 38 years preached about Christ up in the hills near Ephesus until Paulstumbled onto them? Paul then baptized them in the Name of Christ, but he did something else too, under the direction of God. He baptized them in the Holy Spirit; he laid his hands upon them and they spoke in tongues, thus giving evidence they were some of theanointed. So, for 38 years they were non-anointed believers in God, and now God saw fit to have them become part of this "little flock" of His, bride members of the body of Christ who will rule as kings and priests with Christ. There are many other examples, but perhapsthese examples will show you that throughout the Bible the other sheep and the anointed sheep exist together, and give us a pattern of whatwill be in the future.

RICHARD RAWE - P.O. BOX 443, SOAP LAKE, WA 98851 Phone (509) 246-1559