Touch Not Mine Anointed!

....and do my prophets no harm! I cringe when I recall the church attendance in my past. How often I would stick my chest out, and proclaim this verse to all who would listen. As if I were God's top dog? Puuuuleeeze! Yet, all my other church comrades were proclaiming this, as were a few of our preachers and deacons, so surely we couldn't all be wrong, could we?

In a word---yes.

The verse used to put up a mental shield around some of the Christians from the rest of the population can be found in I Chronicles 16:22. When reading in context, King David is getting some last minute things situated for the Ark of the Covenant. He's giving the Praise Band some last minute instructions of their responsibility to the Ark of the Covenant. The nation of Israel were still being oppressed and God let others know that they were not to touch God's anointed or do the prophets any harm.

So, that was back in the olden days... the Old Covenant. How does that verse apply to us on 'this' side of the cross? Simple. It doesn't. David anointed some of the different ones for different jobs in the church, so to speak. What happens today?

If we look in I John 2:20-27, we find that the entire body of Christ has the anointing--or is anointed: But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
 See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—even eternal life.
 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.
So, not only do we have the anointing; it's real; and it remains in us. We've received it, not from man--be he preacher, teacher or deacon, but rather from the Holy Spirit, himself. It will NEVER leave us! How comforting is that? This anointing teaches us about all things. If you belong to God, the teaching you is God's responsibility, not ours, not the church leadership, but God's. Of course, God being God, we know that's he's going to teach us what we need to know. Right? Right!