Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Oil as Analogy
(From Forerunner Commentary)
Genesis 28:16-18
The Hebrew word translated as "oil," shemen (Strong's #8081), literally means "fat" or "grease," but figuratively, it means "richness," an important idea to keep in mind. The word is also translated as "fruitful." Hence, oil symbolizes wealth, abundance, health, energy, and a vital ingredient for a good life. Anciently, oil's primary use was for food. Olive oil, a high-quality fat, gives the body more energy than carbohydrates do, and at the same time, it has fewer byproducts when metabolized. The people of the Mediterranean have known for millennia that natural fats are good for us, and the fat in olive oil is especially beneficial. While we might think of oil as just some cooking grease, the people of the Middle East held a far different view. As we know from the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13), citizens of the ancient Mediterranean world also filled their lamps with oil. It not only burns as fuel in the body, but also as fuel for fire. It was also used as medicine, as the Parable of the Good Samaritan reveals. In the dry, desert regions, olive oil protected and nourished the skin and scalp. One early writer, Pliny, says it could even be used to protect the body against the cold at night. As we learn from Leviticus and Deuteronomy, God commanded oil to be used in the consecration of sacred people and things, in addition to its use as an ingredient in some of the offerings. For the people of the time, then, olive oil was almost like liquid gold. In fact, oil sometimes functioned as a kind of currency. When properly made and stored, it will keep for years and thus hold its value. Biblically, abundant oil is a sign of prosperity (Deuteronomy 32:13; 33:24; II Kings 18:32; Job 29:6; Joel 2:19, 24), and running out of oil is indicative of famine and hard times (Joel 1:10; Haggai 1:11). In the Proverbs, excessive use of oil signifies wastefulness (Proverbs 21:17), while saving oil is characteristic of a wise man (Proverbs 21:20). While we no longer attach such value to oil, we need to understand its importance to life for those in the Bible. When we consider all the uses of oil and the value it adds to life, we can understand why it symbolizes richness, fruitfulness, abundance, and vitality. We can also grasp why it played such an integral part in the consecration of things like Jacob's pillar, representing the richness, fruitfulness, and abundance of God being poured out. While the indwelling of the Holy Spirit will certainly produce abundance and fruitfulness (see Galatians 5:22-23), it is more accurate to say that oil and the Holy Spirit are often parallel, but not exclusively so. As the example of Israel shows, God frequently provides abundance without imparting His Spirit. When God revealed Himself to Jacob at Bethel in the dream, Jacob was a lying, cheating, supplanting scoundrel fleeing for his life. After his dream and God's words to him, however, he was a man with a future. A tremendous change had taken place in his life, even though God had not yet given him His Spirit. God made promises concerning his descendants and his safety. He promised not to leave him, which is abundance indeed! A transformation begins to occur in Jacob as a result of God initiating a relationship with him. Jacob begins to taste true abundance through this experience with God, the source of everything oil represents. In one sense, His visitation of Jacob was similar to the man pouring fine, expensive oil on a dumb rock: It set something apart with abundance that was ordinarily common and unremarkable. Going back to the Parable of the Ten Virgins, the Holy Spirit is certainly an aspect of what the five wise virgins possessed, but now we can see that there is more to the symbol. The ones who were wise had a reserve of God's spiritual richness, fruitfulness, and abundance, which would include the Holy Spirit but not be limited to it. They had these things because they had an active, growing relationship with Him. The foolish virgins had a measure of those things, but they were foolish because they did not have enough. They did not take the time to prepare and ensure that they had everything they needed to last through the times of darkness.
David C. Grabbe
Do You Have Enough Oil? (Part Two)
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Leviticus 2:1-2
Oil is a widely understood symbol of the Holy Spirit and thus does not require a detailed explanation, but one scripture will suffice to link the Holy Spirit and oil directly: The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed. . . . (Luke 4:18) "The Spirit of the Lord" and the oil of anointing are directly linked. The oil of anointing stands as a physical representation of Jesus being given the Spirit to perform these functions for God in His service to man. Acts 10:38 reveals another aspect of this symbolism: ". . . how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him." Again, reference is made to anointing—an act normally done with oil—with the Holy Spirit, and Peter adds "with power," a characteristic not included in Luke 4:18. Though Jesus was bruised in service, He never lacked power. By contrast, we are rarely bruised, broken, or ground in service, but we are usually powerless. The truth is, the greatest zeal and knowledge are useless without God's Holy Spirit providing the right perspective, attitude, and intention for any service we perform.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Offerings of Leviticus (Part Three): The Meal Offering
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Zechariah 4:6
An angel is explaining to Zechariah the work of the Spirit. God's Spirit, moving and producing works (or results, visible signs of God's inspiration and involvement in His servants' activities), is shown as flowing into the church. Here is a short quotation from Keil & Delitzsch. Oil ... is used in the Scriptures as a symbol of the Spirit of God [notice this qualification], not in its transcendent essence. . . . The Holy Spirit often appears in the Bible, not in is pure form (the essence of God's mind and power), not in its raw form, we could say. Here it appears as oil. Continuing: . . . not in its transcendent essence, but so far as it works in the world, and is indwelling in the church. The oil that is flowing through these pipes is not the raw Spirit of God, but it is His Spirit seen in its works, that is, in its manifestations. We are not seeing, necessarily, God's Spirit as God's Spirit. We are seeing God's Spirit as it manifests itself primarily in spoken and written words, but also in things like miracles, healings, casting out of demons, acts of faith, good works, etc.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Two Witnesses (Part Four)
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Matthew 25:1-13
Our responsibility today is not just mental preparation, as in the case of a diligent athlete. Nor is it physical preparation, as in David's case. All the same, our responsibility is much like David's in that we are gatherers. Our duty is to gather: to gather faith, patience, wisdom; to gather God's Holy Spirit. How much do we need? Well, Christ tells us that a "night is coming when no one can work" (John 9:4). In His Parable of the Ten Virgins, He says that the Bridegroom came at midnight (Matthew 25:6). Midnight is well into the night. The wise virgins were those who had enough oil - representing God's Spirit - to last the night. Indeed, we ought to gather God's Spirit like David gathered bronze, "in abundance beyond measure."
Charles Whitaker
On Your Marks . . . Get Set . . . Go!
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Matthew 25:1-13
Because of its abundance of well-known symbols, the Parable of the Ten Virgins is perhaps the easiest to understand in a prophetic light. The Bridegroom, of course, is Christ. Virgins are often symbols of churches or individual Christians, most likely the latter in this case. Lamps are vessels that contain oil, a common symbol of God's Spirit, thus they represent our minds, which, when filled with the Holy Spirit, provide illumination for the path to the Kingdom of God (I Corinthians 2:10-16). The wedding refers to the marriage of the Lamb to the church (Revelation 19:7). Jesus flatly states that this parable deals with conditions just before His second coming (verse 13). It does not take much interpretation, then, to understand what will happen - maybe has happened in part. All of God's people will go to sleep spiritually, but only half of them have enough spiritual strength to prepare for Christ's return. When He does return, our Savior shuts the door on the other half, proclaiming that He has no relationship with them (compare Revelation 3:7, 20). The warning to us is to draw close to God now because we do not know when Christ will come back.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Parables and Prophecy
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Matthew 25:1-13
In this parable, the presence of oil is the critical factor in determining which of these maidens were wise and which were foolish. More than just an accolade, their wisdom—or lack thereof—determined which were prepared to go to the wedding and which were not. What does the oil represent in this parable? It is commonly held that oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, but what verses does one use to support that? Water is a clear symbol of the Holy Spirit, as are fire and wind, and we can point to unambiguous scriptures to show that symbolism. But, believe it or not, it is not nearly so simple with oil. The closest examples are the few that link anointing and the Holy Spirit, and oil is used in anointing (for example, Luke 4:18). Even then, the linkage is not absolute, because in most places in Scripture where the Holy Spirit is given, such as at baptism, it is through the laying on of hands without any oil being used. In addition, there are numerous examples of anointing where the Holy Spirit is not given as an indwelling essence, such as God calling Cyrus the Great "His anointed" (Isaiah 45:1), or Jesus instructing people to anoint their head while fasting (Matthew 6:17). Even though we may take it for granted that oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, when it comes down to showing that scripturally, it is more challenging than one might think. This is not to say that oil is not a symbol of the Holy Spirit, but rather that the Holy Spirit is only a portion of what oil represents in the Bible. But if the Holy Spirit is all we think of when we read about oil, we will miss out on a great deal of meaning and significance. In this parable, we see that the foolish virgins are instructed to go buy oil, and likewise other unnamed persons are selling oil. Commerce lies behind the possession of oil here. But questions arise if we simply substitute the Holy Spirit for the oil. In the story of Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8:9-24, Simon actually tried to do this—he tried buy the Holy Spirit, and he assumed that Peter would sell it to him. That did not work out, of course, as Peter's response in verse 20 emphasizes: "Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!" This translation is quite mild compared to what the Greek indicates Peter's righteous indignation to Simon implies, "You and your money can go to destruction"—or, in other words, to hell. That is what the leader of the apostles thought about somebody trying to buy the Holy Spirit! In addition, the Holy Spirit is called the gift of God in several places (Acts 2:38; 8:20; 10:45; I Timothy 4:14; II Timothy 1:6; Hebrews 6:4). Only a con-artist would try to convince us to purchase something that is given as a gift! These things beg the question of what exactly the oil in the parable represents, and how we can have enough to be wise and prepared when the Bridegroom returns.
David C. Grabbe
Do You Have Enough Oil? (Part One)
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Matthew 25:1-13
In Scripture, oil symbolizes wealth, abundance, health, energy, and a vital ingredient for a good life. It can likewise represent spiritual abundance, only possible through what God gives. As Isaiah 55:1-7 shows, this oil is "bought" through listening to God, delighting in what He gives, and seeking to be like Him. However, acquiring this oil is not like a store transaction that takes just a few minutes. Just as our seeking of God occurs throughout our converted lives, so also the abundance that comes from knowing God and His way accrues gradually. A person cannot speed up the process, only be faithful to it. He cannot wait until he hears that the Bridegroom is approaching to drop by the corner market and pick up a can of Spiritual Abundance™ on the way to the Wedding. There are no shortcuts here; the oil that matters accumulates over a lifetime. It is no wonder, then, that Jesus told the foolish virgins, "Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you" (Matthew 25:12). What terrifying words! He did not know them because they had not invested the time to know Him. A one-sided relationship is no relationship at all. He did not know them because they were not inviting Him into their lives—except maybe when they got into a jam and wanted Him to rescue them. They were not in alignment with the spiritually abundant life that He wanted to provide. That life may have mattered a little to them, but it did not matter enough to make it a priority. The foolish virgins did not have enough oil because they did not pursue God and His spiritual abundance throughout their lives. Maybe they thought it would all just work out as long as they stayed in the church. Maybe they thought that God would just give the oil to them at the end, without demonstrating that they truly wanted it—that they wanted God to be their God and desired to be among His people. Maybe they thought that they could depend on their family, friends, or minister to get them through and give them what they needed, rather than personally preparing ahead of time. Whatever the reason, the foolish virgins were not prepared because they did not earnestly and consistently seek the Source of the oil as their conscious mode of life. In contrast, wise people are described elsewhere as building on solid rock—hearing Christ's words and doing them—because that is the only way they will withstand the ravages of life and time (Matthew 7:24-26). Wise servants are faithful to their masters over an extended period (Matthew 24:45-51). True wisdom only comes from God above (James 3:17). From these examples, we can infer that the wise virgins were people who deliberately ordered and conducted their lives in a manner that resulted in their knowing God, spiritually enriching over time. Jesus ends the parable with the admonition, "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming" (Matthew 25:13). The Greek word translated "watch," gregoreuo (Strong's #1127), has nothing to do with looking at external events or keeping on top of world news. He is talking about being vigilant with regard to our own spiritual state, as well as being circumspect and spiritually awake as we go through life. The danger is that if we do not watch ourselves, we will be distracted by material concerns and find ourselves spiritually unprepared when the end comes. We will discover that we are without oil, and at that point, it will be too late to "buy" it from God. We do not know when Christ will return, nor do we know the timing of our own deaths. None of us knows how long we have to become prepared. The lesson, then, is that we should always be concerned about how much oil we have and how prepared we are right now because the end—or our end—could be just around the corner. The oil does not just symbolize spiritual abundance and fruitfulness that has its source in God. While it does symbolize that, more importantly, this spiritual richness accrues because we are seeking Him and because we are faithful to the covenant. This abundance comes to us because we are fellowshipping with Him and taking on His image—the only image that will last for eternity. Buying this oil costs us time and attention, two things certainly in short supply today. Ultimately, the price of the oil is our lives, perhaps not in the sense of martyrdom, but at least in the sense of our being wholeheartedly devoted to God and to our fellow man, rather than being devoted to the self or the things of this world (Romans 12:1-2). God's oil comes neither cheaply nor quickly. But having it symbolizes being spiritually ready to inherit His Kingdom, and we become ready for it by being in His image. When we are in His image, we, too, will have lives of abundance, energy, richness, and fruitfulness, perhaps not on the physical plane but certainly on the spiritual one. Only God truly knows how to live, and as we grow to be like Him, we will experience that abundant life as well, symbolized by oil.
David C. Grabbe
Do You Have Enough Oil? (Part Two)
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Matthew 25:3-4
There is a strong contrast in the diligence of the two groups. One takes sufficient oil with it, but the other does not. Since the procession is at night, and the lamps have only a small oil reservoir, they have to replenish the oil periodically. The wise virgins prepare by carrying extra oil for when the lamps run low. This pictures readiness for future needs, which requires forethought, planning, and dedication. The foolish virgins do not prepare, content to carry only enough to appear wise. They carry out God's instructions with the least amount of effort they think they can get away with (Ecclesiastes 9:10). The foolish are not spiritually concerned about their future, but the wise are, even though they have to carry the extra weight of an oil container. However, this extra preparation gives them the hope and faith they need to meet the bridegroom successfully and enter the marriage feast.
Martin G. Collins
Parable of the Ten Virgins (Part Two)
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Matthew 25:10-13
While the foolish are busy trying to get their spiritual lives in order at the last minute, Christ comes to take the wise, and the doors to the marriage feast are shut (Matthew 25:10-13). Only those virgins who have a regular supply of oil and combine it with the lamp of God, the Bible, can hear the true voice of their Shepherd calling to them through His true ministers, including the Two Witnesses. The foolish virgins, representing many ministers too, will at first scoff at these two men and ignore their warnings. But when the Two Witnesses begin performing miracles, the foolish virgins will start to wake from their deep sleep; they will begin to repent and ask God for His Spirit. God the Father has the authority and Jesus Christ has paid the price to enable us to have oil in our vessels. Everyone called by God must pay a price, obedience to God, to receive His Holy Spirit (Acts 5:32). This means we must repent and overcome sin on a daily basis.
Staff
Y2K: You-2-the-Kingdom
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Acts 5:3
This verse is unclear on the nature of the Holy Spirit, and it must stand in the light of verses from other parts of the Bible before it is correctly understood. For instance, nowhere in the Bible is the Holy Spirit shown to have manlike shape. The Father and the Son are revealed to have body parts like us—they even sit on thrones—but the Spirit is described to be like wind, oil, fire, and water. The only shape it is ever given is that of a dove (Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32), and some dispute that the Spirit looked like a dove but rather in a visible form descended like a dove. Nevertheless, the Spirit is never described to have a humanlike shape. Man was created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27), so man looks like God. If the Spirit were also a person in a "trinity," it too would look like a man just as the Father and Son do (John 14:9). Yet, at best, the Spirit had a dove's shape in one instance, and a man and a dove have never been mistaken for each other. Other verses show the apostles giving praise, glory, and honor to the Father and Son without mentioning the Spirit (Romans 1:7; I Corinthians 1:1-4; Galatians 1:1-5; and so on through the epistles). If it were part of the Godhead, this would be a grave omission. Many of the Spirit's attributes can be shown to originate in the Father or the Son. For example, the Spirit is named "Comforter" in John 14:26 (KJV), yet the Father is called "the God of all comfort" in II Corinthians 1:3-4. Other examples include making intercession: Romans 8:26; I Timothy 2:5; and Hebrews 7:25; and enabling spiritual understanding: I Corinthians 2:10-16 and I John 5:20. In addition, the Spirit has no familial relationship to Christians. God is our Father and Christ is our Elder Brother. Paul says "Jerusalem above . . . is the mother of us all" (Galatians 4:26). The Spirit, though, is not a person but a gift of God, the mind and power of God working in and through us (II Timothy 1:7). Finally, the history of the trinity doctrine is open knowledge. The true church never accepted the idea, and even the false church did not embrace it until three centuries after Christ! Even then, it was only accepted as a political concession to the Roman emperor, Constantine. Add these facts to its absence in the Scripture, and it is no wonder the Catholics and Protestants call it a mystery!
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Lying to the Holy Spirit
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2 Timothy 1:7
The Holy Spirit is described generally as the power of God, which is certainly correct, but power comes in a number of forms. There is a flowing power caused by the movement of an object. Thus God uses water to illustrate an aspect of the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39). There is healing and nourishing power, so God uses oil to symbolize His Spirit. Words, symbols we use to represent ideas, the raw material of our thoughts, have awesome power to influence. Thus God says through Jesus that His words "are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). Words give us the power to communicate ideas from one mind to another or to many minds. They carry the power to instruct, encourage, discourage, mollify, anger, vilify, inspire, exhilarate, create, or destroy. They can make a person change his mind, motivate him to stop or move, do, undo, or redo. The power of words is almost limitless. If we examine the fruit of the Spirit, we find that they all have something to do with our minds. Words are a large portion of the mind's working material and therefore play a huge role in what the person produces with his life. It is no coincidence that Jesus is the Word of God, and the Bible, the written revelation of God and His purpose, is also the Word of God! God is trying to tell us something. He is concerned about our minds because what goes into them will determine what we produce with our lives. Will it be fruit leading to eternal life or fruit leading to death?
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Fruit of the Spirit
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Revelation 11:4
This verse tells us that these two are the two olive trees and the two lampstands "standing before the God of the earth." Why are they described as "the two lampstands"? Timing is vital to understanding this. Revelation 10 and 11 are internally chronological. At this time, the seven thunders have ceased, and the Two Witnesses have been raised up. They are the sole effort God has going as far as witnessing, preaching, and proclaiming His way on the earth. What does a lamp do? It gives light (Matthew 5:14-16). What are the Two Witnesses doing at this time? Revelation 11:4 says that they are the two lampstands that stand before the God of the whole earth. What are they doing? They are lighting the whole house, as it says in Matthew 5. What is the house? Who comprises the house of God? The church! The two olive trees put their oil in the reservoir, and it feeds the whole church - to do what? To make light! At this time, though, the church is hidden in a Place of Safety, and not even Satan can get to them, as far as we know. We know that certainly no men can get to them. So, we could say that the church's light is at that time under a basket. Who is left to be light to the world? The Two Witnesses! They are, at this point, the two lampstands. All the eyes of the world will be drawn toward these two prophets. They are the only ones that will be doing good works at that time; they are the only ones that will be publicly glorifying God in heaven. That is why they are called the two lampstands. They are the only ones remaining to shine spiritually during Jacob's trouble and the Day of the Lord. They will be, in effect, raising Cain all over the world. The whole world hates them, and they will rejoice when these two are dead - because they cannot stand the fact that these two shine so brightly for God. At this point, the seven churches are out of the picture, so the lampstands cannot represent churches. They picture these two bright lights for God. Not only will they be supplying the church with oil, but they will also be shining brightly as witnesses to the world as a result of the good works that they do.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Two Witnesses (Part Five)
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