"Touch not my anointed..."

When I remember this verse, sometimes, an image pops up in my mind: a "pastor" standing over and threatening even members of his own congregation with God's wrath if they question his actions or upset him because he is God's "anointed." 

But who really is this "anointed" that God has commanded to not be touched according to His word which many religious devils try to use to threaten Christ’s sheep with God’s wrath? No One better to interpret the word than God's Word Himself. We see who "My anointed" refers to in Psalm 105, the same chapter where "Touch not my anointed..." is taken from:

"1 Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples!

2 Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works!

3 Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!

4 Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face evermore!

5 Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,

6 O seed of Abraham His servant, You children of Jacob, His chosen ones!"

Let's pause here to define who the "seed of Abraham" and the Lord's "chosen ones" who should rejoice in Him in this manner are. See this in Galatians 3:29-

"And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise."

Beloved of God, you and I who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (having Him as our Righteousness and Strength) are Abraham's seed. Psalm 105 continues from verse 7-

7 "He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth.

8 He remembers His covenant forever, The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,

9 The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac,

10 And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant,

11 Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan As the allotment of your inheritance,”

12 When they were few in number, Indeed very few, and strangers in it.

13 When they went from one nation to another, From one kingdom to another people,

14 He permitted no one to do them wrong; Yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes,

15 Saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.”"

This blessing is for the entire nation of Israel - Abraham's seed - not just their priests. Plus, you and I who are Christ’s are “Abraham’s seed”— we are the anointed in our heavenly Father’s word:

“Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.”"

Beloved of God, "touch not my anointed..." is for all those who are under the covenant that God made with Abraham; for Abraham's seed and not for a select few from the flock who have “paid their dues.” It is for you and I who believe in Jesus Christ our Lord and Shepherd. Recall Galatians 3:29-

“And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise."

We who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are children of God by His Grace. He is our heavenly Father and has placed our older brothers (Grace-filled pastors and leaders) as under-shepherds over us. How would we hear the word and thus be saved if they are not sent? We need our under-shepherds to feed us with the word of God's saving Grace who saves from sins, not to break the legs of His sheep or ask the Good Shepherd to pour His wrath on us when we misbehave, ask questions or fall into impossible situations as sheep are wont to do.

We need them, not to threaten us with God's wrath when we fail or annoy them but to help us overcome our failings by pointing us to Christ as Saviour, even Saviour from sins. This is why He gave His life for you and I--

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds." Titus 2:14.

I can't imagine my older son (who himself is imperfect of himself) threatening his younger brother with my wrath, starvation, punitive withdrawal of privileges and other mean things from me because his younger brother disagreed with or was nasty to him. Both of them are my "anointed"!

All of the above concern relations within the flock of the Lord Jesus Christ our Shepherd who anoints our head with oil. All of us, whether pastor or pew warmer. But what about those who are outside the flock of Christ aka non-Christians, especially those who make fun of us or try to make life difficult for us because of the One in whom we believe? As believers in Christ, should pastor or church member be threatening such with "Touch not my anointed..."? Beloved, the Word Himself always provides answers to and interprets His Word:

Consider the time when our Saviour Jesus Christ walked the earth as Man. Luke 9 gives an account of an incident that happened during this time— as Jesus was going to die for us in Jerusalem. Very important to note that this incident took place in the same SAMARIA where Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume the soldiers of King Ahaziah (the son of Jezebel and King Ahab) who ordered his arrest; just as some “pastors” are threatening to rain down fire or God’s wrath on non-Christians and even Christians alike— here’s the account of the incident: 

51 “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, 52 and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. 53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. 54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”

The Samaritans rejected Christ, as was the case during the time of Elijah when the inhabitants of Samaria rejected the Lord. James and John knew their Scriptures quite well and were angling for a repeat of what happened with those who died by fire from heaven because they rejected the Lord in the time of Elijah; they wanted to “command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did.” But look at the response of our Saviour Jesus Christ in the very next verse 55:

55 “But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. 56 For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.”

Believers, with Christ as our righteousness and strength, we are of the same "manner of spirit" that Christ speaks of: His Spirit. We are not of that manner of spirit that seeks to see people suffer or die by fire for their sins and misdeeds, disagreement with "anointed pastor" or their rejection of Christ, but one that desires for the world to be saved through Christ as it is written in John 3:17 -

"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

Christ was scourged, spat upon, ridiculed, derided, mocked, scoffed at and stripped naked probably without the decency of a loincloth as He hung on the cross for even the worst of us. He took every insult and reproach and died for the sins of even the vilest offender. Yet we see “pastor” who claims to be an ambassador of this same Jesus Christ condemning helpless sinners, threatening the scattered flock with God’s wrath which Christ sacrificed Himself to save us from and worse, spouting threats of fire from heaven (God’s wrath) from church pulpits at the slightest hint of disagreement from church members or perceived insults from those who are yet to know and believe Christ? Beloved, these things should not be so.

To any who knows of Elymas and might see him as one who tried to touch an anointed of God, Elymas was a sorcerer who was trying to prevent souls from being saved. Elymas' blindness was not as a result of insulting Paul an apostle of Christ who, by Grace, was willing to suffer insult, public beating and humiliation, shame and be put in chains for the sake of the message of Christ. Paul wrote—

“Beloved, don’t be obsessed with taking revenge, but leave that to God’s righteous justice. For the Scriptures say: “Vengeance is mine, and I will repay,” says the Lord. And: If your enemy is hungry, buy him lunch! Win him over with kindness. For your surprising generosity will awaken his conscience, and God will reward you with favor.” Romans 12:19-‬20.

And for any who recall some youths making fun of a certain Old Testament prophet of God with “Go up, bald head,” we are not under the dispensation of the LAW as was Elisha but under GRACE where we enjoy God's unmerited favour in Christ and share same with all— reconciled to God and given the ministry of reconciling the word to God who is no longer counting the world’s sin against them but cancelling them—

17” Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life]. 

18 But all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ [making us acceptable to Him] and gave us the ministry of reconciliation [so that by our example we might bring others to Him], 

19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people’s sins against them [but canceling them]. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation [that is, restoration to favor with God]. 

20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us; we [as Christ’s representatives] plead with you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. 

21 He made Christ who knew no sin to [judicially] be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we would become the righteousness of God [that is, we would be made acceptable to Him and placed in a right relationship with Him by His gracious lovingkindness].” 2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:17-21‬ ‭

Beloved, let us walk worthy of our calling as ambassadors of Christ, not discrediting His name up and down by slathering helpless and erring sheep with curse and condemnation of which Christ has none to give anyone but telling the world about His beautiful message of reconciliation and how there is no condemnation at all for all who believe in Him. He came to save even the vilest offender, not to condemn or rain fire down from heaven on the helpless sinner.

Christ was spat upon, beaten, derided, mocked, ridiculed and stripped by non-believers yet He died for wicked sinners- the default mode of whole world, including super-religious Nicodemus — the first recipient of Christ’s word in John 3:16 — before he forsook all his attempts keeping the law in order to be godly aka the way of “the world.” Christ never sent lions to eat anybody up!

But some wield the “touch not my anointed or else face God's wrath" stick at the slightest hint of disagreement with another to put the tormenting fear of God's wrath in believers and thus beat many into submission. 

Beloved of God, not every assembly is "assembly of the brethren" so watch what you are hearing in your local church. By God's Grace, don't let any "pastor" frighten, bully or coerce you into doing their selfish bidding with the threat of "touch not my anointed" and God's wrath which His word says we will never experience because of what Christ has done. See Romans 5:9--

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

Beloved, this is our reality in Christ Jesus. In Him, God sees us as righteous, “even though we are guilty of many sins”—

“And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.” Romans 5:16. 

This above is not so that we should continue to wallow in sins or disobey God's sanctioned authority and church leadership as antichrist pastors love to imply. No friend. It is the message of the cross. Religious types who deceive themselves by thinking that they can keep even an atom of the law as Peter did before Satan sifted him for the good that he claimed to possess, they cannot but see the truth of Grace (unmerited favour) in the light of—

“So you mean I can just go out and murder someone and God will still see me as righteous?”

Little wonder beloved, 

“18 For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God. 19 For it is written and forever remains written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise [the philosophy of the philosophers],

And the cleverness of the clever [who do not know Me] I will nullify.”

20 Where is the wise man (philosopher)? Where is the scribe (scholar)? Where is the debater (logician, orator) of this age? Has God not exposed the foolishness of this world’s wisdom? 

21 For since the world through all its [earthly] wisdom failed to recognize God, God in His wisdom was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached [regarding salvation] to save those who believe [in Christ and welcome Him as Savior].” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭1:18-21‬ ‭‬‬

Beloved, whose report do we believe? That of self-righteous “men of God” who threaten the flock with God’s wrath which His Word says believers will NEVER experience, deceive themselves by thinking that they have as much as an atom of good in their arm of flesh to keep even a tittle of the law and deride God’s WRITTEN word concerning His Way of salvation OR the Word of God Himself whose ways and thoughts are higher than man's fallen human logic? According to God’s Wisdom which is foolishness and illogical to human reasoning, receiving His abundance of Grace and His GIFT of Righteousness is HOW we get to live in triumph over sin and death, and only through Christ- Romans 5:16-17:

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."

Remember, beloved--

"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

Beloved— 

• you who have been using "Touch not my anointed" to slap your congregation into fearful submission; 

• you who threaten your congregation or the world that God so loved with fear of evil things happening to them because they insulted or annoyed you instead of pointing the weak to Christ for salvation from sins, 

— beloved of God, once you put your trust utterly in Christ as your Righteousness and Strength and stop trusting in your own useless attempts at being godly (be like God)—- once you humble yourself to see that the only difference between you and that vile offender whom you feel superior to is God’s mercy in preventing Satan from sifting you like wheat as he did self-trusting Peter; once you put your trust in Christ alone as your righteousness and strength and stop your silly efforts to save yourself, then you have God’s gift of no condemnation in Christ Jesus that makes us go and sin no more, including salvation from the sin of misrepresenting Christ as one who came to condemn people to wrath. He will never punish you for your sins. Rather, He will save you from them all. This is what He came to do--

"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Titus 2:14

So let’s ask the Lord to open the eyes of our mind to know and believe His everlasting love for us, beloved. 

The Holy Spirit teaches us all things.