“…thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” (Psalm 23:5b)

The Shepherd being the LORD (or Jehovah, God; the I AM that I AM; the All-Sufficient One in Himself; for there is no other God beside Jehovah) – then He is The Authority; for He is God, the Eternal God without beginning or ending; for He is the Creator of all things. He alone is Preeminent above all things; He alone then has all Authority, all Power (the Creator, the Controller, and the Consummator of His Creation). There is none above Him, “In the beginning God…” He is Creator of all life; Creator of time. And by Him all things exist; and by Him all things are sustained.

He is the Controller of His Creation by Counsel and Purpose. All things move because of His Appointments. His Creation is not a free-lance creation, moving by some mysterious force. No – God is the Cause and Force and Performer and Sustainer of all things. Therefore, what God has purposed comes to fruition – not based on man’s plans, power, or merits – but on Who God is; He is The Authority.

When God regenerates a sinner and comes to dwell in that sinner; then, and only then, does the sinner walk and live and move in God’s Authority. It is because of God’s Authority that His Sheep are anointed with oil (or power, a sign of abundance) on their head. (Please refer to the previous devotion in this series: “The Sovereign by Design, Part VII.”)

The Hebrew word used by David in Psalm 23:5b, “anointest,” is “dâshên” (#1878); which means “to be fat or regard as fat”; figurative, it signifies “abundance,” having reference to the (fatty) ashes of the sacrifices.

Here is an excerpt from the above referenced devotion:

David used this Hebrew word, “dâshên,” to show that God (Jehovah, the LORD, my Shepherd) had also planned and purposed to give David an abundance in his life. David was anointed king over Israel. (That is, he was set apart – above all others – to be king over Israel; or he was consecrated.) But that anointing, or setting apart, to be king of Israel is but one of the blessings, or rewards, that God had for David in his lifetime.

In Psalm 23:5b, David is using a metaphor of God’s fatness, or the abundance of God’s Blessings – both physical and spiritual – upon his head, or his spirit (using the oil being placed on his head as a symbol of this).

The oil was a symbol of the gladness of joy in the Old Testament (Psalm 47:5; Isaiah 61:3); as well as a sign of consecration, as when Aaron was anointed with oil, to be set aside for the High Priesthood of Israel. It also is a symbol of the Holy Spirit in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. (See Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18; Hebrews 1:9; 1 John 2:27.)

Therefore, David was saying in Psalm 23:5b: Thou has given me an Abundance of the Joy of the Lord. And my Sovereign had purposed this before time ever was.

The effect, or result, of a sheep being placed experientially in the Authority of God causes him to be blessed with the Abundance of the Rewards of God.

These results, or rewards, are more than a finite human mind can comprehend, or enumerate; these flow to the Regenerated Sheep of God, based on the Eternal Purpose of God for each Sheep in Christ: “…my cup runneth over.”

These rewards fall into three major categories:

• Spiritual: in Position in Christ (in Eternity past; and Judicial in time, on the Cross)
  1. Redemption;
  2. Reconciliation;
  3. Sanctification;
  4. Justification;
  5. Wisdom;
  6. Righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:7; Romans 3:24-25)

“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: (25) Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;” (Romans 3:24-25)

• Physical: in Practice in Christ daily; this includes:
  1. Regeneration/Conversion in time (Galatians 3:14; 4:5-6; Romans 8:14-16);
  2. The Walking of the Regenerated sinner in “The Faith” daily; in love, holiness, peace, joy, and power (Romans 14:17);
  3. A progressive Growth in Grace and Knowledge of Christ (2 Peter 3:18);
  4. Being a Partaker of the Divine Nature of God, through His giving His Sheep great and precious promises (2 Peter 1:4);
  5. Overcoming Power daily of the Regenerated Sheep over all sin (Philippians 4:13; 1 John 5:4);
  6. Daily being perfected into Oneness with Christ (John 17:21-24);
  7. Daily bearing the fruit of the Sprit (Galatians 5:22-23); fruit that remains, whereby an internal witness by the Spirit of God that you are His son or daughter (Romans 8:14-16).

• The Future: in Perfection, in Christ forever:

The last part of the Chain of Grace that the Apostle Paul listed is “glorified” (Romans 8:29-30). This process of Sanctification leads us to the Perfect State, or Glorification in Christ. This happens after the Sheep’s physical life ends in physical death.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:18 that until the Sheep’s death, he is changed “from glory to glory”:

“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

But when physical death comes to a Sheep of God, he then is clothed with a house, or tabernacle, “not made with hands” (2 Corinthians 5:1-8); he is given “a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:44), whereby the Sheep is able to enter into the very Presence of God. (See 1 Corinthians 15:45-57.) Corruption will put on incorruption, for “…flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God…”  (1 Corinthians 15:50). That is, flesh and blood cannot enter the Kingdom of God, cannot enter into His Presence.

This spiritual body is a perfect body without sin, with no corruption. Therefore, he enters into the Perfection of Christ in Christ’s Eternal Presence.

Yes, David wrote, “my cup runneth over.”

• In the Spiritual; Eternity Past in God’s Eternal Purpose in Christ (Ephesians 1:4-11); which deals with the Sheep’s Position in Christ (or in Righteousness) in the Mind of God before time ever was.

• In the Physical; as seen in the Practice; whereby Christ comes to dwell in the Believer in the Process of Regeneration/Conversion in time; which is manifested in the fruit borne by the Believer in his daily walk in Sanctification, as he progresses toward Future Perfection.

• In the Future; as seen in Perfection; when, after the physical death of the Sheep, he enters into the very Presence of God in Glory. (Amen and Amen! Hallelujah!)

Yes, the Sheep’s cup runneth over in the Past, Present, and Future in Christ.