Bells and Pomegranates; Character Vs. Anointing

"And upon its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet yarn, all around its hem, and bells of gold between them all around: a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe all around” - Exodus 28:33-34

"Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven" - Luke 10:20.

The first scripture was an instruction given to Moses concerning how Aaron’s Priestly garment was supposed to be designed. That was part of the characteristics of the garment. He told him that he should hang bells and pomegranates on the hem.

Everything in the Old Testament is a shadow of the New Testament realities. The pomegranate fruit in the New Testament signifies the fruits of the Spirit. And bells signify gifts of the Holy Spirit or anointing. So figuratively, upon Aaron’s garments were character and anointing. 1 Peter 2:29 makes us understand that we are priests in the new covenant.

God needs us to have these bells and pomegranates in our lives. He needs us to have both character and anointing. If we take a closer look at the Exodus scripture, we realize that there was a format he gave; Exodus 28:33 "And upon its hem, you shall make pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet yarn, all around its hem, and bells of gold between them….”. He said the bells should be in between the already hanged pomegranates.

This means, on Aaron the Priest’s garment, he was supposed to have character first, before the anointing. That doesn’t differ from the New Testament priest’s spiritual garment.

Even though God expects us to have both character and anointing, His will is that, we develop character first after our Salvation before we go on to get the anointing. So how then is a character built before the anointing?

The Christian, after salvation, has the Holy Spirit in him. This indwelling of the Spirit is what is supposed to produce character in you.

The 12 and the Pomegranates

Did you realize that, the disciples had Character issues/flaws before and sometime after Jesus’ death? Peter, for example, was someone who was not patient enough – he went back to fishing when Jesus wasn’t showing up after He died as He promised.

These are character issues and so many Christians have even though they have the indwelt Spirit. By this time, the disciples had not yet been saved. They hadn’t received a regeneration of the spirit yet – they were not born again. How then did they get born again?

When Jesus entered the upper room after his resurrection, He said something; ‘ ”receive the Spirit” (John 20:22). That was the indwelling of the Holy Spirit – which happens after Salvation. After he did this, he told the disciples to wait, and all of them were able to have the patience to wait (including Peter).

Patience is character. During that waiting period was where the indwelling Spirit was building character in them in anticipation of the outpouring of the Spirit (empowerment to work or anointing).

So this means, after Salvation (indwelling of the Spirit), your responsibility is to build character in you before you desire gifts and anointing(empowerment to do God’s work). God isn’t interested in anointing you. He’s interested in helping you to build character (hang some pomegranates first) before he anoints you (put bells in between them). So many people claim they are ‘ministers’ and ‘anointed’ who have character flaws. That saddens my heart sometimes.

God’s Concern

Finding anointed people isn’t God’s problem but people with character is His concern. He’s looking for people who desire to have character first, after salvation before they seek anointing. Everyone wants to prophesy, heal, deliver, speak to a large number of audience, and do so many mighty things for God, but they don’t have pomegranates (characters) on their priestly garments. The bells will make so much noise; many will come to appreciate your gifts. But there may not be enough silent pomegranates to control the noise.

Your anointing alone will cause so much chaos and confusion in the ordered House of God if you fail to hang some pomegranates (build your character). Your gifts and anointing will destroy you and others if you lack character. What are these Pomegranates?

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law". – Galatians 5:22-23.

The Fruits of the Spirit are the Pomegranates. Those are what God expect you to manifest before He entrusts you with anointing. You don’t need anointing, you only want it. Character is what you need. When we begin to crave anointing and give less attention to character, our generation will be subject to failures.

Responsibility Beckons

So you see, God hangs the pomegranates before the bells. Don’t misappropriate things. Beloved, your responsibility is to build character. As for the anointing, it’s God’s duty. When God wants you to do something, he gives you the authority to back you up. As far as you accept the responsibility, He’ll send you the anointing to do it. All you need is to trust him. So just concentrate on building your character and the anointing will last. You won’t struggle if your season of manifestation comes.

Vineyard Workers

We are workers in God’s vineyard. A vineyard has fruits. And after everything, it is the fruits that are harvested. No vineyard owner will inspect the charisma of the workers. He’s going to check for the quality of fruits the vineyard workers were able to produce. What I’m trying to mean is, your gifts and anointing are not needed in heaven.

He’s a God of a rich Character (love). Please, don’t be an improperly dressed servant of God (priest). You must be able to have Bells and pomegranates in their right places, otherwise, you are an improperly dressed priest.

Let it be your priority and ask the Holy Spirit to help you. Your Anointing can always wait for your character. If you do this, you’ll be more effective in Ministry. Your character makes your anointing very beautiful and effective. Don’t be found wanting That is what sends you far.

May the Lord mend our nets!