Thank you for illuminating another shadow of Christ for me, Mr E.
Christ was the first to be anointed "so that in all things that He may have preeminence" "the stone of stumbling, the rock of offence." "The Man in whom all the fullness of God was well pleased to dwell (house of God)" "truly, i tell you, you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
Can I pull you in a slightly different direction? Jesus was anointed. It was the anointing that made him Jesus- Christ (the anointed). It's a subtle point and easily missed or dismissed. In fact, it's often missed in scripture by those who choose to consider only things they've previously been told or taught and among these things they've been taught this 'shadows of Christ' idea. Please don't take offense.
Jacob saw the heavens opened and those angels of God ascending and descending and thought that physical place to be the house (temple) of God, renaming it from Luz, to Beth-el. Jesus came many centuries later and the spirit that descended upon him came in the form of a dove, and through his teaching we discovered a deeper truth concerning what the house of God is, and it's not a stone, or a temple of many stones, but He dwells in us, and we are His house, His temple, the living stones set one upon another alongside Christ, the cornerstone.
It's interesting to me, fascinating how the stories knit so perfectly together. Only possible when every fact is true, making it possible for every piece to interconnect seamlessly, as told by a Master storyteller/Creator who knows the end at the beginning. It becomes evident as the story unfolds through time, even thousands of years.
Jacob set up a stone, and poured oil on it, anointing a stone with oil as a marker-- a physical monument to act not only as a fixed place on the earth, but also a fixed point in time. He was saying from that moment on, he had a new understanding. He had gained a new perspective. 'The Lord, will be my God' he decided, from that moment on, based on that one experience in dream. The old passed away, and for him-- everything became new.
In Hebrew those monument- sacred stones are called matstsebah. We could think of them as a kind of memorial stone, a monument and marker, yes-- but of a kind. Like tombstones. Grave stones-- marking a place where the old is put off and left behind and a new understanding is come - a physical death, a spiritual awakening. A new perspective.
Jacob's matstsebah was the original head stone. Here lies Jacob bar Issac. Ever-changed.