PENTECOST

THE third of the ceremonial feasts was the Feast of Pentecost. “You shall count unto you from the
morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths
shall be complete: even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall you number fifty days; and you
shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. You shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of
two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven; they are the first fruits unto the
Lord. And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young
bullock, and two rams. They shall be for a burnt offering unto the Lord, with their meat offering, and their
drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savor unto the Lord. Then you shall sacrifice one
kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. And the
priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before the Lord, with the two
lambs: they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. And you shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may
be a holy convocation unto you: you shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute forever in all your
dwellings throughout your generations.” Leviticus 23:15-21.
This feast represented the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the beginning of Christ’s priestly
ministry.
“When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And
suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where
they were sitting. And there appeared unto them doyen tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of theta.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave
them utterance.” Acts 2:14.
Connected with this feast was a burnt offering, a sin offering, and a peace offering, signifying that
Pentecost was--- related to the saving work of Christ, and was possible only through the shed blood of the
Sacrifice. Connected with it also were the two wave loaves, which were called the bread of the first fruits,
and linked Pentecost with the first fruits of the Spirit. The offering of the meat offering at the Feast of
Pentecost indicated that that which it typified had to do with the new life obtainable only in Christ.
In the type it occurred annually fifty days after the Feast of the First Fruits, and therefore typified a
fact of Christ’s work as priest. It typified the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In the antitype it evidenced the
acceptance of Jesus by the Father, and His glorious exaltation to the right hand of God in heaven.
“This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of
God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this
which you now see and hear.” Acts 2:32, 33.
“For such a High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled ‘ separate from sinners, and
made higher than the heaven.” Hebrews 7:26.
“Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. The
God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His
right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are
His witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him.”
Acts 5:29-32.
The different features of this service witnessed to the following facts: The blood of the offerings
evidenced that the penalty for sin had been paid, The loaves of the meat offering testified of resurrection
and life through the blood. The Pentecost offering, which always was in the nature of a thanksgiving
sacrifice, witnessed to the peace secured through the death of the substitute.
The whole service in the antitype gave assurance in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that Jesus
had been accepted for us as Mediator with the Father and testified to power provided to live victoriously in
Christ, for the gift of the Spirit was the result of the glorification of the Savior.
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“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him
come unto Me, and drink. He that believes on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water. (But this spoke He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for
the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)” John 7:37-39.
The fact that made possible the coming of the Holy Spirit in the fullness of Pentecost, was that the
ministry of the atoning blood -by our great High Priest had begun in the heavenly sanctuary. To this
ministry He had been consecrated forevermore by the oath of God. A sacrifice by which God’s justice had
been made evident, had been offered. The witness of His blood now was continually before the Lord in a
ministry of atonement in heaven. God had placed in the sanctuary a priest that His own oath had
consecrated, and through His priestly ministry was prepared to give power to become children to all those
who believe on Christ. Through the ministry of His Son, too, He was ready to make us partakers of His
own divine nature. To all this the Spirit had come to bear witness, and His coming and presence is the
earnest of our heir ship to the eternal inheritance.
The disciples were the first of those living at the time of Christ’s death to understand the
atonement, and the first to claim its benefits through the blood of the atonement. They consequently were
the first upon whom the Holy Spirit came in evidence of the fact that Christ’s priesthood had been
inaugurated. They were the first on earth to know that the blood of the covenant was being effectively
ministered in behalf of repentant sinners.
“The Pentecostal outpouring was Heaven’s communication that the Redeemer’s inauguration was
accomplished. According to His promise, He had sent the Holy Spirit from heaven to His followers, as a
token that He had, as priest and king, received all authority in heaven and on earth, and was the Anointed
One over His people.” – “The Acts of the Apostles,” p. 39.
In His proclamation through Peter on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit made clear that it was
because of this heavenly ministry by which sins were remitted that the Spirit is bestowed. He also made it
clear that this ministry is for all peoples. “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our
God shall call.” Acts 2:38, 39.
Thus the marvelous scenes of the day of Pentecost revealed the important fact that Christ’s atoning
work had not been completed on the cross, but rather had begun there. Pentecost gave abundant assurance,
however, both in teaching and in results, that the work begun by Christ on the cross will triumph gloriously
through His ministry in heaven.
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God bath made that same Jesus, whom
you have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Acts 2:36.
“Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto
them about three thousand souls.” Acts 2:41.
“The world that Satan has claimed and has ruled over with cruel tyranny, the Son of God has, by
one vast achievement, encircled in His love, and connected again with the throne of Jehovah. Cherubim and
seraphim, and the unnumbered hosts of all the unfallen worlds, sang anthems of praise to God and the
Lamb when, this triumph was assured.” – “Mount of Blessing,” p. 154.
In New Testament teaching concerning individual salvation, we find that the presence of the Holy
Spirit in the heart of the individual believer, and His control of the life, are made essential to victory in
Christ. It calls for death to sin in Christ Jesus; for a new life in Christ in whom we have been quickened
from the dead, and in whom we now live anew; and for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, without whom we
are none of Christ’s.
“You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any
man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of
sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the
dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His
Spirit that dwells in you!” Romans 8:9-11.
So then, even after we have accepted the sacrifice which God has provided, and through the
ministry of Christ have received the benefits of the atonement, it is necessary for us to have the Holy Spirit
and to be constantly under His control. Otherwise God’s great salvation cannot be continuously effectual in
us. Without the Holy Spirit we cannot even die to sin, for it is by the Spirit that the deeds of the body are
mortified; and we cannot live anew without the Holy Spirit, for it is the Spirit that quickens us. Observe this
in Romans 8:11,13: “If you live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you through the Spirit do mortify the
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deeds of the body, you shall live!” “If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He
that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you!’
The quickening of our mortal bodies is dependent upon the Spirit’s dwelling, in us. It works from
within.
The Holy Spirit is provided to give us guidance in the new life. He bears witness to our son ship.
No matter haw confidently we may claim a right to God’s favor and to holiness of life, if, the witness of
God’s Spirit is at variance with our own spirit, we may be sure that our relationship with God is not that of
sons. While the Holy Spirit has been sent forth to witness to us and in us, He is given, in the sense of our
Savior’s promise to His people, only to those who obey God. Acts 5:32.
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit leads to more complete obedience. Obedience was the condition
upon which Christ promised the Holy Spirit. “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the
Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of
truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him: but you know Him; for
He dwells with you, and shall be in you!” John 14:15-17.
This indwelling of the Spirit of God is our protection against the enemy. “So shall they fear the
name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in
like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall put him to flight.” Isaiah 59:19, margin.
Pentecost was a wonderful reality to the believers in Christ who were gathered together, when the
Holy Spirit came upon them. One important thing that we should notice is that the Spirit, when He came
upon them, filled all their hearts, and all that He did to make Pentecost wonderful was brought about by the
Spirit having control of the men to whom He own. In this there has been no change. To us as to the first
disciples the Holy Spirit is sent not merely to be with us, but to be in us, filling us with His presence and
His power.
We hear far too much about “a visitation” of the Holy Spirit, when in reality He has not come
merely to visit, but to abide. It is God’s purpose that our body shall be the “temple of the Holy Ghost,” and
that He shall dwell in His temple, not as a Guest, but as Master. His control of us in the new life which we
have in Christ Jesus, is our guaranty that there shall be no return by us to the old life. It is of first
importance to us, therefore, that we quench not the, Spirit just as He is beginning to do His work, but that
we honor Him, and obey Him in all things.
Observe how completely He was in control of the first disciples. Peter, the man through whom the
Spirit spoke At Pentecost, declared to the apostles and brethren at Jerusalem on one important occasion,
“The Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting and we entered into the man’s house!” Acts 11:12.
The Spirit was in control of Peter. On another occasion, when Paul and Timothy purposed to go into Asia
preaching the word, they were positively forbidden so to do. “Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia
and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were
come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia. But the Spirit suffered them not.” Acts 16:6, 7.
The Spirit had ruler ship of these men. When He bade them go, they went; when He suffered them
not, they were wholly under His restraint.
This control of our lives by the Spirit is the secret of joyous, loving, peaceful, victorious
Christianity, and that we may experience this in its fullness, we are admonished to “live in the Spirit” and
to “walk in the Spirit,” that we fulfill not “the lusts of the flesh.”