From “Feast of Tabernacles,” Chapter 5- Feast of Pentecost, continued
This experience [the new birth], however, was not sufficient by way of equipping them for the great and mighty tasks which lay just ahead of them; and so the Lord “commanded that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” (Acts 1:4, 5). And so they tarried in Jerusalem for the “promise of the Father,” and after ten days the Holy Ghost came down upon them, and literally revolutionized their whole concept of life and service by transforming weak and humble vessels into the mighty apostles of truth and power and authority.
PENTECOST WAS A HARVEST FEAST
In one instance it is called “the feast of harvest.” (Ex. 23:16). It was so called because they had just completed the harvesting of their grain. The sheaf had already been waved before the Lord fifty days before, heralding the coming of the harvest; and now the harvest time had come. And what a tremendous harvest there was! Peter preached his dynamic sermon under the “dunamis,” the “power” of the Holy Ghost, and some three thousand souls were added to the disciples. A few days later there was another harvest, and we are told “the number of the men was about five thousand.” (Acts 4:4)–to say nothing of the hundreds or thousands of women and children who also must have believed at the same time. The revival continued with ever-increasing power from day to day, “And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.” (Acts 5:14). Great and mighty signs and miracles were wrought amongst the people, until–in very short order–Jerusalem, and then Samaria, and then the uttermost parts of the earth literally rocked under the mighty impact of the Holy Ghost through His anointed ministers. Truly the Day of Pentecost was a great Day… but the Day is not finished yet… that was but the dawning of the Day. We have yet to witness the noon-day splendour of the Feast of Pentecost.
PENTECOST SIGNIFIED THE FORMATION OF THE BODY
“Ye 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 firstfruits unto the Lord.” (Lev. 23:17). The loaves of bread would speak to us of God’s people in union with Christ. “For we being many are one bread, and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread.” (1 Cor. 10:17). The number “two” is quite significant in that it refers to Christ in the fullness of His Body. It would be interesting to follow the meaning of the number “two” through the Scriptures. There is Adam and Eve, two and yet, one,–Eve being the complement, the likeness, the counterpart of Adam. Then there is the sun and moon–the latter being the glory of the former, having no light of its own. Then there were two rows of bread on the table of shewbread in the holy place of the tabernacle; and the two tables of stone in the ark of the covenant–the law written first on the heart and mind of the only begotten Son, and finally on the heart and mind of His people. Then there were the two trumpets that were used for the calling of the assembly and for the journeying of the camps. And so we read concerning Christ and His Body, that He died and rose again that He might “make in Himself of twain one new man.” (Eph. 2:15).
Hence in the “two” loaves of this new meal-offering we have the completion of this new Body of believers known as the Church, wherein all the believers were “made… one” by the grace and Spirit of Christ. (Eph. 2:14). The grain had been harvested, and now instead of a sheaf we have two loaves, a body of believers. The loaves were “baked with leaven” because from the time of Pentecost right until now, the Church of Christ has never been really free from division, sectarianism, and carnality. How wonderful it is to know that God knew exactly what the Church would be like throughout her long history, and made the type to fit accordingly! GHW
Just as the new birth experience “was not sufficient by way of equipping them for the great and mighty tasks which lay just ahead of them,” Pentecost, even embraced and experienced in its “noon-day splendour,” will not be sufficient for the great and mighty tasks that lay ahead of the 21st century church.
As Joseph S. Girdler and Carolyn Tennant say in their recent book, Keys to the Apostolic and Prophetic: Embracing the Authentic, Avoiding the Bizarre[1], “Apostolicity (my favorite new word, by the way) requires strong inclinations of faith. It demands Spirit-directed desire for new initiatives and witness endeavors, having shifted from wanting a visitation from God to longing for a habitation of God—an abiding presence shaping, molding, and establishing every experience in Christ.”
This, too, will come line upon line, precept upon precept.
[1] 2019 Meadow Stream Publishing, Crestwood, Kentucky
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