From “Feast of Tabernacles,” Chapter 5- Feast of Pentecost, continued
And so the pattern of Pentecost takes on real meaning. “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come (was being fulfilled), they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind (a violent impetuous blowing), and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.” (Acts 2:1-6).
THE DISORDER OF BABEL REVERSED
Notice the contrast between Pentecost and Babel. There the Lord did “confound the language of all the earth,” but here at Pentecost harmony is restored by the gift of languages, and the people are “confounded.” At Babel the people were “confounded” because they could not understand the language of their own fellow-workmen and fellow-citizens; here at Pentecost the people are “confounded” because they can actually hear and understand the tongue of foreigners! O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! Shall a God of wisdom and power bring judgment upon the nations, and shall He not bring grace? Shall He curse and not bless? Shall He slay and not make alive? And shall He not bring grace out of the midst of judgment, and blessing out of cursing, and life out of death? Should we deem it an incredible thing therefore, that in the fullness of the Pentecostal experience the saints of God shall receive a gift of languages so perfect and so real and so genuine, that just as the people of Babel were “confounded” by hearing strange languages they could not understand,–so now in the day of restoration the people of Babel shall be “confounded,” but this time even unto repentance, by hearing their own languages from the lips of foreigners?
Thank God for the truth of Pentecost, and for the hope and confidence that the Lord has implanted in the hearts of His people, that we are yet to receive and experience a real Pentecostal experience, when the saints of God shall go forth into the world preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ in all the languages of the heathen. Praise His Name!
But even then we must go on, and on, and on… on from Pentecost to the greatest Feast of the Church, the Feast of Tabernacles. GHW
I want us to think about the incarnation of Christ in relation to the Feast of Tabernacles. As we will see as we continue on in Feast of Tabernacles, I look at the feast as a second incarnation of Christ. We talk a lot about the second coming of Christ, but little about the second incarnation of Christ. I know we are saved and have the Holy Spirit in us, but as Bro. Warnock will point out, there is more to grow into. In the next round, we will move into Chapter 6, The Blowing of Trumpets: An Introduction to Tabernacles.
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