Three Transforming Experiences - Part 3
The second great Feast of the Lord, the Feast of Pentecost, was originally observed to commemorate a landmark event in the history of the people of Israel when God descended onto Mt Sinai in the sight of all the people and gave the law and commandments to Israel through Moses.
In the life of a New Testament believer, this feast is experienced in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
On the calendar that God gave to the Jewish people, Pentecost is celebrated 50 days after Passover.
Passover is a feast of unleavened bread, but leaven is allowed in the Feast of Pentecost. This has caused confusion for a lot of believers who did not understand how this affects church experiences in the New Testament age. For example, there have been many true revivals inspired by the Holy Spirit, but in most of these revivals there has been mixture. People have seen what looked like true manifestations of God’s Holy Spirit, but alongside these, people have also seen evidence of carnality, impurity, and immaturity. The human influence has been seen working alongside the Holy Spirit’s influence. There has been mixture. In many cases, the result has been that people have rejected a genuine move of God because they saw things that they didn’t like.
There may have been things in every revival that were not of God, but we must realize that leaven is allowed in the Feast of Pentecost. In many cases, people may have thrown out the baby with the bathwater by rejecting a true move of God simply because they also saw evidence of the leaven of the human spirit at work as well.
God has promised to pour out His Spirit on “all flesh” (Acts 2:17). When this happens, things can get messy. ALL flesh may mean immature flesh, unsanctified flesh, unspiritual flesh and even unsaved flesh. After all, Cornelius’ family was baptized in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues before any of them had even made a profession of faith in Christ! Read the story in Acts chapter 10! This means that God may pour His Spirit out on unsaved Buddhists, Muslims, atheists, Republicans, and Democrats. When this happens, we cannot expect the same behavior or the same level of character that we might see in the lives of mature believers. Mixture is allowed in the Feast of Pentecost. We must make allowances for that and make sure that we do not reject something that God is doing just because it does not meet our expectations.
No work was allowed on the last day of the Feast of Pentecost. Again, just as in the Feast of Passover, this is a work of God, not a work of man. There is not a thing you can do to baptize yourself in the Holy Spirit. God does that. Our part is to ask, believe, and receive it by faith.
Fulfilling the Feast of Pentecost
As an individual believer, you experience the fulfillment of the Feast of Pentecost when you receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
This feast was fulfilled for the Church in Acts chapter 2 when the 120 disciples in the upper room received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This was literally fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost according to the Jewish calendar, 50 days after Jesus fulfilled Passover. Jesus remained on Earth for 40 days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3), and so the disciples still had to wait 10 days in the upper room until the Day of Pentecost was fully come. When the fullness of time was reached, the Holy Spirit came at the time of the Feast of Pentecost according to the Jewish calendar that God had given them.
The Feast of Pentecost is also known as the Feast of Firstfruits. On that day in Acts chapter 2, we see the firstfruits of Jesus’ disciples reaching a level of spiritual maturity and entering into the fullness of the Feast of Pentecost experience. These were the first of Jesus’ disciples to receive the outpouring of His spirit with power.
This fulfillment on the Day of Pentecost, recorded in Acts chapter 2, opened the door for everyone who believes to enter into this experience.
This transforming experience allows us to enter into the Holy Place in God’s Tabernacle. This is a wonderful experience, but there is still one more Feast and one more area of God’s Tabernacle that is even greater than the first two. Our transformation is not complete until we fully experience the Feast of Tabernacles.
Three Transforming Experiences
Watch the video:
Download the Microsoft PowerPoint file:
