The Holy Spirit of Promise
Dear Brethren,
Pentecost pictures us, God's spiritual people, as the firstfruits of
God's harvest, who are being prepared for the Kingdom of God. Pentecost
also pictures the beginning of the Church of God, the called out ones,
empowered by God's Holy Spirit. God's Holy Spirit is the Life,
Power, Love and Mind of God the Father and Jesus Christ. "Holy
Spirit" in Greek is 'Hagion Pneuma' meaning holy
breath. "Jesus being full of the Holy Spirit
returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness."
(Luke 4:1) When we receive His Spirit, God begins to impart to us
His life, and every Godly characterstic He possesses.
When we receive His Spirit, God becomes our
Father. As we become His children, we also begin to be like Him. We
are being created in His Image. "God said,
Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." (Genesis
1:26) God chooses us to be
His children. He then gives His Holy Spirit to all who repent
of their sins and are baptized. "Peter said unto them,
Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
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)
Through the power of God's Spirit all believers will eventually be
resurrected and changed from mortal to immortal beings. "If the Spirit of [the Father] who 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 dwelleth in you." (Romans
8:11) "Now is Christ [the
Wave-Sheaf offering] risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of
them that slept." (1Corinthians
15:20) We will be
fully Spirit, in the Family of God - just as
"God is
Spirit." (John 4:24)
What is the meaning of "firstfruits"? The Spiritual
meaning of the term, "firstfruits" is typical of the
first agricultural produce to ripen each year. God uses the analogy
of the early harvest and the late harvest to demonstrate His plan of
salvation. Ancient Israel observed Pentecost - then, called the
Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Harvest - in late spring
after the barley harvest. All of the early grain harvested from
the day of the Wave-Sheaf offering up to Pentecost was firstfruits.
In the same way, we brethren are a part of the early spiritual harvest
- along with Jesus Christ, the first of the Firstfruits.
(1Corinthians 15:20)
"The feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which
thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the
end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the
field." (Exodus 23:16) "In the day of the firstfruits,
when ye bring a new meat offering unto the Lord, after your weeks be
out, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile
work." (Num 28:26)
Pentecost is also called the
Feast of Weeks, referring to the seven weeks prior to the fiftieth
day. "And thou shalt observe the Feast of Weeks, of the
firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the
year's end." (Exodus 34:22) "When the day of
Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one
place." (Acts 2:1)
Pentecost represents the
establishment of the New Testament Church with the coming of God's Holy
Spirit. God's Law was given on this day on Mount Sinai. The
Holy Spirit enables Christians to keep the Law of God - even in its
expanded meaning and spiritual intent. Old Testament Israel,
without God's Holy Spirit, was unable to keep the commandments as God
desires we keep them.
On that first New Testament Pentecost,
the Church to be was waiting for the Promise of the Father. "And,
being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not
depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the
Father." (Acts 1:4)
"...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 cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat
upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit." (Acts 2:2-4) Peter later preached, "Repent, and be
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 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)
Pentecost is our annual reminder of the Promise of the
Father - His Holy Spirit which He has given to us, making us His children -
members of His family. "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that
Holy Spirit of Promise." (Ephesians 1:13)