Covenant of Peace: A Return to Holiness

5.2 Pentecost

Pentecost was the first outpouring of the promised Holy Spirit, marking the beginning of the New Covenant and the establishment of the New Covenant church. Believers were welcomed into fellowship with the Father and Son. All believers became priests and ministers with the mandate to participate in the Great Commission. They began to spread the gospel of good news: salvation and reconciliation with God through faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, and the forgiveness of sins.

Believers receive the promise of the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, they fellowship with the Father and Son. The Holy Spirit is also known as the Teacher and the Comforter. One of the gifts of the Spirit is discernment. It helps to distinguish between God's thoughts, the enemy's lies, and our own understanding.

In Luke 9:23-27, Jesus makes a connection between taking up the cross, denying oneself to the world, being unashamed of the Son of Man when He comes in glory, and His listeners not tasting death until they see the Kingdom of God. Remember, Jesus' death and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit had not yet occurred.

5 Luke 9:23-27

23 He said to all, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake, will save it.

25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits his own self?

26 For whoever will be ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed, when he comes in his glory, and the glory of the Father, and of the holy angels.

27 But I tell you the truth: There are some of those who stand here who will in no way taste of death until they see God's Kingdom."

When the Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost, his disciples saw and experienced the Kingdom of God on earth. This explains what Jesus meant when He said they would not taste death until after the Kingdom of God imminently arrived on Pentecost.

In Matthew 11:11, Jesus said that the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist. That is because Jesus' disciples received the promise of the Holy Spirit.

1 Matthew 11:11

11 Most certainly I tell you, among those who are born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptizer; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.

John the Baptist was the last prophet of the Old Covenant, heralding the coming of the New Covenant. The Baptist's words in John 3:30 imply that the Greater Glory of the New Covenant in Christ must increase compared to the fading glory of the Mosaic Covenant.

1 John 3:30

30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

John affirmed the beginning of Jesus' public ministry with the evidence of the Spirit descending like a dove upon Jesus. Subsequently, Jesus affirmed the public ministry of his disciples with the sign of the Holy Spirit's baptism. His disciples were clothed with power from on high as described in Acts 2:1-4.

4 Acts 2:1-4

1 Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place.

2 Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

3 Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them.

4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak.

This was the most significant experience since the ascension. Notice how the tongues of fire were "divided" among the disciples. Each received a personalized "copy" of the Holy Spirit, who was uniquely tuned to their individual hearts and minds.

This was a one-to-many relationship. God did not create multiple Holy Spirits. This illustrates the unique attention that God gives to each of His saints. He is never too preoccupied. He is omnipresent with his saints.

Colossians 2:10 further describes how Jesus fills His disciples with the Holy Spirit.

1 Colossians 2:10

10 and in him (Jesus) you are made full (by the Holy Spirit), who is the head of all principality and power.

The Kingdom of God is within us because the Holy Spirit tabernacles with us. We are seated in heavenly places in Jesus when He makes intercession for us before the throne. The Holy Spirit concurrently intercedes for us as described in Romans 8:26-27. This is a prime explanation of the purpose of speaking in tongues.

2 Romans 8:26-27

26 In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don't know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can't be uttered.

27 He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit's mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.

Peter quoted the prophet Joel when describing what happened on Pentecost in Acts 2:14-18.

5 Acts 2:14-18

14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and spoke out to them, "You men of Judea, and all you who dwell at Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to my words.

15 For these aren't drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is only the third hour of the day.

16 But this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel:

17 'It will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams.

18 Yes, and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days, I will pour out my Spirit, and they will prophesy.'

Peter associated Pentecost with the last days prophesied by the prophet Joel. He was not referring to a distant future end time. Peter prophesied about the last days of the Mosaic Covenant, as the Greater Glory of the New Covenant was actively superseding it.

In Acts 19:1-7, Paul encountered twelve Baptists who had been unaware of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but they were more than willing to embrace it.

7 Acts 19:1-7

1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper country, came to Ephesus and found certain disciples.

2 He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They said to him, "No, we haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

3 He said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They said, "Into John's baptism."

4 Paul said, "John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus."

5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

6 When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke with other languages and prophesied.

7 They were about twelve men in all.

The Holy Spirit was poured out on all people groups, beginning with the Jews and subsequently the Gentiles, as was clearly stated in Revelation 5:9-10.

2 Revelation 5:9-10

9 They sang a new song, saying, "You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals: for you were killed, and bought us for God with your blood out of every tribe, language, people, and nation,

10 and made us kings and priests to our God, and we will reign on the earth."

How do they reign on earth? Again, Zechariah 4:6 answers this question.

1 Zechariah 4:6

6 'Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,'' says Yahweh of Armies.

Not by human strength, not by power granted by human authority, but by the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 11:4 prophesied this about Jesus.

1 Isaiah 11:4

4 He will judge the poor with righteousness, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.

Just as Jesus ministered in healing, deliverance, and correction, so He has also commissioned the church to follow in His footsteps, as stated in John 14:12-14

3 John 14:12-14

12 Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father.

13 Whatever you will ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14 If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.

Let us further understand Jesus' role in heaven as intercessor as described in Romans 8:31-34.

4 Romans 8:31-34

31 What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

32 He who didn't spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?

33 Who could bring a charge against God's chosen ones? It is God who justifies.

34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

In a very real and practical sense, God put a human face on Jesus. It is much easier for us to relate to God as Jesus because he has a human face.

After pouring out his life on the cross to make purification for our sins and to make God approachable, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. We should accept that the right hand of God is not literal but represents all the authority of God bestowed upon the Son. The Father is inseparable from the Son, and, through the Holy Spirit, we are inseparable from the Father and Son.

He did not leave the disciples (or believers) as orphans. Jesus sits at the Father's right hand in heaven, ruling over the earth through the church, the body of believers who are filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The enemy's hatred brands us with rejection, but the Father's love marks us with acceptance and eternal life. Paul summarizes our statement of faith with a question in Romans 8:31.

1 Romans 8:31

31 If God is for us, who can be against us?

Paul answers this question in Romans 8:39.

1 Romans 8:39

(Nothing and no one) will be able to separate us from God's love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus is our ticket to rivers of eternal life on earth and in the life to come.