PENTECOST - 2004

Fred R. Coulter - May 30, 2004

And greetings, brethren. Welcome to the Feast of Pentecost, the day of Pentecost, 2004. And as we are going to see, this is going to be the greatest day in the history of the Church of God, and the second greatest day in the history of the world since the creation. And we’re going to approach taking up the offering in a little bit different way. What I want you to do, I want to think about the calling that God has given, and I want you to go ahead and base your offering on what God has done for you. Now let’s come to 2 Peter 1:1, so that we understand what God is doing. Because we need to realize God has called us to the greatest, most precious calling that there really is. And this day of the Feast of Pentecost shows us how it’s going to end. And the end, then, will be a new beginning; and that the rest of the plan of God cannot continue until the fulfillment of this day of Pentecost and the first resurrection.

“Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained the same precious faith as ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and virtue; through which He has given to us the greatest and most precious promises, that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter 1:1-4, FV). So God doing this for us, and in calling us, and having us the special firstfruits of His spiritual creation, we’re going to go ahead now and take up the offering. But base it upon the promises that God has given you, as well as all of the blessings that He has bestowed upon you.

(Pause)

Now let’s begin this holy day by turning to Leviticus 23. Of course, we know all the holy days are listed there. Now we have already covered on how to count Pentecost. But I just want to cover two things here in Leviticus 23, and that is on the counting. And this is so important because one of the things Satan likes to do, and the reason he does is because the plan of God, and the calling of the saints, and everything leading up to the first resurrection is so profound and important, that Satan likes to get all of his devious devices to change and twist and turn and get people confused. So because of that we need to go back and just reiterate so that we understand exactly how to count, where we end up, and why we end up on this day. And it has to be a continuation from the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the resurrection of Christ; and then to Pentecost. It is all one long process in those two seasons. So let’s read it here.

Leviticus 23:15, “And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath [that is, the first day of the week], from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering;...” which was the premier sheaf, then which was a type of the resurrection of Christ and the acceptance of Christ, the resurrected Christ. He was resurrected just as the Sabbath ended before this day began, and then in the morning He ascended to the Father. It says, “...seven sabbaths shall be complete: even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath...” And the only way you have the morrow after the seventh Sabbath - and the Hebrew here is shabot - is that it starts out on a Sunday and ends up on a Sunday. Then it says, “...shall ye offer a new [meal] meat offering unto the LORD” (Lev. 23:15-16). And a special offering was to be brought of two loaves. And these loaves had leaven in them.

Now you see, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread the leaven was a type of sin. But here now, leaven is a type of a good action of leaven. And then when the loaves were baked it was permanent. Now back in Matthew 13 it talks about the woman who took three measures of flour and put leaven in it until all was leavened. And this was like the kingdom of God. So this really means that because the leaven is in there, you put in the dough, and then when it is leavened it’s changing form. It is changing. It is growing. And that is much like to our spiritual growth from the good side of the action of leaven, which is then a type of the Holy Spirit, as far as changing the bread. So likewise, through the Holy Spirit our natures are to be changed, completely changed. And then when the bread is risen it may be knocked down several times before the baker is ready to put it in the oven. But when it is ready to put in the oven and baked, then the dough is permanently changed. Now this is what we are talking about in relationship to those who are the firstfruits. When the resurrection comes, as we will see, we will be permanently changed forever. During the seven weeks leading up to Pentecost, that’s the harvest of God, as we have seen through the seven churches. And there has to be growth, there has to be change, as we saw yesterday. The message was, “And he who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” So this is God’s message to us so that we can come to the point of the resurrection and be permanently changed. So that’s why these loaves were made with leaven.

Now let’s look at some other things concerning the Feast of Pentecost that we have already covered. And as we went back and we started with creation, let’s come on down to one of the greatest and most significant events that took place this side of the Flood. And that’s after God took the children of Israel and led them out of Egypt, lead them through the Red Sea, led them to Mount Sinai, God came down and spoke to His people on Pentecost and gave them the Ten Commandments. And then after they agreed to all the words - not only the words that God has given, but also to all the statutes and judgments which Moses read in their ears - and they said, “All that the Lord has commanded we will do.” So then God established a covenant with them. And we’re going see there is going to be likewise many, many parallels that we will see that took place there in Mount Sinai and the giving of the Ten Commandments, and how that applies to the church, and how it applies to the resurrection, and how it applies also to the new covenant that will be given at that time. Because whenever God deals with His people He always begins with a covenant. We saw that He did with Abraham; we saw that He did with the children of Israel; we saw when Hezekiah did what he did, that he made a covenant in his heart to love and serve God. When Christ came He established the New Covenant. Now when the resurrection occurs there’s going to be another covenant that will be given just based upon the parallelism that we find there in Exodus 20 through 24.

Now when we come to Exodus 24 - let’s go there, and let’s see one thing. But if you do not have the tapes that I have done on the sea of glass, be sure and write for them. Because we’re not going to go through it in great detail today, except just to go ahead and announce that we have the tapes. Now let’s come to Exodus 24:7. Now this is the day after Pentecost, and it’s very interesting that it takes place the day after Pentecost. Because the covenant between Jesus Christ, God the Father, and the resurrected saints cannot take place until after the resurrection. Then there will be that new eternal covenant which will go on forever. Now let’s pick it up here in verse 7. “And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said we will do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.” Now we have had the blood of Christ applied to us. So that is our covenant now.

Now let’s see what happened then. And this is kind of a type of - going up on the mountain - is kind of a type of being resurrected to meet Christ in the air, as we will see a little bit later here. Now notice, “Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:...” So God wanted to have plenty of witnesses to this. “...And they saw the God of Israel:...” Now they didn’t see Him directly, but as they were looking up toward the top of the mountain they saw the God of Israel, “...And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.” So what was the Lord God standing on but a sea of glass? That’s what He was standing on. Because there had to be a separation between all of those other than Moses, that they would not be able to come up near to God as did Moses, as we will see.

Now notice, “And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He laid not His hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.” So this is almost like a wedding feast, is it not? Because the covenant that God made with Israel was to take them as His people. Now that’s a covenant that God has made with us now. So this is almost like the wedding feast. Now then, here is where it gets a little different here: “And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to Me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them” (Ex. 24:7-12). So Moses was allowed to go up and see God and talk to Him, as it were, face-to-face. So this is the second greatest event that happened since the creation of the world - God speaking to the children of Israel and giving the Ten Commandments.

Now then, let’s see what happened on the Pentecost when we come to the New Testament. Let’s come to Acts 2. And while we’re turning there let’s understand something: that God, through the Old Testament, established Jerusalem as the place where He would place His name, and the place where He would have the temple built. And so the temple that was there in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus and the apostles was the second temple, which was actually started by Ezra and Nehemiah after they came out of the Babylonian captivity; because seventy years before the captivity, God destroyed it because of the sins of the people. So then we come down to the time of Herod, and Herod had a great building program where he beautified the temple, where he really expanded the area and made it one of the near wonders of the world at that time. So here’s the place where God’s name was placed. Here is where His temple was. Here is where His people would come and worship. Here is where His priesthood was. Now God, in showing that He was going to do something different, then a very startling event took place, unheard of in all of the history of the world. So this again - brethren, I want you to understand something very important: God has called us and has given us the understanding of the most important events in the history of the world and mankind. And this knowledge and understanding is really fantastic and profound. How many people have this knowledge and understanding? How many people have some knowledge of it, but they really don’t have the full understanding?

Let’s come here and begin in verse 1. “And when the day of Pentecost, the fiftieth day, was being fulfilled,...” Now that is as clear a translation as you can get out of it. “...They were all with one accord in the same place.” And then God did a profound miracle: “And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like the rushing of a powerful wind, and filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit; and they began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the words to proclaim,” Now let’s understand something. Let’s just make this clear: one, God is not the author of confusion; two, God will not do something that leads to confusion, and His Spirit is the Spirit of the truth. Three, God created all the languages back at the Tower of Babel. So what God is doing here in opening the way, as we will see, to proclaim through this salvation to all men, He is going back and He is saying that He is going to, as it were, in spite of the confusion of the languages that He gave, now He is going to make it known to all people in their language the words of salvation. So this goes back very similar to where on Pentecost God spoke the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai.

Now here after the three and half year ministry of Jesus Christ and the teaching of the apostles, what do we have? We have the apostles now speaking the words of God in multiple languages so they can all understand the beginning of salvation to those that God will call. So this is a tremendous thing. This is a fantastic witness. The ministry of Jesus Christ was not done in a corner, as the apostle Paul said. And as Peter told Cornelius when he went to see him in Caesarea, he spoke of Jesus and said, “And you know these things” (Acts 10:37, paraphrased). In other words, the whole ministry of Jesus Christ was powerful and well known. And it was also well known that Jesus Christ was crucified and died. And many of them probably heard that He was raised from the dead, although the guards and the Jews and the Romans kept saying, “The disciples came and stole His body away.”

So now here they are all gathered there. And just think, I want you to also think of two things as we’re going through here: all of those who came to the days of Unleavened Bread, and the Passover, and were there for the crucifixion, and the resurrection, and so forth, I want you to think about what they must have told all the other Jews when they went back to their synagogues and their cities and their countries where they were in the Diaspora. They probably told them about Jesus. They told them about what He went through, told them about the darkness that covered the land from noon until 3:00. They told them about the rent of the veil in the temple, and the great and fantastic earthquake that took place. Many of them were probably there even when some of the relatives came in who were resurrected from the dead back to the flesh again so that they could be witnesses in Jerusalem. Maybe they even talked to some of them.

So here they are all coming to the temple of God in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. And this is a momentous event. Imagine how everyone was anticipating, just like they did when Jesus came up to the feast. They said, “Where is He?” Imagine what they were now here on the day of Pentecost saying: “I wonder what’s going to happen at this Feast? I wonder where His disciples are? I wonder if the priests know about it? I wonder what is going to happen?” Let’s put this back in the setting in which it really took place.

Now Acts 2:5, “Now there were many Jews who were sojourning in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when word of this went out, the multitude came together and were confounded, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. And they were all amazed, and marveled, saying to one another, ‘Behold, are not all these who are speaking Galileans?’” Now this also tells us they knew an awful lot about the disciples didn’t they? They knew they were from Galilee; they knew they were with Jesus. And now look at what’s happening. This is an amazing event. “‘Then how is it that we hear each one in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites,...’” All from the ten tribes of Israel scattered out because of the captivity. “‘...And those who inhabit Mesopotamia [the Jews who did not come back with Ezra and Nehemiah], and Judea and Cappadocia [that’s Asia Minor], Pontus and Asia, both Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt [and there are lots of Jews down in Egypt] and the parts of Libya which are near Cyrene, and the Romans who are sojourning here, both Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians; we hear them speaking in our own languages the great things of God.’” So this was a momentous day.

Today when you have those who claim a “Pentecostal” religion, let’s understand something - that is nothing but a lying, satanic, counterfeit; had nothing to do with what this event portrays, or what was going on there. So they said, verse 12, “And they were all amazed and greatly perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’” Because they knew that at the temple that if something like this took place, it had to have great meaning. And so there it is. This is not only when the Church was formed, but this is when the beginning of the preaching of the gospel in power by the apostles went forth in a most dynamic and miraculous way. “But others were mocking and saying, ‘They are full of new wine.’” Now you’re always going to have the dissenters. You’re always going to have the skeptical and unbelieving. So don’t worry about them. Don’t pay any attention to them. It’s just like it is today with the religions of this world.

Brethren, I want to tell you something very clearly: all of those who are Sunday-keepers, all of those who keep the holidays of this world, all of those who go into the Scriptures and pick and choose what they want - to have their nice little Jesus, and to have their nice little gospel - they need to be ashamed because they would be so partial with the Word of God. We have nothing to be ashamed of. God has called us to the greatest calling, to the greatest thing. He has called us to eternal life, to be as He is; to educate us with His Word; to grant us His Spirit. And to show you how great and Almighty He is, He started the church this way.

So, “Then Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and spoke out to them: ‘Men, Jews, and all those of you who inhabit Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and pay attention to my words. For these are not drunken as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day.’” Right at the time the Jews were offering the morning sacrifice (because at that time they were not offering the morning sacrifice at sunrise like God said - they were doing it about 9:00 in the morning). So right at this time when all of the things were going to take place right at the temple, here this begins. And you know when they offered the sacrifices they blew the trumpet. So we have a parallel back there, going clear back to Exodus 20, where on the day of Pentecost when God gave the law, the trumpet of God was blowing. And now here the trumpet blew, the sacrifices were started, and all of a sudden this great commotion comes about of speaking in tongues. And they didn’t know what to do.

So Peter said, verse 16, “‘But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel:...’” Now we want to read this, because this is going to give us a clue as to how God is going to finish the Pentecost harvest. Because what he quoted here did not all take place on that day of Pentecost. Now at this time, the apostles were thinking that Christ would come back very soon. That’s why Jesus told them the night of His last Passover, He said, “I have many things to say to you, but you’re not able to bear them now” (John 16:12, paraphrased). And they wouldn’t have been able to bear the fact that it was going to be nearly two thousand years before He returns. So they were thinking that this was going to happen quite soon. So this is why he goes to this prophecy and he brings this prophecy of Joel. Now it did apply in part then. But as we’re going to see, it is going to apply in its fullest at the last Pentecost before the resurrection. So that would actually make it the next to the last Pentecost. So hang on, we’ll get there.

“‘ “And it shall come to pass that in the last days,” says God, “that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; and even upon My servants and upon My handmaids will I pour out My Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy; and I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapors of smoke.” ’” Now part of this occurred, verse 20, “‘ “The sun shall be turned into darkness [which it did] and the moon into blood [which it probably did], before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.” ’” Now we’re talking about the Day of the Lord. Now here what do we have? We have a prophecy, and the Day of the Lord, and Pentecost put together. So we need to keep this in mind. “‘ “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” ’”

Now he continues, verse 22, “‘Men, Israelites, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarean, a man sent forth to you by God, as demonstrated by works of power and wonders and signs, which God performed by Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know;...’” So this is widespread knowledge. Now someone will surely ask the question, “I wonder why we can’t find the historical Jesus?” I’ll tell you why: because it’s contained in the Bible. And if you don’t believe the Bible you won’t find it. Because the Orthodox Jews who succeeded in writing the history of the Jews eliminated Jesus from their history because of their hatred toward Him. That is why. And that’s why the ossuary which says, “James the son of Joseph the brother of Jesus” that was found absolutely turned the Jewish community on edge. Now they say it’s not authentic. But later proof has shown that it is authentic. And that shows that Jesus the man, Who was the Son of God, did exist and did preach. But their expunging from history the historical Jesus was very thorough and very complete. That’s why we go to the Word of God. That’s why the history is contained here. And that’s why when you read the commentaries in the New Testament, why God had the apostles write it and canonize it, because they preserved the truth; whereas the world would not preserve the truth.

Let’s ask another question. As Jesus said, “They hated Me and My Father” (John 15:23, paraphrased). Now do you suppose that they are going to preserve the history of someone they absolutely reviled and hated with the greatest despicable hatred possible? Of course not. So that’s why it’s in the New Testament. So they knew back then. Now also, verse 23, “‘Him, having been delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you have seized by lawless hands and have crucified and killed.’” And as I said earlier, these were the very ones who stood there and said, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” And God offered them forgiveness and repentance and many of them took it. He said, “‘But God has raised Him up, having loosed the throes of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it;…’” And then He gave the prophecy of David.

Let’s come down here to verse 36. “‘Therefore, let all the house of Israel know with full assurance that God has made this same Jesus, Whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.’ Now after hearing this, they were cut to the heart; and they said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized each one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you yourselves shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’” So the very ones who said, “Let His blood be upon us and upon our children,” some of those very ones now had the blood of Jesus Christ applied to them for the forgiveness of their sins, and that particular sin of condemning Jesus to death. He continues on, “‘For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all those who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God may call.’ And with many other words he earnestly testified and exhorted, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation.’ Then those who joyfully received his message were baptized;...” I imagine so. Can you imagine how those felt who said, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Away with Him! Away with Him! Give us Barabbas!” now God brings to repentance? Can you imagine the joy of having that lifted from off your mind and heart and soul? Yes, they joyfully received the message were baptized, “...and about three thousand souls were added that day” (Acts 2:1-24, 36-41, FV).

Now let’s come to 1 Corinthians 15, because this is talking about the resurrection. The resurrection is what the day of Pentecost is all about, as we’re going to see. Now let’s pick it up here, 1 Corinthians 15:20. “But now Christ has been raised from the dead; He has become the firstfruit of those who have fallen asleep.” That’s the wave sheaf offering. And the Wave Sheaf Offering day begins the fiftieth count, and it ends on Pentecost, and so you see the connection. Now let’s see when the rest of the firstfruits will be resurrected. Because James the apostle wrote that we are a kind of firstfruits of His creation. And that means the spiritual creation that God is doing in us now. That is the greatest creative work that God is doing at the present time. So here, Christ the firstfruits, “...of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in His own order:...” There’s an order of things in the plan of God.

Now notice the connection here: “...Christ the firstfruit; then, those who are Christ’s at His coming.” Now it’s talking about the resurrection. So this tells us clearly - and Paul is refuting the fact of verse 13, were they were claiming that there is no resurrection. In other words, in the church in Corinth they were already preaching the immortality of the soul. And of course, that’s no strange thing, because that’s what the Hellenist religionists believed anyway in the immortality of the soul going back to heaven. So Paul, this saying here that none have gone to heaven. And of course, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it? No one has gone to heaven. That’s what John wrote - only Christ. Notice when it takes place. “...Then, those who are Christ’s at His coming.” So this ties together Jesus’ resurrection and acceptance of God the Father, beginning the count toward Pentecost, and it ties in the end together. And those who are resurrected at that time, then, are the firstfruits unto God.

Now let’s continue on. “Afterwards the end comes...” So even Paul didn’t understand the fullness of what we understand concerning the plan of God through His holy days as we do today. But he knew that the rest would come later. “...When He shall have delivered up the kingdom to Him Who is God and Father, when He shall have put an end to all rule and authority and power. For it is ordained that He reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” And so the resurrection is going to destroy that death.

Now then let’s understand something. Let’s see how Paul likens this to a harvest, just like Jesus did back there in Matthew 13. 1 Corinthians 15:35, “Nevertheless, someone will say, ‘How are the dead raised?’” We can answer that very clearly: by the power of God. “‘And with what body do they come?’” Now the Catholics have a real horrible problem, because they still preach the resurrection of the dead, but somehow the soul has got to come back down from heaven, and it’s got to enter into a fleshly body again. So they have a real difficult problem with that. But the problem is, the fleshly body has been corrupted and rotted away. So here we have the same argument, don’t we? He says, “Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that shall be;...” Because we will see, we will have a body like Christ’s. “...Rather it is bare grain - it may be of wheat, or one of the other grains; and God gives it a body according to His will, and to each of the seeds its own body.” Then he talks about the flesh of men, the flesh of birds, the flesh of fish, and all flesh is not the same flesh, etc., etc.

Now let’s come down here to verse 44. “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body; accordingly, as it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam became an everliving Spirit.’ However, the spiritual was not first, but the natural - then the spiritual.” Now let’s understand something that he is also refuting here, which is this - because those who believe in the immortality of the soul, there is also the doctrine which goes way back into paganism (which is also one of the major doctrines of Mormonism today), which is this: souls are in heaven. And they have to be sent down to be put in a person. So that is saying in essence that the spiritual is first, then the physical. So that contradicts what Paul was teaching here. The spiritual was not first, but the natural, then the spiritual. “The first man is of the earth - made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the one made of dust, so also are all those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly one, so also are all those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the one made of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one.” That is the harvest. As we saw earlier, the harvest is the end of the age.

Now let’s understand something. We’ll get into this just a little bit more here as we go along. “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery:...” And it is a mystery. It is something that God is going to do, and He alone can do. Human beings can’t do anything like this. “...We shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed,...” Now at this time he knew, he was convinced in his own mind that Christ would return not too far down the road. So that’s why he is saying this. But little did he realize that this is a prophecy for us today. We’re not all going to fall asleep and go into the grave. But we shall be changed. “...In an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” That’s what we are looking for. Now we’re going to see how all of this transpires in just a bit.

“For this corruptible must put on incorruptibility, and this mortal must put on immortality. Now when this corruptible shall have put on incorruptibility, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory’” (1 Cor. 15:20-26, 35-38, 44-54, FV). And this is why Christ kept saying to the churches, “To him who overcomes…” And Paul also wrote that in Christ, as we saw on the last day of Unleavened Bread, we are more than overcomers through Him Who loved us and gave Himself for us. So brethren, this is what we have to look forward to, and this is the meaning of the Day of Pentecost, the firstfruit harvest, those who will be resurrected when Jesus Christ returns. And it starts with His resurrection and comes all the way down on continuous count to the first resurrection when He returns.