JUNE 5, 2016
Who is a Pentecostal?
One of the things that I have noticed over the years is that men love cliches. We love naming “groups”, “genres” etc. Now we have a group of Christians referred to as “Pentecostal”.
To many, being a Pentecostal means loud tongues, disorderly service and loud speakers!
So is the Christian a Pentecostal?
First, what is Pentecost?
It is one of the 3 great feasts of the Jewish Nation instructed to be held by Moses. It is actually called the “feast of weeks or first fruit”
Exodus 23:14 “Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:) And 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 34:22 “And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.”
Pentecost or the feast of weeks or harvest occurred exactly 50 days after Passover. It was on the day of Pentecost that the law of Moses was given in Exodus 20. It marked the beginning of a relationship between God and Israel based on works.
Now all feasts and ceremonies in the old testament are shadows and types of New testament realities. The substance or reality is in Christ.
Colossians 2:17 “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ”.
So the feasts where a shadow of things to come? What things? The promised Christ!
So for example, the feast of Passover was fulfilled when Christ took away all our sins on the cross. The shedding of his blood remitted our sins hence the Angel of death has no power over us.
1 Corinthians 5:7 “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:”
Matthew 26:28 “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
The feast of weeks or Pentecost was already fulfilled when men became born again. It is a feast of the first fruits. So just as the first fruit of the giving of the law was the death of 3000 men, the first fruit of the giving of the spirit or the dispensation of grace was the making spiritually alive of 3000 men!
Exodus 32:28 “And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.”
Acts 2:41 “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.”
So Pentecost has been explained in Christ. The feast of the first fruits has been fulfilled. The church of Jesus is the first fruit of Redemption. The first fruit or result of the Passover of Christ.
So it doesn’t make us Pentecostal. Pentecost has no relation to the Holy Ghost. It is a holiday that was ordained by God for the birthing of the church!
The last feast that still awaits fulfillment is the feast of ingathering that occurs at the end of year which symbolizes the gathering of saints in Christ both living or dead at the end of this age.
So we are not Pentecostal any more than we are passoverians or ingatherians. We are believers in Christ. We are new creations! Any other descriptions is designed to divide us and not unite us.
CONFESSION: I am a new creation! I am born again! I have been given the Holy Ghost. I am not a pentecostal, I am a man in Christ.
BIBLE READING: Ezra 4, Exodus 24
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