DOCSLIB.ORG

The Phenomena of Pentecost

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Phenomena of Pentecost The Phenomena of Pentecost GOSPEL PUBLISHING HOUSE Springfield, Missouri, U. S. A. Copyright 1931 by the Gospel Publishing House Springfield, Mo. Printed in the United States of America THE PHENOMENA OF PENTECOST Donald Gee HE OUTWARD PHENOMENA of Pentecost are as nothing compared to the one supreme fact that "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." Any attention directed towards the external signs of the coming of the Spirit must be maintained with a right sense of proportion. The one was cause, the other only effect; and to magnify or to seek the effect without the cause is obviously to approach the whole subject from a hope• lessly wrong angle, resulting in the distortion of truth, and vain delusion in experience. To seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit is eminently Scriptural and right: to seek a repetition of the phenomena that occurred on the Day of Pente• cost as the one supreme object of desire can only lead the seeker into fanaticism and dis• appointment. There is an extreme position on the other side however,—a position where the accompanying outward manifestations of the Spirit's coming are either despised or treated as totally negligible details of the Pentecostal Bap• tism. Such a position can amount to a query as to the divine wisdom in giving such pheno- 5 6 THE PHENOMENA OF PENTECOST mena as sound of wind, the fire, and the tongues at all, and misses precious truth even if it does not distort it. The result can also be most serious loss in actual experience. To the hundred and twenty who were first waiting for the Promise of the Father the super• natural manifestations that accompanied the fulfillment of that promise must have come as something of a surprise. They had been told that "signs should follow" (Mark 16), and they also immediately grasped the value of evi• dences which could be "seen and beard" (Acts 2:33); but undoubtedly they had been pray• ing and waiting for the Spirit and the Spirit only, believing that they would most certainly know when He had come, but not knowing what particular initial evidences would attend His coming, and crown the eagerly expected hour. Such a condition of innocence in expectation could, and did, only mark the original waiting band. After the Day of Pentecost we find that a standard had been set by which subsequent experiences were tested. Acts 11:15. It is very significant that there was no element of surprise at Cornelius and his friends speaking with tongues, the only surprise being at the fact that they were gentiles. Acts 10:45. The phe• nomenon itself of speaking with tongues upon receiving the Holy Spirit was by now recognized as normal. There are four great instances recorded in THE PHENOMENA OF PENTECOST 7 Acts of the gift of the Holy Ghost,—in chapters 2, 8, 10, and 19. In chapter 8, the instance of the Samaritan believers, there is no direct men• tion of any outward phenomena accompanying the outpouring of the Spirit, such as is definitely recorded in the other three. From this it is sometimes argued that since 25% of the early Christians received no outward manifestation when they were filled with the Spirit, then the same proportion at least might be expected to• day to do so. It has been pointed out repeatedly however that there must have been some phenomenon occurring at Samaria also, because "Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given." Acts 8:18. The coming of the Spirit upon these believers was so evident and conscious that Simon coveted power to impart a similar experience. While the particular manifestation chosen by divine grace for this occasion is not stated; yet less cannot be fairly admitted than that speaking with tongues would meet all the requirements for consistency in the record, and the evidence of the other instances all taken together make a preponderating reason for believing that this actually was the manifestation given. The question is sometimes asked as to why, if we still expect believers to speak with tongues upon receiving the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, we do not also expect a sound as of a rushing mighty wind and cloven tongues like as 8 THE PHENOMENA OF PENTECOST of fire. Acts 2:2, 3. They were equally the phenomena of the Day of Pentecost. As a matter of fact we have heard of instances where something of the sort is reported to have occurred, and there is no necessity to doubt the authenticity of such statements, though we may accept them with reserve. There are reasons however for expecting speaking with tongues to recur which do not exist with regard to the sound of wind and fire. As follows: (a) There is no indication in the New Testament that the distinctive sound of wind and literal fire ever occurred on occasions sub• sequent to the Day of Pentecost when the Spirit was bestowed. The nearest approach to it is the shaking of the place where they were as• sembled in Acts 4:31; but on that occasion the disciples were being refilled with the Spirit in view of a special crisis; they were not receiving the Spirit in the sense of chapters 2, 8, 10, or 19. On the other hand speaking with tongues does recur; and in Acts 10 it was taken as suf• ficient evidence, standing alone, to prove to the prejudiced Jewish believers who were with Peter that even Gentiles had actually received an ex• perience identical with that received by the Jews on the Day of Pentecost. (b) There are obvious reasons why there should be special signs accompanying the Day of Pentecost which do not occur on subsequent occasions. It was altogether a special event. The Holy Spirit then came in a dispensational THE PHENOMENA OF PENTECOST 9 sense, to commence His great work of forming the Church, the body of Christ. He also came in a new way, a fuller way, in which He had never come before, even in spite of many grac• ious Old Testament activities. His coming on the Day of Pentecost was a direct attestation that the Lord Jesus Christ had been in very deed exalted to the right hand of the Father, there to begin His High-Priestly work on our behalf. It was a notable occasion. Succeeding occurrences of the gift of the Spirit did not have the same special significance as the Day of Pentecost, hence there is no neces• sity for expecting a repetition of quite the same phenomena. The historical record confirms this view. Speaking with tongues was the ex• ception; and even that did not seem to have quite the same character on following occasions, for only on the day of Pentecost is it recorded that languages spoken were generally under• stood, and writing later of this manifestation of the Spirit (though here a gift in the Church) Paul says distinctly "no man under- standeth him." 1 Cor. 14:2. Exceptional occasions of an outpouring of God's Spirit however, such as the crisis of Acts 4, may still be visited with unusual phenomena. Why not? The mental attitude of the twentieth century restlessly asks "What was the use of the phe• nomena of Pentecost?" Still more petulantly it asks, "What would be the use of such things 10 THE PHENOMENA OF PENTECOST today?" Some thoughtful and devout minds, filled with an intensely practical conception of the results of being filled with the Spirit of God, can and do urge the sleeping Church to seek a new enduement of power from on high, and both write and speak in a useful way re• garding the Pentecostal Baptism. But when it comes to this related fact of the phenomena that accompanied Pentecost, they frankly regard this as one of the most puzzling and apparently superfluous parts of the narrative, with no liv• ing message for today. On this point both Modernists and Funda• mentalists seem to agree. Modernists regard the phenomena of the Day of Pentecost as just so much legend which has grown up around cer• tain of the experiences of the early church. Fundamentalists admit their historical truth, but appear to take the view that the Church today has grown immeasurably beyond the need of such direct appeals to consciousness. Those who say they believe in such things, and believe they still have a place and value, are sneeringly re• garded as "people who do not matter much any• way," and are all relegated among the hopeless emotionlists and cranks, with no practical mes• sage for the need of the hour. Is this just? What about the deadly drift into spiritism from the churches just because there has been no living testimony to the supernatural in Christian experience? What about the glorious scenes of revival that are accompanying even a THE PHENOMENA OF PENTECOST 11 limited enjoyment of the supernatural mani• festation of the Spirit of God;—scenes that would move Christian periodicals into en• thusiastic reports if it were not for entrenched prejudice? What about the number of sincere and thoughtful Christians who are daily pray• ing for just such another "Pentecost"?—multi• tudes of them inside strictly orthodox churches. What about the numbers of unbelievers out• side the churches who are frankly there largely because there is no display of the power of New Testament Christianity today? There is surely some use in that which can stem the drift into spiritism, promote revival, answer the longing of many true hearts, and give the skeptic a convincing answer.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Miracles in Acts: Get out of God's Way Acts 11:4-17 Prayer
    MIRACLES IN ACTS: GET OUT OF GOD’S WAY ACTS 11:4-17 [THANK WORSHIP TEAM AND TECH TEAM - pioneering the live stream and making it work. We have around 300 people that join us on the live stream every week in addition to everyone who is here in person. Praise God.] There’s a funny little saying I often quote and I find it to be true about 87.5% of the time: NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED. For hearing the voice of God and smashing down walls of ethnicity, oppressing relationships, and race, the apostle Peter gets called on the carpet by his own people, and here in Acts 11 he’s invited to testify in his own defense in the first church trial. The disciple Jesus called “the rock” was asked to explain how Gentiles were becoming Christians without being required to adhere to Jewish law and custom. This was disturbing because most Christians were Jews. The Jewish religion they shared with their fellow Israelites was rich in tradition that helped define their culture. What would happen if non-Jews were welcomed into the church? Should they be? All kinds of rumors were swirling around and nobody had yet heard an actual accounting of these controversial and explosive events until now. Peter recounts his story here in … Acts 11, a story told for us in more details in the preceding chapter, Acts 10. If you have your Bible or your Bible app, please open it to Acts 10 and 11 and we will jump back and forth between the two chapters.
    [Show full text]
  • Pentecost: the Feast in the Light of the Old Testament (Part 1 of 3)
    Cornelis Van Dam Pentecost: the Feast in the Light of the Dr. Cornelis Van Dam is professor emeritus of Old Testament at the Canadian Reformed Old Testament (Part 1 of 3) Theological Seminary in Hamilton, Ontario cvandam@canrc.org Pentecost was a huge event in God’s dealing with 17). (The fact that this festival was on the fiftieth day his people. It was a turning point. The outpouring of the later gave rise to the name Pentecost, from the Greek Holy Spirit inaugurated “the last days” (Acts 2:17), the word for “fiftieth.”) Because the week of the Feast of final age before Christ’s return. So what exactly was Unleavened Bread with all its different ceremonies and the Feast of Pentecost and how did the events in Acts 2 requirements was dominated by the Passover, it was relate to that? What is the meaning of all of this for us known as Passover week. It is within the light of the today in appreciating the work of the Holy Spirit? In this Passover that Pentecost needs to be understood. and two subsequent articles, let’s consider Pentecost: Pentecost was a day of joy for the harvest that God its meaning, fulfillment, and continuing relevance for had given his people. Not surprisingly, it was therefore us today. also known as Harvest Feast (Exod 23:16; 34:22) and Day of First-fruits (Num 28:26). This day, however, was Pentecost: the Old Testament feast not the first time that first fruits were brought. The first Although we tend to associate Pentecost with fruits of the barley harvest had already been presented the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost was of three days after Passover.
    [Show full text]
  • Celebrating Easter for Fifty Days There Is No Scriptural Requirement for Us to Celebrate Easter for Fifty Days, Or Even One Day, for That Matter
    Celebrating Easter for Fifty Days There is no scriptural requirement for us to celebrate Easter for fifty days, or even one day, for that matter. But there is nothing in the Bible that would prohibit joyful remembrance of the resurrection for any length of time. In fact, there is much to commend the practice of celebrating Eastertide. Christian Reflection Prayer A Series in Faith and Ethics Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:15-23 Meditation† Resurrection changes everything.… This is why I need more than just Easter Day. If Easter were only a single day, I would Focus Article: never have time to let its incredible reality settle over me, settle Celebrating Easter for into me. I would trudge through my life with a disconnect Fifty Days between what I say I believe about resurrection and how I live (Easter, pp. 11-18) (or fail to live) my life in light of it. Thanks be to God, our forebears in faith had people like me Suggested Article: in mind when they decided that we simply cannot celebrate Easter in a single day, or even a single week. No, they decided, Between Easter Eggs and we need fifty days, seven Sundays, to even begin to plumb the the Empty Tomb depths of this event. (Easter, pp. 77-81) Kimberlee Conway Ireton Reflection “The implications of the resurrection lavishly overflow a one-day container,” Mark Roberts notes in his winsome invitation to celebrate Eastertide, the fifty-day season to mark Christ’s resurrection which begins on Easter Sunday. We need the extra time to explore, savor, and grow into those amazing implications.
    [Show full text]
  • Suppose the Grinch Stole Pentecost Instead (Pandemic Version) Acts 2:1-21 and Numbers 11:24-30
    Suppose the Grinch Stole Pentecost Instead (Pandemic Version) Acts 2:1-21 and Numbers 11:24-30 Many notorious heists have captured the public’s imagination over the years. The Brinks Job, The Great Train Robbery, and The Gardner Museum Art Heist, to name a few. But none of these were as daring or as infamous as Dr. Seuss’ story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. As you might recall, the Grinch’s motive for stealing Christmas was not greed; and his objective was not to get rich. It was that his heart was two sizes too small. He just could not tolerate another December in Whoville filled with all the annoying decorating and singing and gift-giving that drove him crazy. The Grinch imagined that he could get rid of Christmas by plundering Whoville of its presents and Christmas trees and holiday feasts. As with most great robberies, the success of the Grinch’s Christmas caper hinged on an ingenious plan and cunning deception. The Grinch made himself a Santa suit and a sleigh and tied antlers on his dog’s head to break and enter the homes of Whoville on Christmas Eve. And despite almost having his cover blown by Little Cindy Lou Who, who was no more than two, the Grinch’s scheme went off like clockwork. As we all know, though, his plot ultimately failed. In the end, the Grinch discovered that Christmas couldn’t be stolen because Christmas is more than gifts and lights and feasts of roast beast. And the one thing he couldn’t rob the Whos of was the very thing he most despised them for — their Spirit.
    [Show full text]
  • May 20Th, 2021
    May 20th, 2021 ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Pentecost and Paulist Ordination The feast of Pentecost is this Sunday, May 23rd. As the Holy Spirit breathes new life into the hearts of the faithful, we're excited to celebrate with a little more togetherness! Pentecost is a yearly reminder to share Christ's light, and gives us an opportunity to consider how we can bring God's ministry into the world. This spirit of ministry provides us with the perfect backdrop to welcome two new priests into the Paulist Fathers! The staff of St. Paul's has also been focused on ministry this week. With the world ever so slowly opening back up, St. Paul's looks forward to seeing you! Keep an eye out for events as we rebuild the ministries that make up our vibrant and thriving community. Join us in celebrating the priestly ordination of Deacon Michael Cruickshank, CSP, and Deacon Richard Whitney, CSP, this Saturday, May 22nd at 11AM at St. Paul the Apostle Church! Bishop Richard G. Henning will be the principal celebrant. The public is welcome to attend the mass! In addition, it will be broadcast live at paulist.org/ordination as well as on the Paulist Fathers’ Facebook page and YouTube channel. If you can't attend the ceremony, our two new Paulist Fathers will be saying their First Masses at the 10AM and 5PM masses on Sunday, May 23rd. However you're able to participate, we hope you will join us in celebrating these men as they journey into God's ministry! Ordination 2021 A Note from Pastor Rick Walsh This weekend we celebrate the presbyteral ordination of two Paulists, Michael Cruickshank and Richard Whitney.
    [Show full text]
  • This Coming Sunday Is Pentecost, the 50Th Day of Easter. in the Jewish
    This coming Sunday is Pentecost, the 50th day of Easter. In the Jewish world, Pentecost was originally a harvest feast called Festival of Weeks or more simply, Weeks (Shavuot in Hebrew). Pentecost means fifty and comes from an expression in Leviticus 23:16, which instructs the people to count seven weeks or “fifty days” from the end of Passover to the beginning of the next holiday. Shavuot was the second great feast in Israel’s yearly cycle of holy days. While it started out as a harvest feast, it eventually turned into a day to commemorate the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai. The Acts of the Apostles tell us that because it was a festival, there were many Jews in Jerusalem from all over the world. Hence, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and they received the gift of tongues and spoke the many languages they did, the visitors were amazed. “Are not all these people (the apostles) who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language?” (Acts 2:1-11) The gift of tongues today, (when it is given), is usually an unintelligible language but the first time the gift of tongues was given, it was intelligible. I think that is significant. How often throughout our almost 2000 year history has the Church spoken intelligibly and beautifully. But, sadly, at other times the Church has spoken in ways that were not. From time to time, the Church has spoken condemnation on groups of people, like the Jews, for instance.
    [Show full text]
  • 3 QUESTIONS Acts 11:1-18 INTRODUCTION for Those of You
    3 QUESTIONS Acts 11:1-18 SERMON NOTES FOR LIFE GROUP DISCUSSION INTRODUCTION For those of you who have not been with us for the past few weeks, let me briefly recount what has happened before we look at today’s text. 1. An angel of God visited Cornelius and instructed him to send for Simon Peter – 10:1- 8 2. Peter had a vision in which the Lord told him not to call common or unclean what God had cleansed and to go with the messengers whom Cornelius had sent – 10:9-23 3. Peter visited the home of Cornelius, preached the gospel, and witnessed the coming of the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles – 10:24-48 4. Peter now gives an account of how God gave the Gentiles the same salvation and the same Holy Spirit that he had promised to the Jews – 11:1-18 Let me make a couple of general observations before we go into today’s text. The first has to do with the importance of repetition. The fact that this story is told in four parts, with the fourth part being a summation of the first three acts of the story gives us a clue about its importance. If we are not careful, we can quickly read over the events and say “yeah, yeah, yeah” and think that we’ve already covered the material. But we need to read it slowly and meditate upon it so that it will impact us as God intended it to impact us. The second general observation has to do with the importance of perspective; we need to keep the timeline of the church in Jerusalem in mind.
    [Show full text]
  • June 14, 2020 -- (Pentecost 03, Barnabas) Sermon Text – Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-3; Matthew 10:7-16
    June 14, 2020 -- (Pentecost 03, Barnabas) Sermon Text – Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-3; Matthew 10:7-16 - They sent Barnabas to Antioch…for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were brought to the Lord…and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christians.” …While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. - Today, we begin our summer preaching series with the story of Barnabas. We’re calling series “Bold Witnesses.” Each week we’ll be taking a look at a witness or witnesses who spoke out boldly to proclaim the good news of Jesus. What we know about Barnabas from our readings this morning is that “he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.” But before we get to that, let’s review for a moment what we learned about Barnabas last summer. First, he was a Jewish believer from the Mediterranean Island of Cyprus. Tradition says that he was numbered among the first of Jesus’ followers. He may likely have been included in the seventy whom Jesus sent out to spread the good news of the gospel to the local communities in Luke, chapter 10, but we can’t be sure of that because we don’t have a definite list. He was the cousin of John Mark, who may have written the Gospel that bears his name.
    [Show full text]
  • Pentecost John 20:19-23 Jesus Appears to His Disciples and Gives Them the Gift of the Holy Spirit. Background on the Gospel Read
    Pentecost John 20:19-23 Jesus appears to his disciples and gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit. Background on the Gospel Reading The season of Easter concludes with today’s celebration, the feast of Pentecost. On Pentecost we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem; this event marks the beginning of the Church. The story of Pentecost is found in the Acts of the Apostles, today’s first reading. The account in today’s Gospel, John 20:19-23, also recounts how Jesus gave the gift of the Holy Spirit to his disciples. Yet the event in John’s Gospel takes place on Easter Sunday. There is no need to try to reconcile these two accounts. It is to we know that after his death, Jesus fulfilled his promise to send to his disciples a helper, an Advocate, who would enable them to be his witnesses throughout the world. In the context of the feast of Pentecost, John 20:19-23 reminds us about the integral connection between the gifts of peace and forgiveness and the action of the Holy Spirit. Jesus greets his disciples with the gift of peace. Jesus then commissions his disciples to continue the work that he has begun: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” He breathes the Holy Spirit upon the disciples and sends them to continue his work of reconciliation through the forgiveness of sins. Jesus’ act of breathing the Holy Spirit upon the apostles mirrors God’s act of breathing life into Adam.
    [Show full text]
  • Pentecost Old Testament New Testament
    Pentecost Old Testament New Testament Scrimp Bradford underdoing immeasurably while Flint always relegate his stab trends yeomanly, he rivet so transcendentally. Cryptonymous and fatigable Austin prawns, but Bartolomei stingingly unstepped her contumacies. Composed Cameron refining knowingly, he comes his universitarian very fanwise. God you gather you shall proclaim messages of old pentecost is poured out Spirit upon certain Judean, freeborn men. Click to new testament saints in old testament times, these local gathering together. However each angel of new testaments and now there has always include a people whom we celebrate pentecost old testament new testament. New Covenant Israel with their hearts, transformed by pure Spirit. And right led them out your far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. My spirit in three remarkable parallels to. Is pentecost certainly implicit in old testament, some general linguistic environment of testaments, especially considered themselves. Solomon prays she wants us by the most interesting to them they are sharing in tongues would that morning, old pentecost and there. The coming of Weeks celebrated the drills of narrow grain harvest. Our observance of these days is so focus on marriage and His teaching, and far that comes wonderful spiritual and physical benefits. They are being too elated by god has become so. This continuity but once filled with them on this passage he came near eastern fathers, worship of first look more about. Thank you to all our supporters! It is read as providing not only a guide for understanding the early Christian communities in the book of Acts, but a standard of experience for contemporary believers.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ascension of Jesus and the Descent of the Holy Spirit in Patristic Perspective: a Theological Reading Keuy M
    EQ 79.1 (2007),23-33 The ascension of Jesus and the descent of the Holy Spirit in patristic perspective: a theological reading KeUy M. Kapic and Wesley Vander Lugt Kelly Kapic is Associate Professor of Theological Studies at Covenant College, Lookout Mountain, GA, and Wesley Vander Lugt is an MDiv. student in the same college. KEY WORDS: Ascension, Pentecost, Christology, Pneumatology, Patristics, Trinity. A woman we know recently recalled a powerful memory from her childhood in the early nineteen seventies. Her parents visited a large church in southern California to see an Easter play, and near the end of the drama this little girl witnessed, with a mixture of fear and delight, how Jesus, who was hooked up to a thinly disguised wire, was pulled up into the ceiling. What was all of this about? Why did Jesus go, and how could that possibly be a good thing? Such questions, however, are not reserved to children growing up in the Jesus move­ ment. Since the New Testament clearly testifies to the ascension of Jesus, theo­ logians throughout the ages have struggled to grasp its significance for those left behind. Scripture is replete with the antithesis of descent and ascent, and these bibli­ cal motifs have been indispensable hermeneutical devices throughout the his­ tory ofthe Christian Church. Following the lead of some early Church Fathers we will attempt to show how they employed the descent-ascent motif as a guiding framework for an exploration of the relationship between the ascension of Jesus and the sending (descent) of the Holy Spirit.
    [Show full text]
  • PENTECOST SUNDAY: SCRIPTURE PROCLAMATION - Acts 2:17-21
    PENTECOST SUNDAY: SCRIPTURE PROCLAMATION - Acts 2:17-21 “This is what I will do in the last days, God says: I will pour out my Spirit on everyone. Your sons and daughters will proclaim my message; your young men will see visions, and your old men will have dreams. Yes, even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will proclaim my message. I will perform miracles in the sky above and wonders on the earth below. There will be blood, fire, and thick smoke; the sun will be darkened, and the moon will turn red as blood, before the great and glorious Day of the Lord comes. And then, whoever calls out to the Lord for help will be saved.” TWO MEDITATIONS FOR PENTECOST, delivered by the Reverend Dr. Geoffrey G. Drutchas, St. Paul United Church of Christ, Taylor, May 23, 2021 “MY FIRST PENTECOST” Congregation, I grew up in a very “low church.” As they might ask in limbo, how low did it go? Very low! What I mean is that the worship in the congregational church of my youth was very informal. It did not stand on ceremony and ritual. Our church observed Christmas and Easter, but didn’t take notice of any other Holy Days or seasons. No Advent, no Epiphany, no Lent, no Holy Week, no Pentecost. Those days and seasons just weren’t in our vocabulary as we worshipped Jesus Christ. And I didn’t miss them because I didn’t know that they were part of the Christian church’s rich liturgical tradition.
    [Show full text]