The following Scripture passages are offered to aid beginning fellowships. The readings and commentary for this week are more in line with what has become usual; for the following will most likely be familiar observations. The concept behind this Sabbath’s selection is Pentecost.
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Pentecost Reading
For June 20, 2010
The person conducting the High Sabbath service should open services with two or three hymns, or psalms, followed by an opening prayer acknowledging that two or three (or more) are gathered together in Christ Jesus’ name, and inviting the Lord to be with them.
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When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. / Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” / But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
And I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
the sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him,
I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
my flesh also will dwell in hope.
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One see corruption.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.
Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,
The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. (Acts 2:1–36)
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Luke records Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost following Calvary: this was not a prepared sermon, but an explanation for what occurred given to those Jews who were in Jerusalem for the Feasts of Weeks, one of the three times a year when all Israelite males are to appear before God (see Deut 16:16) as angelic sons of God are to appear at their appointed times: “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them” (Job 1:6 — also 2:1). … Yes, all sons of God appear before God at their appointed times. Even rebellious sons of God appear before the Lord when they are supposed to appear. To not appear is to identify oneself not as a son of God but as a bastard son of the Adversary; hence, every Christian born of God will appear before the Lord on the morrow [day] after the seventh weekly Sabbath [this would be fifty days] after the Wave Sheaf Offering, with the Wave Sheaf Offering being on the weekly Sabbath that occurs during the Feast of Unleavened Bread: Christ Jesus’ resurrection establishes when the Wave Sheaf Offering is to occur. And Jesus was resurrected on the day after the weekly Sabbath [Te mia ton sabbaton — from John 20:1; Luke 24:1] during Unleavened Bread.
Appearing before the Lord on Pentecost might not seem to be a thing of importance to lawless Christendom that follows the traditions of those who buried [i.e., concealed from sight] the Corpse of Christ at the council of Nicea (ca 325 CE). These lawless Christians certainly kept as holy to themselves a Sunday they identified as Pentecost, but without keeping Passover on the dark portion of the 14th of Abib and without keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread that begins with the dark portion of the 15th of the Abib, with the month of Abib beginning with the first sighted new moon crescent following [never preceding] the spring equinox, Christians have no starting point to begin their count of seven Sabbaths. Thus, Christendom as a whole has no clear idea of when Jesus will return or when disciples will be glorified. Even Sabbatarian Christians using rabbinical Judaism’s calendar do not know. And prior to Jesus being accepted by the Father as the reality of the Wave Sheaf Offering one day after the weekly Sabbath during Unleavened Bread, even He could not say for certain that He would be accepted and the count would begin; for Jesus would be tempted as all men are tempted as He was sacrificed as the Passover Lamb of God. He would be offered His life—life in lieu of death—if He chose to claim it, with the offer of life when faced with the certainty of death being the greatest temptation any person will ever face.
Yes, there is a count that began with the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, a counted represented by the fifty days between the Wave Sheaf Offering (Lev 23:10–11) and the Feast of Weeks, with these fifty days representing the beginning and end of the harvest of firstfruits—
The early or first harvest of human sons of God is represented in type by the barley harvest of ancient Judea, with the second or main crop harvest of the sons of God represented in type by the late summer wheat harvest. The person not called in this era to be one of the firstfruits is not lost, but will appear before God in the great White Throne Judgment where, according to Paul’s gospel, the sinner “without the law will also perish without the law” (Rom 2:12), but the Gentile who does not have the law but does by nature what the law requires shall be saved (vv. 14–15).
Two harvests, with every person who has drawn breath being a part of one harvest or the other—one harvest in the spring of the year, the other in the fall; one harvest when Christ Jesus returns, the other after the Millennium. It is the early barley harvest that forms the type and shadow of Christendom’s salvation. If endtime Christians are to be glorified, they will be glorified when Christ Jesus returns as the Messiah. And this reality occurs at the end of the seven endtime years of tribulation, with these years of tribulation representing the reality of the Feast of Unleavened Bread: for seven years, Christians will live liberated from indwelling sin and death or they will commit blasphemy against the spirit of God.
A Christian needs to realize that the narrative structure of Scripture replicates the plan of God … the sons of Adam populated the antediluvian world, but one man, Noah, a preacher of righteousness, was selected by the Lord to be physically saved when all other (excluding the seven with Noah) were condemned to death through the loss of their breaths [i.e., they drown from water filling their lungs]. From this physical salvation of humankind in the days of Noah came one man, Abraham, chosen by the Lord for his faith (belief of God) that was counted to him as righteousness—and from Abraham came one son of promise, Isaac. And if this analogy stopped right here, Noah is the physical equivalent to Abraham: Noah was a preacher of righteousness and blameless in his generation (Gen 6:9); he physically walked uprightly before God. But Abraham did not initially walk uprightly, as seen by the half-truth and full lie that was relayed to Pharaoh about Sarah being Abraham’s sister and not his wife.
Abraham believed God in a corrupt world as Noah preached righteousness in a corrupt world. And because Abraham believed God, he had his belief/faith counted to him as righteousness, and the Lord gave him time and the addition of the Lord’s breath before the Lord tested Abraham’s faith when the Lord commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the son of promise, the firstborn of Sarah, with this firstborn belonging to the Lord to do with as He pleased.
The relationship between the Noah-narrative and the Abraham-narrative can be likened to the structure of a Hebraic thought-couplet, especially as seen in Isaiah 43:1 [“But now thus says the Lord, / He who created you, O Jacob, / He who formed you, O Israel”] and in Psalm 146:1 [“Praise Yah! / Praise YHWH, O my soul!”]. The addition of aspiration [ah] to Abram’s name (to become Abraham) is a movement from physical to spiritual. Thus, Noah’s belief of God that tested throughout the years when he worked on the wood Ark moves to become Abraham’s faith that was counted to him as righteousness being tested (and manifested in works) when he offered up Isaac … Noah’s construction of the physical Ark on which land-dwelling, air-breathing nephesh were saved from drowning becomes a shadow and type of the Lord’s construction of the Ark of the Covenant physically through Moses and spiritually through Christ Jesus. The first temple constructed by Solomon forms the shadow and type of the second temple that went from being a wood and stone building to being the living Body of Christ.
The physical precedes (1 Cor 15:46) and reveals the spiritual (Rom 1:20). The world being baptized by the Lord [Yah] in water and unto death in the days of Noah precedes and reveals how the world will be baptized by God [Father and Son] in spirit and in fire unto life, with the Father giving life to the inner self and the Son causing the perishable flesh to put on immortality of those whom He wills (for all judgment has been given to the Son).
The physical portion of every thought-couplet is singular whereas the spiritual portion consists of a physical and spiritual element welded together as in “Jacob” wrestling with God and having his name changed afterwards to “Israel” … the name Israel includes all that Jacob was and all that Jacob will become after wrestling and prevailing with God.
Therefore, when the glorified Jesus tells John in vision that “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end’” (Rev 22:13), He discloses that in Him is the beginning of the harvest of firstfruits and the end of this harvest of firstfruits, with this harvest of firstfruits forming a single harvest that is the shadow and type of the great White Throne Judgment that will see the judgment made of men not born of God in this era and of angels.
The harvest of firstfruits began when the first sheaf of ripe barley was waved before God [the Wave Sheaf Offering], with this first sheaf in type representing the man Jesus of Nazareth who was without sin and could appear before God without “processing.” But the barley harvest, one harvest, stretched from the Wave Sheaf Offering to the Feast of Weeks—and the Feast of Weeks [Pentecost] symbolically represents when the firstfruits (i.e., Jesus’ disciples) will be resurrected, with the reality of these seven counted weeks being the seven years of endtime tribulation, meaning that in reality these seven weeks move inside the representation of the period when Israel lives without sin. This will have the last High Day of Unleavened Bread (the 22nd Day of Abib) and the Feast of Weeks both representing the resurrection of the saints.
In the reality (i.e., the seven endtime years of tribulation), the kingdom of this world will be given to the Son of Man after three and a half years [a time, times, and half a time]. This giving of the kingdom to Christ forms the reality represented by the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, who was the reality of the Wave Sheaf Offering. Thus, half way through the seven endtime years of tribulation, everything changes: dominion over the kingdom of this world will be taken from the four kings [beasts] and the little horn and this dominion over the kingdom will be given to the Son of Man (Dan 7:9–14, 26–27). The old dragon, Satan, and his angels will be cast from heaven (Rev 12:7–10) and will come as the two beasts of Revelation chapter 13, with Satan (now given the mind of a man) coming as the beast with two horns like a lamb: Satan will come claiming to be the Messiah, and he will come on or about Halloween (he will come in the fall of the year, on 1261st day after the Second Passover liberation of Israel).
So there is no misunderstanding, the glorified Jesus will not return in the fall of the year [in the northern hemisphere]; He will not return on the Feast of Trumpets as has been commonly taught within the churches of God. He will return in the spring of the year to begin His millennial reign on or about the first day of the first month of the year. Armageddon will occur 2520 days after the Second Passover liberation of Israel or three to four days before the first day of the Millennium, with this first day being the first of a new year.
When Jesus told His disciples, “‘But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man’” (Matt 24:36–37), the hour had not come when He would be taken, crucified, and after three days and three nights, glorified. The harvest of the firstfruits had not yet begun. The firstfruits were still growing although when Jesus spoke to His disciples on the Mount of Olives, He was “ripe” for harvesting. Now, nearly two millennia later, humankind is ripening, with the harvest of firstfruits being foreshadowed by the children of Israel entering the Promised Land of Canaan. This means that as the nation of Israel numbered in the census of the second year, except for Joshua and Caleb, did not enter into God’s rest because of unbelief [lack of faith], Christendom, except for the Remnant (from Rev 12:17), will die physically and/or spiritually during the Affliction, the first 1260 days of the seven endtime years of tribulation. … Jesus was tempted as all men are tempted: He was offered His life, but He chose to give it up and die as the Passover Lamb of God. Faithful Christians in the Affliction will also choose God over saving their physical lives as they become the reality of the lamb without blemish chosen on the day of the Wave Sheaf Offering (Lev 23:12) and of the seven lambs without blemish offered on Pentecost (v. 18). Those disciples who will be glorified when Jesus returns consists of disciples who were foreknown and called by the Father in this era [the single lamb] and those Christians who choose to endure to the end in faith during the Affliction and Endurance [the seven lambs].
One handful [sheaf] of barley represents the physical portion of a narrative thought-couplet, and the two loaves of bread baked with leaven (with the fire of the baking killing the leavening) represents the spiritual portion, for the barley representing the physical is the new grain beaten into fine flour from which the two loaves are baked. So the physical is present in the spiritual as Jacob is present in Israel, or as Yah is present in YHWH.
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In the days of Moses when the end of the age was three and a half millennia [also a time, times, and half a time] in the future, even seeing the existence of the Millennium was difficult if not impossible … what Scripture records is the shadow of events that occur in the heavenly realm. If everything that happens in this world were to appear on a horizontal timeline (the “x” axis of an “x-y” graph), and if what happens in the timeless heavenly realm were to appear on the “y” axis of this graph, the intersection of the “x” and “y” axes would be when the kingdom is given to the Son of Man. Therefore, for Moses to look forward into this intersection and see what will happen even when events are revealed to him could be likened to trying to judge the quality of a Dall ram from five miles away without a spotting scope: the person could see the white spot representing the ram’s white coat against the gray background of a rock slide, but that’s about all the person can see. Likewise, even prophets such as Isaiah who lived some seven centuries nearer to the end of this age [who had, in the example of the Dall ram, hiked a mile closer] could not determine with clarity the boundary between the end of this present age and the end of world that comes with the first heaven and first earth passing away. Yes, the prophet Isaiah received in vision the words of the Lord that he faithfully relayed to Israel, but he did not understand all that he saw in vision for he (and other prophets) yearned to see and to hear what Jesus’ first disciples saw and heard (cf. Matt 13:17; Luke 10:24). They saw darkly and knew in part what those disciples living at the end of this era would experience firsthand. Likewise, the Apostles (other than John) saw only darkly and knew only in part what was revealed to John in vision. And John alone said of himself that he was the brother and partner of those disciples who would live into the Affliction and Kingdom and Endurance in Jesus that would occur in the Lord’s Day, that day [short period of time] being when the kingdom of this world is given to the Son of Man.
If time is truly short—it is the contention of Philadelphia that it is—then in the above Dall sheep analogy, disciples are within a few dozen yards of the feeding ram. They have to keep heads down and eyes off the ram (for he will “feel” eyes that look directly at him) as they remain silent and nearly motionless, but they are close enough that they can see the broomed ends of his horns and the curl and forty inches of spread … they can see the man of perdition before this lawless one is revealed on day 220 of the Affliction; they can watch him learn history and build credibility and be rewarded with the good things that this world has to offer. With a certain sense of sadness, endtime Philadelphians know that this man of perdition must lead the rebellion [apostasy] against God and perish eternally for doing so, and these endtime Philadelphians find themselves in a position analogous to that of Jesus when He washed the feet of Judas Iscariot. What must be done must occur, but let it be done quickly. For the urge is there to reach out to the feeding ram and warn him that he is about to die, that the long stalk has been successful, and now all that remains is to pull the trigger, with this “trigger” being the Second Passover liberation of Israel. The future man of perdition is not yet possessed by Satan as Judas Iscariot was not yet possessed by Satan when Jesus handed him the sop: “So when [Jesus] had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him” (John 13:26–27).
About Judas Iscariot, Jesus said in prayer, “‘I have guarded them [His disciples], and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled’” (John 17:12).
The angelic faced, chubby-cheeked future man of perdition is not today a dark, sinister appearing figure, but a man who seeks to restore history so that its lessons will not have to be repeated. But the history that he seeks to restore is that of rebellion against God, with this rebellion’s Christ being a puppet named Jesus and the not glorified Christ that will thrice slay a third of humankind, the first time at the Second Passover liberation of Israel, the second time in the Sixth Trumpet Plague and the third time at Armageddon … the first time will be immediately before the beginning of the seven endtime years of tribulation, the second time immediately before the kingdom of this world is given to the Son of Man, and the third time immediately before the beginning of Christ’s millennial reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.
The Christianity of America’s founding fathers (i.e., of the Great Awakening) and the Christianity of the endtime Apostasy used and will reuse the same puppet named Jesus—
On this day of Pentecost when thoughts are on the harvest of the saints, each represented by one of the two loaves of barley bread baked with leaven that are waved before the Lord on the Feast of Weeks, with the leavening that represents sin killed by fire during the baking of the loaves—being without sin, Jesus was waved as the reality of the first handful of ripe barley and was accepted without the purging that comes from grinding grain into fine flour and through fire—discussion of the Apostasy hardly seems appropriate. Yet as Philadelphians on this day look out across Christendom, they do not even see other Sabbatarian disciples appearing before God on this day. They see only themselves, which should be cause for concern … when Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, what did He see? Judas Iscariot was lost. Peter would deny Him when He was taken. Thomas was without understanding as was Philip (see John chap 15). Jesus knew that He was alone even among His disciples; He knew that only John would remain with his mother Mary, and her sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene (John 19:25–27).
It is Philadelphia that keeps the word (message) about the Endurance in Christ (Rev 3:10); it is Philadelphia that is the brother and partner of John to whom Jesus committed the care of His mother. It is Philadelphia that continues where John left off. And on the Preparation Day for the High Sabbath, the 15th of Abib, only John and the three women stood with Christ. The others kept their distance. It wasn’t so much that the others were lost or even that they were cowards—Peter wept bitterly when he realized that he had failed Jesus (Matt 26:75). It was a matter of the flesh remaining stronger than belief/faith; for those Sabbatarian Christians who this year did not cover themselves by taking the Passover sacraments on the dark portion of the 14th of Abib, with (again) the month of Abib beginning with the sighting of the first new moon crescent after the spring equinox, separated themselves from Christ Jesus through their lack of faith, through their unbelief, through the leavening of rabbinical Judaism.
The count for Pentecost begins with starting the new year after the model Jesus left with His disciples, with Jesus having told His disciples, “‘Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees’” (Matt 16:6) … too many Sabbatarian Christians have feasted on the leavening of rabbinical Judaism, the outgrowth of the Pharisees; too many Sabbatarian Christians have swallowed their poisonous calendar that begins the year in the fall. But really, how are they to know just how grievous they err when they, like the disciples who kept their distance from Christ Jesus when He was taken, stand back and try to melt into the world around them. That is the social construct underlying using rabbinical Judaism’s calendar, for after all isn’t the Jews’ Passover [the 15th of Abib] marked on the world’s calendars? Isn’t it easy to go to bosses and tell them that you, as a Sabbatarian Christian, want the Jews’ Passover off as it is a high holy day, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread? Certainly schools will excuse absences on this day that is marked on the world’s calendars. But what if—as is the case this year—rabbinical Judaism has screwed up the sacred calendar? Will you, out of weakness, still keep the Jews’ Passover and hope against hope that God will accept your intensions in lieu of your obedience? Or will you angrily demand that God come to you and be present whenever you determine that you will appear before Him? Is this not exactly what those who attempt to enter into God’s rest on the day after the Sabbath do? Are not you, as a Sabbatarian, more guilty (if such a thing were possible) of denying Christ than the Sunday-keeping Christians who ignorantly worships a puppet named Jesus?
The first disciples who didn’t stand with Jesus didn’t want to also be taken. And endtime Sabbatarian Christians who don’t want to be identified as crazy use rabbinical Judaism’s calendar. But by their Sabbath observance they are as “noticeable” in this world as Galileans were in Jerusalem. Ultimately, they must either stand with Christ or deny Him by calling the puppet of the Apostasy Jesus.
Why did John stand with Jesus when there was equal risk to him as there was to the other disciples? What was it about John that caused him to stand where others denied Jesus? And where was John during the decades between when he disappears in the Book of Acts and when he writes his gospel?
But it wasn’t John who spoke on that day of Pentecost following Calvary; it was Peter—and in his explanation of what was occurring, Peter skips over much of what Joel prophesies, for on this day of Pentecost, there were no wonders in the sky above: the sun did not turn dark, nor did the moon turn blood red. Waters didn’t turn bitter and to blood. Fire and hail were not cast down upon the earth. There were no columns of smoke. So what occurred on Pentecost could only have been a foreshadowing of the opening of the seventh seal (Rev chaps 8–10), with this opening of the seventh seal being the reality of what Joel prophesies.
Peter and John are linked through what Peter said on this day of Pentecost and the vision John receives more than six decades later; for in this vision Christ Jesus “corrects” the misunderstandings Peter initiated with an omission: John the Baptist said to the Pharisees and Sadducees who were coming to him for baptism, “‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose scandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with [pneuma hagion —spirit holy] and fire’” (Matt 3:11) … two baptisms like that of water in the days of Noah, when the world was baptized into death. John’s baptism by water for repentance was a type of the Flood when the Lord baptized the world. Noah was a preacher of righteousness; repentance is unto righteousness. Repentance will bring the Israelite (i.e., the Christian) to where Noah was when he escaped the destruction that caused the Lord to destroy the wickedness of men (from Gen 6:5). Repentance is turning from wickedness and ceasing to follow the ways of this world, including the ways of rabbinical Judaism, the ideological continuation of second temple Pharisaical thought.
Because of historical distance (i.e., the distance John and the man Jesus were on the “x” axis from the intersection of the “x” and “y” axes at the end of day 1260 of the Affliction), John the Baptist didn’t separate Jesus baptizing the world with spirit when the kingdom of this world is given to the Son of Man halfway through the seven endtime years of tribulation from when Jesus baptizes the world with fire in the coming of the new heavens and new earth. These two baptisms were linguistically united by their close proximity in John’s utterance—and the shadow and types of these two baptisms [their left hand enantiomers] appear equally close: “And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them” (Acts 2:2–3).
But when the Apostasy is near in time and the future man of perdition can be seen weeknights on television as he prepares a people to rebel against the Lord after the Son of Man is revealed and after all of Christendom (i.e., all who identify themselves as Christians) is liberated from indwelling sin and death without first repenting of their wickedness from mingling sacred and profane—when belief is strained through layered unbelief, the separation of the two baptisms is readily apparent. The liberation of Christians from indwelling sin and death is a mirror image of the world being baptized in spirit three and a half years later when the kingdom is given to the Son of Man and the Adversary can no longer be the prince of the power of the air. Thus, revelation that there will be a Second Passover liberation of Israel on the second Passover contains within that revelation knowledge that the clause, suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, forms the discernable (in this world) shadow and type of the world being baptized in spirit, the breath of God [pneuma Theon] when the kingdom is given to the Son of Man. Then when disciples are glorified at the end of the Endurance, disciples are baptized with fire: “[The Lord will be with Israel] when you walk through fire [and] shall not be burned” (Isa 43:2).
Water and fire—baptism into death and into life, with the Father raising the dead and giving to the inner self “life,” and with the Son, to whom all judgment has been given, giving life (immortality) to the perishable flesh to all whom He will. Both the Father and the Son must give life to a disciple, with these two gifts of life represented by baptism by spirit and baptism by fire.
Pentecost isn’t about the first disciples receiving the spirit of God: they received the spirit when Jesus breathed on them on the same day that He was resurrected from death (see John 20:22) … yes, on the same day that Jesus was glorified, the first disciples were made alive in a relationship analogous to the first handful of barley of the new year being waved before God and the end of the barley harvest seeing every household bringing before God two loaves of barley bread baked with leavening to be waved before God. The entirety of the Christian era lies between the Wave Sheaf Offering and the Feast of Weeks, with the entirety of the Christian era represented by the First Unleavened (from Matt 26:17 — read the passage in Greek without the extra words translators have inserted) and by the seven days of Unleavened Bread, with the man Jesus of Nazareth being crucified on the First Unleavened as a shadow and type of the early Church, the Body of Christ, dying for want of breath (i.e., the breath of God) with the death of the Apostle John.
Pentecost isn’t about receiving the spirit, but about the harvest of God, with the first harvest, a type of the harvest to come, occurring on Pentecost when about 3,000 disciples were added to the Church. And with this as background, disciples now need to look at what Peter said—
But not yet: Christians are quick to make the assumption that because the Apostles were with Jesus, they had all knowledge, but if Scripture is to be believed, that could not be the case for Daniel’s visions were not yet unsealed—they wouldn’t be unsealed until the end of the age—and John’s vision had not been given. The Apostles, including Paul, in the first decades after Calvary did not know that a short period (three and a half years) that John identifies as the “Endurance in Jesus” [hypomone en Iesou] (Rev 1:9) would occur after the kingdom of this world is given to the Son of Man (Dan 7:9–14; Rev 11:15–18). This short period (also a time, times, and half a time in length) forms the mirror image of the time, times, and half a time (i.e., 1260 days) of the two witnesses’ ministry. The lawless one [the man of perdition — from 2 Thess 2:3 — a human being possessed by Satan] during the ministry of the two witnesses forms the mirror image of the Adversary, the spiritual king of Babylon, when the Adversary is cast from heaven (Rev 12:7–10) and comes to earth claiming to be the Messiah, with the Adversary being given the mind of a man.
The Apostles didn’t know that the Body of Christ [the Church] would form the mirror image of Jesus’ earthly body, with the Church being betrayed by “insiders” (i.e., men from Jerusalem) as Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus, and with the Church being taken captive by the Adversary as Jesus was taken captive by officials of the temple before being turned over to the Romans … disciples are individually and collectively the temple of God (1 Cor 12:27), and the Body of Christ was taken captive by officials of the temple; i.e., by Christian leaders and teachers. And as the earthly body of Christ lost its breath and died on the cross at Calvary, the spiritual Body of Christ lost its breath [the breath of God — pneuma Theon] and also died and hung dead in public display for more than two centuries (as Jesus hung dead on the cross from more than two hours) before the Body of Christ was buried by the council of Nicea (ca 325 CE). But as the gates of Hades could not prevail over Jesus earthly body, the gates of Hades will not prevail over the spiritual Body of Christ which will be resurrected to life after the third day.
As Jesus, the light of Day One, was resurrected from death, the Church He built on the movement of breath seen through the juxtaposition of “John” and “Jonah,” and “Petros” and “petra” will be resurrected from death at the second Passover liberation of Israel; for this liberation of Israel is from indwelling sin and death, not from physical servitude to a human king. Therefore, because neither Peter nor any of the first Apostles knew that the Body of Christ would die with the death of the Apostle John (ca 100–102 CE), the Book of Acts ends abruptly and the New Testament conceals the Second Passover liberation of Israel with the death of Christ Jesus at Calvary in a manner similar to how the visions of Daniel were kept secret by their earthly shadow.
The sacrifice of Christ Jesus at Calvary, with the crucified Jesus being the uncovered Head of the covered (by grace) Body of Christ, forms the left hand enantiomer of the martyrdom of saints that occurred in the 1st-Century and that will occur again in the 21st-Century (see Rev 6:9–11).
That day of Pentecost following Calvary saw the earthly shadow of the world being baptized in spirit occur, with no outwardly discernible changes occurring to the person when baptized in spirit and thus liberated from indwelling sin and death. Paul writes, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:27–28). But baptism doesn’t cause the Jew to lose the evidence of his outward circumcision, nor does baptism give to the slave freedom in this world. So baptism by water into the death of the old self doesn’t see the death of the person’s fleshly body as baptism by water in the days of Noah saw the death of all land dwelling creatures. Nor will baptism in spirit give to the flesh immortality. Except by how a person acts, the person will not be outwardly different after being baptized by spirit than the person was before being baptized. So how will the world know that the spirit has been poured out on all flesh?
The prophet Joel wrote,
And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I [the Lord] will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls. (2:28–32)
The signs and wonders in heaven and on earth will disclose to humankind that the spirit has been poured out on all flesh, changing even the natures of the great predators (Isa 11:6–9).
The spirit doesn’t change the flesh, but changes what the flesh does. A man remains a man when baptized into Christ even though the inner new self of this man becomes a living son of God. A woman remains a woman when baptized into Christ even though the inner new self of this woman also becomes a living son of God. Hence sons and daughters prophesy for all become sons of God through baptism in the spirit of God.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, went home with John on the day when Jesus was crucified (again, John 19:27). She went with John as she went with Jesus before. Thus, she would have been with John on that day of Pentecost when “they were all together in one place” (Acts 2:1), and she would have been one of those included in, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit gave then utterance” (v. 4) —
Peter, hearing the women speak as the Apostles spoke, apparently concluded without seeing the wonders in earth and in heaven about which Joel prophesied that the spirit had been poured out on all flesh when from our historical perspective we know this was obviously not the case.
Did Peter err? Yes and no; for what occurred was the shadow and type of what will happen when the kingdom is given to the Son of Man as the seventh plague of the seventh seal. Peter mistook the shadow for its reality, and thus, as with Daniel’s vision, Joel’s vision was sealed and kept secret through its shadow seeming to fulfill the prophecy.
If a person were to listen to the puppeteers in pulpits across America, the person will hear these puppeteers speaking about so-&-so being a spirit-filled Christian. That is simply not the case. To be filled with spirit is to have the Torah written on hearts and placed in minds so that any lawlessness is blasphemy against the spirit, blasphemy that will not be forgiven for once liberated from indwelling sin and death, no sacrifice remains for the person.
Once the Son of Man is revealed (Luke 17:30) or disrobed, grace ends, for Christ Jesus will no longer bear the sins of Israel. There will be no reason for Israel to sin. It will only be through unbelief—through not loving the truth—that Israel will transgress the commandments, with the transgression not held against Israel but with the unbelief that produced the transgression causing the Father to send over the rebelling disciple a great delusion so that this person will not turn to God, repent, and be saved.
The future man of perdition doesn’t appear evil, nor does the Adversary appear evil but rather appears as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14). This future man of perdition wants America to return to the nation’s roots and to the Christianity of the founding fathers—but not really, for this future man of perdition holds to the teachings of a would-be American Moses, a false teacher of Israel who in bastardized 17th-Century English wrote in the 19th-Century another testament of Jesus. Therein lies the evidence of the trap within what this future man of perdition teaches, and that trap is Arian in composition and political in application; for the United States of America, perhaps the greatest nation the world has ever known, is merely the pinnacle of the Adversary’s attempts to prove that self-governance works, that the Most High God is merely one of many equals.
On Pentecost, more so than on any other Sabbath of the year, Christians are to appear before God—and they haven’t … how much farther from God can humankind get?
Now, go back and reread Acts chapter 2, considering how alone Jesus was He was taken and how excited He must have been when He was accepted by the Father and how excited He will be when we, the firstfruits, appear before the Father.
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The person conducting the Sabbath service should close services with two hymns, or psalms, followed by a prayer asking God’s dismissal.
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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."