The Birth of the Church
Understand the Church is not a physical building, it’s not an organization or denomination, it’s not a particular ministry, the Church is made up of the body of believers that are called by His name according to His purpose. The Church is people called out of people.
The birth of the Church is of utmost importance, understanding when the church began helps identify it and determine the laws that govern it. In other words it helps us to rightly divide the Word of Truth.
The Church was established or birthed on the Day of Pentecost. It was not always in existence; however, was always in the mind and heart of God (Eph. 3:3-6 & 8-11, Eph.1: 4).
Understand that the church could not have existed before the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ or else it would have existed without the blood of Christ – Acts 20:28, the Holy Spirit – John 16:13, The New Covenant – Hebrews 9:15 – 17, The Lord’s Supper – Matt. 26:28, The Gospel (good-news) 1st Corinthians 15:1 – 4, The headship of Christ – Eph. 1:19 – 21, and Salvation – Eph. 1:7.
Acts chapter 2 begins with these words “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” We see that the Church began on the Day of Pentecost. .
The question now is What is Pentecost?
PENTECOST!!! TODAY IS PENTCOSTAL SUNDAY
Pentecostal Sunday is the day known as the birth of the church. Sadly in many churches Pentecost/Pentecostal Sunday is one of the most neglected events of the church calendar.
Pentecost was originally an Old Testament festival, the only festival for which no specific date is given in the Bible, it is called the festival of weeks. Leviticus 23:15 however instructs the people to count 7 weeks from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering.”
According to our American calendar this celebration of Pentecost occurs in May or June because it is 7 weeks, 50 days after Passover, Resurrection Sunday, or more commonly called Easter.
The number 7 is God’s number it represents spiritual completeness and spiritual perfection.
The number 50 stands as the beginning of the era, which is beyond the limitations of this world, it represents eternal and heavenly fulfillment, it is 7x7, which is complete perfection of spiritual things plus 1, which represents God, “Beginning”. It is not composed of another number; it is independent of all other numbers. It is the source of all numbers; therefore, denotes the beginning. It represents Divine unity, supremacy, and independency; it is sufficiency, which needs no other, and independency, which admits no other. The number one is emphatic, declaring the unity of worship. It represents the One and Only true God who is self-sufficient, the beginning, the alpha and omega.
*Remember Easter was April 20th 50 days later, 7 weeks, the 7th Sabbath is June 8th, today, Pentecostal Sunday, the day of the perfecting of spiritual things.
The Hebrew word is “Shavuot” the Greek word is “Pentekostes” which means 50. Shavuot or Pentecost is a day to celebrate hope, a hope evoked by the knowledge that God through His Holy Spirit is at work among His people, the Church. It is a celebration of newness, renewal of purpose, mission, and calling. On Pentecost we have fulfillment of the mission of Christ and the beginning of the Church.
Pentecost/Pentecostal Sunday is also called apocalyptic day, which means the day of final revelation, eschatological day, which means day of the final and perfect end, and Trinity day, which is the fullness of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost revealed unto mankind.
The reason Pentecost is so important to the church is that without His presence and power, the church (you & I) would have died out long ago. It is because of what took place on Pentecost that places within us the power to accomplish that which is impossible in the flesh.
*Pentecost should not be a celebration of an event, which took place centuries ago, but a celebration of what must and should happen to us in church today.
The 1st Pentecost was not a to-be-repeated event. The sights and sounds were non-reproducible, just as were the events surrounding Christ’s birth. However a personal Pentecost is the birthright of every born again believer. The infilling of the Holy Ghost is for all of us today.
Nevertheless, there are some prerequisites before experiencing a personal Pentecost.
1. We must be obedient – Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus.
2. We must Seek Him – We have to get tired of carnal thinking and desire all that God has to give.
3. We must surrender – We must yield our minds, heart, body, spirit, emotions, will, and ambitions totally unto the Lord.
Shavuot or Pentecost is a little more than just the birth of the church, although that’s what we associate it with; however, it’s a little deeper than that. Remember the Old Testament is the New Testament hid and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.
Shavuot/Pentecost is a major festival with a two-fold significance; it marked the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest.
Let’s look at the spiritual significance. Jesus is our bread of life, in the natural barley bread needs more yeast than wheat bread since the flour in barley bread doesn’t have the same ability to rise as wheat does. Barley represents humanity without God, unable to rise from the depths of sin, wheat represents God because wheat is beaten to get the grain, Jesus was beaten and bruised for our transgressions in order for us to get salvation, wheat is God in humanity, He is the necessary ingredient to rise above sin. When the Holy Ghost fell on the day of Pentecost it was the necessary ingredient to raise us from this world into eternal life in heaven.
Pentecost is a celebration to waken and strengthen personal relationships with God. Historically on Shavuot/Pentecost the first fruits of the wheat harvest were presented to the Lord in a wave offering. A wave offering simply means that the sacrifice was not placed on the altar but was lifted up or waved before the Lord. The offering consisted of two loaves of bread baked with leavened flour, these two loaves represented mankind, men & women, Jew & Gentile, the leaven represented sin, the giving of the first fruits showed reliance on God expecting what was to come, the greater or latter harvest naturally, spiritually the promise of the Holy Ghost.
We know Pentecost as the birth of the church; however, Pentecost actually memorializes two events. Remember the Old Testament is the New Testament hid, the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.
The two events memorialized by Pentecost are:
1. The Birth of the Church
2. The 1st giving of the Law – (The Ten Commandments)
Exodus 19:1 reads “In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.” From this scripture and others Jewish Rabbis and other Bible scholars deduced that God actually gave the Torah on Shavuot/Pentecost, 50 days after the crossing of the Red Sea. Torah in Greek means Law for which we are most familiar with in Hebrew it means teachings. Understanding Shavuot/Pentecost recalls God’s revelation of Himself, His power and His Torah (Law / Teachings) to His people.
Lets look at the Two events and the things that happened:
Shavuot Pentecost
The giving of the Ten Commandments The giving of the Holy Ghost
50 days after crossing the Red Sea 50 days after the resurrection of Christ
Law written in stone Law written in the heart
3000 souls slain 3000 souls saved
Fire seen by all Fire seen as cloven tongues
Mixed multitude at Sinai Ex.12:38 Mixed multitude at Jerusalem
Torah means teachings Holy Ghost is the teacher
At Sinai the voice of God was heard At Pentecost the language of God
Why is this comparison of such importance? To understand that we do not have a monopoly on God we have been grafted in. Jesus first came to His own, but His own received Him not. John 1:11-13.
“It was God’s intention and desire to bring the Jewish New Covenant to the Jewish people in a Jewish manner, so He used Jewish festivals to convey new truths in ways that emphasized their connection with old truths. David Stern Jewish New Testament Commentary.”
Before Pentecost After Pentecost
The Holy Spirit’s work
From without the body. Spirit came upon and withdrew from. Num.24:2, 1st Sam.10:10, 11:6,16:16,18:10…. From within the body. He indwells. John 7:37-39,14:17, 1st Cor.6:19, 1John 3:24,4:13
It was temporary. It is permanent. Heb.13:5
Exceptional – only certain ones did the spirit come upon. Normal – involving all. Acts2:17
So we see that Pentecost is the Promised Revelation of God in the hearts of mankind. We could say Acts 2:1 like this: When the day of Promise and Revelation was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Verse 2 gives two symbols of God’s presence “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.”
Wind represents the Spirit of God – John 3:8, Ezek. 37:9-14. The wind was mighty, which means it was a quicken wind like that in Ezek. 37. It raised the spiritually dead.
Tongues like as of fire. The purpose of the cloven tongues of fire was not to make possible the hearing of the gospel, but to “capture” the attention of all so they would listen. Fire is the means of purification, the tongues came in effect for the purpose of reversing what happened at Babel. Gen. 11:1-9. At Babel God confounded their language because of the sinful purpose; however, on Pentecost God used one language to speak to all mankind.
Verse 4 says “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the spirit gave them utterance.” This is the beginning of the fulfillment of Jer.31:31-33.
The results of Pentecost produced:
1. Purity of Heart: Matt.5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” Pure in heart refers to the mind-set of an individual, it is purity of thought, imagination, desire, motive, and actions. It implies holiness, which is manifested, not by just a mere external imitation of Christ but an internal transformation. 1st Tim. 1:5 says “Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and good conscience, and faith unfeigned.”
2. Power: Acts 1:8 says “But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witness unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
a.) Power in Prayer: Acts 4:31 says “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together…” When Holy Ghost filled people pray things begin to shake.
b.) Power to overcome, for I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, we are more than conquerors. We have power to overcome:
1. Satan
2. Temptations
3. Failure
4. Sin
5. Sorrow
6. Discouragement
7. Disappointment
Luke 4:18 says “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.”
c.) Power to endure all things 1st Cor.13:7
d) The Power to be changed from mortal to immortality.
Elder Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
Boanerge Ministries
