As the Lord is coming soon, we need to prepare. And this understanding is very important to prepare for His Second Coming. Buckle up.. it’s going to be a long ride.
Let’s get on with this.
So the Feast of Pentecost is basically the feast where God gave the Law in the Old Testament, and Gave His Holy Spirit in the New Testament to write the law in our hearts.
When compared to the Passover Feast of the Unleavened Bread.. the offering God requested for Pentecost (or the Feast of Weeks) is leavened (with yeast).
Leaven as explained earlier refers to sin.
This meant that God knew His people would still sin, even with the law given. That is why He gave us a Helper who would write the law in our hearts.
Next thing about this Pentecost.. is the fire ?
Let’s check out the Book of Acts…
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.
Acts 2:1-4
The Holy Spirit came upon them as tongues of fire. This statement is very important.
It verified what John the Baptist said about Jesus:
John answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire .
Luke 3:16
The presence of God always represents fire, especially when God comes as a judge, but it’s always a good thing. I’ll delve further into this topic.
During the very first Pentecost, the Lord wanted to introduce Himself to the people of Israel, after He had saved them from Egypt.
You would see that in Exodus 19.
First, He made Moses come down to initiate a covenant with them, where they would obey God’s commandments and God would make them His kingdom of priests and holy nation.
They agreed and told Moses:
All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do!” And Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.
Exodus 19:8
So God decided to show Himself to them. He told Moses to instruct them on how to prepare themselves. Then finally God appeared on Mount Sinai to meet His lovely people.
Here’s how He appeared…
Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.
Exodus 19:18
When He did, He started telling them the 10 commandments and other laws.
There’s this thing about God and Fire ?… His presence is the Fire ? especially when it’s about His commandments.
He’s always been so. The Holy Spirit is also God’s presence.. He too came as fire. Meditate on that and you’ll understand what the “Lake of Fire” actually means. (I’ll delve into that as another topic soon)
Now why am I saying all this? On both occasions of Pentecost – the shadow of the Old and the reality of the New – God’s Spirit descended as Fire. One on the mountain, and the other on the disciples.
When leaven or yeast is put in the dough, it begins to rise and spread throughout the dough until fire is introduced to halt its activities. That’s how Leaven works (bread with yeast).
Now that’s what happens with sin and the Holy Spirit. God saw that humans couldn’t stop sinning no matter how he or she tried. So He sent the Holy Spirit in humans as the fire, to help by halting these weaknesses in the body of humans.
Pentecostal church
That’s not all. Additionally, this fire is meant to help, and also try the works of believers.
More importantly than the issue of weaknesses in us..
Jesus took care of every form of sin –present, past and future– especially for believers, because God wants us to focus on doing His works –our part to play in the Kingdom assignment.
How do you pass this phase and rise beyond the Pentecostal Level of the Church personally?
Just like the church in the Book of Acts. The era of Pentecost was the era of Kingdom Assignments.
You are to focus on the part you’re to play in fulfilling God’s agenda, and then execute it by overcoming this world’s systems through faith. You can’t fulfill your call by being like the people of this world.
Listen to what Paul said:
For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
1 Corinthians 3:11-13, 15
This is very important!
Jesus said “He came to also unleash fire on the earth.”
Every uncomfortable moment that comes to you, requiring you to make use of your faith..is called fire, which is meant to test the quality of your faith.
After the Feast of Pentecost comes the Feast of Trumpets, where those who overcome will experience the “rapture”
Not every Christian will experience that. This is also called the “First Resurrection.”
It’s reserved for the people the Bible calls the Overcomers.
Those who overcome the systems of this world and fulfill their calling, are those who pass the test of the fire of God.
All the works you’re doing now will be tested. This COVID era was a big eye opener to show you whether you really had the faith to overcome these world systems.
That was another form of fire ? to test the quality of your faith.
Did you act just like the people of this world? Being in fear, doing all they said and justifying it with science and logic while posting nice Bible quotes?
The leavened bread must go through fire? before it is offered to God.
All the works of everyone in the church will go through fire, that is what Pentecost signifies.
The fire will determine the quality of your works. If it stands, then you qualify to progress to the next church level when the trumpet call sounds.
Otherwise, see what Paul says.. Your works will be burnt by the same fire.
You won’t undergo the “rapture,” but will be saved afterwards by the fire of the tribulation that is yet to come.
That era is close, Pentecost is ending. The fire will keep burning to test your works and faith, up until the era of Trumpets..then you’d know the quality of your work.
How well have you made use of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the areas of your life and walk as a believer?
Is He just only real in worship for you and forgotten on issues like COVID, boldness to preach, dominating every situation around you for the Kingdom?
It’s time to take the Work seriously and execute your part in the kingdom agenda. Be the among the ones who rise above the Pentecost.
Uche Okorie