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It was inevitable;
the Israelites would
be free to leave
Egypt. God had
already set the
plans in motion. He
knew Pharaoh would
object and harden
his heart. God
allowed him to
continue to be
obstinate about
letting his slaves
go so that the power
of God could be made
known, and the
escape of His people
would honor Him who
arranged it all.
“And
the LORD said unto
Moses, Go in unto
Pharaoh: for I have
hardened his heart,
and the heart of his
servants, that I
might show these my
signs before him”
(Exodus 10:1).
God used the hard
heart of Pharaoh to
carry out His plan
to free His people
and show His power.
Plague after plague
devastated Egypt
while Pharaoh tried
to play his game
with God. He had
not yet encountered
the power of the
Israelites’ God, but
he was about to!
Preparations were
under way for the
final plague.
God instructed Moses
to have the people
choose a flawless
year-old male lamb, keep it in a
pen for two weeks
and then kill it.
Its blood was to be
placed on the side
posts and the upper
post of their
doorways. The lamb
was to be prepared
by roasting and
eaten before
midnight with
“unleavened bread
and bitter herbs.”
What was not eaten
would be destroyed
by burning. They
would eat this meal
with their
“traveling shoes”
on, because it would
be time to leave
Egypt.
No one was to leave
his abode after
the blood was
applied to the door
posts until Moses
gave the marching
order. The blood
was their protection
when the angel
passed through the
land at God’s
command to slay all
the first born of
Egypt. Pharaoh was
about to discover
that he could not
win when he tried to
play games with
Israel’s God! An
angel received
orders from God to
pass through the
land and bring death
to every household
that had not applied
the blood of the
innocent lamb.
“…when
I see the blood, I
will pass over you,
and the plague shall
not be upon you to
destroy you, when I
smite the land of
Egypt” (Exodus
12:13).
This event was to be
commemorated by
Israel throughout
their generations to
remind them of their
deliverance from
slavery by their
God. The
celebration would be
known as “Passover”
and be kept as a
feast each year.
It was no accident
that the crucifixion
of Jesus took place
during the Passover
celebration.
He was God’s sinless
lamb, in His prime
and became the
redeeming sacrifice
for everyone (not
only
Jews), once for all
time. His blood
shed on the cross
covers us with His
protection from the
wrath of God against
our sins. It is not
just a covering, but
actually a cleansing
agent that “takes
away” our sin.
“…Behold the Lamb
of God, which taketh
away the sin of the
world” (John 1:29).
After the
crucifixion and
resurrection of
Jesus, our Redeemer,
His earthly mission
completed, He began
to prepare His
followers to
continue the work He
had begun on earth.
Their understanding
was still somewhat
foggy about what was
going to take place,
but Jesus told them
they would
understand His
instructions later
when He sent the
Helper/Comforter to keep
them in His presence
after He was gone.
"But these things
have I told you,
that when the time
shall come, ye may
remember that I told
you of them.
And these things I
said not unto you at
the beginning,
because I was with
you. But now I
go my way to him
that sent me...if I
go not away, the
Comforter will not
come unto you; but
if I depart, I will
send him unto you"
(John 16:4, 5, 7).
Their mission would
entail many dangers
and periods of time
that could be
discouraging to
them—without this
“Helper.” Before
they began to spread
the “Good News”
about Jesus to the
world, they were to
stay in
Jerusalem
“until
ye be endued with
power from on high”
(Luke 24:49).
They were promised
power to continue to
do the work of the
Kingdom of God after
Jesus left them.
"But the
Comforter,which is
the Holy Ghost, whom
the Father will send
in my name, he shall
teach you all
things, and bring
all things to your
remembrance,
whatsoever I have
said unto
you...Howbeit, when
he, the Spirit of
truth, is come, he
will guide you into
all truth...he will
glorify me..." (John
14:26, 16:13, 14).
Following Jesus’
instructions, they
gathered in a house
in Jerusalem waiting
for they knew not
what; just waiting
as He instructed.
While they waited,
they took care of
some business,
replacing Judas, the
betrayer of Jesus,
with Matthias; and
then “continued with
one accord” their
waiting. No
doubt, the adult
males were making
preparations to
observe the Feast of
Pentecost as its
time approached.
The term 'Pentecost'
comes from a Hebrew
word meaning
"fiftieth." This feast occurred
fifty days after
Passover and is
associated with the
wheat harvest.
It is one of three
annual feasts that
all male Jews over
20 years of age were
required to go to
Jerusalem to
commemorate, and
they celebrated it
by coming before the
Lord to bring the
“first-fruit” of the
wheat harvest. It
was
“a
tribute of a
free-will offering
of thine hand”
(Deuteronomy 16:10).
It
was on this Feast
day (fifty days
after Jesus’
crucifixion) that
God sent the promise
that Jesus told them
would be coming to
empower them to be
His witnesses to all
the world.
Just as it was not
an accident that
Jesus' death
occurred during
Passover (the Feast
commemorating how God
planned the escape
of the enslaved
Hebrews from Egypt
after the Passover
lamb was slain and
its blood provided
protection from the
death angel), it was
not accidental that
He sent the Holy
Ghost on the Feast
of Pentecost, a
harvest in-gathering
time, to those Jesus
left behind to
harvest souls until
His return.
In his magazine,
"Voice of
Evangelism,"
(January/February,
2007 Issue), Rev.
Perry Stone noted
this: "During
the first Pentecost,
Moses came off the
mountain with the
tablets of the law,
the written word of
God. Israel
was worshipping the
golden calf and
Moses threw the
tablets to the
ground in anger,
breaking them into
pieces. That
day 3,000 souls were
slain for their sin
(Exodus 32:28).
Over 1,500 years
later at the Temple
of Jerusalem, the
Holy Spirit
descended at
Pentecost upon a
small group of
believers and,
before the day
ended, 3,000 soulds
were saved (Acts
2:41)."
Perry Stone
Jesus is our
“Passover” and the
Holy Ghost which
came at "Pentecost" is
instrumental in the
soul-harvest.
If we were
attributing the
correlation of these
events to a human,
we would wonder at
his cleverness; but
with God, He is
omniscient and sees
the end from the
beginning! His
“organization” is
perfect and He
always performs on
time. He had the
exit of the slaves
from Egypt and
Passover planned; He
had the Feast of
Pentecost (Feast of
Weeks) and the
coming of the Holy
Spirit planned and
all these events
were executed
in His time and according to His
will.
The harvest is not
over, and the Holy
Ghost is still
wooing the lost to
Jesus and empowering
the reapers to bring
in the harvest.
That “fiftieth day”
after Passover is so
significant to the
modern church world
that we need to have
more teaching, more
awareness of what
happened on that
“Day of Pentecost”
when the waiting
followers of Jesus
were “all
filled with the Holy
Ghost, and began to
speak with other
tongues. As the
spirit gave them
utterance” (Acts
2:4).
An aside: I recall
hearing a report of
someone who had
visited the
purported site of
the “upper room”
while touring the
Holy Land. Though
not discrediting the
Acts 2 account, they
declared that it was
impossible for 120
people to be in the
upper room and
wondered about it.
I am curious, so I
too wondered until I
read again the
Biblical account of
that special day.
Note the verse:
“And when the day
of Pentecost was
fully come, they
were all with one
accord in one place,
And suddenly there
came a sound from
heaven as of a
rushing mighty wind,
and it filled all
the house where they
were sitting” (Acts
2:1,2).
A close look at the
verse tells us that
the “whole house”
was involved, not
just the upper
room. I have heard
the coming of the
Holy Ghost as the
“upper room”
experience, but
actually it was a
“whole house”
occurrence, no one
was left out. My
curiosity was
satisfied with the
closer reading of
the verse.
For those who have
just come into this
“upper room/whole
house” experience or
those who would like
to know “what’s
next,” I offer the
following.
So, What’s Next?
(This was written
for and shared with
a youth group after
their "encounter" at
Smoky Mountain
Winterfest in
Tennessee.)
Wow! This must be
the ultimate
experience! Every
emotion stood on end
as your whole system
was engulfed with
in-filling of the
Holy Ghost. How do
you explain it?
Well, you can’t
really; all you can
do is invite
inquirers to find
out for themselves.
Talk about an
emotional high! You
just can’t get any
higher!
Well, that’s not
exactly right. That
was just the thrust
as all that fuel
burned to get you
off the ground, like
a jet airplane. It
takes a lot of fuel
to get a plane
airborne, but once
it’s flying, it just
levels off and goes
toward its
destination under
the power of the
fuel in its tank.
The pilot knows how
to keep it moving by
using the
instruments on his
panel which he has
been trained to
expertly operate.
We are like the
passengers; the
pilot is like the
anointed leadership;
the fuel that
provides the
momentum is like the
Holy Ghost. We need
to allow the pilot
to do the job that
God has given him to
do to guide us
toward our
destination.
We don’t fly in the
thrust that it took
to get us off the
ground. The
emotions are so
wonderful, soaring
on the wings of a
spiritual high.
But, you know what,
emotions fade in
time. As the
excitement fuel is
used up, all that is
left are some fumes
unless you have a
direct connection to
the fuel source; you
can't run on fumes.
The engines have to
have a permanent
line attached to the
fuel tanks.
Just as the initial
thrust of the
takeoff merges into
the power of flight
empowered by the
fuel in the huge
tanks of the plane,
the initial
in-filling of the
Holy Ghost was not
jettisoned, but
infused and sent us toward
a higher and deeper
mission.
The success of our
efforts depends
entirely upon the
empowerment of the
Holy Ghost and a
permanent connection
to the "fuel"
source.
More than our
emotions are touched
when the Holy Ghost
moved into our
lives. We just sort
of “level off” into
devotion,
commitment, and
service infused by
the power of the
Holy Ghost. The
energy we spent at
the onset of the
Baptism of the Holy
Ghost emerges into
adoration and
worship of the
Baptizer, Jesus; and
then moves deeper
into our being.
Now we have tools
that we didn’t have
before; such as,
praying in the
Spirit, singing in
the Spirit, allowing
the Spirit to
motivate us and
empower us to
witness. We have
supernatural power
to fight the powers
of evil that will
meet us head-on with
intentions of
destruction. We
have a suit of armor
for protection
against the enemy.
We are equipped to
"Go into all the
world and preach the
gospel (including
our own
neighborhood)."
The fiery emotions
that we experienced
when the Holy Ghost
first came in,
solidifies and gels
into power for
service for which He
came. We are not so
concerned with just
the “feelings” of
our emotions; we
now are turned
outward to be spent
for God in the
service He has
called us to do and
empowered us to
accomplish.
So, what’s next?
Fulfilling our
callings faithfully,
empowered by the
“fuel” of the Holy
Ghost. That was
God’s purpose in
sending the Holy
Ghost. Not just to
make us “feel good”
(though we really do
feel good!)
“But ye shall
receive power, after
the Holy Ghost is
come upon you; and
ye shall be
witnesses unto me
both in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea,
and in Samaria, and
unto the uttermost
part of the earth”
{Acts 1:8), said
Jesus.
To begin every day
feasting on the
Word, praying,
singing and
worshiping in the
Spirit is
empowerment and
preparation for
service for the
day. Who knows what
great things God has
planned for us
today?
We can complete our
daily assignments
powered up by the
Holy Ghost, who will
guide and direct our
every empowered
step!
Turn the emotional
‘high’ into Kingdom
power and soar
toward your
destination that God
has determined for
you. The rewards
will be “Heavenly”!
~~~Delores~~~
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