The Road To Pentecost

“The Road to Pentecost”

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTTRLw_2JDk

Last week I made a statement where I said that we have to stop seeking the experience of Pentecost, that is, the experience of the Holy Spirit, and instead we need to seek Pentecost’s or the Holy Spirit’s life changing reality.

As I was looking and thinking about that statement. The Lord laid on my heart that in order to experience Pentecost’s life changing reality and the fullness of the Holy Spirit, we must first experience Gethsemane, Calvary, and the Empty Tomb, and this is what I’d like to talk about today.

And when we think about it, and look at the disciples and their Pentecost experience, they likewise first experienced Gethsemane, Calvary, and the Empty Tomb. So, there is definitely precedence in this whole concept for believers and the church today.

And so, while we all long for Pentecost in our lives and in the church, what we all need to understand and experience is that there is no Pentecost, that is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us and the church, without there first being a Gethsemane, Calvary, and an Empty Tomb.

Further, as I was wondering what to call today’s teaching, at two in the morning, the name came, “The Road to Pentecost.” But as I was praying about it, another name came, and that was, “The Journey to Pentecost.” And I wondered, what’s the difference. And I felt as if the Lord was saying that it isn’t a journey that one takes towards Pentecost, rather it is a road.

You see, a journey looks at the destination, and not so much about how one gets there. That is, there are a multitude of options when it comes to a journey. We can hop on a plane and fly to our destination, or we can drive there, take a bus, a train, a boat, or even walk. But it’s the destination that is the most important.

A road on the other hand has defined parameters and has a definite starting point, and as a person travels on this road there are several stops that are necessary where the traveler gains further perspective and appreciation for the trip and the ending.

And so, there is a definite starting point on this road to Pentecost, and that is Gethsemane, and then afterwards there needs to be stops at Calvary and the Empty Tomb.

But first, let’s take a look at our destination, Pentecost.

Pentecost

What is Pentecost?

It is the fourth feast in what is often referred to as the Feasts of Israel. There are seven feasts found within the Bible: Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and Tabernacles.

Now, while many dismiss these as applicable only to Israel and the Jews, and not to the church, they are actually feasts of the Lord, and they are for His people.

To Moses the Lord said, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.’” (Leviticus 23:2 NKJV)

And then after Moses listed them out, the text ends with these words, “So Moses declared to the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.” (Leviticus 23:44 NKJV)

Now, why is this important? Well, it’s because these feasts were a foreshadowing of God’s ultimate plan of salvation through His Son, Jesus.

It begins with the Feast of Passover, and this is when Jesus died upon the cross, becoming then the Passover Lamb, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

He was then buried the next day, which is the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Within the Passover celebration is the Matzah Tosh, where the middle matzah is removed, broken, and half is wrapped and hidden. It represents the 2nd person of the Godhead, Jesus, and His death and burial. Further, matzah is baked without leaven, which is descriptive of being without sin, which is another picture of Jesus’s death.

Next is the feast of First Fruits, which is the first day of the week following Passover, and this is representative of Jesus’s resurrection, where of Jesus it is said, “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:20 NKJV)

Now we come to Pentecost, which in God’s timetable of redemption through Jesus would be the formation of the church, which we’ll look at in a moment, and of whom Jesus is the head of the church (Ephesians 5:22).

The last three are the Feasts of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles, and these point to Jesus’s return, as the first thing that will happen is when the trumpet of God sounds and the dead in Christ are raised, and we that are alive will be caught up in the air to meet Him, or that which is known as the rapture. Then there is when all of Israel is redeemed on the Day of Atonement, which is at the end of the Tribulation time, and then Tabernacles will be the 1,000-year reign of Christ.