A mere thought, leading to a larger one…
“The LORD our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: “You have dwelt long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey, and go to the mountains of the Amorites, to all the neighboring places in the plain, in the mountains and in the lowland, in the South and on the seacoast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates. See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers–to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob–to give to them and their descendants after them.’ (Deuteronomy 1:6-8 NKJV)
The Israelites were camped at Mt. Sinai, which held a significance for the Jews, as this was the mountain of the Lord, where the Law had been delivered. (Exodus 19.1) It was here that what we call Judaism began with the handing down of the Torah. Jewish Tradition has it that the power of the delivery was felt the world over, with the entire world going dark. It would have been pleasant to stay there, to remember the days of the first love; however, this was not God’s intention. The Lord had commanded Israel to move, to continue their journey, as He had given a Promise of Rest. They were on their way to the Promised Land of Canaan, and to mount Zion, which is Jerusalem, to a homeland of their own, where they could worship the living God. This was the first promise made to Abraham (Genesis 12.1)
During the Shalosh Regalim, the Jews celebrated three holy festivals – Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost), and Sukkot (Tabernacles). We can see these feasts celebrated in the Church. Judaism provides us our example, and knowing that God changes not, we find in the life of physical Israel, the hope for the spiritual, i.e., the Church. Christ is our Passover; the Day of Pentecost was the birth of the Church with the Spirit given just as the Law was, while Tabernacles will be celebrated when Christ calls His Church home. Melito of Sardis provide us with enough exegetical thoughts to last us a life time on the Christ as our Passover, and with very little that can be added to our Bishop, friend and brother, let us focus on Pentecost.
When the Day of Pentecost had 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 the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4 NKJV)
The Day of Pentecost is the Church’s Mt. Sinai. It is here that the Church received her Torah (the Spirit) which unites the Church to this day. The writer of Hebrews indentifies the comparison between Zion (the Church) and Judaism (Sinai) this way,
For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”) But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:18-24 NKJV)
The day which brought the Spirit of God has been recognized as significance by some of the early Church Fathers, including Irenaeus and Tertullian. The former compared it in quality to the Lord’s Day while the latter believed that it was a day of exaltation. We must not dismiss the importance of the Day of Pentecost to the Christian Faith, nor to the individual. With each Saint who experiences the charisma of the holy Spirit, stands with the Apostles, and with the entire Church, as united, saved, clean, a new creature, part of a new race. They experience the power of the Spirit of God as it moved upon the waters (Genesis 1.3) which produces a new creation. It is for them as it was for Peter and the Eleven. It is a day of joyful remembrance that we are able to celebrate with a birth of a new Saint; however, it is a day, and a time in history, but neither our journey nor our destination.
Pentecost was celebrated on the fiftieth day after the Passover with the celebration of the first fruits. It remembers the day which God gave the Torah to the children of Israel, fifty days after the first Passover. In the Bible, Shavuot is called the Feast of Weeks (Hebrew: חג השבועות, Ḥag ha-Shavuot, Exodus 34:22, Deuteronomy 16:10); Feast of Reaping (Hebrew: חג הקציר, Ḥag ha-Katsir, Exodus 23:16), and Day of the First Fruits (Hebrew יום הבכורים, Yom ha-Bikkurim, Numbers 28:26). The Mishnah and Talmud refer to Shavuot as Atzeret (Hebrew: עצרת, a solemn assembly), as it provides closure for the festival activities during and following the holiday of Passover. It marks the conclusion of the Counting of the Omer which is a preparation for the Jews to receive the Torah.
With the Death of Christ, Passover was no longer relevant; with the Resurrection of Christ, the Year of the Lord began again. We have to remember that the Jews were told to gather for a solemn assembly during this time of year for a remembrance of the handing of the Torah to Moses from the Lord. With Christ fulfilling the Law by His atoning sacrifice, there would have to be another Mt. Sinai. It was at this Mt. Sinai, the spiritual mountain, which Christ handed down the Spirit, which breathed new life into the Church.
The Apostles were not told to go to Jerusalem to celebrate the Day of Pentecost as they longer stood in the Jewish religion of their contemporaries, and indeed had they been Pentecostals, they would have been in the streets; instead, they were in Jerusalem to ‘wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” Christ said, “you have heard from Me;’ (Acts 1.4). They gathered in the upper room while those that celebrated Pentecost where massed in the streets. Both groups, the 120 disciples and the Jewish celebrants, were in Jerusalem, the former group waiting on a Promise while the latter was for a memorial. The Pentecostals were in the Streets, celebrating the deliverance of the Torah; the Church was in the upper room, gathered together, praying and waiting for the Promise of the Father. When the promise fell (the Spirit), and truly according to God’s Plan it had to happen on the Feast of Weeks, it did not fall on the Pentecostals, but it fell on the Church built by Jesus Christ.
The Church did not stay in the upper room, but dispersed, heeding the commands of Christ Who said,
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 NKJV)
The Pentecostals, as they traditionally did, dispersed as well, but only to meet again, every year, until the Messiah came. Whereas Pentecost harkened to the past while looking to the future Messiah, the Church had received the promises of Israel, the Law of Grace, and had accepted the Messiah. For the Church, there were only one event to celebrate – the Eucharist – and this was to be until Christ returned, and that happened some fifty days before Pentecost.
No place in the Scriptures do we read of a remembrance of that Day by the Church, nor of the term ‘Pentecost(al)’ except in Acts 20.16 and 1st Corinthians 16.8. Luke tells us that it was Paul’s intention to waste no time in getting to Jerusalem for the Day of Pentecost (Paul echoes these sentiments, albeit, not as strongly as Luke, in 1st Corinthians 16.8). We must be reminded that Pentecost was a very large Jewish celebration. It was not Paul’s intention to keep the Day, but to be there to witness to the Pentecostals concerning Jesus Christ. This was an opportunity to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It should be remembered as well that Paul was taking with him gifts and offerings from other congregations to the saints at Jerusalem (Romans 15.25-26; 1st Corinthians 16.1).
Scripture has no focus on the ‘pentecostal experience’ beyond that of the first Day, but always on maturity and growth of the Saint after such an experience. We are commanded in Hebrews 6.1-2 to grow past those first words of Christ. The Apostle Peter tells us,
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. (2nd Peter 1:5-7 NKJV)
Christ no more intended a pentecostal Church than the Apostles an Apostolic one, but this moment in time is one that too many desire to live in, refreshing themselves with an experience and being called by a name that was unknown to the Apostles. No place in scripture do we see the adjective ‘pentecostal’ applied to the Church, like wise the adjective ‘apostolic’, yet many would assume them as equal to ‘Christian’ or an appropriate name for the Body and Bride of Christ. Those that do, often find themselves focused on the experience rather than the exercise of doctrine. Moses, led by God, understood the precept of growth, and speaking the very words of the Lord, ordered those that were going to the Promised Land to move, for they have been camped at the mountain for far too long, and would have ceased soon enough.
Do not relish the term ‘pentecostal.’ It is a recent term in use as applied to segments of Christianity dating back to roughly 1867. The Church, historically, did not use it, nor did they historically use it to describe experiencing the holy Spirit of God. The pentecostal experience movement became prominent in the Holiness movement, which was the first to begin making numerous references to the term “Pentecostal”, such as in 1867 when the movement established The National Camp Meeting Association for the Promotion of Christian Holiness with a notice that said: “[We are summoning,] irrespective of denominational tie…those who feel themselves comparatively isolated in their profession of holiness…that all would realize together a Pentecostal baptism of the Holy Ghost.” The Catholic Apostolic Church of Edward Irving did not consider itself Pentecostal as many would today. How can anyone rightly apply this term to the Church, the Body and Bride of Jesus Christ? The Nazarenes have used it; charismatic Trinitarians still use it. The one group that we have to be concerned with, the Apostles, never used it.
Across the United States there are congregations that have the catch phrase, ‘Apostolic in doctrine; Pentecostal in experience’. A quick and rude analysis of this slogan reveals that the congregation has a doctrine similar to the Apostles, and always focused on the first experience of the holy Spirit. Is this really what the Church was supposed to be? Did the Apostles all have similar doctrines, or one Doctrine? Did they always seek the pentecostal experience, or as some might say, ‘Holy Ghost experience’ (as if it is some thrill ride at an amusement park)? Or did they see it as the birth of the Church?
These terms – Apostolic and Pentecostal – have become so engrained in the minds of some Christians without any thought of their origin. People hold to them as cherished emblems. ‘I am Pentecostal!’, one says while the other says ‘I am Apostolic’, not questioning what Peter or Paul would have said and all the while promising to hold to nothing but what is written in the bible.
So, who are the Pentecostals? They were the Jews, celebrating a holiday that was no longer needed. They are people celebrating an experience instead of growing in the Church.
Tags: Acts, apostles, apostles doctrine, apostolic, bible, Catholic Apostolic Church, church, Day of Pentecost, faith, God, Holiness, holy ghost, holy spirit, Irenaeus, Jesus Christ, judaism, Mt. Sinai, New Jerusalem, Oneness Pentecostalism, passover, Paul, pentecostal, religion, shavout, St. Paul, Tertullian, torah, zion
