THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT PART 1


THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (Part 1)



            I have been asked to teach the Sunday school class for the summer, since our regular teacher will be out of town. So I am going to double up a bit, by reviewing the lessons as a part of my morning articles. We all need to be refreshed in our understanding of God’s plan and why things are the way they are. The Bible contains a marvelous flow of purpose from Genesis to Revelation and if we can understand that flow of purpose, it will clear up much of the confusion in the world today.



            Did you realize that a significant number of Christians today are denying Jesus and returning to Judaism as a more authentic Word of God? And Many Jews, through the application of Noahide Laws are beginning to say that Christianity is a form of idolatry because we worship Jesus, a man, as God. We need to re-establish our foundations, rightly dividing the Word of God so that we can better understand both the function of the Law, as well as the function of the New Testament which perfectly fulfills the Law in every particular. We need to understand that Law and grace do not fight with each other, but rather the Old Covenant becomes the foundation and verifying code upon which the New Covenant stands and Jesus is indeed the True Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. (Gal. 2:21, Gal. 3:12, 13)



            Therefore the Baptism of the Holy Spirit comes as a perfect fulfillment of Jewish prophecies as well as a fulfilment the Jewish Feast of Pentecost.

Sunday school lesson for June 9, 2019

Background for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

1.     God breathed His Spirit into Adam

2.     Adam lost that Spirit  when he chose Satan as his new god

3.     This is why the administration of Law had to be instituted

4.     It would keep society under control until the Spirit of God could be restored to mankind. Gal 3:19 The Law also served as types and shadows pointing forward to the real thing… the New Covenant. (Col 2:16, Gal. 3:13, 14)

5.     Jesus came to restore His Holy Spirit to us. As the last Adam He restores what the First Adam lost.

6.     This is the purpose of Pentecost and this is why Jesus instructed them to hold tight in Jerusalem and not to do anything until the Holy Spirit had come.

7.     Once we have received His Holy Spirit, the Law has finished its job. It was our tutor to lead us to Christ. (Gal 3:22-26)          

            Some say that John the Baptist was not a prophet but an evangelist and yet John made two of the most revolutionary prophetic statements of all time. These prophecies had to be revealed to him directly by God. What were these two prophecies?

1.     Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world. (John 1:29) This recognition of Jesus came to him by divine revelation. For many centuries animals had been sacrificed as a part of the Jewish religion. Then one day this itinerate preacher makes a divinely appointed statement that changes everything for all time. “Behold the true Lamb of God.”

2.     The second prophecy was equally earth changing, for he said: I baptize you with water, but one is coming who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. That prophecy was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost     and it continues to be fulfilled in everyone who receives it by faith...



            What we see on the day of Pentecost is the institution of an entirely New Covenant. It restores what Adam lost in the fall. It fulfills all of the promises of the Old Covenant and especially the promise in Jeremiah 31:31 where he says that this New Covenant will not be like the Old Covenant that they received at Mt. Sinai. This covenant would be written in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It would work from the inside out, rather than from the outside in. This one would transform us into the image of God’s dear Son. So the Law contained the authority of God, but not the power of God. That power we received at Pentecost. Only the Holy Spirit can transform our lives into the image of Christ and only the Holy Spirit can empower us to carry out the Gospel Commission.



            Notice two of the differences between the Old Covenant and the New Covenants:

1.     The Law was written on stone, while God dwelt in a building called the Tabernacle.

2.     But in the New Covenant, the Law is written on our hearts and we become the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit. So the New covenant is in every way superior to the Old Covenant and it is absolutely complete so that we do not need to borrow anything from the Old Covenant. Everything in it points to Christ and Jesus said so. (John 5:39, Luke 24:27)



            Today a large portion of Christianity downplays the significance of Pentecost, even saying that its power and purposes were served by the apostles and then came to an end. But if that is true, then we don’t have a New Covenant and as such we must go back under Law. Is that the way it is?



            Thank God this is not true. For as the lesson says, Jesus gave His disciples and us a great commission to go into the entire world and preach the Gospel making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. His commission lasts until the end of time and so must His power to fulfill it. So then what did Jesus do? What did He tell the disciples to do?



            He told them to hunker down in Jerusalem and not to do anything until the promise of the Father had come. He said, “But you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses…” Acts 1:8



            So tell me something: If Jesus gave the Gospel commission to them and to us and then He unplugged that power after the apostles died… then how are we to finish what they started? Is it not absurd to believe such a thing?



            So the power is still available and we, the lukewarm church of the last days need to figure out how to plug back into that power and to finish what the apostles started. Let me ask you something. Is the Gospel commission still in play? Then so is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.



            So our lesson asks us this question: Why did Jesus tell them to tarry or to wait for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit? There are two applications, or answers to this question.

1.     They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. In truth we should never leave home each day without first waiting upon the Lord for His anointing for that day. How many divine appointments do we miss, simply because we have started our day without His Holy Spirit anointing us for His purposes in our lives? His presence and power is renewed every morning, if we will ask for it.



2.     Our lesson this week points out another important reason for waiting in Jerusalem. Jesus perfectly fulfilled the Spring Feasts at His first coming and the last of the spring feasts was the feast of Pentecost. It was a celebration of thanksgiving to God for the beginning of the wheat harvest. Pentecost has everything to do with the harvest and the power that the Holy Spirit equips His church with to bring in the wheat. Pentecost fell on the Jewish Feast Day of Pentecost.



            Can anyone remember the Spring Feasts? They indeed outline the Gospel for us.



Passover; Saved by the blood of the Lamb… Jesus became that Lamb.

Unleavened Bread: Sin, like leaven, is removed from our lives… Jesus lay in the tomb as our             sinless sacrifice and substitute.

First fruits: Jesus became the first fruits off a great harvest to come. On resurrection morning Jesus presented Himself to His Father as the First Fruits of the resurrection. (John 20:17)

 Pentecost:  A celebration of the beginning of the harvest becomes the equipping of the saints for that harvest by the Holy Spirit.



            As Spirit filled believers we firmly believe in and participate in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit… and yet we must admit that we fall short of all that God has given us. We too get caught up in the cares of this world until in many cases the gospel Commission takes a back seat. But we are living in intense times when end time prophecies are being fulfilled so rapidly that we can hardly keep up with them. We need to pray earnestly for that Pentecostal power to fall on us afresh so that we can finish the harvest and then go home.

If not us… then who?    If not now… then when?


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