Pentecost
Early Church Story
Pentecost was the birth of the church.
We see a reflection of the life of Jesus in the early church:
The church was born in apocalyptic circumstances soon after the crucifixion of Jesus, as foretold by the prophet Joel.
The church had about 40 years of ministry in Israel, until
The end of Israel in 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed the city and the temple.
The scattering of Israel accelerated the sending of the gospel to all nations.
The temple represents Jesus. The temple of his body was destroyed and rebuilt in three days, by His death and resurrection - John 3v19-22.
The true Pentecost moment for all God’s people comes when we respond to the gospel of Jesus in faith, with repentance. At that time God puts his Spirit in our hearts, and we are ‘born again’.
Pentecost continues today through spiritual new birth. But at certain appointed times, God also uses apocalyptic events to reveal Jesus to the world. The apocalyptic Pentecost of the of the final generation is described by the prophet Joel.
Apocalyptic Pentecost
On the day of Pentecost Peter spoke, quoting from the prophet Joel where he described an out pouring of God’s Spirit in frightening circumstances involving an escape from blood, fire and billows of smoke.
Joel was the prophet who described a great war that destroyed the land, and today the signs are pointing to world war three. It will be a great awakening, and a moment of realisation, and then we will understand:
“‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy. —Acts 2v17-18
Daniel foresaw a future awakening, an unsealing of prophecy when he said, “these words are closed and sealed up until the time of the end… None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.” — Daniel 12v4, 9-10.
If the Pentecost of the early church was a great awakening, world war three will cause these words to be unsealed in our hearts and minds again, but on another level. By God’s Spirit, and our understanding will greatly increase.
19 I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Acts 2v17-21
The blood, fire and billows of smoke is apocalyptic imagery originally used by the prophet Joel to describe a great war that destroyed the land. The final generation of the church will see these things fulfilled as we come through a nuclear winter.
The escape from this great calamity will be celebrated:
“everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” — v21. Revelation 12v10-12 describes this same celebration.
Spiritual truth will again be expressed in an outwardly visible way as it was in Old Testament times, with an apocalyptic journey beginning with the birth of the final generation.
The ‘wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below’ — v19 are already starting to be seen: The Revelation 12 sign of 2017 and the Eclipse Reversal of 2015, the 777 signs, etc.
We are not approaching the end just yet. There is no sign of the end. Rather signs are given at the time of birth, and Pentecost is a birth.
When we see this prophecy fulfilled apocalyptically we should understand it to be a moment of birth for the final generation. Not the end, but a birth, with a journey still ahead.
The Journey
The early church were amazed to learn that God was doing a new work in their day, and the same will be true for the generation that comes through world war three.
Gifts of healing and miraculous signs will accompany God’s people, for a blessed life and a powerful ministry in the post apocalyptic world.
A world government rule, just as Rome ruled in the days of the early church, but they had about 40 years to serve and to minister the gospel until 70 AD.
Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” — Mat 24v34.
The 40 years from Pentecost can also be counted as 70 years from the slaughter of the infants, and some of the older men still alive in 70 AD would literally have escaped King Herod themselves when they were babies.
These prophetic time periods are described in the Old Testament:
The 40 years wilderness wanderings as Israel travelled from Egypt to the Promised Land. Only Joshua and Caleb were left of that whole generation who died in the wilderness.
The 70 years in Babylon was also a journey that lasted the lifetime of a generation. The older people who returned with Ezra wept as they remembered what had happened.
Jesus promises that the same will be true for the final generation (Mat 24v34).
So as we see war coming on the world, and as we understand from the powerful signs that God is giving to us today that this is not the end. Instead it is the beginning of a journey.
We should consider what to do to escape all that is coming on the world. There is a journey ahead, and God will help his people to act now with wisdom to prepare for that journey so that many lives may be saved.
Our focus needs to be on the birth, but we should also understand that a day of judgement is coming in the end.
The End
Our human mortality makes us aware that the end could come at any moment, but for the final generation Jesus promises a journey during which we will first preach the gospel to all the nations, and then the end will come (Mat 24v14).
In 70 AD the Roman’s destroyed the city and the temple, bringing and end to the Old Testament nation of Israel. This is the pattern revealed in both Jesus, and the early church.
The final events of history are of a sensitive nature and not suitable to speak about in plain language. That’s why patterns and parables are used. Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow Him.
We are God’s nation, the city of God and the true temple of God.
The abomination that causes desolation is a persecution. Peter says, “For it is time for judgement to begin in the household of God, and if it begins with us what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the Gospel of God?” — 1 Peter 4v17.
Those who share in the sufferings of Christ will share in his glory when he comes.
