Each year, as the Day of Pentecost approaches, we need to focus more closely on the most precious and loving gift our Creator has given to us, His Holy Spirit. At baptism, we receive God's Spirit. But what does that gift do for us, and how are we to use it?
Christ instructed His disciples that after His ascension they were to remain in Jerusalem. "And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, 'which,' He said, 'you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now'" (Acts 1:4–5).
If any of the apostles had disregarded Christ's instruction, and had been absent from Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost, they would have missed one of the greatest events in the history of God's Church—and in the Father's plan for human beings. "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).
Each year, at Pentecost, God's Church remembers this amazing and wonderful event. As God's people see the end of this age approaching, each Feast of Pentecost should be more exciting than the last, reminding us that our salvation is nearer than when we first believed (Romans 13:11).
On that wonderful Pentecost in 31AD, the Apostle Peter began to explain who Jesus of Nazareth really was, and that mankind had killed the very Son of God, the Messiah. As a crowd gathered to listen, many were convicted, and wanted to know how they should respond. "Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?' Then Peter said to them, 'Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit'" (Acts 2:37–38).
Before we can receive this marvelous gift from God, we are first selected by the Father (John 6:44). Having been selected, we must display the fruits of repentance upon our heartbroken realization that God's only-begotten and sinless Son had to pay the death penalty for our sins. Because we have broken God's holy and righteous law, our Creator had to come to this earth and live a perfect, sin-free life, then shed His precious blood and die for us. Realizing our debt to our Savior, we must then be baptized and have hands laid upon us by a true minister of Jesus Christ, in order to receive God's Spirit (Acts 2:38; 8:17; Hebrews 6:2). Only those God the Father is calling now, to be the firstfruits in His soon-coming kingdom, can receive His Spirit, which is the "earnest" or "down-payment" to us on His promise of eternal life. "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call" (Acts 2:39).
Count Fifty
We know the date of Pentecost not through human reasoning, but from looking into the Bible. "And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord" (Leviticus 23:15–16).
God told the Israelites to bring to the priest a sheaf of the first cutting of the spring grain harvest (Leviticus 23:10). The priest was to wave this sheaf solemnly before God, to receive His blessing on the spring harvest. The waving of the sheaf also exemplified God the Father accepting the resurrected Christ as the first of the firstfruits of His begotten family, transformed from flesh to spirit, "the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29).
The wave sheaf ceremony was held each year on the Sunday that fell during the Days of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:11). Similarly, John's gospel describes that Jesus Christ, after rising from the dead, was to present Himself to the Father on the day after His resurrection (John 20:17).
"Pentecost" means "50th." Each of the other Holy Days occurs on a specified day of a specified month on the sacred calendar. Only Pentecost, as its name implies, is counted from a date that changes from year to year— the date of the weekly Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread. This count always brings us to a Sunday seven weeks after the wave sheaf offering. On that Sunday, each household in ancient Israel was to offer two wave loaves. (Leviticus 23:15–17). These loaves of fine flour, baked with leaven, symbolized the firstfruits who, having His Holy Spirit, would be granted immortality in the first resurrection.
The Gift of God's Spirit
From righteous Enoch to the time of Christ's coming, God gave His called servants His Holy Spirit, and they now await the "better resurrection" (Hebrews 11:35, 40). King David had the Holy Spirit; otherwise he could not be in the first resurrection, ruling over Israel under Christ (Psalm 89:20; Ezekiel 34:23–24; 37:25). David said to God: "Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit" (Psalm 51:11–12).
Beginning at Pentecost in 31AD, God has been giving the Holy Spirit to all those whom He calls who obey Jesus Christ—their personal Savior—by repenting and accepting baptism (Acts 2:38). The book of Acts shows that God is now offering salvation to the Gentiles, as well as to the children of Israel. "And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also (Acts 10:45). During the Millennium, the Holy Spirit will not just be available to a select few, as it is today; it will be given to all who are willing to obey God and receive it (Ezekiel 36:24–28). Finally, in the "second" or "general" resurrection, God will offer His Spirit to all who had ever lived but never had an opportunity to accept the truth of God, if they are willing to repent and obey their Creator. "'Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,' says the Lord" (Ezekiel 37:13–14).
Godly Love: Sharing the Truth
Why do some in God's Church believe that the Work of God ended with the death of Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong in 1986? Hundreds upon hundreds of newly called and baptized members of God's Church were never aware of Ambassador College or the World Tomorrow telecast or the Plain Truth magazine. Their calling—and their response to the Tomorrow's World telecast and magazine, and to the Work of the Living Church of God—is proof that God's Holy Spirit is still at work and available today, as God continues to call additional sons and daughters into the Body of Christ.
Meanwhile, even while zealous new Christians are being called, many long-time Christians who have God's Holy Spirit are in idleness, letting their reward slip away. "But many who are first will be last, and the last first" (Matthew 19:30). We must never forget that God's Holy Spirit empowers us to do His Work. We were not called just for our personal salvation. The spirit of Philadelphian love leads and motivates us to share the truth of God as a witness to the world. The Apostle Paul knew his duty to Christ. "For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship" (1 Corinthians 9:16–17).
Though some long-time Christians look inward and forget about the Work, each new Christian called and converted now is the fruit of God's Holy Spirit working in us. Each is a jewel in our crown—proof of the love that the Philadelphian spirit has built in us. "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another" (John 15:16–17).
We are to love our neighbors as ourselves (Galatians 5:14). If we love ourselves enough to strive to enter the Kingdom of God, we should similarly strive to help others receive the Truth that leads to receiving God's Holy Spirit. We should want to help and serve all whom God wills to be in that Kingdom with us—even laying down our own lives for them (John 15:13).
The Feast of Pentecost celebrates God opening His salvation to all men and women who will accept His offer of eternal life. It reveals His great love for human beings, through His willingness to place His very life within us, begetting us so that we may be ultimately born into His Family.
"And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:16). We have been called and been given God's Holy Spirit now, so we can have His power in us to do the Work. "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14). The end is near, and the time to work is short (Revelation 12:12). Let us fulfill God's calling by using His Spirit to show His love to one another—and to the world—as we bear witness to all in word and deed. This is the true meaning of the Day of Pentecost.