A question in response to this post: Should we have a 'Pentecost' encounter today?
Question:
Answer Request:
So then, how do you dismiss the testimonies of millions of believers today who
testify to a “Pentecost” experience? How do you explain the thousands
documented in Acts that came to faith through the preaching of the disciples
(not directly by Jesus) who also were baptised by the Holy Spirit? I can see
how one may arrive to the conclusion you have drawn (although it is quite a
stretch) but I and millions of others see no clear, unambiguous directive in
Scripture that states that the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the
Church has ceased, or that signs and wonders should not accompany those who
believe.
- Joel 2:28-32 And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the Lord has said, Among the remnant whom the Lord calls.
Answers:
Thanks for your statements. Allow me to comment on them and provide more
insights.
- How do you dismiss the testimonies of millions of believers today who testify to a "Pentecost" experience?
When we come to salvation today by the grace gospel, the Holy Spirit inhabits
us, becoming God's mark, or seal on us for salvation. I do not disregard
peoples testimonies of salvation and their experience of an indwelling Spirit to
lead them on in daily sanctification towards God. However the Pentecost experience in Acts was specific to the Kingdom
program. They were water baptized for cleansing and the Spirit was the
anointing oil to bring saved Jews into their role as a royal priesthood and a
holy nation. (This process is similar to the instructions God gave to Moses
for the separation of Levitical priests to serve Israel in Exodus and
Leviticus). God had separated Israel to fill this role and be a light to the
Gentiles, and Pentecost was the beginnings of the fulfillment of these
prophecies over the nation of Israel. We, the Body of Christ, do not have this
anointing and priestly role in prophecy, so Pentecost and all the events
associated with it are not for us. So, I don't dismiss the experience of the
Spirit indwelling us and leading us in righteousness today, but I will dismiss
claims of people today that say the Holy Spirit rests upon them and empowers
them to do signs and miracles at will to verify the gospel message and testify
to the Messiah. God is not working in this format today as the Kingdom program
was suspended in 70AD with the fall of Jerusalem and the temple, and God
initiated a new program of grace through Paul. This grace program operates by
faith and not by sight (signs), 2Cor.5:7.
- How do you explain the thousands documented in Acts that came to faith through the preaching of the disciples (not directly by Jesus) who also were baptised by the Holy Spirit?
There is nothing to explain here. You are quite correct that 1000's came to faith in the Acts period by the preaching and signs of the apostles, being baptised in the Holy Spirit. This was all happening during the Kingdom program. The grace program had not yet been revealed to Paul by the glorified and risen Christ. If you work through the book of Acts, you will see how the Kingdom program slowly diminished and the grace program increased in effectivity. ACTS is a transitional book that accounts the progressive swing from Kingdom to Grace. In Acts 15, at the Jerusalem council meeting, Peter announces the beginning of the close of the Kingdom program by saying that all Jews will now be saved in like manner as Paul’s grace gospel.
Acts 15:10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
- I and millions of others see no clear, unambiguous directive in Scripture that states that the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church has ceased, or that signs and wonders should not accompany those who believe.
The work of the Holy Spirit in the church has not ceased. The Holy Spirit is actively working in believers, revealing the Word of God to them, guiding them into a walk of sanctification, bringing them peace and comfort. Let me also clarify that I believe God can work miracles today to fulfil His own purposes and also through a believers prayers, but this is certainly not the norm. Unlike in Acts, God is not bound to His covenant of signs with Israel (Exo.34:10) to prove His hand in His work and testify to His Word (remember, Jews required a sign). Today for the most part, God is silent in signs. The testimony of His Son is in His Word now, not in signs. We are to walk by faith, not by sight. So if saved people claim to do signs and miracles like it was in Acts, then God is working against the testimony of His own Word. As for the proof in the Word that signs and wonders are not the modus operandi of the grace program today, Paul provides validity in 1 Cor.13:8. The utterance of tongues and prophecy and knowledge will cease because of the completion of God's revealed Word and will. (The content of the Word (or God’s revealed revelation) was fulfilled at the completion of Paul’s epistles. In other words, Paul’s writings reveal the mystery program of grace, which is the doctrine for the Body of Christ, and is set apart from the prophetic writings which belong to Israel). In the second half of Paul’s ministry we do not see the flamboyant miracles that he did when he was still trying to convince the Jews of Christ as their Messiah. Paul eventually was not able to heal his friends because God had lifted that gifting off of him. (1 Timothy 5:23; 2 Timothy 4:20).
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