The Feast of Weeks

When the Day of Pentecost
Was Fully Come

When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.—Acts 2:1

Fred Binns

Even after the greater part of 2,000 years has passed into history the Pentecostal blessing is still as vital and necessary as on that first day. The outward manifestations so needed at the first may have long since vanished, but the inner working of the spirit must yet be a continuing reality for all who wish to walk with the Lord. But without the outward marking of its presence can we be sure that we are indeed walking in the spirit? All sincere followers of the Lord would undoubtedly answer, yes, and point to the many instances of the Lord’s leading and overruling in their consecrated life. And well they may for the Lord is, and always has been, very gracious to his people. But over and above this, for our further blessing and instruction, the heavenly Father has left a wonderful record of the working of his spirit in the very way it must manifest its presence in his creation, in his word, and even in his peculiar people Israel. From these various arenas of unceasing activity we may, in its manner of operation, wonderfully discern further needful lessons for our spiritual growth.

The opening words of Acts chapter two is itself a case in point. We might first take note of the precise way in which the dawning of this new stage in the divine purpose is presented to us in the book of Acts. We read that it was when "the day of Pentecost was fully come" that those first members of the church were gathered.

Commentators have generally noted that these words—that Pentecost was "fully come" —calls for some kind of explanation, but generally most appear satisfied in explaining the significance of that particular day itself, or mentioning the tradition of some, that this day was also a Sabbath. We might ourselves consider the fact that, according to Jewish calculation, the day had commenced at sunset the previous evening and the coming of the morning was what was in the writer’s mind. But this would be no more satisfactory an explanation than the others.

However, we do have a detail supplied by the apostle Peter (verse 15) telling us that it was the third hour of the day, which indicates the actual reason for the statement. This was the time of day, beginning with the offering of the first lamb of the "continual burnt offering," that all the offerings of Israel for that day would be made, concluding with the offering of the second lamb. For those who have entered into the reality of these offerings the appropriateness of this moment in time can not be overstated.

The lamb, the appointed symbol of the ransom, was for Israel and ourselves to be continually before us, the basis of, and the touchstone for, all other offerings illustrated in the types of Israel. The heavenly Father’s beloved son had fulfilled this important type on the cross, being himself crucified between the times of the offerings of the Morning and the Evening sacrifices (Numbers 28:4).

For us the figure is the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. The reminder to both houses of Israel was that of the lamb, the blood of which first covered the first-born and in consequence made possible all the other offerings of the people. In Numbers 28 and 29 where the order of sacrificial services was described it was the first of the offerings to be detailed and as an indication of its continual efficacy its necessity was consistently reiterated with the detailing of all the other offerings. It was the efficacy of this blood that was being acknowledged at this precise time, the third hour. The day of Pentecost had fully come.

Two Sacrificial Lambs

Having laid the touchstone of the ransom against our present topic it is quite remarkable how luminous this doctrine of the Pentecostal blessing is already becoming. The very fact that, in all probability, practically all the statutory sacrifices of Israel were encompassed by the two sacrificial lambs, surely instructs us that in the dispensation of the blessings of the spirit our Lord must be both "the author, and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). Not only this but the twofold aspect of the work of the spirit is again brought to our attention in Romans 4:25 and 5:10, the apostle assuring us first, that as Christ "was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification," so "when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son," that "much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."

Having been drawn, we look at the work of the spirit in the hands of our Lord as having two essential components.

The Holy Spirit in the Church

One of the essential aspects of the day of Pentecost was the offering of a firstfruit unto the Lord. It has always been understood by the Lord’s people that the offering of the two cakes from the wheat harvest represented the church. "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures" (James 1:18).

Had Christendom but held to this important principle that this represented two steps, not one step, in the work of salvation, they could not have consigned the bulk of God’s creatures to an eternal doom. A first fruit not only implies an after fruit in a harvest, it demands it! A work of the holy spirit having commenced it must be completed as we read of the heavenly Father himself: "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). This important truth is not only confirmed by the proposed dispensational objective but also happily promises the same blessed outcome to every individual believer: "A good work in you."

Twice the apostle Paul brings this aspect of the spirit’s work clearly to our attention: "Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts" (2 Corinthians 1:22); "Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the spirit" (2 Corinthians 5:5). The Pentecostal blessing is at its inception the promise of a greater work to come both dispensationally and for an individual New Creature. If we have any doubt about this we need only listen to the apostle once again. In 2 Corinthians 1:22 he unmistakably speaks of this earnest as a seal, and reiterates this idea in Ephesians 1:13 where he writes, "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise." And again in Ephesians 4:30, "And grieve not the holy spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." This last statement defines quite clearly the nature of this stage of the spirit’s work. This is indeed just as earnest and obviously such a "measure" as can permit us to "grieve the spirit."

This is in clear contrast to the sealing brought to our attention in Revelation 7:3,4. Here is the final sealing of the overcomers. Out of the whole Household of Faith who all undoubtedly had received the first sealing of the spirit, we have here only the final elect church, for John the revelator "heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand."

Our minds go at once to our Lord’s parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. All were virgins, therefore faithful; all had lamps, and therefore light; all had a measure of the oil, the holy spirit. The message the Lord left us with this parable is clear. Not all had the foresight to see that they needed a further supply of oil. Only the wise entered in; the others found the door firmly closed. This penetrating lesson from the master not only confirms again this feature of the work of the spirit, it also demonstrates that we have a duty to work with the Lord, not frustrate or grieve the spirit, but to work with the Lord to enter into the fullness of our Pentecostal blessing. It is this emerging aspect of the day of Pentecost that will absorb our attention as we continue our meditation.

The Holy Spirit In Creation

The first work of the spirit in Scripture is in Genesis 1:2—"And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Thereafter, when God speaks, the great creative process goes forward to its conclusion in the creation of man himself. Not until then is the spirit mentioned again when we come to the close of the natural creation (see Genesis 2:7). Here we read: "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Once again, and for the second time only, the working of the spirit is mentioned; and as a completion, sealing it in fact, for we are told that after this God rested from all the works he had created.

When we examine these Scriptures carefully, we find a most powerful lesson. Over the eons of creation God, by his mighty spirit, brought into being a great multitude of creatures, all of which we are told he blessed. Then from the same dust of the earth he created man. Finally, as we have seen, the spirit moved for the second time.

During all of that time, though there were countless life-forms and countless millions of eyes, God was not seen. There were billions of ears, but the voice of God could not be comprehended. A veritable cacophony of voices filled the earth, yet not one articulated a word of praise raised to the Creator until the spirit moved again, for the second time. Then, and only then, the creation communed with its God.

We may not care to use this as a figure or type but the principle is quite striking and unmistakable. The object and, in effect, the final work of the spirit is the fullest possible communion between the heavenly Father and the work of his hands. This was the burden on our Lord’s heart when with those first disciples in the upper room and on that very night he promised us the spirit. "And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are" (John 17:11). And again, "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me" (John 17:21).

Very soon, in the reality of the Feast of Ingathering, the holy spirit will continue this work (Ephesians 1:10); then Pentecostal promises close. Still "there remaineth a rest to the people of God" (Hebrews 4:9). We read in John 14:15-23, "If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever. . . . He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. . . . If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." Seven times that night, the blessed assurance of "in my name" was bequeathed to the church by the one who was to die for her as her ransom.

The church entered into its blessing when the day of Pentecost was truly fully come: "At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you" (verse 20).