Prophetic Previews of Pentecost

[Once again this is an AI generated transcript, edited to a degree for clarity, though there may still be transcription errors I did not catch.]

JOHN VALADE
Okay, so let’s start by turning to the beginning of Acts two. [All Scripture is recorded from my voice reading the New International Version of the Bible]

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly, a sound like the glowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them, all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem, God fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed. They asked, aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans. But how does each of us hears them in our native Parthians, Medes and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues, amazed and relaxed and asked one another, what does this mean? Some, however, made fun of them and said they’ve had too much wine.”

Remember John Lennox saying that could not possibly have happened in Jerusalem, that they had wine that early in the morning,? On the other hand, Britain and beer, early in the morning? Well, that’s a different story!

“And Peter stood up with the 11, raised his voice and addressed the crowd, ‘Fellow Jews and all you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you. Listen carefully. I say these people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning. No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel in the last days, God says, “I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young man will see visions. Your old man will dream dreams even of My servants, both men and women, I will pour out my spirit days and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke, the sun will be turned to darkness and the wound to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”‘”

As it turns out, the sun did turn to darkness for about three hours prior to that on the day that Jesus died. So some of these things were already beginning to happen, and now the main thing that Peter is talking about is the spirit being poured on them. Verse, 22:

“Fellow Israelites. Listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which give, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know, this man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate foreknowledge, and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him, ‘I saw the Lord always before me because he has set my right hand. I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. My body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead. You will not let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life you will fill me with joy in your presence.’

Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did His body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses to it. Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, yet he said the Lord, said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Therefore let all Israel be assured of this. God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

“When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter, and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call. “

Interesting statement that he makes there. Who is it that will be able to receive the Holy Spirit? For all whom the Lord our God will call? Now that’s interesting right off the bat. Is the Holy Spirit available to everyone, or was it just to those who were called?

“With many words he warned them and debated with them. Save yourselves from this corrupt generation. Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3000 were added to their number that day.

So notice it also says those who accepted his message, there’s an implication there, right? There would have been some who didn’t accept that message.There’s two sides to that story, like the Lord has to call and the person has to accept a call. That’s right, that’s those are both presented right there in those few verses. So,

Unknown Speaker
Of course, it says plainly here that David did not go up to heaven, yet we still have this persistent idea.

Wayne
Yeah, if he hasn’t gone up, given David’s relationship with God and how God talked about him, he’d be one of the ones that would go, if anybody would.

JOHN VALADE
So I guess that just leaves Job and Daniel?, I have previously made the comment that maybe David’s papers weren’t up to date?

Unknown Speaker
Too much red tape.

JOHN VALADE
That’s right. Okay, so let’s go to Ezekiel one and verse four.

Wayne
Yeah, think of what it would have been like to live through those experiences, how would we have reacted? I often think of when he said, Eat my body and whatever.

JOHN VALADE
That drove a lot of people away. Ezekiel, chapter one, we’ll start in verse two. ”

“On the fifth of the month. In the 5th year of King Jehoiachin, the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, the priest, sorry, son of Buzzi by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. There, the hand of the Lord was on him. I looked and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north, an immense cloud with flashing lightning surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like gold metal. And in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance, their form was human.”

And then it goes on to describe these creatures. But you notice a couple of things going on there. Notice that there’s a lot of wind and there’s fire. What is he seeing here? Actually, if we go back to verse one, I’m sure I should have started with because that actually tells us what what is going on here. “In my 30th year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.” What he’s seeing is a vision of God that starts with wind and fire. And then you see those creatures that are his guardians around the throne. And then he talks later about the wheels within wheels. Finally, toward the end of the chapter, he’s actually talking about God, but this is what surrounds God, right? Wind, Fire, angelic beings, scary looking creatures that have four faces.

Wayne
I got some interesting little note here, God first reveals to this obedient man his power, his magnificence, so we won’t question what God tells him, right? And there at the beginning of it is the wind and the fire.

JOHN VALADE
Good point. So So Isaiah, chapter 30, starting in verse 19:

“People of Zion who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you, when you cry for help. As soon as he hears, He will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more. With your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way walk in it. Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold, and you’ll throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, ‘Away with you.’

So there’s a there’s a hint in there about a voice that comes to you from behind so that you’re not actually seeing, even though there are teachers that can be seen, that suggests that there’s something going on here that could be the Holy Spirit talking to you or talking to them. In Isaiah 59 and starting in verse 20:

“The Redeemer will come to Zion [Remember, this is a long time before Jesus arrived], to those in Jacob who repent of their sins, declares the Lord.”

And if you wonder why John the Baptist was going around asking people to repent, that’s what was going on there.

“As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord, my spirit that was on you will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children, and on the lips of their descendants from this time on and forever, says the Lord.”

So what’s going on here? He’s putting His spirit on those people who repent of their sins. So if you ever wonder why Peter says ‘repent and be baptized and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,’ he’s probably referring to this passage. And of course, Jeremiah 31 is a very famous passage about stuff like that. In verse 31 I always remember that easily, because it’s Jeremiah 31:31.

“The days are coming, and declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant, I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt.”

So, important tip, this is not the same covenant. It’s a it’s a new covenant. It’s a different one. And here’s how it’s different.

“It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel. After that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbors or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their wickedness…

You notice it’s it’s the wickedness that’s being forgiven, right? Not the specific sin, but the tendency toward sin as being forgiven.

“…and I will remember their sins no more. This is what the Lord says, He who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and the stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar, the Lord Almighty is his name. Only if these decrees vanish from my sight, declares the LORD will Israel ever cease being a nation before me.”

It seems to me that we have somebody here who has written a song about that. Thanks, Gail. So we we find wickedness being forgiven. We find sin not being remembered anymore. But we also find people knowing God, that they are the people of God and the law in their minds and on their hearts. All of that comes from the Spirit. We’re talking about Jeremiah 31:31-34 about the new covenant. Does anybody notice why there’s a new covenant? Because they broke it. In a way, Moses smashing the tablets is a symbol of that. What do you do with the covenant that’s broken?

Wayne
Use crazy glue? That’s what Moses would have done. But God made him chip out some new stones, didn’t he?

JOHN VALADE
Since you broke it, this time you bring the tablets. Okay, let’s go to Isaiah, chapter 11. We’ll start at the beginning.

“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, from his roots. A branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him…

And that’s exactly why, as Jesus is being baptized, the spirit physically manifestly comes down on him.

“…the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, Spirit of counsel and of might, the spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord. And He will delight in the fear of the Lord. You’ll not judge by what he’s what his what he sees with his eyes, or decide what he hears with his ears, but with righteousness. He will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth. With the breath of his lips He will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt. Faithfulness will be the sash around his waist.

The wolf will live with the lamb and the leopard will lie down with the goat, and the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the Cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the Viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

In that day, the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples, peoples. The nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. In that day, the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of His people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Kush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and the islands of the Mediterranean. He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel. He will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish. Judah’s enemies will be destroyed. Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.”

So a lot of the places that are named here: Kush Elam, Babylonia, Assyria, Lower Egypt. They’re actually mentioned either directly or indirectly in Acts two, oddly enough, and this is where it starts. It starts with gathering some people from those areas into the fold. Isaiah 56 starting in verse one.

“This is what the Lord says, maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand, and my righteousness will soon be revealed. Blessed is the one who does this, the person who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps their hands from doing any evil.”

Remember, this is primarily addressed to Israel. Isaiah was a prophet to Israel. Now, remember who was not allowed in the temple? Foreigners were not allowed in the temple. They could go into the court of the Gentiles, right, but they were not allowed in the inside the temple. The high priest was the only one allowed into the Holy of Holies. But other priests could go into the opening of the temple, and ordinary people who were Israelites could go into the main court around the temple.

“Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will surely exclude me from his people.’ Let no eunuch complain, ‘I am only a dry tree.’ For this is what the Lord says to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant. ‘To them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters.’”

Neil
It’s sort of like the first shall be last and the last shall be first, because he failed. Israel failed first, and then He’ll bring in the Gentiles, and then Israel will be embarrassed.

JOHN VALADE
And then later, I’ll bring you in as well, yeah. So that he gives to them “a place within my temple and its walls, a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters.” Think about that. Who’s talking here? It’s God. He’s giving a name better than sons and daughters to the foreigners and to the eunuchs, the people who are not allowed in the area.

“I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever, and foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord and and to be His servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it, and who hold fast to my covenant, these I will bring to my holy mountain, and I will give them joy in my house of prayer.”

Remember who he’s talking about here. He’s talking about the foreigner, talking about those who were not allowed normally to go into “his house.” So the eunuchs among them, and anybody who has, how shall we say, the wrong parts of the body cut off, were not allowed there. Where he gives them joy is in his “House of prayer.” That is this scripture that Jesus is referring to when he says, “My house will be called a house of prayer, but you made it into a den of thieves.” It’s a specific reference talking about Gentiles coming to that place. it’s all in here, in this so called Old Testament. It’s all in here, all of these, all the signs pointing to who exactly Jesus has come to save. It’s everybody. So let’s turn to Genesis, 49. verse, 10.

“The scepter will not depart from Judah nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his. I know we have some other translations of verse 10, scepter not depart from Judah or ruler’s, staff from between his feet until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nation shall be his.”

Wayne
In the King James: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come and unto him shall the Gathering of the people be.

JOHN VALADE
Yeah, so it’s interesting that the King James chose the word “gathering” rather than other versions with the word “obedience.” I like gathering in this instance, precisely because that’s really what the spreading of the Holy Spirit among his people is. It’s a gathering. We’re being gathered. It’s the early harvest. The Day of Pentecost was a harvest festival for the beginning of the of the harvest, actually a celebration of the harvest, the first harvest, knowing that there’s a second harvest later on.

We’ll finish up here in Revelation seven. We know that early harvest is happening now. However, what does it look like in the future? In Revelation seven, verse four, we see a gathering. The number of people sealed are supposedly from the from the tribes of Israel, right? There are 12,000 in each. Yeah, and of course, we know 12 is the number of Israel, right? So it’s probably symbolic, probably not just 144,000, from Israel who were sealed like them, more than that. But verse nine says, “After this, I looked…” So first he was hearing now he’s seeing.

“After this, I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes, and they were holding palm branches in their hands. [Now that is a feast of tabernacles image], and they cried out loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne.’ All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying Amen, praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor, power and strength. Be to our God forever and ever. Amen. ”

“Then one of the elders asked me, these in white robes, who are they? And where do they come from? I answered, Sir, you know. And he said, These are they who have come out of the Great Tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. Never again will they hunger, or again will they thirst? The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat, for the lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs of living water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

So what do we see as a result of this harvest that’s happening right now? People, multitudes gathered before the Lord, privileged to live within His Temple City. We get to be part of that. So next time, I want to talk a little bit more about being part of that, and hope that we can figure out a little little better how to do that, or how to be that, and participate in the harvest. Any thoughts?

Wayne
Well, I have one, but I’m going to save it for tomorrow, because that’s from Isaiah, about what Jesus’ spirit of wisdom and understanding of that spirit, right? That’s the spirit He gives us. We have access to all the same things. But anyway, we’ll stop.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai