Pentecost Sunday 2021
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The Great Gift
The Great Gift
30 but after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will deplete the land.
31 So the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following, for it will be very severe.
32 And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.
33 “Now therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt.
34 Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven plentiful years.
35 And let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming, and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities.
36 Then that food shall be as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which shall be in the land of Egypt, that the land may not perish during the famine.”
37 So the advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants.
38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?”
This portion of scripture exemplifies the the Old Testament and the tremendous gift we have been given in the New Testament or New Covenant. The gift of the Holy Spirit is truly a gift.
I will be paralleling between Leviticus 23 and Acts 1.
Leviticus 23 marks the inauguration of the old covenant. God promised Abraham, Issac, and Jacob it was coming.
2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
God made individual covenants with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God freed Israel from the slavery of Egypt but Exodus 19-20 marks the inauguration of the covenant. This covenant was with one nation.
Acts 1 marks the inauguration of the new covenant. God promised a new and better covenant was coming.
31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—
32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.
God used a cross of shame to set us free from sin and death. This is not just with one nation, now it is a covenant with anyone who would love and serve the Lord.
Day of the Matan
This was a celebratory gift given by the bridegroom to the bride on the last day before he left to fulfill his betrothal responsibilities such as preparing a home for the bride. This was a gift which would give assurance that no matter how long he was gone, he would be coming back. This gift would strengthen her.
This time in Exodus 19-20 would become known as the Matan Torah, the gift of 10 Commandments. But look what Jesus did. He is the perfect bridegroom. He told us He was going to have to go away.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
He also told us of the matan or the gift on His last day on this earth.
4 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;
5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
This gift would be a comforter. The Holy Spirit reminds us that we are not alone and have not been abandoned. This is just temporary. The Holy Spirit does give us power and boldness to live the life we are called to live.
The Harvest
22 ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the Lord your God.’ ”
We are not just to enjoy the gifts of God just to ourselves but to share with others. This was meant to originally meet their physical needs of everyone, not just Jews. The day of Pentecost in the new testament was to meet the spiritual needs.
The Indwelling
It is one thing to celebrate it, it is another thing to experience it all together. We see with our opening scripture and with other numerous instances in the Old Testament that the Holy Spirit rested on only certain people as certain times but never on a non-Jew.
23 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, “Which way did the spirit from the Lord go from me to speak to you?”
At this time in Jewish history, the Spirit of God was believed to rest on someone based on position. This priest was corrupt and did not have a heart for God, but believed he had the Spirit of God because he was a priest.
Even King David knew position did not equal the Holy Spirit. It was a heart matter.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Joel would go on to prophecy.
28 “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.
29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
Peter would quote this scripture in Acts on the day of Pentecost. The point of the Holy Spirit is to empower us and teach us. We are given directions from Jesus on what exactly we are supposed to do.
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Conclusion:
We have a great work before us.
The Holy Spirit wants to move in and through us to accomplish the goal of Jesus Christ. To see more come to a salvation knowledge. For all of humanity to be reconciled to God. To see lives set free from the bondage of sin. To see families put back together. To see each of us with a strong mind fortified with the words of life. To see us living a prosperous life, alive and active in the power of the Gospel.
This is what the Holy Spirit expects of us.
We have a lot of work to do.