By Christine Darg
It’s very unusually raining here for this time of year! Rain is considered here a big blessing but there are warnings about flash floods in the desert near the Dead Sea.
It’s a morning of power, morning of light, morning of fire! It’s 9 o’clock in the morning and the world over believers are believing God for a fresh outpouring of his Holy Spirit, an End-Time Great Awakening, before the Rapture of the Church. Today is signifiantly Pentecost and also the last day of 3 weeks of global prayer for Israel– but in our ministry, as always, our intercessory life will continue for this nation and the region as long as we have breath.
On the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2: 38-40, Peter said, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For THE PROMISE is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself. And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, ‘BE SAVED FROM THIS CORRUPT PERVERSE GENERATION!'”
Pentecost is derived from fifty, meaning 50 days since Passover, thus in Hebrew it is the Feast of Weeks [Hebrew: Shavuot=Weeks]. Shavuot marks the harvest in Israel (Exodus 34:22); and the rabbis have also taught that it commemorates the anniversary of the giving of the Torah to Israel at Mount Sinai.
The holiday is one of the Shalosh Regalim, the three Biblical pilgrimage festivals. It concludes the Counting of the Omer (grain offering) since Passover. The counting of days and weeks is meant to express anticipation and desire for the giving of the Torah and the Holy Spirit. Jesus [Yeshua] told his disciples to remain in Jerusalem and to anticipate the gift of the Holy Spirit, for we were PROMISED a baptism of the Holy Spirit with fire. In the Upper Room in Jerusalem the Holy Spirit came with the sound of a mighty, rushing wind and the disciples received the Holy Spirit along with individual tongues of fire and they spontaneously spoke the Gospel powerfully in known and unknown languages.
On Passover, the people of Israel were freed from enslavement to Pharaoh; on Shavuot they became a bride nation committed to serving God. And also on Shavuot/ Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit began and the Bride of Messiah now anticipates his Second Coming!
On the Day of Pentecost, the apostle Peter referred to the nearby tomb of David. The romance Book of Ruth (ancestress of David) is read because the birth and death of King David are commemorated but she is also a Bible picture of gentiles grafted into the Israel of God.
Here is the apostle Peter’s sermon from Acts 2:
“Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen carefully to my words.15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It is only 9 o’clock in the morning.16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:17 ‘In the last days, God says,I will pour out My Spirit on all people.Your sons and daughters will prophesy,your young men will see visions,your old men will dream dreams.18 Even on My menservants and maidservantsI will pour out My Spirit in those days,and they will prophesy.19 I will show wonders in the heavens aboveand signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.20 The sun will be turned to darkness,and the moon to blood, before the coming of the great and glorious Day of the Lord.21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’22 Men of Israel, listen to this message: Jesus of Nazareth was a man certified by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know. 23 He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, with the help of lawless Gentiles, put Him to death. 24 But God raised Him from the dead, releasing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for Him to be held in its clutches.25 David says about Him:‘I saw the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.26 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will dwell in hope,27 because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.28 You have made known to me the paths of life;You will fill me with joy in Your presence.’29 Brothers, I can tell you with confidence that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 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. 31 Foreseeing this, David spoke about the resurrection of the Messiah, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His body see decay. 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, to which we are all witnesses.33 Exalted, then, 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. 34 For David did not ascend into heaven, but he himself says:‘The Lord said to my Lord,“Sit at My right hand35 until I make Your enemiesa footstool for Your feet.”36 Therefore let all Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ!”37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”38 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. 39 THIS PROMISE belongs to you and your children and to all who are far off—to all whom the Lord our God will call to Himself.”40 With many other words he testified, and he urged them, “Be saved from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who embraced his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to the believers that day.
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