Over the past 9 years, I have been deeply fascinated with the origins of the Christian faith and it has led me deeper into a relationship with God that I never would have experienced without this deep dive.
I often liken this to the fact that we as Christians often settle for a coles' $4 chocolate cake over a french patisserie style mud cake. The coles cake is good, but only if you don’t get a taste of the richness of that patisserie masterpiece created by a Chef rather than a machine.
This metaphor is one that has been strengthened in this journey and recently we celebrated a massive Passover feast which is a meal God tells us to celebrate forever. Just a few weeks ago we actually passed the second feast in the calendar year that we read of in Leviticus Chapter 23.
It actually speaks about 3 main feast times in the year that was deeply connected to agricultural practices of the time. This feast is called the Feast of Weeks and it's related to the fact that the people of the time would harvest the barley in Summer and 2 loaves of bread were made to offer to the Lord. Sounds a little like 2 loaves of bread offered to a great crowd a little later in the scriptures.
It also is connected to the fact that its celebrated 7 weeks after the end of the Passover feast and is actually 50 days later. This is significant as it's a perfect translation of the Greek word Pentecost, which means 50.
So are you beginning to see the connections from a feast celebrated by our Israelites sisters and brothers a long time ago to a time when a great crowd of Jews gathered in Jerusalem? They were there to wait on a power that was from above before Jesus' ministry would be activated by a small group of Jesus followers in an upper room.
We read of this amazing event in Acts chapter 2 when a powerful wind from above transforms not just a room, but a city.
As I said a few weeks on June 5th we passed this feast and Churches all around the country and the world gathered to remember Pentecost Sunday. It's a day that the church each year looks forward to cos it reminds us of the time when the Holy Spirit the 3rd member of the trinity came into the fullness of his role in history and continues to be making history to this day.
Question
How is He (Holy Spirit) making history today you ask? It's by the acts of kindness, love, patience, self-control, gentleness, joy, goodness, peace and faith that you experience each day of your life. God is always working and he even works in those who do not profess his name. The advantage of knowing that these values are from the Holy Spirit is that you become aware of what is living in you.
So often I see Christians confused by the Holy Spirit part of their faith. It even gets consumed into being replaced by the word of God in the conservative arms of the Church and then becomes an idol of worship in the charismatic side of Churches, where people are more concerned about what angels, miracles and powerful acts can happen in a room over the one died on the cross.
What I know is that in my life I have experienced the Holy Spirit powerfully in his revelation through the word of God. Take for example the scripture in 1 Letter John which says
“As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. - 1 John 2:27
Those teachings all point to Christ and Jesus as the messiah and the son of God. 1 John chapter 5 is a great place to explore this.
Another question
On the other spectrum having been part of charismatic Churches in my past I also found that there was a level of worship of the Holy Spirit and his miracle power that created just as much confusion about this beautiful person of the Godhead.
I often think it's funny that we strive for miracles and healings and manifest the presence of the Holy Spirit over knowing Jesus as Son and that he has made the way for the Kingdom of God to be lived through us today.
The Israelites that experienced the towers of flames and clouds by day in the desert would want to be placed where we are on the other side of Christ's first mighty act of the cross. We live on this side of history yet want to live more like the desert-dwelling Israelites we read about in Exodus and Deuteronomy.
So as we have celebrated in the past weeks the Feast of Weeks and Pentecost is a reminder that the third figure of the Godhead the Holy Spirit was not some sort of genie in a bottle, but the one that points to Christ the messiah and the source of his continuing ministry.
We are tasked with this day and in this hour to stand up and live a life reflective of the God who created us, the Jesus that showed us how to live and the Holy Spirit that enables us to live in such a way. The world is crying out for the Sons and Daughters of the King to shine in the dark and depraved world that we live in.
It's Harvest time…..
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