CHURCH HISTORY FROM PENTECOST TO PENTECOSTAL – PART 1 – Charles Burks
Today’s blog is the first part in a series on the history of Christianity: “From Pentecost to Pentecostals”. This subject has always been of interest to me – how we got to where we are today – and not just as Spirit-filled believers at FNT Church, but also as part of a global church that continues to expand.
Followers of Jesus can look back over 2000 years and see the hand of God through so many developments. We can also see the efforts of Satan to try and destroy the Church that Jesus promised to build. There are trends, there are movements, there’s the rising and falling of all sorts of groups and believers. And this history is fascinating to those of us who like to know and appreciate our roots.
First New Testament is a non-denominational, Spirit-filled church with Pentecostal beliefs. So, what are the roots of the Pentecostal movement? As all churches would probably claim, we trace our foundation to the Bible. We go back to the promises of Jesus and the Apostles, and we go back to the Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2.
But where does the word “Pentecostal” come from? It’s a strange term to apply to a Christian movement because it’s one of the seven holidays of the Jewish calendar. Pentecost is also known as the “Feast of Weeks”, which the Jews would generally celebrate around late May, (fifty days after the waving of the first barley sheaf at the Feast of Firstfruits).
Remember that during the last week of Jesus’ life, He would fulfill the Feast of Passover by being crucified as the Lamb of God. And then He would fulfill the Feast of Firstfruits by rising as the firstfruits from the dead, as Paul referred to it in 1 Corinthians 15:20. During that year, the Feast of Firstfruits was on a Sunday – the day when Jesus rose from the dead. And the whole week that these things were being observed was called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. During that time, the Sinless One who had no leaven in him, was being inspected, proven, and sacrificed for us who have a multitude of sins. And there were literally hundreds of thousands of devout Jews from all over the world who had gathered in Jerusalem for these feasts.
Then the Day of Pentecost came along 50 days later, and all of the crowds were back in Jerusalem. God again fulfilled the meaning of these feasts publicly at the time when people were gathered from all over the world. Just 7 weeks earlier, the Jews had seen what happened to Jesus at His crucifixion, and they had heard the rumors of His resurrection. They certainly would have felt the earthquake on the day of His death, and many saw bodies rising from the dead, walking around the city after Jesus came out of His tomb (Matthew 27:51-54). This undoubtedly stoked a greater interest than usual for devout Jews to travel back to Jerusalem for the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost).
We know that Jesus had already ascended up to heaven at least a week earlier than the Day of Pentecost. But as the 120 were gathered in the upper room that day obeying Jesus’ command to tarry until they were clothed with power from on high, suddenly the Holy Spirit came down! When they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they knew they had received the promise and didn’t have to wait any longer. They went out into the assembled crowds, speaking in languages that the disciples did not know. The assembled people heard them speaking the wonderful works of God in their own dialects, whether they were from Crete, Rome, Libya, Egypt or elsewhere (Acts 2:8-11). And they marveled at these Galileans who under normal circumstances couldn’t speak such languages.
This was a sign that God was now ready to send His people into the whole world. The followers of Jesus were not to just keep this Good News in Jerusalem or Judea, or even Samaria, but they were to go to the ends of the earth with the power of the Holy Spirit. God was equipping them to overcome Satan wherever they would face him. And thus, world missions had its birth in the coming of the Holy Spirit baptism at Pentecost.
Pentecost was many other things as well. One of the reasons God gave His church tongues as an evidence of the filling of the Holy Spirit, can be understood in light of James chapter 3. James says the tongue is a little member, but it’s the most unruly part of our bodies. Our tongues have power comparable to a little rudder that steers a whole ship, and our tongues can set on fire a forest with just a word that leads to consequences that can’t be extinguished.
James 3:8 says no man can tame the tongue. If you could tame your tongue you’d be a perfect person. But the reality is we’ve all gotten ourselves into a world of trouble and said many regretful, hurtful things by the words that came out of our mouths.
Though no man can tame the tongue, the Holy Spirit can come and fill us completely! The filling of the Holy Spirit is not a trance-like experience, nor does He take possession like a demon would, with us losing our faculties. Rather, we yield to Him, He gives us a new language, we open our mouths, and we speak with our tongues – the part which had formerly been so unruly. But no longer do blessings and curses come forth from the same place, but just pure love, praise, glory, and worship of God.
Since the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, God has chosen to use the tongue as the symbol that if He’s got that member, He’s filled all of you. The reality is that if you’re speaking in a language you’ve never learned before, that qualifies as a miracle. That’s God’s gift for His church! And it’s the sign He gave on the Day of Pentecost. So, Pentecostals look back to that historical event and proclaim the experience and power is for the church today.
In our next part, we will look at the history of the church during the 1500 years following the Day of Pentecost, and see what developed after the Apostles laid down their lives and left us the New Testament. If you would like to listen to these teachings, please click here: Church History From Pentecost to “Pentecostals” (PART 1)