Perspectives on Pentecost (3)

The Day of Pentecost (Acts Chapter 2) contains the manifestations that we would expect when God comes to live in His Temple.

In Acts Chapter Two God is speaking through His Living Temple. In Exodus 25:22 God tells Moses that He will speak in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle. However, on the Day of Pentecost in Acts, because the veil of the Temple has been torn in two, God now speaks in and through His Living Temple to all humanity.

“There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.” (Exodus 25:22).

Compare God’s manifestation in Acts 2 with His manifestation when the Tabernacle of Moses was dedicated and when the Temple of Solomon was dedicated:

“Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up. For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.” (Exodus 40:34 - 38)

"Now when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house. The priests could not enter into the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. All the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to the Lord, saying, “Truly He is good, truly His lovingkindness is everlasting.”"(2 Chronicles 7:1 - 3).

We see God’s glory, we see fire, we see praises to God. The Tabernacle of Moses was subsumed by the Temple of Solomon (2 Chronicles 5:2 - 10), and in Acts 2 the Temple of Solomon is subsumed by the Living Temple of God. Another way of putting it is that the shadows and types of the Tabernacle of Moses and the Temple of Solomon are enveloped by the manifestation of the Dwelling Place of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:19 - 22; 1 Peter 2:4 - 10).

The fellowship and communion of God with mankind, of God within mankind, which God has always desired, which was fractured in the Garden of Eden, is now re-established in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. This is the beginning of the descent of the New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ, that we witness in Revelation chapters 21 and 22. This is the beginning of the outworking of the manifestation of the sons and daughters of God (Romans 8:18 - 25) for which all of creation groans and travails. This is God dwelling within His people - and as Isaiah prophesied, the Word of the Lord is going forth from Zion and Jerusalem - from the Jerusalem which is above, the Mother of us All (Galatians 4:21 - 31).

The Tree of Life, Jesus Christ, is planted in the City of God and is for the healing of the peoples of the earth. Ever since the Day of Pentecost that Tree has been spreading via its Root system (just as the Aspen tree - one of the largest organisms on earth) - this is why John sees only One Tree (Revelation 22:1 - 4) that is on both sides of the River of Life.

The Day of Pentecost is ongoing, for the Living Temple continues to grow into a holy Temple in the Lord, a dwelling place for God in the Spirit. Are our eyes on the earthly or the heavenly? Are we feeding the nations with the Bread of Life? Are our tongues proclaiming the wonderful works of God?