What is the Meaning of Pentecost?

One of the main results of the baptism in the Holy Spirit in an individual's life is found in Hebrews chapter 6 , verses 4 and 5 . These verses speak of believers who have been "made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come." These words indicate that those who have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost have, as a result of that experience, tasted the powers of the world to come - or, alternatively, the powers of the age to come.

Thus the baptism in the Holy Spirit gives to the believer a foretaste of an altogether new kind of power - a power that belongs, in its fulness, to the next world, or the next age. Through this baptism, the believer commences to experience now, in a measure, the supernatural power reserved for its full manifestation in the next world, or the next age.

This is in agreement with the words of Paul in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 13 and 14. Speaking to Christians who had received the Holy Spirit, Paul says:

"In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."

Paul here describes the experience of being sealed with the Holy Spirit as "the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession." The word translated "earnest" means a pledge or an assurance. Paul refers to an ancient custom by which a man who had purchased a field, once the agreement was completed, carried away with him a portion of the earth of the field. This portion of earth from the purchased field was called the "earnest", or the "pledge". It constituted legal evidence that the field now belonged to that man, and that he would return in due course to take full possession of his whole inheritance.

This is a beautiful illustration of what the baptism in the Holy Spirit means to each believer. In this experience the believer received within himself, here and now, a little foretaste, a little portion of his inheritance of power and glory which is awaiting him in the next world. This little portion of heaven's power and glory, received in this world, is the "earnest", the foretaste, the assurance that the whole inheritance now legally belongs to the believer, and that in due course he will return to take full possession of his whole inheritance. That is why Paul says that the Holy Spirit is "the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession." The Spirit-baptized believer already has a little bit of heaven right inside him now; and, on the basis of this, he knows that one day he will enjoy the fulness of that which he has hitherto tasted only in part.

This is very aptly illustrated by the story of the healing of Naaman, the Syrian leper, recorded in Second Kings, chapter 5. As a result of his miraculous healing, Naaman came to acknowledge that the Lord, Jehovah, the God of Israel, was the only true God. He knew, however, that he would shortly have to return to an unclean, heathen land, and be associated with the idolatrous ceremonies of a heathen people. With this in mind, we read - in Second Kings chapter 5, verse 17 - that Naaman had one special request to make before leaving the land of Israel:

"And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules' burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord."

Why did Naaman desire to carry home this portion of earth from the land of Israel? He had realized the holiness of the Lord, and, in contrast, the uncleanness of his own land and people. He was determined, therefore, never again to offer worship from unclean earth. The holiness of the Lord demanded that Naaman should stand and worship Him only on earth from the Lord's own land. Since Naaman could not remain permanently in the land of Israel, he determined to carry a portion of Israel's earth home with him to his own land, and to make there from that earth his own special place of worship.

So it is with the Spirit-baptized believer. This experience gives to him a new understanding of the words of Jesus in John chapter 4, verse 24:

"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

Such a believer can no longer be satisfied with the mere forms and ceremonies of man-made worship. He has been in the heavenly land; he has had a glimpse of its glories, and of the holiness of God. He has brought back a portion of that sacred soil with him. No matter where circumstances may take him, he worships now not on an unclean land, but on holy ground. He worships in Spirit - that is, in the Holy Spirit - and in truth.

What is true in the worship of the Spirit-filled believer, is equally true in every other aspect of his experience. Through the baptism in the Spirit he has entered into a new kind of supernatural life. The supernatural has become natural.

If we study the New Testament with an open mind, we are compelled to acknowledge that the whole life and experience of the early Christians was permeated in every part by the supernatural. Supernatural experiences were not something incidental, or additional; they were an integral part of their whole lives as Christians. Their praying was supernatural; their preaching was supernatural; they were supernaturally guided, supernaturally protected. Remove the supernatural from the Book of Acts, and you are left with something that has no meaning or coherence. From the descent of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2, and onwards, it is scarcely possible to find a single chapter in which the record of the supernatural does not play an essential part.

In the record of Paul's ministry in Ephesus, in Acts chapter 19, verse 11, we find a most arresting and thought-provoking expression:

"And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul."

Notice that phrase "special miracles". The Greek phrase here used could be translated, somewhat freely, "miracles of a kind that do not happen every day". Miracles were an everyday occurance in the early church. Normally they would have caused no special surprise, or comment. But the miracles granted here in Ephesus through the ministry of Paul were such that even the early church found them worthy of special record.

In how many churches today would we find occasion to use the phrase - "miracles of a kind that do not happen every day"? In how many churches today do miracles ever happen - let alone, happen every day?

The truth is that, where we do not see and experience the supernatural we have no right to speak of New Testament Christianity. New Testament Christianity can never be separated from the supernatural, or experienced in isolation from it. These two things - the supernatural, and New Testament Christianity - are inseparably interwoven.

Without the supernatural, we may have New Testament doctrine, but it is bare doctrine, not experience. Such doctrine, divorced from supernatural experience, is of the kind described by Paul in Second Corinthians chapter 3, verse 6: "the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." It is the Holy Spirit, and He alone, who can give life to the letter of New Testament doctrine, and can make that doctrine a living, personal, supernatural way of life for each believer. One main purpose of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is to do just this.