Cornelis Van Dam
Pentecost: the Feast
in the Light of the
Old Testament (Part 1 of 3)
Pentecost: the Feast
in the Light of the
Old Testament (Part 1 of 3)
Pentecost was a huge event in God’s dealing with
his people. It was a turning point. The outpouring of the
Holy Spirit inaugurated “the last days” (Acts 2:17), the
final age before Christ’s return. So what exactly was
the Feast of Pentecost and how did the events in Acts 2
relate to that? What is the meaning of all of this for us
today in appreciating the work of the Holy Spirit? In this
and two subsequent articles, let’s consider Pentecost:
its meaning, fulfillment, and continuing relevance for
us today.
Pentecost: the Old Testament feast
Although we tend to associate Pentecost with
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost was of
course first of all an Old Testament feast. So we need
to go back to Old Testament times if we are to fully
understand the fulfillment of this feast in the saving
work of Christ. Indeed, the first part of Acts 2:1, which
begins the account of the outpouring of the Spirit, can
probably best be translated as follows: “When the
Day of Pentecost was being fulfilled.” The realization
that this was an Old Testament feast deepens our
understanding and appreciation for the fact that it
was this festival that was chosen as the time for the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
The Feast of Pentecost did not exist in isolation
on Israel’s calendar of special days. It was closely
linked to, and dated from, celebrations connected
with the Passover. The Passover feast was celebrated
at twilight in the evening of the fourteenth day of the
first month (Lev 23:5). It was followed on the fifteenth
day by the beginning of the closely related seven-day
Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev 23:6). On the next day,
the sixteenth, the first fruits of the (barley) harvest had
to be brought to the Lord (Lev 23:11, cf. vv. 6-7). Seven
weeks and one day later, the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost)
was celebrated, during which, among other things,
offerings from the grain (wheat) harvest and two loaves
of bread had to be brought to God (Exod 34:22; Lev 23:15-
17). (The fact that this festival was on the fiftieth day
later gave rise to the name Pentecost, from the Greek
word for “fiftieth.”) Because the week of the Feast of
Unleavened Bread with all its different ceremonies and
requirements was dominated by the Passover, it was
known as Passover week. It is within the light of the
Passover that Pentecost needs to be understood.
Pentecost was a day of joy for the harvest that God
had given his people. Not surprisingly, it was therefore
also known as Harvest Feast (Exod 23:16; 34:22) and
Day of First-fruits (Num 28:26). This day, however, was
not the first time that first fruits were brought. The first
fruits of the barley harvest had already been presented
three days after Passover. Why did the Lord require the
first fruits on Pentecost?
The Passover celebrations reminded Israel that
God had passed over the blood-sprinkled Israelite
homes and had killed the firstborn of Egypt. So God
had worked their exodus from Egypt’s bondage and led
them out into freedom as his people (Exod 12). God’s
salvation is, however, a complete salvation. He not only
delivered his people from Egypt, but he also brought
them into the Promised Land, a land flowing with
milk and honey. God will provide! For this reason God
already told Israel in the wilderness that when they
would come to Canaan, and celebrate the Passover and
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the sheaf of the first
fruits of the harvest would need to be brought to God
three days after the Passover (Lev 23:10-11).
Fifty days later, near the end of the harvest season,
more fruits of the field, including two loaves of bread,
were to be given (Lev 23:16-17), for Israel had to realize
and give recognition to the fact that God not only
delivered his people from certain death in their bondage
Pentecost was first of all an Old
Testament feast
May 11, 2012 • 250
Dr. Cornelis Van Dam is
professor emeritus of
Old Testament at the
Canadian Reformed
Theological Seminary in
Hamilton, Ontario
116659t_Clrn61n10.indd 250 12-05-01 11:19 AM
in Egypt, but he also provided life nourishment in the
land of promise. The first fruits of the harvest, and
indeed the entire harvest, were the result of his salvation
as commemorated at Passover. Thus also on the day of
Pentecost Israel not only had to give first fruits, but also
had to recall their bondage in Egypt (Deut 16:12) and so
enjoy and celebrate the new life God had given them
because of the Exodus. This new life also enabled them
to live in holy service to God.
New Testament fulfillment
With this orientation to the Old Testament feast
we can appreciate something of the tension and
anticipation surrounding the first Pentecost after the
death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. When
Christ lay down his life on the cross, he did so as
our Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5:7), fulfilling the Passover
feast and setting his people free from the dominion of
the evil one (cf. Col 2:14-15). Three days later he rose
from the dead as the first fruit of the salvation he had
accomplished for his people (cf. 1 Cor 15:20, 23). He thus
fulfilled the offering of the first sheaf of grain on that
day and showed that God’s salvation not only delivers
his people from bondage, but also gives the new life (cf.
Rom 6:5-11). Now Pentecost had come. With a fulfilled
Passover and the fulfillment of the offering of the first
fruits three days after Passover, what would Pentecost
bring? Was this feast not closely related and did it not
speak eloquently of the provision of a full harvest and
the new life of service that God gave his people on the
basis of the salvation he had accomplished as seen
in Passover?
In Acts 2:1 we are told that “they were all together
in one place.” No one was missing. There was a
sense of expectation (see Acts 1:4, 5). They were not
disappointed. The risen Lord poured out his Spirit as he
had promised (Acts 1:8). Having effected the deliverance
of his people from the bondage of sin, he continued his
work of salvation by giving them his life-giving Spirit.
The people whom he had redeemed as his possession
on Golgotha and for whose justification he had been
raised from the grave (Rom 4:25) were now invigorated
with the newness of life in Christ and made a new
creation (cf. 2 Cor 5:17). What a change that meant!
Filled with the Spirit of the risen Lord, they shared in
the first fruits of what life with God, on the basis of his
accomplished salvation, was all about. In this way they
were equipped to serve the God of their salvation.
One of the immediate consequences of the
outpouring of the Spirit was that the Spirit of Christ
gave them new power and boldness. After the death
of the Passover Lamb, they had been frightened,
disheartened, and had met behind closed doors. But
now they received courage to speak openly of the
mighty works of God (Acts 2:11). Peter, who a little over
seven weeks ago had not dared to confess the Lord
Jesus before a servant girl (Matt 26:69-72), now boldly
proclaimed the Christ before the “men of Judea and all
who dwell in Jerusalem” (Acts 2:14).
Peter’s sermon is a clear proclamation of the
crucified Christ who rose from the dead for the New
Testament Pentecost can only be understood within
the context of Christ’s work of fulfilling the Passover
as the Paschal Lamb. On the Day of Pentecost the Lord
Jesus Christ who had brought about the deliverance
of his people continued to provide for them. With his
life-giving Spirit he made them a new creation (cf.
Rom 8:9-11), equipped to serve him with the prophetic
proclamation of his salvation for the great ingathering
of the harvest in the last age. That fact speaks of the
abiding significance of Pentecost. Christ, the Passover
Lamb and risen Lord, continues his work (cf. Rev 5). The
three thousand who believed on the Day of Pentecost
were but a beginning. The results of Christ’s once-for-
all salvation work continue to be evident as he gives
new life to his redeemed people and as he harvests
to the glory of the Father. The final result will be a
new creation, not just as seen in the people whom he
recreates after his image, but a new recreated world
for them to dwell in. For Pentecost, coming after a
fulfilled Passover, means that God’s people may have
a foretaste of the full life with God in the Spirit of
Jesus Christ. This is what gives life, a lustre of joy, and
festivity for those who confess the Lamb of God. They
can live in the expectation of the coming, complete
fulfillment of Christ’s salvation work.
The question is often raised: what is the difference
between the work of the Holy Spirit in Old Testament
Israel and the people of God today, the new Israel of
God, the church (Gal 6:16)? Is there a difference?
More about that next time.
C
With a fulfilled Passover and the
fulfillment of the offering of the first
fruits three days after Passover, what
would Pentecost bring?
God’s people may have a foretaste of
the full life with God in the Spirit of
Jesus Christ
251 • May 11, 2012
116659t_Clrn61n10.indd 251 12-05-01 11:19 AM
Cornelis Van Dam
Pentecost: the Feast
in the Light of the
Old Testament (Part 2 of 3)
Pentecost: the Feast
in the Light of the
Old Testament (Part 2 of 3)
The question is often raised: what is the difference
between the work of the Holy Spirit in Old Testament
Israel and the people of God today, the new Israel of
God, the church (Gal 6:16)? Is there a difference? Well,
surely there must be. After all, the outpouring of the
Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost is signaled as the
beginning of a new era. On that day, the Apostle Peter
proclaimed:
This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “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. Even on my servants, both men
and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the
heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood
and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be
turned to darkness and the moon to blood before
the coming of the great and glorious day of the
Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the
Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:16-21).
A new era – the last days! And the work of the Holy
Spirit figures prominently!
There is also another indication that a new era
started. There is a striking passage in John 7:39 which
literally reads that in the days Jesus walked on earth:
“the Holy Spirit was not yet.” Now since the Holy Spirit
obviously existed in Old Testament times, this passage
in full is usually translated: “Up to that time the Spirit
had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been
glorified.” So what exactly is the difference between the
work of the Spirit in the Old and New Testaments?
In considering this question, let us briefly consider
the continuity between the Old and New Testaments
with respect to the work of the Spirit and how the Spirit
worked in ancient Israel. In the next article, we will
deal with the new elements of the work of the Holy
Spirit in the last days in which we live and consider
some of the consequences.
The work of the Spirit and God’s people in the
Old Testament
Since we are dealing with the Spirit’s work with
respect to the people of God, we will not deal with his
other work as in the creation of the world and related
topics (cf. Gen 1:2; Ps 104:30).
In the Old Testament, as in the New, we may
assume that God works faith and repentance (Acts
11:18; 16:14; 2 Tim. 2:25; John 6:44; Phil. 2:13) and that he
used the Holy Spirit to do so (cf. Rom 2:29; 1 Cor 2:4; 6:11;
12:3; Gal 3:3). It is striking however that very little is
said about the work of the Holy Spirit with respect to the
believers as such and we simply acknowledge this as
a reality.
The Spirit and the special offices
However, the Spirit is specifically mentioned when
it comes to special tasks and offices in God’s service.
Moses had the Spirit (cf. Neh 9:20) and God temporarily
equipped the seventy elders who were to help Moses
with the Holy Spirit so they could prophesy (Num 11:16-
30). Obviously this gift of the Spirit was very special
(cf. also 1 Sam 19:20-24). Moses cried out: “I wish that
all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord
would put his Spirit on them!” (Num 11:29). Later on
all the prophets were endowed with the Spirit. Micah
as a prophet could say: “I am filled with power, with
the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to
declare to Jacob his transgression, to Israel his sin”
(Micah 3:8). Indeed, a prophet is characterized as “the
man of the Spirit” (Hos 9:7; NIV “inspired man;” cf. Neh
9:30; 2 Chron 15:1; 20:14; 24:20). As 2 Peter 1:21 puts it:
“Prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but
men spoke from God as they were carried along by the
Holy Spirit.”
Coming to Israel’s rulers, God raised up judges and
equipped them by causing his Spirit to come upon them
(Othniel – Judg 3:10; Gideon – 6:34; Jephthah – 11:29;
287 • May 25, 2012
Dr. Cornelis Van Dam is
professor emeritus of
Old Testament at the
Canadian Reformed
Theological Seminary in
Hamilton, Ontario
Samson – 13:25; 14:6, 19; 15:14; cf. also 1 Chron 12:18).
Incidentally, the phrase indicating that the Spirit comes
upon someone does not necessarily mean that one
is regenerate. After all, the Spirit also came upon the
pagan diviner Balaam (Num 24:2) whom God used to
bless Israel, even though Balaam had wanted to curse
God’s people.
With respect to the office of king, we read that King
Saul received “the Spirit of the Lord” who would equip
him for the task of kingship (1 Sam 10:6, 10; 11:6). After
Saul was rejected as king, the Spirit departed from Saul
and came upon David (1 Sam 16:13-14; 2 Sam 23:2). With
David’s anointing, he received the Holy Spirit (1 Sam
16:13). David as anointed king was very conscious of the
Holy Spirit’s presence. When he fell into sin he prayed
to God: “Do not cast me from your presence or take your
Holy Spirit from me” (Ps 51:11; also see Davidic Ps 143:10;
cf. also 2 Sam 23:2; 1 Chron 28:12).
Other examples of exceptional people include the
craftsman Bezalel who was charged with the awesome
responsibility to make designs for work in gold, silver,
and bronze for the tabernacle. Of him Lord said: “I have
filled him with the Spirit of God” (Exod 31:3; 35:31)
So, to sum up, we read very little in the Old
Testament about the work of the Spirit in the lives of
God’s people as a whole, although clearly lives of faith
and obedience were the result of God’s work by his
Spirit (cf. John 3:3-6). The only time the Old Testament
clearly speaks of the Spirit actually dwelling within a
person is with respect to some of those with a special
office or task as designated by God himself. The
obvious emphasis in the Old Testament is not that God
lives within his people but that God, the Holy Spirit, is
with his people.
God was with his people
And so even though some of those in special office
appear to have had an indwelling Spirit, they were
the exception. The overall emphasis is on the Spirit
being with God’s people rather than being inside
each individual. To mention some highlights: he spoke
directly to Adam and Eve even after the fall into sin
(Gen 3:9-19), Enoch walked with him (Gen 5:22, 24), as
did Noah (Gen 6:9). Abraham and Isaac walked before
him (Gen 17:1; 24:40; 48:15). Indeed, throughout the
patriarchal period we read of God accompanying his
people rather than dwelling in them. When God led his
people out of Egypt, Scripture characterizes the days of
Moses as a time when God “set the Spirit among them,”
that is, among Israel, and guided and gave to his
people rest by the Spirit (Isa 63:11, 14). This must refer to
God’s presence in the pillar of cloud (Exod 13:21-22) and
later in the tabernacle (Exod 40:34-38).
And so, how was God with his people in Old
Testament times? It was by living in their midst in a
special building, first the tabernacle (Exod 40:34-38) and
later the temple (1 Kings 6:13; 8:10-11; 2 Chron 5:13-14).
This was God’s dwelling place. His throne room was
the Most Holy Place where he was enthroned on the
Ark of the Covenant (Exod 40:34-38; Ps 80:1). This Most
Holy Place was separated from the Holy Place by a
heavy curtain (Exod 26:31-33; 36:35). Israel was shielded
and protected from God’s holiness by the sacrificial
services administered by the Levitical priests.
Israel would surely have been destroyed by God’s
holiness without that insulating wall of the service of
reconciliation. This dwelling of God with his people in
the old dispensation was a dwelling at a distance from
them. He lived with Israel yes, but there was a distance
and in the midst of much sin (Lev 16:16).
The temple Solomon built was eventually destroyed
by the Babylonians as part of God’s judgment on his
people. When God’s people returned to the land of
Israel, the temple was rebuilt in the days of Haggai and
Zechariah. While it was being rebuilt, God assured
the people: “I am with you” (Hag 1:13) and “my Spirit
remains among you [lit: in your midst]” (Hag 2:5). This
can be understood in the context of the temple. And
so in the old dispensation, the Holy Spirit worked in
the lives of his people from God’s dwelling place, the
tabernacle or the temple (cf. Neh 9:19-20). Only the priest
could enter the tabernacle or temple (Heb 9:7).
God did not want to leave it at this. It was not as
it should be. There was something wrong (Heb 8:7-8).
Indeed sin and the resulting punishment overwhelmed
God’s people. A new covenant was needed. There
had to be a final solution for those sins for in the Old
Testament times. God had simply passed over them
(Rom 3:25). Juridically there was as yet therefore no
lasting solution. And so God promised a new covenant.
The Lord God did not want to continue to live
forever enclosed as it were within the Most Holy Place.
He wanted to move right into the very hearts and
lives of his people because he made them to be his
temple and dwelling place. That is the significance of
Pentecost! Of course this dramatic development did not
happen overnight. After all, as mentioned, God’s people
are sinful and by nature depraved – with their debts not
even paid! But Christ came, paid the debts, and opened
the way for God to claim his people as his dwelling
place, his temple here on earth!
This had enormous consequences as we will see in
the next concluding article.
C
May 25, 2012 • 288
The great breakthrough at the
New Testament Pentecost
The Lord Jesus came to earth in order to fulfill all
the requirements of the law so that God’s people could
be holy and pleasing to God. Christ satisfied God’s
just demands for sin committed (2 Cor 5:21; 1 John 2:2;
4:10). When the end was in sight and the completion of
his work was coming closer, the Lord Jesus said in John
14:16-17 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you
another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of
truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither
sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives
with you and will be in you.” Notice those words: “for
he lives with you and will be in you.” There is progress
here in the history of revelation. Sin does not have the
last say. God will come to dwell right inside his people!
Before Pentecost the Spirit was with God’s people but
not within in the way he would be later. This calls to
mind the words of John 7:39 where it says that Christ
“meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him
were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not
been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
The timing of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was
linked to Christ’s glorification. That means that only
after his suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension
were accomplished would the Spirit be given to the
church. For only then would all be accomplished for
the payment of sins and the justification of his people
on the basis of his sacrificial death. And he would be
given in fullness unprecedented in the history of the
world up to that point.
Let us consider some of the aspects of the
outpouring of the Spirit that set it apart from the Old
Testament work of the Spirit.
The new temple of God
The main change is of course the fact that God’s
presence was no longer centred in the temple. When
Christ died on the cross the temple and the entire
sacrificial service of reconciliation became obsolete.
Indeed, at the very moment that the Lord Jesus died, the
temple curtain dividing the Most Holy Place from the
Holy Place ripped from top to bottom (Matt 27:51; cf. Heb
9:3, 8; 10:19-20). This was God’s doing. By this action,
God put the temple aside as his dwelling place and
claimed his people, sanctified by the blood of the Lamb,
as his new home on earth.
This was unlike anything in the Old Testament.
The church and not the temple is now God’s permanent
home on earth! That awesome truth is clearly taught in
Scripture. The congregation as a whole is called such
when the Apostle Paul wrote the Corinthians saying:
“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple
and that God’s Spirit lives in you [plural]?” (1 Cor 3:16)
This truth is repeated in 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Do you
not know that your [plural] body is a temple of the Holy
Spirit, who is in you [plural], whom you [plural] have
received from God?” This truth is never articulated this
way in the Old Testament. But the reality of the Spirit’s
dwelling in the congregation is repeated many times
in the New Testament. The Apostle Paul writing to the
Roman Christians and to Timothy speaks of the Spirit
who lives in them (Rom 8:9, 11; 2 Tim 1:14; also Eph 3:17).
Indeed, the church is the house of God (lit.: 1 Tim 3:15).
The reality of the indwelling Spirit in the church
as his temple has two huge implications. First, New
Testament believers have what the Old Testament
believers did not have, namely union with Christ
through the Spirit. The author of Hebrews mentions
that in comparison with the believers of the old
dispensation, “God had planned something better for
Cornelis Van Dam
Pentecost: the Feast
in the Light of the
Old Testament (Part 3 of 3)
Pentecost: the Feast
in the Light of the
Old Testament (Part 3 of 3)
Dr. Cornelis Van Dam is
professor emeritus of
Old Testament at the
Canadian Reformed
Theological Seminary in
Hamilton, Ontario
June 8, 2012 • 306
us so that only together with us would they be made
perfect” (Heb 11:39-40; cf. 7:22; 8:6). This “something
better” is the spiritual union Christians today may have
with the exalted and glorified Christ. It is the basis
for all the other blessings of salvation, “yet it was not
enjoyed prior to Christ’s death and resurrection. Old
Testament believers were regenerated, justified, and
sanctified on the basis of Christ’s (future) work,” but the
mode of covenant fellowship in which they experienced
these blessings was with God’s official dwelling at a
distance from them. His being among them “lacked the
finality and permanence of union with (the glorified)
Christ.” (The quotes are from R.B. Gaffin, Perspectives
on Pentecost, 36.)
We are so used to hearing of the union with Christ
by the Spirit, but behind this theological truth is the
momentous reality of having an intimate relationship
with almighty God (cf. Matt 13:16-17). It means that as
Christians we have been given new hearts on which
the law of God can be written (Ezek 36:26-27; Jer 31:33). It
also means that we have been adopted into the family
of God as his children (Rom 8:14-17 [cf. 5:5]; Gal 3:23-4:7).
The second related implication is that the
outpouring of the Spirit truly ushered in a new age
– the last days in God’s program for this world. The
momentous event of the Spirit coming down to live in
the church means that the church becomes a separate,
independent entity in a way that ancient Israel was
not. Ancient Israel, the church at that time was defined
as a nation, among other nations. However, the church
as home of the Holy Spirit transcends all national and
ethnic boundaries. The unity is the unity not in race but
in the Spirit (1 Cor 12:13; Eph 2:18; 4:3-6). This means that
the people of God are free to expand and go wherever
the Spirit directs. Driven by the Spirit, the gospel spread
in the early church, eventually all over the Roman
Empire. Today the Spirit still drives mission activity
and the triumphant Christ gathers his people through
the Word and Spirit.
This brings us to the next topic: the Spirit’s presence
also means a superabundance of gifts.
Outpouring of gifts
Prior to his ascension into heaven, the Lord Jesus
told his disciples: “You will receive power when the
Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses
in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the
ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). It is clear from the context
that this power they were to receive is directly related
to equipping them to spread the good news of Jesus
Christ as his witnesses. The Spirit would enable them
to be good witnesses of their Saviour and so spread the
gospel even to the ends of the earth. That is what the
book of Acts also tells us (Acts 8:29, 39-40; 10:19, etc.).
This receiving power to spread the gospel is a
fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel quoted by Peter on the
Day of Pentecost. “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. Even on my servants,
both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those
days, and they will prophesy” (Acts 2:17-18). All will
now share in the prophetic office of spreading the good
news! Everyone is equipped to publicly witness to the
risen Christ. Moses’ wish that all would be prophets
has been fulfilled (Num 11:29). And it is not restricted to
Israel. Also the Gentiles receive the Spirit (Acts 10:45).
When the Spirit was given, the Spirit was “poured
out.” This suggests an overflowing abundance, and
unprecedented deluge. This is also in fulfillment of the
prophecy of Isaiah 44:3-4, “For I will pour water on the
thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour
out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on
your descendants. They will spring up like grass in a
meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams”
(cf. Isa 44:3).
There is a divine and royal abundance here fitting
for the glorified Christ as the Spirit is poured out.
Nothing like this ever occurred in the Old Testament.
This too is a distinguishing feature of the New over
against the Old Testament.
The gifts of the Spirit are many. But to go into them
at this point would be to divert from the main topic
being addressed, namely the significance of Pentecost
in distinction with the Old Testament work of the Spirit.
Continuing implications of Pentecost
In conclusion, there are two important implications
of the events of Pentecost that can be mentioned. First,
with God the Holy Spirit actually residing within
the church and its individual members, the struggle
against sin is taken to the next level. With the Holy
Spirit living in the church and its members, sin cannot
be tolerated. If even the eye looks lustfully, it is adultery
(Matt 5:28). Sin must not be tolerated and it must be
As Christians we have been given
new hearts on which the law of God
can be written
307 • June 8, 2012
opposed at every turn. It must not have dominion (Rom
6:22), for Christ has triumphed over sin and Satan and
his Spirit now resides in God’s people. But the struggle
is hard (Rom 7)! We can even grieve the Holy Spirit.
The Apostle Paul admonishes: “Do not grieve the Holy
Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day
of redemption” (Eph 4:30). A timely warning, for it is
possible to quench the Spirit. The warning in
1 Thessalonians 5:19 is apt: “Do not put out the
Spirit’s fire.”
A second important implication of the Spirit’s
dwelling in the church and its members individually
is that our future is guaranteed. As a matter of fact,
God’s Word tells us that the presence of the Spirit
in his earthly temple and dwelling place is like a
down payment for the inheritance of the future glory
(Eph 1:14). God “has given us the Spirit as a deposit,
guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Cor 5:5). By his
indwelling Spirit, God claims us as his very own. “He
anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put
his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what
is to come” (2 Cor 1:21-22). The Spirit’s presence in the
church and in the personal lives of Christians provides
a foretaste of the future perfection. Those filled with
the Spirit have life eternal now. The Spirit’s presence
guarantees this life with Christ, now and forever
(cf. Rom 8:11; John 5:24). The indwelling Spirit places
Christians in the company of a triumphant multitude
of people who, though they may suffer now, know that
the victory has been won. The future is with them! Put
differently, Pentecost ushered in the last age, the last
days, and so the only promised redemptive act of God
still needing fulfillment is the return of our Saviour and
the coming of the new heaven and earth.
And if we get into a situation of great trouble and
darkness and don’t even know how to pray, the Spirit
intercedes for us with the Father and we may rest
assured that everything will work out for the good of
those who love God. The victory over all misery and
sin is ours. The present and the future belong to the
triumphant Christ (Rom 8:15-39)!
Church News
Accepted the call to the Canadian Reformed Church
of Houston, British Columbia:
Rev. S.C. Van Dam
of Grassie, Ontario
Examinations Sustained
Examined by the Classis Ontario West of May 23,
2012 and granted permission to speak an edifying
word in the churches: students
Ben Schoof, Calvin Vanderlinde and
Theo Wierenga
C
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