Seeing Double

That Christ will give him in assisting Christ, give Dad the lead on that in assisting Christ with their salvation. But you and I are the first ones offered entrance into the Kingdom of God, into the family of God. Because that's what the Church is all about. It is all about the family of God. The Church is, and again, when I heard certain terms and terminology and phrases used a long time ago, and they were the best that could be used to express something, I didn't forget them. I didn't turn them loose. I hung on to them. Because there are some things you don't really improve on. That's why certain sayings get started, and they stay around generation after generation after generation. Because something has been distilled down into some succinct words that carry a fuller impact than any new words that can be come up with. I heard long ago that the Church is the embryonic stage of the Kingdom of God. It's like the Kingdom of God in embryo, the embryonic stage of the Kingdom of God.

I think of Isaiah 66, verses 7 through 9. When I think of the Church being the embryonic stage of the Kingdom of God, I think of Isaiah 66, verses 7 through 9. This prophecy of the coming Kingdom says, Before she travailed, she brought forth. Before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? No, you plant a seed. You don't go out the next day and expect to have a plant there with fruit hanging on it.

It takes time. So, the earth be made to bring forth in one day? That's not natural. That's not logical. Or shall a nation be born at once? If you walk out and you see fruit hanging on a plant, you know there was a time when the seed was planted.

You know there was a time when it took moisture, water, and minerals, and all from the soil and sunlight, and it grew, and it made a plant. And it put on fruit. And now the fruit is hanging there, ripening, and maybe some ripe, like first fruits, and ready to take and use. Shall a nation be born at once? Notice. For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth, says the Lord? Shall I cause to bring forth and shut the womb, says your God?

Shall a nation be born at once? The spiritual nation of God, the kingdom of God at the seventh trump, will be born immediately. The dead in Christ arise first. Those in Christ, still alive, will follow them into the air to meet Christ. Yes. But Joseph is still in the grave. Abraham is still in the grave. Peter is. Paul is. John is. James... I mean, go down the list. And people we can name in our time that we know are in the grave waiting. And yet, in an instant, they're all going to rise to form the truly born nation of God.

But the seed was planted long before that, and it sprouted, and they grew. And just like the embryonic stage of a baby, there's life there. Life has been engendered. The church is the life of those whom God has put His Spirit in. And, of course, the day of Pentecost, pictures pouring out of God's Spirit upon not all of mankind, not yet, but on the first fruits, those called. Embryo comes before birth, obviously. The church is the prelude stage to God's family. It is the group, the body, that's infused with His Holy Spirit for the formation of Christ in them.

Galatians 4.19, I have some dear loved ones that died. Who hasn't? Who here doesn't have some dear loved ones who have died? And I could name names where I would say, well, I loved Him, I loved her, I had a great affinity for so-and-so, but I knew them. And Christ wasn't formed in them. The way they thought, the way they did, how they responded, how they reacted, what their habits were, how they lived their lives, what customs they practiced, was not, Galatians 4.19, my little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. He will be formed in them, but that which takes place in us now through His Spirit, that has to wait until a future time with them.

Till Christ be formed in you. That people may be...what takes place, actually? You think about it. That issue, that activity, that transformation as it is of Christ being formed in us, what does that mean? It means that we're changed from what we are to what we should be. It's the power to turn disciples into apostles. You know, we kid about Peter. And you've heard me say that in my way of thinking of Peter, he's the John Wayne of the apostles. Brash, bold, trying to impose his will on others. And you've got to give him credit.

He was pretty fearless overall. But God knew that this brash, bold person who had so much initiative and was always jumping out front there, wasn't afraid that once that was transformed into a converted approach with him, it could be utilized, yes, just like stubbornness can be turned into perseverance. A transformation takes place. Yeah, brash, aggressive, bull in a china shop, as we say, but it could be turned into a real leader.

Luke 22, 32. What made the difference? Well, in Luke 22, 32. Now notice what Christ says to Peter here in verse 31. In Luke 22 verse 31, the Lord says, Simon, Simon, listen, Satan has desired to have you. I don't know if you're really aware of that or not, Simon.

But boy, you just don't know how much he desires to have you, that he may sit you as wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith fail not. Now notice what he says, when you are converted. Remember, God's Spirit was with Peter.

God's Spirit was with them, but it was not in them. It hadn't been planted in them yet. He says, when you are converted, strengthen your brethren. Peter could be utilized to be a stable, strong strengthener of the brethren. And if you know the accounts, he wasn't in charge of all the other apostles.

But there was many a time where they would let him step forth to set the pace, and they would follow with him setting the pace. You know, we think of James and John, the two brothers. John today is, of course, thought of as the apostle of gentleness, the apostle of love. They were hot-headed. They were temperamental. They were the two that wanted to call fire down from heaven and just burn out that little town that didn't suit them too well, when they were on their way to Jerusalem, if you remember the account.

Just leave behind them, as they walked on, a pile of ashes and smoke rising in there. That was James and John, gentle John. Yet look what they became in the transformation through conversion. James was the very first one that set the precedent, in one sense, of submitting to martyrdom. John was the one that became known as the apostle of love, the one that God allowed to live to be the oldest of the original apostles, the last man standing of the originals, those apostles.

Think about it. It's the power to turn flesh and blood into spirit, into little sons and daughters of God, the family of God. And to do the transforming in the meantime, that makes that be possible to make that composition change at the resurrection. And the church is a vehicle, God's vehicle, for accomplishing such, because the church is infused with His power, the Holy Spirit. Now, the church is made up of the individuals, each individual that has God's Spirit, as part of the church. And, of course, what we're part of today, and, you know, we read about the church in the New Testament, and that seems a long time ago.

It may not seem as far away as it just seems a long time ago. I mean, the content, the meaning it all may not seem so far away, and it shouldn't, because today we're the same. We're the same as they. The church they were, what we're part of today, is the same as what they were part of. And Peter and the others were part of the beginning, and it's beginning, but guess what? Peter's dead. James and John are dead. All of them are dead. All of them are dead.

We know that. That's no surprise to any of us who's alive. You, me, the others, like us. We're also a part of the church, just as much as they were, it's just in a different time period. It's the latter part in this age. The same church, the same church for the continuity of existence and purpose down through these ages. I want to look briefly at the establishing of the church and the circumstances that surrounded it. You know, God's church started on Pentecost, 31 A.D., and it literally exploded on the scene.

Now, you think about the context of that time. When they gathered together on the day of Pentecost to celebrate it, they didn't hang out billboards. They didn't run any TV ads, so they said, well, they didn't have TV. They not only did nothing to advertise it, except among themselves. Where were we meeting for Pentecost? Well, we've got this place over here where we're all going together to meet. They were a little bit hushy-hushy about it. They were a little bit quiet about it, because they didn't know fully what to expect. It was dangerous to be among the followers of Jesus Christ.

You know, there were certain risks involved. And if we go to Acts 2, Acts 2, it says, And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they, the ones Christ had been working with, called of God, they were all with one accord in one place, a unity situation with one accord in one place. God let them all get gathered together. And then He did the unexpected, that I don't think any of them were expecting.

And suddenly there came the sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind, kind of like a tornado or whatever. But the sound was loud, the sound from heaven as a mighty rushing wind. And it wasn't just they that heard it. It was heard all around that area. And it filled all the house where they were sitting. And, of course, for those inside seeing this also, there appeared to them, cloven, or evenly divided tongues, which looked like, you know, tongues of flame, like as a fire.

And it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance, etc. But the way God did it was, oh, okay, I'm going to get attention. I'm going to draw attention to you. Because He was going to be founding the New Testament Church.

So it was done in a way with the rushing mighty wind to get attention. And it did get attention. It got the multitude's attention. Because if you read verses 5, 6, and 7, and there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, dedicated men, out of every nation under heaven. Now, when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and they were confounded because the word spread very quickly.

And a big multitude came, and they were confounded because that every man heard them speak in his own language, and they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, look, are not all these which speak? Galileans? Here was the situation. Jerusalem always swelled in population from Passover to Pentecost.

Always. Sometimes it would like to be bursting at the seams. Because many Jews and many proselytes came from many lands to keep the feast. Remember, Israel, the ten tribes, were taken into captivity, and they were moved quite a distance away. Judah was taken into captivity by Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. The time came under Cyrus that Judah was allowed to return. But the majority of Jews did not come back to the land. Enough came back to repopulate the land, and it was Judah there with the tribe of Benjamin, of course Levi mixed in, but sprinkled all through.

The Babylonian Empire, which became the Persian Empire, sprinkled all through the Mediterranean world, were Jews scattered all over. And devout Jews, synagogues, but then when it came to the Holy Days, they came in for passage. The ones who could afford it, and it was quite a few. They would make the pilgrimage to come in for Passover and be there for unleavened bread. And those who could afford it, which again was many of them, they were planned many times. And of course, they also had a certain amount of support there locally in Jerusalem. But they would stay through to Pentecost. And when Pentecost was over, then they would head back to their homes.

Now, you think about it in the context. These Jews, these proselytes, the local Jews, and also the Jews and the proselytes that had come in from the many lands to keep the feast, a lot had happened in Jerusalem in recent weeks. The one who was claimed to be the Messiah by some, some claimed he was the Messiah. The one who was claimed to be the Messiah by some had been killed. And his followers claimed that he had arisen, that they had seen him.

That's what they said, they claimed, and that he had been around 40 days and 40 nights. But one thing's for sure, the body came up missing. There was nobody in the tomb. The body had come up missing. And the authorities, the religious leaders, the ones who ought to know what they were talking about, who had not recognized him as the Messiah, they claimed that the body had been stolen, that his disciples, in order to fake his resurrection, had just simply robbed the tomb, took his body and buried it someplace else, and then went around claiming that, well, he was, he's risen.

Anyway, you know, all the rumors, all the stuff going around, all that was said. Anyway, it's over. You know, it was over. And soon after Pentecost, well, the multitude would be dispersing and going home. And now, their attention had been gotten. And here were, these are the people, that guy there. Isn't that Peter? Isn't that James? Isn't his brother John? And look at these other folks. These are the people that were following him. And these people that were followers of his were amazing them. They couldn't believe what they were seeing and hearing. Verse 8, How here we, every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born.

So we're dealing with Jews and proselytes, who were born in many different nations, in those Jewish pockets. And who many times had picked up the language of whoever they existed. You know, generations had gone by. Parthians, Medes, Elamites, dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, and Pontus, and Asia. Phrygia. You go down through this list. Notice how far? Phrygia, Pamphylia, verse 10, Egypt, parts of Libya about Cyrene, strangers of Rome. Even Rome represented. Jews and proselytes, cretes and Arabians. We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

Here was a power being displayed in a way that they had never witnessed before. And it was the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in men, dwelling in them, and God doing it with a miraculous showing of power that was undeniable, and it was a first. Keep your finger here. I'm coming back. But I want to flip over to John 7 and begin in verse 37, and then I'm going back to Acts 2. In John 7, in verse 37, in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink.

He that believes on me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Verse 39, But this he spoke of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. But Christ did become glorified. He went to the Father, he came back for forty days and spent with him, and then he went back to heaven, and he told him on the day that he ascended back to heaven, he told him in Acts 1, in verse 8.

Acts 1, in verse 8, just before we might say, lift off, to send back to heaven after those forty days, he said, But you, verse 8, chapter 1, But you shall receive power. And that's the first word he put on it, power, or the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon you. You shall receive power. After that, the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me, both in Jerusalem and all Judea, in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Receive power. If you go back to chapter 2, and you look at verse 16, and what Peter says here in verse 16, Acts 2, verse 16. In terms of what is happening, Peter says, But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. Now, I want to read this prophecy from Joel and point out something. He says, But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.

And it shall come to pass in the last day, says God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my handmaidens, I will pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy. Let's keep reading. And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke.

Let's keep reading verse 20. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, verse 21, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

What Peter does is he plugs into a prophecy given in Joel that ranges all the way through the end of this age and ranges all the way to the last great day. It ranges through the seals, the trumpets, the revelation. But the reason he plugs into this prophecy is because this is the beginning of it. This is the beginning of his spirit. He's telling them this is the beginning of this prophecy being fulfilled. It's not all filled by what Pentecost pictures. Otherwise, you wouldn't need the other holy days that picture, you know, the plan of salvation as well. But he's letting them know this is what is initiated. God's spirit is beginning to be poured out. But it's not poured out on all flesh yet. It's poured out on the first fruits. Pentecost pictures God's spirit, the initiating of beginning to pour it out on those that God selects at this time. And such action and power founded the New Testament church. So in verse 41, and you think about the absolute exponential explosive growth that occurred initially. Acts 2 and verse 41, Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day they were added unto them about three thousand souls. Well, all of a sudden, three thousand added. You look at chapter 4 and verse 4. Chapter 4 and verse 4. How be it many of them which heard the word believed, and the number of the men, it's not even counting the women. And, of course, it's opened up to the women too, as we so well know. The number of the men was about five thousand. Well, what about if you had the same number of women involved, that'd be ten thousand. And in Acts 5 and verse 14, it says, And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women. It exploded on the scene. Now, maybe in terms of overall numbers, it was still a small group, but it was literally thousands and thousands and thousands of people converted, baptized, given God's Spirit converted, and then guess what? It was a matter of time, just a matter of time until those of the thousands converted at that time on Pentecost and in those early days and weeks, that those who were not from Jerusalem had to return home. They went back all over the Mediterranean world. They dispersed to the many lands that they resided in, taking the truth with them and taking God's Spirit with them. That connection, if you think about it, each carried the seed of truth and God's power with them all over to wherever they went. Do we picture in the Mediterranean world the Roman Empire, which superseded the Macedonian Greek Empire, do we picture how there were hundreds and hundreds and thousands and thousands of pockets, just sprinkled like dots all over the Empire that would be more fully worked with later? When the disciples went forth, when the apostles went forth, when Paul, as the apostle of the Gentiles, went forth and around, why did he so easily find kinship here and there? He found members. He traveled through the lands he traveled, and he would find members, and he would work with them. And then God would add more to that pocket.

I remember back in the 1950s and 1960s when God used a voice to just sprinkle so many little pockets all across this nation, and the baptizing tours to where men would leave California, and some would swing north up through the northern states and on towards the east, and some would swing south, and some would swing right through the middle. And they would visit people where it was set up ahead of time to have visits and counsel for baptism, people who had plugged into the truth that God had called. I remember the day at Tishomingo Lake in Tupelo, Mississippi, when it was a young boy with my brothers there with my mom and two of her sisters when they were baptized in 1961.

And then later, we're starting a church in Memphis, 61. We're starting a church in Birmingham, 62. We're starting a church in Atlanta, 63. And when they started the church in Memphis, of course, people from Alabama and Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, there were like 181 people that came together. And then just a short time after that, they started one in Little Rock, Arkansas, and they made that a circuit.

But to be worked with, God knows how to plant things and how to work it. He's always so far ahead of us on everything, isn't he? But the church was founded. It was established by the pouring out of God's Holy Spirit, and it was going to have to last down through the ages simply because it was going to be in the midst as it is today. It was a hostile environment. If you haven't, and I'm being rhetorical, I know, and I'm being a little facetious, but if you haven't picked up on a growing hostility in this nation with certain ones toward religion, and especially conservative religion, fundamental religion, then what did I say?

Wake up and smell the coffee? I mean, it's there, and it's growing. And that's part of what the problem is that we're dealing with in these days and times. Anyway, in a hostile environment, but it was going to have to last. And so God's wisdom saw that toe-holds of truth were established all over the Mediterranean world that would be more fully worked with later. And the New Testament church, created by the pouring out of God's Spirit, became and is the first fruits of God's kingdom. That's the initial kingdom in embryonic stage.

I want to go back to Acts 2 here. I'm a firm believer that when you look for answers, you look first and foremost to what the Scripture actually says. Because so many times, the answer is right there clearly in the Scripture. In Acts 2 and verse 7, notice what it says. This multitude from all over in verse 6 says, It says, Well, actually, southern English, I guess, is my language. Anyway, and they were all amazed. Verse 7, And Marvel sang one another, Behold, or look, are not all these which speak Galileans?

They weren't students of language. I read about somebody the other day that could speak 14 different languages. Like I said, I'm happy just to try to master English. But 14 different ones, 14 different languages that are spoken on this planet in 14 different nations or more. They said, you know, these are not educated men. How do we hear them in our own language? That was what the innuendo is. And how do we hear every man, verse 8, How has it that we hear every man in our own tongue wherein we were born?

There's no mystery here as far as the language. It's a known tongue. It's a known language. I might... This Bible I have, it's a King James, and in the preface back here, I'll just read... When they dedicated this to King James, they said, For when your Highness had once out of deep judgment, apprehended, how convenient it was, that out of the original sacred tongues...

What are the original sacred tongues? They mean the Hebrew and the Greek. That's what they're referring. Actual languages. Together with comparing of the labors both in our own and other foreign languages, etc. And again, Parthians, Medes, you look at the rundown, verses 9, 10, verse 11, We do hear them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.

It wasn't unknown languages. Think about when Peter spoke. He might have, in that multitude before him, 50 different languages represented. I don't know what the number was, but there's a bunch. When he spoke, God miraculously changed the phonetic sounds to hit on this man's ears in his language and hit on this man's ears in his language and hit upon these ears in his language.

Now, there was a tremendous miracle. We all know that. But it was known languages that were involved. And even the word used for tongues is glossa, G-L-O-S-S-A, G-L-O-S-S-A. It just simply means language, specifically one naturally unacquired. Peter didn't acquire all those languages. He didn't know them. He spoke. He could have known more than one language, but he spoke and it was translated.

I'm not going to turn over there for the sake of time, but Revelation 13, in Revelation 13, verse 7, when it talks about all kindreds, all tongues, all nations, the word that's used there for tongues, talking about end-time events, is the word glossa, the same one that's used in Acts 2. And when Paul talked about using the tongue in Romans 3.13, it's the same word glossa. And there's nothing mysterious about what did it mean, languages.

It was their languages. If I were to find myself someday in Russia, I don't speak Russian. I speak English. But if God wanted me to preach to somebody, I'd preach in English, because I don't know how to preach in Russian. But if he wanted me to preach to them, and wanted them to understand what I was saying, he would change it into Russian on their ears.

But anyway, God's church was established for carrying out and producing children for the development of the sons and daughters of God. And so when you read Isaiah 66, like we did, verses 7 through 9 there, that is referencing the birth of the first roots.

That's the referencing of the embryonic stage of the kingdom of God coming to birth, the birth of the resurrection. You know, James, James 1.18, this is the half-sibling of Jesus Christ, who became the Jerusalem pastor. James says this in James 1, verse 18, he says, "...of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-roots of his kingdom. We're not called instead of, we're called ahead of. We're simply the advanced guard." And I want to turn back to John 1, John 1 and verse 12.

John 1 and verse 12 says, "...but as many as received him..." And of course, John 6.44 tells us, "...no man can truly come to Christ except the Father drawing." But guess what? God can call. You remember the statement by Christ, many are called, few are chosen. God can call, but a person may choose not to respond. "...but as many as received him to them gave he power..." Which also, the Greek there is, not only can it mean power, but also can mean the right or the privilege to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

We know, don't we? The world is cut off. The tree of life is cut off. The account in Genesis and other scriptures as well makes it very clear. And that calling that God makes to bring to Christ is to be a part of the church for development at this time.

I want to go back to Acts 2 before we wrap this up and close it. Let's go back to Acts 2 and verse 39. It's a calling into the church to be a part of the church. And Peter makes this statement here on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2 verse 39. He says, He didn't say that because he knew the truth of it.

And it's not based on preaching or any of that. In other words, you step into a crowd. I don't care how you preach or teach. If God's not calling anybody in that crowd, there'll be no fruit. And if God is calling somebody in that crowd, they have to respond. Just like in verse 38 here, verse 37, there were those in the multitude that did respond. And Peter told them what to do.

And then he went on to say, Even as many as the Lord our God shall call. It's in his hands to call. And then if you look at verse 47, verse 47, Praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added, the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved, or that is, such as should be saved or given opportunity in this age.

All humans will eventually have that opportunity. God is going to eventually harvest all of mankind. That is another reason why I have such incentive to be there when God does bring up the rest of mankind. Because I want to be there. I've got names I could name that I want to be there for, be there with.

And I look forward to a tremendous eternal family of God. And all the glory and splendor and beauty and excitement and opportunity, forever and ever and ever.

God is going to harvest all of mankind eventually. But first, he is dealing with a few, you and me, and the others like us the first fruits. One final Scripture, Hebrews 11 and verse 35, the faith chapter. Notice how this reads, Hebrews 11 and verse 35, women received their dead raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance. Why? That they might obtain a better resurrection. Eternal life is eternal life is eternal life is eternal life. But the first resurrection, when Jesus Christ returns, is a better resurrection.

It involves the top level involvement and management in God's family, the first fruits of the entire harvest. Have any of you here ever climbed the Great Pyramid in Egypt? I thought I saw a hand about to go up.

But we all picture it. I don't know if they even let you climb it now, I'm not sure. But you know how big it is. Let the pyramid represent all of the untold billions of mankind that have lived. It may have been 50 billion, maybe 100 billion, we don't know. And how many billion and billions will there be during the millennium? And then all the billions of this age come up in the last great day. Billions and billions. They're represented by the Great Pyramid.

You know how you're represented? The first fruits? Climb that Great Pyramid and set a golf ball right on the very top of the Great Pyramid. This contains the first fruits. You have been blessed, and you should be humbling, to be such a select group. Not because of anything you've done or I've done, but because God chose to give us this opportunity. Pay the price and never sell out. Because we're being given the opportunity to be the movers and the shakers to assist with Christ and the excitement, the level of involvement. And it's through His power that He's given us a place in His church.

It's through His power that we will stay there. It's through His power that we will grow as part of the first fruits. An unbelievable blessing and opportunity. And that is what the Feast of Pentecost is about.