A Bible Study on

The Day of Pentecost

(Part 1)

The Parable of the Fruitless Fig Tree--to understand what happened on the day of Pentecost, we need to first understand this story that the Lord told, found in Luke 13:6-9.

6 Then he told this parable:
"A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?'
8 He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"

The man who owns the fig tree is God the Father. The gardener in the story is the Lord Jesus Himself. The fruitless fig tree is the nation of Israel.

The three fruitless years are the three years that the Lord Jesus ministered in his earthly ministry to Israel as recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

The one more year, the fourth year, begins with the day of Pentecost.

So the story can be interpreted this way:

God the Father had a nation (Israel) and for three years during the Messiah's earthly ministry, He was looking for fruit from that nation, but there was none. So the Father said, "Cut down this tree, cast away this fruitless nation."

But the gardener made intercession for the fruitless fig tree. The Lord Jesus prayed for Israel, after his three fruitless years of ministering to them, and even as they were crucifying Him on the cross, He prayed, "Father forgive them they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34).

The gardener's plan--the Messiah's plan for Israel:

Leave them alone one more year--this is the time covered in the Book of Acts chapters 1 thru 7. And the Messiah would "dig around and put manure on the tree." He would pour out the Holy Spirit upon the nation of Israel and give them a second chance to receive Him as their Messiah. (See acts 3:21- If Israel would have repented--changed their minds--the Father would have sent the Messiah back to them to establish His millenial kingdom as promised all thru the Old Testament.

Was Pentecost the start of something new...the church? No! It was God giving Israel a second chance in answer to His Son's prayer for their forgiveness.

How did Israel respond to this 2nd chance? The early chapters of Acts show their response: persecution and finally murder as the leaders of Israel stoned Stephen to death.

(Part 2)

Putting It All Together:
If Pentecost was not the "birthday of the church," but the beginning of the second chance for Israel, then let's see how it all fits together:

THE FATHER sent John the Baptist to Israel to prepare the way of the Messiah. He was murdered--beheaded.

THE SON Himself came as the Messiah to the nation of Israel, and after three years he was murdered--crucified.

But the Son had said, you can blaspheme Me and be forgiven, but don't blaspheme the Holy Spirit, that will be an unforgivable sin (Matt. 12:31-32).
And He told the parable of the fruitless fig tree, that after three fruitless years, He would make intercession for Israel, and the nation would be given one more year, a second chance, to bear fruit after the Messiah poured out the Holy Spirit upon them.
And the Messiah, the Son, prayed for His nation, "Father forgive them, they don't know what they're doing." (Luke 23:34)

Then came Pentecost, the beginning of the second chance for Israel, the "fourth year" for the fruitless nation and THE HOLY SPIRIT was poured out. Israel had better not "blaspheme the Spirit" because there would be no forgiveness for that. (The Father had sent John, the Son had come, now the third Person of the Trinity came, the Holy Spirit. If they rejected Him, there was no one in the Godhead left to come to speak to Israel...the nation would strike out.)

That last year began with the day of Pentecost and ended with another murder--the leaders of Israel stoned Stephen to death. They blasphemed the Spirit, they would not accept God's offer of forgiveness, so God cast away the nation of Israel. (Acts 7)

That's when the Lord Jesus revealed His "secret plan," the Mystery, and saved a new apostle, the Apostle Paul (Acts 9), and sent him to all men everywhere with a newly revealed message, the gospel of the grace of God and the dispensation of the grace of God.

"Back to Pentecost"?

That's trying to get back to a failed program for the nation of Israel. We need to get back to the message that the Lord Jesus revealed to Paul. That's God's Grace For Today.

(Part 3)

A Bible Study on Acts 2: "The Day of Pentecost..."
Many Christians see Pentecost as the "Birthday of the Church," the beginning of the church, the beginning of the dispensation of grace. We hear that we need to "get back to Pentecost" or that we need that "Pentecostal power."

All this is a complete misunderstanding of what God was doing on Pentecost.

Let's read Acts 2, the Biblical account of the day of Pentecost, and ask some questions:

1.) Who was God speaking to on the day of Pentecost?

v. 5 "devout Jews". v. 10 "Jews & proselytes", v. 14 "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem", v. 22 "Israelites", v. 29 "fellow Israelites", v. 36 "The entire house of Israel", v. 39 "for you and your children, and all who are far away."

Six times God makes it clear that He was speaking to Israel, the Jews, on the day of Pentecost, both the Jews who were living in Judea and all the Jews who were "far away," living among the Gentiles. If you or I walked by, if we are Gentiles, Peter would say, "This is not for you, this is God's message for Israel!"

2.) Some of the crowd on Pentecost were confused, others thought the apostles were drunk, so how did Peter explain what was happening? (see v. 6-21)

Peter tells them that what was happening was prophesied by the prophet Joel more than 1000 years before (v.16). Pentecost was part of God's prophesied plan for the nation of Israel.

Which means that Pentecost was not part of God's "Mystery."

Paul writes that the church which is His body is a "great mystery" (Eph 5:32), part of God's mystery program "which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God" (Eph 3:9). This church, "the Body of Christ" did not begin on the day of Pentecost, it was still hidden in God, something not to be revealed until Paul was saved in Acts 9.

One plan (God's plans for Israel, including the day of Pentecost) was made known in the Old Testament prophecies--Joel, etc. The other plan (the "Mystery"--God's program of grace today) was kept hidden in God until it was revealed to the apostle Paul by the Lord Jesus Himself.

3.) After Peter answered their question about what was happening, he got into his message--God's message to Israel in v. 22-36. What was the message of Pentecost?

Peter's point in the message is that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel. Peter uses four facts to prove that Jesus was the Messiah:: - His miracles prove that He was sent by God. (v. 22); - His death was according to God's plan (v. 23); - His resurrection was prophesied in the Old testament and proves that He is the Messiah (v. 24-32); - His ascension into heaven and his pouring out of the Holy Spirit was prophesied and proves that He is the Messiah (v. 33-35)

So Peter reaches his conclusion in v. 36: "Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made Him both Lord and Messiah..."

4.) Now here's the "bad news": Peter blames the people of Israel for crucifying their messiah. "This man...you crucified and killed..." (v. 23). "This Jesus whom you crucified" (v. 36). Is this God's message for us today?

We preach the cross as "good news" today in the dispensation of grace, the good news of the grace of God that Jesus died for our sins. But this is part of the mystery--"the Mystery of the gospel" Eph 6:19-- that was still hidden and secret on the day of Pentecost.

Peter did not know the "good news of the cross," it was still hidden in God. He only knew the "bad news" that Israel was guilty of murdering their Messiah.

5.) At least some of the Jewish people in the crowd that day "got the message" and were "cut to the heart" (v. 37). They did not say `Wonderful! My Savior loved me and died for me!' They said `Terrible, we're guilty of crucifying God's Messiah!'

Then they asked, `What should we do?' What would you say to someone today who wanted to be saved?

Paul said: "Believe on the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved" (Acts 16:31). But what did Peter say? "Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins." (v. 38).

This is obviously not the message for us today, living in the dispensation of grace. We're saved by faith apart from works or water baptism or any ritual (Romans 4:4, Eph. 2:8-9). But Peter was preaching God's message to Israel, and it included water baptism as a requirement for salvation.

6.) What did they do after they were water baptized? (v. 42-47)

One thing they all did was to sell all their possessions and give the money to all who had any need. This is what the Lord had commanded the disciples to do (Luke 14:33), and they in turn taught the new disciples "all that the Lord had commanded them" (Mt 28:19-20).

Those who say we should "get back to Pentecost" aren't really obeying the Pentecostal message themselves unless they have sold everything (Acts 4:32-37). Of course, Pentecost was part of God's plan for Israel. We read the Lord Jesus' plan for us today living under grace in the letters written by the Apostle Paul. The Lord did not command us to sell all today, no such command in Paul's letters, but to work with our hands, pay our bills, take care of our families and be generous with those who have needs (Rom 13:8, Eph 4:28, 2 Thes. 3:6-15, etc.)

7.) How did the nation of Israel respond to God's offer of forgiveness? Did the nation repent?

Read Acts chapters 3 through 7. It ends with a murder, the stoning of Stephen. Israel refused God's offer of forgiveness. That's when the Lord Jesus appointed a new apostle Paul and began to reveal the dispensation of grace to him for us today.

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