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The Pentecost Package

by Jack W. Langford

The Pentecost Package contains two books and the June 2016 Prophecy Watcher magazine.

1. The Pentecostal Rapture of the Church

           by Jack Langford

Most Bible teachers have long recognized the prophetic nature of the Feasts in Israel’s liturgical calendar. The Hebrew prophets themselves spoke of future aspects regarding the Feast of Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles. The apostle Paul also spoke of the festivals as “a shadow of things to come” (Colossians 2:16, 17). Because of this, many have sought to find a celebration which would fit the Rapture of the Church.

There has, no doubt, been a lot of speculation and confusing use of Scriptures in this area of study. A few Bible teachers have suspected that the Feast of Pentecost best fits an application to the Rapture of the Church. However, because of certain unanswered questions they have hesitated to make that application. I believe that in this study you will find the right answers to those questions. Not only was the Church born at the precise time of the Offering of the Wave-loaves on Pentecost, but there are many other features about this Feast which typify the present Church dispensation.

Certain features in this investigation demonstrate that Pentecost is the only Feast day which was looked upon by Jewish teachers as a “mystery” Feast, a Feast which was identified with a time of Gentile redemption. In fact, we shall see that the apostle Paul uses terminology pointing to the Feast of Pentecost and to the Offering at Pentecost in regards to the future resurrection of the Church. We will also discover that this is the only Feast on Israel’s liturgical calendar which could typify the Rapture of the Church and at the very same time not be subject to the error of “date setting” in terms of its prophetic fulfillment.

In other words, we shall find that a Pentecostal Rapture of the Church does not violate the principle doctrine of “imminence” in connection with the expectancy of the Rapture coming of Christ. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE- What is Pentecost?

Acts 2:1 and 2

What is the Real Purpose of the Feast of Pentecost? 

The New Field of Grain

Pentecost is to the Church What Passover was to Israel

CHAPTER TWO- Prophetic Observations

Prophetic Lessons in the Liturgical Calendar of Israel

The Prophets Speak of a Future Application of the Feasts

Observations by Bible Teachers

CHAPTER THREE- Is the Church Typified in the Hebrew Scriptures? 

Objection

Positive Answers

More Examples

CHAPTER FOUR- IMPORTANT CLARIFICATIONS

How Many Feasts Are There?

The Important Arrangements of Pentecost

Relationship of Shavout to the Law

In Summary

CHAPTER FIVE- PRELUDE TO PENTECOST

Offering of the Wave Sheafs of Firstfruits

Various Names For Pentecost

“Christ the Firstfruits” 

Counting of Days

Significance of the Number 50

CHAPTER SIX- THE PARAKLETOS OF PENTECOST

Uniqueness of Pentecost

The Parakletos of Pentecost

The Administration of the Spirit

“When the Day of Pentecost was Fully Come”

The New Grain Offering

CHAPTER SEVEN- PROPHETIC ASPECT OF PENTECOST

Prophetic Character Derived From the Wave-Sheaf at Passover

The Prophetic Application of this Feast to the Church by the Apostle Paul

I Corinthians 15:20 and 23

Leviticus 23:7, Romans 8:11 and 23

Romans 15:15 and 16

Further Confirmations From Paul

CHAPTER EIGHT- FULL PURPOSE OF PENTECOST

Why Was the Church Born on Pentecost?

If the Firstfruit is Holy, the Lump is Also Holy? 

Three Areas of Example

On Pentecost AD 30, a Preliminary Fourth Example

Both Christ and the Church Rapture

CHAPTER NINE- ENOCH AND PENTECOST

Enoch and the Rapture

Enoch and Prophecy

Enoch and the Mysteries

Enoch and Pentecost

CHAPTER 10- THE APPROACHING PENTECOST

A Unique Feature of Passover

Time of the Rapture of the Church

The Passover Which Closed the Age of Law

The Antitypical Pentecost Which Closes the Age of Grace

CHAPTER ELEVEN- DISPENSATIONS AND PENTECOST

Dispensational Comparisons and Contrasts

From the Letters of Paul- The History of Each Age

Romans 11:15-27

The Exact Close of Each Dispensation

How Will the Gentile Age Close?

CHAPTER TWELVE- PERFECTION OF PENTECOST

The Counting of Days

Two Human Blunders

The Divine, Perfect Consummation of Time

The Dispensation of the Fullness of Times

Fullness or Completion

The Restoration of Israel

       2. Christ in the Feast Of Pentecost

            by David Brickner & Rich Robinson

This engrossing book will quickly capture your attention as you realize the excitement leading up to this festive occasion and the richness it will bring to your understanding of both the Old and New Testament references.  The authors treat us to the sense of anticipation that “cannot be overstated” as their insightful account of traditions leading up to this holiday unfolds…a boy’s first haircut, bonfires, sweet treats, artful paper cutting, firstfruits.  Shavout will lead believers in Jesus into greater understanding of the significance of the omer, the waiting period, which foreshadows our watching for His return and gives further meaning to our work of building His kingdom.

The Festival of Pentecost can slip past most Jews and Christians unnoticed; yet it is one of the three most important Festivals in the Old Testament and it marks a pivotal point in the history of Christianity.

Allow me to transport you back to that event, and to the day when this festival of Israel was fulfilled.  Imagine that it is the morning of Shavuot, the Day of Pentecost and you have traveled a far distance from the Isle of Crete to fulfill the Lord’s command (Deuteronomy 16:16). You awake to the loud voice of a Temple official, booming out, “Arise! Let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God!”  It is time to make your way up to Jerusalem, to offer your basket of firstfruits before the Lord in His holy Temple.

You are part of a throng of pilgrims pressing on to the Temple entrance when a powerful sound “like the blowing of a violent wind . . . ” (Acts 2:2), arrests your attention.

You stop in your tracks.

What could such a sound mean on a sunny Jerusalem day?  Curiosity draws you onward.  When you reach the source of this compelling sound there is no explanation, only more questions and confusion:

“When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.” (verse 6)

From the midst of a cacophony of languages you do not understand, you hear familiar words speaking praise to God in the language of your own hometown. You scan the crowd and find the man who is speaking your language, but he is surely not from Crete!  How can this be?  What does it all mean? Someone next to you calls out: “They have had too much wine” (verse 13). Several more yell similar accusations, but this makes no sense to you. Suddenly a swarthy young man with piercing eyes, a compelling countenance, and a confident, almost glowing appearance stands up and begins to explain:

“Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.  But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.” (verses 14–15)

And so, the Feast of Pentecost was fulfilled as God empowered His people to follow their destiny to bless all the nations of the world.  This was the historic day on which the power of God began to undo an ancient tragedy—the day God “reversed the curse” of Babel.

Many focus on the signs or special effects that accompanied this day, but those Pentecost signs pointed to past events to help us understand God’s purposes. In particular, they pointed back to Mount Sinai and the giving of the Law. Jewish tradition holds that God gave the Law on Pentecost, and Acts 2 certainly seems to reflect that belief.

Exodus 20 tells us that when Moses went to receive the Law, the entire nation of Israel was in mortal fear over the smoking mountain and the sounds of thunder and trumpets that accompanied the sight.  Descriptions beyond that scripture shed further light on that special day in first century Jerusalem.

We are told that at Mount Sinai, a sound from heaven, like that of a ram’s horn or trumpet, increased in volume so that it was inescapably loud.  I don’t know if it is fair to compare the sound of the ram’s horn to “the blowing of a violent wind.”  Clearly the sound was startling to begin with and became louder until it was practically unbearable.  Have you ever been jolted by an increasingly loud noise?  You can actually feel the sound filling your head, vibrating throughout your entire body.

Along with the sound came a visual display that would make Fourth of July fireworks seem like a child’s sparkler.  Exodus 19:18 tells us that the Lord descended in fire on the mountain, but other Jewish sources provide additional imagery. An ancient manuscript called a targum, found in a library in Egypt, states the following: “The first commandment, when it left the mouth of the Holy One . . . as meteors and lightening and as torches of fire; a fiery torch to its right and a fiery torch to its left, which burst forth and flew in the air of the heavenly expanse; it proceeded to circle around the camp of Israel.”(1)

These accounts are similar to the biblical accounts in Exodus and of King David: “The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire.  The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness” (Psalm 29:7–8 NKJV).  God’s “special effects” at Sinai grabbed the attention of the children of Israel and etched the giving of the Law into the collective memory of the Jewish people. 

The traditions concerning the giving of the Law would certainly have been known to the disciples in the upper room and to the crowds in Jerusalem that day.  When they heard the sound from heaven, it would have been natural to make the connection back to Exodus.

And then there were the divided tongues, as of fire, on each disciple. According to Acts 1:15 there were at least 120 disciples there that day.  That is a lot of flame—more like a conflagration!  Once again this hearkens back to the Mount Sinai experience.

But before the disciples could assimilate the overpowering sound of rushing wind and the dazzling sight of flaming tongues, they found themselves involuntarily speaking in languages they had never learned and did not know.  It must have seemed like a dream.  Their mouths were moving, their lips and tongues were fully engaged, but what in the world were they saying?  Perhaps in some wonderful way the Lord arranged for the hundred and twenty to know they were uttering praises, “the wonderful works of God” (Acts 2:11 NKJV). 

According to Jewish tradition, when God marked out the nations in Genesis 10, He divided them into 70 nations.  Following that, Genesis 11 tells the story of the Tower of Babel where God, in His judgment, confused the languages of those 70 nations and divided them through an inability to communicate.

Another Jewish tradition states that when God gave the Law at Mount Sinai, each of the 70 elders of Israel had flames above their head, representing the languages of the 70 nations of the world.  This illustrates God’s intention that all of the nations would see and hear; God’s self-revelation at Sinai was to be carried to all nations in accordance with His love for all people. 

Whereas God had confused the languages back at the Tower of Babel in order to separate the people, at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit used the diverse languages to unite His people from every tribe and tongue and nation.  And with this miraculous declaration of His Word on Pentecost (Acts 2), the hope that all nations could come to faith in the God of Israel had begun to be realized.

Just as Israel bore witness to the one true God in seeking to follow the Torah, we who follow Messiah today can also take part in the true fulfillment of Pentecost as we bear witness to His death, burial, and resurrection to all the nations of the earth.

It is a joy to commend David Brickner’s excellent book on the Festival of Tabernacles in the cycle of the seven holy days described in Leviticus 23.  Many will be surprised to learn how significant this Feast was in the life of our Lord and what a major part it plays in God’s work of the end times. This book will open up whole new vistas for many readers of the Bible.
-Dr. Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.
President Emeritus, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

As Christians, we cannot understand our faith unless we understand the Jewish roots from which it springs. For example, all the feasts of Israel were designed by God specifically to teach us fundamental truths about the Lord Jesus and his work and ministry on our behalf. David Brickner has done a marvelous job of explaining these great spiritual truths to us in his book,Christ in the Feast of Tabernacles. It is a must reading for every serious student of the Word of God.
-Dr. Lon Solomon, Senior Pastor, McLean Bible Church, McLean, VA.

If you find boring and meaningless that long discussion of an ancient Jewish festival, here’s a book that will change your mind while it blesses your heart.  You may not agree with all the details of Brickner’s typology, but you will appreciate, as I did, the spiritual insights he draws from this ancient Jewish festival.
-Vernon Grounds, Ph.D., Chancellor, Denver Seminary

David Brickner has served as Executive Director of Jews for Jesus since 1996. Previously he served as leader of the mobile evangelistic music and drama team, The Liberated Wailing Wall, Director of the Chicago and New York branches, and Minister-at-Large.  He is a fifth generation Jewish believer in Jesus. He and his wife, Patti, live in San Francisco and have two children.

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$29.95

2 books & 1 magazine