Correction on teaching of the falling of the Holy Spirit upon believers:
I did hear some incorrect theology concerning these that does prevail in the mainstream churches that is just a lack of study really. May I please mention it for your consideration? Pentecost happened once and will not happen again. The teaching that we can pray for the Spirit to fall on us again as He did at Pentecost is a real misunderstanding of what happened that day. Please hear me out. It is important to correct bad theology.
Jesus was crucified on Passover, the 14th of Nisan, as the Passover Lamb. Never will be done again. It is finished. Paid in full. He ascended to sit on the throne and now any afflictions that come to Christ come to our flesh as the body of Christ as we enter the battle of the Lord to reach the lost.
“I now therefore take up in my flesh, that which is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of the body that is the church…” Paul
So Jesus is not recrucified again and again either in the eucharist which is blasphemy, or as each person is saved, etc. He dies once for all the scriptures say. It will never be re done. The lost are saved by believing on the already accomplished work.
Jesus was in the grave for 3 days and nights (wasn’t crucified on Friday but on Thursday, as He said, 3 days AND 3 nights). He arose on the feast of firstfruits fulfilling that feast. He presented Himself as the firstfruits of the GREAT harvest which is to come, the resurrection of the dead at the trumpet blast.
He will never rise again on the the day of first fruits or any other day and present Himself to the Father as the slain Lamb, the firstfruits offering for the sins of the world. It doesn’t need re doing. It was done ONCE for all.
The feast of unleavened bread that went on for 7 days after the Passover Lamb was slain pictures the purifying work of the blood of Christ in our lives and the sanctification of the believers where all the leaven, sin, is taken out of the house, our spiritual house. This looks to the purifying of the heart after salvation.
Jesus could not be touched for 7 days after His resurrection because the first fruits offering cant be touched by any hands but the High Priest.
On the 8th day, Jesus appeared to the disciples and invited Thomas to touch Him. This pictures the 7 days of purifying and then the 8th day it is pure. Jesus needed no purifying but as the sin offering that He became, He is fulfilling that prophecy. In the same way He needed no baptism but fulfilled all righteousness and was a perfect pattern for us.
Again, He will never do this again. It is done. He will never walk around among us unable to be touched until the 7 days are accomplished, then allow someone to touch Him because it is complete. It is finished. He does walk among us but not in this event. No need.
50 days after the last feast is the feast of Pentecost. Jesus ascended and sent the Holy Spirit to indwell all who would believe. At this event, the church, the whole church for all time, received power from on high to walk uprightly and do God’s good pleasure. This will never happen again because it doesn’t need to happen again. The Spirit came and fell on all who were present at this, once in all time gathering, to picture the eternal and permanent giving of the Holy Spirit in an indwelling way to all who come to faith by repentance for the remission of sins, through Christ Jesus.
We see apostles going around after this event asking those who believed on Christ before but who were not present at Peters preaching that day, if they had received the Holy Spirit. They laid hands on them so that they would. This is a peculiar event that also needs no redoing. They were a small and unique group who had been there at the crucifixion, saw Jesus, believed and were baptised before Pentecost.
They received the indwelling power then by proxy, by the laying on of hands. Not needed today.
The scriptures say we receive the Spirit in full at salvation. The Spirit of God is not given by measure John 3:34, that is, not here a little, there a little. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is totally different than the indwelling. This also only happens once and can happen at any time the Spirit chooses. It can happen at salvation or at some time after depending on the unique circumstances of each believer. There are millions of scenarios. Every believer is continually filled with the Spirit by choice through thinking and acting according to His will. But this is already within him and is not through a prayer but through obedience of that particular believer. By obeying what we know we are filled. By disobeying what we know, the Spirit is quenched (1 Thess 5:19). So having no power means I have not accessed the power already there within me as a true believer. Paul speaks here of the unruly and disobedient believer as the one who will quench the Spirit unless he corrects his BEHAVIOR.
I can pray all I want for a believer but if he chooses to disobey God then he will silence the Spirit within Him. The Spirit never leaves but is silenced. I will never leave you nor forsake you.
We do not once see Pentecost happen again in the scriptures afterwords. We see the Spirit coming upon, again in a special way, a believer for a special task, in an empowering way, like Phillip, who ran faster than the horses of the eunich’s chariot. But we NEVER see the Holy Spirit falling upon a pleading group of believers who have not received His power yet. False doctrine, bad theology.
The full power of the Holy Spirit is given at salvation. The baptism of the spirit comes with obedience to His indwelling Spirit. This is an empowering of the Spirit that is already within if they have believed. We are told to baptize a believer now not just in the name of Christ alone but in the name (not nameS, notice, because they are 3 in one) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It’s complete.
The ones who were asked if they had received the Spirit who were already believers, had been baptized before the Spirit was given at Pentecost. There will never be a group like that again. Everyone who believes today and immediately after the day of Pentecost when He was given to the church receives Him at salvation.
By teaching believers that the Holy Spirit will fall upon you by prayer is false. If they are already true believers, they have all of the Holy Spirit in every way.
If they need the POWER of the Holy Spirit in their lives afterwords, then obedience is the issue. Holy Spirit baptism happens to the obedient, automatically, and as and when He chooses.
It is a popular but erroneous thing these days, in a church that lacks some sound teaching in the word and in doctrine, to ask the Holy Spirit to fall on us in the same way He did at Pentecost.
“My people perish for lack of knowledge.”
So many walk around then with no power from on high because they won’t obey God. And they think they can live like the world and just get hyped up in a church gathering with certain songs and magically God will rain power down upon them. It’s just a lie.
It misleads those who need proper teaching by those entrusted to teach. And It does not glorify God, but does glorify man and the flesh.
The fall feasts are yet to be fulfilled on the actual day, but prophecy seems to show that each event will likely happen on that day. The rapture, the tribulation and tabernacles. He fulfilled the spring feasts with His first coming and will fulfill the fall ones with His second coming.
Please consider it. Search the scriptures to see if it is so.
God bless you all in Christ Jesus,
Cheryl Arnold