THE CHURCH CONSISTS OF BELIEVING JEWS AND GENTILES

THE CHURCH FOUNDED UPON FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST

Fifty days after Christ's Resurrection, and ten days after His Ascension, His Church was born.  The Feast of Pentecost, the day on which the Holy Spirit first indwelt Christ's disciples, is described in Acts 2:1-47.  And, just as the Spring Feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits), and the Fall Feasts (Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles) picture Christ's First and Second Advents, Pentecost was a picture of a unique event:  the uniting of Jewish and Gentile believers into one body, the Church.  Look with me at Leviticus 23:15-22.  In verse seventeen, we read:  "Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals:  they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD."

Much like the Spring Feasts, the spiritual meaning of Pentecost was revealed after the event they represented took place.  No one knew that Jesus would be the true Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7).  Yes, John (the Baptizer) called Jesus the Lamb of God (Jn. 1:29, 36), but no one understood the meaning of John's prophetic word, until after Jesus was Resurrected.  The fact that Jesus was sinless (2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15) is pictured in the Feast of Unleavened Bread (leaven being a picture of sin), and His Resurrection fulfilled the Feast of Firstfruits (1 Cor. 15:20, 23)!  Pentecost's two leavened loaves are a picture of believing Jews and Gentiles united to make up the Church (the loaves were leavened because members of the Church still sin; we will not be like Christ until we are in His presence - 1 Jn. 3:2)!

Even though Jesus told His disciples that Gentiles would come to faith in Him (Mt. 4:15-16; 12:18, 21; Lk. 2:30-32), it was not until Peter's vision and the conversion of Cornelius, a centurion, in Acts Chapter Ten, that Peter understood.  The Apostles, hesitant to accept Gentile believers as equals, finally did so in the "Council of Jerusalem" in Acts Chapter Fifteen:

Acts 15:1-19 - "And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.  When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the Apostles and Elders about this question.  And being brought on their way by the Church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles:  and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.  And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the Church, and of the Apostles and Elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.  But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the Law of Moses.  And the Apostles and Elders came together for to consider of this matter.  And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the Word of the Gospel, and believe.  And God, (Who knows their) hearts, bore them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.  Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?  But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.  Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.  And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:  Simeon has declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name.  And to this agree the words of the Prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:  that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom My name is called, said the Lord, Who does all these things.  Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world.  Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, who from among the Gentiles are turned to God...."

THANKS BE TO GOD FOR MAKING SALVATION A FREE GIFT TO ALL

WHO BELIEVE AND ARE WILLING TO CONFESS JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!