Typology & Pentecost

8/2/2019 Typology & Pentecost

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Typology & Pentecost

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f the seven festival Sabbaths of God,Pentecost is the only one most Christianscelebrate. If asked, these Christians will

say that Jesus disciples received the Holy Spiriton that day of Pentecost following Christscrucifixion. And indeed, the glorified Jesus toldHis disciples to remain in Jerusalem to await thepromise of the Father. This [promise, Jesus said]is what you have heard from me; for Johnbaptized with water, but you will be baptized

with the Holy Spirit not many days from now(Acts 1:45). John baptized with water forrepentance, and John said of Jesus, He willbaptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matt

3:11). Additionally, John said, I myself did notknow [Jesus], but the one who sent me tobaptize with water said to me, He on whom yousee the Spirit descend and remain is the one whobaptizes with the Holy Spirit (John 1:33). Thus,before Jesus ministry began, a plan existed for aphysical baptism by water to parallel a spiritualbaptism by fire. When Israel left Egyptian slavery,the nation was baptized with water (1 Cor 10:2)as a one time occurrencerepeated on a smallerscale when the uncircumcised children of the

Israelites who left Egypt crossed the Jordan intothe promised land. Circumcised Israelites werebaptized by fire on that day of Pentecost, withthis baptism repeated on a smaller scale whenthe uncircumcised Gentiles of Cornelius'household heard Peter preach the gospel. Theseuncircumcised Gentiles were then baptized by

water. They were now spiritual Israelites, citizensin that holy nation called Gods own people (1Pet 2:9). And with Peters vision and Corneliusbaptism, the order of baptism changed for all

time so tight is the parallelism. First circumcisedIsrael, then uncircumcised Israel was baptized by

water. First circumcised spiritual Israelites, thenuncircumcised spiritual Israelites were baptizedby fire. The creation on this earth was firstbaptized by water, which is a baptism into death.The creation will be, in the future, baptized withfire, which will change what is corruptible (orphysical) into what is incorruptible (or spirit).

The Flood destroyed the wickedness of the firstage when God repented of having madehumanity (Gen 6:57) and literally baptized the

world for its sin by bringing about the death ofall by eight. Fire will destroy the corruption orphysicalness of the present age prior to when thenew heaven and the new earth appear (Rev 21:1,5), but the heirs of God will be glorified beforethe world is immerse in fire. These heirs willhave received eternal life either when Christreturned, or in the great White Throne Judgment.Baptism by fire is to change what is subject todeath and decay into what will never die ordecay. Therefore, when Cornelius was baptized

by fire, he received eternal life (conditioned onhim enduring in faith until the end, or until hisend). He then by water put to death the old man,or his former carnal self. Thus, the juxtapositionof baptism by water and by fire, of the creationof a man of flesh and of a man of spirit (1 Cor15:4349), of being born of water and of spirit(John 3:6) establishes parallelisms between the

visible physical creation and the invisiblespiritual realm that allow disciples to see intothe invisible realm where mortals cannot go to

make measurements. Actually, the parallelismsform a single mental construct that the ApostlePaul identifies as being spiritually minded (Rom8:58). This construction results in the mindsetsof those who have it no longer being hostile toGod, or to His law. So those individuals who arespiritually minded have been mentally bornagain, or born a second time. Their physicalbodies are still subject to death and to beingenslaved by sin, but their minds have receivedlife. They will receive glorified bodies when

resurrected, but because of their baptism by fire,they already have eternal life.

One of the most difficult concepts a personcan imagine is that of a mental landscape. Just asa geographical area has contour, with associatedseasons and weather, a creating physical terrainthat determines what plants (and animals) cangrow and prosper in the area, minds have mentallandscapes. Minds become figurative gardens.


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But minds do not grow tomatoes and potatoes.Rather, thoughts sprout, grow and develop onthese mental landscapesand being spirituallyminded means changing landlords. The ApostlePaul wrote that the god of this world has blinded

the minds of unbelievers(2 Cor 4:4). Who is thegod of this world that controls minds? Jesus saidthat the Paraclete (i.e., that which stands besideto speak for) would prove the world wrongabout judgment, because the ruler of thisworld has been condemned (John 16:11authors emphasis). Not only had the ruler of this

world been condemned, he was coming to takeJesus (14:30), who had shortly before given JudasIscariot the morsel of bread. After [Judas]received the piece of bread, Satan entered into

him (13:27). So Satan, possessing Judas, wascoming with a detachment of soldiers together

with police from the chief priests and thePharisees (18:3) to take Jesus. Satan is the rulerof this world. Satan has deceived the whole

world (Rev 12:9), and he has deceived the worldby blinding minds. Elsewhere, the Apostle Paul

wrote, [Y]ou once lived, following the course ofthis world, following the ruler of the power ofthe air, the spirit that is now at work amongthose who are disobedient (Eph 2:2). So Satan

blinds minds by exercising rule over the powerof thought. Literally, Satan controls the mentallandscapes of the world. He controls the terrainin which thoughts sprout. He doesnt have toimplant thoughts in a persons mind. A certaintemptation doesnt usually come directly fromSatan, but grows from a seed that will sprout inhis garden soil. In academic jargon, he controlsthe social constructs of the world, regardless oflinguistic reality.

Therefore, when the Apostle Paul writes,

For the wrath of God is revealedfrom heaven against allungodilness and wickedness ofthose who by their wickednesssuppress the truth. For what canbe known about God is plain tothem, because God has shown itto them. Ever since the creation ofthe world his eternal power and

divine nature, invisible thoughthey are, have been understoodand seen through the things hehas made. (Rom 1:1820 authorsemphasis)

we should, if spiritually minded, expect ourchanged social constructs to allow us to see whathas been invisible through what is visible. Thisincludes that wrath of God that is being or willbe exercised against those who suppress thetruth.

If those aspects of God that are invisible tohuman eyes can be seen by what has beencreated, then the visible or physical creationexists as a type of the spiritual realm so thathumanity can make mental observations in a

dimension humanity cannot enter. Theseobservations are, again, made in the form ofthought. Thus, if God has shown what can beknown about Him to unbelievers and even tothose individuals who suppress knowledgethrough the rejection of revelation, whose mindshave been blinded by the god of this world,

whose mental landscapes are enemy-occupiedterritory, then born again or born from abovedisciples should experience little difficultygrasping the typology at work on that Pentecost

day following Jesus crucifixion.Before further examining the disciples

baptism by fire, let us examined what happenedon the very first day of Pentecost, when theliving words of the law were spoken from atopMount Sinai. The physical nation of Israel wasoffered an unprecedented opportunity. YHWHtold Moses to tell the people, [I]f you obey my

voice and keep my covenant, you shall be mytreasured possession out of all peoples. Indeed,the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me

a priestly kingdom and a holy nation (Exod19:56). The offer was extended on twoconditions: (1) obeyYHWHsvoice, and (2) keepHis covenant.

Of course, the elders of Israel on behalf ofthe nation accepted the terms. (YHWHs offer

was not made with individuals, but with thenation, a point of importance when examiningthe promises of material blessings conditioned on


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national obedience.) As if one individual, theelders said, Everything [YHWH] has spoken we

will do (Exod 19:8). Moses conveyed thenations acceptance of the terms, and YHWHsaidto Moses, I am going to come to you in a dense

cloud, in order that the people may hear when Ispeak with you and so trust you ever after (v.9). So, even though the nation would hearYHWHswords and were to obey those words,YHWHwould be speaking to Moses to give toMoses permanent credibility with the nation ofphysical Israel. YHWHswords were not directedat individual Israelites, or even at the nation as a

whole. Yes, each person would hear the spokenwords ofYHWH, but each person would hear asone overhearing another persons conversation.

The nation had to physically purify itself bywashing clothes and abstaining from sexualintercourse for three days. The nation could notclimb up the mountain but had to stand at itsbase. Moses and Aaron only went up on themountain, when, finally, God spoke all these

words: I am [YHWH] your [Elohim] (Exod20:12). God continued on through theremainder of the Ten Commandments. So forphysical Israel, obeying Gods voice was keepingthe Decalogue. Only the Ten Commandments

were uttered loud enough for the nation to hearthem spoken. God did not audibly utter theterms of the covenant loud enough that thenation could hear Him speak them. And sincekeeping the terms of the covenant was arequirement apart from obeying Gods voice, theDecalogue was not technically a part of thecovenantthe terms of this first covenant beginin Exodus 20:22 and continue through the end ofchapter 23. The sacrifices were added as busy

work because of the gold calf that sort of cast

itself (this is what Aaron told Moses). Therefore,anyone who argues that the Decalogue wasabolished when the law that separated thecircumcised from the uncircumcised wasabolished (Eph 2:15) has set for him or herself adifficult task; for the second covenant (Deuchptrs 2931), made with physicallyuncircumcised Israelites (Jos 5:27) whose heartsand minds were to be circumcised (Deu 30:6),

includes obeying by faith the laws,commandments, statutes and decrees of God(Deu 30:10, 16). These uncircumcised Israelitechildren, then adults, are the shadow of thephysically uncircumcised nation of spiritual

Israel. And the second covenant of Moses madewith them is Pauls law of faith (Rom 3:27),which becomes his righteousness that comesfrom faith (Rom 10:6) that he identifies byquoting portions of it (vv. 78 compare toDeu 30:1114). The terms of this secondcovenant become the terms of the new covenantmade with spiritual Israel when the mediatorchanges from Moses to Christ, and when betterpromises are added for obedience by faith. Sothe law that was abolished is exactly what Paul

says it is, the law or covenant by whichcircumcised Israel was made a holy nation. Theinitial acceptance and ratification of that at law isrecorded by Moses (Exod 24:38), as are furtheradditions recorded elsewhere. But obeying the

voice of YHWH was never a part of thatcovenant. YHWHspoke only to Moses, whom Heknew by name (Exod 34:17). Today, because theFather has personally drawn every spiritualIsraelite (John 6:44, 65), God knows eachIsraelite by name; so disciples are to the Father

as Moses was to YHWH.From atop Mount Sinai, YHWH uttered

audible words, which entered the Israelites assound waves vibrating eardrums. The spokenCommandments of God physically entered eachphysical Israelite. The spoken words ofYHWHcaused pressure waves to form in theatmosphere. The Breath of YHWH becamemoving air, which carried down the side ofMount Sinai, and when combined with thethunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet

and the mountain smoking, so greatly frightenedthe nation that the people asked that God notspeak to them again.

The concept of the Breath ofYHWHenteringphysical Israelites as sound waves when theCommandments were given to the nation ofIsrael needs to remain foregrounded as therecord of what occurred when disciples arebaptized with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost is


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examined. That record is found in the secondchapter of Acts: sounding like a violent wind, theHoly Spirit filled the entire house where thedisciples were gathered together (vv. 24). ThisPneumatos Agiou appeared as distributed

tongues of fire that submersed each disciple as ifit sat on the disciple, thereby filling or imbuingor empowering [plesthesan] disciples, giving themthe power to speak words that were heard inother languages.

When YHWH spoke to Moses from atopMount Sinai, the pressure waves from His voiceliterally immersed each Israelite in sound. Again,all of physical Israel was baptized by water whenthey crossed the Red Sea. They were thenbaptized in the sound ofYHWHs words. This

baptism was the physical shadow or type ofspiritual Israels baptism in the HolySpirit/Pneuma. This baptism has them physicallyhearing the Commandments of YHWH. Thespiritual parallel will have the baptism by fire

writing the laws of God on the hearts and mindsof spiritual Israelitesas a condition of the newcovenant, disciples have the law[s] of God

written on their hearts and minds (Jer 31:33; Heb8:10 & 10:16). Because of the change of orderthat comes with Peters vision and Cornelius

conversion, baptism with fire now precedesbaptism with water; disciples receive the promiseof eternal life before they crucify their flesh,before they are buried with Christ. That promiseof eternal life is, again, conditional: disciplesmust endure [in faith and in covenant] to theend. But that promise precedes death, just as theglorification of heirs will occur prior to when theearth is baptized by fire. And just as the physicalnation of Israel was audibly baptized in soundthat caused the Commandments of YHWH to

enter Israelites as a one time occurrence, witheach succeeding generation expected to keepthose Commandments, the spiritual nation ofIsrael was baptized in fire that caused the laws ofGod to be written on the hearts and minds ofthree thousand additional disciples. Eachsucceeding generation of drawn and calledspiritual Israelites also has the laws of God

written on their hearts and minds. This writing

(or baptism by fire) occurs prior to waterbaptism, and is the actual reason why thesedrawn disciples recognize that their mentallandlord has been changed, why they leave the

world. And if baptism by fire and the promise of

eternal life are linked to physical Israel hearingthe spoken Commandments of YHWH, thendisciples best not attempt to erase the laws ofGod that have been written on their hearts andminds. As mentioned, the person who wouldargue that born again disciples do not have tokeep the laws of God has a difficult case, andone the person should repent of trying to make.The persons mental landscape is still enemy-occupied territory, and until the Father claimsthat terrain, the person will continue to be

carnally minded, even if that person thinks he orshe is spiritually minded (Rom 8:7).

Again, most Christians, if asked, will say thatthe disciples received the Holy Spirit when they

were baptized by fire on that day of Pentecost.There probably isnt a seminary in the nation thatteaches any other understanding of whatoccurred on that high Sabbath of Pentecost thanthat when the disciples were filled with the HolySpirit, they received the Spirit for the first time.

Yet, if the denomination practices full immersion

baptism, the question must be asked,How muchwater does a baptized disciple ingest during theceremony?The answer will usually be none. So

why has the assumption been taught forcenturies that Jesus disciples received the HolySpirit on Pentecost when Scripture directly andclearly states when disciples actually received theHolyPneuma?

The Apostle John writes in his gospel:When it was evening of that day,the first day of the week [the day

of Jesus Ascension], and the doorsof the house where the discipleshad met were locked for fear ofthe Jews, Jesus came and stoodamong themhe breathes onthem and said to them, Receivethe Holy Spirit. (John 20:19, 22)

Is that a definite enough statement to establishwhen Jesus disciples received the Breath of God?


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The Greek is (in Roman characters), LabetePneuma Agion. Disciples were to grab a hold of,or to take a hold of the Holy Spirit as if they

were inhaling the exhaled Breath of Christ. AndScripture doubly emphasizes the act of Jesus

giving His disciples the Holy Spirit: Jesusbreathes on His disciples, thereby giving themHis Holy Breath/Pneuma. Then Jesus clarifiesexactly what He has done by commanding themto receive the Holy Breath/Pneuma. Jesusdoesnt personify His Holy Breath by assigning itpersonhood. Rather He exhales it as a disciplemight have exhaled his breath. Jesus Breathleaves Him as moving air would leave thedisciple who exhaled. It leaves the glorifiedChrists mouth as the spiritual equivalent of a

physical humans breath.It is usually taught that filled [plesthesan]

means that the disciples were now filled as ifbloated with the Holy Spirit. If this were the case,then Pentecost isnt the first time such bloatingoccurs: Elizabeth was similarly filled orempowered by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41), as

was her husband, Zechariah (v. 67) and theirson, John the Baptist (v. 15). So being filled orempowered by the Holy Spirit doesnt requirebaptism by fire. And any sort of baptism causes

a person to be immerse or submerse, butconveys no sense of ingestion or receiving.

Pneuma Agion is the Greek icon phrasetranslated as the Holy Spirit, or more precisely,Spirit Holy.Pneuma is the Greek icon translatedas spirit, or life. It is, though, a Greek loan wordthat forms the root of the English wordpneumatic. Mechanics use pneumatic tools.

Jackhammers are pneumatic hammers. InEnglish, as in Greek, pneumatic conveys thesense of moving air used to do work. In Greek,

pneuma conveys the sense of moving air. Whenmoving air pertains to a living being, the usuallinguistic icon assigned by English speakers isbreath. So maintaining the same linguisticobject/signified to icon/signifier relationship fromlanguage to language, the Greek icon or signifierpneuma should become the English iconbreath, or in a figurative sense, breath of life.

And some of the time, translators will properly

assign the English icon breath to the Greek iconpneuma as New Revised Standard translators didin Revelation 13:15.

If the glorified Jesus breathed on John, thisson of thunder received Christs Breath. If Peter

had breathed on John, John would have receivedPeters breath. The difference is that as a glorifiedbeing, Christ no longer has to breathe air. HisBreath, then, becomes a figurative expression forthe power by which the spiritual creation issustained. This power flows with a soundsomewhat like wind (John 3:8), or like a violent

wind (Acts 2:2).Translators have sacrificed grammatical

accuracy in their assignment of a personalpronoun to the linguistic icon phrase Pneuma

Agion. They have doubly sacrificed accuracywhen they assigned the male pronoun to thegender neuter phrase, feminine in Hebrew. Theyhave allowed their theology to taint their othergood work; for not one of them would assignpersonhood to his or her breath, which all ofthem in translating English to Greek wouldidentify as the personspneuma.

Someone will ask, Well, who am I praying towhen I pray to the Holy Ghost? The person praysto the Breath of God, which can only be

considered a form of mocking God. Certainly thepersons intent isnt to mock either Christ or theFather. The person sincerely desires to worshipGod; yet, the person inadvertently takes Godsname in vain. And the persons teachers will beheld accountable for what has been taught.

It is too easy to say that the person whoprays to the Holy Ghost worships demons. Whilethat statement might be technically true, Christ

will be this persons judgeand intent will enterinto the persons judgment. But the teacher of

spiritual Israel who makes love to the Breath ofGod fools around with familiar spirits. Thisperson may have more explaining to do than theperson is capable. For after a third of humanityhas been killed near the end of the first half ofthe Tribulation, humanity did not repent of the

works of their hands or give up worshipingdemons and idols (Rev 9:20). Humanity didntsuddenly start worshiping demons; it has been all


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along.The disciples who were baptized and

empowered by the Breath of God began tospeak in other languages, as the Spirit gave themability (Acts 2:4). But at the sound of the

disciples speaking, the crowd gathered and wasbewildered, because each one heard themspeaking in the native language of each (v. 6).The miracle was in the hearing, not in thespeaking. The pressure waves generated wheneach disciple spoke entered the ears of thedevout Jews from every nation under heaven(v. 5), caused eardrums to vibrate, and electricalimpulses to fire in the brains of these devout

Jews. The words generated by these identicalpressure waves, though, differed depending

upon what the hearers first language was. Nowonder all were amazed and perplexed (v. 12).

The devout Jews who heard the disciplesspeak were immersed in sound waves; they wereliterally baptized in sound as were the Israelitesgathered around the base of Mount Sinai. Thedifference between physical and spiritualbecomes apparent: the nation of Israel was ofone language, and heard the uttered Decaloguein the language of their birth. For all, that wasthe same language. But spiritual Israel consists of

many nations, many peoples. In fact, spiritualIsrael consists of all peoples drawn by the Father.This difference was discernable when disciples

were baptized by fire. Whether the disciplesunderstood this difference become debatableprior to Peters vision. Certainly the type reveals

what Peters vision reveals, so Peters vision isactually a second witness, which should besufficient to establish a matter.

Now, what about the laying on of hands toreceive the Holy Spirit? On that day of Pentecost,

Peter told the three thousand, Repent, andbaptized every one of you in the name of JesusChrist so that your sins may be forgiven; and you

will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts2:38). Peter makes no mention of laying-on ofhands. Yet, when people in Samaria repentedand were baptized by Philip, the apostles at

Jerusalem sent Peter and John to them. The twowent down and prayed for them that they might

receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit hadnot come upon any of them; they had only beenbaptized in the name of Jesus Christ). Then Peterand John laid hands on them, and they receivedthe Holy Spirit (Acts 8:1517). And timing is

here crucial: Samaritans were uncircumcisedGentiles, none of whom had yet been baptizedby fire. This incident precedes Corneliusconversion. And while these Samaritans couldcertainly receive the Holy Spirit when hands

were laid on them, circumcised Israelites did notneed, following circumcised Israels baptism byfire, hands to be laid on them. They neededmerely to repent, and to be baptized in the nameof Jesus Christ. They were already part of thenation of Israel.

The significance of Cornelius conversion,then, is that uncircumcised Gentile have beenmade into physically uncircumcised Israelites,making physical circumcision of no value, Paul'sargument. Every drawn Gentile becomes thespiritual reality of the uncircumcised children ofthe Israelites who left Egypt. They are to havecircumcised hearts and minds. The betterpromises of Christ change the parallelism: theuncircumcised children of physical Israel wouldhave their hearts and minds circumcised after

they were obedient to God. Drawn disciples nowdescend from either physical Israelites orphysical Gentiles who have been baptized byfire. Therefore, they receive circumcised heartsand minds prior to obedience.

Just as the glorified Jesus breathed on Hisdisciples and they received the Holy Spirit priorto Pentecost and their baptism by fire, theSamaritans Philip baptized in the name of JesusChrist had hands laid on them and they receivedthe Holy Spirit prior to when Cornelius

household was baptized by fire. Therefore, alluncircumcised Gentiles who have been drawnsince Cornelius baptism by fire are like the threethousand circumcised Israelites who did not needhands laid upon them to receive the Holy Spirit.

Prior to when first circumcised, thenuncircumcised spiritual Israelites were baptizedby fire, the Holy Spirit has to be transferreddirectly, either by Jesus breathing on His


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disciples, or by Peter and John laying hands ondisciples. But following circumcised Israel beingbaptized by fire, all that was necessary wasrepentance and baptism to receive the HolySpirit. With Cornelius household being baptized

by fire, the Holy Spirit was received prior tobaptism, which becomes the model for futuredrawings and conversions. A carnally mindedperson is satisfied being carnally minded. Thisperson is hostile to God, and to His law. Thisperson will not seek God. Thus, for this personto be converted this person has to be drawn bythe Father, which requires the forcible seizure bythe Father of a portion of the persons mentallandscape. The Father doesnt ask Satan if He canplease have the person; He takes enough of the

persons mental landscape that the person beginswanting to obey God. The person receives a puffof the Breath of God, which is enough to writethe laws of God on the persons heart and mind.No one has to directly transfer the Holy Spirit tothe person. The Father does the transferring,based upon both the circumcised and theuncircumcised having been baptized by fire.Since the law that divided these two people wasabolished (Eph 2:15), the pattern for conversionis the same for all peoples. There is, today, only

one holy nation: spiritual Israel.A disciple drawn by the Father does not have

to get into any particular denominations water tobe baptized, but as will be seen in a futurearticle, judgment comes with baptism (1 Pet4:17). A person baptized in the name of JesusChrist has asked for judgment to be upon theperson. And this person should know what theterms of the covenant are by which he or she

will be judged.If hands are laid-on disciples following

baptism, certainly no harm will be done to thedisciple, but the act is unnecessary. Typologytells us so. In addition, typology shows thatreceiving the Holy Spirit is having the laws ofGod written on hearts and minds. Therefore, tospurn observing these laws because keepingthem is legalism is grieving the Holy Spirit. Toerase what the Father wrote on the personsheart and mind is rejecting the Holy Spirit. And

to know to keep these laws, but to knowinglyrefuse to do so is sinning against the Holy Spirit.Sin is lawlessness, or the transgression of the law(1 John 3:4). And a disciple is to keep the lawsof God to the best of the persons knowledge

and ability. Anything less is hypocrisy, theunpardonable sin.

by Homer Kizer

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Typology & Pentecost