The word "Pentecost"� simply means fifty, and refers to the fifty days between the Passover in Egypt and the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, and was ever after commemorated as a feast of the giving of the law, called the feast of the fiftieth day, or Pentecost.

As Christ was crucified at the Passover, and the Holy Ghost was given fifty days after, at the time of the feast of the Pentecost, the word has been used in connection with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and it is with this sense in view that we use the word in this chapter on the fulness of Pentecost, that is, the glorious feast of the full baptism of the Spirit.

After many years of experience in the things of God, and long and prayerful study of God's Word, both in connection with personal holiness and the prophetic portions of Scripture, I am sure there is a vastness and sweep in the fulness of Pentecost which will be a sweet surprise to those humble and venturesome souls who are willing to believe, not only a part of, but all the things in the Scriptures. Pentecost has opened up to me in three ways, or directions, namely: the history, and the manifestations, and the effects of Pentecost.

1. The History of Pentecost.

"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place."�

There are to be three great Pentecosts in the history of our world. The first was at the beginning of the Jewish Age, the second was at the beginning of the Church Age, and the third will be at the beginning of the Kingdom Age, or Millennium. The Scriptures tell us of three dark days, days of supernatural darkness, that are to mark the history of our world, and these dark days are days of judgment, and are connected with Pentecost, as they form the prelude of Pentecost. The first was the dark day in the land of Egypt, described in Exodus 21:23. That was the close of the tribulation judgment sent on Egypt, and in that darkness the firstborn of the Egyptians died, and the passover lamb was slain.

The second supernatural dark day was when Christ died on the cross; described in the Gospels, and that darkness was God's judgment on the sin of the world, which was put upon the Lord Jesus, and He bore in His body the judgment of the world's guilt as well as natural depravity. In that darkness God's Firstborn died, the Just for the unjust.

The third dark day will be at the close of the great tribulation judgment, and just before the opening of the millennial reign of Christ.

Our Lord says, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from Heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken."� ( Matt. 24:29. ) Now it will be in this last day of supernatural darkness that the antichrist is to be taken, and cast into the lake of fire, for we see in Revelation 19:17-21 that the very last event of the great tribulation judgment, and the one that precedes the opening of the Millennium, is that the beast, that is, the antichrist, was taken, and with him the false prophet, and they were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. Now it is wonderful to compare these three dark days, and also to note that in the first dark day man's firstborn was slain; in the second dark day God's Firstborn was crucified; and in the third dark day the devil's firstborn, the antichrist, goes down into the lake of fire.

Another point in the history of Pentecost is that of the time between the darkness and the slaying of the firstborn, to that of the revelation of God's glory in giving the law, and then giving the Holy Spirit, and then opening the glory of the millennial reign. Just as there were fifty days from slaying the Passover lamb in Egypt to giving the law on Mount Sinai, and fifty days from the crucifixion of Christ to giving the Holy Spirit, so it would seem there will be about fifty days from the overthrow of antichrist to the opening of the Kingdom Age and the personal reign of Christ on earth.

If you will study Daniel 12:11-13, you will notice he mentions two periods of time. One is called the time of desolation, which is to run to the end of the antichrist, and just after that he says, "Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days."� By subtracting the difference in the two periods he mentions, we get forty-five days, and there may be a few more days to go in there, so that it corresponds with marvelous accuracy with the number of days between the Passover in Egypt and the giving of the law, and the Passover on the cross and the giving of the Spirit, and then the Pentecost of judgment and the setting up of the reign of righteousness on earth.

There is another set of threes in the history of Pentecost in this "” there were three outpourings from God. At the first Pentecost there was the outpouring of divine truth in the form of the Ten Commandments, which must not be confounded with the ceremonial law of Moses, for God wrote the Ten Commandments with His own hand on the tables of stone; but what is termed the Law of Moses is the ceremonial law, and was written by Moses.

At the Pentecost in Mount Zion the Holy Spirit was poured out, and He wrote the law of God in hearts of perfect believers, and filled them with inward divine grace, enabling them to obey the law in the spirit of perfect love, so that the same law which at the first Pentecost was written on tables of stone was at the second Pentecost written on the tables of the believers' hearts, and this is what Paul refers to when he says, "What the law could not do, through the weakness of the flesh, God sent His own Son, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk after the Spirit.'' (Rom. 8:3, 4.)

At the third Pentecost, at the opening of the Millennial Age, there will be another great divine outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh, and then the law of God will not only be written in the hearts of believers, but, according to St. Paul in Romans 8, it will be written in all nature, and the lower creation, which is now subject to bondage, shall be delivered into the glorious liberty of the children of God, and, according to Isaiah, the lower animals will not hurt, and there will be nothing injurious in all creation, for "the glory of God shall fill the earth as waters fill the sea."� All this is expressly taught in Joel 2:28-32. The prophecy in Joel of Pentecost was only partially fulfilled in Jerusalem, for you will notice that he speaks of an outpouring of the Spirit in connection with showing wonders in the heavens and in the earth, "blood and fire and pillars of smoke, when the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, in the terrible day of the Lord,"� showing that at the close of that last dark day in the Judgment time, there is to be a great outpouring of the glory of God on all flesh, and at the same time the curses shall be taken away from the lower orders of creation. When we thus trace out the great plan of God running through different ages, we see a vastness in the Pentecost as it refers to the Jewish Age, and then the Church Age, and then the Millennial Age, which thrills our hearts with admiration and praise at the wisdom and goodness of God.

This is a faint outline of the history of Pentecost.

From the history of Pentecost let us now turn to consider the subject in relation to our experience, and the fulness of sanctifying grace as to manifestations.

2. The Manifestations of Pentecost.

"And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."� These manifestations were specially connected with the coming of the Holy Ghost as a divine person, the promise of the Father, at His advent into the infant Church to be the Comforter, the Teacher, the Guide of true believers during the Church Age.

Just as Jesus had a personal advent as God's Son, coming in the flesh at Bethlehem, so the Holy Spirit had a personal advent as the third person in the Godhead at Pentecost. Of course Jesus had been in the world from the beginning, and He was the Jehovah of the Old Testament, who appeared at various times to patriarchs and prophets, but at His human birth He made His advent as the Redeemer in human form and human flesh. So the Holy Spirit had been in the world in all past generations, but at Pentecost He made His personal advent as the Comforter, and to fill the divine office in the Church as the successor of the Lord Jesus. Now then, just as Christ had certain manifestations at His advent, such as the angels' song, the guiding star, the coming of the wise men, and other things which properly belong to Him as the Son of God, so the Holy Spirit gave out manifestations in sounds and sights and tongues of fire and marvelous spiritual power, which belonged properly to Him as the Spirit of God, the promise of the Father.

Also you will notice a similarity between the manifestations at Mount Sinai in fire, and the sound of the trumpet and the voice of words, which correspond with the manifestations at the Church Pentecost. The first item mentioned is the sound of a rushing wind. It is not said that the wind was blowing, but there was a sound like the blowing of the wind, and we know there are several passages which speak of the operations of the Spirit in comparison with wind. Jesus says, "Thou hearest the sound of the wind, but thou canst not tell whence it came and whither it goeth, and so is every one that is born of the Spirit."� I have examined every passage in the Bible which compares the operations of the Spirit to wind, or to breath, and I find in every passage the reference is exclusively to giving life. The wind is never a type of sanctification, or bestowment of power, but the impartation of life; as: "God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,"� and, "Come, O wind, upon these slain, that they may live."� Of course the gift of life must be the first great work of the Holy Spirit and we must be regenerated before we are sanctified, and hence the Holy Spirit came at Penetcost with full divine authority to regenerate sinners, to impart the breath of divine life into dead moral natures, and on that day He regenerated three thousand souls after He had filled the believers with holiness and power.

"They were all filled with the Holy Ghost."� This word "filled"� signifies to overflow, as a riverbank overflows with water, and hence this phase of manifestation compares the Holy Spirit to water. Water is especially the element of cleansing, of making pure, and is used in this sense in scores of passages in the Bible. Thus the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost to take entire charge of the great work of cleansing believers from all indwelling sin, of washing out the earthly elements, and making them pure from all evil tempers, and evil desires, and everything pertaining to sin, that nothing might hinder His perfect indwelling in the purified soul.

"There appeared unto them cloven tongues as of fire, . . . and they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."� Here is another manifestation of the work of the Spirit in the form of a tongue, and a tongue of fire, and also a cloven tongue, or a tongue split into two parts. Now note the accurate significance of all these points. He took the form of a tongue, not a hand, or a foot, or a head, but the shape of a tongue, because that is the organ of speech, of prophecy, of testimony, of telling forth the contents of the heart; and hence it is the work of the Holy Spirit to make us witnesses of the works of God in our hearts, to make us prophets, preachers, advocates in behalf of the Lord Jesus. Then it was a cloven tongue, split into two parts, showing that our testimony was to be twofold, according to the old law that everything must have at least two witnesses. We must witness for the two testaments, for the two works of grace, for the two comings of Jesus, for salvation, for judgment. And thus our testimony is to agree with the two tables of the law, and the two covenants. In the next place, it was a tongue of fire, which always signifies words spoken out of a hot heart, by divine authority, with a divine unction, and to be followed with divine results. Wherever the work of the Holy Spirit is compared to fire, it is always in connection with the tongue, or the mouth, the organ of speech, as where David said, "My heart was hot within me, and while I was musing the fire burned. Then spake I with my tongue."� And as in the case of Isaiah receiving the live coal of fire upon his mouth. This signifies that when we get the Pentecost we must not only have the breath of a new life, and the water to cleanse from all inward sin, but the fire of a heavenly speech, to testify, to sing with, a hot unction from God.

Another manifestation was that of speaking in other tongues besides those of their own nationality. The first time that human beings spoke different languages was at the building of Babel, when God put judgment upon them for their rebellion and there the race was scattered. At Pentecost the time had come to begin to gather back again all nations into the one saving faith in Jesus, and it would seem the Holy Spirit uttered Himself in many languages, that all the diverse nations might begin to come back to the one Lord, one faith, one Holy Spirit baptism, and one language; which will doubtless be the case in the coming age, for it is prophesied that in the kingdom period God will restore the human race to a pure language, that is, one pure speech, not mixed with any other.

Let us notice the difference between the speaking in tongues at Pentecost and the speaking in unknown tongues many years later in Corinth. At Jerusalem they did not speak in any unknown tongue, for it is expressly said that the Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and all of the sixteen nationalities spoken of, heard each one in his own language the wonderful works of God, Many years later, when the believers in Corinth received the Holy Ghost, it is said they spoke in unknown tongues, that is, in tongues which were not spoken by any nation on earth, and which they themselves did not understand. Paul says that those who speak in unknown tongues, speak "not unto men, but unto God,"� whereas at Jerusalem they spoke not to God, but to their fellow-creatures of other nationalities. Again, Paul says that when they spoke in unknown tongues they were to pray that they might interpret them, but at Pentecost they did not need any interpreter, for the people who spoke other languages understood what they said without the aid of an interpreter. Paul tells us that the speaking with tongues is a sign for the ungodly; not for the believer, but for the sinner. Now the question is, what is it a sign of? I am convinced that Brother Boree, of Bellingham, Wash., has by the help of God discovered the true Scripture sign of tongues to the ungodly, and that it is a sign of coming judgment. Just look at it. The speaking in different tongues at the tower of Babel was a sign of God's judgment on those proud builders. The speaking in tongues in the days of the Apostles was followed in about forty years with the awful judgment coming on the Jewish nation for rejecting and crucifying their Messiah. In the Reformation in Germany and France, a great many of the French Huguenots spoke in unknown tongues, and some years after there came the awful horror of judgment in the French Revolution, when blood flowed like water in the streets of Paris. It would seem that this modern manifestation, when so many in different parts of the earth are speaking with tongues, is a sign of a near approach of the great tribulation upon the world.

In times past the manifestation of tongues has been confined to certain localities, or nations, where judgment was impending, but in these days the manifestation is world-wide, which seems to indicate that the impending judgments are to come on all the nations.

Thus we see that Pentecost in its fulness has a multitude of manifestations. There is no Scripture to prove that all these manifestations are to occur in each individual, but they all belong to that realm of the mighty work of the Holy Spirit, as the promise of the Father, and He must have the sovereign right to work as He pleases, and to distribute His gifts and His operations to this or that person, in this or that locality, according to His divine wisdom.

3. The Effects of Pentecost.

The full baptism of the Holy Spirit puts the believer into a whole world of supernatural things in his heart and mind and the interior depths of his character. Conversion makes a thorough change in our outward life, resulting from a change of heart, but the full baptism of the Spirit produces still greater results in the interior life, and intensifies everything that grace imparted in the new birth.

As we watch the effects of Pentecost upon the disciples, we notice, first of all, they seem to have been translated into a supernatural realm of heavenly character. Every trace of earthly and human cowardice, timidity, man fear, church fear, high-priest fear, death fear, poverty fear, suffering fear, and fear of every description on the earthside, was gone, and on the other hand they had the boundless courage of angels. And yet it was a courage of perfect calmness and deliberation. It was the boldness of a clear vision, and of matchless wisdom, the boldness of fathomless humility, of self-abandonment, as if they had plunged into the courage and calmness of the love of God, and become one with the divine perfections. In fact it was the very nature and character of Jesus reproduced in their souls; and the world and fallen Judaism, thinking they had gotten rid of the troublesome Christ, found that by the Holy Spirit they had, as it were, a hundred other Christs on their hands.

Another effect of Pentecost was to make the believers perfect and unselfish witnesses for their ascended Lord. This was perhaps the greatest effect of Pentecost, so far as the world was concerned, for Jesus specially promised, "Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost comes upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto Me."� From a human standpoint, they could bear witness to His pure life, to His character, to His wonderful works, but by the Holy Ghost they could bear witness to His divinity. His Messiahship, His resurrection, His atonement. His second coming, and do it in the same spirit that Christ had Himself, with that serene and dauntless assurance of perfect inward knowledge which gave an overwhelming unction to their testimony. The greatest work we can accomplish for Jesus is to be able to bear witness, with perfect assurance, to His wonderful work in saving and purifying our own souls, and other gracious works He may accomplish in healing our diseases, and delivering us from all trouble, and attacks of evil spirits.

Another effect of Pentecost was that of clarifying all the Christian graces in the soul. Before Pentecost we know the disciples had faith and humility, love, hope, zeal, good works, and other Christian virtues, but we notice in their conduct there was a tremendous mixedness, and various carnal tempers and selfish desires were mixed with their graces, but after Pentecost they manifested in their lives, their sufferings, their labors, and their deaths, the various graces free from admixture. They had faith without doubt, love without a trace of bitterness, humility without a touch of pride, hope without despondency, gentleness without harshness, perfect courage without fear, boldness without impudence, an inspired knowledge without arrogance, economy without stinginess, liberality without extravagance, the white heat of zeal without a touch of fanaticism, so that the graces of the Lord Jesus were poured into them, and ran through them like a clear, limpid stream, without any earthly mud mixed with the current. In other words, they were filled with holiness.

Another effect of Pentecost was that of the revelation of Christ in the heart of the believers, making them personally acquainted with the Lord Jesus, as if He had taken His abode in each individual mind, which, in fact, was the case, and had opened up His inner character in the heart-consciousness of those who had received the promise of the Father. This is one of the blessed works of the Holy Spirit, to bring Christ and the perfect believer into personal contact with each other, and, as it were, blend the saved souls into a lofty union with the ascended Jesus, making them to be one in purpose, motive, love and disposition.

Another effect of Pentecost was that of opening the Scriptures, and enabling the Apostles to understand Moses and the Psalms and the prophets by a sort of divine instinct, and to handle the words of God with utmost simplicity and adaptation and power. All these effects were among those which still attend those believers who have entered the great feast of the Fiftieth Day, or Pentecost, the promise of the Father, the baptism of the Spirit. It is our privilege to receive our personal Pentecost, and in the power of the Spirit to fill our allotted place in life, and be prepared to meet our Lord, and enter with Him upon the glories of the coming Kingdom Age, when those who have suffered with Him shall also reign with Him.