A couple of years ago I was leading a conference that was held under a large tent. This particular evening the tent was full with about 1,000 people present. At one point I began singing spontaneously under the leading of the Holy Spirit, using Paul’s words from Second Corinthians:
Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).
As I started to sing people began to scream. Fortunately, they were not screaming about my singing! There was a big commotion in the middle of the crowd, and people were pointing to the top of the tent. There, just under the canvas, was a circling smoky cloud with shiny golden beams emanating from it, almost like gold lightning. The cloud stayed with us for about 30 minutes. We even recorded it on videotape, but the quality of our cameras was poor. It reappeared a few months later at another meeting, and this time we had better cameras.
All of the people who witnessed this cloud were awed by it and many were filled with the Holy Spirit afresh. We have made videotapes available for churches, and many pastors who have played the tape for their congregations report similar instances of recommitment among their people.
For me the appearance of this “glory cloud” is, in a small way, reminiscent of two related events recorded in Scripture: the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost into the midst of the infant Church to infill and empower the believers, and the descent at Mount Sinai of the “glory cloud” of God’s presence into the midst of the infant nation of Israel. Both involved the supernatural and direct presence of God with His people as well as divine-human interaction through speech. At Sinai God was establishing a nation; at Pentecost the Spirit of God was establishing a Church. Sinai was where God sought to connect directly with His people. Pentecost was the initial place where believers connected with the presence of God.
The first Christian Pentecost was not an isolated event but the culmination of a divinely preordained plan with its roots in early Jewish history. Many events in the Old Testament prefigure those of the New. A particular correlation exists between Mount Sinai and Pentecost. In many ways, Mount Sinai foreshadowed Pentecost.
From their earliest days as a nation, the Israelites learned to associate the glory and presence of God with cloud, smoke, and fire. As they moved from camp to camp in the wilderness, God led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (see Ex. 13:21-22). When the Israelites camped at Sinai, God prepared to reveal His glory visibly to them so that they would obey Him and trust and follow Moses as God’s chosen leader. The people took two days to consecrate and prepare themselves, and on the third day the glory of the Lord appeared on the mountain. Once again, He came with cloud, smoke, and fire. It must have been an awesome sight.
Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up (Exodus 19:16-20).
Following this scene are four chapters listing laws that God gave to the Israelites through Moses, beginning with the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1-17. The narrative continues in chapter 24 with Moses relating to the Israelites all the words and judgments he had received from God. Afterwards, the people offered up burnt offerings to the Lord and Moses read the “Book of the Covenant” to the people, sprinkled blood from the offerings on them, and consecrated them in the covenant (see Ex. 24:3-8). When this was completed, God summoned Moses to the top of the mountain in order to give him the stone tablets of the law. Once again, the glory of the Lord appeared in cloud and fire.
Now the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights (Exodus 24:16-18).
Mount Sinai was the original “Pentecost,” where God was setting apart for Himself a distinct and unique people, “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:6a), who were to enjoy a unique relationship with Him and know His constant presence among them. On that day the glory of the Lord appeared to the children of Israel as a thick covering cloud and “like a consuming fire,” and out of that cloud and fire the Lord spoke.
Centuries later, the glory of the Lord appeared like another kind of fire among another group of people. Instead of a mountain in the wilderness, the scene is an upper room in Jerusalem. Instead of former slaves newly liberated from Egypt, the people are willing bondservants of the King of kings, Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, and ascended, and are worshiping and waiting expectantly as He had commanded them to do.
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4).
The parallels are striking. On Mount Sinai the glory of the Lord appeared “like a consuming fire”; at Pentecost it appeared as “divided tongues, as of fire.” At Sinai there were “thunderings and lightnings”; at Pentecost, “a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind.” At Sinai God spoke to the people through Moses; at Pentecost, the people spoke to God “with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Both events centered on what I call the “thick presence” of the Holy Spirit. In both cases the glory of the Lord came down, and in the case of Pentecost, the believers were filled with the Spirit and spoke in tongues. At Pentecost the filling of the Spirit and speaking in tongues went hand in hand. This is why I contend that tongues is the prayer language of the Spirit, a heavenly language that connects us to the glory of God.
Avital connection between Mount Sinai and Pentecost has been acknowledged since ancient times. According to a rabbinical tradition that began with the great twelfth-century Jewish rabbi and philosopher Maimonides, Pentecost is associated with the giving of the Law at Sinai and the birth of Jewish national existence. Jerome, a fourth-century “church father,” translator of the Vulgate, the Latin version of the Scriptures, and one of the greatest scholars and intellectuals produced by the early Church, also recognized the connection. Comparing Pentecost with Mount Sinai, Jerome wrote, “There is Sinai, here Sion; there the trembling mountain, here the trembling house; there the flaming mountain, here the flaming tongues; there the noisy thunderings, here the sounds of many tongues; there the clangor of the ramshorn, here the notes of the gospel-trumpet.”
The oldest association of Pentecost with Mount Sinai derives from its identification with one of the three annual festivals of Israel. “Pentecost” is the Greek name for the Jewish “Feast of Weeks.” Part of the Law given at Sinai stipulated three major agricultural festivals the Israelites were to celebrate every year: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Harvest (Pentecost) and the Feast of Ingathering (Tabernacles). Occurring 50 days after Passover, Pentecost celebrated the end of the grain harvest. Its primary focus was to express gratitude to God for a good harvest. Because it was a harvest festival, Pentecost was also known as the “feast of the firstfruits.”
For Christians, the primary significance of Pentecost is the coming of the Holy Spirit to infill and indwell the Church. What connection is there between this event and the Feast of Weeks? Why did the Spirit come during a harvest celebration? When Peter spoke to the crowd in Jerusalem who had gathered because they had seen and heard the believers speaking in tongues, he explained that they were witnessing the fulfillment of a prophecy from the Book of Joel:
But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:16-21).
The prophecy of Joel that Peter quoted (Joel 2:28-32) was given originally in the context of a locust plague that had devastated Israel’s crops, followed by a severe drought. Joel promised that God would bring agricultural restoration if the people gathered together in a sacred assembly and repented. On the heels of this promise, Joel then promised that God would pour out His Spirit on people without regard to age, gender, or social status, thus linking together the ideas of material and spiritual restoration.
With the killing of the paschal lamb, Passover commemorated Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian slavery and at the same time marked the beginning of the harvest season with an offering of firstfruits. The Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost closed the season with a thanksgiving celebration for a fruitful har -vest. Jesus Christ, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29b) was crucified during Passover. Three days later He was raised from the dead, becoming the “first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20b). Seven weeks later, during the end-of-harvest celebration at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the young Church, the gospel was proclaimed in power, and a great spiritual “harvest”— the first of the Church era—brought 3,000 souls into the Kingdom of God.
Pentecost is not just about manifestations. It is not just about a rushing mighty wind, or divided tongues of fire. It is not even just about speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance, as important as that is. Pentecost means many things. One major focus is the harvest, the empowering of the people of God to bring lost souls into His Kingdom. Another is the transformation of life through the power of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is also about the anointing of a holy people set apart for God’s service. In this sense, Pentecost focuses on the building of holy character.
When God called the nation of Israel out of Egyptian slavery into freedom, He had in mind the purpose of separating unto Himself a people whom He would love with a special love and who would return that love; people whom He could empower and into whom He could build divine character. He said to them:
You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:4-6a).
God was grooming the Israelites to be children of royalty— His children—and He gave them laws and commandments to teach them how to live accordingly. Obedience to God’s voice and faithfulness to His covenant were the signature evidences of the holy character that He was looking for.
Sadly, however, that character never really took root in the hearts of the Israelites. The history of that first post-Egypt generation of Israelites is a virtually unbroken litany of grumbling, discontent, and rebellion against God and against Moses, God’s chosen leader. With a few exceptions, the Israelites never learned to think like royalty. In the midst of the freedom of God’s guiding presence, they longed for Egypt where “we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full…” (Ex. 16:3b), even though to return would mean slavery. Their obstinate refusal of God’s command to cross into the land of Canaan and take it by force resulted in their being consigned to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until all of that rebellious generation had died (see Num. 14:1-38). The Israelites’ lack of divine character prevented them from entering into intimate fellowship with the Lord and experiencing the joy of fulfilled purpose.
Pentecost signified the beginning of a whole new era, a new covenant of grace based on the blood of Jesus to supersede the old covenant of Law based on the blood of animal sacrifices. Through the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ, and the coming of the Holy Spirit, God intervened directly in the affairs of mankind in a totally unprecedented way. The holy character He sought would now be implanted in His people by transforming their hearts, something the Law of the old covenant was powerless to do:
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God (Ezekiel 36:26-28).
The power to live as God requires comes from the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. It was for precisely this reason that the Spirit came at Pentecost:
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:3-4).
All of us who are children of God through faith in Christ are being groomed to take our places as members of the royal family. The Holy Spirit is building in us the character of God and preparing us for our eternal destiny, which is to be the Bride of Christ. Unlike the ancient Israelites who never cast off their slave mentality, we must learn to comport ourselves like the princes and princesses we are. If we are to be the Bride of the King of kings, we must learn to think and act like royalty.
I was born in Africa to Indian parents. My father died when I was five years old, so I never knew him very well. One of the things we discovered about my father after he died, however, was how truly generous a man he was. Long lists turned up of widows and orphans whom he had fed and cared for that no one ever knew about. Those fortunate souls never had to worry about their groceries; my father always took care of the bill. My father had a noble character and the bearing of royalty.
My mother was brought up in the royal houses of India. Before India became consolidated as one nation under British rule, it was made up of many small kingdoms. It was in that kind of environment that my mother grew up. Because of the royal influence around her, she developed a certain noble way of carrying herself and of thinking about herself and others. Much of her demeanor rubbed off on me.
Some of her clearest memories of those years were of playing around the king’s throne while he was having an audience with some of the people in his kingdom. An audience with the king was a rare and precious thing, and those so for -tunate would bow in honor as they entered his royal presence. The royal court was in session and these petitioners had been granted the opportunity to plead their case before the king. Perhaps a nearby landowner was illegally encroaching on their land and they were seeking relief, or perhaps they were simply seeking a favor. Whatever the situation, the king would listen.
It was customary when coming before the king to bring a gift. It didn’t have to be anything great or magnificent, but was a gesture of respect and honor. After all, what could ordinary subjects give of value to a wealthy king who had everything? In return, the king always had a gift for his petitioner. Beside his throne was a large basket full of precious gems—emeralds, rubies, and diamonds. Some of the finest diamonds in the world come from India. The king would grab a handful of these gems, call the petitioner forward, and say, “Hold out your hand.” Then he would place those gems in the hand of the astonished petitioner. What this meant to a humble peasant from a tiny village was that he and his family were taken care of for life. He no longer had to worry about anything, all because he had had an audience with the king.
This made a deep impression on my mother. All her life, whenever we had guests for dinner in our home, she never let them leave without giving them a little gift. As far as I can remember, the gift was always something made of gold—a gold necklace, gold earrings—something. Her years in the royal house had taught my mother to think like a princess, and it affected everything she did. Living in the environment of the king transformed her thinking.
As believers, our “royal house” is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is where the Holy Spirit disciples us in the glory, teaching us to think and behave like the royal children we are rather than poverty-stricken slaves. The Israelites who came out of Egypt never overcame their slave mentality and, as a consequence, forfeited their destiny. They had been under the yoke of slavery for so long that they found it impossible to think any other way.
Pentecost was where the believers first began to understand truly who they really were in Christ. Simon Peter, whose Spirit-inspired sermon that day brought 3,000 new people into the faith, described the Bride of Christ this way:
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy (1 Peter 2:9-10).
We who know Christ are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation”—God’s special people. The Holy Spirit gives us ready access to the throne room of our King. For those fortunate individuals in my mother’s memory, coming into the presence of the king was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Through the Holy Spirit, we can have an audience with our King anytime, all the time, whenever we want. Speaking in tongues enhances our connection to the throne room. It is the language of the “royal house” of Heaven.
At Sinai the “glory cloud” of God covered the mountain, and Exodus 24:18a says that “Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain.” In First Corinthians 10:1-2 Paul says, “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” In these and similar passages the “cloud” represents the Holy Spirit. Entering into the midst of the cloud is like the baptism in the Holy Spirit that came at Pentecost.
All who know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord have an open and continuing invitation from God to walk into the cloud of His glory. He wants us to experience Pentecost as a daily refreshing, not just know it as a singular event that occurred 2,000 years ago. His purpose is to build godly character in us: to transform us and make us into powerful, effective witnesses to His grace, mercy, and love. The choice we face is whether we want to be tickled or transformed.
Whenever there is a fresh move of the Holy Spirit bringing spiritual refreshing, renewal, or revival, there are always people who jump into the “river” and get caught up in the laughter, the “feel-good” sensations, the “warm fuzzies,” or other manifestations for their own sake. These folks are more interested in being “tickled” by their Father than in being transformed by the Spirit.
Being tickled is fine up to a point, but the time comes when the Lord says, “Enough tickling. It’s time to grow.” Growth always involves transformation, and it always involves pain. That’s why many believers would rather not bother. God did not save us to leave us the way we are. He did not give us the Holy Spirit just to tickle our fancy but to transform our heart. We are the Bride of Christ, and that means we are not to live for the world but for the Kingdom of our Bridegroom. Paul exhorted the Romans, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:2). Instead of our being conformed to the world, God wants us “to be conformed to the image of His Son…” (Rom. 8:29b); instead of our having the mind of the world, He wants us to have the “mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16b).
Character never forms in a vacuum. It grows out of the crucible of challenge, difficulty, hardship, struggle, and pain. God allows and uses these things to test the spirit and character of the Bride. Those who are interested only in tickling often will slip away when real challenge comes. Just as Moses walked into the cloud and came out with his face shining with the glory of the Lord, God challenges us to walk into the cloud and be similarly transformed.
This transformation is real and it is readily available, but it does not happen overnight. It takes time. God is committed to transforming us into the Bride of Christ, and He always completes what He begins. As Paul assured the Philippian Christians, “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6b). The process will challenge everything in us. It will require patience, faithfulness, obedience, and the humble willingness to wait on the Lord.
In the days between His resurrection and ascension, Jesus appeared numerous times to His followers, comforting them, encouraging them, and giving them instructions. Central to these instructions was the command to wait until the Holy Spirit was sent from the Father as He had promised:
“Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God (Luke 24:49-53).
And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”…“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight….Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey. And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers (Acts 1:4-5,8-9,12-14).
In obedience to Jesus’ command, His followers waited for the fulfillment of His promise. This waiting instilled eager, expectant anticipation in their spirits and built character in their hearts. It was an active waiting: They worshiped the Lord, praised and blessed God continually in the temple, and gathered in the upper room where they “continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.”
Paul states in First Corinthians 15:6a that at one point the risen Jesus “was seen by over five hundred brethren at once,” yet on the day of Pentecost, only 120 were present in the upper room. Where were the rest? Scripture does not say, but it is at least possible that many of the others were unwilling to wait, or were distracted from following the Lord, or simply drifted away. Some may have been more interested in being tickled than in being transformed. Whatever the reason, those who were absent missed out on the blessing. It is the ones who waited who received the promise.
The Church of Jesus Christ was birthed in the womb of the glory of God. As those patient, expectant believers met together in one accord in that upper room, a sound like a rushing mighty wind filled the house and divided tongues as of fire rested upon each of them. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Waiting on the Lord strengthens faith and builds character. If we are willing to tarry, watch, and pray, we can enter into the midst of the “cloud” of God’s glory. God likes that kind of “stubbornness,” and He will pour out His Spirit.
We need to be hungry and thirsty for the Lord and be together in one accord, so the glory of God can come down. There’s something powerful about being in one accord. When we are in one accord, the glory comes! We can expect a supernatural, heavenly fire to fall from Heaven that has the ability to burn away all our impurities of mind and spirit and transform us from the people we are into the people God wants us to be. Pentecostal fire can transform us into the Bride of Christ, beautifully adorned and without spot or blemish, ready to receive her Bridegroom. Just look at Simon Peter. He spent three and one-half years with Jesus, hearing Him teach and watching Him heal diseases and cast out demons, yet when the crunch came, he denied the Lord. Pentecost changed him in a matter of minutes. The power of God came upon Peter in that rushing mighty wind and those tongues of fire and transformed him forever. It can do the same for us.
The original “Pentecost” at Mount Sinai instituted the old covenant of Law sealed by the blood of animal sacrifices, which had no power to remove sin, but symbolized and foreshadowed the blood of Jesus, whose death on the cross would usher in a new covenant of grace. This new covenant is infinitely superior to the old. First of all, where the blood of animals could do nothing about sin, the blood of Jesus has the power to cover and wash away our sin, leaving us clean and whole before God. Secondly, under the old covenant God remained essentially apart from His people, His Spirit coming only upon certain persons at certain times for certain purposes. With the coming of the new covenant and the miracle of Pentecost, the living God now abides permanently in the hearts of His people through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit. This is unprecedented in all of human history.
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was not an “addendum,” not an amendment or afterthought to God’s original plan, but of fundamental importance in and of itself. God’s purpose in the new covenant was to redeem and establish a unique people who would be His own special possession. Their uniqueness would lie in the fact that they would be a people who were filled with the very breath of God Himself. They would be baptized with His Spirit.