The baptism with the Holy Spirit anoints the Church, the Body of the Anointed Deliverer, for its priestly service to God. The saints are to bring the words and graces of God to mankind. They are the "seed of Abraham" through whom all the nations of the earth are to be blessed (Genesis 22:18).

The Presence of God, healing for the body, the knowledge of how to receive forgiveness of sins through the offering of Christ on the cross, moral direction, peace, wisdom, the remission and retention of sins—all these Divine blessings, guidances, and judgments come to the nations of the earth only through the priestly services of Christ, usually working through Christian believers.

The baptism with the Holy Spirit sanctifies (sets apart as holy) the believer for his priestly service and endues him with the wisdom and power to bring the Presence, power, love, mercy, and judgment of God to people who are bound by the fear and power of the devil.

The promise of the Father. The word Pentecost is more familiar to us than are the names of the other feasts of the Lord, with the possible exception of Passover.

Pentecost is an Anglicized form of a Greek word referring to the number fifty. The feast of Pentecost is observed on the fiftieth day after the feast of Firstfruits.

The Lord Jesus rose from the dead during Passover Week. He visited the earth for a period of forty days after His resurrection. Then He ascended into Heaven. Following His ascent was a period of ten days of waiting.

The Lord Jesus had commanded His apostles to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the "promise of the Father." Finally the fiftieth day arrived, the day of the Jewish feast of Weeks.

There were present in Jerusalem thousands of devout Jews from different parts of the Roman Empire who, in obedience to the Law of Moses, had come to the holy city to observe the feast of Weeks (Pentecost).

Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty: (Deuteronomy 16:16)

It was on this never-to-be-forgotten day, while the faithful of Israel were gathered together by the word of the Lord, some in obedience to Moses and some in obedience to Jesus of Nazareth, that the promised anointing of the Holy Spirit of God fell as a hurricane from Heaven, filling with the Glory of God Almighty the room in which the one hundred twenty disciples of Jesus were sitting.

Suddenly from Heaven the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Weeks came down upon them bringing the virtue, energy, and wisdom necessary for bearing witness of the atoning death and triumphant resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The course of world history was changed on that day of days.

To be continued.