Marvelous Events

The Earnest of our Inheritance

Ephesians 1:14

… until the redemption of the purchased possession …

The gospels document such marvelous events as the incarnation of the Lord Jesus, when God became Man for our redemption. Then, there was Calvary where he died the sacrificial death, a ransom for all who would trust his saving grace. Christ, himself observed Passover the evening before he died; the next day he became the spotless sacrificial lamb of Calvary (I Corinthians 5:7-8). Passover symbolizes his vicarious death. The Feast of Firstfruits typifies his glorious resurrection. And then came Pentecost, which actually means “the fiftieth day.” So, in a condensed version, Jesus was born of a Virgin, lived a sinless life, bore the sin of the world at Calvary, came forth out of the grave on the third day. All of this was in God’s plan before the foundations of the world.  But there’s more!

Fundamental to the Christian faith was the coming of another person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, who introduced a new dispensation. The age of Grace. The dispensation of the Church, the Bride of Christ. It didn’t just happen. It was all part of God’s plan for man’s redemption and ultimate arrival in heaven. For, you see, the Holy Spirit, who came to indwell blood-bought believers, is our earnest. What a great word earnest. He is the third person of the Trinity who seals us until the day our bodies will be redeemed. He is our ticket to heaven, which cannot be canceled or rejected at the gate. Praise God!

You will read in Exodus and Leviticus that Passover was one of the great festivals in Israel’s ecclesiastical or sacred year. Pentecost was the third great feast mentioned in Leviticus 23, a harvest festival that took place fifty days after Passover week—fifty days after Israel left Egypt and the Passover lamb was slain. 

In Exodus 19:5, Pentecost celebrated the birth of the Nation Israel.

In Acts 2:41-47, Pentecost celebrated the birth of the Church.

In Exodus 32:28, Pentecost witnessed the slaying of some 3,000 souls.

In Acts 2:41, Pentecost witnessed the saving of some 3000 souls.

In short, the former pointed to the latter as we view these great celebrations as types of Christ, best described in the book of Hebrews. Read it again and concentrate on the message and the types. But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. … But Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation (Hebrews 9:11-12; 28).

Praise God for his death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and for the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit of Promise came to indwell believers. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:13-14).

Victor W. Baugh, Sr., Th.D., Ph.D.

Pastor, St. Luke AME Church

Havana, AL