Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Acts 2 clarification

I need you to explain what is meant by Israel not receiving the Holy Ghost within them in Acts 2, but rather, not until the Kingdom is set up on earth.

The Holy Ghost did not dwell inside of the believer in Israel when He came in Acts chapter 2, and will not until they enter the Earthly Kingdom in the future. All He did was come upon them! All this was already prophesied and told to them by the Lord in the previous chapter...

Acts 1:8
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Notice again that the Lord told them that the Holy Ghost would come upon them, not in them.

When you study this out, throughout Acts in particular, you notice that the Spirit did not live within the Jewish believer; He came upon them—anointing them for priesthood service.

Exodus 29:4, 7
And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash them with water.

Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him.

He will not come into Israel until the Lord sets up His kingdom.

Ezekiel 36:24-28
For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.  And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Here we see that it will be in the future earthly kingdom, when the New Covenant is fulfilled, that they get their sins forgiven and are given His spirit inside of them! Israel gets eternal life in that kingdom, and then and only then do they get the Spirit inside!

Notice that when he does come inside of them, they will not be able to sin, but God will cause them to keep his commandments!

Obviously that did not happen at Pentecost because Paul had to deal with Peter (and those other Jews' sins)!

Galatians 2:11-14
But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

That is not true for you and I living today in the church, the Body of Christ! We receive the Spirit of God inside of us the moment that we trust Christ. That is why Paul tells us to rightly divide God's Word [2 Timothy 2:15].

Romans 5:5
And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Hear we see that the Holy Ghost is in our hears, which is our spirit.

1 Corinthians 6:19
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

2 Timothy 1:14
That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.

We have the Holy Ghost living inside us because we have eternal life as a present possession. But Israel did not have him inside them because they don't get eternal life until they enter that earthly kingdom!


Hopefully this helps!

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