Sabbath 13/3/42/120

Dear Friends,

We have completed Pentecost where we discussed, among other things, the early history of the church after Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit had entered the church and been given to all waiting there as instructed.  That group comprised the early ministry covering the Seventy and the people waiting there for the event. 

The people who had come to Jerusalem for the feast that year and stayed for the Pentecost feast was probably a more or less standard distribution of the nations that would normally be present at Jerusalem for the Feast season, but Christ had told them to remain there until Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit (No. 117) had entered the room at the Third Hour of the day (9AM) the apostles began to prophesy and they were heard to speak in the languages of the people present, which made some think the men had been drinking, contrary to biblical law. We see these mentioned in Acts 2:9-11. 

Acts 2:9  Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10  Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11  Cretans and Arabians.

We see here that they extended all over the Middle East, into Parthia which included parts of Scythia and into Europe and in Persia and the surrounding nations over Anatolia, Media and Persia and over Egypt and North Africa, the Mediterranean, and Arabia.  These were Jews and proselytes who remained there with the church and so it is extremely probable that the people there were given also of the Holy Spirit and the Seventy there were accompanied by these people on their move back to the nations listed. The location of the Seventy is listed according to Hippolytus. We have covered this distribution in the paper Establishment of the Church under the Seventy (No. 122D) which develops on this list in Acts and in Romans.  The references for the Churches in Europe among the tribes entering Europe at the collapse of Parthia are given in detail in the paper Unitarian/Trinitarian Wars (No. 268). This will be the subject of next week’s message but before we discuss that we will look at the place of Christ in the Theology of the Church of God at the time of the First Century into the Second Century. The position and logic of that theology is covered in the text the Deity of Christ (No. 147).   In the end of the Second Century the theology began to be altered as we see in the text Binitarian and Trinitarian Misrepresentation of the Early Theology of the Godhead (No. 127B)  If the people of the Churches of God think that this heresy is not important then they will forfeit their place in the First Resurrection (143A) as God has foretold in Revelation chapter 3.

It is important that we understand the position of the Bible texts regarding the One True God and Jesus Christ whom He sent as this is explained in the paper On Immortality (No 165).

It is important that we understand the role of the church and the function of the theology of the church and its conduct in the retention of the Holy Spirit and our place in the First Resurrection. 

Study the doctrines in order to retain your position and retain the power of the faith.

Wade Cox
Coordinator General