DURING THE POST EXILE PERIOD

word penthkosth pentekoste pen-tay-kos-tay’ = “the fiftieth day”) or Harvest Feast, or Feast of Weeks, and may be regarded as a supplement to the Passover. It lasted for one day, from the sixteenth of Nisan, seven weeks were reckoned inclusively, and the next or fiftieth day was the day of Pentecost which fell on the sixth of Sivan (about the end of May). Exodus 23:16; 34:22; Leviticus 23:15-22: Numbers 28. Pentecost was the Jewish Harvest home, and the people were especially exhorted to rejoice before Jehovah with their families, their servants, the Levites within their gates, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widows, in the place chosen by God for his name as they brought a free will offering of their hand to Jehovah, their God, (Deuteronomy 16:20-11). The great feature of the celebration was the presentation of the two loaves, made from the first fruits of the wheat harvest. With the loaves two lambs were offered as a peace offering and all were waved before Jehovah; and given to the Priest, the loaves being leavened, could not be offered on the altar. The other sacrifices were a burnt offering of a young bullock, two rams and seven lambs, with meal and drink offering, and a kid for sin offering, Leviticus 23:18,19. Until the Pentecostal loaves were offered, the Produce of the Harvest might not be eaten, nor could any other first fruits be offered. The whole ceremony was the completion of that dedication of the harvest to God as its giver and to whom both the land and the people were holy, which was begun by the offering of the waved sheaf at the Passover. The Jews of post Biblical period held that it celebrated the fact that the law was given from Sinai on the fiftieth day after the deliverance from Egypt, (Exodus 12 and 19). In the Christian Church, Pentecost is the Memorial of the coming of the Holy Ghost upon the disciples at Jerusalem after the Ascension of Jesus, (Acts 2).

THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH PERIOD IS DIVIDED INTO FOUR (4) PARTS

7. PART I. The first nine chapters of the Acts of the Apostles cover a period of then years, from the ascension of Jesus, to the conversion of Cornelius, 30-40 A.D. This period was given to the Jews only.

8. THE ASCENSION. CHAPTER I

For forty days between the resurrection and ascension Jesus was with his disciples teaching and encouraging them and showing himself alive by many infallible proofs, making it clear that he was not dead, but alive. The disciples were waiting for the promise of the Father to give them power to witness. The last instructions Jesus gave

His disciples were, “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,” (Acts 1:8). They returned to the upper room where 120 disciples assembled, waiting for the Holy Ghost. During this time Matthias was chosen to fill the office of Judas Iscariot.

9. CHAPTER II - Birth of the New Testament Church

On the day of Pentecost, 30 A.D., in the City of Jerusalem, God gave the initial outpouring of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking with other tongues as the