THE UPPER RIIM BY SEKOU ABODUNRIN

RICHHAYENT BLOG'S TAKING TECHNOLOGY TO THE NEXT LEVEL

To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. Acts 1:3-4
The word makes us understand that the Lord did not ascend to heaven to seat at the right hand of the Father until he had given the disciples a glimpse of what the new creation man looked like and functioned like for 40 days!

We know that the christian will get a glorious body exactly like that of Jesus. We get a glimpse from this passage that when the Christian gets a new body, and just before he ascends into heaven, there is likely to be some time spent on earth. Jesus spent 40 days on earth in a glorified body. The saints will not rush away from the earth in a haste.

We are told in the scriptural records that the Lord Jesus Christ told the disciples not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father that he had spoken to them about earlier.

Clearly this promise that they were to wait for was nothing other than the baptism with the Holy Ghost. These men had been with Jesus, but that which they were called to walk in could only come about through divine vitalization by the Spirit of God. It is important to God that the new creation spirit rise above the flesh.

Now, you realise that they would have been a disobedient bunch if they had left Jerusalem. The Lord told them to wait in a specific place – They had to be in Jerusalem. This instruction was the last that the Lord gave them before his ascension. In reality this is the commission they functioned under. They were not just to wait, they were to wait in a specific place. Waiting in Jerusalem does not apply to us today but we have available to us the same vitalization by the Spirit of God!

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2.4
Now, the Pentecostal believer sees tongues written all over that verse – and rightly so.

In reality the emphasis is larger than tongues. They were filled with the Holy Ghost. They were filled with God.

Something happened on the day of Pentecost. The spirit of man was no longer imprisoned. The Lord is building a supernatural church built to do supernatural things by the power of the indwelling Spirit of God. The aim of the Lord is to produce new creation men who are transformed into the walk of sonship until they live and walk like the Lord himself. Pentecost was given to man so that the ultimate purpose of redemption might be carried unfettered to its logical conclusion.

The Christian submits his mouth, his tongue, to the Spirit of God until his whole being is saturated with God. It is a law of man’s being that the body follows the mouth. When the mouth is submitted to God, the whole body will follow.

This involves speaking and praying in tongues but is wholly larger than tongues. You see, speaking with tongues is a means to an end – it is God’s plan that we are filled with all the fullness of God. It is God’s plan that he gains access into our world through our mouths, eyes, ears and whole bodies as the very temple of God himself.

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Acts 2.1

This is very much like God, the master timekeeper of the universe. This event happened on the day of Pentecost. It had to happen on the day of Pentecost. This is why the Lord told them to wait at Jerusalem and nowhere else. The day of Pentecost had to be fulfilled at Jerusalem just like the Passover had been fulfilled at Jerusalem.

The disciples were in one place. Well, where was this place?
Firstly, we are eternally grateful for the exactness if Luke. We know the exact time that the disciples were filled with God.
And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Acts 2.5
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. Acts 2:14-15
The disciples became full of God at the 3rd hour of that day.
Peter spoke this to Jewish men who had gathered at Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. The third hour must be significant, otherwise it is pointless for Peter to present this as a defense.
Where would so many Jewish men be at the 3rd hour of the day on the day of the feast of Pentecost?
Luke gives us a clue.
These are not just Jewish men they are devout Jewish men.
The third hour is not 3am! Peter spoke as a Jew to Jews. The 3rd hour of the day is actually our own 9am, for the Jewish day began at 6am.
And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.
And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.
And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:
And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen. Luke 24.49-53
This portion of scriptures ties up beautifully with the records in Acts 1. They were to tarry in the city of Jerusalem.
Luke tells us that after the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven at Bethany, the disciples dutifully returned to Jerusalem. They returned with great joy.
Now, according to Luke, who is also the writer of Acts, when the disciples returned to Jerusalem in obedience to Jesus’ command, they were continually in the temple.

They were praising and blessing God continually at the temple at Jerusalem (and not at the Upper Room).

So we understand that Peter and the bunch were continually at the temple praising and blessing God. If you had looked for them in Jerusalem, you would have found them where they were praising and blessing God continually. Therefore when it says they were in one place on the day of Pentecost, they were actually at the temple on that day or that was what they did continually.

So the whole house that was filled on that day of Pentecost was the temple at Jerusalem.

And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. Acts 1.13-14

It is easy to think that the events of the day of Pentecost happened at the upper room. This is because we fail to distinguish between where they were lodging in preparation for the day of Pentecost and where they were praising and blessing God continually.

Luke wrote the book of Acts and Luke. So, when Acts 1 says they continued in prayer and supplication, we know the continued at the temple at Jerusalem. Acts 1 basically tells us the Upper Room was their hotel, the temple was their place of prayer, supplication, praise and blessing of God. In reality, by Acts 2 the temple had changed, but the disciples were unaware.

We understand that Spirit-filled new creation men were the fulfilment of the Feast of Pentecost. Pentecost was a display of Christ glorified at the right hand of God yet gaining influence and supremacy through the yieldedness of the believer.

The Feast of Pentecost was fulfilled on the actual day of the Feast.
…to be continued