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Pentecost Reading: Acts 2

  The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost 2  When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.   2  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.   3  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.   4  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues [ a ]  as the Spirit enabled them. 5  Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6  When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7  Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?   8  Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?   9  Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadoci...
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The Church at Sardis as the Davidic Covenant

  Shema   And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. This is Tabernacle / Temple imagery.    The transitional prophet is Samuel.  Historical Prologue  “ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.  As the Sinaitic Covenant gives way to the Monarchial Covenant, we enter the story after the events of Judges.     The people were at their nadir by the end of that narrative, but faith, hope, & love abide in the form of Ruth & her family & Samuel, Israel’s last Judge.  General & Specific Stipulations  2  Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.  Life in Israel begins looking up under Monarchial rule.    However, there is a substandard king on the throne & the land is at war with Dagon & the Phili...
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The Church at Thyatira as the Sinanitic Covenant

  Shema  And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze. Within Revelation itself, we are reminded of His appearance to John when he was removed from Patmos to  heaven.  John was in captivity & exile.    In Exodus, Israel is in captivity & in exile in Goshen.   As the Lord paracleted John on Patmos, so the LORD in Exodus paracleted Israel in Egypt. This also refers to Moses on Sinai with the LORD.  Historical Prologue  19  “ ‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.  The LORD prophesies over the two generations in the Mosaic narrative.  One generation was delivered out of bondage in Egypt.   The LORD winnowed them, & the second generation is the one who conquered Canaan.  Subsequent ...
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The Church at Pergamum as the Abrahamic Covenant

  Shema   Rev. 3:12  “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. Historical Prologue  13  “ ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.  Antipas : Like a father/in the place of a father.      This refers to Noah, both literally & figuratively.    As the transitional prophet with whom Abraham would share root covenant administration during the transition between the Aegis & Patriarchal Covenants, Noah casts a long & deep shadow over this era.    This text also refers to the cycle memorialized in the story of the Tower of Babel.    “I know where you dwell (Babel), where Satan’s throne is (Babylonia/Assyria/Babylon/Media-Persia/Greece/the Seleucid Era/Rome…” Yet you hold fast my name, ...
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The Church at Smyrna - The Noahic Covenant

  Shema   8  “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. Historical Prologue  This corresponds to conditions at the end of the Antediluvian Covenant & the beginning of the Aegis Covenant.  9  “ ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) It was a time of tribulation & poverty (an age of toil & sorrow).    Nevertheless, not all was lost.  Toil & Sorrow, tribulation & poverty  Genesis 6:1 - 7 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  6  And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.  7  So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made t...
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The Church at Ephesus as the Adamic/Antediluvian Covenant

  Revelation   Chapter 2 Shema To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands  These are the 7 / 8 Covenants.    Each one is “in” the other.  Historical Prologue 2  “ ‘I know your works, your toil the and your patient endurance,  The first administration of the Covenant of Grace was an age of toil & sorrow that required patient endurance.  and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.  This describes the struggle between Cain & Abel, who are not two literal people.    Rather, they are two people groups, the sons of God & sons of man/the devil.     People contended with one another.     As humanity was refined, some emergedr as faithful & true; others called themselves as apostles (sons ...
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