Ques. 76. Please explain how you find fifty days between the resurrection of the Lord and the coming of the Holy Spirit? W. H. H.
Ans. The word “Pentecost” means fifty, or the fiftieth; the allusion is to Leviticus 23. In that chapter we get two offerings on the morrow after the sabbath. The wave sheaf is the type of the resurrection of Christ (Lev. 23:10-14). There is no sin offering attached to that; it is the Lord Himself. Then seven Sabbaths were counted, and on the morrow after the seventh Sabbath, that is, the first day of the week, a new meat offering — “two wave loaves baken with leaven” — is offered. A sin offering accompanies it, for it is typical of the redeemed church, which, though redeemed, has sin in each member (Lev. 23:15-21).
In the New Testament we see that the Lord rose on the first day of the week, and was seen of His disciples forty days (Acts 1:3); then came His ascension. The disciples continued in prayer and supplication the rest of the period (not many days), till Pentecost, the fiftieth day, was fully come; then the Holy Spirit came down.
Ques. 77. What does Mark 4:26-29 mean? W. H. H.
Ans. Mark 4:26-29, compares the kingdom of God “unto a man that casts seed into the ground” who rising and sleeping day and night, allows it to increase without taking any notice of it. The earth produces thus fruit of itself, first the blade, then the ear, and then the full grain in the ear. Now when the fruit is ripe, the sickle is put in at once, because the harvest is come. Thus the Lord worked personally, sowing the Word of God upon earth; and at the end, He will return, and work again in person, when the time for the judgment of this world shall have come, but now, in the meantime, He remains seated at the right hand of God, as though He did not occupy Himself with His field, although in secret He does work by His grace, and produces everything. But it is not manifest. Without being seen, He works to make the seed grow in a divine way, by His grace, whilst apparently He allows the gospel to grow, without having anything to do with it, until the harvest. Then He will appear and will Himself work openly.” (J. N. D. Collected Writings)
Ques. 78. What do you think of the Passion Play? W. H. H.
Ans. To make the Lord Jesus and His finished work the subject of an entertainment is sacrilegious. Think how horrible it must be in the eyes of God, the Father, that men should dare to personify His beloved Son in the hour of His deep suffering as an atoning sacrifice!
Ques. 79. John 14:12. To whom does the Lord refer? Is it before the cross that those who believe shall do these works, or does it take in believers in this present time? What are the works referred to? J. E. K.
Ans. The Lord is speaking of what is true of believers when He would be with the Father. The Holy Spirit would then dwell in them, and what they did would be done in the power of the Spirit. The works would include such as Peter (Acts 5:12; 15:16), and Paul (Acts 19:11-12) did; but also to see Christ — “the life of Jesus” (2 Cor. 4:10-11) — produced in redeemed men, once under the power of sin, is more wonderful than to see the moral glory in all its perfection in Him who was ever and always altogether perfect. What care we should take to walk in the power of the Spirit ungrieved. (Eph. 4:30).