You will remember when our Lord was on earth, He said, " I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." (Matt. 15:24).
After His resurrection, and just before His ascension, He used vastly different language. He said to His disciples, " Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (Matt. 28:19, 20).
Thus was fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy, " I will also give Thee for a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth." (Isa. 49:6).
Pentecost, meaning fifty, is a word of Greek origin, the language from which our English Bible was translated. It answers to the New Meat Offering (Lev. 23:15-21), which took place fifty days after the Feast of the offering up of the Sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest, answering to our Lord's resurrection.
What occurred fifty days after our Lord rose from the dead? We know that He remained on earth for forty days, appearing again and again to His disciples, demonstrating to them that He was indeed their risen Lord. Just before His ascension to glory He said to His disciples, " 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." (Luke 24:49).
On the tenth day of their waiting, the disciples, to the number of about one hundred and twenty, were found in an upper room in prayer and supplication, when the promise of the Father fell upon them.
We read, " And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:1-4).
In this impressive and striking way the Church of God was inaugurated on this earth, composed of every saint of God—our Lord, the glorious Head in heaven; believers, members of that body by the indwelling Spirit of God, thus united to their glorious Head in heaven, and to each other on earth, constituting the one body of Christ. So we read, " From whom [Christ] the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." (Eph. 4:16).
The symbolism of a body, its head and members, shows what a very close and intimate place the Church has in the mind of God. What can be closer to a man, than the members of his own body? This intimacy, and the love that made it possible, is touchingly described in Scripture, " Christ... loved the church, and gave HIMSELF for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." (Eph. 5:25-27).
How very dear must the believer be to his Lord, and how very near we may be to that blissful presentation day. No wonder that the Church has been called God's masterpiece.