There are 5 descriptions of the early church that can be distilled from the early chapters of Acts. God’s new ekklesia (church), besides being the community of the forgiven, is also:
- the community of the outpoured Spirit,
- the blessed citizens of the eschatological City of God, the Heavenly Zion, living out their high calling and final destination and dwelling in the coming Heavenly Zion, while yet residing in the present evil world,
- the firstfruits of the last days remnant (the whole time-period between the two Advents of Christ), who are called to be ambassadors of Christ whose kingdom has already been inaugurated but not yet fully consummated,
- the true spiritual seed of Abraham by faith, and
- the people of God as the secured community of the forgiven in the full redemption from sin in Christ.
In this first study, attention is focused on the birth of God’s new ekklesia by the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, and how this dramatic event fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 2:2-4.
Contrasting pictures of the institution of the Old vs. New Covenants, each at the appointed time of the Feast of Pentecost, are then developed to show the superiority of the promissory covenant over the law covenant, which is further illustrated in the contrasting accounts of the 3000 slain for idolatry with the golden calf at the institution of the Old Covenant vs. the 3000 saved with the outpouring of the Spirit at the institution of the New Covenant.
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