The Inauguration of the Kingdom - The Background of Pentecost

Pentecost is the salvation-historical bridge between the former age of preparation for God's kingdom and the present age of its realization and growth. Because Jesus is the Last Adam, His resurrection marked the inception of the new creation, but, as it applies to the created order itself, the kingdom of the new creation began at Pentecost. And because the new creation is the work of the Spirit (as it was with the first creation), the Spirit's outpouring is a central Old Testament kingdom theme, and so also the focal point of the Pentecost event. The coming of the Holy Spirit is the most recognizable aspect of scriptural fulfillment as it pertains to Pentecost (ref. Acts 2:14ff), but there are other more foundational aspects of that fulfillment - aspects that inform the purpose and meaning of the Spirit's outpouring. This message examines two of those aspects, in that way laying the foundation for considering the particular features and larger significance of Pentecost.