Church History

The history of the church began hundreds of years before its actual birthday. It began with the prophecy of Joel 2:28 and Zechariah 12:10. The Lord says, "It shall come to pass that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh and your sons and your daughters will prophecy. -"I will pour out my Spirit upon the servants and handmaids." Hundreds of years later, another prophet appeared, named John the Baptist, and announced that the promise of God was about to be fulfilled. He pointed to Jesus and said, "I baptize you in water, but He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 3:11) This is saying, "I give you the gift of repentance, but He will give you the gift of power." Soon after Jesus began His ministry, He was speaking to the woman at the well and said, "The water I will give you will be like a well springing up unto eternal life," speaking of the Holy Spirit. (John 4) Sometime later, at the great Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus cried out saying, "Whoever believes in me, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. This spake He of the Holy Spirit." (John 7:38&39) Toward the end of His ministry, He reminded the disciples that the promised Holy Spirit would soon be given to them and they would be endued with power from on high. (Luke 24:47) After the resurrection, He told them not to go away, but to wait in Jerusalem for the baptism in the Spirit. (Acts 1:5) Ten days later, on the day of Pentecost, 120 people had gathered together in the Upper Room, all in one accord, worshipping the Lord, and the promise was fulfilled. The Holy Spirit came upon each one. It was described as a mighty rushing wind that filled the room. They all began praising God in different tongues (or languages). Crowds came to see what was happening, and Peter rose up to explain what it was all about. The first thing he said was that the coming of the Holy Spirit upon them was what Joel had predicted long ago He ended his sermon with these words, "This promised gift is to you and to your children and to all who are far off." (Acts 2:41) Three thousand souls were saved at that meeting! The next day, Peter was preaching again to a large crowd and five thousand were saved. Later, at a prayer meeting, the whole building shook. (Acts 4:31) This was the kind of power Jesus was talking about in Luke 24:47. The Jewish leaders were furious about all this and threatened to kill Peter and John, but they didn't dare, because so many people were now converts. This was the beginning of the church. It was such a powerful move of God that onlookers said, "These people have turned the world upside down!" These kinds of events should be considered the normal church life. I can hear you saying, "What happened? What church is like that today?" Well, there had to be a colossal failure on the part of the new converts to grow spiritually. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, "you are still spiritual babies." They also failed to walk in the Spirit. Paul says in Galatians 3:1, "O foolihh Galatians, you can't go back to living in the flesh after being filled with the Spirit." Then of course, there were plenty of false leaders. Peter said, "There will be false prophets among you who will make merchandise of you, doing anything to get your money." (2 Peter 26:1-3) It's hard to believe that the people would backslide after such a tremendous beginning, but that's what they did. The false leaders pulled the wool over their eyes and took over the business. How did they do it? First, they used the old stratagem, divide and conquer. They split the people into two classes, the ordinary, common people, sometimes called the laity, and the elite, or clergymen. This pretty well killed the church. Most people are lazy and when a few say they'll take care of everything, the many say. "Wonderful, we can take it easy now." Up till then, the meetings were characterized by sharing, as described in 1 Corinthians 14:26, "Everyone has a psalm, a doctrine, a tongue, an interpretation, a revelation." Paul had urged them to covet (desire) earnestly, the best gifts, especially prophecy. (1 Corinthians 12:31, 14:39) For a while, Paul was proud of them. He said in 1 Corinthians 1:5, "You come behind in no gift. You've been enriched in all utterance and in all knowledge." That was the high noon of the church. But, with the false leaders taking over, all of this ended. The wonderful promise of people being filled with the Holy Spirit came to a screeching halt. The clergy said they would take care of everything. From then on, it was, what some call easy, or cheap, grace; become a member, pay your dues, and show up once in a while. The gospel message was watered down, water baptism became water sprinkle, join a confirmation class and you're in for sure. If someone asks, "What happened to the Holy Spirit baptism?" The answer, "Oh, that happens when you join the church." Well, as anyone could foresee, the church went into a steep decline. All of this was foreknown and foretold in Revelation 2 and 3, where Jesus describes the church age. From these two chapters, it looks like the church was a failed endeavor, but if we look carefully, we will see that in every letter to these churches, Jesus ends with a challenge to individuals, "He that overcomes (or conquers) shall be rewarded." It seems clear that the Lord is not expecting an overcoming church, but overcoming individuals. It was a long time after the first century that God again began to move. The reformation in 1500 was a true move of God setting the stage for the Holy Spirit revival by restoring the cardinal doctrines of justification by faith and priesthood of all believers. It wasn't until 1900 that the church experienced a true revival. Some people started reading the Bible and saw that they were missing something. They began seeking the Lord and He graciously restored to them the promised Holy Spirit. From then till today, the Holy Spirit has been moving all over the world. Some see this as a fulfillment of Luke 14:16-24, where the people that were first invited to the supper refused to come, so the Lord said go out and invite everyone, the poor, the lame, whoever wants to come. The marriage supper of the Lamb is about to take place. Everyone is invited, but as always, most people are too busy to heed the call. They will miss the greatest event of all history. For those who want to be there, this is the promise. "If ye, being evil, give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him." (Luke 11:13)