THE 120
THE 120
Tuesday Morning Bible Study
7-7-2020
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Before the day of Pentecost, if anyone of the 120 were asked to clearly define their expectation before the experience, they could not.
So, it will be the same as we move into this move of God on earth. Surely, you know it is God moving in the whole earth creating this upheaval.
The seemingly unimportant crew of 120 had no idea they would become the first fruits of God’s new order.
Genesis 6:3 reveals the number 120 as the end of the life of flesh: The LORD said, “My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.”
On the Day of Pentecost, God announced the end of one order and the beginning of another. God does not end anything without the seed of the new being extracted out of the old. On the day of Pentecost, God permanently ended a dispensation that had lasted for two thousand years.
The 120 people in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost were caught squarely in the midst of a new heavenly manifestation. They were just as clueless as the current Church is clueless about what to expect. The most spiritual one of those in the upper room were completely blown away by what God did.
The consummation of the waiting period had ended and the inauguration of the new age had begun. It gathered the multitude, and at the same time confused and perplexed them. It completely cut against the grain of what was anticipated during the festive season. They were in Jerusalem to celebrate and recycle the previous economy of God and His commands.
Pentecost was a divine intrusion into the economy of humanity to terminate one thing and initiate another. During the course of the economy of Law, religious spirits had taken ownership of the things of God. The traditions of the elders usurped Godly commands and instructions.
Mankind seems to excel in the art of recycling---passing through a cycle, creating a rut, and doing the same thing over and over again. The apostate church’s economy is famous for constructing institutions out of one-time encounters. In the meantime, God is doing a new thing.
We can apply the principle of the “120” to the death of Aaron and Moses.
Num. 33:39Aaron was a hundred and twenty and three years old when he died in mount Hor.
Deut. 31:2He (Moses) said unto them, I am a hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in.: The LORD has said unto me, you shall not go over this Jordan.
Deut.34:7Moses was hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.
Moses’ death sealed God’s economy of the Law written and delivered to the Priests and God’s covenants with Israel. The end of the destruction of their flesh in the wilderness and the entrance into the Promised Land.
Faith is needed to embrace something one cannot logically explain. With all the prophets and scribes on earth, none have been able to explain what God is doing at this time. But, this one thing we do know, God is the one who is in charge and He is exposing and overturning all wickedness in the earth. We have cried out for Him to do this. The Holy Writ makes it clear there will be an a head-on, end-time, supernatural confrontation between the corporate son of hell and the corporate Son of God, the Church.
The Church in the upper room was seeking God. They had an expectation of God fulfilling His Word. They sought God. He rewarded them.
God inhaled the obedience, unity, fervent prayers, and the spirit of rest that was upon the 120 before He exhaled. God is only moved by His purpose. Whenever God breathes, get prepared. Things are blown away, and it’s not very encouraging at first. It could be compared to the rotation of a violent whirlwind removing every unnecessary, unproductive superstructure off the foundation.
Visualize a release from God that man’s strength, knowledge, and military power cannot steady, pollute or control; a move of God so pure that nothing can defile it.
Each move of God created an ending and a new beginning; not just spiritually, but in the Earth.
The Church of the New Testament has had many revivals and renewals. For almost 2000 years, the church has been a Pentecostal economy. Jesus was crucified on Passover 32 AD. The year is 2020. In 2032, it will be a full 2000 years.
We, the Church, are pressing into the LORD to break out of our dilapidated cisterns and drink from the Fountain of Living Waters. We must have fresh manna every day as we face the challenges of our time.
The challenges we face have revealed our partisan differences. As Christians, we have seen passionate divisions over race, prophetic revelation, and government. This should not be. We should be in “one accord” with the same passion for Jesus.
The Acts church became a new wineskin, a kind of first fruits of all the new generation represented. Nothing other than a violent breath of God would dislodge them mentally from the old paradigm. The rebuke of Jesus earlier had settled the disciples jockeying for position, power, and prestige. Although only 120 strong, they were one body.
There were at least 15 different dialects present when Pentecost fully came. They were just as clueless as us. They were stuck, busy recycling what God used to do. God builds and advances from the foundations of the last thing He did.
In the 21st century, tremors and shakings are everywhere in the Earth with heavenly sound waves rippling to and fro. Any country one would visit will have all the spiritual, social, political and economic indicators that God has arisen in His great power.
The harvest of the Earth is ripe.
Like the 120, in the upper room, let us gather unto Jesus and hear His command. COVID 19 forced down our conferences and large Christian gatherings. A new kind of gathering will begin to emerge. A holy remnant is being ushered into a new kind of upper room to be caught up into a new dimension of Kingdom activity that cannot be replicated by the strategies of man.
Jesus took ignorant and unlettered fishermen and places them at the head of the new dispensation. Peter gave a valedictory address to the old order. The apostles had no reputation. They had nothing to lose---nor will they take God’s glory for themselves. Unqualified people are under no illusions! You will hear them heralding that without Jesus and the empowering effectiveness of the Holy Spirit, they can do nothing.
When God moves, there is a line in the sand. On one side are the things we know everything about---doctrines, faith, disciplines, songs, and strategies. On the other side is the unknown; and through our heart of faith, we follow the call.
Isa. 43: 18-19: Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
God changes not; but He is a creator God. He continues to create and release greater glory. Christ is our Passover. Two thousand years ago that was a new thing. Because of the Passover, we enjoy introduction into the New Covenant through new birth, death to the old man, water baptism in the name of the Lord, divine healing, and many other privileges. These are all new things because of a new thing.
New things are locked within the structure of Pentecost. We have the indwelling of God the Father, God the Holy Spirit and God the Son. We have the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We have the gifts of Jesus in the ministries. We have access to hearing and seeing into the realm of the Holy Spirit.
Every new thing in God exceeds the glory of the former things. That’s why God said in Isaiah 43:18: “Do not remember.” We have to have new mind sets. Remove the religious tracks from our brain.
When something has been good and worked for us, how can we suddenly forget it? We do not drink new wine because we think the old is better. God will overtake us with the blessing. He clobbers doubt. He silences fear by reminding us that He still does the impossible.
The word of the Lord says, “Leave! I’ll tell you where you are going once you get there!” This kind of blind faith requires total trust.
1 Pet. 1:3-5: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
“Ready to be revealed in the last time” – not all of God’s glory and blessing for His Church has yet been revealed. We have this to look forward to. That’s why God’s forecast says: I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
When Isaiah was prophesying almost three thousand years ago, this would take an outstanding miracle. In the 21st century, it is no big deal. God is infinite. Impossible tasks do not limit Him. God is prepared to exceed our highest thoughts and expectations. In every new wave of glory, He exceeds all the previous things He has done.
Elijah challenged backsliding Israel, “How long will you falter between two opinions?”
Elijah repaired the torn-down altar of Israel and illustrated her responsibility to it. The altar is the place of conviction, judgment, and resolve. We spiritually appraise ourselves and not others. That judgment should be left to God alone, who dwells in unapproachable light and therefore sees clearly the hearts of all human beings. At the altar, we stop courting the old order and finally enter into covenant with the new.
In 2020, the Church can ill afford to wobble between the old and the new, failing to move in any specific direction. We must purpose to come on one side or the other of the line in the sand. It is impossible to answer destiny’s knock when we are double-minded and spiritually weakened by duality.
The release of God on the Day of Pentecost meant that the Church, as a fresh wineskin, has entered the fast lane into God’s new age. The blast of God’s breath broke every constriction and propelled them beyond any limitation. Their entire spiritual and mental paradigm changed instantly and dramatically. The fountains of their deep broke forth in a chorus of praise decreeing new beginnings.
In 2020, we are again facing a spiritual ground-zero. September 11, 2001, was an awakening as the reality that our covering of grace had been penetrated. Our established structures of faith, government and education began to pass away and be taken over by the Assyrian. Violence, rioting, terror became a regular part of the daily news.
By divine law, nothing happens in Earth until someone speaks it in the right timing of God. When all things are ready, the Heavens refuse to be silent.
When nature is ready to reveal a thing, it cannot be hidden! Likewise, when the Heavens are ready to reveal a thing, nothing on Earth can stop it.
Passover is in the Outer Court.
Pentecost is in the Holy Place
Tabernacles is in the Holy of Holies/Most Holy Place.
The Kingdom of God is at hand---for those who have pressed on to know the Lord. Jesus the Lord, the Overcomer, the Head of the church, and the fullness of the Godhead bodily is magnified. Stepping through a rent veil, the Church transitions from anointing to glory---partaking of Christ’s throne as the overcoming Church.
It is surely the realms of the Most Holy Place which will be released to the spiritual 120 as we press in during these days of reformation.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K. J. V. – I entered into the labors of Stephen Everett, The Sound That Changed Everything, Treasure House. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of Stephen Everett.