SHIFTING GEARS

And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna anymore… —Joshua 5:12

Israel ate manna for 40 years in the wilderness. Now they’ve arrived at their destination in the Promised Land and manna was no longer necessary. The wilderness journey was only a transitional phase going from Egypt to Canaan.

The Book of Acts is a “transitional” book (as well as Matthew and Hebrews). Acts takes us from one dispensation into another… from Law to Grace… from Israel to the church… from Jew to Gentile… from Peter to Paul. In Acts you will find a transition concerning the reception of the Holy Ghost.

• Acts 2:38— A person must repent and be baptized.
• Acts 8:12-17— A person must believe, be baptized and receive the laying on of an apostle’s hands. No speaking in tongues.
• Acts 10:44— A person simply believes. No baptism, or laying of hands. But there is speaking in tongues.

This may seem confusing, but when one realizes the transitional nature of the book of Acts, the confusion is resolved. Things are changing in Acts. Each time something new begins, you find a “shifting of the gears.” It isn’t until the latter half of Acts until things settle down into “high gear” we are cruising in today. The Holy Spirit is received immediately when a person trusts Christ as Savior, apart from baptism, laying on of hands, or speaking in tongues.

For example, when a car starts down the road there is a shifting of gears until it gets up to traveling speed. When the car is at crusing speed, the shifting of gears is completed and no longer necessary until the car comes to a stop. To continue to shift gears when the car is at traveling speed would be destructive to the mechanism of the car. So it is with the church age. Eventually, the church age dispensation will stop and the tribulation period will begin. At that point the shifting of gears will resume until things get up to speed in the Kingdom Age.