faith in the Lord's promised restoration (Jer. 32:15), and Barnabas sold land

to demonstrate the same conviction.

The law that governed the sale of land is found in Leviticus 25.  The

voluntary act of Barnabas in selling his acquired land and placing the

proceeds at the apostles' feet is in direct contrast with the action of

Ananias.  He, too, sold a possession; he, too, laid the proceeds at the

apostles' feet, but with the difference that he kept back part of the price,

while pretending that he had given all.  The apostle makes it quite clear

that there was no compulsion about the selling of the land when he says,

`while it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not

in thine own power?' Ananias sinned in that he lied to the Holy Spirit.  The

sin of Ananias was the sin of Achan.  The reader will find that the very

words used of Achan

in Joshua 7:1 are used of Ananias.  The LXX reads enosphisanto apo tou

anathematos, `appropriated for themselves a part of that which was devoted'.

Acts 5:2,3, twice applies this particular expression to Ananias and Sapphira:

`kai enosphisato apo tes times', `and kept back part of the price'.  This is

no place to discuss the passage in Joshua, but the interested reader is urged

to weigh over the arguments contained in the article on `Achan, the troubler

of Israel' The Berean Expositor, Vol. 26, pp. 37 -41, which show that the

word, `accursed thing', should be understood as `a devoted thing', i.e.

devoted to the Lord.  Peter and the apostles stood somewhat in the same

position as did Joshua, and wielded the same awful discipline.

Pentecost anticipates the Millennium; the gifts are called `the powers

of the world to come' (Heb. 6:5), and so the summary judgment of the day of

the Lord is seen to be in operation during the early days of the Acts:

`He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within My house: he that

telleth lies shall not tarry in My sight.  Morning by morning will I

destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers

from the city of the Lord' (Psa. 101:7,8).

Millennial characteristics are also seen in Acts 4:23 -26, where the

opposition of the rulers to the ministry of the apostles is regarded as a

partial fulfilment of the last times:

`And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all

that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.  And when they

heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and

said, Lord, Thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the

sea, and all that in them is: Who by the mouth of Thy servant David

hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain

things?  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered

together against the Lord, and against His Christ' (Acts 4:23 -26).

The language of the passage clearly shows the minds of the apostles

fully occupied with millennial expectation.

Such is the setting and dispensational significance of Pentecost.

People.  Of the thirteen words translated `people', one Hebrew, and one Greek

are of importance in the teaching of Dispensational Truth.  Am in the Hebrew

and laos in the Greek.  The word am occurs in Genesis 11:5,6 and 14:16, but

with the third reference, namely in Genesis 17:14,

it takes on a distinctive meaning that persists right throughout the Old