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Saturday, March 20, 2021

A Pentecost on Passover?

The first person to speak in tongues in the famous Azusa Street Revival did so on 9 April 1906. This was the 14th day of Nisan, that is, Passover. (Use https://www.hebcal.com/converter to check.) Just a fluke, or truly an appointed time? Yet the Pentecostal renewal in 1906 didn't come easily; extended and fervent fasting and prayer led up to it.

The history seems all the more pertinent for my home country (and many others) when we consider that the Revival came through the preaching of an African American, William Seymour—an object of ethnic prejudice in his time. And there seems rich irony in that Seymour was blind in one eye; he could "see" better than his contemporaries what the unseen God wanted to do!

May the LORD strengthen us to seek Him wholeheartedly in our days, and at the imminent Passover, that we too may be refreshed by his Holy Breath!

1 comment:

  1. The date on the Hebrew calendar is a little bit iffy, it seems. One source states that Lee asked Seymour to pray for the gift of tongues at 18:00 on 9 April 1906, and by 19:30 Seymour went to another venue to testify that Lee had received the manifestation. Sunset that day in Los Angeles was at 18:19.

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