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Dwight Pentecost

J. Dwight Pentecost (April 24, 1915 – April 28, 2014) was an American Christian preacher, theologian, and educator renowned for his extensive work in biblical exposition and eschatology, particularly through his influential book Things to Come. Born in Chester, Pennsylvania, to a staunch Presbyterian family, he felt called to ministry by age ten, a conviction rooted in his upbringing. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from Hampden-Sydney College in 1937 and enrolled that year as the 100th student at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS), earning his Th.M. in 1941 and Th.D. in 1956. Ordained in 1941, he pastored Presbyterian churches in Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania (1941–1946), and Devon, Pennsylvania (1946–1951), while also teaching part-time at Philadelphia College of Bible from 1948 to 1955. Pentecost’s preaching and teaching career flourished at DTS, where he joined the faculty in 1955 and taught Bible exposition for over 58 years, influencing more than 10,000 students who affectionately called him “Dr. P.” From 1958 to 1973, he also served as senior pastor of Grace Bible Church in North Dallas. A prolific author, he wrote nearly 20 books, with Things to Come (1958) standing out as a definitive dispensationalist study of biblical prophecy. Known for his premillennial and pretribulational views, he preached and lectured worldwide, emphasizing practical Christian living and eschatological hope. Married to Dorothy Harrison in 1938, who died in 2000 after 62 years together, they had two daughters, Jane Fenby and Gwen Arnold (died 2011). Pentecost died at age 99 in Dallas, Texas, leaving a legacy as Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Bible Exposition at DTS, one of only two so honored.
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Sermon Summary
Dwight Pentecost emphasizes the theme of glorifying God throughout Scripture, illustrating how God transforms humble beings into instruments of His glory, as seen in the life of Moses. He highlights that the ultimate manifestation of God's glory came through Jesus Christ, who embodied grace and truth. After Christ's ascension, believers are called to be vessels of God's glory through the Holy Spirit, bringing praise to Him. Pentecost also points to the future hope of glory when Christ returns, transforming believers into glorified beings. The central message is that our lives should be dedicated to glorifying God in all circumstances.
Scriptures
Purpose to Glorify God
The theme of the glory of God runs throughout the Word of God. God's method of revealing His glory is to take lowly things, things that have no glory in themselves, and to transform them and use them as instruments to reveal His glory so that He may be glorified. . . God took the humble man Moses and so transformed him by the manifestation of His glory that he became an instrument to reveal the glory of God. . . . When God manifested His glory, there was an outshining of His glory in a radiance that could not be hidden. . . It is not until we turn to the New Testament that we read of the coming of this glory to the people of God. In John 1:14 John testifies that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth." . . . The glory that the Old Testament had spoken of and that the prophets had anticipated would be seen again, was manifested through the Person of Jesus Christ. . . . Jesus Christ's life in the flesh among men was a temporary manifestation of the glory of God. But after the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ, God did not leave Himself without a means of manifesting His glory. Ephesians 2:21-22 . . . "you are also builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." God's purpose . . . that believers should be instruments to bring praise and honor and glory to Him. 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 ". . . we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." God has chosen those who had nothing in themselves to bring glory to God, and through them--by a transforming work, by the power of the Holy Spirit--He will bring glory to His own name and to the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:1-5, says all that the Father has done, He has done "to the praise of the glory of His grace" (v. 6). . . Why has He redeemed us? "That we should be to the praise of His glory" (v. 12). . . That is why Paul says in Colossians 1:27 that "Christ in you" is "the hope of glory." It is not the individual who will manifest the glory of God; it is the transforming presence of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit who take up residence within the child of God that will manifest the glory of God. Yet even this form of manifestation is temporary, for our Lord will call to Himself through the glorious experience of resurrection and transformation every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Church will no longer be on the earth as a temple to manifest the glory of God (See John14:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). Matthew 24:30, "Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: . . . and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." . . . The Son of God will reign as King of kings and Lord of lords, sitting upon a throne of glory, as we read in Matthew 25:31: "When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory." God will manifest His glory to this earth when the Son of God, who is also the Son of Man, will receive the scepter to David's throne, and reign in power and great glory. God will be glorified in the personal presence of His Son on this earth as King of kings and Lord of lords. The Apostle Paul tells us in Colossians 3:4 that "when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." . . . The phrase "in glory" describes the condition of the child of God when Jesus Christ comes. Let me read it this way: "When Christ, who is our life shall appear, then you also appear with Him as glorious ones, or glorified ones." We shall be so transformed by the Son of God that we shall be instruments of praise to bring glory to God while the Son of God is manifesting the glory of God throughout His millennial reign on the earth and throughout the unending ages of eternity. . . . The Word of God puts primary emphasis on that glory which will come to Him when we are translated into His presence. . . He has chosen us that we might be instruments to bring glory to God. . . "I want Christ to be manifested in my body, whether it be by life, or by death." The compelling motive in the life of the child of God must be to glorify God (Designed to be Like Him, pp. 11-22).
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J. Dwight Pentecost (April 24, 1915 – April 28, 2014) was an American Christian preacher, theologian, and educator renowned for his extensive work in biblical exposition and eschatology, particularly through his influential book Things to Come. Born in Chester, Pennsylvania, to a staunch Presbyterian family, he felt called to ministry by age ten, a conviction rooted in his upbringing. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from Hampden-Sydney College in 1937 and enrolled that year as the 100th student at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS), earning his Th.M. in 1941 and Th.D. in 1956. Ordained in 1941, he pastored Presbyterian churches in Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania (1941–1946), and Devon, Pennsylvania (1946–1951), while also teaching part-time at Philadelphia College of Bible from 1948 to 1955. Pentecost’s preaching and teaching career flourished at DTS, where he joined the faculty in 1955 and taught Bible exposition for over 58 years, influencing more than 10,000 students who affectionately called him “Dr. P.” From 1958 to 1973, he also served as senior pastor of Grace Bible Church in North Dallas. A prolific author, he wrote nearly 20 books, with Things to Come (1958) standing out as a definitive dispensationalist study of biblical prophecy. Known for his premillennial and pretribulational views, he preached and lectured worldwide, emphasizing practical Christian living and eschatological hope. Married to Dorothy Harrison in 1938, who died in 2000 after 62 years together, they had two daughters, Jane Fenby and Gwen Arnold (died 2011). Pentecost died at age 99 in Dallas, Texas, leaving a legacy as Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Bible Exposition at DTS, one of only two so honored.