The Promise of Pentecost
Acts 1: 1 – 8
The forty days between the resurrection of Jesus and his ascension to the right hand of the Father must have been strange days indeed. They began with the disciples behind locked doors in an upper room in Jerusalem, hiding, we may assume, for fear of their lives—wondering if the same men who had taken Jesus would come for them. Then the risen Jesus himself comes to them, but for all that he is the same teacher and Lord that they have known for the last several years, he is also different. Now he moves through locked doors and seems to appear and disappear at will. Now, he is with them not as the constant companion and teacher they have known, but rather, sporadically, coming and going, leaving them to wonder what the next day may bring.
But as those 40 days draw to their close, Jesus begins to point his followers to some of the things that he had taught them in the time before his crucifixion. Particularly, he points them to the promises made, possibly in the very same room where they had been hiding; promises of a helper; promises of an advocate; promises of the Holy Spirit who would come upon them, empowering them to do the work of God.
On one occasion, this was the subject of discussion as they sat at table together. Jesus said,
“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1: 4 – 5)
Then later, the disciples asked what might have seemed to them like a significant theological question.
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”(Acts 1: 6)
But when Jesus replies, he tells them that such things are not really any of their concern. Rather, he wants them to focus on something else.
“It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses… (Acts 1: 7 – 8)
And, although these words are spoken at the time of the ascension, this is the promise of Pentecost.
“…You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you…”
It was Jesus’ promise to his disciples as he turned his face toward the Father’s right hand, and it is his promise to his people even today.
The thing is, we may not quite grasp what those words would have meant to his followers when they were first spoken all those years ago. You see, we’ve come to think of the Holy Spirit like a static force—a foundation which is always there between the building and the bedrock; always supporting, always lending its strength to the structure; but doing so in a manner so invisible to the eye, that we rarely ever stop to think about it. I mean, most of us are probably aware that if this building didn’t have a strong foundation, you probably wouldn’t want to be sitting in it (especially the way the wind blows around here), but when was the last time you actually thought about it.
Jesus, though, didn’t think of the Spirit in terms of static force. In John 7, Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit as a river of living (moving) water—a dynamic force, always working, always in motion. Like the wind. As he said himself in John 3:
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going... (John 3: 8)
and more still,
“So it is [not only with the Spirit, but also] with everyone born of the Spirit.”
This was demonstrated time and again in the Old Testament.
In the days when the Midianites oppressed the people of Israel, the angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. Nearby a young man was busy threshing wheat in a winepress to prevent the oppressors from seeing it and taking it away. Now I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about this, but in those days, the process of threshing involved throwing the wheat into the air so that the wind could drive away the chaff and only the grain would remain. That’s why threshing floors were generally built out in the open in places where the wind was likely to blow so that the process would actually work. Now picture a wine press, kind of a big barrel that’s designed for a completely different task; and hunkered down in this press where the wind would never really blow is this young man trying to separate the wheat from the chaff. I picture him trying to hide, but every now and then, there’s this little poof of seed that shoots up out of the barrel and then falls back down in. What a sight!
And then the angel comes and he speaks to the young Gideon, saying,
“The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
The irony of the situation is not lost on Gideon.
13 “But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”
14 The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
15 “But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” (Judges 6: 13 – 15)
Like Moses, the “mighty warrior” Gideon replies, “Here I am, Lord, send someone else…”
But God had other plans, because the key to Gideon’s and ultimately Israel’s success will not be Gideon’s might or strategic genius; rather, God promises, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.” (Judges 6: 16) And when the time was right, we read that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and with only 300 soldiers, he defeated the whole Midianite army and drove them from the land.
Samson too. We’ve likely pictured him as this burly, muscle-bound, Arnold Schwarzenegger-like character (only with Fabio’s hair-do) but there’s not really anything in Scripture to indicate such a thing (except for the hair). Instead, what we find in Scripture is that when Samson encountered a situation where strength was required to deliver either himself of the people of Israel, then the Spirit of God came upon him and empowered him to do what needed to be done, whether it was slaying a lion with his bare hands or a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey.
The same for Othniel, and Jephthah, Zechariah, Saul, and David. Their power did not lie in their own strength or wisdom or in the strength of their armies. Their power was found in the Holy Spirit of God who came upon them to equip them for the various tasks to which God had called. And this is the context of Jesus’ promise—the promise of Pentecost—and this promise—this idea, “…You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you…” needs to be understood in this way.
The promise of Pentecost was not an easy chair in which to sit, or even a rock on which to stand or a pillar on which to lean. The promise of Pentecost was the promise of God’s own power, at work by his Holy Spirit in the lives of his people. This is how the disciples would have understood it, and this is how we need to understand it; because the task that Jesus before his followers (including ourselves) as he ascended to the right hand of the Father was bigger than anything ever imagined by Joshua, or Gideon, or Samson, or David.
Jesus said, “Make disciples of the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to do everything that I have commanded you to do.” And how are we going to accomplish this? How are we going to change the world? How are we going to prevail against the gates of Hell itself? In our own strength? I don’t think so. But then, that was never God’s intent. He didn’t mean for us to persevere in our own strength. He didn’t mean for us to conquer in our own power. He didn’t mean for us to prevail in our own wisdom. He meant for us to be filled with his own Holy Spirit. He meant for us to receive his own power to do and to endure.
Even in the context of the great commission Jesus said, “I am with you always…” and here, in Acts one, we have his own promise, fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, “…You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be witnesses…” He promised to be with us and he promised to empower and to equip us with his Spirit for the task at hand. This is the promise of Pentecost, and in gratitude, may we stand and sing our praise in the words of Hymn number 416, stanzas 1 and 3 of “For Your Gift of God the Spirit”.
The Promise of Pentecost (part two)
Acts 1: 1 – 8
Pastor and author John Ortberg tells the story of an evening when he was walking with some friends in Newport Beach, California. As they walked they passed one of the local bars just as a fight spilled out onto the street, like a scene from the old west. As they watched, three men proceeded to beat up a single opponent, who was already bleeding quite freely.
Well, they realized that they had to do something, even though they didn’t have a lot of experience in that sort of thing; in fact, Ortberg writes that breaking up drunken brawls was not a strong area of spiritual passion or competence for any of them. In spite of that, they went over to speak prophetically to the aggressors, feeling pretty certain that once they intervened, they might easily become the next victims.
But as they began to warn the men to break it up, suddenly the thugs looked up with fear in their eyes, let their victim go and turned to walk away. At that point he realized that the men had actually been looking over his shoulder, so he turned around and saw what he describes as one of the biggest men he had ever seen. Ortberg writes, “He stood 6 foot 7 and weighed about 250 pounds or so, with perhaps 2 percent body fat. If Hercules had married Xena, the warrior princess, this could have been their child.” He goes on to say, “We called him ‘Mongo’, but not to his face.” And Mongo didn’t say a word. He just stood there with muscles bulging, looking as if he hoped they would try to take him on. He was a bouncer at the bar, and this was “an area of massive, breathtaking competence for him,” Ortberg writes. “Breaking up fights was [Mongo’s] spiritual gift.”
And in that moment when he realized what had happened, John Ortberg’s attitude was transformed. He was released from anxiety and fear. He was filled with boldness and confidence. “You’d better not let us catch you hanging around here again!” he called out after the retreating thugs. And why? Because he realized that he was not alone. Mongo had his back. Someone was standing beside him who was more than capable of dealing with the situation.
And isn’t this what happened at Pentecost when the promised Holy Spirit cam in power? We read in Acts chapter 2 that on that day, Peter “stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd…” (Acts 2: 14).
And, yea, Peter. You remember him. He was the one who just 53 days before had denied even knowing Jesus, cursing, and swearing that he was not one of the disciples because he was afraid that there might be a cross with his own name on it lurking in the shadows somewhere. The truth is, there was, but on the day of Pentecost, it didn’t matter anymore, because on that day, his attitude was transformed. He was released from anxiety and fear. He was filled with boldness. “People of Israel,” he cried out. “Be assured, God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” And what’s the difference. On Pentecost, Peter realized that he was not alone. The Holy Spirit “had his back”. Someone was standing beside him who was more than capable of dealing with the situation.
Of course, the promise of Pentecost, was not only for those who were there all those years ago. Peter said to the crowd, The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call,” (Acts 2: 39) which means that the promise is for us too. The power of Pentecost has been there ever since for all of the people of God.
So what is it that fills you with anxiety and fear? What is it that makes you feel alone? What is it that makes you feel helpless? Maybe there’s a temptation with which you struggle and you’re just sure that you’ll never win. Maybe there’s some situation at work or at school where you know that you need to take a stand for Christ, but you’re afraid that you’ll end up standing all alone. Maybe there’s some task in the church or in the kingdom of God that you can see needs to be done, but you’re reaction has always been, “Here am I Lord, send…someone else.” Maybe there’s some friend or some member of your family who you know needs to hear the good news that Jesus did not come into this world to condemn the world, but so that the world through him might be saved, but you’re afraid—afraid of being rejected—afraid of being laughed at. It could happen—it really could. There really was a cross with Peter’s name, just waiting in the shadows.
But it doesn’t matter anymore. Jesus said, “…You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you…”
You can overcome that temptation in the power of the Holy Spirit. The apostle said, “Submit to God, resist the Devil and he will flee from you.”
You can use the gifts that Christ has given by his Spirit to serve him and to build his kingdom. After all, if a frightened farmer can face down the armies of Midian in the power of the Holy Spirit, surely it’s not such a great thing to serve on council or to teach a Sunday School class.
You can share the gospel with that friend or family member who needs to hear about the love of God. As Jesus told one reluctant evangelist, “Go, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you,” and later he promised that as they did, then his own Spirit would put words in their mouths.
You can stand for Christ, even if it means standing alone because really, you are not alone, and you are not helpless. There’s no need to be afraid. There’s no need to be discouraged. God has your back. Someone is standing right beside you who is more than capable of dealing with whatever situation you may be facing. This is God’s promise for you and I, for those who are far away and those who are near, as many as the Lord our God shall call.
This is the promise of Pentecost.
