“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:1-4 NIV)
The beautiful creator God of the Universe chose to give the Holy Spirit during the Jewish observance known as the Feast of Harvest / Pentecost, which was 50 days after the crucifixion of Jesus. It was the celebration of the wheat harvest, and it marked when God appeared as a burning bush and gave the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai.
Pentecost was a national holiday where the people would be reminded of their time in Egypt and bring offerings to God to celebrate with great rejoicing in music and dance that they had been delivered from their bondage. Everyone was invited to this feast, including Levites, servants, sons and daughters, the fatherless, the widow, and even strangers (Deut 16:9-12).
The tongues of fire were a sign to the Jewish people that God was exceedingly pleased with those who had received Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. On at least three occasions, because God was pleased, He sent fire from above to consume a sacrifice (1 Chronicles 21:26; 2 Chronicles 7:1; 1 Kings 18:38). Each time this happened God was making an important point. In David’s case, He was forgiving his sin, halting a plague in Israel, and choosing the place where the future temple would be built.
On the day of Pentecost, God was showing the people that their sins were forgiven through the death of Jesus, the promised Messiah, and that He was stopping the plague of sin’s eternal consequence, as well as showing that those who become Born-Again are now His dwelling place and His temple, the new Holy of Holies.
In Solomon’s case, God was consecrating that location as the place where His name would dwell forever (2 Chronicles 7:16). The people’s reaction was to worship the Lord and say, “He is good; his love endures forever” (2 Chronicles 7:3 NIV). God was telling the crowd of people at Pentecost that those who become Born-Again by receiving Jesus as the promised Messiah were now consecrated for His glory, and He would dwell within them forever.
In Elijah’s case, God was shaming the prophets of Baal, whose god sent no fire, and claiming His rightful title as Lord God of Israel. The people on Mount Carmel “fell prostrate and cried, ‘The LORD - he is God! The LORD - he is God!’” (1 Kings 18:39 NIV) God was showing the people on the day of Pentecost that He alone is almighty God who alone deserves to be worshipped, honored, and praised forevermore, and the shed blood of Jesus destroyed the works of the enemy who is now powerless against the Church, and nothing will ever prevail against it.
THE NEW COVENANT OF GRACE
Pentecost was so incredible that it affected the entire human race and their relationship to God. Just as the the presence of God was seen as a Burning Bush on Mt Sinai, God, the Holy Spirit was given as a gift from the Father on that day as the confirmation that the New Covenant of grace - paid for by the shed blood of Jesus, and now written on the heart of every Born-Again Christian - is more effectual than the Law given at Mount Sinai that was written on stone (2 Corinthians 3:3-18). It also confirms that those who place their trust in Jesus find true deliverance and healing from the penalty of sin. There is no better reason to celebrate with great rejoicing in music and dance on that day!
Pentecost was the birthday of the Church universal. It began the ministry of the Holy Spirit, indwelling and sealing the Born-Again Christian at the moment of salvation, and the daily filling with power for the work of ministry. Prior to the day of Pentecost, a person could not be Born-Again and receive eternal life. However, there is an interesting one-time exception that I will address shortly.
THE ENDOWMENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
There are many titles given to the Holy Spirit. He is not a ghost or an apparition of God. Throughout Scripture, He is called the Eternal Spirit (Hebrews 9:14), the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 3:16), Truth (John 16:13), Grace (Hebrews 10:29), Life (Romans 8:2), Glory (1 Peter 4:14), Wisdom and Revelation (Eph 1:17), Comforter (John 14:26), Promise (Acts 1:4-5), Holiness (Romans 1:4), Faith (2 Corinthians 4:13), and Adoption (Romans 8:15).
The Holy Spirit endows the Christian with power to serve. He is not a power or tongues or a force but is a person who is fully God, co-equal with the Father and Son, and is a member of the Trinity. The primary work of the Holy Spirit is placing Christians into the body of Christ. Receiving power from God is actually being filled with a member of the Godhead Himself. The natural eye cannot see the Holy Spirit. Jesus compared Him to the wind:
“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8 NIV)
The natural wind can’t be seen, but the effects it produces can be seen, felt, and heard. When the wind blows, the trees bend, leaves rustle, the sea waves roll, and clouds move across the sky. These are all physical signs of the wind. So it is with the Holy Spirit. Even though He is invisible, whenever He appears, the effects can be seen, felt, and heard.
REGENERATION
Wind is often a picture of the “breath of the Almighty” that releases creative power and "gives me life" (Job 33:4 KJV, see also Psalm 33:6). In the Hebrew text, “wind,” “spirit,” and sometimes “breath” are the same word (ruwach). The Bible declares that at the beginning of Creation God first breathed His breath upon the waters of the Earth “...And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). God formed human beings "from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life. And man became a living person" (Genesis 2:7 TLB). It took His breath to create the Universe "By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth" (Psalm 33:6 NIV).
At the beginning of Jesus public ministry He read from the Book of Isaiah to declare that the "ruwach" of the Lord God was upon Him (See Luke 4:17 21). God promised that He would “pour out” His “Spirit on all people” (Joel 2:28 NIV). After His resurrection, and prior to the Day of Pentecost, Jesus re-generated ten of the Apostles when He “breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” (John 20:22-23 NIV). At that moment they were Born-Again because they received the Holy Spirit. A person cannot receive salvation by becoming Born-Again unless they are 100% filled with Him (John 3:3-4). However, those 10 Apostles were not yet endued with power until the Day of Pentecost. That was a totally separate and distinct experience.
The other 110 Disciples who were with them in the Upper Room were still not yet regenerated/born from above through salvation. They believed in Jesus, but they had yet to receive Him and become Born-Again. Believing that Jesus is God is not the same as receiving Him. Even the “the demons believe that and shudder” (James 2:19 NIV). This is also the case with the people of Samaria, Ephesus, and those at Cornelius’s house who were not yet Born-Again because they had not yet received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14, 10:44, 18:24).
After the resurrection, and before His return to Heaven, Jesus gave important instructions to His followers:
“I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49 NIV)
The promise was the sending of the Holy Spirit, “the Counselor… from the Father” who would “testify” or prove, affirm and demonstrate that Jesus is Lord so that all those who would put their trust in Him would “receive power” to be His “witnesses…both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (John 15:26; Acts 1:8 NIV).
This was not a new promise. The gift of the Holy Spirit had been promised in the Old Testament:
“...for with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people. To whom He said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing...” (Isaiah 28:11-12 KJV)
Jesus commanded every Disciple to:
“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 NIV)
THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.” (Colossians 2:9 NIV)
Every Born-Again Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation. They become God's Burning Bush.The Bible proclaims,
“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” (Romans 8:11 NIV)
These verses define a Christian’s position in Christ and not their condition. Salvation is the basis for acquiring the power, but it is not the actual appropriation of it.
The difference between the Old and New Testament ministries of the Holy Spirit is that, prior to the Day of Pentecost, His power came upon spiritual leaders at special times, but He did not take up residence within them.
Likewise, before a person is transformed at the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit is with them to draw them to Jesus, but this is not the same as being in them. Jesus promised the Disciples before He was crucified and resurrected that He would “ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor” who would not just live with them but would be “in” them when they become a Born-Again Christian (John 14:16-17 NIV).
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place at the moment a person becomes Born-Again. It is this baptism that makes the Christian complete in Christ. All that the Father is, Jesus is. “All the fullness of the Godhead bodily” dwells in Jesus (Colossians 2:9 NIV). This means that Jesus is the physical presentation of all that the Father is.
A person can’t be a Born-Again Christian and belong to God if the Holy Spirit is not 100% fully living inside them because “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Romans 8:9-11 NIV - see also John 14:20). Jesus prayed;
“that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21-22 NIV)
The Gospel is essentially the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It is obtained by faith and faith alone, plus absolutely nothing. Through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Christian is placed in Jesus because they “have been crucified with Christ… and…Christ lives in” them” (Galatians 2:20 NIV).
When Jesus died, the Christian died in their position with Him. In the same way, when Jesus was buried, they were “buried with Him by baptism,” just as Jesus was raised from the dead, they are “risen with Him” (Colossians 2:9-12 NIV).
After a person is converted and becomes Born-Again by repenting of their sins and receiving Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they also receive all of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. There is no partial filling. They are now “baptized into one body (the Church), whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been made to drink into one Spirit” and placed “in” Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13 NIV).
The Born-Again Christian is made “complete in Him” and immediately enters into the “the kingdom of God” because they received “Christ,” “the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27, 2:10; Luke 17:21 NIV). They are now a child “of God” and are given the power to overcome the enemy “because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (Romans 8:15; 1 John 4:4 NIV).
The Bible says that every Born-Again Christian has “been baptized into Christ” and has been “clothed…with Him” (Galatians 3:27). When they come to faith in Jesus, they receive all the blessings that are in Christ. These blessings are not received one day in the future once a person reaches some self-assumed place of ‘real’ holiness.
God's blessings are fully the possession of the Christian because they have already received them through Jesus. The blessings are received at that moment when the Christian first called upon Jesus to forgive them of their sins and become the Lord of their life. There is absolutely nothing that can be found outside of Christ that has any eternal value to it!
THE BLESSINGS OF BEING FILLED DAILY WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Bible says that the Holy Spirit is responsible for preparing Christians for the coming of the Lord. It is He who “began a good work,” and He “will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6 NIV).
The Born-Again Christian is implored to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18 ESV). The word “filled” in the Greek is “pleroo” and is in the continuous present tense, which means they are to be continuously filled with the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the continuous Burning Bush of God.
The Bible tells us that some time had passed after the day of Pentecost, the Disciples were one again “filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 13:52 ESV). The word “filled” used here is also the Greek word “pleroo” and implies they were continuously filled with the Holy Spirit. After becoming Born-Again, being filled with the Holy Spirit is not a one-time event.
BENEFITS
The Born-Again Christian needs the daily filling of the Holy Spirit for the endowment of power to serve. There are seven primary benefits and blessings of being filled daily.
1. Progressive Change
The character of the Born-Again Christian is “predestined to be conformed to the image” of Jesus, “in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29 ESV). The Holy Spirit living within them helps to shape and conform their character as they learn to yield themselves daily to His control through repentance and submission (2 Corinthians 5:17).
This work of the Holy Spirit is solely of God and nothing the individual Christian can do on their own. They were sanctified and declared holy by God at the moment of salvation, even though the sin nature is still present. The old nature is counted as dead positionally by God, but their daily ‘condition’ needs the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit for them to manifest the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit, which is a natural result of their union with Jesus making them a good tree (Galatians 5:22-23; Matthew 7:17-20).
2. Teaching and Training
Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would inspire the Disciples to write the New Testament (John 16:12-15). He illuminates the words of the Bible when the Born-Again Christian studies it to “show” themselves “approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV). This does not negate the need for education in the study of God’s Word but reveals that the person who is not Born-Again cannot in any way comprehend spiritual truth. Only a person filled with the Holy Spirit by becoming Born-Again can completely know God's truth.
3. Fulfill the Great Commission
Being led and guided by the Holy Spirit requires the daily surrender to God (Romans 12:1-2). An example of daily surrender is Abraham (See Genesis 24:27). Yielding oneself to the leading of the Holy Spirit in the ways of God is evidence of genuine salvation (Romans 38:14).
4. Assurance of Salvation
Assurance is not essential to being Born-Again. Rather, it is the privilege of every child of God and depends on the proper understanding of the Word of God as revealed by the Holy Spirit. He bears witness to the Born-Again Christian that they are a genuine child of God, who promised to never leave or forsake them (Romans 8:16; Hebrews 13:5; see also Galatians 4:6; 1 John 3:24; 4:13).
5. Worship
True worship is the adoration of God by those who know Him.
“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Ephesians 5:18-21 ESV)
Someone once said that praise is thanking God for what He has done, and worship is thanking Him for who He is. True worship is only possible by those filled daily by the Holy Spirit, and it does not necessarily result in any visible manifestation.
6. Prayer
The prayer life of any Born-Again Christian is inseparable from every aspect of their spiritual life. Genuine dialogue with God can only happen through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who is constantly interceding on their behalf because of their fallen old nature (Romans 8:26). There are times in life when challenges can become so overwhelming that the human mind can’t comprehend how, or what, to pray, which is why God has provided to those who want it, the gift of a heavenly language, known as tongues, to speak words daily to Him that bypass human understanding that is so often clouded by emotions and the pressures of life (1 Corinthians 12:10,14:4-5 ESV). The Apostle Paul said “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you” (1 Corinthians 14:18 ESV).
The Holy Spirit will also reveal the Christian's true needs and will guide their prayers to make requests of the Father that are beyond human wisdom to fully comprehend (Romans 8:26-27). The Born-Again Christian is admonished to pray “at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints” and by doing so, they “are building” themselves “up in” their “most holy faith (Ephesians 6:18; Jude 1:20 ESV; also 1 Corinthians 14:4).
7. Service
Asking for the daily filling of the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential for empowerment to serve the Lord. The ‘filling’ comes from the waters of the river of life that flow from the throne of God (John 7:38, 39; Rev 22:1). The Holy Spirit is the source of the unhindered continuous power within the Born-Again Christian. God has provided spiritual gifts that are intended to be given to those they come in contact. They may need a word of wisdom or knowledge, an infusion of faith, a gift of healing or miracle, a prophetic word from God, discernment of spirits, or words spoken in different kinds of languages, so that they can be lifted up, edified, encouraged and restored.
Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He has always been the giver of gifts to anyone who asks and will never change (Malachi 3:6). He is a good God and only gives the best (see Luke 11:9-13). All it takes to flow with this power and use His spiritual gifts to help others is the daily yielding of the will by dying to self through repentance and walking in humility by esteeming everyone more highly than yourself.
Do you want more of God and to be used as a vessel of His Glory? Now is a good time to be filled and empowered with the Holy Spirit. Are you ready?
