In Jesus Holy Name May 19, 2024
Text: John 14:26 & 15:26 Pentecost Redeemer
“Pentecost: The Great Transfer”
After His resurrection Jesus spent 40 days visiting His disciples. He showed up in the most ordinary circumstances: two disciples walking along a road, a private dinner, a woman weeping in a garden, some fishermen working on a lake. He told them to remain in Jerusalem until they received the Holy Spirit.
Let’s review the timeframe:
John 7 Feast of Tabernacles October
John 10 Feast of the Dedication December
(In 4 months Jesus will celebrate the Passover and be arrested)
John 11-18 Passover, Arrest, Crucifixion
Luke 24 Resurrection and Resurrection appearances
Acts 2 50 days after Passover is the Feast of Pentecost
During the Passover meal, Jesus told His disciples: “It is better for you that I go away.” Why would Jesus make such a statement? Because Jesus knew a transition was coming. Jesus was not going to leave His disciples as orphans.
Transitions are never easy for the child or the parent. Watch a mother stand by the mail box and wave good bye to her kindergarten child as he or she steps on to the bus for the first time. That is a moment of earth shaking reality. For one, a moment of release with tears and worry, for the other it is stepping into a personal world of independence.
Watch families drop their son or daughter off on a college campus, thousands of miles from home. Another moment of transition for which both have been preparing since kindergarten, for the parent both a sense of pride and loss, for the one leaving home and going to college, excitement and the opportunity to experience, independence and responsibility.
Our relationship with God is the ultimate parent-child relationship and transitions are not easy for the Divine parent nor for us. Jesus who had been with His disciples in person was leaving but would He be “inside” them by the power of The Holy Spirit. (from Jesus Speaks; Leonard Sweet p. 82)
During those 40 days, after His resurrection, Jesus was teaching His disciples a new way to know Him. It would be a transition of learning to recognize Jesus, by His physical body, and physical voice, and in the future could hear His Voice without seeing His physical body. It was a time of transition. So they remained in Jerusalem waiting.
Jesus’ followers were gathered in prayer. Not separated from society, but smack-dab in the center of Jerusalem, in an upper room where they had been meeting, waiting, praying. Jesus knew how His message of salvation would be sent beyond Jerusalem, beyond Judea, beyond Samaria. Soon Jews from all over the empire would gather in Jerusalem. The Day would be Pentecost.
Pentecost was one of the three feast days on which all the Jewish men were required to appear in Jerusalem at least once in their lifetime. Pentecost was one of the busiest days of the year in Jerusalem as men and women from all over the world made their pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The divine timing was precise.
The Great transfer of the Holy Spirit, the arrival of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost was to replace the physical body of Jesus and establish the church. The “church” would become the “living body” of Jesus, which would carry on all that Jesus had initiated on earth.
After being with the disciples for 40 days Jesus ascended into heaven. His parting words reminded them that His Father would give them the Advocate, the Counselor, the Holy Spirit. They were to remain in Jerusalem until that moment. He told the disciples that when His Holy Spirit arrived: “the primary purpose of the Holy Spirit would give them the words they need to become witnesses to Christ, And the Holy Spirit would equip the church, the new physical body of Christ, as the witness His life and message.
The moment of transfer of God’s Holy Spirit from Jesus to the disciples began with the roar of a mighty wind, without a curtain being stirred, filled the Upper Room. The Spirit of Jesus then took the disciples into the streets with tongues of fire proclaiming the message of salvation through Jesus.
Those who had gathered in the street heard the disciples speaking in their own home town language. Many in this crowd knew the facts. They had seen or heard how Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. Some of them had shouted a welcome to Jesus when He entered Jerusalem in triumph and watched Him cleanse the temple.
No doubt some of them had watched three condemned men carry crosses through the streets of Jerusalem the month before. They had seen the Roman death squad finish Jesus off with a spear to His heart.
2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ, God's Son, put Himself between death and humanity in an action which had never been done before, which could never be done again. Jesus took upon Himself the condemnation and the destructive force of sin (II Corinthians 5:21) and died so the rest of humanity might be redeemed from the wrath of God against our broken commandments. Then 3 days later He rose from death and the grave.
To this crowd, Peter offers two pieces of information. Two things they can understand. #1 “men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth is a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst….” Works, wonders, and signs describe the miracles Jesus did. The word “work” means that Jesus set aside the normal laws which govern this world… (like walking on the water) The term “wonder” is the reaction which should have been felt by anyone who saw any of the humanly impossible things which Jesus did. (Mark 1:21) They were amazed…
Finally Peter speaks of a “sign”. The sign is that every miracle Jesus performed demanded an answer… Is he the Messiah, the Savior of the World, that God had promised Adam and Eve, Abraham for generations.
In other words….”Do you know any one else who raised people from the dead? Like Lazarus?
Peter continues with reason #2 “You remember Jesus of Nazareth? Of course, you do! How could you not. You and your leaders put him to death last month. You used the Roman governor to have Him crucified.
(read Acts 2:22-24
Well, that same Jesus has now been raised from the dead. The grave could not hold him. He is alive. Peter did not let them off the hook. Now is the day of salvation, repent and be baptized every one of you for the forgiveness of sins and the reception of the Holy Spirit.”
On the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit that dwelt in Jesus filled the disciples and has filled and every Christians since that day. Christian theologian John Stott said: “One cannot be a Christian without the Holy Spirit. “The Christian life is life in the Spirit. It would be impossible to be a Christian, let alone to live and grow as a Christian, without the ministry of the gracious Holy Spirit of God.” In the apostle Paul’s words, “….. if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.”
If you want a clear test to discern where the Spirit is genuinely present in power, then you must hear that Jesus Christ is being proclaimed with clarity, truth, and conviction, Then watch to see if people are being conformed to Christ’s likeness, demonstrating His characteristics. This is the work of the Spirit, The Spirit moves the church into the world. That is how it has always been since the day of Pentecost,
In the book of Acts Holy Spirit is quite prominent person of the Trinity. That was not the case in the Old Testament. He was present and active at creation. He was active in inspiring the prophets and anointed and empowered various leaders of Israel, including judges and kings, especially David.
However, He is not described as empowering the ordinary Israelite living under the Old Covenant. That becomes reality in the New Testament. He first causes the conception of the Messiah, then later anoints and empowers the ministry of Jesus. (Matt. 1:20–21; Luke 1:34–35, 3:21–22). Then at Pentecost the Spirit breaks forth in full intensity, launching, empowering, and guiding the church on its mission, to share the Jesus story.
Jesus speaks most fully about the Holy Spirit in John chapters 14–16. In these chapters, we see that far from being an impersonal force, the Spirit is a person, “another counselor” who takes Jesus’ place when he returns to the Father; the Greek word for another means one of the same kind. The Spirit is a divine person just like Jesus but, unlike Jesus, he has not become incarnate, taking on human nature and a physical body. (read John 1416-18) There’s that promise again: “I will not leave you as orphans.”
2nd read v 26 John 16:8-9
The Spirit carries on the work of Christ and makes him personally present to us in this world (Article “Discipleship And The Holy Spirit” C S Lewis Institute)
