Wind And Fire

Wind and Fire

By Pastor James May

The Passover Feast was over, Jesus had risen from the grave, and after appearing to many of his disciples for 40 days after Passover and the resurrection, He led a few of them out to the Mount of Olives near Bethany. At the exact place where his feet left the ground, Jesus will return one day to put his foot upon this earth once more. He left this earth as victor and conqueror of death, hell and the grave, and He will return soon as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His power and majesty will be so great that when the foot of the Creator touches the Mt. of Olives that He created, that mountain will spit in two.

But for now, Jesus was gone back to Heaven from whence He came. He is seated at the Father’s right hand as our advocate against all the accusations of our enemy, Satan.

Just moments before Jesus began to rise from the earth He had something very important to say to the disciples that stood there. These would be the last words that Jesus would speak while on earth.

After calming the fears of the disciples and opening the scriptures to their understanding, Jesus told the disciples the reason that He was crucified; the reason that He had suffered, bled and died. He explained all of the scriptures of the Law and how that He had fulfilled it all for one single purpose – That men could be saved from sin.

Luke 24:47, " And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."

It was a wake-up call to the disciples and to the church. They had a work to do, a message to share, and it was time for them to get busy.

But as important as that message was, and still is, we must note that Jesus delayed their work for a little while. Jesus came to earth and took on the form of flesh that men could see God’s love in person, making that first step to bridging the gap between a Holy God and sinful men, so that man could believe on him and be saved – but He stopped the church from spreading the word for a while. He was crucified; taking upon Him the weight of sin for the whole world, so that we could be victorious over sin through His shed blood – but He delayed the message of forgiveness of sin for a little while. Jesus was buried and lay in the grave, then resurrected on the third day, so that he could destroy the power of death, hell and the grave, for the express purpose of giving you and I, and all men, eternal life where we would never have to experience the horror of those things – yet he delayed the preaching of the gospel to anyone for a while.

Why would Jesus go through all of that, only to tell his church to wait for a while before spreading the word and winning souls that Jesus knew were hanging in the balance? In those few days of delay, how many lost souls would leave this world without Jesus when they could have been reached with the gospel? What was so important for us that would cause Jesus to stop the preaching of the gospel even for a few days? There had to be some all-important business that was absolutely necessary before the church could accomplish its mission to spread the gospel!

In Luke 24:49 Jesus gave us the reason for the wait, "And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."

Before they could accomplish their mission the church needed something else, something that would bring them into a higher place in God where they could do mighty works for the Lord Jesus Christ and build His church. For 10 days, they held a prayer vigil in the upper room in Jerusalem. They prayed for the promise of the Father to come as Jesus had said. They prayed, they waited, they watched, and they wondered what that “Promise” would be? How would they know when it came? They really didn’t know, but they knew that it would come, just as Jesus had said, so they kept praying.

I can imagine what may have been going through their minds. When will the Promise come? What will it be like? What difference will the “Promise” make in me? Will I feel any different, act any different or talk any different? Can I really receive the “Promise”? I want all that God has for me, but I don’t know what to expect!