And when the day of Pentecost was fully come,
they were all filled with
the Holy Ghost,
and began to speak, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts
1 : 1 - 4
In the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the work of Christ culminates.
The
adorable mystery of the Incarnation in Bethlehem, the great Redemption
accomplished on Calvary, the revelation of Christ as the Son of God in the
power of the Eternal Life by the Resurrection; His entrance into glory in the
Ascension--these are all preliminary stages; their goal and their crown was the
coming down of the Holy Spirit. As Pentecost is the last, it is the greatest of
the Christian feasts; in it the others find their realization and their
fulfillment. It is because the Church has hardly acknowledged this, and has not
seen that the glory of Pentecost is the highest glory of the Father and the
Son, that the Holy Spirit has not yet been able to reveal and glorify the Son
in her as He would. Let us see if we can realize what Pentecost means.
God made man in His own image and for His likeness with the distinct
object that man should be in the image and likeness of God Himself.
[Genesis 1:26 "And God said, Let us make man
in our image, after our likeness:
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."] Man was to be a temple for God to
dwell in. Man was to become the home in which God could rest. The closest and
most intimate union; the indwelling of Love in love: this was what the Holy
One longed for and looked forward to. What was very feebly set forth in type
in the temple in Israel became a Divine reality in Jesus of Nazareth:
God had
found a man in whom He could rest; a man whose whole being was opened to the rule of
God's will and the fellowship of His love. In Jesus there was a human
nature
possessed by the Divine Spirit; and such God would have had all men to be.
And
such all would be, who accepted this Jesus and His Spirit as their life.
The death of Jesus was to remove the curse and power of sin. [S-i-n
is the weakness,
shame, corruption, and death brought into the existence of man by the
once-forbidden knowledge of good-and-evil. The death and
resurrection of Christ-man Jesus overcame the overwhelming power of
death.] The death and resurrection of the Christ-man, Jesus, makes it possible
now for mankind to receive His Spirit. Jesus' resurrection was the entrance of human nature, free
from all the weakness of the flesh, into the life of Deity; the Divine
Spirit-life. Jesus' ascension was admittance as Man into the very glory of God;
the participation by human nature of perfect fellowship with God in glory;
a unity of the Spirit. And yet, with all this, the work was not yet complete.
Something, the chief thing, was still wanting. How could the Father dwell in
men even as He had dwelt in Christ? This was the great question to which
Pentecost gives the answer.
Out of the depths of
Godhead the Holy Spirit is sent forth in a new
character and a new power such as He never had before. In creation and nature
the Holy Spirit came forth from God as the Spirit of Life. In the creation of man specially
the Holy Spirit acted as the power in which mankind's god-likeness was grounded, and which, even
after his fall, still testified for God. In Israel the Holy Spirit
appeared as the Spirit of
the theocracy, distinctly inspiring and fitting certain men for their work.
In
Jesus the Christ, the Holy Spirit came as the Spirit of the
Father, given to and abiding within Jesus without measure. All these are
manifestations in different degrees of one-and-the-same Spirit. But now, there comes the
last and the long-promised: an
entirely new manifestation of the Divine Spirit. The Spirit that has dwelt in
Jesus and in Jesus' life of obedience has taken up Jesus' human spirit into
perfect fellowship and unity: the Spirit of the exalted
God-man. As the Christ-man, Jesus enters the glory of God and the full
fellowship of that Spirit-life in which God dwells. Jesus receives from the Father
the right to send forth this Spirit into His disciples, yea, in the Spirit, to
descend Himself and dwell in them. In a new power which hitherto had not been
possible because Jesus had not been crucified or glorified, the Holy Spirit
now comes. The work of the
Son and the longing of the Father receives its fulfillment. Man's heart is now
indeed the home of his God.
Said I not truly that Pentecost is the greatest of the Church's feasts?
The mystery of Bethlehem is indeed incomprehensible and glorious. But when once
I believe it, there is nothing that does not appear possible and becoming.
That
a pure, holy body should be formed for the Son of God by the power of the Holy
Spirit, and in that body the Spirit should dwell? It is indeed a miracle;
a work of
Divine Power. But that the same Spirit should now come and dwell in the bodies
of sinful men? That in them also the Father should take up His
abode? This is a
mystery of grace that passes all power of human understanding. But this, glory be to God! is
the blessing Pentecost brings and secures. As the Son of God,
Jesus entered into
our flesh in Bethlehem. The Christ-man's entrance into the curse and death of sin
as our Surety; His entrance into human nature as First-begotten from the dead into the
Power of the Eternal Life; His entrance into the very Glory of the
Father--these were but the preparatory steps. The Feast of
Pentecost is the consummation for
which all the rest was accomplished. The word now begins to be fulfilled:
"Behold! The tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them."
It is only in the light of all that preceded Pentecost, of all the
mighty sacrifice which God thought not too great if He might dwell with sinful
men, that the narrative of the outpouring of the Spirit can be understood.
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is the earthly reflection of Christ's exaltation in heaven; the participation
He gives to His friends of the glory He now has with the Father. To be
apprehended aright, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit needs a spiritual
vision. In the story that is so simply
told the deepest mysteries of the Kingdom are unfolded, and the title-deeds
given to the Church of her holy heritage until her Lord's return. What the
Spirit is to believers and the Church, to ministers of the word and
their work, and to the unbelieving world: these are the three chief thoughts.
1.
Christ had promised to His disciples that in the Comforter He Himself
would again come to them. During His life on earth, the
Christ-man's personal manifested
Presence as revealing the unseen Father was the Father's great gift to
men. This was to be their portion
now in greater power than before. Christ had entered the glory with this very
purpose, that now, in a Divine way, "He might fill all
things." He might
specially fill the members of His body with Himself and His glory-life.
When
the Holy Spirit came down, He brought as a personal Life to dwell within
their Souls what had
previously only been a Life near them; a Life outside their own lives. The very
Spirit of God's own Son, as He had lived and loved, had obeyed and died, had
been raised and glorified by Almighty power; that Holy Spirit was now to become their personal
life. The wondrous transaction that had taken place in heaven in the placing of
their Friend and Lord on the throne of heaven; this the Holy Spirit came to be
the witness of, yea, to communicate and maintain within them as a heavenly
reality. It is indeed no wonder that, as the Holy Ghost comes down from the
Father through the glorified Son, their whole nature is filled to overflowing
with the joy and power of heaven; with the presence of Jesus.
Their lips
overflow with the praise of the wonderful works of God.
Such was the birth of the Church. Such must be its growth and
strength. The first and essential element of the true succession of the Church is a membership baptized with the Holy Ghost and with
fire;
every heart filled with the experience of the Presence of the glorified
Lord;
every tongue and life witnessing to the wonderful work that God had done in raising
Jesus to the glory of His Throne and then filling His disciples with that
glory too. It is not so much the Baptism of Power for our preachers we must
seek; it is that every individual member of Christ's body may know, and
possess, and witness to, the Presence of an indwelling Christ through the Holy
Spirit. It is this that will draw the attention of the world and compel the
confession to the Power of Jesus.
2. On the Day of Pentecost referenced in Acts 2, a polyglot company of believers awakened
keen interest and questioning in the surrounding multitude. And Peter stood
up to preach. The story of Pentecost teaches us the true position of the
ministry and the secret of its power. A church full of the Holy Ghost is a
power of God to awaken the careless and attract all honest, earnest hearts.
It
is to such an audience, roused by the testimony of believers, that the
preaching will come with power. It is out of such a church of men and women
full of the Holy Ghost that Spirit-led preachers will rise up, bold and
free. Peter's preaching is a most remarkable lesson of what all Holy Ghost
preaching will be. He preaches Christ from the Scriptures. In contrast with the
thoughts of man, who had rejected Christ, Peter sets forth the thoughts of God,
who had sent Christ, who delighted in Christ and had now exalted Christ at His right
hand. All preaching in the power of the Holy Spirit will be thus.
The Spirit is
the Spirit of Christ; the Spirit of His personal life taking possession of our
personality and witnessing with our spirit to what Christ has won for us.
The Holy Spirit has come for the very purpose of continuing the work Christ had begun on
earth: the work of making men partakers of His redemption and His life.
It could not be otherwise. The Holy Spirit always witnesses to Christ.
The Holy Spirit witnesses to Christ in the Scriptures. The Holy
Spirit witnesses to Christ in the believer. The believer's testimony will ever be according to
Scripture. The Holy Spirit in Christ, the Holy Spirit in Scripture, the
Holy Spirit in the
Church; as long as this threefold cord is kept intertwined, it cannot be
broken.
3. The effect of this preaching was marvelous, but not more marvelous
than might be expected. The Presence and Power of Jesus are such a reality in
the company of disciples; the Power from on High, from the Throne, so fills
Peter; the sight and experience he has of Christ, as exalted at the right hand
of God is such a spiritual reality that power goes out from Peter, and as his
preaching reaches its application: "Know assuredly that God
has made Jesus both
Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you all crucified."
Thousands bow in brokenness of
spirit; ready to acknowledge the Crucified One as their Lord. The
Holy Spirit has
come to the disciples, and through them the Holy Spirit convinces the world of unbelief.
The
penitent inquirers listen to the command to repent and believe and they
also receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. These are the greater works Christ had promised to do
through his disciples. In one moment, lifelong prejudice and even
bitter hatred give way to surrender, and love, and adoration. From the
glorified Lord, the power of the Holy Spirit has filled Peter's
body. And from the Holy Spirit has gone forth Godly power to
conquer and to save.
Pentecost is the glorious sunrise of that day; the first of those
days of which the prophets and our Lord had so often spoken. The
fully-come Day of Pentecost is the promise and
the pledge of what the history of the Church was meant to be. It is universally
admitted that the Church has but ill-fulfilled her destiny. It is
universally admitted that even now,
after eighteen centuries, the Church has not risen to the height of her glorious
privilege. Even when she strives to accept her calling, to witness for her Lord
unto the ends of the earth, the Church does it too little in the faith of the
Pentecostal Spirit and in the possession of her Lord's Mighty Power.
Instead of
regarding that first fully-come Day of Pentecost as sunrise, the Church too often speaks and acts as if it had been
noonday from which the light begins to wane. Let the Church return
to Pentecost and Pentecost will return to the Church. The Spirit of God cannot take
possession of believers beyond their capacity of receiving Him. The promise is
waiting; the Holy Spirit is now present in all His fullness. Our capacity of reception needs
enlargement. This capacity will come at the footstool of the
Throne where believers continue
with one accord in praise and love and prayer. Waiting at the
footstool of the Throne on the Holy Spirit only intensifies the
spirit of waiting and expectation. Faith holds fast to the
Promise of Christ in confidence that the Christ of God will make Himself known in
power in the
midst of His people. It is at the footstool of the Throne that Pentecost
comes. Jesus the Christ is Lord of all, crowned with power and glory.
His
longing to reveal His presence in His disciples and to have them share the
glorious life in which He dwells is as fresh and full as when He first ascended
the Throne. Let us take our place at the footstool. Let us yield ourselves in
strong, expectant faith, to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to testify for
Jesus. Let the indwelling Christ be our life, and our strength, and our
testimony. Out of such a Church, Spirit-filled preachers will rise and
Real Power go forth that will make Christ's enemies bow at His feet.
O Lord God! We worship before the Throne on which the Son is seated with
Thee, crowned with glory and honour. We thank and bless Thee that it is for us,
the children of men, that Thou hast done this, and that He in whom Thou
delightest belongs as much to earth as to heaven, to us as to Thee.
O God! We
adore Thy love: we praise Thy Holy Name.
We beseech Thee, O our Father, to reveal to Thy Church how our Blessed
Head counts us as His own body, sharing with Him in His life, His power, and
His glory, and how the Holy Spirit, is the bearer of that life and power and
glory. The Holy Spirit is waiting to reveal Thy Life within us.
Oh, that Thy people might awake to
know what the Holy Spirit means as the real Presence within them of the
glorified Lord, and as the clothing with Power from on high for their work on
earth. Oh that all Thy people might learn to gaze on their exalted King until
their whole being were opened up for His reception, and His Spirit fill them to
their utmost capacity!
Our Father, we plead with Thee in the name of Jesus! Revive Thy Church.
Make every believer to be indeed a temple full of the Holy Ghost. Make every
congregation, in its believing members, a consecrated company ever testifying of a
present Christ, ever waiting for the fullness of the power from on high.
Make
every preacher of the word a minister of the Spirit. And let throughout the
earth Pentecost be the sign that Jesus reigns, that His redeemed are His body,
that His Spirit works, and that every knee shall bow to Him. Amen.