Celebrating Pentecost

BY JOEL NEDERHOOD

Acts 2:1-4
Do you know what is May 18th this year? It is a religious holiday; it's our holiday. It is the day we celebrate what has happened to us. It's Pentecost!

If you're not sure what that is, here's a mini-refresher course. Many centuries before Jesus Christ was born, Pentecost was a harvest feast for the Jewish peoplethe Feast of Ingathering. Even then, it was a time of jubilation. But it wasn't till after Jesus came that the old harvest feast became the exciting holiday that we celebrate.

Penta means "fifty". It was fifty days after Jesus rose from the dead that the Holy Spirit of the living God began to live in the hearts of all believers. He came and stayed and never left. And that's why this is our holiday. Once the Holy Spirit comes into the lives of people, everything changes. They become totally different from what they were before.

New work. Now, Pentecost was by no means the first time the Holy Spirit came. In fact, in the very first verses of the Bible we read that the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters when God created the world. Later on, long before Christ came, we see in the Old Testament that the Spirit was at times quite active among God's people. He gave special talents to the artisans that built the first tabernacle; He gave the prophets the ability to speak the truth of God; and He gave judges and kings the power and wisdom to rule justly.

Before the cross, though, the Holy Spirit's work with God's people was
intermittent. He came and went. It was on Pentecost that a major change in the way God deals with His people took place. While the believers were praying together in a room in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit swept into their lives and made them into new people. This very same thing has been happening since. When people believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, they receive the Holy Spirit. It is part of their salvation.

Let's take a closer look at that first Pentecost and see what the Holy Spirit did to those disciples. We read in Acts 2:1-4:

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

1. Power of God

What do we see? First, we see power. When Jesus was about to ascend into heaven and enter into his glory, he told his followers, "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts 1:8). Jesus wanted them to know that they were going to receive power after the Holy Spirit had come upon them.

On the day of Pentecost the power of the Holy Spirit's coming was revealed in a "sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind". If you have ever been in a tornado, you know that when that fierce wind comes down out of the sky and blows houses to smithereens, you hear a sound that makes you think a freight train is roaring right over you. That's the kind of sound Jesus' followers heard when the Holy Spirit came.

I can see the people looking at each other and crying, "What's happening?" Well, God has come. He has come right here to be with us. Don't ever think that Christians are weak, helpless people. They have the Spirit of the Living God. They have the power of the Spirit.

A few years after Pentecost, the apostle Paul told the Ephesians that he had been praying that "the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know...what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places" (1:18-20).

Paul wants believers to know that the same power that raised Christ from the dead is now working in all those who believe. This is the power that enables people who are obedient to Jesus to overcome their sinful nature, as well as temptations from Satan and the world system.

2. Purification

Another thing we celebrate as we look back at Pentecost is purification. Besides hearing the rushing wind, Jesus' followers saw tongues of fire, flames dancing in the air. These
flames rested on every one of the assembled believers.

In the Bible, fire is the great purifier. Psalm 12:6 says, for instance:

The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Likewise, we read in Malachi 3:2,3:
But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi.
Thus, the amazing sign of flames resting on those believers means that the Holy Spirit was purifying them, making them holy.

We surely need to be purified. The corruption of human nature is so foul and deep-running that there can never be enough laws to straighten things out. Besides, when enough people get together and agree that certain forms of evil behavior are individual rights, society even passes laws to protect the very activities the Bible condemns.

But believers in God know that when the Holy Spirit comes, He does something laws can never do. He purifies people. The fire of God's refinery penetrates their hearts so that they become more and more like Christ.

3. Communication

Looking back at Pentecost, we celebrate also the great miracle of communication. Acts 2:4 says, "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." The Holy Spirit gave the disciples the truth about Jesus and equipped them to speak about it to others.

Most people can talk a lot, but few can communicate effectively. Many actually have to take courses on how to let others know what they have in mind. Public speaking is another gift that doesn't come naturally. Even good communicators are sometimes frightened out of their wits if they have to speak in public. Now, suppose you know how to communicate and you even know how to speak in public. What would you do if all of a sudden you had to make your presentation in a number of foreign languages? You wouldn't know where to begin, would you?

Well, on Pentecost there was a miracle that, in certain ways, is the greatest miracle in the Bible. The power of God came upon the followers of Jesus, and they began to speak in some fifteen or so different languages. Whenever I think about this, it staggers me. Most of these people were Galileans. They were not educated. But God so possessed them with His power that they not only spoke intelligibly in other languages, they spoke the truth of God. Verse 11 says that they were proclaiming "the wonderful works of God".

These believers were able to communicate the gospel only because they themselves have received that wonderful truth. You can't talk about something you don't know much about. So when you look back at Pentecost, don't just think about these people sharing the gospel to others; think also about God applying the gospel to these people, making it a part of their lives.

4. True Recreation.

What all this comes down to is something we are all interested in: Recreation. All of us realize that every once in a while we need recreation. We need a change of pace, we need to do something we really enjoy doing.

Literally, the word recreation is re-creation. Every once in a while, we want to be re-created. But while our recreation can rejuvenate us, recharge our batteries, make us feel better for a while, it doesn't really re-create us. The kind of recreation we celebrate on Pentecost, by way of contrast, is a glorious work of God that truly re-creates people. It transforms them. It makes them over. On Pentecost, the power of God came into the lives of Jesus' followers, changing them into a new kind of people.

Sometimes people get excited when there's a new cure for an illness that has long troubled us. Nowadays there is a big emphasis on exercise machines that one can use to stay healthy. But nothing really changes. Time always wins. We may live a little longer than people used to, but after a while we all slow down and finally die.

New Persons. On Pentecost, though, there was a total re-creation of the people who believed in Jesus. Just a few weeks before this, Peter had been a coward who cursed and swore that he had never known Jesus. But after the Holy Spirit had come upon him, as the latter part of Acts 2 shows, he stood up and daringly explained the wonderful works of God to the startled people who came to investigate the commotion. The Holy Spirit had so changed him that he never flinched again.

Centuries before this, God promised through the prophet Jeremiah that the day was coming when the followers of God would have His will written on their hearts. He said:

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them (31:34).
That promise was first fulfilled fifty days after Christ's resurrection.

Yes, Pentecost is about the re-creation of humanity. When God created humankind, he created our race perfect. There was perfect communication between God and man. That
fellowship was horribly disrupted by man's fall into sin, and humankind was ruined. It was only a matter of time before we would descend into total destruction.

But God intervened. He sent His only begotten Son into the world to pay for our sins, and He sent His Holy Spirit into the world to bring men and women to faith and to restore what had been so hideously disfigured.

And this re-creation is the beginning of life eternal. If a person believes in Christ and the Holy Spirit lives in that person's heart, that person will never, never be destroyed by death. Ephesians 1:13-14 says, "after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance" Meaning: the Holy Spirit is the down payment God gives us on the eternal life that we now possess.

At Christmas time we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Son of God; on Pentecost we celebrate the birth of God's new people. So there is every reason for us believers in Christ to be jubilant on Pentecost. "What a day!" they can say, "God has given us his power; he has purified us; he has given us a message to share with the world; and he has transformed us so that we are going to live forever and ever. What a day this is!" o

Dr. Joel Nederhood is Radio Minister on The Back to God Hour, a ministry of the Christian Reformed Church, 6555 W. College Drive, Palos Heights, IL 60463.

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