JESUS’ SPIRIT

Acts 2:1-13

 

PENTECOST AND JESUS’ SPIRIT

The subject of Jesus’ Spirit is mostly known for its absence from public discussions.  It is strange that one of the most popular subjects (over 500 references) in the Bible is rarely mentioned with little or no commentary in public.  If we run a Google search on the subject of “Holy Spirit,” we get 1,200,000 hits, which seem like a lot, but if we run a search on “Satan,” we get some 42,500,000 hits.  This simple inquiry illustrates the apparent imbalance in our culture between what is important and what is not.  Our culture votes 2% for The Spirit and votes 98% against.  Many consider this subject too controversial, too mystical, and too misunderstood to be politically correct in most deliberations.  Few, with the exception of some cults, will openly deny the existence of Jesus’ Spirit, the Mormons being an example.  Most, however, believe Jesus’ Spirit is somehow a part of the triune God.  The role of God’s Spirit, or Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of God is infrequently the subject of serious consideration.  Starting with the trinity, The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, and considering Jesus The Son is one with The Father [John 14:9] then it seems appropriate to consider Jesus one with The Spirit [John 14:6, 17, 26].  It is logical that things equal to the same thing are equal to each other.

 

Who is The Spirit, The Holy Spirit, The Holy Ghost, God’s Spirit, or Jesus’ Spirit, as He is sometimes called?  These names are all equivalent to the same personality and characteristic of God The Father.  The original readers of Paul’s letter to the Galatians knew something about Jesus’ Spirit because they had heard about or seen Jesus’ Spirit working up close and personal.  Today we are so insulated with worldly wisdom and propaganda that this subject has been suppressed into a politically incorrect issue and we are blinded to Jesus’ Spirit working in us and for us. 

This blindness in the works and personality of Jesus’ Spirit is evidenced by the ubiquitous confusion about the identity of a Christian.  What is the definition of a Christian, anyway?  A good answer is --- “If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead” [Romans 10:9] then you are a Christian; this is a very good definition.  The operative phrase here is “Jesus is Lord,” which means only God’s “Will” matters to the Christians.  This means we believe that God is Sovereign; He has control over both our thoughts, and our emotions [Romans 8:9].  Such belief is reasonably impossible without the help of Jesus’ Spirit.

Many professing Christians erroneously claim that being a Christian is about being a “good person,” following God’s commands, or going to church every Sunday.  These things may be or may not be indicators of a Christian nature.  Such characteristics are not the scriptural criteria for being a Christian.  Jesus said that His salvation rested upon being “born again” [John 3:3] and that this birth was dependent upon the action of God’s Spirit [John 3:6].  The so-called “good person” is developed from nothing and, because of The Spirit’s action [John 1:12, 13] operating under God’s grace [Ephesians 2:4-9], is then made good, alive, and conformed to Jesus’ image [Romans 8:28].  Such considerations as these cannot help but give us an appreciation for the importance of Jesus’ Spirit in our lives.

What does Jesus’ Spirit do?  Too few Christians recognize that Jesus’ Spirit initiates the Christian life [Galatians 3:3]; this is an action of Jesus’ Spirit; Jesus’ Spirit manages the Christian life [John 16:13]; Jesus’ Spirit lives in the Christian [Ephesians 3:16]; and Jesus’ Spirit gives the Christian assurance He is controlling all things [Romans 8:16, 28, 29].  These steps of recognition clarifies the differences between calling, justifying, and glorifying [Romans 8:30].  Omitting Jesus’ Spirit from the commission of these various phases, results in confusion and misconceptions about God’s ways and our purpose.  Omitting Jesus’ Spirit indicates a lack of scriptural foundation.  In studying God’s word, we can gain a needed appreciation of who Jesus’ Spirit is, the things He does, and the benefits we can gain in this life because of His grace.

Controversies regarding the Coming of Jesus’ Spirit

The pervasive training in our “culture” tries to ignore, offers substitutes, and avoids any way possible the reality of Jesus’ Spirit in our lives.  We like the stories we have been told about how we are in control of our lives.  We like the idea of a loving God being far off who becomes available to us when we call for help.  We like the idea that our efforts buy us favor with God.  We like the idea that our positive thoughts are more important than the hard to accept words we see in God’s word.  After all, our knowledge about these things comes from books and scholarly people who tell us this comfortable knowledge must be true.

Epistemology is a term used in philosophy to classify the study of knowledge.  This study is supposed to explore the reasons behind what we think we know and believe to be true.  Most of knowledge originates from facts that do not support any foundational evidence.  Our books, lectures, observations are commentaries coming from authors who have researched available information derived from someone else’s research.  Proofs and facts, as we think we know them, are often disproved in a generation or so.  We all learn from these dynamic and capricious information-generating sources in a very haphazard way.  We lack any inherent or natural discipline to develop original information on our own.  Therefore, our “foundational” knowledge that we hold so dear is based mostly upon opinions held by others who are just as confused as we are.

This confusion is irrelevant to the level of education, intelligence, or social standing.  All we have to do to verify this disturbing assertion is to read our newspapers.  The reporters disagree about the same story from one newspaper to another or from one channel to another.  The facts are always disputed before the ink dries.  One reader will disagree about the meaning of the report if it is discussed with someone else, even when it is so “clear” in our own minds.  Historians will disagree among their fellow colleagues at any time in the past or present or future.  The dilemma at the center of all of these disputes has always been the definition of truth.  In epistemology, the truth must be irrefutable for it to qualify as the truth.  Therefore, truth is dependent upon its source, which must be perfect in order to be true.

The ridiculous study of knowledge is futile without the leading of God’s Spirit.  Only God’s Spirit is the source of the perfect truth.  This means if our knowledge, position, or interpretation is not based upon the leading of this perfect and omniscience source of information it is foolishness [1 Corinthians 1:18-25].  It does not matter what we think or what we think we know or what we have been told by some “creditable” source if it is not verifiable by God’s word or the leading of His Spirit, which are never in disagreement, then our knowledge is foolishness.  Our world in full of disinformation that is not verifiable by God’s word.  These bits of foolishness are generated by the author’s and the reader’s desire to find their own truth in the pursuit of satisfying their own agendas.

There are three types of disinformation.  (1) The type of information that is helping us in some way.  Most technical information, or laws, falls into this category.  We all can see our technical world change, some say, it changes every 18 months.  (2) The type of information that neither harms us nor benefits us in any way is the second category.  Baseball scores could be an example of this type.  Naming all the VP’s since Adams could be another example.  This type of information gathering can become an unhealthy time consumer when taken to an extreme.  (3) The third type is a belief that is wrong, as defined by God’s word.  The acquisition of this type of disinformation usually takes place over a long period.  It becomes deep-seated and develops its own defense mechanisms, which resist any change.  Dislodging this third type is impossible without the help of God’s Spirit.  As faith develops, this third type of information is slowly moved from number 3 into the number 2 category. 

There seems to be a great deal of the number 3 disinformation scattering around our culture about Jesus’ Spirit.  Some contend that we must work diligently to secure or prevent our losing our salvation.  That our success in this effort is directly related to some alleged inherent power we have in our nature.  If we embrace this power, some call it our conscience, and thereby we will be able to gain God’s favor.  This favor then in turn leads to our eternal salvation.  If we ignore this power, we lose any chance of having a good relationship with God.  In essence, such theology as this is advocating the notion that we are masters of our own destiny.  Even a causal reading of the scriptures will tell us such a theology, as this, is untrue.

The scriptures tell us that our initial condition coming into this temporal domain is by nature completely hostile towards God and His nature [Romans 3:10-18].  No one has initially any good in them, not anyone, according to the scriptures.  In fact, we are born spiritually in a condition just like someone who is dead [Ephesians 2:1-3].  A dead person has no conscience and cannot do anything, let alone establish their personal destiny.  God because of His unmerited love for those He chose [Ephesians 1:4] to change from this condition made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgression [Ephesians 2:4, 5].  It is by God’s grace this new life is made possible.  It is given to us through His gift of faith [Ephesians 2:8, 9].  The power to change the dead into being alive is God’s grace, and this power is transmitted through the communication channels of our mind and emotion via a mechanism called faith.  It is “by” grace and “through” this faith that this new life is born.  The Greeks are very specific about the use of the word “by,” gar, which is a primary particle to convey the reason for “why.”  In Greek for “though” is a word, “dia,” that means to describe the channel of passage.  Notice this is all identified as a gift from God.  It is not because of any human decision or effort [John 1:13].  This transition from death into life is called God’s act of justification [Romans 8:1, 30].  It is all God’s business.

A major problem among a large number of saved Christians is a widespread confusion between justification and sanctification.  These are two very separate Biblical conditions.  God initiates justification according to His pleasure and will [Ephesians 1:5] then He starts a conforming process, which is managed by Jesus’ Spirit.  This conforming process [Romans 8:29] is called sanctification.  Justification is an event and sanctification is a process that always begins at the time of justification.  No one should confuse these two actions, which are always governed by Jesus’ Spirit.  Justification begins in a moment (an instant in eternity) and sanctification takes a lifetime.  When the phrase being “lead by God’s Spirit” is used, it means --- The Spirit is working out His unique plan for each and everyone who has been justified.  It is through God’s Spirit [John 16:13] that the good life (sanctification) emerges, and it is through Christ’s sacrifice that justification is initiated [1 Peter 1:2].  Mixing these two actions together in any way causes confusion, guilt, and doubt.  Keeping them separate provides the groundwork from which faith grows love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Most disputes, concerning these heavy issues, among Christians can be mitigated by agreeing on some mutually accepted positions.  Agreeing that the Bible is the Word of God is a good place to start.  Then find other areas in the Bible that formulate commonly believed doctrines.  When both parties can send their disagreement to the number 2 category, then the disagreement will cool down considerably.

There are some basic principles that should never be shuffled off as just disputable matters [Romans 14:1].  Three such principles are:

1.      God is Sovereign [Colossians 1:15-20]

2.      God is constructing His family [Romans 8:29]

3.      This life is our classroom [Galatians 5:16-18]

  

The Gift of Jesus’ Spirit

 

Every Christian needs to celebrate God’s amazing provision in the giving of His indwelling Spirit.  We do not have to understand this gift all we need to do is acknowledge and follow His leading.  The Bible tells us that God’s family is joined together in Christ by one Spirit [Ephesians 4:4].  This one Spirit is at the epicenter of our relationship with God.  Jesus’ Spirit initiates our eternal life at the beginning of this relationship [John 1:13, 3:6, Galatians 3:3, Ephesians 2:4-9].  Jesus’ Spirit then guides and manages this relationship throughout our lives [John 14:26, 16:13].  This guidance gives us an assurance by witnessing to our spirit telling us we are in God’s family [Romans 8:16, 28, 29, Hebrews 7:22].  We are promised that nothing can separate us from God’s abiding care [Romans 8:35-37], which is managed by Jesus’ Spirit.

Such a relationship has not always been the case.  Before the coming of Christ’s Spirit, God sent His Spirit to individuals for a specific purpose.  For example, God called Bezaleel to craft special items for the Tabernacle [Exodus 31:1-5].  Samuel was given the power to prophesize to God’s people [1 Samuel 10:9-11].  Ezekiel writes of his experience with the Spirit of God telling him of the coming of His Spirit to all of His people [Ezekiel 11:18-25].  The Spirit of God was seen descending like a dove lighting on Jesus [Matthew 3:16].  God has always worked His plan out according to His plan and in His time, without change or variation.  We do not have to understand what He is doing or all about what He has done.  We just need to appreciate that He is Sovereign and He is always doing it His way.

Jesus told His disciples that He must return first to The Father before The Counselor, God’s Spirit, His Spirit, could come to dwell in God’s children [John16:7, Ephesians 3:16].  This Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom The Father sent in Jesus’ name, will teach His children all things [John 14:26].  Then Paul specifies that as many as are led by The Spirit of God, they are the sons of God [Romans 8:11].  Those who do not have The Spirit’s guidance consider all these things foolish [1Corinthians 2:11].  The coming of Jesus’ Spirit into the lives of every believer is necessary to understand the things God is telling us in His word [John 16:13]. We should lean on Jesus’ Spirit when we have questions about something in God’s word. We should be glad and thank God for His Spirit in teaching us the things we need to know, in giving us His peace [John 14:26, 27] in our time of need, and gradually being able to enjoy the harvest of His work [Galatians 5:22, 23], beginning with His love [1John 4:19].  The role of this God given counselor is critical in the development of our relationship with The Father and in the growth in our faith in this temporal domain.  We do not gain this relationship by going to some seminar of reading some book.  We cannot reap the benefits of His harvest or growth in our faith without the actions of Jesus’ Spirit.

In this temporal domain, there are powerful influences that teach or imply Jesus’ Spirit is not real.  These teaching began to surface in our elitist media with popular appeal in the past four hundred years.  This so-called contemporary theology has infiltrated into many of our leading church beliefs.  These beliefs are all based upon the erroneous “understanding” that all scripture is open to individual interpretation and The Spirit is only symbolic of the reality of our own minds.  They will say proudly everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion.  They will argue that the scriptures are nothing more than words assembled by men who may have lived long ago.  They will argue that God is who we make Him out to be in our minds.  Such philosophies have appeal because they agree with our sinful nature, which tells us we are in control and we are held responsible for our future.  Such teachings are anti-Christ, non-scriptural, and hazardous to our growth in faith.

We need to remember that,

8Finally, brothers (and sisters), whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things [Philippians 4:8].  This means that in the mind of Christ, which is Jesus’ Spirit, is found in a personal peace that surpasses all understanding [John 14:27].

 

Pentecost a Milestone and a Symbol

 

Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

To the Hebrew, Pentecost (the 50th day after the Passover) was a day of great significance.  To the Christian, the first Old Testament Pentecost day and this New Testament day represents the beginning of a new life for a selected group of people known as God’s chosen people, the children of Jacob or Israel and those of the seed of Abraham, those who are in Christ [Galatians 3:29].  They were freed from slavery and they were promised a new life. 

The journey from slavery in Egypt to Mount Sinai took seven weeks and one day.  This day was then celebrated as the beginning of their new life, a gift representing God’s new freedom; it symbolizes a transition form the old life of slavery into the new free life [Deuteronomy 16:11, 12].  This day is the beginning to the Hebrew people as a new race, a new people, chosen by God. 

This celebration of Pentecost is traditionally carried on throughout Hebrew history.  God is using this day as a way of foretelling to us, in the Pentecost celebrations, something about the importance of His Spirit.  God is telling us that He is in total control of history and He has a plan of salvation. 

His prophet Ezekiel [Ezekiel 36:26, 27] highlights the role of His Spirit.  God’s Spirit comes and indwells His children.  He does not just stay on the mountaintop, but also comes to His people through His new Moses, who is Jesus.  God secures the new life and the new freedom through His Son, Jesus the Christ, God’s Messiah.  The Old Testament gives us insight into God’s plan, which is then expanded upon in the New Testament.  We lose so much of God’s message by trying to separate God’s Word into two parts.  We must look past the popular attitude of a historical perspective and embrace the total message that God has given to us in His word.  Jewish traditions speak volumes about God’s plan for all His children during anytime in history.

To the Christians, the day of Pentecost is significant because it celebrates this specific day when The Holy Spirit, Jesus’ Spirit, came in a dramatic portrayal of God’s power and plan, which came some 1500 years after the first Pentecost.  This day represents a milestone in God’s Plan and an illustrative symbol of His plan.  The awesome power of God should not be limited to the connotation of just a loving God.  Part of God’s nature is love [1 John 4:16] but His nature is so much more than this, as the context of this verse in John tells us, which is frequently ignored.  God’s love is contingent upon the presence of His Spirit.  Without His Spirit, we are told there is His wrath, which can consume the objects of His wrath as stubble and His presence shakes mountains [Exodus 15:7, 19:16-19].

We need to recognize both the first Pentecost and the coming of His Spirit as a personal introduction of God’s life giving power that is manifested as a part of His plan.  While God loves and causes His children to love, He is not cuddly or necessarily sympathetic to our “wants.”  He always knows our “needs,” and He is working things out for the good of those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose [Romans 8:28, Hebrew 12:10, 11]. 

Just as this was a day first honored as a commemoration of God presenting Himself to the children of Israel at Mount Sinai [Exodus 19:20], it is now recognized as the coming of God’s Spirit to indwell God’s children, forever.  Whether it is the coming of the Holy Spirit, as suggested in this celebrated Pentecost, or the coming of Jesus’ Spirit into the life of one of God’s children, it always indicates the beginning of the new creation, a new life, in Christ. 

This advent is a type of conception, which brings new life and an eternal hope [John 3:3, 6, 7, 1 Peter 1:23].  Just as Mary experienced the conception of our Lord in her womb we are indwelled by the same Spirit giving us the beginning of this new life [John 1:13] in Christ Jesus, born of God.  In a similar manner, Jesus’ Spirit overshadows the lives of all who have been born again by the power in the gift of grace [Ephesians 2:4-9, Romans 8:9].

The fiftieth day (“the day of first fruits”) [Numbers 28:26] after the resurrection they met in most likely the upper room, “in one place” [Acts 2:1], this place may have been the same room they had rented for the last supper, about 55 days before.  This upper room location is an assumption without specific scriptural evidence.  This is a group of about one hundred and twenty people [Acts 1:15], the original eleven, the women including Mother Mary, and many others, very likely not including Luke, who was probably a young child at this time, although he authored the account we are now reading some time after the event, maybe 20 years later. 

Some interpretations use the phrase “with one accord” rather than “all together,” as seen in this NIV verse, which could imply a little different connotation.  Being in one place can mean something different from being all of one disposition.  It is common to have different dispositions in the same location.  We can safely assume they were all in the same accord at the same location because the Greek specifies, sumpleroo (soorn-play-ro’-o), in a complex term meaning they were all at the same place for the same reason.  Getting this many people together in one accord is truly remarkable.

After three years of ministry, Jesus’ Spirit selected only this group of about 120 for this event.  This is a relative small number representing such a monumental occurrence.  This seems to remind us that God selected a small number of people, 70 [Genesis 46:27], to go to Egypt to become His people.

The specific time, the selected people, and in one particular place are emphasized in this account for a planned reason; evidently, these circumstances identified here are important to us today.  These three particulars are significant, but the most important aspect of this event is the lives touched --- by Jesus’ Spirit and the change in these specific individuals, as Jesus had promised [John 16:7-15].  This gives us some insight in how God works with us. 

This account about the coming of Jesus’ Spirit also gives us some perspective on what to expect at the time of His bodily coming, known as The Second Coming [Matthew 24:30, 31].  It is spectacular, it is noisy, it cannot be overlooked, and it came to a selected number.  The Spirit’s coming was specifically seen by all who had been made ready in their lives, prepared, for this event, and for those whom He had chosen to attend.  This coming was noisy, obvious, and selective.

The timing of this coming of Jesus’ Spirit was directed and controlled by Jesus before His crucifixion [John 16:1-7].  The significance of this direction is couched in a context of teachings us about God’s will, God’s plan, and God’s children’s life in a hate filled world.  God is controlling all of it.  The Spirit plays a significant role in bringing these teachings into our reality.  His Sprit is referred to as the Counselor [John 14:16].  This is an appropriated term, in the Greek, parakletos (par-ak’-lay-tos), meaning intercessor, helper, advocate, and comforter, which tells us Jesus’ Spirit is taking the bodily place Jesus filled while He was in this temporal life.  The word literally means to come alone beside a traveler as a guide.  Such a Counselor is necessary in our pilgrimage in this hostile world.  This need has always been necessary but God saw fit in His plan to wait until after Jesus’ payment of the sin debt and His resurrection. 

We can assume the sin debt was vicariously paid in the spiritual domain for those who lived before Christ’s advent and resurrection.  Those who had been given faith such as those listed in Hebrews 11:1-40 were under God’s mercy [Romans 9:18].  Through all of history, there has been a remnant chosen by grace [Romans 11:1-6]; they are justified by grace through this gift of faith as if Christ had already paid the sin debt, as exemplified by those listed in the Hebrews passage; so, that together with us they are also made perfect.  This assumption is supported by God’s covenant of mercy to take away the sins of those He elected, even without repentance [Romans 11:27-32].

The gift of grace is independent from any human participation.  We need to recognize this selective process is a scriptural teaching.  It does matter about our attitude or past teachings on this subject because God is in control and He does it all His way [Romans 8:1-6, 27-32].  This also means that we should not speculate about what God has done, is doing, or is going to do if it is not specifically in the scriptures. 

God is in control whether we like it or not, whether we believe it or not.  The scriptures tell us that He is in control and Jesus’ Spirit helps us, over time, to believe this incomprehensible fact.  When the Bible tells us that no human effort or that God’s actions are independent from any kind of human contingency, we need to pay attention [Romans 12:3, Ephesians 2:4-9].  Everything is under Christ [Colossians 1:15-20] and according to His plan. 

 The people God selected for His mercy receives a grace that is independent from all human effort [Romans 12:3, Ephesians 2:5-9].  Thereby, God’s chosen people are freed from the slavery of sin.  The children of Israel were stereotypes of this salvation action.  They were born in slavery and then freed though God’s mercy that was extended to them because God according to His good pleasure purposed this so that He could bring all things in heaven and earth together under Christ [Ephesians 1:9, 10, Colossians 1:15-20].  This is described as a process of conforming His elect into the image of Christ [Romans 8:29], which is called sanctification and is under the management of Jesus’ Spirit.

GOD DOES IT ALL HIS WAY

    Acts 2:2 -- Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

The adverb “suddenly” in both Greek and English gives the impression of an unexpected event occurred.  These 120 selected people were there because they were told to be there by Jesus.  They met together without any expectation of why they were to be in this particular place at this specific time.  We are not given any details about what they were thinking at the time.  It is a strange assembly.  They were probably going over in their minds Jesus’ words, “you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” [Acts 1:5].  What does this mean?  Just listen and obey, which is the same thing as living by The Spirit [Galatians 5:16, 25], is our direction for today.  When we are listening, we are not following our selfish desires.

The sound filled the house, like the wind, yet, it was not the wind.  It is hard for us to image of a sound as loud as this without any movement of something.  Explosions, hurricanes, locomotives, or jet engines are associated with wind and something moving.  The sound came down from the outside into the house without any apparent cause and entry point.  It does not say this was a blowing wind, but it sounded like one.

Luke, in writing this story, is describing this event is derived from eyewitness accounts dictated to him, since Luke was not a member of the initial inner circle; in addition, he was a Gentile and thereby would not have had the traditional legacy feeling about this important date on the Jewish calendar.  However, he does capture in his elegant words some of the indescribable flavor of this significant happening.  Our vocabulary and his is limited in describing anything and we have to resort to using contrasts, analogies, and symbol to convey what we are trying to say.  When the subject of our descriptions is spiritual, we have a real handicap.  Even our prayers are interpreted by Jesus’ Spirit into the proper language before our hearts expressions are sent on to God The Father [Romans 8:26].  Recognizing our limitations in language and in perception help us to appreciate Luke’s problem in trying to describe this unique events on this very special day in God’s predestined plan and action.

 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

This description, however, does not help us very much to visualize or compare to anything in our experience.  When we are faced with trying to describe anything, we are limited to those views or images that can be compared with something we have seen or relates to something we think we understand.  In this case, no one before or afterwards has seen anything like this happening. 

We can assume that the “tongues of fire” were some kind of lights, without heat.  We need to draw upon some figurative meaning in this.  God and His presence is often associated with lights [Genesis 1:14-16, Psalm 136:7, John 8:12, 2 Corinthians 8:12, James 1:17, 1 John 1:5, Revelation 21:23].  The coming of this light has always come to separate individuals from prevailing darkness, which indicates ignorance or blindness of some kind.  In other words, these “tongues of fire” can portray a divine gift of understanding.  Nevertheless, these audio-visual effects did impress everyone who saw and heard.  Those in the room were enlightened and those outside were not.

Enlightenment is a product of Jesus’ Spirit.  It is called discernment in the scriptures.  Human, so-called, “enlightenment” is a product of disinformation and propaganda, a counterfeit insight.  We hear about new age or scientology as contemporary enlightenment, but these views are as old as Eve wanting to be god [Genius 3:6].  The description here is a figurative attempt to give us the importance of Jesus’ Spirit in the gaining of a new perspective about God and His ways.  We cannot and should not try to turn Luke’s attempt to tell us about this event into some literal interpretation.  Let Jesus’ Spirit interpret these words to us in the way He intends.  We need to think about the context and the product of this event before we try to create some mystical new religion.  After all, the literal interpretation is meaningless.

 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

It has to be assumed that this filling was complete.  The Spirit does not deal in quarter full or half-full amounts, and there is no reason to believe He has changed since then.  Once The Spirit moves, He does so with God’s power and purpose [2 Peter 1:3].  The Spirit enabled them, at this time, to speak in other tongues for His purpose and according to God’s will.  He can do this anytime He chooses.  There is no reason to believe He has not done this since this recording.  This particular manifestation of Jesus’ Spirit was to impress both those who were filled and all the spectators alike.  There is good reason to believe that He does anything He does is because it is God’s will and according to His purpose. 

It is safe to assume that those speaking in tongues were reacting according to a planned purpose; it certainly got the attention of those who were on the outside and heard the sound providing a cause for much curiosity. 

The Spirit often uses various techniques to wake us up so that we will listen to Him.  We are often awakened to the truth by some disruption to our comfort zone.  We are often unaware Jesus’ Spirit is working on us during these episodes of enlightenment.  In time, we begin to see what Jesus’ Spirit was telling us when we were too busy thinking about what we needed to do or say.

There is no reason to believe The Spirit needs to repeat such an event as this at any other time.  It does demonstrate in a unique example of how God acts and we humans react.  God can be very original, spectacular, and inexplicable in the course of teaching us new things.

There is no reason to go back to Mount Sinai in order to be introduced to God.  God is capable of meeting anyone, anywhere, and at anytime.  Paul had a plan, a desire, and a mission in his mind as he marched towards Damascus.  God stopped him in his tracks, destroyed his purpose-filled life, and replaced it with God’s plan and purpose.  God does this often in the life of individuals.  God meets the individual according to His plan.  God acts and we react.

5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.  6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.  7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?” 

Those who are prone to interpret “every nation under heaven” in verse 5 in a literal sense may wonder about the verse’s credibility.  This phrase simply means in the context Gentile and Jewish converts, and not necessary representatives from places like Mexico or the Philippians.  The point being made here is that this experience was open to peoples from Gentile cultures, lands, and languages.  This does not signify a new disposition in God’s plan because God had already spoken to other Gentile in the past [Hebrews 11:4-21].  Many listed in this Hebrew passage, from Abel to including Jacob, was technically Gentiles.  They, both Jews and Gentiles, heard this sound and every call God makes, wherever they may be.  The amazing experience of hearing anything outside of our expectations should get our attention. 

Amazement often creates efforts to duplicate.  Nothing in this story, we can claim as a reason to attempt to reproduce the speaking in tongues.  Such efforts are usually motivated by a desire to be different and to be looked upon by others in amazement.  There is no other similar story in the entire Bible.  Jesus’ Spirit does baptize His children by burying His children in Himself, which we call indwelling or being “in Christ.”  The resurrection part of this baptism is promised at Jesus’ second coming.  Water baptism symbolizes both of these significant events.  Always, the coming of Jesus’ Spirit into our lives is something Jesus’ Spirit does at His discretion.  Jesus gives us wise counsel about this when He told Nicodemus that The Spirit goes where The Spirit wishes to go [John 3:8].  We do not engineer this any more than we arraigned our own birth.

8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?  9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11(both Jews and converts to Judaism Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

Now, if there was confusion about the “every nation” phrase in verse 5 then this should clear it up.  The breath and the specificity are wide, from large areas, like from the Iranian empire to regions like Pamphylia down to cities like Rome.  Lots of different cultures and peoples were represented.  So it is, “every nation under heaven” is a figurative picture of this diversity of people brought together at this time and in this place.

12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"

Here is a question that sparks lots of controversies from which many theories have been generated.  Facing some unknown can be perplexing.  Experiencing some new and exciting phenomena can be amazing.  When the amazing and the perplexing are joined at the same time, the emotion could be fear.  It is helpful if our questions could be immediately answered, but often this is not possible. 

Then after two thousand years, after the leading minds in our world have put time and effort into examining, theorizing, and guessing we still have confusion in the colloquial sense.  There are meanings and reasons offered, but there is little agreement, and certainly, there is no consensus. 

Many engage in speculation about the need to be baptized by The Spirit in order to gain the spiritual power necessary to perform the Lord’s service.  This power is sought to gain advantage over temptation and to procure the fruit of The Spirit.  This speculation is derived from John the Baptizer’s prophesy recorded in the Gospels [Mathew 3:11 and Mark 1:8], which speaks of Jesus’ Spirit coming on His disciples like being hit by lightening. 

The error found in most of these speculations about Baptism of The Holy Spirit are, also, involved in commonly held assumptions concerning prophesies, salvation, and God’s eternal plan.  These error in assumption are all traceable to the confusion regarding “Position” and “Condition,” which relates to the mixing the temporal with the eternal.  These prophesy given by John the Baptizer, and prophesies given by the Apostle John, in The Revelation, are spiritual insights and not temporal predictions.  Both John’s were allowed to see into the timeless spiritual domain that included the time when Jesus’ Spirit came at this Pentecost, the indwelling of Jesus’ Spirit at the new birth of all the elect, or foretelling the judgment at the end of time, all at the same time.  Any spiritual prophesy can have several levels of meaning and should always be studied in the context it is given.

There is a great temptation to read prophesy as literal information, which can be misleading because most prophesy is given in figurative terms because we do not have the correct literal terms in our vocabulary, let alone in our understanding.  The Scriptures give us a timeless message to help us to grow in our appreciation of God’s plan and purpose, rather than an explicit road map of our temporal future.  When we separate “Position” and “Condition” according to there respective scriptural places, this will helps us to clear away a lot of our confusion.  When we think of Jesus’ Spirit as a controlling power given to us to help us deal with our struggle with our sinful nature then the coming of Jesus’ Spirit into our temporal life, or “Condition,” starts to make sense.  Separating this temporal struggle from our eternal spiritual “Position” helps us to see how we can have a perfect status in God’s sight [Romans 8:1] and at the same temporal time we are struggling in our temporal “Condition.”  We can begin to appreciate how the spiritual affects the temporal, how these are two very separate states, and how we can simultaneously exist in the spiritual domain and exist in this temporal domain [Galatians 2:20, 21, 3:26-29, 5:16-18].  When we examine prophesies in terms of spiritual and temporal states, our appreciation of the messages given to us in these prophetic reading make more sense.

Jesus’ Spirit has a very specific task to perform in this temporal, time-limited domain.  We should not try to dream up new jobs to satisfy our desire to contribute to the scheme of things.  Being lead only by Jesus’ Spirit should be our chief focus independent of our selfish desires.  God has assigned His Spirit with three enormous and comprehensive tasks.  Jesus is the best source in finding an answer to the question about the meaning and purpose for the coming of His Spirit and our purpose in this life.  The question they asked, “What does this mean?” is applicable to us today.  When we try to put our life into the context of God’s plan we are stymied if we are not looking to Jesus’ Spirit for help and searching His word for the answer.  The answer to this question is given to us in very clear understandable words.

Jesus tells us that the Spirit administers over three important managerial functions.  (1) Jesus’ Spirit helps us to control our sinful nature, which tends to complain bitterly about these limits through the expression of guilt [John 16:11].  (2) Jesus’ Spirit developments love, in other words the truth, which measures the growth process and judges our condition.  Sincere love only comes from Jesus’ Spirit.  Love indicates the presence of the Spirit [John 16:13].  After all, God (and His Spirit) is Love [1 John 4:16].  (3) Jesus’ Spirit causes us to perform service for the benefit of others; this is one of the products of Jesus’ Spirit’s management, and this is looked upon by our selfish nature as restrictions to our freedom [John 16:14].  These tasks are performed continuously with and without our awareness, permission, or understanding.  We do not influence Jesus’ Spirit --- His Spirit has a plan and is acting according to God’s will.  We are but sheep in His pasture [Psalm 79:13].

13Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine

The things we do not understand we tend to make up stories, fables, or sophisticated theologies to answer popular questions.  God’s word has given us all we need to know about His plan; therefore, there is no need to look further.  All we need to know about The Spirit is that this Spirit comes from God through the power of Christ.  We can look in God’s word to determine what this means.

1 Corinthians 3:16 - We are a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in us.

 

1 Corinthians 6:19 - Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in us because we are bought with a price.  Everyone who has been purchased (redeemed) by the blood of Christ also has the Spirit of God dwelling in him.

 

Colossians 1:17, 18 - 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.