Good Friday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
I wonder what some of your favorite days are in the year. Probably holidays which provide you the opportunity to gather with friends and family for great meals and enjoyable times filled with making memories, right? For the Jewish people in the first century, that was especially true about this time of year, the season of both Passover and Pentecost.
Yesterday I left you with about 120 friends of Jesus who were spending the days after the ascension of Jesus in a waiting mode, reflecting on how each of their lives had been profoundly affected by their relationship with Jesus, but also anticipating something Jesus had promised them, but they really had no way of forming a clear picture of what the coming of the Holy Spirit would be like?
They all knew several Old Testament stories of their heroes who had been empowered by the Holy Spirit of God for specific great moments in Israel’s history. Moses had three times spent 40 days in the cloud of God’s Presence upon Mount Sinai, and the final time, when Moses came down the mountain his face was so radiant, he had to put a veil over his face so people could look at him without being blinded! (Exodus 34)
The Holy Spirit of God had come upon Gideon and empowered Gideon to victoriously lead a small band of 300 Israelites against a huge invading army described this way: “The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley as thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.” (Judges 7:12) And yet empowered by the Holy Spirit Gideon had led those 300 men in a great victory!
Those gathered with the disciples knew the Holy Spirit of God had come upon Saul when Samuel had anointed him to be Israel’s first king and the record says Samuel told Saul: “The Spirit of the LORD will come powerfully upon you and you will prophecy with the prophets and you will be changed into a different person.” (1 Samuel 10:6) And in fact that did happen to Saul as he went from being a fearful man to becoming a confident warrior and leader of Israel.
And of course, all Hebrews revered King David and how the Holy Spirit of God had come upon him as a young man, (1 Samuel 16:13) and stayed with him for many years as the revered leader of Israel.
There were other times in Israel’s history when the Holy Spirit came upon prophets (2 Chronicles 15:1) to proclaim great news from God or upon kings with great wisdom and leadership.
So as the disciples and these 120 friends of Jesus waited for 10 days, praying and contemplating what their many months with Jesus had taught them, they knew that when the Holy Spirit of God would come upon them, as Jesus had promised, it would be an undeniable, recognizable, life changing experience.
Acts 2:1-4 describes it this way: “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like that of blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues [languages] as the Spirit enabled them.” Do you see three, undeniable, practical, tangible evidence of the arrival of the Holy Spirit?
* The sound of a violent wind which filled the house. Thunderstorms were common, particularly in the Galilee region where most of these people were from. Jesus had been with His disciples in more than one of those storms. In fact, He had walked to them once on the waves as a storm raged. I wonder if, as they heard this violent wind, the disciples remembered that night with Jesus on Lake Galilee. (Matt. 14:22-33; Mark 6:45-53; John 6:16-21)
* Tongues of fire which separated and came to rest on their heads without burning them! Fire from heaven was an important part of Israel’s history. God had sent burning sulfur fire from heaven to destroy wicked Sodom and Gomorrah. (Genesis 19:24) The prophet Elijah had called down fire from heaven on the top of Mount Carmel, as he and 450 prophets of Baal were battling to determine who is the true God and which God had the power to send fire from heaven to burn up the sacrifice on their altar! (1 Kings 18) God had sent fire from heaven to Jerusalem, to the great altar and the sacrifice of King Solomon during the dedication of the newly constructed Temple. (2 Chronicles 7:1) So those gathered in the house that day, having spent nearly 10 days waiting, would have been awed that God sent fire from heaven as He sent His Holy Spirit to them!
* From the days of the Tower of Babel, languages were powerful barriers separating people from each other.
Jews in the first century were living in almost every village, town and city from end to end of the huge Roman empire. Naturally a wide range of languages were spoken in the various regions and of course in the neighboring countries, and thus as Jews came to Jerusalem for Passover and Pentecost, they came expecting to hear Greek, the primary common language of the Roman empire, and also Hebrew, the ancient language of the Jews, and those from the Galilee region would be speaking Aramaic the ancient language of that region. But this special anointing of the Holy Spirit enabled these Galileans to speak many of the languages spoken in the far corners of the Roman empire and beyond to other nations!
Acts 2:4-12 is very specific in the description of this spiritual phenomenon: “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem, God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each person heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed they asked, ‘Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene…we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues. [languages]
As this miracle of languages happened, do you suppose many of these Jews remembered the ancient story of Joseph, the son of Jacob, who’d been sold by his brothers into slavery? Taken to Egypt, Joseph was sold there into slavery and naturally learned the language and customs of Egypt.
Years later during the great famine, as Joseph’s brother came to purchase food for their starving family, they stood before Joseph, then Prime Minister of all Egypt. Joseph spoke Egyptian and called an interpreter to translate back and forth as his brothers spoke to the Prime Minister not having any idea this royal official was their brother Joseph!
Perhaps they remembered the story of Daniel, taken from this very Jerusalem as a young slave by invading King Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel had been put into a three-year leadership training program, being taught the language, literature and customs of the Babylonians, and then for more than 60 years God enabled Daniel to be advisor to the Kings of the Babylonian and later Persian Empires!
But on this miraculous Pentecost Day, the disciples and friends of the resurrected Jesus were given special anointing by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the truth of Jesus the Messiah in the many languages of the thousands of Jews who had come to Jerusalem for the Jewish festival Pentecost!
God was once again using the miracle of languages to accomplish His great purposes! These thousands of people had come from far and wide to praise God, thank God for HIS provision for their food, and now they were receiving the spiritual truth food from God that could give them eternal life in Jesus!
It should not be difficult for us to imagine this scene! In every large city and even most small towns, everywhere in the world today, many languages are spoken. So, let’s put ourselves in the crowd… just listen! Languages, dozens of them, and look at the faces of those who hear the Galilean disciples speaking the Gospel of Jesus Christ in THEIR native language! What do you see?
Now my friends, it’s important we pause to ask ourselves when have we experienced a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our town, or our extended family or ourselves individually? How did it happen and what were the results, and how long ago was it?
Do you suppose God would like to once again bring a powerful spiritual revival into your soul, your family, your town? Remember the disciples and others had spent 10 days waiting, praying, preparing… what have the last 10 days been like for you and me, spiritually? Are we positioned to receive a fresh anointing from God?
Now here’s a very reflective, Holy Spirit focused song to help us consider our readiness for a fresh work of God in our lives. . .
Today’s Scripture is Acts 2:1-12.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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