Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
I wonder what the most exhilarating, life impacting experience is which you have ever had in your lifetime? Probably it was not only very impactful at the time of the event, but the experience lingered in its life changing effect upon you for a very long time, maybe even up to the present.
The Bible is of course filled with the stories of such events. Yesterday I left you in Jerusalem, about 2000 years ago, with the disciples and closest friends of Jesus, gathered together in the days following the ascension of Jesus, as He returned to heaven. (Acts 1:9-11) Yesterday we looked at what the disciple Peter did in leading these friends of Jesus to select a replacement for Judas Iscariot. (Acts 1:12-28)
There appears to be a time gap of a few days between the end of Acts 1 and beginning of Acts 2. We assume those friends of Jesus remained together during that time sharing their memories of Jesus and trying to figure out what they should do next with their lives. (Acts 1:12-14)
It was clear Jesus was now gone from them permanently, and that reality caused them great anxiety and uncertainty about the future! Oh they remembered Jesus had given them specific instructions to wait in Jerusalem until God sent the promised Holy Spirit, but none of them knew exactly what that meant!?
Have you ever been in a waiting season of your life, waiting for what God will do next?
The problem the disciples faced, of course, was that everyone now looked to the disciples for answers to their questions about Jesus! Sadly, while the disciples could tell the stories of what they had experienced in those nearly 3 years they had walked with Jesus, they really had nothing more they could say!
Have you found yourself being questioned by people who assume and expect you to have spiritual answers for their hard life questions?
For the disciples I’m sure the people kept asking WHEN the promised Holy Spirit would come from God and WHAT would happen in that moment of the Spirit’s arrival which would make it unquestionably obvious the miracle Jesus promised was occurring? And they had no idea! Jesus hadn’t given them even a hint of what to expect!
Also, I’m sure the people were asking WHAT the future plan was for the disciples and all those who had known Jesus? Should they all simply return to their pre-Jesus lives and vocations and homes? If so, what was the purpose of Jesus coming to earth and why had they spent three years walking the roads of Israel with Jesus watching the miracles and listening to Him teach?
Jesus had said these disciples would be His witnesses. (Acts 1:4-8) Did that simply mean they would tell the stories of what they experienced with Jesus? Jesus had promised they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them, but what power? Physical strength or emotional courage or some new spiritual power?
Oh so many questions they had, and all they could do was wait and spend their waiting time sharing their Jesus stories and questions with each other, and pray, asking God to help them understand their unsettled situation!
Meanwhile Jerusalem was once again filling with more and more people everyday. Why? Because the second of the three great annual festivals in Jerusalem was rapidly approaching. 50 days after Passover was the festival of Pentecost called “Shavot” or the Festival of Weeks. It was the harvest festival celebrating God’s faithfulness in providing all that is necessary for the miracle of crops growing and yielding the harvest needed for survival.
For the Jewish people God had declared several specific festivals each year which would unify the people as they gathered from all over Israel in Jerusalem; and these festivals each had a very specific purpose in drawing God’s people close to God in celebration of their unique relationship with God as His people Israel.
If you’re interested, here’s a link which will help you gain a fresh, Biblical perspective on each of these God defined Jewish festivals as described in Leviticus 23 & Deuteronomy 16: https://hebrew4christians.
Jerusalem and every surrounding town, and even the hillsides were again filled to overflowing with Jerusalem Jewish visitors all anxious to celebrate Shavot, Pentecost. For the disciples and friends of Jesus the frenzy of activity must have filled their hearts with memories of the Passover/Easter weekend only 7 weeks before when first the crowds celebrated Jesus as their welcomed King with a spontaneous victors parade, (Luke 19:28-48) but then shouted for Jesus to be crucified. (Luke 23:1-25) How many of these thousands of Jerusalem visitors had been among those crowds 7 weeks ago that Passover weekend?
And then it happened… without any warning, the unexplainable, Jerusalem shaking, life changing miracle of Pentecost happened. As Jesus had promised, God sent His Holy Spirit to these friends and followers of Jesus in such a powerful, dramatic, life changing way, many of them were never the same for the rest of their lives.
Luke describes it this way: “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were gathered. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them…” (Acts 2:1-3)
Windstorms like powerful thunderstorms or hurricanes or tornadoes or typhoons can be terrifying and overwhelming and evidently that is what it suddenly sounded like in Jerusalem. I have no doubt people fled out of the streets, looking for any shelter, anywhere. But how terrifying was it that the storm seemed to come INTO the house where these friends of Jesus were gathered?
And then fire... oh my, few things terrify us more than out of control fire, right? A forest fire or a windswept open range fire or a house fire! But fire INSIDE this house, separating and coming down on the heads of each person, yet not burning them or setting their hair on fire? Was it something like what Moses experienced at the burning bush? (Exodus 3:1-12)
Wind and Fire… oh my, let’s pause right here and allow our senses to be overwhelmed as we look around the room at more than 100 people with fire on top of their heads and the sound of a tornado in the house! God was showing His mighty power to these people and what happened next impacted the entire city of Jerusalem. Come back and meet me here tomorrow and we’ll look closely at what happened and what it means for you and me today! For now, let’s place ourselves in that house. Look around, at those experiencing this unprecedented outpouring of the Spirit of God upon these friends of Jesus.
Listen to this song of worship which may be what they wanted to express to God as they were overwhelmed by His majesty, and consider the life changing power of God being unleashed into that room. Is God planning to do something similar again and include you and me in 2024? How strong is your belief in God?
Today’s Scripture: Acts 2:1-3.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“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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