If you have your Bible, please turn to Acts, chapter 1. The first verse tells that Acts has the same author as that of the third gospel, which came beforehand: Luke “the beloved physician”. Luke subtly introduces himself to us in Acts 16:8-10, when Paul, Silas and Timothy came to the port city of Troas in what is now modern Turkey. Luke refers to “them” in v. 8 and then shifts to “we” in v.10, as Luke travelled with the other three over to Greece.

We can all be thankful that God raised up Luke to be the first historian of the Church. In both Luke and Acts, we find numerous, accurate details concerning people, places, dates and accurate chronology that have helped Church historians chronicle early Church history. His writings thus validated the genuine historicity of the events of which he wrote. Perhaps the most important validation is the dating of Acts to around 62 AD during Paul the Apostle’s first imprisonment.

Luke was careful to insert important details about both political and Church events. Yet he concluded Acts before the burning of Rome in 64 AD, and Nero’s brutal persecution. Nor did Luke mention the martyrdom of notable Christian leaders such as Jesus’ brother James in 62 AD, or Peter and Paul, late in the 60’s.

Since Luke’s gospel came before Acts, we can be confident that it was completed around 60 AD or within thirty years of Jesus’ death. Strong Church tradition places the Gospels of Matthew and Mark earlier than Luke. So we have strong reason to trust all the gospels are based on eyewitness accounts, and Jesus’ holy life, miracles, crucifixion and resurrection were all real, historical events.

This is enormously important in debunking one of the prevalent lies against gospel authenticity – that the life of Jesus we see portrayed in the gospels is a mostly mythical hagiography (or holy biography) of just an itinerant Jewish preacher. The Jesus of history portrayed in the gospels is in very fact also the Christ of faith.

Today, I am continuing my series on the Holy Spirit as revealed in the Bible. Considering eras of divine revelation, one could divide sacred history into three major sections: before Christ, the life of Christ, and the life of the Church after Christ. Today we look at the Holy Spirit’s work within the new Church. Christ’s death and resurrection is the sole redemptive work of God; but the Church era is the most impactful in changing lives and demonstrating the Kingdom of God on earth.

That’s how God intended it to be. Jesus assured His disciples that His departure from earth was actually beneficial to them. John 16:7-10 says, “I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. ⁸ And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; ⁹ concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰ and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; ¹¹ and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”

Jesus said it was the Helper or Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, who would anoint Christ’s disciples to proclaim the gospel. In Luke’s Gospel and Acts, Jesus also emphasized the giving of the Spirit before He ascended to heaven. Now let’s read from Acts 1:1:

The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, ² until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. ³ To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. ⁴ Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; ⁵ for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

I am intrigued by the phrase “He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles.” Before His resurrection, Jesus was dependent upon the Holy Spirit both to guide and empower Him. Jesus modeled for us what Holy Spirit-dependent service in His kingdom looks like us.

But now Jesus was fully God in His infinite knowledge, authority and ability to use power. So why did Luke say, “He had by the Holy Spirit given orders”? Of course, the mind of Christ is always in sync with that of the Spirit. But I read in this that Jesus was trusting the Holy Spirit to guide the lives of the early disciples without Christ’s visible leadership.

Then Jesus told them to “wait for what the Father had promised.” Luke’s Gospel closes with a similar phrase before Jesus ascended into heaven: “And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” So the Acts of the Apostles recapitulates what Jesus said in the gospel.

To what was Jesus referring to as the Father’s Promise? All the promises God made in the Old Testament about putting His Spirit in His people. The Father spoke these promises through the prophets in the first person singular as the voice of Yahweh, the LORD.

First, in historical order was Joel 2:28-29, probably written in the late ninth century BC. God said, “It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.”

A century later, The Father promised in Isaiah 44:33, “I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring and My blessing on your offspring.”

And again, in the early seventh century BC, God prophesied through Ezekiel 36:26-27 of the coming New Covenant, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” God gave us new hearts through Jesus’ atonement and consequent gift of the Holy Spirit.

Finally, the Father spoke through the fifth century prophet Zechariah, and intimately connected His Spirit with His Son, Jesus, “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”

All of these prophecies beautifully reveal that the outpouring of God’s Spirit on mankind was the Father’s plan from the beginning. Can you see why Jesus spoke of the Father’s promise? Jesus honored the Father, who exalted the Son and Holy Spirit in their unique roles. He plainly revealed to us the inner working of love that is the essence and driving force of our Triune God’s nature.

Now Jesus was declaring that the Father’s promise was about to be fulfilled. The disciples had no idea what this would be, except that it would take place in a few days and, harkening back to Luke 24:49, they would be “endued with power from on high.”

The disciples reverted to Jewish eschatology by asking when God would restore the kingdom to Israel. Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; ⁸ but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Rather than lay out a blueprint and a timeline for the conclusion of history with His return, Jesus pointed them to the empowering of the Holy Spirit they were about to receive. Then He gave them their mission: to be His witnesses, starting in Jerusalem and expanding outward beyond their familiar country to the ends of the earth.

Several things should be noted from this passage of Acts 1:7-8. First, God wants us to walk by faith and trust Him for the future. No one has figured out how God has guided the future heretofore, nor will anyone before Christ returns. Jesus said it is not for us to know these things. God wants us to walk by faith, not by sight. So rather than trying to figure out God’s ways aforehand – which I have oft failed to do – God offers His Spirit to empower us.

Second, the Spirit enables us to be Christ’s witnesses wherever He chooses. We are to respond to anything that comes our way, trusting in the Holy Spirit’s leading. His intends to make us vessels for sharing Christ’s love and good news to others. Thus, we can fully participate in the work of His kingdom.

Third, we also experience the Spirit when we are witnessing of Christ. But if we aren’t willing to share the good news with others, the Spirit’s empowerment won’t be activated. That’s why many Christians never experience any measure of the Spirit’s power. They have declined the mission offered them to be Christ’s witnesses.

Finally, Christ’s commanded us to take His gospel outward. This is “the Great Commission”; and all four gospels and Acts declare Christ’s commission in different ways. Matthew 24:14 says, “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached as a witness to all the nations [that is, to all the ethnic peoples on earth] and then the end shall come.”

Consider how vastly important and broad the scope is of the Great Commission. On this Commission rests the eternal destinies of all the people on earth. Yet God considered the good news proclamation by His people to be so important that for most of the past 2,000 years He allowed millions to perish in lands where the gospel was not preached. Alas, the Church did not take seriously Christ’s commission to make disciples of ALL nations. So the gospel remained largely boxed inside of Europe until the discovery and colonization of the Americas began. The Catholic missionary, Francis Xavier, who preached Christ to India and the Philippines in the 1600’s was a notable exception.

After Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples returned to Jerusalem to pray and wait for the promised Holy Spirit. Things had cooled down in the city now that Jesus was gone. The eleven faithful apostles, Mother Mary and her sons were gathered together for prayer. The same brothers who thought Jesus had lost His senses in Mark 3:21 were now firmly in His camp. Jesus’ appearance to his oldest brother James after His resurrection surely won the day.

In that private meeting, Peter stood up and said, (in Acts 1:16), “Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.” He then advocated for the selection by lot of one of two witnesses to Christ’s resurrection to be Judas’ replacement. Peter noted the Holy Spirit’s purpose and role in foretelling the betrayal of Jesus by Judas in scriptures like Psalm 41:9, and also in orchestrating Providence to fulfill Jesus’ betrayal, arrest and crucifixion.

So what does that mean for you and me? God, by His sovereign plan, has also ordained what you and I will be. He knows the choices we will make and how every free choice we make will shape our lives and those around us. Judas failed by abandoning His Master at the crucial moment. But we will succeed by returning to Him when we are unfaithful, as Peter did after He denied Jesus three times. Hallelujah!

God doesn’t intend for prison to punish you, but to humble you, redeem you, patiently change you from within and lead you in paths of righteousness so that He may be glorified though you, and also maximize your eternal reward. Our sins and failures only serve to remind us that apart from Christ we can do nothing for God; but with Christ, we “can do all things through Him who strengthens us.” And Holy Spirit is God’s earnest pledge to prove His good will in us.

Now let’s jump to Acts 2, and behold the Father’s Promise and Christ’s Church bursting into life! Reading from verse one: “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.”

The same Holy Spirit Who descended upon Jesus like a quiet dove now manifested His glory like an audible hurricane. Tongues of fire, a visible metaphor of His blazing holiness, settled on each person’s head. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke with other tongues.

The Spirit’s unction drove the disciples outside, speaking in tongues. Other Jews, who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost gathered in their direction. They’d heard the unusual noise rushing into the upper room. Suddenly, they heard 120 fellow Jews pouring out of that room proclaiming “the mighty deeds of God” in their own tongues.

Were the Spirit-filled disciples actually enunciating those languages, or only heard by others speaking human language? Scripture cannot confirm which one, and I leave that in the realm of holy mystery. I have heard and spoken in tongues, or glossolalia, thousands of times. Neither I nor anyone I’ve ever heard has spoken anything like a coherent human language. So I lean toward the latter interpretation. Holy Spirit can turn what we hear into an audible human language. Anecdotes of people hearing missionaries preach the gospel in one language, English, but hearing it in their native tongue point to that.

God has the sovereign right to do what He wills, when He wills. I speak in tongues by faith, in accordance with what I read in 1 Corinthians 14 and elsewhere; and I leave the results in God’s hands.

So what were “the mighty deeds of God” that these astounded Jews heard? I think they told of God bringing His kingdom to earth through His Anointed One, the Messiah, and perhaps God’s promise to write His Law upon the hearts of His people. This sign prepared their hearts for the Good News of Jesus the Savior that was soon to come.

The Holy Spirit’s manifestation opened the way for Peter to speak the first sermon of the New Covenant. At last, we see why Jesus had given His lead apostle the name Peter, “the Rock.” Beginning in v. 14:

 But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. ¹⁵ For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; ¹⁶ but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:

¹⁷ ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams; ¹⁸ Even on My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit And they shall prophesy. ¹⁹ ‘And I will grant wonders in the sky above And signs on the earth below, Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. ²⁰ ‘The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood, Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. ²¹ ‘And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

²² “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— ²³ this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. ²⁴ But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. ²⁵ For David says of Him,

‘I saw the Lord always in my presence; For He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. ²⁶ ‘Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; Moreover my flesh also will live in hope; ²⁷ Because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. ²⁸ ‘You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’

²⁹ “Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. ³⁰ And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, ³¹ he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. ³² This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. ³³ Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. ³⁴ For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says:
‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, ³⁵ Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”’

³⁶ Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Throughout this brief, but powerful, message, the Holy Spirit’s role was evinced and explained. Peter first challenged the misapprehension that the disciples were under some kind of deluding influence to speak and act as they did. That the hearers clearly heard the mighty acts of God in their native tongues was proof enough. But Peter also reminded them that this was only 9 in the morning, not a time when such a large party would be getting drunk on wine.

I believe the disciples were not merely speaking God’s mighty deeds; they were also staggering under the influence of the Holy Spirit as if they were drunk. The Hebrew word for holy, qavod, literally means “heaviness”. I have seen people under the heavy presence of the Holy Spirit stagger as if they were drunk.

I recall a young lady whom I had counseled with her then fiancée. He broke up their engagement and she was crushed. But on July 4^th, 1993, at a church outdoor service in a Virginia Beach park, I saw her go down in the Spirit after the pastor laid hands upon her. She was there for over half an hour. Later, I saw her wobble with a happy grin toward her car as if she were drunk; but I knew she hadn’t consumed alcohol. She later told me that she felt drunk, but clean and pure within. She had staggered under the weight of the Spirit’s loving embrace.

Peter then pointed to Joel 2, where God promised to pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. Quoting Joel 2:32, God said “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” The Holy Spirit, first, spoke God’s word to His prophets to instruct the people of God. He continues to do so today through the five-fold ministry spoken of in Ephesians 4:12-13, who equip God’s people for works of service.

Second, Holy Spirit speaks through a variety of means; prophesying, as Peter was doing, dreams, visions, natural wonders and signs on earth. All of these Joel said, were to prepare us for the great and glorious Day of the Lord, when Messiah judges the world and claims it as His kingdom. The eschatological language Joel used was exactly what the Spirit intended. It brought the devout Jewish listeners into the holy fear of the Lord that moved them to repent of their sins. This is how the Spirit anoints modern preachers to bring conviction upon sinners and saved alike, as Jesus promised the Helper would do.

Third, Holy Spirit moves upon people to call on the name of the Lord. In the Jewish mind that meant the God of Israel who was only referred to as Hashem, meaning “the Name”, since Jewish convention forbad speaking God’s covenant name Yahweh. Jews still do not speak God’s covenant name and only use Adonai or “Lord” when reading Scripture in the synagogue.

But Peter immediately spoke of Jesus the Nazarene as the Lord who saves. This was a New Covenant substitution of Jesus’ name for Hashem. His Hebrew name, Yeshuah, means “Salvation”; so only those who call on His name will be saved, and delivered from divine judgment on the Day of the Lord. He made three important statements about Jesus that we should all know when testifying about Him. First, Jesus attested of Himself by doing “miracles and signs and wonders” like no one had ever done before. Second, He was crucified for our sins – not by human agency alone but “by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.” Third, God raised Him from the dead; and the Resurrection is the most important validation of Jesus’ redemptive work. His gospel rests or falls on the historical truth of that one event.

Peter then cited Psalm 16 as prophetic confirmation of Jesus’ resurrection being foreordained by God. He also cited Psalm 110, a well-known Messianic psalm, to confirm it was not David but his descendant Jesus who David was speaking of in the Spirit. Peter summed up His apologetic by saying, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ – this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Peter concluded by saying that when Christ was seated at the Father’s right hand, He received the promise of the Father – the Holy Spirit – whom He poured out upon them. Jesus thus fulfilled John the Baptist’s prophecy of Messiah as the baptizer in the Holy Spirit.

The listeners were “pierced to the heart” under Holy Spirit conviction. They replied, “Brethren, what shall we do? Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”

The results were astounding! Three thousand Jews were convicted in heart for having vicariously assented to the martyrdom of God’s Son. All these Jews longed for the coming of Messiah’s kingdom, and they responded to Peter’s call for them to be baptized for the remission of sins. The poetic beauty in this mighty ingathering of 3,000 souls into God’s kingdom is that it paralleled the number slain on Pentecost at Moses’ command for worshipping the golden calf.

In the Jewish calendar, the giving of the Torah or Law, represented by the divinely carved Ten Commandments, is celebrated as the feast of Weeks or Shavuot. So the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Shavuot was clearly intended to be a greater antitype to what Jews believed was the greatest of God’s gifts – the law of Moses. John 1:17 plainly speaks to this typology, “The Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.” The Holy Spirit is Christ’s agency for imparting His grace and truth to the people who are “called out” (ekklesia) to be Christ’s Church.

Brothers, we are living heirs of this great day of Pentecost that established Christ’s New Covenant in His people by His Spirit. The New Covenant is not written on tablets of paper or clay, but on human hearts who are sealed by His Spirit. This was the Father’s grand plan before the beginning of time. He willed to make a people for His own possession who would be redeemed out of sin, spiritual darkness and death’s grip by Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection.

We are the only race now and forevermore whom God plans to redeem this way. We are Christ’s special possession; and we are His Bride. Our love relationship with Him is not sensual, but spiritual; but earthly marriage between a man and a woman is the closest type on earth to the heavenly one. That is why no other marriage can be accepted by God as holy.

You are betrothed to Christ, and heirs to every spiritual blessing he possesses through His indwelling Holy Spirit, if you have yielded yourself to Christ as your Lord. The Holy Spirit is the One who helps you love, honor and obey Him. Have you humbly yielded to His pleading within your conscience? Have you truly repented of your sins, turned to Jesus for salvation and been baptized in both water and in His Spirit?

Let us pray.