Holy Spirit
| We saw in Acts 1 the events leading up to the ascension of Jesus, and the procedure of the disciples choosing a substitute for Judas, who betrayed Jesus. I believe the key theme in Acts 1 is Jesus instructing the disciples to return to Jerusalem and wait upon the Holy Spirit, which the Father had already promised. As they are in prayer in the upper room, in a very sudden manner that promised appeared. Who could recognise how the Holy Spirit would appear, or what that would look like. Actually, the initial manifestation was a sound, which Luke describes as "like" a rushing, mighty wind. Following this sound was the aspect of "tongues" that looked like fire, and these tongues disunited up to rest upon each one in this gathering. We ought to be careful not to read into the text what is not there. There was likely no wind blowing in the upper room, but a sound that resembled to the disciples what a violent, rushing wind might sound like. The tongues that appeared were not flames of fire, but numerous kind of visual manifestation of a language that resembled to them flames of fire. The word for tongues here is not the organ in our mouths, but the word for languages. Following these two events, the disciples (all who were in the upper room) started out speaking tongues (languages) that were unknown to them. This not a manifestation of the 'gift of tongues' that is spoken in I Corinthians 12 & 14, but is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit through the disciples to disseminate the Gospel to those who are in Jerusalem. And while these languages were unknown to the disciples from whom the languages were being spoken, they were not unknown to all of those in Jerusalem. With sheer amazement, shock, and bewilderment, the devout Jews who were in Jerusalem to fulfill their obligations to honor the Passover and Pentecost were each one hearing the disciples speak in their own native language. Pretty cool! What were they hearing being spoken? The mighty deeds of God! The Lord was preparing the hearts of these people to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as we witness the birth of the Church at this very moment of time. With outstanding amazement (not to mention a lot of curiosity), the Jews rushed upon the disciples to listen why these things were happening. Can you see the wisdom and system of the Lord in asking the disciples to return to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit? He was asking them to do something that went far beyond what would gain just the disciples. The Lord was when it comes to the use this gathering of 120 persons in the upper room to commence a missionary outreach that is still being experienced today. Those in Jerusalem from other countries were hearing the Gospel, which they would undoubtedly take back to their own humans in the following days. What was starting in Jerusalem would disseminate to Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world...just as Jesus had said. As we have witnessed the birth of the Church in these initial few verses in Acts 2, we'll see a clearer picture of what it all means as Peter gives his original sermon in the next article.
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The Trinity, How may you say God and the Holy Spirit are the same but not the same? What makes them different? You can't see them. You may talk to both of them. So what is the aim of having the Holy Spirit if God and the Holy Spirit are the same? God, the Father; Jesus, the Son; and the Holy Spirit. Scripture tells us that there is only one God (Dt 4:35; Isaiah 45:5; 46:9). The Bible likewise refers to three distinct humans as "God": God the Father (Gal 1:1), The Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are Three distinct Persons in One God. This is the truth which God was conveying through Scripture, a truth which Christians later labled "The Trinity" (literally "tri-unity" meaning three in unity as one). The truth that God is "Three-in-One" likewise shows us that there is a "Community of Love" within the Godhead. God is a "Family", so to speak; a Father and a Son bound together by an Eternal Love which is a Third Person, the Holy Spirit. The system of belief of the Trinity helps us to perceive how God gives us a part in His own Divine Life. The Father sent the Son, Who became flesh, Jesus took on our humane nature. Jesus loved His Father so much that He wanted God the Father to be loved by us, and He wanted us to be loved by His Father. So Jesus permitted Himself to be crucified a horrid death so that His pure sinless blood would be shed on a cross so that we may become His brothers and sisters, and sons and daughters of God. Once we confess that Jesus Christ is our Savior, the Holy Spirit, becomes present in our souls. The Spirit causes us to proclaim that Jesus is Lord (I Corinthians 12:3) "... God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born beneath the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba Father". Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. . . . (Galatians 4:4b-7). |
