The Promise is to You: A Meditation on Acts 2 for Pentecost Sunday

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized 

every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, 

and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

For the promise is unto you, and to your children, 

and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call.

And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, 

Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

The Church of Christ has suffered much down through the centuries, as the people of God who abided in His Word were murdered, tortured, enslaved, and oppressed by evil forces.  From Abel who was slain by his own brother in the dark mists of ancient antiquity, to the 400 years of Israel's enslavement to Egypt under the Pharos, to their oppression under the Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans to which Scripture attests, the ancient people of God have endured great calamity.  As was the case in the 2000 years between Abraham and Christ, so too has been the 2000 years since Christ to our time, with oppressions coming from tyrants and oppressors both secular and religious.  We have endured the violent scourge of jihadists since the 7th century AD, of ruthless politicians in religious garb since the Middle Ages, and the murderous regimes of totalitarian atheists since the 19th century.  In just one corner of the world, since Easter of this year, Islamic fanatics have blown up churches and machine gunned busses full of peaceful minority Coptic Christians-- the same fanatics who butcher and massacre everyone who will not bow to their self declared caliphate in dozens of countries around the world.  And while the blood of the martyrs flows like a river in foreign lands, the western church continues to atrophy in apathy and disinterest, slowly suffocating in vapid pursuits that make their faith weak, empty, and inconsequential.  Churches and schools are closing that had been vibrant for over a century, ravaged not by violence but by an empty theology of personal satisfaction which has left them discarded like so many empty plastic boxes.

Such is the cross which the people of God have born, and continue to bear in our own time.  With so many enemies encircling the Church from outside, and traitorous apostates and heretics within, it is tempting for anyone to drift into despair.  Against such temptation, the Word of God speaks to His people once again this Pentecost Sunday, through the pages of the Book of Acts.  Not long after Jesus' resurrection, teaching, and ascension, about 120 disciples (including the 11 remaining Apostles, and the newly elected Matthias who took the vacant apostolic bishopric of the traitor Judas Iscariot) were gathered together in one accord, when the Spirit of the Living God descended upon them, imbuing them with power from on high to accomplish the mission which Jesus had given to them them:  to preach the Gospel to the whole world, to make disciples of every nation through baptism and teaching, to forgive the sins of the faithful repentant and withhold the forgiveness of sins from the unbelieving and unrepentant, to go boldly into the devil's domain while fearing no evil, casting out demons and healing the sick of both body and soul (cf. Matthew 28, Mark 16, and John 20). On the first Pentecost long ago, with the Church numbering just 120 souls, the miraculous power of Almighty God filled their presence like a mighty, rushing wind, empowering them to speak in the tongues of everyone who would hear them, and to work every kind of wonder from healing to resurrection that would attest to the power of Christ among them.  On that Pentecost, through the preaching of the Gospel to sinners dead in their trespasses and sins, the miracle of conversion, faith, and repentance was accomplished for over 3000 people-- a miracle which was repeated time and time again, down to this very day.  By the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God, people continue to be born from above by Water and Spirit through faith in Jesus' saving grace for them, earned through His life, death, and resurrection.  To this very day, souls are snatched away from the demonic forces which would lead them to eternal perdition, and the love of God continues to swallow up the hatred, pride, selfishness, and violence of a wicked generation through the witness of Jesus' compassion, grace, mercy, and forgiveness for all people.

While on a superficial level the people of God may appear broken, persecuted, abused, and on the brink of extinction, encircled by so many evil entities that defeat seems all but imminent, the true and enduring reality is that the people of God live forever by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.  This persecuted, rag-tag people, with their churches blown up and their busses riddled with bullets, with their organizations taken over by bureaucrats and Machiavellian politicians, with their ranks infected by apostasy and heresy, is still the power of the living God at work to save a lost and dying world.  This people, this Church Universal, made up of every tongue and tribe under heaven, with every variety of liturgy and vestment and tradition and culture, endures to this day in an unbroken chain which stretches all the way back to the dawn of time-- back through the martyrs, Church Fathers, and the successors of the Apostles; through Christ and His Apostles and Prophets; through King David, Moses and Abraham; through Noah, Enoch, Abel and Seth; back to our very first parents Adam and Eve, so many thousands of years before us.  Through every persecution, every trial, every suffering, the Word of God has gathered His people, calling them out of the darkness to live together with Him in the eternal light of His truth, beauty, virtue, and love.  In every time and place He has preserved a witness to Himself, to His grace, and to the salvation he would bring to the world through His only begotten Son.  In every time and place, He has sent His people forth in the power of His Holy Spirit to bear witness to His forgiveness, life, salvation, hope, and victory in Jesus.

And so, this Day of Pentecost comes to you.  Our time and place may not be with Moses crossing the Red Sea, or with Elijah on Mount Carmel; ours is not the time of Christ and His Apostles, or the travels of St. Paul recorded in the Book of Acts; ours is not the time of the heroic saints and martyrs who endured the persecutions of Nero, Diocletian, or Mohammad; but the same Word and Spirit which thundered at Mount Sinai and fell like fire upon Mount Carmel, which was incarnate and spoke upon Mount Olivet and was crucified upon Mount Calvary, continues to work among the people of God in this very age.  Here, in our midst, the Spirit of the Living God comes by the preaching of His Word to bear witness to Christ and His salvation for all people.  Here, in our midst, the Holy Spirit working through the Word of Christ drives out demons, cures the sick, raises the dead, and gives living faith to dead hearts of stone.  Here, in our midst, the Holy Spirit abides with us, making us more than conquerors through Christ our Savior, with an eternal life that cannot be taken or diminished by trial, tribulation, persecution, or death.  Here, among us, power of the Holy Spirit comes to give us faith and repentance unto eternal life in Jesus, that where the countless saints and martyrs, prophets and apostles, and all the holy angels live and sing forever in peace, joy, love, and victory, so we may be also.

By faith in the Word of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, may your eyes be opened to the enduring love, power, and grace of God which has been at work in the world since its foundation, and continues to be at work all around you.  See the legions of holy angels who surround you, whom God has given charge to keep and preserve you through every trial and temptation, and defend you from every foul and wicked spirit.  Behold the great company of saints and martyrs who stand by you as a cloud of countless witnesses to the power and salvation of Almighty God.  Feel the very life of God the Son coursing through your veins, your soul, your heart, your mind.  Know the power of the King of all Creation, given to you through the Word and Spirit of Christ, that you might stand boldly in this current age, fearing nothing.  Trust that you are made children of God through the Blood of Christ, and inheritors with Christ of the Kingdom which has no end.  Hear His Word come to you this day, that you may remember who you are, and to whom you belong.  Brace yourself for the mighty wind which will fall upon you, as you move into the world full of Christ and His Spirit, abiding in His Word by grace through faith in Him.

Be ready, o people of God-- His Word and Spirit have come to you, and the darkness trembles at His coming.  Hear Him, repent, believe, and live in His Word and Spirit, forever raised up to be a living witness to His love, mercy, compassion, and victory.  Arise, o people of God, for the gates of hell cannot withstand you-- arise, and inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world-- arise, and seek the souls who languish in the hellish prisons of fear and despair-- arise, in the power of your Saving Lord, and go fearless as He has prepared and sent you-- Arise!  Amen.