Raising Up Witnesses: A Meditation on Acts 2, for the Sunday of Pentecost

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come,

they were all with one accord in one place.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven

 as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled

all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues

like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,

and began to speak with other tongues,

as the Spirit gave them utterance.

 

While there are those who describe Pentecost as the birthday of the Church, I do not think that is quite accurate.  The Church, a phrase in Greek that means a gathering of people, or a group of people called out and called together, is something found all the way back to the beginning.  The first Church are Adam and Eve, called into being by the Word and Spirit of God, and gathered together into a fellow both between themselves and with their Creator.  That fellowship was soon fractured by their sin, but down through the ensuing centuries, God never stopped calling people together by His Word and Spirit.  When people tried to call themselves together with evil intentions apart from God, as the story in Genesis 11 recounts the Tower of Babel, God mercifully confounded their evil hearts and barred them accomplishing a united wickedness, just as He had mercifully preserved Adam and Eve from the Tree of Life lest their fallen lives be sealed forever in evil like the demons.  Yet the Church of God—His people gathered together in Him by His Word and Spirit—has never departed from the earth.  It has certainly gone through risings and fallings, through prosperity and persecution, through covenants and commitments and promises.  While Pentecost may have been the ushering in of a new era, with the Word and Spirit of God falling upon the people without measure in the testimony of Jesus Christ as Savior of the World, the Church continues to this day, and forever.

 

What is unique about our celebration of Pentecost, is the fulfilment of God’s Law and Promises in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  What was prophesied for centuries had fully come to pass, and Jesus now ascended, sits at the right hand of the Father, in the communion of the Holy Spirit, indivisible and victorious over every enemy of mankind.  That imagery of Jesus at the Father’s right hand communicates Jesus’ total authority, as the Word of God made flesh must always and everywhere reign without equal.  There is only One God, and He alone speaks the Words of eternal life—the words that call His people away from evil and into his grace.  What happens at Pentecost is not the creation of a new community, but the perfection and expansion of that community made possible by the Cross of Christ.  The Holy Spirit who fell on the Apostles that day nearly 2000 years ago, did not bring miraculous powers, signs, and wonders to testify to Himself, but rather that the Apostles might be raised up as witnesses of what Jesus had already done.  That divine power which infused the Apostles and empowered them to speak in tongues they had never studied, was a power to testify of Jesus in words others could understand.  The Holy Spirit was not bringing confusion to the Church on Pentecost, but rather, He was bringing focus and completion:  Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word who fulfilled in Himself the Word of the Old Testament Prophets, now became the central Word His Apostles would preach among themselves and into the whole world.  It was Jesus who both established and fulfilled the Law of Moses, and Jesus who gave His life that we might live in His sacrificial grace by faith, forgiven of our failures and empowered in His Spirit.

 

I think at times many Christians, myself included, have looked back on Pentecost with a kind of sadness or wistfulness, as if only we could rebuild the faith of the Apostles in ourselves we would see a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit like they did.  But this is to misunderstand both Pentecost, and the enduring power of God among us.  The Apostles did not bring about the coming of the Holy Spirit through their own works, merit, or righteousness.  It was Jesus who promised He would send the Holy Spirit to them, that they might not think themselves orphans after His Ascension to the Father.  The Apostles received the Holy Spirit by the Word of the Living God, and thus in that Word and Spirit they were raised up to be powerful witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  When the Church today looks back on Pentecost, we should no more expect God to repeat this particular event than we should expect Him to repeat the Ark of Noah, the giving of the Law to Moses at Mt. Sinai, or the building of the Temple under King Solomon.  These great events are all part of our patrimony as Christians, but they are what the Lord worked in those times and places, so that the fullness of His revelation might be brought forth in Jesus Christ.  All of the ages of man from the dawn of time moved forward toward Jesus’ Incarnation and Vicarious Atonement, and since then, all ages shall press forward to His triumphant return at the end of time.  Between Pentecost and the Eschaton, the Church moves forward in the testimony of Jesus Christ, empowered by His omnipotent Spirit.

 

Once we see our history for the wondrous testimony that it is, we find ourselves back in our own present moment, knowing that it is God who will raise up His Church today, just as He has always raised up His people:  by His Word and Spirit.  While the day of Pentecost is centuries behind us, and the Last Day is an unknown time before us, the promise of Jesus is right here among us—right now, right here.  The power of Almighty God has not waned across countless generations, even though peoples in every land and culture have seen the rise and fall of many empires.  Mankind will have seasons of greater or lesser faithfulness to God, but God is not increased or diminished by the works, words, or beliefs of man.  God will always be God; the Father will always be the uncreated Creator of all things, Jesus will always be the uncreated Savior of the World, and the Holy Spirit will always be the uncreated breath of life.  Which of course means that God has not now, nor ever shall, abandon His Church—His people—called together in Him by His Word and Spirit.  Our generation is not able to live in a past generation, anymore than it can live in a future generation yet unborn, for to each person in each generation is given their time and calling.  The Church’s calling today is to abide in the Word and Spirit of God Almighty by grace through faith, and in that divine power to rise up and bear witness to the saving Gospel of Jesus.  Thus we remember our past, celebrate our saints, and live in the power of God today, as we prepare to pass on our witness to the next generation.

 

The promise of Jesus today is the promise we live in.  And while the miracles of the past might echo into the future, we should brace ourselves for the miracles God has ordained for our time.  For this present life is our challenge, in our time and our place, to abide in the Word and Spirit of God and to be raised up in Him, that we might also give witness to the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation only Jesus can give.  Today, in every place God has gathered His people by His Word and Spirit, He is raising up witnesses to stand boldly forth in His power and conviction, that the testimony of Justification by Grace through Faith in Christ Alone might ring forth in every deafened ear, and enliven every dying heart.  Today, the Word and Spirit of the Living God come to you, that you might be conformed day by day to the image of your Savior, reflecting His life, light, love, joy, peace, and reconciliation to everyone around you.  Today you are called together with the saints of every age, into a Church that sings triumphantly across all time and space, of the saving grace of Jesus.  Today, the Word and Spirit of the Lord God Almighty falls upon you, that you might be raised up in Him, and shine forth forever.  Lift up your eyes and see:  you live in the power and blessing of Pentecost today.  Amen.