When we’ve been given a promise, we’re usually glad when that promise is kept. It’s especially pleasing when we’ve had to wait a while for that promise to be fulfilled. Our Scripture for today gives the account of the fulfillment of a promise that the Lord Jesus gave His disciples, and actually a promise that had been spoken of by several of the prophets in the Old Testament. On the day of Pentecost, God fulfilled His promise to His people by giving the Holy Spirit. Let’s look into our Bible passage for this Sunday of Pentecost.
Pentecost was the Jewish festival of offering to God the first fruits of the harvest. The disciples were in Jerusalem, where they had been since the day that Jesus had ascended back into heaven, ten days earlier. They were all together in an upper room, possibly the same room that the Last Supper had taken place in. There they had remained for over a week, in prayer, waiting for the fulfillment of the promise of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus had given them (Acts 1:12-14).
How patient are we for someone to carry out or answer a promise they made for us? People today are not very patient for anything. They want what they want right away. Instant food from the microwave, from fast-food restaurants, or restaurant delivery to their doors. They want to get from point A to point B in the fastest time. They want the quickest route, the expressway, not a slower way that might be more scenic. Instant answers and information on the Internet. Fast, fast, fast. God doesn’t always work fast, or at our timetable. Very often He has us wait for His answers. When Jesus was preparing to return to heaven, He told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49). They obeyed, waiting in prayer, and ten days later, on the festival of Pentecost, the promised Holy Spirit was given. Quite often the Lord wants us to be still and to wait for the answers to our prayers.
In His final discourse to the apostles, Jesus spoke of sending the Holy Spirit to the believers. He spoke of the Holy Spirit as our Helper, and that this was the Spirit of Truth (John 14:16-17). He promised that the Holy Spirit would bring to mind all that Jesus had said (John 14:26), and that it was necessary that Jesus return to heaven in order for the Holy Spirit to come (John 16:7). John the Baptist had prophesied about the coming Holy Spirit. He spoke of how he baptized with water, but that the Holy Spirit would baptize with fire (Matthew 3:11;Luke 3:16). And centuries earlier the Prophet Joel had also spoken words about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28-29).
When the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples that Pentecost morning, there appeared “divided tongues, as of fire” upon each disciple (vs. 3). Fire symbolizes God’s purifying presence, which burns away undesirable elements of our lives. It also sets our hearts aflame, empowering us to witness to others, to bring them the Gospel, in order to ignite the lives of others.
There was a reason that the Holy Spirit came on the festival of Pentecost. Pentecost was the day that the Jewish people brought an offering to God of the first fruits of their crops. If they brought a portion of the very first of their crops and offered them to God, then they believed He would bless the remainder of crops to come. The Holy Spirit came on Pentecost as the first fruits of the believer’s inheritance. The Holy Spirit was the sign of all that God promised to give to believers, like a down payment of what was promised to come. Also, these early believers were the first fruits of the full harvest of all believers who would come after.
That Pentecost morning, God sent the Holy Spirit upon the believers gathered there together, and He enabled them to speak to the multitudes of people who were gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the festival. These were Jewish folk who came from dozens of different countries throughout Asia and the Mediterranean world. They immediately began to witness to these people in their native languages (vs. 5-11).
When the Holy Spirit came upon them, the disciples didn’t just sit back and compliment themselves on how privileged they were to be so blessed. They immediately went out and started sharing the Gospel to others. The Holy Spirit has been given to us to enable and empower us to share the Gospel with others. There are myriads of people all around our own neighborhoods who need to hear about Jesus. If we are saved, we have the Holy Spirit, and we have the ability to do as these disciples did, and that is to share the Gospel with all who will listen.
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