
I give you
this little background about this day, because it is this day that in the New Testament is called
“Pentecost.” It is also the day we still observe today,
fifty days after we celebrated Easter. The word Pentecost actually does mean “fiftieth day.” It also comes ten days
after Ascension Day. Ascension Day was the day when Jesus ascended into heaven,
as witnessed by his watching and wondering disciples.
A Promise Given
On that day
that Jesus ascended into heaven, before he did so, he told his disciples that
he would be sending “the promise” of the Father upon them. They were to wait in
Jerusalem for this promise, at which time they would be “clothed with power
from on high.” That is the way he put it. Jesus spoke in reference
to what the prophet Joel wrote. The promise reads, in part, “I will pour out My
Spirit in those days.” (Joel 2:28-29)
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Jesus then
explained to the disciples, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized
with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:5). It turned out to be
ten days, but the disciples did not know that at the time.
This promise
of Jesus led the disciples to ask a rather strange question; at least it seems
strange to me: “Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to
Israel?”
I am not
quite sure what the disciples meant by that question. At the time, the nation of Israel
was under the Roman occupation, and for most of the people of Israel,
“restoring the kingdom” simply meant regaining their independence from Rome.
This topic came up often during the ministry of Jesus, but it seems surprising
to me that the disciples would still be thinking merely in these terms. I think
that probably they were speaking of the dawning of a new age, one in which the
Messiah would return to rule.
“It is not
for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own
authority,” Jesus answered them. “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” (Acts
1:7-8 NAS).
Waiting for the Promise
So the
disciples waited. They returned to the city to the same upper room where they
had been staying, and they waited. They waited ten days. However, during this
time they did not just sit around playing cards. They devoted themselves to
prayer. They were also joined by others for these times of prayers. The women
who had gone to the tomb on the resurrection morning joined them, along with Mary
the mother of Jesus, and also his brothers, who at first did not believe in him,
but later became convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. In all, there
were about 120 people in that room. (It must have been a larger room).
When the day
of Pentecost arrived, the disciples were all together in that place. It is even
possible that all 120 people were still there. It was true that they had been
waiting in those days in a state of expectation, but there is nothing in particular
to indicate that they expected the Holy Spirit to come on that specific day,
and most certainly not with the manifestation of how he came.
Communication Turns to Babbling
As you know,
when the Holy Spirit came to those in the room, they all began to speak in
tongues. That is, they spoke in languages that they did not know. But before we
go on to hear about the coming of the Holy Spirit, we need to again go back
into history. This time even much earlier than the giving of the Law on Mount
Sinai. The date of this earlier event is unknown, but perhaps it was about 2200
BC. It was after God had sent the great flood at the time of Noah. The flood
had been a judgment on the wickedness of the people of that time.
After the
flood, God told Noah and his family, eight people in all, that they were to be
fruitful and multiply, and to “fill the earth.” This was a renewal of the
blessing and commandment that he had originally given to Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden. God had told them the same thing.
For some
centuries after the flood, this was the intent of the families of the earth. It
perhaps even remained the intention of many, but it was not so for every group
of people. Some of these people, in their migration, decided that they did not
want to follow these instructions of God.
Instead, when they
came to a great plain called Shinar, they decided to all settle there,
none of them wishing to continue on. They instead said to one another, “Let us
build a city and tower with a top that rises high into the heavens, and let us
make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the face of the earth”
(Genesis 11:4).
Cities instead of Families
God’s intentions
for the people of the earth was that they should be associated together as
families. However, this idea of the people on the plain of Shinar was the first
serious attempt to associate themselves instead by building great city. Instead
of being known by their family, they wanted instead to be known by their celebrated
city. “Let us make a name for ourselves,” they said.
The people
put themselves to the task. The great tower that they began to build was to be
a monument to themselves and to their achievements, rather than to what God had
done. What they did was actually an act of rebellion against what God had told
them. God decided to put an end to it.
He allowed
these people to get good start at their task before he stepped in, but then he
said, “They are one people and of one language, and this is only the beginning
of what they will do. Nothing they propose will be impossible for them”
(Genesis 11:6).
You already
know the story of God’s simple solution to put a stop to this rebellion. He
again separated them into families by giving them each a distinct language, so
that they could not understand one another. With that, the people were once
again dispersed, eventually leading to the populating of every part of the
earth.
One of their
goals had been met, however. Although most or perhaps all of them had to abandon their
city, at least it came to have a name. Babel. It means “confusion.” The common
language that they all once spoke became confused.
This is
undoubtedly a very simplified abbreviation of the entire account of what
happened during those years, but it is an accurate account of the beginnings of
the distinct languages of the earth. It is a distinction that remains yet
today. Differences in languages still present a very real barrier.
Return to Understanding
Since we
have gone into the distant past in our history, let us now look for a moment
into the future. It may be our distant future, but also perhaps not so distant.
This scene was revealed to the Apostle John and written by him in the book of
Revelation. It takes place in the very throne room of God. John writes:
After these things I
looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every
nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and
before the Lamb, clothed in white robes. They had palm branches in their hands,
and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on
the throne, and to the Lamb.”
And all the angels were
standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures.
These fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen,
blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might,
be to our God forever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 7:9-12)
You will
notice that John mentions this great multitude was from “every nation and all
tribes and peoples and tongues.” They were all standing before the throne and
worshiping God. Of course I do not know exactly what John heard, but from his
description of the event, it would seem that the people in this great multitude
were not speaking a single language, but instead spoke with many distinct
tongues.
Even the
angels and other living creatures were there worshiping God, presumably
speaking in a way that would not be understood here on earth. Nevertheless,
even with all of these distinct languages, there seemed to be no communication
difficulties. John was able to understand not only the fact that they were
worshiping God, but he even understood the words.
Communication Upgrade
By looking
at these two perspectives, both from the past in human history before Babel,
and in the future in the throne room of God, we see situations where there is
no communication problem. Men and women and children speak freely without the
need for a translation dictionary or translating software. Well, perhaps I
should say that in heaven we will
have translating software, but that software will be hard-wired into each one
of us. One may speak to me in a language as obscure as Finnish, for instance,
and I will be able to understand him perfectly.[1]
Except of
course, we are humans and not androids. This ability to communicate will not
come from some great breakthrough with Apple computers. It will come from the
hand of God himself. The barrier that he imposed at Babel will be lifted.
The Coming of the Holy Spirit
And now
finally we come to the subject of the day, the Day of Pentecost. As we already
know, the disciples and others were gathered in the room, waiting for the
promise of God – the coming of the Holy Spirit. Although the disciples had the
promise of the coming of the Spirit, I do not know if they had any idea when this would occur. They had already
waited ten days.
Since the
Day of Pentecost was a significant holiday that had been initiated by God, the
disciples perhaps suspected that it may be on that day. But we are told none of
this. However, even if they may have had an inclination of the day, I am quite
sure that they had no idea of the manner in which the Holy Spirit came upon
them, and of the results.
I think that
the arrival of the Holy Spirit to the disciples on that day was unlike anything
that they had expected. Certainly, in their years of walking with Jesus, they
had seen and heard many astounding things and had seen Jesus act in sometimes
forceful and even violent ways, such as when he overturned the money changer’s
tables in the temple and threw out others who were using the temple to conduct
business. However, it is at least my impression that the daily ministry of
Jesus was more low-keyed and unpretentious.

Also, the
arrival of Jesus onto this earth could not have been more uneventful. He was
born into the humblest of families in an obscure stable. Sure, the angels
appeared to a few shepherds, but other than that, almost no one in Israel
noticed.
Elijah Hears the Soft Voice of God
Concerning
previous manifestations of the Holy Spirit before Pentecost, neither had these
usually been especially impressive, at least in outward appearance. In the Old
Testament, the Holy Spirit was mostly seen as an influence. The case of Elijah
the prophet is especially interesting in this regard.
Elijah
himself was far from low-key. I don’t think that calling him bombastic would be
too far off the mark. He appears abruptly on the scene by suddenly standing before
the king Ahab and announcing to him that there was to be three years of drought
that would be so severe that there would not even be any dew. Among his
activities while serving as a prophet of God was that he challenged 450
prophets of Baal to a contest to give them the opportunity to prove the existence of their god, during which
time Elijah called fire down from heaven to consume a sacrifice that he had
made to show that his own God was real.
Nevertheless,
despite his boisterous personality, when he was in a cave on Mount Horeb
waiting for direction from the Lord, God told him to stand at the mouth of the
cave so that the prophet could hear God’s word. While Elijah stood at the
entrance of the cave, a great and strong wind began to blow. So powerful was it
that it was slashing at the mountains, dislodging rocks and causing them fall, shattering them on the mountainside.
One may expect God to speak in such a powerful way, but this was not the voice
of the Lord.
Then a great
earthquake occurred, but neither was this a manifestation of God. After that a
fire. But as the text tells us, “Neither was the Lord in the fire.” These three
powerful phenomena occurred, but God spoke through none of them.
Then after
these three, there came then the sound of a gentle blowing. A soft breeze. With
that breeze, the voice of God also came to Elijah. Accompanied by an almost
silent breath, the Spirit of God spoke to the prophet. The Holy Spirit came
with gentleness. (1 Kings 17-19)
Descending Like a Dove
It was in
this same gentle manner that the Holy Spirit came at the baptism of Jesus. John
the Baptist testified to the fact that, after the baptism, he saw the Spirit of
God descend like a dove out of heaven and then lighting upon Jesus. (Matthew
3:16; John 1:32)
Descending like a Flaming Tornado
Consequently,
given the examples of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the past, I
think that the disciples, while they awaited the arrival of the Holy Spirit in
their upper room, never expected the manner in which he came. There was no dove
descending here, no gentle breeze at the mouth of a cave.
When the day of Pentecost
had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from
heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where
they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing
themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with
the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving
them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4)
Predictability and Inconceivability
(if that’s a word)
There are
many things about God that are predictable. His faithfulness to his people is
one of these things. Also his grace and his mercy for those who seek him. He is
also predictable in regards to his opposition to all that is evil. Despite the
greatness of his mercy, his retribution to those who persist in evil and
especially on those who promote evil is also certain. These are truths about
God that will remain. When all of history has concluded, we will see that God
holds strongly to all of these qualities of his personality.
But there
are other things in which God is far from predictable. The way that the Holy
Spirit came at Pentecost is only an example of this. Once you decide to follow
God, I mean really follow him, you
can expect a wild ride.
This does
not mean that if your idea of following God is merely to go to church most
Sundays and say a table grace before you eat a meal, that you will necessarily
see the unpredictability of God. If this is your idea of following God, you
have all but locked yourself in to the very definition of predictability.
The level of
following God that I am talking about is seen best in the disciples themselves.
When these men left their fishing boats to follow Christ, when they left their
tax collector’s table and their other work, who would have guessed what they
had in store for their lives?
But God may just as likely
call you to a very ordinary existence. The life that he has in store for you
may mean for you a quiet and contemplative life, working a job and perhaps
raising a family. The point is, when one decides to follow the Lord, one’s life
becomes God’s, and he will call you to do things that you may never have
otherwise expected. But one thing is certain, if it is God who is setting the
agenda for your life and not some artificial standard of the world, you will live
a life that is completely fulfilled.
Next week I
will talk about what happened in that upper room in the center of the town of
Jerusalem, and how it forever changed the lives of those who were present.
[1] I said this tongue in cheek, because the community of Tripoli/Brantwood, where the Log Church is located, is largely of Finnish descent
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