Pentecost, The Event 2

[HKHaugan]

“1 The day of Pentecost came. The believers all gathered in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound came from heaven. It was like a strong wind blowing. It filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw something that looked like tongues of fire. The flames separated and settled on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. They began to speak in languages they had not known before. The Spirit gave them the ability to do this (NIRV).”

We are going to take this one verse at a time. This event is so important for us as believers that we need to, as the prayer says, “read mark, learn, and inwardly digest.”

Vs.1 The day of Pentecost came. The believers all gathered in one place.

First, it is the ‘day.’ When you look at this passage closely it is the arrival of something dramatically different, new and visible. It is happening in the light of day, happening visibly and the revelation of what had been blurred in the ‘night’ of mystery and lost in the ‘darkness’ of sin. This is more than a 12-hour day trapped in man’s limited physical apprehension of sunrise and sunset. It is a spiritual day dawning and the murky night of fear being overcome. What we know now on this side of the Cross and the Resurrection is what had been hidden in the dark night of the past was now exposed. The devil, his evil spirits and his spirit of sin hiding in the darkness of fear, intimidation and all the works of self-centeredness were drawn out into the open by the Cross and their power forever negated as majestically shown by the Resurrection. But far more than that this was a day of God’s lighting the heart, overwhelming the mind and restoring the spirit. This was spiritual daylight.

Second, it was the day of Pentecost. Pentecost (Gk.penthkosths-fiftieth) the Feast of the Firstfruits, the thanksgiving for the corn harvest, that took place 50 days after the Passover. Like all things in the Old testament it was a ‘shadow and copy’ of things to come.

Third, the day of Pentecost had come. But these ‘firstfruits’ were different. The Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus would herald in a new spiritual revelation. His promise of ‘living water’ that would never cease, of the gift He would send, the Spirit of truth, the fulfillment of prophecy that the heart would be transformed and we would be born again spiritually and that He would actually be at one with us in our minds and hearts through His Holy Spirit, these firstfruits of the Spirit of God became a reality. But there were far more spiritual fruits in the offing. Spiritual gifts in 1Cor., Rom.12 and Eph.4 and the spiritual atmosphere of love, joy, compassion, sound mind and more mentioned I Gal.5 that enable the spiritual gifts to function. Humanity would be forever challenged, charged and changed.

Vs.2 “Suddenly a sound came from heaven. It was like a strong wind blowing. It filled the whole house where they were sitting.”

First, the operative word here is ‘like.’ The sound from Heaven was ‘like’ a strong wind blowing. What happened was the spiritual was being physically experienced. When Scripture says ‘Heaven’ it immediately directs our gaze above. Jesus in His Ascension after the Resurrection was seen going up. What was like a wind was coming from above. God could be felt, sensed, experienced and that was the point. The invisible could move at will within and without. This is the-always-present God identified spiritually and moving in the context of our world.

Second, the Apostle’s first experience was the Spirit filling the house in which they were meeting. Jesus words were established, “Wherever two or three are gathered together in my Name I am there with them (Mt.18:20).” When we come together as believers, regardless of the number, He is there.

Third, look for the three’s in Scripture. In this verse, as in all of Scripture, we see three ideas encased in three sentences, sound, wind and place. There are three parts to a sentence, the idea, the mover of the idea and the power that moves it, in grammar subject, object and verb. If we think about language, it is Trinitarian because God is Trinity, we are created in the image of the Trinity, mind, heart and spirit, so our language fits what we are. So there is the motivation, the one motivated and the motivator, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Pentecost shows that the Trinity embraces all human thinking.

Vs.3 “They saw something that looked like tongues of fire. The flames separated and settled on each of them.”

Again the operative word is ‘like.’ The Spirit is the power of God and when God wants to make a point He engages His Creation in His Spirit to express it. So ‘like tongues of fire’ makes sense. Don’t we use that same idea when we try and paint what is invisible with the brush of visible objects? What could look like tongues, fire and flames? If we look back at Moses’ experience of the burning bush, Ezekiel’s chariots of fire and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah we ‘see’ the Holiness of God, the Prophecy of God and the Judgment of God. Here the words of John the Baptist come alive, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Mt.3:11).”
It follows then that Jesus personifies and grounds who God is, His attitude and the power that makes it all work. Visible Creation is the idea, the idea made visible through Jesus and the idea empowered to be constructed, again Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
God uses the visible to make the invisible real. Like Baptism and the Lord’s Supper where Baptism takes water to be a sign of spiritual cleansing from sin and bread and wine to be the signs of spiritual feeding signified in the sacrifice of Jesus body and the shedding of His blood on the Cross. “This do in remembrance of me,” He said.
Here with tongues of fire the promise is done. Note three things here. First the flames are from outside them, from God. Second, they are visible for all to see. Third, they settled on each one. The gift of the Holy Spirit is for each person, for all who believe, to restore the personal presence of God in each mind and heart.

Vs.4 “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. They began to speak in languages they had not known before. The Spirit gave them the ability to do this.”

Again three things are evidence here. First, they were internally filled, inspirited, spiritualized. The emptiness within was filled. The Spirit of God that had been outside because of sin since Adam’s fall was now available to return within because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross that made it possible. Second, they were now enabled to speak known and unknown languages by the same indwelling Spirit. Paul tells us that in 1Cor.13 when he cites tongues of men and of angels. Third, it is the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer transforming the believer with a truly new sense of spiritual being. They were able to believe, trust and have faith in an entirely new way. The Spirit filled them with the presence of Jesus and what had been God outside was not God inside. This is the beginning of a new age and the beginning of the end times for the One who made it all possible and HE will return to bring us all home when He knows the time is right.