Word of Salvation – Vol. 35 No. 21 – June 1990

 

Pentecost

 

Sermon by Rev. W. van Brussel on Acts 2:33

Reading: Acts 2:14-36

 

Beloved congregation for the Lord Jesus Christ,

Pentecost is different.  All the other Christian feast-days commemorate visible events.  The Christmas-Baby-Boy was visible.  So was the Man of Sorrows.  Even at the Resurrection of our Saviour, although the actual rising from the tomb was not seen by anybody, Jesus was seen several times before He finally departed to ascend into heaven.  The actual Ascension took place before the eyes of His disciples.

But the Holy Spirit, who was He?  What to think of Him?  What is He doing?  What is new since He was poured out?  We read about Him in the Old Testament at times.  We remember how certain men of God acted because the Spirit of the LORD came upon them in power, and they did mighty things.  But what is the difference now after Pentecost?  Is there only a gradual difference perhaps?  In other words, what exactly did God do on Pentecost Sunday?

The Bible teaches that ever since Jesus Christ was born in the flesh everything has become different.  It started in a seemingly small way, somewhere in a corner in Palestine.  For a while it remained practically unnoticed, at least on the worldwide level.

Jesus Christ had finished His task on earth.  This meant that, as from that time, He was going to play a dominant role in the world’s history.  Revelation 5 tells us about that in the picture of the Lamb and the scroll.  No-one was found worthy to open the scroll with the seven seals.

However, we read in verse 5: “Do not weep!  See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed.  He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals”.

This led to the excited singing in heaven: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise”.

Here Jesus was about to realise all that was written on the scroll, bit by bit, throughout the time, which by many is seen as the “millennium”, the “thousand years” between His first and His second coming.

Ever since Pentecost day, Jesus Christ has been positioned at the focal point of this universe’s history.  He is gone and yet He is present and His work continues.  He is working hard, standing at the helm of this universe, in maintaining God’s rights.

You remember from reading Acts 1:1, how Luke introduced this book by stating that in his first book, the Gospel of Luke, he had recorded all that Jesus had begun to do and to teach.  Now, in his second book, the Acts, we find recorded what Jesus continued and continues to do, first through His apostles and later on through His Church.

The Acts continue to relate the story of Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is the person speaking, leading, acting, ruling in the time of the Acts and ever since.  The words are His words; the miracles are His miracles, His signs.  They were all said and done in the name of Jesus Christ.

What is different about Pentecost, we ask?  This Bible-verse offers us the answer: Pentecost is another feast of Jesus Christ.  It is the next step in the whole series of Christ-events!

Peter was given to speak the day’s message in explanation of the signs.  No, he said, we are not drunk; we are filled with the Spirit of Jesus Christ.  Joel told us that a long time ago.

When we now listen to what Peter told the crowd as from vs.22, we hear him speaking about no-one but Jesus Christ, His Resurrection and His Ascension.

But the real thing, the new thing of this day was what verse 33 intimates.  “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact”, he said in verse 32, and then: “Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, and has poured out what you now see and hear!”

The Son has sent forth the Holy Spirit as His agent.

That’s exactly what the Holy Spirit came for, and wants to be: Agent of Jesus Christ!  He does not aim to be in the foreground.  He focuses and wants us to focus on Jesus Christ, God’s Redeemer alone.  He never spoke or speaks His own word.  He only reminded the apostles of Jesus’ words, according to Jesus own promise in John 16:13,14.

Today too Jesus works through the Holy Spirit in reminding us of what Jesus wants us to know and to remember and to do.  For it is in the person of the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ Himself has come back to speak and work, to battle and to conquer.

It was and is Jesus Christ who is in the centre of the Pentecost event, even though it was the Holy Spirit who was sent and who came.  Jesus Christ had gone to heaven in order to be able, from there, to work more effectively, also on earth; to speak more powerfully and to fight more fiercely.

He has laid the foundation in the conquest of sin and death here on earth.  On that basis He commenced, from heaven, heading for the “last days” term of His total ministry, by gathering from all over the globe the holy, catholic church, as well as by ruling the world.  He now exercises His kingly authority worldwide in His millennium.

Pentecost day is a day of Jesus Christ!  In and through the Holy Spirit Jesus Christ set out completing His grand work.  He left here on Ascension Day; on Pentecost Day He came back in the person of the Holy Spirit, His agent, who – O divine wonder! – is also God!

The Bible tells us here that that is the core of Pentecost.  Jesus Christ came back in the Spirit and with the Spirit, in order to go on with His work till He Himself returns.  We have been in the “last days” period ever since.

Initially Christ continued through the ministry of His apostles.  For many centuries before, God had acted through the intermediary of prophets, priests and kings.

Only the priest was allowed inside the inner temple-court.  Only the High-priest was allowed into the Holy of Holies, once a year, but only with blood.  All that was over by now.

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The shadows had gone; the light shone brightly.  The temple was meant to be become a museum.  As the Jews did not want that, the temple was destroyed altogether not so much later.  What the priests had been doing since Good Friday had all been a waste of time and effort, but they did not want to see things that way.

Today a plain fisherman, who had been to school with Jesus, acted as a herald of Jesus Christ.  Through this man the Spirit of Jesus Christ Himself addressed the crowd.  He drew and called people, offering them His grace.  His kingdom and the dominion of His grace were breaking through!

Whoever rejects Peter will be rejected by Jesus.  Listening to Peter means hearing Jesus’ Word.  Peter and the other apostles were the men sent forth and empowered by God, the Holy Spirit, to represent Jesus Christ.  Through them Jesus Christ commenced the “last-days” stage of His work.

We notice that when looking at the result of Peter’s sermon.  And that was only the beginning.  That’s how Jesus Christ has been working since.  The exalted Lord is at work, still today, and till He returns.

He still speaks through men whom He calls and ordains to be His ministers, i.e. His servants.  He still works through the office-bearers of the Church, with the Word and through the Spirit.  That’s how all Christians live as Pentecostal people of God, as they honour the office of preaching and teaching of the Word of God by the Church of Jesus Christ.

So, all that people saw on that day came from Jesus Christ in heaven.  Also what they heard.

Peter’s sermon shows us quite clearly how the exalted Christ works since that Pentecost Day.  All stress was laid on the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.  The coming of the Holy Spirit Himself was only mentioned in a few words.

The apostles had not spoken one single word in public despite the fact that they had witnessed the great events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  Just imagine if that had not changed!

But now, Pentecost had come.  Those silent men opened up, without fear, right under the eyes and ears of the enemy!  They stood there and spoke those words the Holy Spirit gave them to say, on the basis of what they had witnessed.  They couldn’t help it.  They had to.

Peter spoke about Jesus Christ and His exaltation.  This was not new.  The new thing was that it was proclaimed and that it could be recognised as truth.  That was the surprise of that day!  And that has gone on ever since, right across the world.

In that proclamation Christ Himself travels the globe.  No longer is He restricted to Palestine.  Now He is wherever His heralds proclaim Him and His good news.

This is the wealth of Pentecost: The preaching of Jesus Christ around the world.  As from that day Jesus Christ selected the entire world for His preaching place.  He keeps coming in and with the Holy Spirit doing His grand work.

His kingdom keeps extending, the one holy catholic Church, together with its effects in the world of man.

He opens up hearts, creates faith everywhere and renews the lives of the redeemed.  He’s been busy ever since shaping a new mankind for His Father.

With that same Word and Spirit He will defeat altogether all that resists Him in the world.

Thus Pentecost is the starting point of the proclamation of the exalted Christ, worldwide.  That preaching is His main instrument at all times (Mark 1:38).  It is characteristic for the entire period through to the very end of history.

In His name repentance ought to be preached leading to forgiveness of sins.

Yes, Pentecost indeed is another Christ-feast!

It’s the continuation of the Gospel proclamation on its way to the end.  All the previous facts of salvation keep their value.  Each new fact makes the previous ones only more precious: Good Friday gives us more than Christmas, Easter Sunday more than Good Friday, Ascension more than Easter and Pentecost more than Ascension.  Each new step is further progress towards the finale.

Thus Pentecost was the end of the beginning as well as the beginning of the end, as it started up the “last days” term.

The day of Christ will be the consummation, the ultimate climax of the divine work of redemption and restoration in Christ.  To us who celebrate Pentecost it is clear that we are on the road towards the perfection of the kingdom of God.  Nobody can undo any of what Jesus Christ has accomplished to date; and He is sure to complete what He is engaged in still until He comes again.

Pentecost does not invite us to look, necessarily, for the spectacular; it is much tougher than that!  It simply invites and challenges us to persevere despite all the discouraging signs of a world gone mad and a Church often failing, that is, you and me frequently living and behaving below standard.

Praise be to the Christ of God, now and for evermore!

AMEN