The day the Spirit came

Pentecost is the day that the Spirit came. Luke wrote in his account of the first Christian Pentecost:

Suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind… Divided tongues as of fire appeared among them… All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages. (Acts 2.2-4)

Here we are dealing with phenomena which defy description. In the words of John Stott, “The noise was not wind, but sounded like it; the sight was not fire but resembled it; and the speech was in languages which were not ordinary – ‘other’”. According to William Willimon:

More than one interpretation can be offered for what happened in the Upper Room at Pentecost. No single formulation can do it justice. We are listening to the account of something strange, beyond the bounds of imagination, miraculous, inscrutable… No flat prosaic explanation can do justice to the truth of how the church came into being.

It is very easy to get obsessed with incidental details. The fire and the wind are trimmings – just as the wise men and the star, as also the shepherds and the angels are not at the heart of the Christmas story. They point beyond themselves. We need to ask not so much as ‘What happened?’ as ‘What do these things mean?’. Indeed, this was the question asked by the crowd: “All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’” (Acts 2.12). It is not insignificant that Luke wrote twice as many verses interpreting the meaning of the events that took place in the Upper Room than he spent in reporting the event itself.

In this blog I want to look at different aspects of the day when the Spirit came.

In the first place, at Pentecost the Spirit was democratised. As Peter put it in his sermon: “Jesus, being… exalted at the right hand of God, and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit, has poured out this that you both see and hear” (Acts 2.33). The Spirit had been around before, but until Pentecost had only been active in the lives of individuals of note. But on the day when the Spirit came, Joel’s prophecy was fulfilled: “In the last days it will be, God declares that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh” (Joel 2.25). On the day when the Spirit came God poured out his Spirit on both men and women, young people and old people, free people and people who were slaves” (see Joel 2.29). At Pentecost we celebrate not just a past event, but also a present experience. The Spirit who came is the Spirit who still comes, albeit not with wind and fire. That first Christian Pentecost was a unique experience. Luke’s account of that outpouring of the Spirit was descriptive rather than prescriptive.

Secondly, what does the Spirit do? Does he still enable us to speak in other languages? No, that is part of the uniqueness of that first Pentecost. The Spirit makes us come alive spiritually; and enables God to be present in our lives. The wind is a symbol of God’s lifegiving activity. Just as in Genesis 1.1 (NB) the wind of God’s Spirit “brooded” across the face of the earth, active in the world’s creation, so here the Spirit is active in the creation of a new people of God. As for the fire, it is a symbol of God’s presence in our lives. So, for instance in Exodus 3.2-5 the burning bush in the desert was the place where Moses met with God. The God who had been present with Moses at the burning bush, was the God who was present with the 120 in the Upper Room; and that same Spirit is present in the lives of God’s people today.

Thirdly, that day when the Spirit came, is now rightly celebrated as the birthday of the church. The 120 who gathered in the Upper Room were primarily personal friends of Jesus. However, at Pentecost a new movement was born. 3,000 people were baptized and were added to the church (Acts 2.41). In the words of Luke, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2.42). The way in which the Spirit transcended the divisions of the first century is an indication of the way in which the Spirit today creates a new community. In Jerusalem when the Spirit came there were people from every nation on the earth (Acts 2.9-11)

Fourthly, the day when the Spirit came was the day when the church began its mission. The risen Christ shortly before his ascension said to his disciples: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1.8). In other words, the Spirit empowers God’s people for mission. As a result of Peter’s sermon on the first Christian Pentecost, 3,000 people responded to Peter’s preaching: they “welcomed his message” and “were baptized” (Acts 2.41). Precisely how today we engage in mission will vary. The fact that Peter preached to thousands of people does not necessarily mean that this is God’s way for us. In this regard my mind goes to some words which Peter wrote: “Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3.15) – or as the GNB puts it: “Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you”. Effective evangelism takes place when people ask us why we are different. Evangelism is not ramming the Gospel down people’s throats, but rather is responding to people’s questions.

To sum up, the Spirit who came in power at Pentecost, is the same Spirit today who comes into our lives.