This is part one of a four part series titled “The Spirit-Filled Life”, exploring the day of the Pentecost and what it means to us as contemporary practitioners of the faith.
We are coming up on the day of Pentecost, the day when the Holy Spirit was poured out for all, and it’s important because it’s the beginning of the church in many ways. It does tend to open up a metaphorical can of worms, theologically speaking. And can be and has been the root of division in the global church. It’s important to push on into this though because of what the Holy Spirit means to us in reality, accessible to all people everywhere. As a follower of Jesus, this is one of the most exciting things to dwell on post the resurrection of Jesus.
Some of the concepts we talk about today are complicated and difficult to wrestle with, but the reality in this is powerful, and is worth dwelling on.
The Holy Spirit empowers us to live out the Word of God
When we read the word of God, that word comes to life for us through the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit helps us live that word in our lives. Think of the Spirit as the enabler of the instruction that is the Word. Consider “forgiveness” as a concept. The Bible tells us to forgive, but how do you forgive? What do you do with that instruction? It’s the Holy Spirit that empowers us to live out his Word: not easy, not simple, but doable only when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. This isn’t all the Spirit does for us, but it’s important for us to understand this facet deeply.
First, let’s look at Acts 1: 1-8
““Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.””
Jesus tells them to wait. Go to Jerusalem and just wait. At this point in history, the people who received this instruction knew who Jesus was, and they believed in the resurrection by way of living in that moment. If anyone understood the gospel, it was these people. If anyone knew Christ, it was these people. They accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. But there was yet another “pouring out” on them that was yet to come, and that blessing was the Holy Spirit. And this is called “the baptism of the Holy Spirit”, and these are the words of Jesus himself.
In Acts chapter 2, you can see that they’d been waiting and tarrying, and waiting for the promised Holy Spirit to move. What happened then? In verses 1-13, we see what followed.
““When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”””
Let’s note here that as a result of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, there was an external manifestation that they all experienced. It was very mystical, it was very strange and very unusual: there were tongues of fire. And then there’s the miracle of the tongues: they all heard their own languages being spoken. We see this undeniable miracle, this undeniable manifestation of God happen because they tarried, because they waited in that upper room.
This was not neat, by the way. This was messy. This was no theatrical production: this was unpredictable, this was raucous. Out in the street, people saw this manifestation of the Holy Spirit with their own eyes, and they heard it with their own ears. They saw the signs, they saw the demonstration of God’s power, and that’s when they began to question what was going on, all amazed and perplexed at the goings-on.
A gift of baptism by the Spirit. For all people.
Let’s read forward into verse 14 and beyond. Peter explains what is going on. This is not a manufactured big experience, not a made-up thing. There is a theological precedent to this, he says. And he doesn’t just tell us what he thinks by himself: he uses scripture to back this up. In verse 16, he quotes the prophet Joel.
“14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 “ ‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
What Peter reads out from the prophesy of Joel tells us that the Spirit will be poured out on all people, and there will be tangible signs that this happened: your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young ones will see visions, your old will dream dreams. There will be physical external manifestations. This is important. We will see prophesy, we will see visions and dreams. And it will be poured out on everyone: not divided by gender or class. Everyone will be equal, everyone will receive this power equally. And this will be a mission-led power. They will go out with this power.
What does it mean then, to have something “poured out”? To be immersed in this? The Spirit is poured out upon them in the book of Acts as a baptism.
The day of the Pentecost and what it means for us today
The day of Pentecost is important to us then because this is the day His power was given out to us to enable our mission. This pouring out, this physical manifestation, these signs and wonders, this power of healing, this prophetic power, these dreams and visions: all in service of strengthening the church. And I believe that this is the cause that we are called to live out in our lives, all of us down to the last man and woman.
There is a term for this: Pentecostalism. This term has had a bad rap because of the misunderstanding of this day and this word. We have to walk past the way some sections have abused this term and this day and the gift that God has given us, and walk towards a true understanding of what the Pentecost means: an outpouring of the Spirit for all of us, a free gift for all of us, power handed to us by way of Spirit baptism as well as the indwelling of the Spirit for all believers. It is a living out of the Word of God empowered by the Spirit of God on a daily basis. It is a gift that is as relevant to us today as it was on the day it was given to us, thousands of years ago.
There is a mysticism to this that scares the modern world, and in trying to walk past the Pentecost, a dry age of reason and logic is upon us. If you can intellectually justify it, you win. The day of the Pentecost promises to us that same power given to those in the book of Acts, not as a flame over our heads, but in ways that connect us to God. When there’s a stirring in our hearts, when there’s a moving in our hearts, we know that the Spirit is alive, and alive in us, confirming the word of God in our hearts. It’s difficult to put this into words outside of the experience, and therein lies the mysticism: experiencing it, not just with reason. Sometimes it’s just supernatural, and in those moments in prayer and worship, in those quiet moments when we feel the stirring of the spirit, or in revival meetings when we know the Spirit of God is with us in that moment, it’s that experience that tells us the Pentecost is real. Can we put that moment into words that make it easy for you to reason with? Can we explain tongues of fire, and speech in tongues? But then, if that cannot be, can we experience it for ourselves? Is it possible for us to be in that moment and feel the Spirit of God moving within us? That’s the gift of the Pentecost: to be able to feel and experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on us through the work of our hands, through the songs on our lips, through the power of the moment of prayer, through worship and music, through quiet communion with God, through mediation on His word, through loving somebody. In all these moments it is beautiful to live out the word through a Spirit-filled life!
That’s the miracle of the Pentecost: there will be gifts of the Holy Spirit that will be given to us, of evangelism, of leadership, of prophetic power, of clear communication in ways that reach those who need to be reached. You should know that the altar call, the mission call, all this began on the day of the Pentecost. The day God's promise came true, the day the Holy Spirit was poured out to us, to all of us, slave and master, man and woman.
Read part two here: Experiencing the Holy Spirit
Read part three here: The Gifts of the Holy Spirit
In this concluding chapter of the series “The Spirit-filled Life”, let’s look at how the gospel is linked to the baptism by the Holy Spirit, and how both these lead to the end times, and the full restoration of God’s kingdom.