Week 11 (9 - 15 Mar): The Coming of the Holy Spirit

What a tremendous opening salvo! A mighty torrent of wind, tongues of fire… But before this, the believers were “all with one accord in one place” to welcome the Holy Spirit. A shared purpose, a unified heart, a community coming together in one place. A timely reminder to us as we gather together to worship our Lord and Saviour. And indeed every word found in the Bible is significant. Fire symbolises purification, divine presence and spiritual intensity (as Moses encountered the Father in the burning bush). Wind signifies God’s breath and spiritual renewal (which we read about in Ezekiel 37 in the valley of the dry bones). A grand entrance indeed to bring about a revival and the birth of the church.

And before the believers had any time to marvel, the Spirit “gave them utterance” and each spoke in languages that they themselves did not understand. Clearly they spoke in the Spirit; not with their minds. This is deeply significant: the Holy Spirit was a divine gift from God, to edify the believers, to prophesy to the congregation and to give the believers the tools to preach the gospel far and wide. It was amazing, marvellous and perplexing all at once.

Peter stood up to quash the accusation that those speaking in tongues were drunk. "It is only nine in the morning!" he said. Instead, he explained that what the crowd was witnessing was the fulfilment of the prophecy spoken by the prophet Joel: that in the last days, God would pour our His Spirit so that sons and daughters would prophesy, young men would see visions, old men would dream dreams, and signs would appear in the heavens and on the earth before the coming of our Lord Jesus. 

Peter reminded the crowd: this Jesus whom they had crucified has not defied only death but had also risen to heaven for the Father has made Him Lord and Christ. So what should their (and our) response be? 

• Repent of our sins 

• Be baptised in the name of Jesus

• Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and be transformed

And what should their (and our) actions be? 

• Be steadfast in their faith

• Be one in Spirit, loving each other as Christ loved us

• Be exceedingly glad to share the Gospel 

May the spirit of the Pentecost continue to come alive in our hearts every day.

George

on behalf of Diakonia