John 15:26-27 AMP
But when the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of Truth who comes from the Father, He will testify and bear witness about Me. But you will testify also and be My witnesses, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
There is a special time in church history approaching called Pentecost Sunday. Dates like these are a beautiful reminder of Christianity’s rich history and God’s faithfulness to fulfill that which He promised. Pentecost represents more than a localized event that happened in an upper room to a group of devoted followers–it is a full-circle moment of God’s redemptive power infiltrating the hearts of men and women globally and continues to this very day.
Pentecost (meaning weeks) is a term that goes back to the early feasts of the Old Testament. It was the second of the three major feasts, coming seven weeks after Passover.
In Jewish culture, it was associated with the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai as God renewing His covenant with them. Now, we can understand Luke’s story of Pentecost as a story about the birth of God’s new covenant people. This covenant is sealed not with the blood of oxen (Exodus 24:5) but with the blood of the Son of God! Central to this covenant is not the law, carved in stone, but the Spirit, which indwells all believers. (1)
There are many beautiful pictures of God’s redemptive work in the story of Pentecost found in Acts 2, but I want to highlight two with you today. First, God is reversing the curse of Babel that scattered humanity abroad through the division of language and demonstrating that His kingdom is one of every tribe, every tongue, and every language. The story of Babel in Genesis 11:1-9 recounts the story of the generations following Adam and Eve conspiring together to build for themselves a tower that reaches the heavens so that they may remain there and “make a name for themselves.” Rather than fulfill God’s mandate to fill the earth and subdue it for the glory of God, they schemed to make great glory for themselves. Therefore, God came down, and in an instant, supernaturally filled every person’s mouth with a different language, causing their entire scheme to dissolve in chaos.
Pentecost is a significant celebratory event for Jews, which means that men and women from “every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5) would make a pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem to make sacrifices. While the disciples hid in the upper room, the city was filled with people from all kinds of different places. So when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and they began to speak, every person heard it in their native tongue. The good news of the gospel of Jesus, the proclamation that the Kingdom of God is near, a message only shouted in Jerusalem–it is a message being proclaimed to the nations. God was reversing the curse of chaos, division, and difference through the work of the Holy Spirit, creating a global new covenant people unified through faith in the good news of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and salvation.
The second picture that I want to leave with you is this: in John 16, Jesus says the Holy Spirit is an advantage to us as believers. The Trinity is not hierarchical with the Holy Spirit being the third man on the spreadsheet–it is the Spirit of God sent to us by God and Jesus to indwell all who proclaim faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. It may be tempting for us to glamourize those who walked with Jesus or learned at His feet, but Jesus’ incarnate body was limited to the same physical constraints as ours, such as being in one place at one time. He had to walk to different locations just like the rest of us. However, He explains how His leaving provides us something better: the Holy Spirit will continually lead us into truth not by its own accord, but by continually revealing to our hearts and minds whatever it receives from Jesus. The Holy Spirit supernaturally gives us understanding, wisdom, insight into things to come, discernment, and so much more, all for the glorification of Jesus Christ in and through us. When you begin to hear that lie in your thoughts telling you that things are stacked against you, that you will never get ahead, that you cannot achieve something or pray for something, capture that thought, and bring it into submission before Christ because you have an advantage! The Holy Spirit, sent to the world at Pentecost, indwells you, helps you, guides you, comforts you. Take hold of and live boldly in the advantage!
- Luke Timothy Johnson, The Acts of the Apostles (SacPag 5; Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1992)