Pentecost
Beloved. Today is the great festival of Pentecost. On this day we remember the visible outpouring and coming of the Holy Spirit onto the disciples. This was the fulfillment of what Jesus promised the apostles right before His ascension: but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now…You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. In a wonderful and mighty way, Jesus equipped the disciples to go into the whole world to preach the Gospel, the Good News about Him, and to give through that word and the sacraments the gifts and blessings that He won for all people by His life, suffering, death and resurrection. With the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, is the beginning of the New Testament Church and the Holy Spirit with the fullness of His graces and gifts being poured out on the Church, the Christians down through the ages.
Pentecost is a Greek word meaning “fifty”. It originally referred to the OT harvest festival in which the first fruits of the field were brought to the Lord. It fell 50 days after the Passover Sabbath, and here on a Sunday. [Not only is Sunday, then, the day Jesus rose from the dead, but it is also the day the coming of the Holy Spirit; and then, remember that Sunday is the first day of the week, the day God began creating and it is no wonder Christians set aside Sunday as the day of worship.] It is quite fitting that the Holy Spirit come visibly to the NT Church on the Jewish harvest festival of Pentecost—the one in which the first fruits of the harvest were given to the Lord. That’s because, as we read later in the chapter, about 3000 were brought into the Church that day—the first in a rich harvest of converts to the Lord, a harvest you and I are part of and one that continues to the Last Day.
What an amazing scene this first Christian Pentecost is as the Holy Spirit announces His arrival! Suddenly a sound like the rushing of a violent wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw divided tongues that were like fire resting on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, since the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak fluently.
Here that sound like the rushing of a violent wind came from heaven, showing us that it is from God, that God is intervening. Notice that it is not a natural, normal wind but it is the sound like the rushing of a violent wind. That wind was, if you will, the herald and forerunner of the Holy Spirit, announcing His arrival. The sound like the rushing of a violent wind did two things: first it was a miracle that showed that what was happening was important; and secondly, God brought people together to hear the word of the apostles: When this sound was heard, a crowd came together. They all came to check out what was going on—and they heard the apostles preaching Jesus crucified. And on top of that, it wasn’t just the sound like the rushing of a violent wind. But also they saw divided tongues that were like fire resting on each one of them. The sound drew the crowd and the divided tongues that were like fire resting on each one of them marked the disciples as the ones that were to be listened to. They were distinguished and separated from the rest of the people by those divided tongues that were like fire resting on each one of them. And to point out even more clearly that what they had to say was of the utmost importance, the Holy Spirit gave the disciples the ability to speak fluently languages they had never studied or known so that the people there, who had been foreign born, could hear the message of Christ crucified in their own native language. Here we see the glorious work of the Holy Spirit—in every period of history He gives His dear Christians, the Church, the gifts and all that we need to preserve and extend the Church.
And that crowd [that] came together…was confused, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7They were completely baffled and said to each other, “Look, are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them speaking in his own native language? ...We hear them declaring in our own languages the wonderful works of God.” They were all amazed and perplexed. They kept saying to one another, “What does this mean?” And there’s that question: What does this mean? The extraordinary work of God needs an explanation. And here on that first Christian Pentecost, what God was working was not just an attention getting scheme—yes, He gathered a crowd with a sound like the rushing of a violent wind; yes, He distinguished the disciples divided tongues that were like fire resting on each one of them but that was not the end. What God was working was to get people to hear the work of Jesus, to hear His saving work for them, to hear of His victory for them over sin, death, devil and hell. In short, God was trying to create faith in Jesus in their hearts and so bring them into the Church, in which alone there is salvation.
What we see happening on Pentecost points out the great truth that not only Pentecost, but especially God’s greatest work—Jesus’ work for our salvation, needs to be explained. What does this mean?
The simple fact of the matter is that God does not work the way that we expect Him to work and so His work requires an explanation; it requires us to hear the explanation of His work. What does this mean? After all, when it comes to the greatest question—of our salvation—what does our natural way of thinking do? It tells us, as all the religions of the world outside of Christianity teach—do enough good things, avoid enough bad things, do X, Y and Z and you will earn heaven.
But is that God’s way? Hardly! He sent Jesus to be the Savior of the world. He Himself, the holy God, the Son, the Second Person of the holy Trinity, became also true man coming into this sin contaminated world to place Himself under the Law and to fulfill every one of God’s demands. He did that as our Substitute since we cannot but sin and don’t give God the perfect obedience He demands of us if we are to enter heaven. And because by our sins we have earned God’s wrath and damnation, Jesus took all our sins upon Himself, became sin for us, and suffered on the cross all of God’s wrath and punishment for our sin. Now, in Jesus, we are forgiven our sin, reconciled to God and declared righteous. Again, God’s way of saving us—the only way we can be saved—must be explained. What does this mean? That’s why Pentecost. That’s why the Holy Spirit. That’s why the word and sacraments. That’s why we tell others the Good News about Jesus.
Again, God’s ways must be explained. What does this mean? Perhaps people would more easily recognize and accept Jesus as King seeing His miracles, hearing the Father’s testimony [Mt. 17.5]: This is My Son, the Beloved in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him. Perhaps, like many of the Jews of His day thought, Jesus would be received as king if He were a great military leader and had kicked out the Romans. But the moment of Jesus’ enthronement as King, was on the cross.
God’s ways must be explained; the wonderful works of God must be declared. Here, the cross—God’s way of saving lost and condemned humanity—is regarded as foolishness and a stumbling block [1 Cor. 1.18, 23]: For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing….But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. But here is nothing but God’s grace. It is the pure grace of God that when it comes to His works we must ask: What does this mean? Because if we didn’t have to ask, that would mean that we could figure it out ourselves; it would mean that our salvation is our own work; it would mean that only the “smart”, “wise” ones would get it; that some are better and more worthy than others. But notice our text: They were all amazed and perplexed. They kept saying to one another, “What does this mean?” Did you catch that? All were amazed and perplexed and kept saying. The wonderful, miraculous works of God need to be explained and that’s why He sends the Holy Spirit to the Church. That’s why not just the apostles but each of us is blessed and equipped to tell others the Good News about Jesus. Yes, the Holy Spirit came in a mighty and visible way to the disciples that first Christian Pentecost and powerfully equipped them and came upon them in such a way that Jesus would build His Church by their infallible preaching and by their going out to all corners of the globe with the Gospel, but we, dear Christian have the same Holy Spirit. And just as it was said of the apostles that day, may it be said of us: we hear them declaring in our own languages the wonderful works of God. Before this day, the disciples were still weak, imperfect in their faith and understanding; but then came the day of Pentecost: They were all filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came and confirmed and sanctified them in faith, making them bold and fearless and giving and equipping them with the gifts He wanted to give them to establish the NT Church: and [they] began to speak in other languages, since the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak fluently.
We can be assured that the same Holy Spirit is with us in our witnessing and giving us the gifts He knows we and His Church need. Dear Christian, don’t be afraid to talk about your faith in those opportunities the Lord places before us. He has given us the opportunities and He has given us the Holy Spirit. Talk about the Lord in your daily conversations in natural and friendly ways. It need not/ shouldn’t be contrived/ forced; but at the same time look for ways to speak about Jesus and your church. Again, why? Because God’s works—especially His work for our salvation—must be told/ explained. There’s no other way that people can come to know of their salvation than to be told that Good News about Jesus. And that’s precisely where we come in. It’s the Lord’s grace to them as He has His word told to them; and it’s His grace to us that He gives us His Holy Spirit and wants to and does use us as His instrument/ tool to bring His graces, gifts and Spirit to others. We hear them declaring in our own languages the wonderful works of God.
But sadly, not all will want to hear the message of their salvation; not all will want to hear the Good News about Jesus; not all will believe. Even on the day of Pentecost, with the powerful and visible coming of the Holy Spirit on the disciples we still read: They were all amazed and perplexed. They kept saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocked them and said, “They are full of new wine.” Jesus is still the great divide. Don’t be surprised when people will not believe; don’t be surprised if they even hate you for your Christian life and witness. That’s what faithful Christians are more and more experiencing as they simply live their lives as Christians in this world today.
With many in the Pentecost crowd that day, they simply refused the miracle and the message. With all those languages being spoken, they couldn’t understand one? The one they are familiar with? They may have heard the others that sounded like gibberish, but their own—they refused the message. They covered their refusal to believe by showing their “superior wisdom”: “They are full of new wine.” But remember—the Holy Spirit works through means that can be rejected: the simple word. If the miraculous, which those people that first Christian Pentecost experienced, can be rejected—what about the word we share/ tell?
Don’t get discouraged in your Christian witness; even the apostles were rejected on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is mightily at work in us—in you—enlightening hearts, filling them with the true knowledge of God and love toward Him and bringing new life. Keep on declaring in our own languages the wonderful works of God. God’s saving work must be explained. INJ