Pentecost
Beloved. Today we celebrate the feast of Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit was visibly poured out on the Church. Yes, the Holy Spirit was mightily at work before already in the times of the Old Testament. For wherever there were believers in the true God, in His promises, in His coming Savior, there the Holy Spirit had been at work creating faith; wherever one of the OT people died in the faith, there the Holy Spirit had been at work preserving them in the faith. The Holy Spirit had been mightily at work during Jesus’ earthly ministry, creating faith in Him in the heart of the Syro-Phoenician woman, blind Bartimaeus, Mary Magdalene, the woman at the well and a whole host of others. But now Jesus had come, and not only had He come but by His holy life and His innocent suffering and death He brought about the salvation of the world, the forgiveness of sins; He rose from the dead as Victor over sin, death and hell; He ascended into heaven having finished the work He came to do. And now 10 days after His ascension, He sends the Holy Spirit in full measure upon the Church. That’s why we hear in the Gospel [Jn 7.39]: for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. The special office and work of the Holy Spirit is to reveal and glorify Jesus. Before Jesus’ suffering, death, resurrection and ascension the Holy Spirit was not yet able to point to Jesus, that is, that rescue, salvation, righteousness, joy, and life have been won and obtained for us by Jesus and that they are given us in Him. But now the work of our salvation is complete! Jesus has ascended into heaven and sends the Holy Spirit to bring us all the gifts and blessings He won for us. His coming on Pentecost marks His full and rich showering of all these on the Church.
Pentecost itself was actually an OT harvest festival. It happened 50 days after the Passover Sabbath. The fact that it was one of the major festivals in which people went to Jerusalem explains why so many people were there. But now it would be a different harvest festival. Instead of the first fruits of the harvest being presented to the Lord, now the first fruits of the harvest of the souls won for Christ would be presented to the Lord. Here on the day of Pentecost were the first converts to the NT Church—where the completed fruits and blessings of Jesus’ saving work would be given. And it goes beyond that. Here in Jerusalem are the faithful from all over the world—both Jews those who are physically descended from Abraham and proselytes, that is Gentiles who converted to the God of Israel and were awaiting the promised Savior. Here we see that, unlike the OT Church which was for the most part confined to Jews, physical descendants of Abraham, the NT Church would be made up from people from all over the world, just like Jesus said when He gave the disciples the command/ privilege [Mt. 28.20] to make disciples of all the nations/ Gentiles.
On the Day of Pentecost, when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit in full measure on His Church, the Holy Spirit marked His arrival to the Church for all to see and hear: And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind. Notice, it’s not an actual wind that would cause all sorts of damage but a sound like a mighty rushing wind. That would surely attract attention and lead people to find the source of that sound: and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And that would lead them to where the disciples were. And the disciples were marked as ones to take note of: and divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And the disciples were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them utterance. All these people from all over the world heard in their own native language the disciples preaching the Good News about Jesus! In this special miracle we see the universality of the Church; and we see the Holy Spirit was giving the apostles a great gift—to know what they were preaching and to be able to preach in a language they had never studied/ learned!
What was the end result of this? We read at the end of the chapter [vs. 41]: and that day about three thousand souls were added. That sounds like an impressive number. And it is! But how many heard them? At festivals like these, the population of Jerusalem would swell into the hundreds of thousands. Certainly not all were around the disciples that day but definitely a huge number of them. And what do we read in our text? And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” Not all who heard the word that day believed. The vast majority of the people in Jerusalem that day did not convert—only a very small percentage. It is vital for us to keep in mind lest we become discouraged with our mission work as a church body in our nation or that people in our town aren’t stampeding the doors of Faith.
St. Luke tells us that all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But that does not mean that all of them became believers that day. Being amazed and perplexed, though, is not the same thing as faith, that is, trusting in Jesus as Savior from sin, death, and hell. It was a great event—the sound like a mighty wind, the tongues like fire on the head of the apostles. There’s a huge “wow factor” in the minds of people but that is not faith. Today, a lot of people admire the strong faith and great works of Christians. They will admire the faith of Christians—like martyrs, those who are killed on account of their faith in Jesus—and will say things like “I wish I could have a faith like that!” Some people will be in awe of a beautiful church as beauty calls forth that response of amazement and awe; some will be full of wonder and awe at a beautiful piece of Christian art; some will even be moved to tears at hearing all the unjust sufferings of our Lord; but all that is not faith. All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
With the amazed and perplexed, even though at the moment there may not be faith, at least there is still interest; something was struck in the person. Here the Holy Spirit can work through the word to create faith; the heart is opened and interested. If that is you, if you are interested in the things of God and you are merely amazed and perplexed, marveling, but not yet believing, take the next step ask, “What does this mean?” and seek out the Holy Spirit in the word.
Notice: All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” They all heard and saw the saw things. But their thinking and reason could only go so far. This extraordinary work of God needed an explanation. That’s always how it is with the things of God, with the work of Jesus for us and our salvation: we always need an explanation; we always need the Holy Spirit working through the word. What this really is, is God’s pure grace: If we could figure out on our own the things and working of God without asking What does this mean?; without the working of the Holy Spirit in the word, then our faith and salvation would be a human accomplishment; it would be our work—we did something; we figured it out. If it’s a human accomplishment, then it’s not God’s grace; and if it’s not by God’s grace our salvation is forever in doubt.
Dear Christian, there is still a vital lesson for us here as well. When we read or hear Scripture; when we feel ourselves in awe at God’s working; or even if we feel something stirring in us as we see a beautiful church or Christian art; let’s not stop there with the feeling but move forward and ask: “What does this mean?” Let the Holy Spirit in the word bring us understanding and insight. Feeling and reason only go so far. The things of God require explanation from the Holy Spirit in the word. And, yes, it may not come quickly or easily. It may take great prayer and further and deeper study, discussion with your pastor or other Christians before the Holy Spirit makes known to us the thing of God we were wondering about. And maybe He’ll never reveal it but through our prayer and wrestling with the Scripture lead us to other great divine treasures. Delving and asking What does this mean?, is vital for faith and growth in the faith.
Not only are those who are only amazed and perplexed at the things of God and stop at that, not among the believers but obviously so too the mockers of God and His word and work. Not all who hear the word of God are converted. And even among the great signs and miracles of that first Pentecost, there were still mockers. In the same way, Jesus was rejected even though crowds saw His miracles. But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” This puts to rest the thought that the Church would grow and be bursting at the seams today if only we had some obvious great miracles.
There will always be scoffers of the word. That’s because Jesus and the word of God are a great divide. They bring division. One is either for or against Jesus and His word; there is no middle ground. So when the word is preached and even accompanied by great miracles like it was on Pentecost, there will always be those that reject it. Some may be polite about it; some may give reasons or excuses for rejecting Jesus and His word but at the end of the day the result is the same. Really, any rejection of God’s word and His Christ is a mocking. It our text, it is very crass but when God’s truth is revealed the scoffers and mockers try to show their “wisdom” by rejecting God’s foolishness: “They are filled with new wine.”
But the fault does not lie with the word but with the corrupt sinful human heart. When you tell the Good News about Jesus, when we as a church or synod share the word and people reject it and don’t come flocking to our doors, it’s not the word that’s to blame. It is a divine word; it is a word through which the Holy Spirit is working; it is a word that offers us peace, joy, righteousness, blessedness. Who would want to reject that?
What happens when the word is taught/ when the Good News about Jesus is being told? In His grace God is coming and visiting the person to lead them to repent and recognize Jesus is their Savior from sin, death and hell. And what is so often the case is that scoffers mock the word and reject it because inwardly the Holy Spirit has pricked the conscience and revealed their sin; they are inwardly convicted of their sin and the truth of Christ. But they do not want to come to the Light—they prefer darkness. They do not want to recognize their sin and that their sin condemns them; they don’t want to look at the greater questions of heaven and hell, death and judgment. So it is easier to mock and say: “They are filled with new wine.”
But there is also a subtle form of mockery. And this is done by one who doesn’t sound so crass “They are filled with new wine”; instead, by one that sounds/ appears to be a believer—and that mocker is the hypocrite, the one claiming to be a Christian who repents of sin and believes in Jesus but in reality is not sorry for their sin and really has no need of Jesus. Here we must especially be on guard, as the Christian can so easily fall into this sin, where our faith is not in Christ and His word but in our own supposed goodness and by that we mock Jesus and His word as not applicable to us and to the preaching we say in the heart: “They are filled with new wine.”
Sadly, as we see from that first Day of Pentecost, not all who hear the word are converted. Some are simply amazed and perplexed; others mock. May we treasure the word and its preaching of Christ; may we repent and believe it. INJ