There are certain chapters in the Bible which may be regarded as crisis chapters. For example, Genesis chapter 12 is one such, when God adopts a different method in dealing with man, by calling out Abram. Another is Matthew 13, when the Lord Jesus, having been rejected by His earthly people, adopts a wider and more comprehensive ministry. Another such chapter is Acts 2, which we will now consider, when the Spirit of God, leaving Heaven as the seat of His operations on earth, comes to earth and occupies a new residence by forming the Church, ‘the body of Christ’. There are other like chapters, and the Bible student should make himself thoroughly acquainted with them.
We will now endeavour to ascertain the true significance of what happened on the day of Pentecost. “Pentecost” is a word which reminds us of that great chapter, Leviticus 23, which deals with “the feasts of the Lord”. Verses 15 and 16 of the chapter read:
And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.
Pentecost means ‘fifty’, and Acts 2 is the fulfilment of that which is prefigured in Leviticus 23.15-17. Then was formed something altogether “new”, made up of “two” parts (Jew and Gentile); namely the Church, which is the body of Christ. We shall not at this point develop the subject of the Church, but rather focus our attention upon the day of its birth.
Of four things which may be observed, the first is that the events of that day were:
The Fulfilment of a Divine Promise
John Baptist had told the people of Israel that he indeed baptized them “with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me … shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Mt 3.11). The Lord Jesus Himself confirmed this when He said “John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence” (Acts 1.5). The contrast is clear. The baptiser was John in the first instance, but would be the Lord Jesus in the second. The element was “water” in the case of John, but it was to be “the Holy Spirit” in the case of the Lord Jesus. John spoke of both water and fire, but the Lord Jesus mentioned only “water”, for the baptism with fire awaits a yet future day. The Lord Jesus showed most clearly that, up to the time of His speaking, the baptism in the Holy Spirit had not taken place. It was imminent; “not many days hence”, and then there would be a complete fulfilment of the promise. That fulfilment took place on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit was poured out upon the assembled company (Acts 2.17). With this agree the important words of Paul to the Corinthians: “For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body … and were all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor 12.13, RV1 ). Paul envisages both Jews and Gentiles and, while on the day of Pentecost only Jews were involved, in Acts 10 we have the record of the extension of this to the Gentiles (see also Acts 11.16).
We will look next at four particular aspects of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, for it is not, as has been alleged, a ‘second blessing’, and it is not ‘an experience’. It is an initial thing, and it has to do with the believer’s position as a result of salvation, irrespective of his practical condition.
1 Revised Version
(To be continued …)
