Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.
From the resurrection morning until his ascension Jesus taught about the kingdom of God. The disciples must have been the most bewildered people on earth. They still had no idea about what was in store for them. The change must have been dramatic, from deepest confusion to overwhelming joy. Feelings drifted between strong fear and boldness, between retreating and readiness to move forward. Peter had gone back to his fish, but when God called him then the old ways didn’t work anymore.
We don’t know what the other disciples were really thinking, but Jesus rebuked a number of them for their lack of faith. He simply pressed the resurrection into them. He went through the scriptures, book by book, and showed them all that was written about him, about his death, resurrection and ascension.
And now he had left them again and told them to wait. Everything must mature, have time to sink in, be prepared for the next stage. And the disciples had to learn to wait. There was only one thing they could do. Not everyone did that, there were over 500 people who had seen him after he had risen; but there were still enough, 120 disciples who prayed in the upper room. They didn’t really know what was going to happen; only that Jesus would send them help. And the help was the Helper, the Holy Spirit. So they continued to pray until the answer came.
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
What we call Pentecost, five days after Easter, is the birthday of the church. This is when it all started a fresh. The outer sign was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit over the disciples and the tongues they spoke. A break made spiritually from the tower of Babel. In Christ all nations become one, and his gospel shall go out to all peoples. The 120 disciples who gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem had surely no idea of the consequences of this day. Their minds were set upon an end, not a beginning. One of the last things they asked Jesus was: “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).
They were prepared for him to establish an earthly throne. He was on his way to a heavenly throne. They wanted to have an end to this time. He was preparing them for a new era, the age of the church. Now the age of the Spirit would come, the age of grace, which Jesus had taught so little about. The teaching could not begin until the Spirit had fallen and the disciples had received power to be Jesus’ witnesses, not only in Israel but even to the ends of the earth. Jesus had promised that the Holy Spirit would be a helper, an adviser who would guide them into all truth and teach them of things to come.
All this must have been difficult for the disciples to understand. Since Jesus had risen just as he had said, then the Spirit would come just as he had promised. They would all be baptised in the Holy Spirit. That’s why they prayed together for 10 days and then the Spirit fell and nothing was the same again.
And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.
What a difference! From closed doors, closed hearts and great fear for their lives, to open doors, overflowing hearts and great boldness. The experience in the upper room was not only for the upper room. It was for the streets, for the multitudes, for the whole world. The disciples spoke in tongues as publicly as possible. People, both Jews and proselytes who had come to Jerusalem from all continents: Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa, all heard their own language spoken by the disciples. The Holy Spirit shook forth on the streets. The tabernacle was gone; the temple was redundant, the veil was torn in two. The Holy Spirit, the glory, came out among the people, to every individual everywhere. The Spirit of God was now poured out; the Father and the Son gave the Spirit. The Spirit, as anointing over Jesus the high priest, had been poured out over his head and on the day of Pentecost it was poured out over the body. The dwelling place of the Spirit was no longer heaven or the temple but the earth.
This was the sign of the end times. The apostle Paul counts the birth of the church as the start of the end times. God’s dealings with one nation would become universal, God dealing with all people. God’s time of visitation to the gentiles had come. And for this time of visitation to be a time of salvation, the Spirit was needed. “But you will 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” (Acts 1:8).
Peter was filled with boldness when he preached. The Spirit was over him when he quoted the prophet Joel. One thing was going distinguish the end times and that was the ministry of the believer, the universal priesthood. The Spirit of God would not only work through kings, priests and prophets. Now all people, who believed in Jesus, would be kings, priests and prophets. That which distinguishes the people of the covenant is that all can prophesy, have dreams and visions. Through being born again, when the Spirit of God comes and dwells within us and our bodies become the temple of god, the Spirit would speak from our hearts.
You can say that the body is the outer court, the soul is the holy place and the spirit is the holy of holies. That is where the glory of God lives, the Sprit of God. Jesus had said “out of his [the believer’s] heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). He had said that about the Spirit before the Spirit was given. Now the spirit was given and these streams of living water would flow from every believer. God would lead his people as well as every individual believer by dwelling in us and walking with us. This had never happened before. This was something completely new. The river of life, the life of the Spirit, would flow down from heaven into our hearts and out to the whole world. And wherever the river flows it brings life.
