“The Love of Easter”

Scripture: Acts 2:1-21

Today is Pentecost – the day when the church took on a whole new level of energy. Jesus had promised that after he left earth, an Advocate, a Counselor, a Godly power would come to bless the faithful – but when would this power come? The last of the prophets disappeared from earth over 400 years before Christ was born – would they have to wait that long before this divine Presence arrived?

It had only been about a week and a half since Jesus’ ascension, and the faithful had never given up hope for the coming of this new power. They had continuously been in prayer and praise of all that the Lord had done for them, as well as all that they believed he would soon be doing through his Spirit.
The thousands who had been coming to Jesus for healing and blessing and feeding had dwindled to a mere 120 (Acts 1:12-17), but these few would become the basis for the eruption of faith that was about to occur. Pentecost was the Jewish Festival of Weeks, occurring 50 days (or 7 weeks) after Passover. It was a celebration of both the impending harvest (Feast of First Fruits) and of the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai.

For the Church, though, it would be a day unlike anything the faithful had ever experienced before, and greater than anything they could ever imagine.

Read Acts 2:1-4

Jesus had foretold the power of this day in John 16:5-11. He said that the Spirit will prove the world wrong on a number of accounts – on what sin is all about, on what makes for a righteous life and what does not, and on the coming judgment. And earlier, in John 15:26-27, we read that this Person will be known as the Spirit of Truth, and that those who believe will also testify to the world as people of the truth.

This would no longer be a Spirit of condemnation – he will be a Spirit of hope and power and encouragement. It would be the Spirit that comes directly from God, it would be the Spirit who would enable the faithful to be witnesses to the Truth of God. This Spirit can be nothing other than what God is – truth and faithfulness and love for all who will proclaim him as Lord of their lives.

And on this day of “First Fruits”, the Spirit would demonstrate the power of God to all who were anywhere near that house. It would be poured out upon those who believed, and they would become those Spirit-filled witnesses that Jesus had spoken about. But why in such a dramatic way? Does God need to appear in power in order to bestow power? No. Note that in 1 Kings 19:11-18, we find Elijah hiding in a cave out of his fear of Jezebel, and while he cowers there, God comes to him. The prophet first experiences a powerful wind, then an earthquake, and then a fire, but the Lord isn’t in any of them. God speaks to Elijah in the sheer silence that comes after those great and powerful events.

On this Pentecostal morning, there is no earthquake, but there is the sound of a rushing wind and what appears to be tongues of fire that touch and empower all who are in the room that day. For Elijah, God wasn’t in the great events – he was in the silence that followed. The Spirit wasn’t, by necessity, in the wind and fire of Pentecost - but in the silence that followed. The Spirit spoke the will of God to the faithful, enabling them to begin the work that the Lord had planned for them – to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to the entire world. Those great events of wind and earthquake and fire were merely the heralds of the Spirit’s coming. The Spirit was quietly filling people with divine insight, divine wisdom, and the divine truth that Almighty God wanted the people of earth to know.

Read Acts 2:5-13

Pentecost was one of three primary festivals for Israel, and as such, people from all over the world would come to Jerusalem to worship at the temple and to offer gifts of thanksgiving to their God. This day was no different, and as we read, people from 16 different nations were in the immediate area, and would hear the incredible sound that emanated from the house. And it’s interesting to note that it wasn’t the wind and fire that amazed these visitors to Jerusalem, it wasn’t even the fact that so many were speaking all at once! It was that each and every person understood what was being said, and we also have to realize that every message being shared in every language was not only heard clearly, but was perfectly understood! This is the power of the Spirit – to work though the lives of those who love the Lord, in ways that they never could on their own.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even great things than these …” (John 14:12-14) It is so easy to think that Jesus’ words mean that we will be doing these great things, when in fact, it is the power of the Spirit who is at work in the lives of those who believe. And on this day, the power of the Spirit had become the power of understanding. No longer would the word of God be confined to the people in and around Israel. The love of God could now be shared throughout the world through the faithful witness of those who would love God in return.

But what do we do about those who didn’t understand – those who simply thought that the cacophony was being raised up because the men were drunk? If the Spirit was bringing understanding into so many lives, why didn’t these others understand? While some believe that this is due to the amazement and perplexing thoughts by a few, I’m not quite ready to think that our mental confusion could become an obstacle to the Holy Spirit! I am more inclined to think that it was a lack of faith on the part of the hecklers. Those who are closed to God’s ways can also be closed to the working of the Spirit, until, that is, some life event awakens them to this greater power for their lives. This day may have been the beginning of that awakening, but they weren’t quite there yet.

Read Acts 2:14-21

And Peter begins his great sermon to the people by addressing the scoffers’ doubts. He reminds the people that this day and this event had been prophesied by Joel 800 years ago. Peter tells the people that the truth of prophecy, as well as the events of that day, initiate the beginning of a new era for Israel, and presumably, for the entire world. Peter has added the words, “In the last days, God says” to the original prophecy (Joel 2:28-32), and in doing so, has proclaimed the beginning of the new day, or “last days”, which are to herald the return of Christ as the judge for the people of earth.

The outpouring of the Spirit initiates the urgency of carrying the salvation message to all corners of the earth. This message is not a message of calamity and condemnation! It is a promise of God’s restoration and renewal of the broken relationship that had existed between humanity and the Lord for thousands of years. And the addition of “God says” underscores the idea that it is God’s word and God’s will that is being placed in action, and not ours.

This prophecy had always been seen by Israel as one that proclaimed the coming judgment and condemnation by God. The signs and wonders that Joel, and now Peter, spoke of were all items of disaster, and not of hope. But now, with the coming of the Spirit, “the day of the Lord” could finally be understood as a day of restoration instead of retribution, of salvation instead of conviction, of empowered witnesses to the Good News instead of judgmental and legalistic pronouncements.

And Peter ends with the prophetic words “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Israel had always seen this cry to the Lord as one pleading for mercy, but now it can be understood as one of praise and rejoicing. By faith in Jesus Christ, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, God had suddenly become a God of love and compassion, instead of a God of demands and disparaging decrees.

Jesus’ death and resurrection could now be claimed as a reason for renewed hope and rejoicing, and no longer as something to fear and lament. A new day had dawned for the people of earth, and Jesus’ proclamation that his people would now be carrying on his ministry, that his faithful servants would do what he had been doing, and that they would do even greater things, was now proven by the power of the Spirit. The love of Easter was now a reality for all who would follow Jesus and who would open their lives to the inspiration and enabling of the Holy Spirit. This Spirit came, not to simply shock and amaze people, but to confirm all that Jesus taught, and to instruct us in the ways of Almighty God.

A new day had, indeed, dawned, and the Light of Christ had begun to bathe the world in the glory of God’s grace. Praise the Lord for his great love of creation, and for the plan of salvation that is available for all who confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.