I. In the occurrences of the day of Pentecost we discover evidence of a special Divine influence. This idea is too prevalent, that the agency of the Supreme is only of a general character--that the repentance and salvation of sinners are brought about, independently of any direct agency on the part of God. They spake with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Most convincing evidence of a special Divine influence is found also in the effects produced upon the day of Pentecost.
II. The occurrences of the day of Pentecost confirmed the Divine mission of Jesus and the truth of Christianity. Whilst on earth the Lord Jesus gave abundant evidence that He was from God. Jesus encouraged His disciples to expect that they would be endued with special power from on high.
III. The occurrences of the day of Pentecost exhibit the folly of opposition to the Kingdom of Christ. The day of Pentecost assures us that Jehovah regards the kingdom of His Son with supreme affection, and that all His perfections are engaged for its defence and enlargement.
IV. The occurrences of the day of Pentecost exhibit the grand means of advancing the cause of Christ and saving sinners.
V. The occurrences of the day of Pentecost exhibit the Christian minister’s grand source of encouragement.
VI. The occurrences of that day exhibit the reality and importance of revivals of religion. By a revival of religion we understand an uncommon and general interest in the subject of salvation, produced by the Holy Spirit, through the instrumentality of Divine truth. Such, substantially, was the revival on the day of Pentecost. Do you say that the excitement, denominated a revival of religion, occurs in connection with the special efforts of Christians? We answer, that the excitement on the day of Pentecost occurred in a similar connection. Do you say that the Divine influence to which we allude, as to the mode of its operation, is enveloped in the darkness of mystery? So it was on the day of Pentecost. Do you say there is enthusiasm connected with the excitement denominated a revival of religion? Fanaticism there may have been. But does such a fact prove the entire absence of genuine religion? Does it prove that no revival is a sober, rational work? Do you say that in a time of general excitement there will be instances of gross imposition on the Church? So it was in the Pentecost revival, when, in awful warning to hypocrites, Ananias and Sapphira fell down dead. Do you say that the excitement denominated a revival of religion, is often succeeded by instances of apostacy? We answer, that apostacies have likewise occurred under other circumstances. The occurrences of the day of Pentecost exhibit, likewise, the importance of revivals of religion. In a single day it gave to the Christian Church a weight of influence more than a hundredfold greater than it had previously possessed. It is important to individual happiness and to the community at large. (Baxter Dickinson.)
Pentecost--the first-fruits
But why was the gift of the Spirit delayed until the day of Pentecost was fully come? No man must irreverently pry into the purposes of Deity.
I. Pentecost was the feast of first-fruits; therefore symbolical of the first-fruits of the Christian Church (Lev_23:15; Lev_23:17; Deu_16:9). The first sheaf of the Christian harvest, the first fruit of the Christian reaping wasthere ingathered.
II. Pentecost was associated in the Jewish worship with the giving of the law from Sinai. Fifty days after the exodus from Egypt, the Israelites received the law from Sinai. To this day the gift of the law is kept in view in the Jewish observance of Pentecost.
1. Conviction of sin is the prominent idea of the apostolic Pentecost. Peter’s sermon resulted in the cry, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Conviction of sin is the prelude to a reformed life. In our Christian families and amongst our young people, trained from infancy in Christian virtue, we need not always look for the intense conviction of sin which is apparent on this first day of the Christian Pentecost. No! God’s ways are often gentle.
2. The first gift of the Paraclete on the day of Pentecost--the day which, in Jewish thought, was specially consecrated to the giving of the law from Sinai--was specially fitted to the mission of Him “who will convict the world in respect of sin.”
III. The first-fruits on the day of Pentecost are typical of the ingathering of all nations to Christ. More foreign Jews attended the Pentecost than any other Jewish feast. And in the light of Pentecost we look forward hopefully to the time when the “great multitude, whom no man could number, out of every nation, and of all tribes, and peoples, and tongues” shall stand before the throne and before the Lamb, and shall cry with a great voice, saying, “Salvation unto our God which sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb” (Rev_7:9-10).
IV. Pentecost teaches the union of vast spiritual power with feeble human agency. (George Deane, D. Sc.)
Whir-Sunday
I. What the day of Pentecost gave indisputable proof of.
1. The truth of Old and New Testament prophecies (Isa_44:3; Eze_36:27; Joe_2:28; Zec_4:6; Joh_14:16; Joh_15:26; Joh_16:7; Act_1:5, etc.).
2. The reality of the Messiahship and mission of Christ. The Holy Ghost would bring to the remembrance of the disciples the words they had heard their Master utter, and reveal the meaning of the things of Christ unto them. The Spirit bears witness with our spirits to-day that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
3. The person, presence, and power of the Holy Ghost.
II. What the day of Pentecost gave infallible pledge of. The success of the preaching of Peter on that day was the earnest of the successive victories the gospel would achieve over error in the world down to the end of time. Those victories would be won--
1. In spite of the paucity of numbers on the side of the gospel.
2. In spite of the poverty of the preachers of the gospel.
3. In spite of the antagonism of the enemies of the gospel.
4. In spite of the unfaithfulness of professors of the gospel.
III. What the day of Pentecost gave irrevocable pattern of. The primitive Church had to--
1. Wait for the day.
2. Work for the day. Human agony linked with Divine power. (F. W. Brown.)
Pentecost
I. The season when the Spirit was given.
1. In God’s appointed time. There is a set time to favour Zion, both to try our faith and to prove God’s sovereignty. If every drop of rain has its appointed birthday, every gleam of light its predestinated pathway, and every spark of fire its settled hour for flying upward, certainly the will of God must have arranged and settled the period and place of every gracious visitation.
2. After the ascension. The Spirit wasnot given till after Jesus had been glorified. Various blessings are ascribable to different parts of Christ’s work. His life is our imputed righteousness; His death brings us pardon; His resurrection confers upon us justification; His ascension yields to us the Holy Spirit. “When He ascended up on high,” etc. It was the wont of the Roman conqueror as he rode along to scatter large quantities of money among the admiring crowd. So our glorified Lord scattered gifts among men.
3. At Pentecost. Some say that at Pentecost the law was proclaimed on Sinai. If so, it was very significant that on the day when the law was issued amid thunders and lightnings, the gospel--God’s new and better law--should be proclaimed with mighty wind and tongues of fire. We are clear, however, that Pentecost was a harvest-festival. On that day the sheaf was waved before the Lord and the harvest consecrated. The passover was to our Saviour the time of His sowing, but Pentecost was the day of His reaping, and the fields which were ripe to the harvest when He sat on the well, are reaped now that He sits upon the throne.
4. When there was most need. Vast crowds were gathered. What would have been the use of the many tongues when no strangers were ready to hear? Whenever we see unusual gatherings, whenever the spirit of hearing is poured out upon the people, we ought to pray for and expect an unusual visitation of the Spirit.
5. Where they were all with one accord in one place. Christians cannot all now be in one place, but they can all be of one accord. When there are no cold hearts, no prejudices and bigotries to separate, no schism to rend the one sacred garment of Christ, then may we expect to see the Spirit of God resting upon us.
6. When they were earnest about one grand object.
II. The manner. Each word here is suggestive.
1. Suddenly. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, and so, though the Spirit may have been secretly preparing men’s hearts, yet the real work of revival is done suddenly to the surprise of all observers.
2. There was a sound. Although the Spirit of God is silent, yet His operations are not silent in their results.
3. As of wind. In Greek and Hebrew theword used for wind and for Spirit is the same. The wind is doubtless, chosen as an emblem because of its mysteriousness: “Thou canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth”; because of its freeness: “It bloweth where it listeth”; because of diversity of its operations, for the wind blows a gentle zephyr at one moment, and anon it mounts to a howling blast. The Holy Spirit at one time comes to comfort, and at other times to alarm, etc.
4. It was rushing. This pour-trayed the rapidity with which the Spirit’s influences spread--rushing like a torrent. Within fifty years from Pentecost the gospel had been preached in every country of the known world.
5. It was mighty, irresistible, and so is the Spirit of God; where He comes nothing can stand against Him.
6. It filled all the place where they were sitting. The sound was not merely heard by the disciples. When theSpirit of God comes, He never confines Himself to the Church. A revival in a village penetrates even the pot-house. The Spirit of God at work in the Church is soon felt in the farm-yard, work-room, and factory.
7. But this was not all. I must now mention what was the appearance seen--a bright luminous cloud probably, not unlike that which once rested in the wilderness over the tribes by night--which suddenly divided, or was cleft, and separate tongues of fire rested upon the head of each of the disciples. They would understand that thus a Divine power was given to them. Heathens represent beams of light or flames of fire proceeding from their false deities, and the nimbus with which Roman Catholic painters always adorn the heads of saints, is a relic of the same idea. It was said by the ancients of Hesiod, the first of all the poets, that whereas he was once nothing but a simple neat-herd, yet suddenly a Divine flame fell upon him, and he became henceforth one of the noblest of men. We feel assured that so natural a metaphor would be at once understood by the apostles.
(1) It was a tongue, for God has been pleased to make the tongue do mightier deeds than either sword or pen; by the foolishness of preaching to save them that deliver.
(2) It was a tongue of fire, to show that God’s ministers speak, not coldly as though they had tongues of ice, nor learnedly as with tongues of gold, nor arrogantly as with tongues of brass, nor pliantly as with tongues of willow, nor sternly as with tongues of iron, but earnestly as with the tongue of flame; their words consume sin, scorch falsehood, enlighten the darkness, and comfort the poor.
(3) It sat upon them. So the Spirit of God is an abiding influence, and the saints shall persevere.
(4) It sat upon each of them, so that while there was but one fire, yeteach believer received his portion of the one Spirit. There are diversities of operations, but it is the same Lord.
III. The result. After all this, what are you expecting? Shall the wind blow down dynasties--the fire consume dominions? No; Spiritual and not carnal is the kingdom of God. The result lies in three things.
1. A sermon. The Spirit of God was given to help Peter preach. You turn with interest to know what sort of a sermon a man would preach who was full tothe brim of the Holy Ghost. You expect him to be more eloquent than Robert Hall, or Chalmers; more learned than the Puritans. You expect all the orations of Cicero and Demosthenes to be put in the shade. No such thing! Never was there a sermon more commonplace. It is one of the blessed effects of the Holy Spirit to make ministers preach simply.
2. The people were pricked in the heart, and cried, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” What a disorderly thing! Blessed disorder which the Spirit of God gives. Men then feel that they have heard something which has gone right into their inmost nature and receive a wound which only God can heal.
3. Faith and the outward confession of it in baptism. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The descent of the Spirit
The circumstances connected with the event.
I. The Time. “When the day of Pentecost was fully come.” It was the fiftieth day after the Passover, and beginning of the harvest festival. Harvest home! Surely it was no blind chance that made this appointment for the inauguration of the dispensation of spiritual ingathering (Rev_14:15).
II. The place. It was “a house,” the noteworthy fact being that it was not the temple. Up to this time the temple had monopolised the formal worship of Jehovah; but to-day a new order begins. The privileges of worship are to be everywhere and for all sorts and conditions of men.
III. The dramatis personae. Here were a hundred and twenty feeble folk, none mighty or noble among them, distinguished from the multitudinous rank and file of common people only by the fact that God had chosen them tobe the nucleus of the Christian Church. Thus, kneeling together, they held the coign of vantage. They were sure of the blessing. May it not be that, under similar conditions, the Church of our times would be similarly blest?
IV. The onlookers. There came together to witness this strange occurrence a motley and polyglot assemblage of “Parthians, Modes, and Elamites, dwellers in Mesopotamia and in Judaea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians.” Was ever a more representative body of people? And this was as it should have been, for the thing about to happen was of universal importance, and the power about to descend was, like the sceptre in Balaam’s vision, to smite even to the remotest corners of the earth. The time had come for the propagation of a catholic gospel; and this heterogeneous company of people was the first representative Christian congregation that ever assembled on earth. Those who, on this occasion, were “sojourning at Jerusalem out of every nation under heaven,” carried back to their countrymen the announcement of the new religion; and thus the seed was sown whose full and glorious fruition will be seen at the close of history, when “a great multitude which no man can number,” etc. (Rev_7:9).
V. What they saw and heard. At this point everything is significant.
1. The “sound as of a mighty, rushing wind.” This must instantly have recalled to theminds of the disciples their Master’s word, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” In Ezekiel’s vision in the valley of dry bones we have a similar association of the wind or breath (Hebrew ruach) with spiritual influence: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live!” The symbol is appropriate, suggesting an influence so elevating and inspiring as to mark the beginning of a new life.
2. The fire. This would instantly recall the words of John the Baptist, “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” Fire burns, subdues, purifies, penetrates, illumines, energises. Fire is power. The heart that has received the baptism from on high is “set on fire” with a passion for all things true and right.
3. Cloven tongues. It is to be observed that the symbol used to designate the power of the gospel dispensation was not an iron rod, nor a sword, nor a pontifical mitre, but a cloven tongue--the symbol of speech, of argument, of “the foolishness of preaching.” The victory by which the world is to be subjugated to the gospel is to be a moral victory; and the power which is to accomplish it is the simple story of the Cross. Jehovah is not in the storm nor in the earthquake, but in the still, small voice.
VI. The significance of this event.
1. It marked the reformation and reorganisation of Judaism into the Christian Church. In this company of a hundred and twenty persons--like-minded as to the ruling principle of life and engaged with one accord in prayer for a specific blessing--we behold, in seed and promise, a mighty organism which is destined to survive all shocks and oppositions, gathering meat out of the eater and sweetness out of the strong, until at length it shall bring the world and lay it before its Master’s feet. This is the living mechanism that Ezekiel saw by the river Chebar, “a whirlwind out of the north and a fire infolding itself and winged creatures going straight forward: whither thespirit yeas to go they went, and they turned not when they went” (Eze_1:4-10). This working Church of Jesus, inspired by a purpose above all carnal ambitions and endued with power to accomplish it, is at this moment incomparably the greatest force on earth.
2. The miracle of the day of Pentecost marked the beginning of a new epoch. The old economy of types and shadows was over; the dispensation of the Spirit was at hand. Thenceforth the Holy Ghost was to rule in human affairs. It was a transitional point in history. Let us thank God that we live on the hither side of it. Nay, rather, let us thank God over and over that we are permitted totake part in the splendid achievements of these days.
3. This Pentecostal effusion of the Spirit marked the beginning of the end. At that moment God Himself made bare His arm and said, The kingdoms of this world shall be Mine! Those who looked on” were amazed and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?” In answer they were referred by Peter to the prophesy of Joel: “It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.’” It is scarcely to be believed that God will wait upon the slow processes which His people are using for the conversion of the world. He has mighty forces in reserve which we in our poor philosophies have never dreamed of; and who can tell at what moment He may bring them into requisition? (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)
Pentecost
1. “Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” The exact day was not specified, and still less the precise nature of the gift. Expectation has always been the posture of the Church. For ages the expectation was that of the Messiah’s coming; and no sooner did the Messiah appear than a new season of expectation set in; the expectation of His second coming. Nowhere is there, nor ought there to be, mere retrospection or satisfaction. Many chief graces can only be exercised by looking forward and upward.
2. The condition of the disciples between Ascension and Pentecost was one of expectation in a double sense. They were taught by the angels to look for their Lord’s return. But there was a near return as well as one more remote. When our Lord said “I will see you again,” etc., He said so in three senses--in His own resurrection; in their resurrection; but between these two there lay a spiritual but not therefore an unreal advent.
3. The feastof Pentecost was one of the three great festivals of Israel. It was so called from one particular point in the celebration of the Passover; the waving of the sheaf of the first-fruits of the harvest on the morrow after the Passover-Sabbath. From that day they were to number seven complete sabbaths, and then arrived the feast of weeks or of Pentecost; on which occasion, as at the earlier Passover, and thelater Tabernacles, all the men were required to appear before the Lord at His sanctuary in Jerusalem. The Passover had already found its antitype in that season at which Christ the Paschal Lamb was sacrificed for us. The feast of Tabernacles, the celebration of the completion of harvest and vintage, and of the rest which followed the entrance into Canaan, is to find its antitype in that rest which remains for the people of God in heaven. The intermediate festival of Pentecost was to have its antitype in that gift which this chapter describes. Jewish tradition marked out the feast as the commemoration of the giving of the law. And peculiar significance is therefore given to the choice of the day for the giving of that new law, of the Spirit of life, by which the commandments of God were to be written, not on tables of stone, but on the tablets of a renewed and willing heart. At all events the festival of the first-fruits was now to be fulfilled in the Holy Spirit as the firstfruits of the heavenly inheritance. Two things in the narrative need to be distinguished.
I. The origin of the gift.
1. Men are slow in understanding and stubborn in disputing spiritual or supernatural influences; resolving everything into workings of nature, chance, or imagination. There is no spiritual influence which the philosophers and theologians of this age would not explain away, or laugh down. It is well, perhaps, that the gospel was established in men’s convictions in an age of greater simplicity and of less presumption.
2. But if God would make it evident that He is at work, I know not how it can be done without miracle. If our Lord would convince common men that He had all the power of God, was there any mode so really decisive as that which the Gospels describe to us? Those who had actually seen Him still a tempest, raise a corpse, etc., must have felt that God had given them evidence of the Messiahship of Christ. Even thus was it with the coming of the Holy Ghost. Hearts might have been influenced, lives might have been changed, and men might have ascribed it to natural causes; but if it was to be made plain, beyond gainsaying, that the Holy Spirit had descended to make His abode in the Church and in the hearts of men, there must be some sign of which the senses could take cognisance, and from which but one inference could be drawn.
3. Such a sign was that marvellous power of which we have here the first example. If unlettered men were heard to utter sounds recognised by men of diverse nations as their native speech, what other explanation could be given save that which Peter gave?
4. And is there anything irrational in the supposition that God should come in direct personal communication with man, or should make it plain whence that communication was derived? It can be no reproach to a revelation that its utterance is decisive and its proofs intelligible to unlettered men.
5. In the signs which accompanied the descent of the Holy Ghost we can recognise all the emblems by which He had been foretold.
(1) The rushing mighty wind, “blowing where it listeth,” audible in its sound, inscrutable in its source and destination.
(2) The fiery flame which had been taken from the first as the description of the Saviour’s baptism.
(3) The voice which bore witness to the informing, instructing, and counselling presence within.
II. The gift signified.
1. We read of it in its prediction and in its experience. Look for the one to Joh_14:-16., and for the other to Rom_8:1-39., Gal_5:1-26. Study those and you will see how little they can enter into the fulness of the promise, who either imagine it to have been designed for apostles only, or as consisting principally of miraculous gifts. The Holy Spirit was promised as the Comforter, the Remembrancer, the Teacher, the Guide, the inward Advocate, the Representative of Christ, the Presence of God and of Christ in the soul, whose coming was to make it a gain even that the Saviour should depart. And what then was the experience of this great gift? How did they describe it who had found it for their own? Hear what Paul, who was not present at Pentecost, but only received the gift afterwards as any one of you might receive it in answer to prayer, tells how the Holy Ghost within had set him free from the bondage of sin and death; how He had turned his affections from things below to things above; how he had found the Holy Spirit to be indeed a Spirit not of fear but the Spirit of adoption, etc.
2. The gift of the Spirit is one half of the whole need of man. We need forgiveness first. But there is a need behind, without which forgiveness would be a mockery--the gift of the Holy Ghost pledged in baptism--promised in the Word of life. We are ignorant, poor, weak, sad, and lonely in heart, until the Sun of Righteousness rises upon us with that healing in His wings, which is first the joy of a free forgiveness, and secondly the joy of an indwelling Spirit! And be we well assured that, if we are filled with the Holy Ghost, the other words of the text will be realised in us; we shall also speak with another tongue, the Spirit giving us the utterance. How transforming is the influence of the Holy Spirit upon human lips! Can we live with a man in whom God dwells and not perceive it in his words? Let us pray for the gift of that new Divine speech, in the power of which he who once opened his lips only to trifle, to defame, or to deceive, has begun to breathe the sounds of love and joy and peace, of gentleness and goodness and faith and meekness. Thus shall men take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus. Thus shall we bear that testimony, not of word only but of sign, by which minds are convinced and hearts opened, by which God’s name is made known on earth, His saving health among all nations. (Dean Vaughan.)
Pentecost a spiritual spring feast
I. The spring breezes which blow: stormy blasts and soft zephyrs.
II. The spring voices which are heard: the inspired tongues of the apostles praising the mighty acts of God, and the timid voices of awakened consciences inquiring after salvation.
III. The spring blossoms which appear: childlike faith and brotherly love. (Gerok.)
The Pentecostal outpouring
I. The preparation for the gift of the spirit.
1. The ascension. Christ had taught that His going away was essential to the Spirit’s coming.
2. The attitude of the disciples.
(1) Patient waiting.
(2) Union.
(3) Prayer.
(4) Fellowship with the risenChrist.
II. Its sensible accompaniments. The elements of nature were now, as so often, symbolical of spiritual realities.
1. The sound like wind indicating the immediacy, secrecy and swiftness of the Divine action.
2. The appearance like fire symbolising warming, quickening, cleansing.
III. The gift itself. The Spirit’s influence was--
1. In its nature adapted to affect men’s minds and hearts.
2. In its measure as vast as human capacities could receive.
3. In its extent universal, being designed for Christ’s whole Church.
IV. The immediate consequences.
1. The apostles were empowered to speak with other tongues, which was a sign of Divine energy.
2. Preaching was made powerful to the conversion of many; enemies of Christ became friends.
3. The Church was established upon a sure and lasting foundation. (Family Churchman.)
The gift of Pentecost the best gift of God
In virtue of--
I. Its root--the merits of Christ, His humiliation and exaltation.
II. Its nature--the union of the Spirit of God with man.
III. Its operations--the new creation of the heart and of the world. (Gerok.)
Pentecost; or, the first Christian day
Next to the day of Christ’s death, Pentecost was the greatest day that ever dawned. It was “the birth-day” of the Church, the first day of the new creation, in which chaos began to be fashioned and arranged by the plastic power of the Spirit, the day of the grand and solemn opening of the kingdom of heaven, after the completion of the Christ’s preparatory work, the day on which the fountain was unsealed, whose waters should flow forth for the healing and purifying of the nations. And as it was the first of Christian days, so was it a type of Christian days. Note--
I. The history.
1. The season was the Pentecost, a Jewish festival.
2. The hour, “the hour of prayer.”
3. The place was one of the apartments of the temple. If we put these things together, we shall have two results.
(1) They secured a large and fitting audience. Great numbers of Jews and proselytes visited Jerusalem; and the temple was just the place where they could most easily become parties to the introduction of the new dispensation.
(2) It was strikingly taught that the old state of things was giving place to another, which should change its form but perfect its spirit. The shell was being broken to yield a new life; the beautiful fly was being developed from the worm. Judaism was to be displaced by that which should spiritualise and ennoble its truths and principles. The temple was to become a church, and Pentecost to witness a new celebration of harvest, the ingathering of souls.
4. The antecedents. The apostles “continued with one accord,” etc.
II. The occurrences as strikingly suggestive of important truths in relation to the dispensation thus introduced. There was--
1. A new Spirit. Whatever spiritual influences had been shed forth in former periods, the Holy Ghost, in the New Testament sense, was to be the gift of the glorified Saviour, the characteristic blessing of His kingdom. We must beware of restricting this fact to miraculous endowments. The gift of tongues, etc., were but signs and seals of the spiritual power intended to draw attention to the inward gift, only as the thunder and lightning of the new spiritual world, occasional and impressive incidents of powers and processes whose constant, silent operation is the very life of men.
(1) The world needed the Spirit. It was not a case merely for new religious opinions, habits, or institutions; the need was of life from above; the nature required to be restored and quickened. Sin had cut off the supplies of Divine grace, had converted the temple into a tomb. It was the grand design of the gospel to engraft humanity upon Deity, to breatheinto our dead souls the breath of life.
(2) The apostles needed the Spirit. Much as they had been with Jesus, they were still strangers to His inner being, the deeper meaning of His acts and words, the glory of His Cross; they were like the skeletons in the valley of vision, very dry, till at the prophet’s bidding they became living men.
2. A new truth. “We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God,” the same as composed the subject of Peter’s discourse; the history of Christ. True, they knew that He had died, and risen again, and ascended: but all this, though familiar as history, was new as truth. And just as a man who has travelled in the dark, looks back at break of day and admires the objects that he passed, aware only of their existence, or deeming them objects of fear, so the disciples recalled the events of their Master’s life, and rejoiced in much which had perplexed and grieved them. The death and departure of Christ were to His followers like the fabled statue of Memnon, which sent forth sounds, mournful in the night, but melodious at the rising of the sun: when God’s morning light arose, how sweet the notes those facts, once only sad, emitted! Christianity is essentially historical. It does not set men on arduous inquiries, nor answer them by logical expositions; but it points us to the incarnate Son of God; tells us how He lived and suffered and arose to glory; tells us that He was, that He is: He is the object of its faith, its love, its obedience and its joy. Such was evidently Peter’s thought when he used “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” to open it to the Jewish world on the day of Pentecost. Such was also Paul’s (1Co_15:3-4). This was the truth which they propounded to men of every class and in every condition--to Greek (1Co_2:2); to Jew (Gal_6:14); to Roman (Rom_8:3-4); and it proved, in the case of all, the power of God unto every one that believeth. The declaration of this truth on the day of Pentecost was therefore not an exceptional thing; it was a specimen of the kind of moral instrumentality which should be characteristic of Christianity.
3. A new vehicle. “They began to speak with other tongues.”
(1) Had a Jew been told that God was about to introduce a new and transcendent dispensation in a style worthy of its superior excellence, he would probably have expected a grand ceremonial. But he was here taught that Christianity would be a system, not of ceremonialism, but of moral agency, and that its chief means would be uttered thought and feeling, man coming into contact with man, reason with reason, heart with heart. No system of religion has made suchuse of the voice as Christianity, and its purest forms have always been connected with the largest use of the voice.
(2) The manner as well as the fact of the use of the tongue was instructive. In the publicity and indiscriminateness of Pentecostal preaching there was something different from all that had appeared in the best types of heathen wisdom. The philosophers universally disregarded the poor; their discoveries were confined to those who sought and could purchase them. But the gift of tongues declared not only that speech would be the most appropriate organ of the gospel, but that it would “speak to the people” without exception, “all the words of this life.”
4. A new world. No power on earth could have brought together, at that time, so typical a congregation. And herein was there an expression of the catholicity of the gospel. It not only declared that the world might enjoy the privileges of the true religion, but it spoke to the world in its own language; it destroyed every “middle wall of partition” between Jew and Gentile, and made the common possession of every race the rich inheritance of “the gospel of the grace of God.” The confusion of tongues (Gen_11:7) was reversed, and it was proclaimed that the effect of the gospel would be the destruction of all that divided and alienated men; that its purpose was to form a new “body,” into which all should be “baptized by one Spirit, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond orfree,” so creating a “new man,” in which there should be “neither Greek nor Jew,” etc.
5. A new impression (verses 37, 41-42).
(1) There had been mighty religious movements among Jews and Gentiles, but there had been no seasons similar to Pentecost. Not that we are to dissociate that time from times preceding. “Other men had laboured, and the disciples entered into their labours.” Christ had no Pentecost; but He was always doing that without which no Pentecost could have been. He was breaking up the fallow-ground, and sowing seed; the ingathering was to come. It is a far greater thing to make a gospel than to preach a gospel. And when Peter with quickening energy spake to the people, and thousands confessed the sovereignty of truth, he was only the instrument of bringing to bear the virtue and power of Christ’s redemption. “The corn of wheat had fallen into the ground and died,” but, having died, it now “brought forth much fruit.”
(2) But however men had been moved or changed before, they had never been moved or changed thus. The sense of guilt was not strange, but penitence had never possessed the depth and the tenderness which belonged to theirs who “looked on Him whom they had pierced, and mourned for Him,” Moral and religious reformation had often rewarded the labours of the wise and good, but never had it taken so Divine a type as in those who now “gladly received the Word.” Men had often associated themselves together at the bidding of outward law or inward love, but organisation and fellowship had never known their truest life and strongest bonds till the thousands of Pentecost joined the Church at Jerusalem.
III. Application:
1. Let us recognise the fact that this is the dispensation of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is now given because Jesus is glorified. It is the time of spiritual life, “the day of Christ’s power.”
2. The means whereby “the power from on high” may be obtained for ourselves and others. These are prayer and truth. It was the supplicating Church that was filled with the Spirit; it was the speaking Church that received the addition of three thousand souls. This is & union that evermore prevails, and without which there can be no realisation of Pentecostal times.
3. The pouring forth of the Spirit of Christ is the present, the universal, the urgent necessity of men. The main misery of the world is its carnal life, its separation from God: it will never be whole and happy till it be possessed and regenerated by the Spirit of the living God. (A. J. Morris.)
The day of Pentecost
The occurrences of the day exhibit--
1. Evidence of a special Divine influence.
2. The Divine mission of Jesus and the truth of Christianity.
3. The folly of opposition to Christ’s kingdom.
4. The grand means of advancing Christ’s cause and saving sinners.
5. The Christian minister’s great source of encouragement.
6. The reality and importance of revivals of religion. (B. Dickinson, M. A.)
The day of Pentecost
The disciples--
I. Began to speak. Hitherto they had kept silence. They were learners and asked questions. True, they were sent by Christ to try their “‘prentice hands”; but their discourses could not have been much to boast of, or they would have been recorded. But no sooner were they filled with the Spirit than they began to speak out. A man may have a little of the Spirit and be able to observe silence; but if he is filled he cannot hold his peace. “Necessityis laid upon me.” From their irrepressible desire to speak, many concluded they were “full of new wine.” And herein there is a superficial likeness between “being filled with wine” and “being filled with the Spirit”; in either case there is a powerful desire to speak. A few chapters further on in reply to the magistrates, they said, “We cannot but speak.” The Holy Spirit was fermenting within them and bursting through all restraints (see Job_32:17-20, and Marg.).
II. With other tongues.
1. This is a power inherent in all men. Men speak with new tongues every year. Some can converse in many languages. Here the Spirit quickened this power. The first miracle of Christ was the turning of water into wine. There is nothing unnatural in that. Do we not see it every year in the vintages of Europe? The supernatural consisted in its instantaneousness. And so the first miracle of the Holy Ghost consisted in the rapidity with which the knowledge of other tongues was acquired.
2. Some acquire knowledge with much greater rapidity than others. Who can tell how quickly the human intellect may acquire it when inspired by the Holy Ghost? Sir William Hamilton tells us of a servant girl who, under the excitement of fever, repeated long and intricate passages from Latin, Greek, and Hebrew authors, which she had occasionally overheard herold master read as he was walking up and down in his house. If that be the ease under the excitement of fever, is it incredible that the disciples spoke with foreign tongues under the influences of the Holy Spirit? Man is only a degenerate specimen of what he once was. Adam could learn more in five minutes than we can in five years. He could instinctively make language, a much more formidable task than to learn it. Let the wound which sin has inflicted on the mind be healed up, and man will learn a new language with as much facility as Adam made one.
3. The Holy Spirit, it is admitted, ennobles other faculties; then why not this? He made Bezaleel and Aholiab skilful workmen, and still endows men with the knowledge necessary to the successful prosecution of art. When Christianity appeared, the arts and sciences were at a very low ebb. But before long the new religion poured a new spirit into society, and began to ennoble the intellect of the race. Just as you have seen a tree, after being well manured, budding out in early spring with fresh vitality, so Christianity enriched the human mind. Poetry revived under it--the best poetry of the world is Christian. Painting grew under the shadow of its wing--the grand pictures are nearly all representations of scenes in the life of the Saviour. Music and architecture also have chiefly flourished on Christian soil and in immediate connection with Christian worship. And so with the sciences. The revival of learning was coincident with the revival of Christianity. Science did not make the discovery that the sun is the centre of our system until Luther discovered that Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, is the centre of religion. Stephenson was once asked, What was the power that pulled the train along the rails? He answered, The sun. The sun was not the immediate power--that was the fire under the boiler; but he knew that science could trace back the fire of the coal to the fire of the sun. And the power that is now working in the heart of civilization, that is pushing upward and forward all that is good and true is the power of the Spirit of Christ.
4. As sin, which lies like an incubus on the heart of humanity, hindering free movement, will be expunged, we may expect corresponding celerity in our acquisition of knowledge. Possibly the lofty mental state of the apostles is the normal state of man. Daniel was thrown to the lions’ den, and the lions hurt him not. That we call supernatural: yet it is perhaps the true natural--the state in which man was placed in Paradise, and in which he will find himself again by and by. The three young men in Babylon were cast into the fiery furnace, and the flame did not singe a hair of their heads. That we call supernatural, yet it may be the true natural. Man was not subject to death either natural or accidental before the entrance of sin into the world; and man redeemed will go through the fire and not be burnt. Christ walked the sea, that we call supernatural: yet I am not sure but it is the true natural--the state in which man found himself in the Paradise of old, and in Paradise regained he will walk through rivers and they will not overflow him. Paul took hold of serpents, and they did not bite him, nor did they bite man in Eden, and they will not bite him in the future. And the disciples on the day of Pentecost spoke with other tongues. The family of man once spoke the same language; and who knows but the partition walls between nations as the result of the confusion of languages will be totally removed by a vast display of intellectual power on the part of the race baptized with the Holy Ghost? The miracle of Pentecost will gradually neutralise the miracle of Babel. Men travel now with greater speed than of old; they correspond with greater rapidity; and who can tell but that learning will move with greater ease, relieved to a certain extent from the present drudgery? “There is a royal road to learning.” Let sin be purged out, and man will learn by intuition.
III. The wonderful works of God.
1. His ordinary works are the Creation in its various ramifications. He makes the sun to rise and to set; His wonderful works are as Peter’s sermon shows, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The only subjects worthy of the pulpit are not the arts and sciences, but the gospel--a thing specially lacking in the sermons of some leading preachers.
2. It is truly remarkable that the wonderful works of God are easily translatable. Science is not suitable for every language; it cannot speak Welsh, e.g.; but the gospel can. A minister insisted on the importance of knowing Greek to understand the New Testament. “I do not,” remarked an old lady, “perceive the necessity, for my Saviour knows Welsh as well as I do. It is in Welsh that I always speak to Him, and that He always speaks to me. He knew Welsh when I was a little girl, and we have talked Welsh together ever since.”
3. But the words intimate that the disciples spoke in foreign languages with a thorough command of their peculiar idiom and accent. Not only in their languages but in their “tongues” they had the very twang of natives. Native tongue has very great influence over man. The same truths uttered in another language, though well understood, exercise not the same charm. “Can an Ethiopian change his skin?” Yes, as soon as he can change his tongue. When St. Paul addressed the enraged multitude in Jerusalem in Hebrew, they grew calm and attentive. Latin and Greek would only excite them.
4. Seeing that language is the only weapon in the propagation of the gospel, it is of great importance that its ministers should know how to use it deftly and well. The sword of Cromwell was mighty; all Europe feared the flash of it. But the tongue and pen of Milton did more to ensure liberty of conscience. The pen is stronger than the sword--the tongue can drown the roar of cannon.
5. And the Church leads the van in the study of languages. Commerce and love of learning have done a little in that direction; but they generally follow in the wake of the gospel. Who are the first to learn the languages of distant nations, to write their grammars, to compile their dictionaries? Missionaries of the gospel. What book is the first to speak in the barbarous tongues of the earth? The Bible; but the moment the Bible speaks in those tongues they forthwith cease to be barbarous. Sin has left its deep, black marks upon language. Open your English dictionary and you will find in the first page that three-fourths of the words owe their existence and significance to sin. But these words must gradually grow obsolete, and language be refashioned--the gospel will leave its mark upon the dictionary. The Church of the present day is richly endued with the gift of tongues, every fresh effusion of the Spirit being followed by the certain acquisition of a new language. Go to the Bible Society House, where the Church speaks in no fewer than two hundred and fifty languages. The disciples only began; the Church continues and will continue till all nations shall have heard in their own tongues the wonderful works of God.
6. But we are not taught languages miraculously now. True; and for valid reasons--
(1) One is the printing press. What the gift of tongues did for the Church of Pentecost, the printing press has done for the Church of the Reformation.
(2) Another is the abundance of the labourers. In the primitive Church there were only a few, whereas there was a whole world to evangelise. So Goal gave them their tools ready made--sickles sharpened for work. But the need for this no longer exists. There are Christians enough in England alone to learn all the languages of the earth, and to preach the gospel to every creature in less than ten years, without in the least disturbing the ordinary course of business at home. God, therefore, has withdrawn the miracle. To continue it would be to patronise indolence, and do for believers what they can easily do for themselves.
7. The miracle has ceased, but the blessing enveloped in the miracle remains.
(1) The necessity for miracles arises out of the want and not of the wealth of the age. Hence Jesus turned water into wine, multiplied loaves and fishes and healed the sick, because there were no other means of supply and effectual medicine. It is different now.
(2) The miraculous ages are always the most spiritually impoverished. The deliverance of Israel from Egypt is marked by miracles. But the necessity for them arose out of the moral dearth of the times. As the consciousness of God grew, the miraculous continued to wax smaller, till in the reigns of David and Solomon--the richest period materially, intellectually, and spiritually--it ceased altogether. But in subsequent reigns spiritual religion rapidly declined; therefore the gift of miracles was again revived in the persons of Elijah and Elisha. When the Saviour appeared the epoch was the most degraded in the annals of the race. The gift of miracles was therefore granted once more. Miraculous is always in inverse proportion to spiritual power; where the latter grows the former declines. Will miracles be again revived in the Christian Church? Not unless spiritual religion be threatened with speedy extinction.
IV. To men of other nations.
1. Increased life always demands increased scope for its exercise. There was no power to spread itself in religion under the Old Testament. The Spirit was given in very scanty measures, just enough to preserve, but not to multiply life and replenish the earth. That Judaism should cover only a small portion of the globe was an absolute necessity, for it could maintain its life only by concentration. If the fire be small, it can only be kept burning by being heaped close together. Letthe coals be scattered, and the fire will die out. And under the Old Testament only a few sparks came down from heaven to earth; hence it was necessary to gather them together within the narrow confines of Palestine. And in the days of the Saviour the fire was nearly extinguished. Fire was the great need of the age. “I indeed baptize you with water,” exclaims the Baptist; but water can only cleanse the surface, but He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. And on the day of Pentecost the prediction is fulfilled. The fire first burns into the hearts of the disciples, then it begins to extend its area, and now it threatens to burn up all the stubble of the world.
2. This increased life reveals itself instinctively in a desire to enlarge its circumference. Whenever the presence of the Spirit is powerfully felt in the Church, it is invariably followed by a renewed effort to evangelise the world. Let the spring impart new life to the roots of the trees, and the life will at once be transmitted to the branches, covering them with abundant foliage. Let the warm, genial months come round, reviving the drooping nature of the bird after the long dreary winter cold, and the bird shows it immediately in his song. He does not sing because he thinks he ought; he sings because he must. And it is a poor way of promoting the evangelistic zeal of the Church to demonstrate constantly what she ought to do. It is useless to lay down rules for the guidance of the Churches unless we supply them with motive power.
(1) I do not cry down organisations; they are very valuable in their proper place. But they are only cisterns, and cisterns, though of the most approved pattern, are not of much use to quench thirst. The Pentecostal Church had few organisations; but she had the water of life to give freely to all who were in need. The modern Church can boast of multitudinous organisations; and so far she can claim superiority to the early Church, for cisterns after all are serviceable. What glorious cisterns are missionary societies! They have silver pipes connecting them with every country under heaven; the waterworks are laid to convey the water of life to every thirsty soul. But the results are seldom proportionate to the expenditure. The cisterns too often run dry. How few the triumphs of Christianity at home and abroad! How tardy its onward march! Why? Lack of funds, answer our secretaries. Nay, lack of life, piety, the Holy Spirit of God. Had the apostles funds to back their efforts?
(2) Reflection on the part of the Church is not to be discouraged. But stock-taking will not clothe the naked. We spend toomuch time in surveying our property, and meanwhile our enthusiasm considerably abates. The Greek Church took stock of all the Christian doctrines and reduced them into carefully worded articles. But in reflection she lost her ardour, in speculation evaporated all her life. The most orthodox church became practically a dead church. I have not heard of her sending out missionaries to evangelise the heathen. What then is required to awaken within her the old life and incite her to new adventures? What is wanting to make Roman and Protestant Churches more powerful for good in the world? Another outpouring of the Holy Ghost. We have cisterns enough, pray for the living water; machinery enough, pray the Spirit of the living creature to enter the wheels, and then it will do more work and make less noise.
V. That they also might be filled with the Holy Ghost. “Repent and be baptized,” etc.
1. Truth, though it be Christian truth, cannot fill and satisfy our nature. God alone can do that. This, of course, implies that human nature is capacious enough to take in the Spirit. God is too great for our powers, but not for our wants; too vast for our reason, but not for our hearts. Our abilities are limited enough, but our necessities are verily boundless. “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”; and He made him in the similitude even of His infinitude. I have infinite wants within me, and through the Infinite within I can know the Infinite without, and receive Him in the ample plenitude of His power and grace into my soul. How does the infant know his mother? By his wants. He knows not whether she is rich or poor, accomplished or unlearned, beautiful or plain; but he thoroughly knows her when he is hungry, for she feeds him; when he is cold, for she warms him; when he is in pain, for shesoothes him. We know God just in the same way.
2. We may be filled with Him so as to convince unbelievers, not only that we have been with God, but that He dwells in us of a truth. There is a curious invention to fill the human body with electricity. If you only approach the body so filled, it will shoot forth sparks of wild lightning. But all connection between the body and the earth must be severed; the man must stand on a non-conducting material, else the electric fluid will flow out as fast as it flows in. In like manner we me y be recipients of theDivine fire. And sometimes we feel as if we were getting full, we emit Divine sparks at the approach of others they are convinced that God is in us of a truth. But ere many days pass, the hallowed influences have all flowed out. Worldliness is the great sin of the Church; it robs us of the Divine in Christian experience. Oh for another Pentecostal baptism! We need the Spirit now as much as ever to convert unbelievers, and to stir up the dormant energies of the Church. Why is itthat Christian workers see so little fruit to their labours? That the success is not commensurate with the organisations? Some answer, The poverty of your sermons. But that cannot be the reason for every preaching qualification met in Christ, and yet He made but comparatively few converts. “He could not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.” A cold church, an unbelieving church robs itself of the choicest blessings of heaven. Let it not blame its ministers for its non-success--roses will not grow in Greenland, trees will not blossom at the North Pole. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)
The day of Pentecost
I. The religious history of the world has been marked by great steps or periods, separated by striking events or epochs, and constituting dispensations or eras.
1. Thus the creation of man inaugurated an era which continued until the Flood; the covenant with Noah inaugurated another, which continued until the Exodus; the delivery of the law another, which continued until Christ’s ascension; and the day of Pentecost another, in the course of which our own generation finds its place. This, too, will be superseded by the Second Advent. And it is well for us to connect the little day of our life with this magnificent progression. As an independent thing our life is utterly insignificant; as a contributing item, it becomes almost sublime.
2. Up to the day of Pentecost every dispensation was preparatory. Christianity is final; and therefore surpasses in importance every other that preceded it. All the constituent elements of Christianity were now provided; the life of Christ had demonstrated the practicability and holiness of God’s law; His death had constituted an atonement for transgressors; His resurrection had attested it; His ascension had consummated His incarnate life; and then, after seven or eight days, as if to mark by a solemn pause the broad boundary line of Judaism and Christianity, the Holy Spirit was palpably bestowed; and the spiritual religion of Christ inaugurated.
3. Amongst the anniversaries of the Church, therefore, the day of Pentecost must ever occupy an august position. Christianity was a completed system stereotyped for all men to the end of the world in a historical form.
II. The dispensational change which the day of Pentecost marked and consummated. The dispensation of the Spirit stands in natural and logical order amongst the Divine dispensations looked at.
1. As manifestations of God. Of these there have been three successively presented, and corresponding with the triune distinction of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. First, the revelation of the Father--the manifestation of those ideas of the Divine nature which we associate with the Father--such as power, wisdom, holiness, and law. Secondly, the revelation of the Son--the manifestation of those ideas of the Divine nature which we associate with the Son--such as teaching, mediation, sacrifice, love. Lastly, the revelation of the Spirit--as the Source of life, the Enlightener, the Sanctifier, the Comforter. And these correspond in their order tothe spiritual education of men. In their ignorance and guilt they need first to be taught the idea of God. Convinced of sin, they then need to be taught a way of reconciliation; and under the dispensation of the Son, they have the great saving plan revealed. Under the dispensation of the Spirit, a provision is made for the efficiency of the plan; spiritual life is quickened; they are not only forgiven, but sanctified. So with their education in worship. Under the dispensation of the Father, they learn the first rudiments of worship, through material symbols and pictures; under the dispensation of the Son they worship the spiritual God, but m connection with the living body of the Incarnate One; under the dispensation of the Spirit, they worship without any material medium in “spirit and in truth.” The dispensation of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost assumed two distinct forms, and produced two distinct effects.
(1) As miraculous endowment it was peculiar to the apostles. This was indicated by material symbols. But such endowment was incidental and subordinate. Just as the miracles of Christ are not to be confounded with His moral mission, so the miraculous endowments of the Spirit are not to be confounded with His moral or sanctifying influences. The miraculous element in both cases is simply the credential or attestation of the moral. It soon, therefore, ceased. As moral evidence for Christianity accumulated, and the written records of the New Testament were completed, miraculous testimony was withdrawn.
(2) But the deeper and abiding manifestation was that moral and regenerating influence of it of which Christ discoursed to Nicodemus, and is known, therefore, only by its effects. The former was an endowment of the preacher; this is an endowment of the hearer, qualifying and disposing him to receive it in the saving love and power of it.
2. As a saving provision for man.
(1) This dispensation of the Spirit abides with the Church for ever, and is bestowed upon all believers. And this is the grand and transcendent characteristic of Christianity, whereby it provides for the efficacy of its own religious teaching. Other religions give laws, and leave men unaided with the stern requirement; but Christianity gives dispositions as well as laws. It puts a new spirit into those whom it callsto its discipleship.
(2) We cannot, therefore, exaggerate the importance of this provision. Without it, all that Christ has taught or done would have been in vain; we should for lack of spiritual discernment have failed to discern spiritual things, and for lack of spiritual affection failed to have embraced them.
(3) Of course spiritual influence of this kind must have been in operation before. No holy man ever became such save through the influences of the Holy Spirit, allusions to which are very numerous in the Old Testament. But just as the work of Christ was in efficacious operation before Christ Himself was historically manifested, sowas the work of the Spirit. Just as the first pardone
