Digibron cookies

Voor optimale prestaties van de website gebruiken wij cookies. Overeenstemmig met de EU GDPR kunt u kiezen welke cookies u wilt toestaan.

Noodzakelijke en wettelijk toegestane cookies

Noodzakelijke en wettelijk toegestane cookies zijn verplicht om de basisfunctionaliteit van Digibron te kunnen gebruiken.

Optionele cookies

Onderstaande cookies zijn optioneel, maar verbeteren uw ervaring van Digibron.

Bekijk het origineel

Pentecost

Bekijk het origineel

+ Meer informatie

Pentecost

10 minuten leestijd Arcering uitzetten

“And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4).

The feast of Pentecost is the feast of fulfillment. The day of Pentecost is a most glorious day, and it is hallowed by the God of Israel. The outpouring of the Holy Ghost was already foretold the church in the promises we read in Isaiah 44 and Joel 2. Moses, the mediator of the old covenant, longed for the day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Numbers 11:29).

Christ had promised the Holy Spirit to His disciples and His church, also after His resurrection. With joy the disciples had returned from the Mount of Olives. Things then were so different from what they were at the time of His death. At the time of His death they were sorrowful and dejected, and all their hopes were gone. But now they rejoiced. He had given them such precious and comforting promises.

The disciples, as Christ had charged them, were assembled in the upper room together with a group that numbered about one hundred twenty people. The group in the upper room was the revelation of the true church. It was not just a number of individuals. Oh, no! They were united in heart and in mind, in and through Christ, by reason of the good pleasure of the Father. There was no strife among them as to who should be accounted the greatest, but in every heart was the prayer, “Oh that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, that Thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at Thy presence” (Isaiah 64:1).

They were given faith to plead upon that which God Himself had promised. They all had the same desires, namely, the fulfillment of the divine promises, the complete glorification of Christ, and the filling of their heart. By grace they had enjoyed and experienced much. However, what they now lacked was greater than what they had received and enjoyed. God Himself had discovered that lack unto them, and that discovery impelled them to seek for that which could supply their need.

There are very few of such assemblies in our day. Generally speaking, we do not need each other, because we have so little need of God. The wanderings away from God are very evident, and there is such a complete satisfaction with what has been received on the part of the true church of God. There are more converted than unconverted people. I hope you understand what I mean by that. If we are honest, we need not search very far to find that condition. If only we were more unconverted, then God could bestow something upon us, and we would live more to the honor of God. Oh, that God would yet pour out His Spirit!

Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. Suddenly God hastened to fulfill His promise. He is a surprising God unto them that long for Him in faith. He will deliver them speedily. Christ shall suddenly come to His temple (Malachi 3:1). In the Song of Solomon, the bride says, “The voice of my Beloved! behold, He cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.” To such longing people the psalmist says,

Fear not, though succor be delayed,
Still wait for God, and He will hear;
Be strong, nor be thy heart dismayed,
Wait, and the Lord shall bring thee aid,
Yea, trust and never fear.

— Psalter 73

It was a sound from heaven. Heaven had received the Mediator, who with His own blood entered into the holy place. And now, upon the basis of that atonement, the Holy Ghost was sent from heaven. All that is essential to the honor of God and the salvation of our souls comes from heaven. When God comes, He fills our hearts with the joy of salvation. With nothing less than that which comes from heaven can we be saved and delivered. Only the work of God is important and of value for eternity. All those who seek to help themselves and to save themselves shall perish forever. God’s people are drawn to heaven. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help” (Psalm 121:1).

It was a sound as of a rushing mighty wind. That sign is in full accord with the great work of God. It points to the absolute sovereignty and undeniable work of God. Not once, but again and again the Spirit of God is likened unto the wind. God is free in His ministrations and in the imparting of grace. According to His eternal good pleasure, He redeems whom He pleases to redeem, and whom He wills, He leaves in the fall and ruin wherein they have involved themselves by their own free and wanton act of separation from God.

Those who are included in that eternal purpose of God are, in the time of His good pleasure, called with a holy calling. By nature no one seeks for God. We have all become enemies of God and desire not the knowledge of His ways. The one is drawn out of the slavery of sin and the other out of his state of self-righteousness. No matter how deeply rooted they are in sin or in a self-willed religion, when that wind of the Spirit begins to blow, they are stopped in their way, and God conquers them. They are humbled, and, as a lost sinner, they bow before the Most High God and plead with their Judge for mercy.

By the operation of that blessed Spirit, proceeding from the Father and from the Son, they are stripped of all that is of self to find their salvation only in Christ. No one has the ability, nor the power, to release his hold on any one thing of which he must be rid. Neither can anyone, including God’s servants and children, rid us of anything harmful or unprofitable. That is the work of that Spirit of judgment and of burning, who causes us to look away from self and casts down within us all the high places which exalt themselves against the knowledge of Christ. It is He who exalts within us the riches of God’s grace in Christ, so that we glory in naught else but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.


It is God’s own work to fill the heart with the Holy Ghost. So it was on the day of Pentecost at Jerusalem, and so it is today


The Spirit filled all the house where they were sitting, but also the hearts of those present. Christ is glorified in them as the Ordained of the Father and as the Surety of the covenant. He is the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. On the one hand the Spirit empties the hearts, and on the other hand He fills the hearts. The elect people of God are emptied of all that is of self, that they may be filled with the fullness of God. They are ministered unto out of the wellspring of Israel, and with joy they draw water out of the wells of salvation. Oh, it is an ocean of grace which flows out of Christ.

Cloven tongues like as of fire were seen, and it sat upon each of them. By the Spirit of God the elect people are cleansed and sanctified, but also warmed and enlightened. Christ was given of the Father not only unto wisdom, but also unto righteousness, sanctification, and complete redemption. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, not one of them excluded. They all received a share in Christ, and all are partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. The Spirit of God entered their hearts to remain forever. He will never forsake His church.

Oh, that God’s church, our homes, and our hearts would be filled with that precious Spirit. By nature we do not possess that Spirit, and of ourselves we cannot lay hold on Him. May the Spirit of life be poured out in many hearts unto quickening from death unto life, so that the dead might hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear it shall live. Then the honor and the virtues of God would be important above all else, and exalting them would become the highest purpose in our life.

Oh, that we might have a Pentecost in our hearts! Then the fear of God would flourish, the righteousness of Christ would shine forth, and holiness would spread its luster abroad. May the Spirit of God fill our hearts. It is God’s own work to fill the heart with the Holy Ghost. So it was on the day of Pentecost at Jerusalem, and so it is today. Times may change, but God remains the same. The way of salvation and the way to salvation shall never change.

Oh, beloved, value highly the privilege of living under the pure means of grace. The things necessary for you to know that you may live and die happily are often and clearly set before you. The state of death by reason of Adam’s fall is made known unto you. But you are taught also that there is salvation for a poor, lost, and guilty sinner in Christ and in His righteousness. You are taught that the Holy Spirit must make His abode in your heart, to the end that He apply to you personally the things merited by Christ. We cannot simply accept them and apply them unto ourselves. A supernatural work of grace must be glorified in our souls. We must be severed from Adam and implanted into Christ. We must be born again and be united with Christ by the Holy Spirit.

My unconverted fellow-traveler to eternity, whereas you are now without the Spirit of God, may Pentecost yet take place in your heart. It is not yet hopeless for either old or young. The day of grace is not yet past. You are still living in the accepted time, in the precious day of salvation. God still sends out His servants and causes His Word to be proclaimed. Harden not your hearts against the summons sent to you from heaven. Oh, that also in your heart might be heard that sound from heaven, and that as a lost sinner you might find a place at the feet of the Lord Jesus. Help is laid upon One who is mighty to save. Christ is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.

May the Spirit of God bring about conviction and discovery, that the riches of God’s grace may yet shine forth in many hearts. The world is so poor and empty, but in God, through Christ, there is an eternal fullness. That Spirit glorifies Christ in the hearts of the elect. Oh, could it be that we might yet see something of it! God Triune would be glorified, the church would be gladdened, and your souls would rejoice. Your tongue, now silent, would proclaim the praise of the Lord who favored you with His grace to the end that one day you shall eternally glorify that God of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things.

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Bekijk de hele uitgave van vrijdag 1 mei 1998

The Banner of Truth | 28 Pagina's

Pentecost

Bekijk de hele uitgave van vrijdag 1 mei 1998

The Banner of Truth | 28 Pagina's