Pentecost

Pentecost has been called the crown of the feast days in the Christian church. Under the old dispensation, the feast of Pentecost was celebrated when the full harvest was brought in. Hence it is the feast of fullness, the feast of fulfillment. The Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples about the promise of the Father. After the resurrection of Jesus Christ the disciples were commanded not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait there for the fulfillment of what they had heard from Jesus regarding this promise.

There is much to be considered and commemorated when we meditate on the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We read in Acts 2:1, “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come.” These words point to a period of waiting that was being completed. When the Lord comes to fulfill His promises in the life of the church, He makes the heart eager for and longing after the promised blessing. For the apostles, but also for the church, a new era dawned. It was the dispensation of the indwelling and of the manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit. By the powerful operation of this Spirit, Christ will now receive the Gentiles for His inheritance. Now they shall come from all four corners of the world. What is impossible with man shall be proven possible with God. The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. Those that never asked for God shall come with weeping and with supplication. Has this been the fruit in your life, dear reader? Have you been brought down before God in the dust? Have the strivings of the Spirit caused a broken heart and a contrite spirit? How dangerous and dreadful it is to become hardened during the dispensation in which the Holy Spirit is given to the church!

Pentecost also provides profound comfort for the church of God. This church is in the midst of tribulation. She lives in enemy territory, where Satan has his throne. This is where she must fight the good fight of faith. Do you belong to this people? Then think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, but rejoice as you are made partakers of Christ’s sufferings. And be not downcast overmuch. You are not alone. God has given an Intercessor in heaven and a Witness here upon earth. How well does the Lord take care of His people! It is this Spirit that comforts them in all their tribulations. It is this Spirit that guides in all the truth. This same Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God.

Reader, pray fervently that the Holy Spirit may fill your heart as at Pentecost. We may not pray that the Holy Spirit be poured out again as at Pentecost, because this would be a denial of the peculiar character of the essence of Pentecost: the Holy Spirit was given to abide. His dwelling with and in men is not temporary, but forever. In other words, the outpouring was not a repetitious act. But what do we see after Pentecost? The work of the poured-out Spirit extends to an ever-widening circle, first to the Jews, and then also to the Gentiles. This mighty work has continued. The north winds and the south winds have blown upon the regions of this world. Heathen lands and hostile people have come to know the Lord. In His inexplicable mercy and goodness the Lord also made us and our children acquainted with the truths of His Word. This is a great privilege and responsibility for each of us.

Pentecost was accompanied by visible signs. Unfortunately there are many people today who become caught up in the outward signs and overestimate the meaning of a sign. We must not identify the sign as equal to the thing signified. A sign points to something and is not the thing itself. Therefore we read, “A sound as of a mighty rushing wind, and cloven tongues as of fire.” This does not take away from the fact that the signs of Pentecost have a rich meaning. We read that those present were all filled with the Holy Ghost. This points to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit when He takes full possession of His chosen subjects. We also read that those who were filled with the Spirit moreover began to show signs, as the Spirit gave them utterance. It was the Holy Spirit Himself who controlled and enabled them. This indwelling of the Holy Spirit is indispensable for salvation. God’s Word is very clear about the necessity of the indwelling of the Spirit. “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Romans 8:9). “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14). The witness of the Spirit with the spirit of the children of God is the proof that they are the children of God. “And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16-17).

The signs that accompanied Pentecost point beautifully to what happens when the wind of the poured-out Spirit of Pentecost reaches a sinner. Wind denotes sovereign and heavenly power. There is majesty in its power. Wind is invisible, but it produces great things in the realm of nature. Great and majestic buildings are demolished by its power. Wind penetrates through virtually every crack and reaches everywhere. Dear reader, has it reached you? Have you been touched by the power of God? Have you been felled to the ground like those that were pricked in their hearts at Pentecost? Have all the truths of God’s Word become precious to you? We purposely wrote all, because in the conviction of the sinner the Holy Spirit reveals all the truth. He reveals not only the truth about God’s love and mercy, His willingness to save sinners, and His condescending goodness in making us acquainted with His will, but the Spirit also reveals the demands of God’s holy justice, the need for a complete satisfaction, the hopelessness of our case because of our deep fall, and our enmity against God’s way of salvation. It is true that these things are not all learned in one day, but they are taught in the Spirit’s way. The question is whether you and I have heard the sound and have been aroused from our state of death by His coming.

Moreover, we read of fire, which is a symbol of God’s presence in respect to holiness, judgment, and grace. Fire provides us with warmth; fire purges; fire gives light. Dear friends, we need it all spiritually from above. We need the Spirit of Jesus Christ to warm our cold, indifferent, and dead hearts. We need light because—even after receiving grace—we are nothing but darkness. Is it different in your heart? Is there one among our readers who can produce it of himself? Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. There the church of God again receives a warm heart for his unconverted neighbor far and near. Then we become a true mission church. It is a sad sign for the church of God if this is not in exercise. How do we know this? We may know this by visible signs, such as a lack of mission workers to be sent out to the mission fields, a lack of public prayer for the mission fields, a lack of desire to reach out from the local church to the neighbors. If these things are found among us, we must seriously examine ourselves whether we are not grieving the Spirit of God such that He withdraws His blessed influences more and more.

Reader, the great work of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus Christ. The instructor of our Heidelberg Catechism says it briefly and to the point: “That He is also given me, to make me by a true faith, partaker of Christ and all His benefits, that He may comfort me, and abide with me for ever.” The Holy Spirit comforts with Christ. Whom does He comfort? Those who have become debtors to the justice of God and have no penny to pay. Therefore they are tossed with tempest and not comforted. Oh, wonder of grace, when in death’s dark hour, at the end of our possibilities to be saved, the Holy Spirit reveals all the truth concerning Jesus! Then this blessed third Person in the holy Trinity comforts them with Jesus Christ as the guilt-assuming Surety and the One who has paid the debt and restored the breach. There is a people for whom the comforts of this world have lost their savor. These people have learned to despair of self-comfort and comfort from others, no matter how well-meant it is. They have prayed, “Give me Jesus, else I die.” In Him lies the bosom of the Father declared. When the Spirit leads to that Fountain (which is His dearest work!), to that fullness, words can no longer be vehicles of thought because even the world itself could not contain the books that could be written. Space does not allow us here to elaborate further. May God Himself grant such light and warmth from above to us and our dear children, so that His name may be glorified, the church may flourish, and our hearts may be filled with love to God, love to Jesus, and a serious concern about our perishing neighbor, not only in Bolivia but also next door to you.

— Rev. H. Hofman, Jr.
(Bolivia)

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