Christian Monthly Standard

The Gift and the Promise (1)

An exposition in parts:

Peter said this in the middle of his sermon in Acts two: “God has resurrected this Jesus. We are all witnesses of this. Therefore, since he has been exalted to the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, he has poured out what you both see and hear.” (2:32 – 33)

First, I will note a few items in these sentences to keep in mind as we progress. The witnesses to the resurrection were the twelve apostles who were standing before the crowd that day. There had been other witnesses, more than five hundred in time; but Peter’s specific reference was to the men who were the center of attention that very morning. They had been told they would be witness to Jesus’ resurrection, and Peter was confirming that fact.

The second item worth noting is found in the next sentence, “Therefore, since he has been exalted to the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, he has poured out what you both see and hear.” You should note that it was the exalted Jesus who received the promise of, or promised Holy Spirit, and who then as Lord poured him out (the Holy Spirit is a person not a thing) in what Peter identified as “what you both see and hear.” While both Brent and I have commented upon this here and elsewhere; some things are certainly worth repeating.

The baptism or pouring out of the Holy Spirit was given by Christ as part of his exaltation to authority and dominion. Therefore, the only conclusion of value is that he is ruling in heaven as the King of Kings from the point of his glorification onward. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the earth was promised to him by the Lord God Almighty upon his ascension, and Peter said Jesus had received the promise (of the giving of the Holy Spirit), and that as a result of him “pouring out” the Holy Spirit on earth that day — by his authority, those present that very day both saw and heard the result of that immersion of the Holy Spirit. There is no stretch to the conclusion that the pouring out of the Spirit is exactly the same thing that is meant by the baptism or immersion of the Holy Spirit, and by the promise of the Holy Spirit. The terms are all synonymous.

Therefore, the sounds heard, the attendant signs, and the power which came to be embodied through the twelve apostles were the result of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit by The Prince of Peace, Immanuel. It also meant that the events following, as the Kingdom of Heaven was being introduced to the multitude through the apostles’ words, attended by signs and wonders from heaven, that these things were also part of the same pouring out of the Holy Spirit that Jesus accomplished that day.

That is what is meant by the phrase the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

I would suggest that these conclusions are inescapable.

Are you with me so far?