The Gift and the Promise (3)
A conclusion or two, based upon the scriptures and out of the arguments identified in the scriptures using the things covered in the last two posts, is that on both occasions when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the people, the baptism of the Holy Spirit had been preceded by a specific single identifiable sign. That sign was that the servants of God spoke in languages the speakers had never been taught. The same miracle was displayed when the outpouring occurred in both cases.
The sign of the first outpouring (as mentioned in Joel two and evidenced in Acts two) occurred when the twelve apostles began speaking and the members of the crowd concluded, “We hear them speaking in our own languages, the wonderful works of God.” The sign was not when the twelve were filled with the Holy Spirit, although that also was an outpouring of the Spirit. It had not been witnessed by the multitudes; they only heard the sound associated with the event. But, the sound was not a miracle. More important, it is clear that the events that happened to twelve particular chosen men that day did not happen to all the men or women on that day or on any other. And (let me be very clear here, just as the scriptures are very clear about these things) there is only scriptural evidence of the apostles being enveloped with the power of the Holy Spirit on that day, and that is whether I like it or not.
It is also obvious that the members of the home audience at Caesarea had not been imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit but just for the second open display; and there is no evidence any of them received an endowment of the Holy Spirit like the twelve. In fact, once again, no one received what the twelve had received, ever (except for the apostle Paul). And the text stands absolutely against such notions.
Therefore, as Peter noted, as I identified in the last post, the sign presented at the home of the centurion, through speaking in unknown languages, was in fact identical to the sign presented on Pentecost some years earlier, when the Holy Spirit began to work his duties then. That is exactly what Peter said. Both signs were therefore identifying the same seminal event – the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as he commenced to fulfill his part in the plan of salvation – the confirmation of the Word, the opening of the Kingdom. There is no way to get around these conclusions if you examine the text carefully.
Therefore, servants of God, speaking in languages previously unknown to them, became the accompanying sign that the Kingdom of Heaven had been presented first before the Israelites who on Pentecost then believed in Christ. The same sign was also later demonstrated when the Kingdom of Heaven had been presented before the first non-Israelite audience that also came to believe in Christ.
The Holy Spirit heralded the coming of the Kingdom of God, signified through present believers speaking in unknown languages, as the symbol that God’s Spirit was being poured out on all flesh, first in Jerusalem and (secondly and lastly) in Caesarea. With these being the only two listed occurrences of the immersion of the Holy Spirit recorded in God’s Word.
That is what is identified as the pouring out or immersion of the Holy Spirit, which was in the giving of the blessings of God through the Kingdom of Heaven being granted to all nations. Speaking in tongues identified it as God’s work and the ushering in of the Kingdom of God. The dispensation of the Holy Spirit in power to and through the apostles was not the outpouring on all flesh.
Anyone see or understand it differently? Scriptures please…
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Your Thoughts
3 Comments so far3 Responses to “The Gift and the Promise (3)”
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Richard
April 18, 2009 at 9:45 am
I have Joppa on the brain and inadvertently inserted it where Caesarea should appear – it has been corrected.
Jeff O
April 19, 2009 at 3:20 am
The Ascension
Acts 1:6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?†7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.â€
[Here we can see that once the Spirit fell, they would be witnesses to the ends of the Earth,as you said in your post... the method by which the Spirit would be outpoured on all flesh is creating disciples by spreading the Gospel... all believers have the Spirit in them. The receiving of power at Jerusalem and the witnessing to all people in the Earth (all flesh) are two completely different things. Tongues as THE evidence of having the Spirit indwelling in you is distanced in this text even before it happened.]
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Acts 13: 44 The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. 46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’â€
[The progression of how the Spirit would be poured out upon all flesh: the Gospel is going to the Gentiles!]
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Mark 16: The Great Commission
14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.â€
19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.
[tongues is a sign just as much as snakes not killing you (literal or not) and healing - certainly no one would demand that an ill person become completely well as evidence that they believe in the Messiah ...unless you are some Word of Faith nutter, perhaps
I came out of a group that demanded that as evidence of Salvation. Only God knows the heart.. man sees the outside, so no external "evidence" is proof someone is saved or not. Satan has counterfeits to dupe the unwise, anyway. Whatever one believes the significance of tongues to be, it is a gift, not the evidence of salvation. Of that I am completely convinced.]
Richard Vandagriff
April 19, 2009 at 7:15 am
1) At the ascension Christ was speaking to the then eleven apostles, not to all Christians. There is no such thing as a personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit except as we have the word of God dwellling within us. The scriptures do not teach what you suggest. The Holy Spirit is in heaven with God and Christ, all of them have been there a long time – he is not now on earth. It is wrong to take what was said to hand chosen ambassadors and open it up to everyone. Context is everything. The Spirit was poured out on all flesh in that entrance to the Kingdom was opened to the Jew first and later also to the non-Jew. Salvation had been brought down.
2) I agree. And it was a progression, however, the first listed occurence of the gospel being carried to the Gentiles is found in Acts 10 and 11. Hence the same sign as on Pentecost.
3) The last was also said directly to the twelve – it does not publish out to everyone. No one is out there speaking in Swahili unless they have been trained in it, anymore than anyone is out there raising the dead. Period.
Thanks for the thoughts.