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-- THE PROMISE OF THE FATHER
Luke 24:49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high."
Acts
1:1-2,4-11
The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that
Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken
up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles
whom He had chosen,
And
being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from
Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father,
"which," He said, "you have heard from Me; for John
truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized
with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
. . . you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
In the introductory verses of of the Book of Acts, of which Luke is also the author, we find a recap of the instructions Christ gave to the apostles just before ascending to Heaven -- the gospel of Luke being referred here to as the former account.
In
both accounts Jesus instructs the apostles to wait at Jerusalem
until they receive the Promise of the Father which
will clothe them with power from
on high. Acts then makes it clear that the source of that power is the
Holy Spirit which was to come upon them.
John baptized with water, says Jesus -- but
water cannot change minds and hearts, and its purifying properties are
simply symbolic of the working of the Holy Spirit
in the lives of those who are being converted.
Biblical
Metaphors
The scriptures use many metaphors to help us understand the workings of
the Holy Spirit of God -- for example, that it can apparently be "poured
out" or supplied in varying amounts like water, as Paul implies when
he speaks of: "the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ" (Philippians
1:19, King James Version).
Water, which is essential to all life and the major constituent of most organisms, is commonly used in the Bible as a metaphor for the Holy Spirit -- and it seems significant that the water that comes to us in the form of rain that drops down from the "heavens" above. Notice also, as the hydrological cycle explains, that water circulates in order to accomplish its good work and returns once again to the sky from whence it came.
It
is no accident of evolution that drinking plenty of water is important
for the maintenance of personal good health -- and it seems significant
that the provision of clean water supplies and efficient sewage disposal
systems are crucial to the public health of a nation -- and have done
more to reduce disease than any medical treatments.
No single metaphor can ever convey complete understanding of a situation,
and Jesus employs a totally different one when he tells the apostles that
they will be endued with power
when the Holy Spirit comes upon them. Since
the Greek word rendered as endued relates to
putting on clothing, the intended metaphor appears to imply authority,
as displayed by the wearing of a uniform or robe of office.
Paul employs yet another metaphor when he compares Christians to trees
in an orchard, with both the energy of sunshine and the water of rain
that combine to make them fruitful being metaphors for the Holy Spirit
-- and earlier we saw how Jesus compared Christians to wheat growing in
a field.
Staying
with horticultural metaphors for the moment, it seems clear from what
we read in Acts that just as a gardener waters transplanted seedlings
very liberally in order to establish them, so God poured out extra measures
of the Holy Spirit as the disciples set out to establish the New Testament
Church. As we read throughout the book of Acts and also in other places
(Hebrews 2:4), the power of the Holy Spirit enabled signs and wonders
in order to "confirm" their preaching (Acts 14:3), and even
produced "special miracles" through Paul (Acts 19:11, King James
Version).
Energy
Common to most of these metaphors is the concept of power, or, more technically,
energy -- a magical essence which can exist in many forms, such as electrical,
magnetic, sound, heat, gravitational and chemical, as well as electro-magnetic
radiation which mysteriously shares the properties of both particles and
waves, and which manifests itself as visible light in all its shades of
colour in one tiny slice of its spectrum, and with radio waves at one
extreme, and gamma rays that can penetrate steel at the other.
It seems reasonable to assume that the possible manifestations of the Spirit of God are far more diverse. Perhaps it is no accident that modern physics is basically the study of energy in all its forms -- with even the supposedly solid matter of which our bodies and our world are composed being yet another form of energy, as Albert Einstein discovered. As Paul observed in one of his letters, the universe was created, not out of "nothing", but "out of that which does not appear" (Hebrews 11:3).
However, what has transformed the world and liberated mankind from the bondage of dawn-to-dusk physical labour has been the practical application of the earth's energy resources in everyday life -- in a series of wonderful inventions, basically beginning with the industrial revolution, that range from the steam engine, to the electric motor, the dynamo and the internal combustion engine.
Perhaps the parallel we are intended to draw is the need for a spiritual revolution, energized by the power of the Holy Spirit -- a source of spiritual power that can deliver men from the bondage of human nature, from fear and greed, selfishness and lust, envy and violence.
Power
and Authority
Certainly, the handful of men Jesus was sending out to proclaim the gospel
to the ends of the earth need some kind of enabling spiritual power
to help them accomplish their task and authenticate their message.
The disciples had of course experienced such power once before when Jesus had sent them out on a short evangelistic mission with: "power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases . . . to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick" (Luke 9:1-2). The difference this time, apparently, as we have already seen, was that the power would not just with them, but would result from the Holy Spirit working in them.
The
Ancient Promise
The outpouring of the power of the Holy
Spirit that was to come on the disciples and later to all
believers, says Jesus, was by a Promise of the Father,
in fulfillment of yet another ancient scripture -- as Peter explains on
the Day of Pentecost when he tells onlookers from all over the world who
had heard the apostles' words miraculously translated into their individual
languages that: "This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit
on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy . . . " (Acts
2:16-17 and Joel 2:28-32).
Peter goes on to explain that the Holy Spirit had actually been poured out by Jesus, who had received it, as promised, from the God the Father (Acts 2:33). Peter mentions the promise yet again when he says to the crowd: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and you children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call" (Acts 2:38-39).
Additional miracles the apostles were empowered to perform by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit are described in the remainder of the book of Acts.
Baptism
with the Holy Spirit
To
be baptized means to be submerged or
engulfed, in the way a dirty dish or a shirt is immersed
in water to wash it -- implying that when new believers are baptized
by the Holy Spirit, they are given an initial washing or
cleansing from sin, in order to remove the spiritual dirt that has accumulated
on them.
Contrary to the teachings of many preachers, Paul says that all believers have been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Church, incorporated into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13) and are not in need of some special extra "experience", such as "speaking in tongues" in order to confirm the fact.
Walking
in the Sunshine
As already noted, sunshine is also a metaphor for the action
of the Holy Spirit -- and without sunshine, photosynthesis would cease
and all living things on earth would perish. As science has now discovered,
even the energy locked away in wood, and fossil fuels such as coal and
oil came originally from the sun. Even the energy from food by which we
live and move this day, traveled to us across millions of miles of space,
so that a minute element of the sun now resides in our bodies.
In addition to this, the sun also brightens our lives and illuminates the earth's surface, making normal daily life possible.
As we walk out on a fine day, we are in fact baptized by sunshine -- immersed, submerged, surrounded, covered, engulfed and enfolded by it. The parallel seems to be that God has also baptized believers in the Holy Spirit, transferring them to a bright new spiritual environment in which special spiritual resources are also available.
The
Breath of Life
Air also,
the breath of life, is a powerful metaphor for the Holy Spirit. All day,
every day, we breathe it in, and without it every living creature would
die. As with the sunshine, we are baptized or
immersed in air, this invisible chemical mixture that can also flow and
move and create powerful winds, uproot trees and even demolish buildings.
It seems significant that the Greek word for wind, pneuma, also
means spirit. Jesus used this metaphor when he pointed out to Nicodemus
that anybody born of the Spirit would be as invisible as the wind.
It is interesting that deep breathing helps people calm themselves and reduce stress.
The
Fruit of the Holy Spirit
Since air, water and sunlight are all metaphors for the action of the
Holy Spirit, as we have just seen, it seems beautifully appropriate that
green plants actually combine all three resources in order to produce
the food that sustains all life, as well as providing important raw materials
such as cotton and timber and whole variety of commercially valuable crops.
The parallels are astonishing.
Perhaps Paul was mindful of this fact when he compared Christians to fruit trees (Galatians 5:22), possibly drawing his inspiration from the Psalms (Psalm 1:3).
Fruit is both nutritious and enjoyable, and a major reason for wanting the Holy Spirit to be working in our lives is so that we can change and become better people -- becoming "fruitful" by helping those around us, doing good and working in a friendly and pleasant manner to make the world a better place (Ephesians 2:10, Galatians 6:10).
The list of good fruit that Paul offers includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control -- and his comment that "against such things there is no law" seems to imply that we could find many more virtuous qualities to develop if we wanted to. Love comes first in the list because it is the most important and is encompassing of all goodness -- as he had to stress to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 13:1-13) who were much more interested in impressing each other with supposed "spiritual gifts".
Again, Christianity is not a rubber stamp religion or a state of spiritual stagnation -- and the true disciple of Jesus Christ will be praying to God for the power of the Holy Spirit to help him or her develop each and every one of these fruit in their lives.
Jesus says that this transforming Spirit is readily available from God to all who take the trouble to ask for it in a sincere and determined manner (Luke 11:13) -- imparting the power (Galatians 5:16,24, Romans 8:13) to deliver them from the poisonous fruits of evil and the noxious weeds of adultery, fornication, witchcraft, hatred, strife, envy, murder, drunkenness, and the like (Galations 5:19-20), re-making them into new and better people (Colossians 3:10, Galatians 6:15, 2 Corinthians 5:17). This spiritual make-over is the real purpose of true religion.
The
Gifts of the Holy Spirit
As well as transforming our characters, the Holy Spirit
can also impart "spiritual gifts" or abilities, as we saw earlier
and as Paul explains at length to the Corinthians Church (1 Corinthians
12:4-11) -- a subject about which there is much confusion.
A simple reading of what Paul says suggests that the Holy Spirit imparts special gifts or abilities to all human beings (1 Corinthians 12:6), not just Christians, "for some useful purpose" (verse 7) -- to enable human society to function efficiently and productively. The existence of personal gifts or talents is now well recognized and a key purpose of secondary education should be to help pupils explore, experience and so discover their talents and the career avenues in which they are best fitted to find success.
However, a simple reading of Paul's words also suggests that, in addition to these natural gifts, there are also special gifts intended for use in the Christian community, to edify the Church and enable the work of God to be performed. Although Paul encourages Christians to pray for appropriate gifts (1 Corinthians 12:31; 14:1,12), he also warns, in the two subsequent chapters, against the possible misuse and abuse of those gifts -- in particular that of "speaking in tongues".
Speaking in strange "tongues" or languages was, we are told, a common part of pagan temple worship, so that most of the members of the Church at Corinth who were converts from paganism would be quite familiar with it -- and sought, in all innocence, to continue the same practice in the Christian Church as a demonstration of their apparent spirituality.
However, all was not what it seemed, which is why Paul was writing, and abuses were taking place. When Paul says to them: "you would be seized by some power which drove you to those dumb heathen gods" (1 Corinthians 12:2 New English Bible, margin"), he is explaining the irony that although the idols they used to worship had been "dumb idols", there were spirit powers at work in the temples, seizing control of the worshippers minds and speaking through them instead.
Even today there are religious groups around the world who practice deliberate techniques for accessing the altered state of consciousness required to give themselves over to such forces. No doubt the many pagan converts had experienced such things, probably saw "speaking in tongues", supposedly under the influence of the Holy Spirit, an easily acquired "spiritual gift" -- with the result, apparently, that some were even cursing Jesus Christ, not realizing what they were actually saying until someone else was able to "translate" for them.
Can
a Church Be Spiritual without Spiritual Gifts?
Paul's key
point is that although love is the real measure of the spiritual temperature
of a person or a Church congregation -- we can and should pray for spiritual
gifts, if and when there is a genuine need for them, as there clearly
was at that time, as the book of Acts shows. Of course, our zeal to further
the work of God today may of itself create a need for appropriate gifts.
Peter makes the same point when he say: "Above all things, have fervent love among yourselves" (1 Peter 4:8) -- adding: "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms" (verse 9), going on to mention speaking and service.
In another place, possibly also speaking of both natural as well as spiritual gifts, Paul says: "We have different gifts . . . If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to this faith. If it serving, let him serve; if it teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage: if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully" (Romans 12:6-8).
The important point is that we can and should do whatever we can to meet the needs of others, especially those of the faith (Galatians 6:10), as we have opportunity and without being busybodies -- in a fashion that is appropriate to us and our particular abilities, interests and resources, praying for God's guidance and wisdom and whatever spiritual gifts we might need to acquire and develop in so doing.