Study 56 "Prepared but powerless"
We start a new section on the Person and work of the Holy Spirit today. Wayne Grudem in his book on Systematic Theology helpfully categorizes the work of the Spirit: He purifies, unifies, reveals and empowers ("P-U-R-E"). He is the Person of the Trinity who leads us to holiness, assures us of our standing as children of God, helps us understand scripture, gives us spiritual gifts and unites us with brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world.
As we looked at Acts 1 and 2 my comment was that the book of Acts makes it clear that the Spirit enabled bold witness of a previously cowardly band of disciples. He enabled workings of miracles that authenticated their witness and opened the way for the truth of the gospel. The difficulty with the book of Acts is that it can be difficult to see which parts are meant to be normative for all Christians, and which are only one-off accounts of events. In Acts, truth and power are not divorced.
We see in John 20:22 an event where Jesus breathes on his disciples and says, "Receive the Holy Spirit". We can read this as a rehearsal, or an acted parable of what was to come at Pentecost. Calvin comments that "the Spirit was given to the Apostles on this occasion in such a manner, that they were only sprinkled by his grace, but were not filled with full power; for, when the Spirit appeared on them in tongues of fire, they were entirely renewed.Whether the Spirit indeed was received at that point or not, it is clear that the outward change of the disciples' bearing and power only came about after Pentecost.
We read that at Pentecost the disciples were 'baptized' (Ac 1:5) and 'filled' with the Spirit (Ac 2:4). There were signs of wind (invisible power), fire (purity) and tongues (perhaps to indicate evangelism, cf. Ac 2:5-12, or perhaps to indicate the mysterious power of God). OT references to tongues (Gen 11 at the Tower of Babel, Is 28:11) carry the meaning of tongues as judgement, so we must not be simplistic here that tongues are given to preach the gospel. Like the disciples, we have all been baptized in the Spirit into the body of Christ - a once-for-all event (1 Cor 12:13). And like the disciples, we are called to be continually filled by the Spirit (Eph 5:18).
I felt that each one of us has to walk in personal revival and look to church-wide revival. Tim Keller helpfully defines revival as an intensification of the normal work of the Spirit. We cannot schedule revival, because it is a sovereign work of God, but we can prepare the altar for the flame of God. We do this personally through obedience, repentance, total commitment of our lives, and spiritual disciplines.We do this corporately by prayer, good theology, sincere worship and so forth. I mentioned Thomas Goodwin's illustration of what revival in the Spirit is, as told by Martin Lloyd-Jones:
That is it! The child knew before that his father loved him, and he
knew that he was his child. But oh! the loving embrace, this extra
outpouring of love, this unusual manifestation of it — that is the kind
of thing. The Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are the
children of God.”
As we looked at Acts 1 and 2 my comment was that the book of Acts makes it clear that the Spirit enabled bold witness of a previously cowardly band of disciples. He enabled workings of miracles that authenticated their witness and opened the way for the truth of the gospel. The difficulty with the book of Acts is that it can be difficult to see which parts are meant to be normative for all Christians, and which are only one-off accounts of events. In Acts, truth and power are not divorced.
We see in John 20:22 an event where Jesus breathes on his disciples and says, "Receive the Holy Spirit". We can read this as a rehearsal, or an acted parable of what was to come at Pentecost. Calvin comments that "the Spirit was given to the Apostles on this occasion in such a manner, that they were only sprinkled by his grace, but were not filled with full power; for, when the Spirit appeared on them in tongues of fire, they were entirely renewed.Whether the Spirit indeed was received at that point or not, it is clear that the outward change of the disciples' bearing and power only came about after Pentecost.
We read that at Pentecost the disciples were 'baptized' (Ac 1:5) and 'filled' with the Spirit (Ac 2:4). There were signs of wind (invisible power), fire (purity) and tongues (perhaps to indicate evangelism, cf. Ac 2:5-12, or perhaps to indicate the mysterious power of God). OT references to tongues (Gen 11 at the Tower of Babel, Is 28:11) carry the meaning of tongues as judgement, so we must not be simplistic here that tongues are given to preach the gospel. Like the disciples, we have all been baptized in the Spirit into the body of Christ - a once-for-all event (1 Cor 12:13). And like the disciples, we are called to be continually filled by the Spirit (Eph 5:18).
I felt that each one of us has to walk in personal revival and look to church-wide revival. Tim Keller helpfully defines revival as an intensification of the normal work of the Spirit. We cannot schedule revival, because it is a sovereign work of God, but we can prepare the altar for the flame of God. We do this personally through obedience, repentance, total commitment of our lives, and spiritual disciplines.We do this corporately by prayer, good theology, sincere worship and so forth. I mentioned Thomas Goodwin's illustration of what revival in the Spirit is, as told by Martin Lloyd-Jones:
A man and his little child [are] walking down the road and they are
walking hand in hand, and the child knows that he is the child of his
father, and he knows that his father loves him, and he rejoices in that,
and he is happy in it. There is no uncertainty about it all, but
suddenly the father, moved by some impulse, takes hold of the child and
picks him up, fondles him in his arms, kisses him, embraces him, showers
his love upon him, and then he puts him down again and they go on
walking together.
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