I. The Day of Pentecost
John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ, proclaimed:
After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. (1)
This great work of the Messiah was accomplished on the day of Pentecost. As he was about to go back to his Father, Jesus had instructed his disciples to wait in Jerusalem. He told them, "For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." (2)
Ten days later the event took place. It was the first day of the feast of Pentecost, the ancient Jewish celebration of the first-fruits of the wheat harvest. (3) It was Sunday; exactly seven weeks ago Jesus had risen from the dead. Out of the stillness came the sound of a violent windstorm. Wondrous signs appeared, and the Holy Spirit came in all his fullness. From that day forward the Church would never be the same again. The timid, powerless followers of Jesus were transformed. The Holy Spirit filled them, and they became bold and powerful witnesses of Jesus Christ. So compelling was the testimony of the Church to the Lord Jesus after Pentecost that the whole course of world civilization was changed.
This earth-shaking event is part of the heritage of all Christians. It is one part of a chain of events which had to occur for salvation to be accomplished. Pentecost is just as much a part of the saving activity of Jesus Christ as is his crucifixion and resurrection. The fact is, Pentecost is a fruit of what happened at Calvary and the empty tomb. Had Jesus not been crucified, and had he not been raised from the dead, there could have been no Pentecost. (4)
Following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit with the accompanying signs and wonders, the Apostle Peter rose to explain the meaning of the event. He surveyed a number of passages from the Old Testament, showing how this event was part of a chain of events, each of which was foretold and each of which was involved in the work of the long-awaited Son of David, the Messiah. (5) In so doing, Peter followed the pattern of Jesus' own statements.
Jesus summarized the Old Testament prophecies about himself on several occasions. On the road to Emmaus, he talked with two disciples who could not understand the crucifixion.
He said to them,"How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." (6)
The glorious reign of Christ could not begin until he had first suffered. The crucifixion was an absolute prerequisite to the kingly rule. Looking more specifically at Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, one finds him proclaiming:
God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. (7)
Peter speaks of the exalted, reigning Christ as "having received the promise of the Holy Spirit." This promise was not for Jesus himself. The Spirit in all his fullness had been poured out on Jesus at the time of his baptism. (8) The promise here is the promise for believers, the promise that the whole Church might have the gift of the Holy Spirit.
II. The Baptism of the Spirit and the Glorification of Jesus
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is directly tied to the glorification of Jesus Christ.
On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. (9)
Does John mean that the Holy Spirit was not active in the lives of people prior to the glorification of Christ? No, for even a casual reading of the Old Testament reveals that the Holy Spirit was very active. He, with the Father and the Son, created the universe. (10) He indwelt the prophets (11) and infallibly guided them in the production of the Bible. (12) Over and over again one reads of the Spirit coming upon Old Testament saints and filling and equipping them for special tasks. (13)
Caution is called for in dealing with the differences and similarities between the Old Testament and the New. One must not flatten history and read the Bible as if it did not have two Testaments. Nor must one, on the other hand, so divide those Testaments that he ends up with the false notion that God has used separate plans of salvation in different ages. The saving effects of Calvary, including not only forgiveness but also the work of the Holy Spirit, flow back in time as well as forward. There is but one way of salvation for all peoples in all ages. That way is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. And that plan of salvation, Paul shows in the book of Romans, (14) is also the plan by which God saved the Jews in the Old Testament. The Jewish sacrifices had no meaning in themselves; they pointed to the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, by which alone sins are forgiven: "because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." (15)
Having affirmed this, one must recognize that something wonderful and new did take place at Pentecost. Otherwise, he empties John 7:39 of meaning. (16) What must be affirmed is that the Spirit came with greater fullness, glory and power for the people of God on Pentecost than ever before. On Pentecost the Church was permanently endowed with the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of the crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ. (17)
III. The Baptism of the Spirit and Restoration to Life
In order to understand better the connection between Christ's glorification and the coming of the Spirit, one needs to go back to the dawn of history. Soon after he was created, man forfeited spiritual and physical life by breaking God's covenant in the garden of Eden. (18) So it was that true life could only be restored to man when atonement was made for the offense. Jesus' death paid the penalty in full, not only for Adam's specific sin, but for all the sins of all believers. And this atonement secured the gift of life, through the Holy Spirit, here and hereafter, for all who are in Christ. (19)
Jesus Christ actively obeyed the law of God for believers and passively obeyed the decree of God in dying as their substitute. As a result of his obedience, Jesus Christ earned the gift of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit for the whole Church. Paul makes this very clear in Ephesians 4:4-13, where he expounds on the meaning of Psalm 68:18:
But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says, "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men." (20)
Those gifts are the work of the Holy Spirit, who equips the Church and provides it with all that it needs to grow up into the fullness of Christ.
The work of the Spirit is the direct result of the work of Christ. "The Holy Spirit," is the one "whom He (God the Father) poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior . . . .." (21) If a person has received Jesus Christ, he has also received the Holy Spirit. "And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ." (22) If a person has come to the Lord Jesus Christ in true faith and repentance, he has been equipped and endowed with the Holy Spirit.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. (23)
Some believers treat the conversion of one who was only a nominal Christian as if it were a second, distinct, radically different work of grace. But if a person is not a committed Christian, is he a Christian at all? Will Jesus be a person's Savior without also being his Lord? That is not to say that Christians never grow cold. A true Christian may grieve the Holy Spirit. (24) He may quench God's Spirit. (25) A believer may fail to walk in the Spirit. (26) And he may fall very far short of being filled with the Spirit. (27) But if one is a complete stranger to the presence and life-changing power of the Holy Spirit, he does not need a second work of grace, he needs to be converted.
Through faith, by the Holy Spirit, a person becomes part of the mystical Body of Christ. Paul in writing to the church at Corinth, a church that had as many spiritual problems as any church in the New Testament, could say:
For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. (28)
What Paul is teaching is that if a person is a Christian, he has received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is not to say that new and fresh experiences of the Holy Spirit do not occur. They do, but they occur as developments and extensions of what the believer received in the new birth. In that sense, many believers have known a second work of grace and even a third and fourth. One enters the Christian life by faith. By faith he continues to draw on the strength of the Spirit for growth in holiness.
IV. The Baptism of the Spirit and the Kingdom of God
The work of Christ is absolutely essential to the work of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit could not be poured out on the Church in New Covenant fullness, writing God's law on the hearts of believers, until that covenant was secured by the death of Christ. The Spirit could not come with resurrection power until Christ rose from the dead. And the Spirit could not empower the people of God as ambassadors of the King in the line of David until the Son of David sat down on his throne in heaven.
Following his death and resurrection Jesus gave the great commission to his disciples. That commission begins with Jesus' statement that he has now entered into his kingly authority and that the disciples are to go because of that new authority. As his ambassadors they are to bring the nations into submission to Christ's kingly rule.
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age." (29)
But how was the Lord Jesus going to be with his ambassadors? How would his empire be extended? It is through the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on his people on the day of Pentecost.
Pentecost is associated with the establishment of the kingdom in Acts 1. Still not fully comprehending the meaning of the prophecies of the Old Testament, the disciples asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" (30) It is interesting to notice Jesus' response to their question:
It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (31)
On the day of Pentecost Peter ties in the coming of the Holy Spirit with Jesus' coronation as David's heir. Having dealt with the Jesus' death, Peter quotes from Psalm 16:8-11. He reminds his audience that this prophecy of resurrection could not refer to David who wrote it but that rather:
But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. (32)
Jesus Christ ascended to heaven that he might receive the power necessary to empower his people for the spread of his empire. Psalm 110:1 states: "The Lord says to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.'" Peter quotes this passage in Acts 2:34, 35 and states that it refers to the exaltation and glorification of Jesus Christ as David's true heir. It is as the great King, reigning in the line of David, that Jesus baptizes the Church with the Holy Spirit:
Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. (33)
This, too, is in fulfillment of Psalm 110, for only in this way could verses 2 and 3 come to pass:
The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; rule in the midst of your enemies. Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth. (34)
There at the Father's right hand Jesus Christ now reigns through his Holy Spirit until he comes again:
The end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. (35)
The reign of Christ as David's Son will be completed when he comes for his people to raise them from the dead:
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (36)
Then the Lord Jesus will have finished his work as Redeemer. Then he will have restored all things to beauty and holiness, but until that point he is ruling over the Church through his Spirit. By his Spirit he has baptized every believer into his Body. He converts rebels and turns them into his ambassadors, equipping them with the necessary tools to carry out his kingdom, the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
1. Mark 1:7-8.
2. Acts 1:5.
3. Exodus 34:22.
4. Richard Birch Gaffin, Jr., Redemption and Resurrection (A Study in Pauline Soteriology), (Philadelphia, 1969).
5. Joel 2:28-32; Psalm 16:8-11; Psalm 132:11; Psalm 110:1.
6. Luke 24:25-27.
7. Acts 2:32,33.
8. Matthew 3:16 and John 3:34.
9. John 7:37-39.
10. Genesis 1:2.
11. 1 Peter 1:11.
12. 2 Peter 1:20, 21.
13. Exodus 31:3.
14. Cf. especially Romans 4.
15. Hebrews 10:4.
16. "Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified."
17. 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Corinthians 15:45.
18. Genesis 2:17; Romans 5:12-21.
19. Romans 5:12-21; 8:1-4; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22.
20. Ephesians 4:7,8.
21. Titus 3:5,6.
22. Romans 8:9.
23. Colossians 2:9, 10.
24. Ephesians 4:30.
25. 1 Thessalonians 5:19.
26. Galatians 5:16, 25.
27. Ephesians 5:18.
28. 1 Corinthians 12:13.
29. Matthew 28:18-20.
30. Acts 1:6.
31. Acts 1:7, 8.
32. Acts 2:30, 31.
33. Acts 2:33.
34. Psalm 110:2, 3.
35. 1 Corinthians 15:24.
36. 1 Corinthians 15:25, 26.