The Breath of God

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Many churches around the world will commemorate this Sunday, May 28th, as Pentecost Sunday, remembering the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as recorded in Acts 2:1-13. Here are some observations about one of the most important events in church and world history.

1. The first Pentecost Sunday is a non-repeatable event which has far-reaching results.

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is in many ways the final act of Jesus earthly life and ministry. In John 14:16-17, Jesus talks about sending “another Counselor…the Spirit of truth”. And just as Jesus’s birth, death, resurrection, and ascension are one-time events having lasting consequences, the same is true for Pentecost. And just as Jesus was baptized by John, prompting the descent of the Holy Spirit on Jesus (Mark 1:9-11), so Jesus baptizes his followers with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

2. Pentecost introduces the Holy Spirit in a more personal and universal way.

Acts 2:2-3 use the metaphors of wind (power) and fire (cleansing) to describe the Holy Spirit’s coming. The Bible uses inanimate words like wind (ruach Hebrew for breath or spirit, pneuma Greek for the same) and fire (pyr Greek) to describe a Person, the Holy Spirit of God, the third Person of the Trinity.

Whereas previously in the Hebrew Bible, the Holy Spirit came upon people at certain times for specific tasks, the Holy Spirit now indwells anyone who calls Jesus Lord (Romans 8:11). There may be many fillings of the Holy Spirit in our lives but only one indwelling.

3. Pentecost was a supernatural, strategic, and evangelistic event.

It was the second of the three great pilgrim feasts prescribed in the Hebrew Bible (Passover was the first; the Feast of Tabernacles was the third). If you lived close to Jerusalem, you were expected to attend. Religious pilgrims from all over the Mediterranean world also came.

Literally celebrated seven Sabbaths and a day after Passover, Pentecost had agricultural and religious significance. It celebrated the first fruits of the grain harvest and the giving of the Mosaic law on Mount Sinai. So the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was a fresh experience (like the first of the grain harvest) and a new way of relating to God through the Spirit (instead of keeping the law, see Jeremiah 31:31-34).

I believe the unsophisticated Galilean apostles spoke languages and dialects they had never learned (no Google Translate! No Babbel software!), to the understanding of the religious crowd gathered in Jerusalem from, in Luke’s words, “every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5a).

So this miraculous event was strategic. Fifteen nations and regions are mentioned in Acts 2:9-11! They represent the continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe. The “visitors from Rome” (v10b) may have actually been the nucleus for the first Christian church there. How strategic!

I compare what happened at Pentecost to communicating with our fellow Americans. We share a common language (like the koine Greek of the first century world) but sometimes have trouble understanding. For example, a Southern drawl or a rapid fire New York accent may hinder communication. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit cut through the confusion in such a way that people heard “the wonders of God in our own tongues!” (v.11b).

And the events at Pentecost set the stage for an evangelistic harvest. Acts 2:12 tells us the crowds asked, “What does this mean?” (v.12b). They were ready for a gospel message from Peter as recorded in Acts 2:14-41. Peter astutely realized that what was happening was a fulfillment of biblical prophecy. He quotes Joel 2:28-32 near the beginning of his sermon which predicted this outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

4. Not everyone recognized Pentecost as a miraculous event.

Acts 2:13 says, “Some, however, made fun of them and said, ‘They have had too much wine’”. Miracles have a way of revealing people’s hearts. Are they open to God or are they cynical and try to explain away the supernatural? We should not be surprised when this happens.

The day of Pentecost ushered in a new era of church and human history. Individually, the Holy Spirit now indwells permanently in the lives of his people. Corporately, a new entity, the church of Jesus Christ, came into being. Pentecost is the birthday of the church. And God’s Holy Spirit gives life to it: “and in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22).

The breath of God is the Holy Spirit of God.