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TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
March, 1041
hearers knew also that the man stand ing before them had been made whole hy supernatural means. All of this wrought conviction in their souls. But these members of the council condemned themselves (vs. 15-17) by silencing their consciences, thus refus ing to deal with the conviction that came upojj them. They attempted to throw off their responsibility by weakly charging the apostles to preach no more in the name of Jesus. Thus they rejected their opportunity of having the crucified and risen Jesus become their Saviour. The lesson closes with the important word that the disciples went from the council to continue speaking the things they had seen and heard. Both the com mand of their God and their own in clination urged them to this occupa tion, and the after history reveals that their testimony was continued in the power of the Holy Spirit. This kind of obedience Is all that the Holy Spirit requires in order to pour His power into and through present-day disciples. The entire experience on the day of Pentecost was miraculous, of course, but there were three distinct miracles apparent to sense experience. First, there was the “ sound . . . as of a rush ing mighty wind.” It was not a wind, but sound of wind without any wind. Wind is a well-known symbol of the Spirit (John 3:8). And the very word for “ Spirit” means literally "breath” or "wind.” The second mir acle was the appearance of “ cloven tongues like as of fire.” - The word means “parting asunder.” Each tongue was not cloven, but the firelike phenomenon appeared first in a single body which i then in their sight parted asunder (was “ cloven” ) into the differ ent firelike tongues which sat on each of them. The third miracle was the speaking with “other tongues.” The first Points and Problems 1.
miracle was heard, the second was seen, and the third was both heard and seen. And all three combined to produce one result, that of a divine testimony of the gospel of Christ. Thus the thing of supreme importance on Pentecost was gospel witnessing. Everything else was but a means to this one grand re sult. If we lay the chief emphasis on the “sound,” the “fire,” the “ tongues,” or the “infilling,” we miss the point entirely, as many have missed it with very sad results. It is of no use to pray or to seek the power of the Spirit mere ly for its own sake. The Lord gives power only to those who are ready to bear witness to the Good News of His Son. 2. At least five different operations of the Holy Spirit may be seen here. First, the waiting disciples were bap tized with the Spirit, in fulfillment of the promise repeated in 1:5. The lan guage of 2:2 is suggestive, “It filled all the house.” The late A. T. Robertson quotes Canon Cook here as follows: “As a bath is filled with water, that they might be baptized with the Holy Ghost.” By this operation of the Spirit, the dis ciples were made members of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). Since the day of Pentecost, this experience takes place at the moment of saving faith. Every one in the Body of Christ, the church, has been baptized by the Spirit. There is no other way to enter the Body. In the second place, the disciples were indwelt by the Spirit on the day of Pentecost in fulfillment of the prom ise in John 15:16, 17, a promise which could not be fulfilled until Jesus was glorified (John 7:39). The language of Acts 2:4 certainly implies the indwell ing: “They were all filled with the Holy Ghost.” This also suggests, the third operation or work of the Spirit on that day, the infilling of the Spirit. This is not the same as the indwelling or the baptism. Nowhere in the New Testa ment are believers commanded to be indwelt or to be baptized by the Spirit, because all true believers have shared in these experiences, but we are com manded to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). The fourth work is the anointing of the Spirit, suggested by the words, "It sat upon each of them” (Acts 2:3). John speaks of this in 2:27 of his first Epistle. The fifth work was the bestowal of spiritual gifts, evi denced by the words, “began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” For this particular ministry of the Holy Spirit, see chap ters 12 through 14 of 1 Corinthians.
The HEARTof a CHILD
CHILDREN’S DAY PROGRAM That Is Different By Henrietta C. Mears
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Golden Text Illustration A cts 4:31
There used to be a man in the city of Chicago who stood at one of our street corners. He was almost an im becile. He stood there day after day, asking alms. One day it was bitterly
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