02. Chapter 1: The New Testament Church is Born, A.D. 33

CHAPTER 1 The New Testament Church Is Born, A.D. 33

1. The Setting At the time when the New Tes­tament Church was born, there were between five and six times as many Jews living outside of Palestine as there were living in­side of that little country.

Jews were to be found at this time in Parthia, Media, Elam, Mesopotamia, and Arabia to the east of Palestine; in Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, and Pam­phylia in Asia Minor, in the island of Crete, and even in Rome to the west of Palestine; and in Egypt, Libya, and Cyrene in Africa to the south of Palestine. (See maps pp. 32, 33.) The Jews living outside of Pales­tine in the many different coun­tries mentioned above were said to be living in the Dispersion, because they were "dispersed" or "scat­tered." These Jews of the Disper­sion had learned to speak the lan­guages of the various countries in which they had settled, and from those countries they received their names, such as Parthians, Medes, Cretes, and Arabians.

Thousands upon thousands of these Jews from the various coun­tries of the Dispersion, together with other thousands of Jews from all over Palestine, had crowded in­to the city of Jerusalem to cele­brate the great feast of Pentecost.

2. The Church Is Born

It was still early in the morning. The inhabitants of Jerusalem and the visitors had been awake only a short time, when suddenly all over the city a terrific noise was heard. It sounded like a mighty rushing wind. The people dashed out of their houses and ran as fast as they could to the spot from which the noise seemed to come, to find out what was going on.

THE CRADLE OF THE CHURCH
The lighter area in front center shows where the Church was born and the location of the countries of the Dispersion. A strange spectacle met their eyes. There they saw the one hun­dred twenty disciples, and on the head of every one of them they saw a cloven (divided) tongue as of fire. What was stranger still, although these disciples were unlearned Galileans, the visitors in Jerusalem heard them speak in the languages of the various coun­tries from which they had come. The thousands of people who had gathered together were amazed. They marveled and were puz­zled. Some started to mock and make fun of the disciples. They said, "They are full of wine."

Then one of the disciples, Peter, stood up and defended his fellow-disciples. He said: "These are not drunk, but are filled with the Spirit. This is the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy concerning the out­pouring of the Holy Spirit." The Word is the sword of the Spirit. Peter on that Pentecostal morning was a strong and skillful swordsman. He handled the sword of the Spirit well and pricked the hearers in their hearts. Those who came to believe in the Lord that day were three thousand. These were baptized.

It was thus that in Jerusalem on that day of Pentecost the Christian Church was born.

3. God Is the Creator and Keeper of the Church The outpouring of the Holy Spir­it was accompanied by a mighty rushing wind and by tongues of fire. The wind and fire were the visible signs or symbols of the Holy Spirit. And they are fitting signs indeed. Wind and fire are among the greatest forces in na­ture. The stormwind sweeps every­thing irresistibly before it. Fire sets things ablaze. When the Christian Church was born there entered into the world a new and mighty force. The Holy Spirit is a force so mighty that it cannot be resisted by anyone upon whom God wishes to bestow it, and it sets him aflame for God’s kingdom. This story of the birth of the Christian Church shows that the Church is of divine origin. First of all, the birth of the Church was the result of the joint work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of Christ. Furthermore, the apostles were appointed by God to their positions as office-bearers in the Church. The story of the Church’s birth shows another important fact. Al­though the Church is of divine origin, God made use of human beings when He formed the Church. The Church came into existence through the work of the Holy Spirit, but also through the activ­ity of man. That activity of man was the preaching of the Word.

COUNTRIES OF THE DISPERSION
From these countries the Jews came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost.

Philip Gendreau
THE VIA DOLOROSA, IN JERUSALEM
This is the road over which Jesus passed on His way to Golgotha and the cruci­fixion. The name is Latin and means, "Way of Pain." From childhood we have heard preaching. We hear preaching every Sunday. We have become so used to preaching, that to us it has become something very common and ordinary. But actually preach­ing is something tremendous. There is nothing that has brought about so many and such great changes in the world as has the preaching of the Word of God. In fact, preaching has transformed the world. For a proper insight into and understanding of the his­tory of the Church it is necessary to understand clearly from the very beginning, and to keep in mind to the very end, that preach­ing has been of fundamental im­portance throughout the entire course of the Church’s develop­ment. It is preaching that has more than anything else molded and given direction to the history of the Church.