Acts 2
MorActs 2:1-47
The Acts of the Apostles Chapter 2:1-47 Acts 2:1-4 This paragraph contains the story of the formation of the Christian Church. It is so familiar that probably all could recite it. Therefore we need do no more than glance at its details by way of introduction, and then pass to the consideration of some of the spiritual significances of this wonderful event.
The time was the day of Pentecost, fifty days after Passover. The persons assembled, described as “ they," were those named in the previous chapter-the eleven apostles, also Matthias, certain women, the virgin mother, and the brothers of Jesus. The actual place of their assembly is not named. Undoubtedly it was in the Temple. (Compare Luke 24:52-53; Acts 1:14; Acts 2:1; Acts 2:46.)1 [1See Philip Mauro’s conclusive booklet, “ Where did the Holy Spirit descend at Pentecost?"] Upon this company of units, united by a common love for, and loyalty to, the departed Jesus, there came the mystic mystery of the baptism of the Spirit. Two symbols were given one appealing to hearing, and the other to seeing. The symbol of sound-“ a rushing mighty wind"; the symbol of sight-“ tongues… of fire," a plurality and a unity, the tongues were many; but the fire was One.
These were but symbols, of no value save as signs for the moment. It is necessary to observe that fact, because there is always a hunger in the carnal heart for signs. These signs were material; to-day we do not need them; they were needed at the commencement.
That which is of supreme importance is the experience described in the words: “ They were all filled with the Holy Spirit." The Spirit was unseen and unheard. The wind was but Christ’s chosen symbol of that Spirit, and was not the Spirit; they did not hear the coming of the Spirit; they heard the sound as of the “ rushing mighty wind"; and thus, the symbol which their Lord had used when He said to Nicodemus, “ The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit,” would remind them of His teaching, and emphasize the presence of the Spirit. The Spirit is not fire, and did not come in the fire they saw. That was the symbol granted; but never granted since, because unnecessary. The abiding fact was that of the Spirit filling these waiting souls.
Then a new day dawned in human history, a new departure was initiated in the economy of God. Taking the Bible as the history of God’s dealings with men, there had never been anything like this before, though everything had looked toward it, waited for it, and hoped for it.
When Peter preached his first great sermon in the power of the Pentecostal effusion, he interpreted its meaning by citing the ancient prophecy of Joel. Through all the Old Testament Scripture; in the types, and shadows, and whisperings; in the gleams of light, the songs of hope, and the visions of coming things; this is the event toward which men were looking. When Peter began to interpret the things in the midst of which he and the disciples found themselves, he said, “This is that which hath been spoken through the prophet.” Up to this time there had been expectation, without realization.
Not that the Spirit had been wholly absent from human affairs. The restoration of creation came by the ministry of the Spirit, brooding upon chaos, and producing cosmos. The Spirit is referred to over and over again in the study of the Old Testament, as clothing men with Himself; clothing Himself with men; coming in power upon individuals for the doing of mighty deeds; coming with sweet gentleness in the inspiration of art, in order that men might work cunningly in gold and silver and other things for the temple of God.
But such a day as this had never dawned. This was the beginning of a new departure in the economy of God; not a new departure rendered necessary by the failure; of the past, but a new departure rendered necessary by the accomplishments of the past. Everything in the economy of God had been preparatory to this. This never could have been until this hour. But the hour had come; everything was accomplished; all the preparatory work was over, and there broke upon human history a new dawning; there began a new economy in the enterprises of God.
In order to an understanding of all that is to follow in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, and in order to an understanding of all our own life and service, it is necessary for us to consider two matters; first, the new facts following Pentecost; and, secondly, the limitations of the Pentecostal age.
We will tabulate the new facts following Pentecost, and consider them under three headings; the new facts as to the Christ; the new facts as to the Church; the new facts as to the world.
In order to recognize the new facts as to the Christ, we must remind ourselves of the things prior to Pentecost concerning Him. These we may very briefly summarize as the facts of the Incarnation, and the Decease. We use that word “ decease" as it is used in the Gospel stories. One would much prefer to use our form of the Greek word, the Exodus.
The Incarnation;-the fact of His coming, the mystery of His birth, His being, and His presence in human history; was an accomplished fact before Pentecost. So also was the Exodus, which included the Cross, the Resurrection, and the Ascension.
In the Gospel of John, our Lord Himself is reported as expressing the whole fact of His mission in these words, “ I came out from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go unto the Father." “ I came out from the Father and am come into the world"; that is Incarnation. “ Again I leave the world and go unto the Father"; that is a simple statement, thrilling with meaning, including in itself the mystery of His Cross, the victory of His Resurrection, and the glory of His Ascension; or briefly the Exodus. These things were all accomplished before Pentecost. The value of Incarnation is that of revelation; the value of the Exodus is that of redemption. He came to reveal; He came to redeem. He revealed by the Incarnation. He redeemed by the Exodus.
The Incarnation was revelation. Let us take another word instead of revelation-exhibition. We associate the word with spectacular displays. Then let us take yet another word. It is a word which is coming into use for the same purpose, borrowed from the French-exposition.
What then is an exhibition? It is the gathering together in one place, the focusing, of certain things from the far distances, in order that men may see and understand. What is an exposition? It is expository work, a method of revealing, a method of showing, a method by which men are brought face to face with things they would not otherwise understand. Perhaps the best illustration is found by going back to the first Exhibition of 1851, where the purpose, primarily, was not commercial as it now is; but that of the revelation of truths concerning other peoples, in order to produce unity of heart in the world.
Before Pentecost there was Exposition. Jesus was Himself the great Expositor; the Exhibition of God to men; also of heaven, of truth, and of all spiritual verities. That is not to say that the world had seen, or that the disciples had seen. One would be prepared to say they had neither seen nor understood. But there was the Exhibition, the Exposition, the Revelation in Christ, of all essential truth.
We have seen exhibitions, and have never seen them. We have passed by the grounds, and have said to our friends: I saw the exhibition. But we never entered it. Or we have entered the gates, and have spent a few brief hours there; but we never saw it; we saw parts of it.
God gave an Exposition of Himself in human history by the way of the Incarnation, and men did not see it. This was before Pentecost.
So also with the Exodus-the going out, the return to the Father by the Cross, by the Resurrection, by the Ascension. These things were all accomplished before Pentecost. Thus before Pentecost the Christ had revealed and redeemed.
The new things which came with Pentecost were those of the administration of redemption in the actual lives of men; and the multiplication of the revelation through the lives in which redemption was administered.
On the day of Pentecost, Christ by the coming of His Holy Spirit, was able to make over to trusting souls the actual value of His Cross, so that when the Spirit filled them, they were crucified with Him, because He Himself in them administered the value of His Cross. In that moment He was able to make over to them the virtue of His Resurrection, so that they began to live a life they could not live until the Spirit thus came to administer the power of His Resurrection. In that moment He won in them the victory of His Ascension, so that they began to love-to use Paul’s radiant phrase-“ the things above”
Thus Christ found by the coming of the Spirit the new and enlarged opportunity for which He had prepared by His own advent. This takes us back again to the opening phrase of the book, “ The former treatise I made . . . concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach." Now, by the Spirit, Christ, the Revealer and Redeemer, came to administer redemption in the actual experience of human souls, and so to multiply the revelation by the souls transformed into His own likeness.
At this point, questions naturally arise. Were not these men born again before Pentecost? Was not Abraham born again? Were not the men of the old economy born again? The answer to that enquiry is, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the Prophets, and the men of the old economy, were brought into true relationship with God upon the basis of their faith in Him. Their faith in Him received a reward, because of His faith in Himself, and in the coming of the Christ. These men in their essential spiritual life were renewed, were born again, if you will. There is no objection to the word itself. That they received divine life there can be no doubt.
But here upon the day of Pentecost, that which happened was not merely the renewal of the life of these men; it was the imparting to them of a new germ of life, a new principle of life, something they had never had before, that Abraham never had; there was given to them the life of the Christ, the Incarnate One; so that there came to these men that which made them one with Him and with each other, and constituted their membership in the Church of the first-born.
Thus our first consideration merges into the second, and we may now speak of the new facts as to the Church. It is well that we remind ourselves that the word Church is in some senses an unfortunate one. The word Church is not true translation. It is a useful word, and one would not suggest that it be altered. But let us remember what it really means. This word Church which has passed into common speech, is a word, the root meaning of which is simply the Lord’s.
The Greek word Ecclesia means an assembly. The word Church is a beautiful word applied to the Assembly, but it is not translation, it has not caught the meaning of the word of which it is supposed to be a translation. The word so translated is used in three relationships in the New Testament. We read of “ The assembly in the wilderness," which is translated, “The Church in the wilderness.” We read of “The assembly of God,” which is translated, “The Church of God” and we read once of “ The Assembly” in a heathen town, which is so translated.
The word assembly in every instance refers to a select and gathered-out company, having certain qualifications, and being committed to certain work. The men who constituted the town assembly in a Greek city were all free men. To them was committed the welfare of others. They constituted a governing body, consisting of free men. That was the Greek use of the word.
The Hebrew use of the word had reference to the Hebrew nation as the peculiar people of God. Christ thus took hold of a word in common use when He said “ My Ecclesia." The Hebrew understood it; it meant one thing to him. The Greek understood it; it meant another thing to him. Gather the principles out of the Hebrew and Greek uses of the word, and combine them, and we find exactly what Christ meant when He said-My Assembly. He referred to His called-out ones, who, fulfilling certain qualifications, are committed to certain work. In that sense the Christian Assembly did not exist prior to Pentecost. Pentecost created the Assembly.
Now let us glance at the previous conditions as we see them in the story of the Passover Feast (Luke 22:1-34), because there we see the same men as we now see at the Pentecostal Feast.
They were disciples; that is they were loyal to Him as Master and Teacher. They were comrades; that is they were willing to stand by Him as far as they were able, as He Himself said, through all the process of His trial. They were servants; that is they were willing to run on His errands and deliver His message. All these things were they, before Pentecost.
Then what was new as the result of the coming of the Spirit? Comprehensively, by that whelming of the Spirit, these men, disciples, friends, servants-outside the actuality of His life though loving and loyal-were made actually, though mystically, one with Him in the very fact of His own life. They were made sharers of the life of the Christ. They had never been that before. They were sentimentally one with Him, and that word is not used in an objectionable sense. They were emotionally one with Him, agreeing with His ideals, consecrating themselves to Him, yet separate from Him, as all men had been separate from all teachers, and are still, except in this one case.
Buddha, rare and wonderful soul, was never able to communicate his actual life to his disciples. Confucius, great and remarkable ethical teacher, was never able to communicate dynamic to the men who learned his ethic. Neither has any other teacher been able to do this in the history of the world. Prior to Pentecost the disciples were disciples, standing away, yet very near I would not undervalue the nearness of those days-but they were not one with Him.
When the Spirit came, His actual life passed into their lives, and from that moment they were able to say what Paul himself expressed so graphically in the familiar language of the Galatian letter, “ I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself up for me."
What did it do for them? Did it change the old relationships? By no means; it fulfilled them. They were still disciples, but they had a new vision. Not a new vision coming upon them from the outside, but a new vision coming from the actual shining in them of His life, so that they began to see as He sees. That is the mystery, the marvel, and the majesty, of Christianity.
It is when I see something, not which Christ interprets to me as from without; -many men see from without, and are reverent;-but when through these poor dim eyes of mine the light of His own vision illuminates all that is without, then I know what Pentecost means. In half an hour after Pentecost they knew more about Jesus Christ than they had ever known before. Peter, the impetuous man to the end-for the Spirit never alters a man’s natural temperament-became the Apostle who proclaimed the Cross in Jerusalem, and gloried in it, because Christ looked through his eyes, and spoke with his tongue. That is the great mystery.
Did these men cease to be the friends of Jesus? Surely not. They were still His comrades, not comrades standing by His side merely, but comrades by identity of life. He was in them. He suffered, and their suffering was His suffering. He rejoiced, and their rejoicing was His joy. He fought, and their fighting was His fighting. That was the great change.
Were they no longer His servants? Surely His servants, but no longer sent from Him, but the very instruments of His own going. Their hands became His hands to touch men tenderly; their feet, His feet to run on swift errands of God’s love; their eyes His eyes, to flame with His tenderness; themselves part of Himself.
This is mysticism. Christianity is mysticism. But if it be mysticism, it is fact. It is not scientific, it is not honest, to deny the mysticism, until you can otherwise account for the fact. Take the men, the fact of themselves, the changed outlook, the changed behaviour, the moral regeneration, the moral passion, the uplifting fervour, and account for it in any other way.
As to the world. In the past there had been, as John beautifully puts it, the un-apprehended Light-the Light never extinguished, always shining somewhere, and in measure in every man. In the Incarnation, the Light had come into the world. But now after Pentecost there was a new conviction for the world. “ He, when He is come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment." The Spirit of truth came to create the Assembly; and the world’s conviction of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment is to be accomplished by the Spirit, through the Church. Thus there came to the world this new conviction. The quality of the conviction was new; the weight of the conviction was new; the result of the conviction was new.
There came also a new constraint by the Church; the constraint of His love shed abroad in the heart of the Assembly, and ultimately in the hearts of men outside, luring them; the constraint of the Church’s light shining in the dark places, revealing sin, and indicating the way to holiness; the constraint of the Church’s life poured out in sacrifice. The Church has won Christ’s victories by sacrifice, and in no other way. It is never until she is wounded that she wins. It is by weariness and death and suffering that she has cooperation with Christ. Wherever, in the distant places of the Mission field, in slum or suburb, the body of the Christ suffers, the life of the Christ is communicated to the world. By this way of Pentecost there came the dawning of a new day for the world; a day of new conviction and constraint.
What then are the limits of the Pentecostal age? First of all as to Christ Himself. His resources are limitless. While He was still in the world He said, “ How am I straitened." He can say so no longer. In Himself there is the ultimate and final and perfect revelation, and to borrow that exquisite phrase of the Old Testament, there is also “ plenteous redemption." His resources are limitless for the doing of His work.
But Christ is limited in His Body which is the Church. If the Assembly in those early days had been absolutely perfect in its loyalty, He was still limited. He cannot win the ultimate victory but through the perfecting of His Body. He was limited, therefore, through all those ages in His Body, the Church, for which in some senses no blame is to be attached to her, nor to any; it is part of a Divine process.
In other senses, great blame is to be attached to her. He cannot reach China save through her. He cannot accomplish the purpose of His Word in Africa save through His Body. It is an appalling truth, a mystery; one cannot pretend to understand, but it is God’s method. Not by angels can He preach the reconciling Word, but through His Body, the Church; and the whole process of God to final victory is halted, in some respects necessarily, and properly, and rightly; in many respects unnecessarily, improperly and wrongly through His Body, the Church.
That thought naturally merges into the next-the limitations of the Pentecostal age as to the Church. Here again, we must begin as we began before-the Church’s resources are limitless. But the Church is limited, first, in the necessity for growth. The Church is not even until this age a perfect instrument, because she has not grown to the measure of the stature of her fullness in Christ. That is a proper limitation. In the hurried fretfulness of our brief life we would fain hurry these things; but in calmer moments, when we rise into the consciousness of the eternity of God, we know that it is vulgarity that hurries, and so does poor work. The processes of God are necessarily slow to human thinking; but they move with absolute certainty to the ultimate goal.
The Church is limited in the Pentecostal age when she grieves the Holy Spirit, when she quenches the Spirit. These are two significant words, “ Grieve"-having to do with the matter of the Church’s life; “ Quench"-having to do with the matter of the Church’s service. How often has the Church grieved the Spirit, quenched the Spirit, and so limited herself! This is the appalling thing, the thing that brings heartbreak!
As to the world, what shall we say concerning limitation? Again we begin where we have begun in each case-the world has limitless resources in Christ. There is nothing the world needs that is not found in Him. Everything needed, of social well-being, and political emancipation; everything that makes for the uplifting of the race, is in Christ. Limitless resources are in the world’s Redeemer.
But the world is limited in the Church’s failure. That is not the world’s fault. If there be blood-guiltiness, it is upon the Church.
But finally the world is limited in its own resistance, That is the third word in the Bible marking the forms in which the work of the Spirit may be hindered. “ Resist," is a word not spoken to the Church, but to those outside. Men can resist.
There has been no lessening of the resources. It is such a commonplace thing to say, and we all agree; but does the Church really believe it? Have we not some kind of subconscious heresy in our minds that Pentecost is passed, and that Pentecostal power has weakened in the process of the centuries? It is not so. The resources are as limitless now as they were in the dawning of that great day. The question for our hearts should be: Is Christ limited in us? If only by the necessity of our feebleness and our growth, we need have no anxiety, because God’s processes always seem slow. But if He is limited because we grieve or quench the Spirit, then it is necessary that judgment should begin at the House of God. We must repent, renounce, return.
We need waste no time in talking about a revival in the world until there is a revival in the Church. It is when, within this mystic Assembly of the Christ, He is unlimited, allowed full sway by the indwelling Spirit, that the light will flame upon the darkness without, and the great victory will come.
Is the world limited in us? If so, it is because the Christ is limited in us. “ They were all filled with the Holy Spirit." Are we? And if not, why not? Let us leave the questions, as such, for our individual heart-searching. Acts 2:5-13 With this paragraph begins the story of the Church witnessing. In obedience to her Lord’s command she began in Jerusalem. The story of this witness in Jerusalem is that of the first things; and this lends charm and value to the study. We have in sequence: the first impression produced in Jerusalem; the first message delivered in the power of the Pentecostal effusion; the first opposition raised to the infant Church; the first attempt to realize the communism of the Christian Church; the first fearful and fiery discipline by which the Church was made pure; the first outbreak of persecution against the Church; the first Church organization in the setting apart of the deacons; and the first Christian martyr.
As we study these, we shall discover the lines of Church life, and Church service, according to the will of the Spirit of God, Who came to interpret the things of Christ, and realize them, in the Church, and through the Church in the world.
Our present study is concerned with the first impressions produced by the witnessing Church. Let us follow two lines of consideration. First, the impressive facts; and secondly, the impressions made. The supreme matter in this study is not that of the facts, but that of the impressions. We have often been in danger, in reading this story of the Pentecostal effusion, of laying an undue emphasis upon the manifestations, to the forgetfulness of the impressions made.
I. Let us first notice the impressive facts:
Of these the first-named is that of “ a sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind." Concerning this, Luke says: “ Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound was heard, the multitude came together."
There is no question whatever that this is a far more helpful translation than that which reads, “when this was noised abroad.” To read it thus would seem to suggest that the multitude was gathered together when they heard about these people speaking with tongues; but that certainly is not the meaning of this statement. The Greek word here translated sound is never used for a rumour or a report. It is always used of some sound that arrests attention. The reference here undoubtedly is to the rushing mighty wind, which was heard throughout the whole city of Jerusalem. It was a startling sound, as of a hurricane.
Luke describes it as coming “ from heaven." It was a descending hurricane, settling upon, and centering at, one place, the Temple where these men were assembled. Jerusalem heard it. It was this sound of a mighty rushing wind, marvellous, mysterious, that brought the multitude together. That was the first impressive fact; something outside the ordinary, something supernatural.
But a still more impressive fact of that day to Jerusalem was that of the crowd of disciples. Jerusalem saw and heard a company of about one hundred and twenty men and women all “ speaking"-probably all singing, or chanting-“ the mighty works of God." This was the common subject of the ancient psalmody of the Hebrew people. This was the subject of Peter and this gathered company of men and women. But that did not arrest attention. That would not have startled any Jewish multitude. It was not the singing, it was not the things of which they sang, but it was that they, the gathered Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, heard with absolute distinctness and accuracy all they were singing, in their own tongue. In many tongues and dialects, with perfect distinctness, this chanting, this ecstatic utterance of the newly baptized company of disciples, broke upon the astonished and listening ear of that assembled multitude. “ They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."
All the references in Acts, Corinthians, and Ephesians, show that the exercise of tongues consisted of ecstatic utterance. These people were not preaching, they were praising; they were not indulging in set discourse, they were pouring out the rapture that filled their souls. In the filling of the Spirit there had come to them a new vision of their Lord; and a new consciousness of His life throbbing through their lives. They realized that all the hopes and aspirations of the past were being fulfilled. They knew that the river of God had come by the way of the altar, and that they were in the full flood tide of its healing and life-giving waters. They were praising God for His mighty works.
Did they know they were speaking in other tongues? One cannot be at all sure that they did. Were they familiar with the tongues in which they were speaking? Probably not. They praised with a new inspiration, they poured out their songs, and lo, Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, sojourners from Rome, people from Mesopotamia, men of all dialects, listened; and they heard the songs in their own language, with perfect accuracy and distinctness. The Resurrection was the first note, in their singing, as it came to be the first note in apostolic preaching. One could almost wish that one could have listened to that first chanting of the Church, in which the singers set forth the mighty works of God.
II. We may now consider the impressions made upon Jerusalem. “ They were all amazed, and were perplexed, saying one to another, What meaneth this? But others mocking said, They are filled with new wine." In that one statement we have a record of the first impression made by the Church in Jerusalem. It was a threefold impression. First, amazement; secondly, perplexity; thirdly, criticism.
What was this amazement? It was mental arrest; not yet illumination. They did not know the meaning of what they heard and saw; but they wondered. Out of wonder worship is barn. Where wonder ceases worship ceases. Wonder is not worship, but it is the first movement toward worship. For the moment, Jerusalem was compelled to turn from other interests, to attend to this matter. It was only a beginning, but it was a beginning. For a brief hour or two at least, men left the schools, and the disputations, and the quarrellings, forgot their differences, and united in common amazement in the presence of something in their midst for which they could not account. The amazement was mental arrest, a compulsion laid upon the men of a city, to turn from all other matters, in wonder.
As they observed, and as they listened, they were not only amazed, they were perplexed. If amazement is mental arrest, perplexity is mental defeat; not yet illumination. The amazement meant that they did not know. The perplexity meant that they knew they did not know. There is no moment more hopeful to an intellectual soul than that in which it comes to the point of known ignorance. That is the opportunity for discovery.
Men amazed, arrested, compelled to drop other matters to look and listen; men finding that when they look they cannot see everything, that when they hear they have missed some note, and are in the presence of a mystery they cannot fathom; are driven to enquire. That is an advance upon amazement.
Perplexity was followed by criticism. Criticism, is mental activity. These men, amazed, perplexed, were compelled to come to some conclusion. They first stated the problem to be discussed: “ What meaneth this?" Some of them arrived at a conclusion: “ They are filled with new wine," which meant that they were drunk. They were much nearer the mark than appears at first sight. They had first been arrested, compelled to turn from other things to consider. They then were perplexed, defeated; they could not understand. Then the mind had become active. What is this? Look and listen. Look at the glory in the eyes. Listen to the abandonment in the voice. Mark the pulsating passion of these people. To some of them there could be but one explanation. They were drunk!
They were nearer the truth than they knew, but they were exactly as far from it as hell is from heaven. What they said was a fair conclusion. Carefully observe Peter’s answer: “These are not drunken, as ye suppose”-that is, in the way you think. Compare this with Paul’s injunction in Ephesians 5:18. The one is a false and destructive method of attempting to realize life in its fullness. The other is the true and effective method.
What is the relation of this story to the era in the midst of which we are living?
First of all we must remember that these signs of the day of Pentecost were initial, and produced no final result. The gift of tongues exercised in the midst of the multitudes, to the astonishment of the multitude, and probably to the astonishment of the disciples also, brought nothing to a conclusion. It did not produce conviction, either of sin, or concerning Christ. It needed prophecy to complete it. It created the opportunity for prophecy. Directly it had produced the impressions referred to, of amazement, and perplexity, and criticism, Peter prophesied. Mark the relationship between tongues and prophecy, and see the perfect harmony of this revelation with what Paul taught, when he said, “ I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue." Prophecy is the final method for bringing conviction, and accomplishing the will of God.
All this was initial; and it was incomplete. It was necessary as a sign, to arrest the attention of Jerusalem. With the development of the spiritual fact, the necessity for signs passed away. In this connection it is well to remember Christ’s attitude toward signs. Men have always sought them. Evil and adulterous generations are forever saying, Show us a sign; and the Christ is forevermore saying, There shall be no sign given unto you.
The sign is the occasional thing, the thing better done without. Christ said to His own disciples, “ Believe Me." That was His great appeal. “ Or else," He continued-if you cannot do that, if that is too large a thing, and too high a thing, and too noble a thing at first-“ believe Me for the very works’ sake." The signs were evidences, made necessary in order to arrest attention, but they never produced conviction. That comes through prophesying in the power of the Spirit. At the beginning there must be the mighty sound out of heaven; this arresting thunder of a great wind; these strange and wonderful and yet distinct ecstatic utterances in all tongues; but these can accomplish nothing beyond arousing attention. They were Divine, directly and positively; but they were transient, never repeated because never needed.
What then are the abiding values of this story? The Spirit-filled Church always presents to the world supernatural phenomena, producing amazement, perplexity, criticism. These phenomena vary according to the needs of the time. In the book of the Acts of the Apostles they changed immediately. We shall find as we go through the book, that wherever the messengers of Christ came-the Spirit-filled witnesses-something happened, something that startled men, something that produced exactly the same results as were produced at first by the Pentecostal tongues. Presently it was a lame man healed.
Again it was the shaking of a prison, and the releasing of Apostles. Presently it was the privileges of the new fellowship-men desired to join the new fellowship who had not submitted to the one Lord. Again it was the death of a man. Stephen was bruised and battered, and made bloody with stones. Look at his face! There shone the light that never was on land or sea.
It was supernatural dying. There was one fine, scholarly, clean, sincere, young Pharisee saw that face, and never lost its “effect.” He was amazed, he was perplexed, he was critical; and then he was converted. Presently it was the apostolic work in Samaria, and Simon Magus wanting to buy a partnership with Peter and John. Again it was Paul’s conversion, and its effect upon Festus, upon Felix, upon Agrippa.
Amazement, perplexity, criticism; these were the effects produced by the tongues. God has many methods of producing these effects; but the real value of the method which startles, is always that of the effect it produces, and of the opportunity it creates for prophesying.
If these impressions are not produced, it is because the Church is not Spirit-filled. Is the Church of God amazing the city, perplexing the city, making the city criticize? The trouble too often is that the world is not at all amazed, not at all perplexed, not at all critical; because there is nothing to amaze, to perplex, to criticize. The work of the Church is to be Spirit-filled, and amaze the city, and perplex the city, and make the city listen. Are we doing it? Thank God yes, sometimes!
With much truth it may be added that there is only one criticism that is worth anything; the criticism of the world that is of value is that criticism in which it says that the Church is drunk! Has any one ever charged you with being drunk with your Christianity? O God, how seldom men have thought us drunk. We lack the flashing eye, and the pulsating song, and the tremendous enthusiasm of an overwhelming conviction. That is what the city needs to produce the amazement, the perplexity, and the criticism which create the opportunity for prophesying.
Our responsibility is not that of endeavouring to reproduce past phenomena. One need not be at all anxious to hear men talking in other tongues, who have been too lazy to learn them. There is a whole philosophy in that passing remark. The Church had not had time to learn the languages then, and so spiritual equipment was provided to meet the need of the mixed multitudes. A minister in New York once said in my hearing that New York presented a grave problem because all nations and languages are found there. But surely that is a Pentecostal opportunity. We have not the gift of tongues, but we have time to learn the languages. God never makes up by miraculous intervention what man lacks through laziness.
The Church’s responsibility is that her members be so Spirit-filled that the Spirit may be able to produce the new phenomena required to startle this age. The Church has been far more anxious about emperors, and states, and wealth, and theologies, and organizations, than about the Spirit, It is the Church Spirit-filled which makes the city amazed, perplexed, critical. That is the Church’s opportunity for preaching. What is the use of Peter preaching when the world is not amazed? The psychic moment for preaching comes when the city is amazed, perplexed and critical, as the result of the living testimony of the Spirit-filled Church. Then upon the astonished ear of the amazed people the Word will fall as thunder and as benediction, and results will be produced. Our responsibility then is only that of seeing to it that we are filled with the Spirit. Acts 2:14-47 In this paragraph we have the account of the first Pentecostal message, and of the results following its delivery. The passage is full of importance; both in its revelation of the true method and subject matter of preaching; and in the picture it presents of the things that follow such preaching. In our present study we take a general survey of the whole; considering the message as to its method and its matter; and glancing at the results, both immediate and continuous; postponing the actual things said in the power of the outpoured Spirit to this amazed, perplexed, and critical audience gathered together in Jerusalem.
I. Let us first of all notice the method of this discourse, in which so far as principles are concerned, we have a revelation of what preaching ought to be.
We will notice first, the matters which may be described as physical; secondly, the mental; finally and supremely, the spiritual.
The first of these need not detain us long. They are all contained in the statement: “ Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spake forth unto them.”
That is a perfect and final lesson in elocution for every man called to preach. “ Standing up with the eleven." This in itself was a new method. It was not the method of the Rabbis. Jesus had significantly said to His disciples, before leaving them, that they were not to be called Rabbi. They were no longer to be teachers merely, they were to be heralds. Teachers sat; heralds stood.
It is quite unnecessary to make any comment upon the next phrase-“ He lifted up his voice." If three thousand are to hear, it is no use speaking for thirty to hear. The voice must reach the listener who is furthest away.
The next phrase is equally important. “ He spake forth.” The Greek word means that he enunciated clearly; there was a correct articulation, so that every man in the crowd could understand. This particular word occurs on two other occasions. The first is in the second chapter when it is said that they spake with other tongues “ as the Spirit gave them utterance." The other case is when Paul, standing before Agrippa pleading his cause, replied to the interruption of Festus by saying, “ I am not mad, most excellent Festus, but speak forth words of truth and soberness." In each case the idea is that of clear enunciation. Thus the first Christian preacher stood up as a herald; lifted up his voice so that the whole multitude might hear; and articulated with perfect distinctness.
Finally, and by no means of least importance is the declaration that he “ spake forth unto them."
Preaching too often to-day is preaching before people, rather than preaching to them; and there is all the difference in the world between the two methods.
It is not very long ago that in a ministerial conference I heard a minister say that years ago the work of the Christian preacher was that of a combat, in which he wrestled with souls, and compelled them to obedience; and he lamented that the days had passed. He was right in his regret, if he was right in his conclusion that such days had passed. That is the work of the Christian preacher; even though he have ability to instruct intellectually; even though he be able to move emotionally; if his preaching end with the intellect, or with the emotion, then his preaching is a disastrous failure.
We pass now to consider the mental method of this preaching. Notice in the first place that Peter recognized their right to enquire. This will be made perfectly clear by observing a simple word and its place in this narrative. I refer to the word this. “ Be this known unto you" (Acts 2:14). “This is that which hath been spoken through the prophet Joel” (Acts 2:16). “He hath poured forth this” (Acts 2:33).
The assembled crowd when they became critical said, “What meaneth this?” In their use of the word “this’’ was included all they saw and heard; the things that amazed and perplexed them; the sound of the wind; the strange, and to them, grotesque vision of a company of people hilarious, ecstatic, praising, singing; and then that strange and compelling wonder, that as these people sang or praised, all those gathered about them, understood them in their own tongues, Parthians and Medes, and Elamites, and so on.
Now said the crowd, “What meaneth this?”
When Peter commenced his address he said, “Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you”; by which he meant, I am about to explain this; I am about to answer your enquiry. He then contradicted their foolish attempt to answer their own question. Some of them had said: “These men are filled with new wine.” Peter answered, “These are not drunken as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.” The third hour of the day was the hour of sacrifice, and men neither ate nor drank until that hour. Having replied to this false suggestion, he proceeded to explain that which had perplexed them: “This is that which hath been spoken by the prophet Joel.” In these words he related the things seen, to the ancient predictions.
He then traced the history of Jesus of Nazareth, ending with the declaration, “He hath poured forth this.”
The whole message proceeded upon the assumption of the right of the multitude to ask an explanation. “What meaneth this?” was an honest and proper question. “These men are filled with new wine,” was a blundering attempt to get at the truth. Peter was not angry with them. He was neither angry with them for their mistake, nor for their attempt to discover. He said, “Be this known unto you.” Listen, I will explain; this is not so strange as you think; “this is that which hath been spoken through the prophet Joel,” your own prophet; and moreover Jesus of Nazareth Whom you all know, “He hath shed forth this.” The first note of the mental mood of the Christian preacher must be that of his recognition of the right of men to enquire, and a willingness on his part to answer their enquiry.
But again, the apostle made his appeal to the things they knew. This we have already seen, but it is of special importance, and so we return to it. He began his explanation of the things they did not know, by taking them back to the things with which they were familiar. This is that of which your own prophet wrote. This is the outcome of the life and death and resurrection of the Man Jesus, Whom you know.
This is the true art of preaching, whether it be in London, or Bombay; whether it be in the heart of Africa, or in the midst of the wealthiest civilization, matters nothing. At Athens, quote your Greek poets; make the barbarians at Lycaonia put Jupiter and Mercury into contrast with Jehovah. Begin with the things men know.
The Christian preacher must always recognize that there is a light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world; that God has never left humanity utterly without witness. Therefore the true preacher and the true missionary begin with the things known, and show their relationship to the Christ.
Observe in the next place, that there was in this address an orderly statement of truth. We will only refer to it, now, for we shall examine it more carefully in future studies. Beginning with the words, “Jesus of Nazareth,” the whole truth concerning Christ was declared in orderly sequence.
The final fact to be noticed in the mental method of the sermon is that the ultimate proclamation was that of the Lordship of Christ. “Let all the house of Israel, therefore know assuredly, that God hath made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus Whom ye crucified.”
Such was the mental method of the sermon-recognizing their right to enquire; appealing to the things they knew; making an orderly statement of truth; and, finally, appealing by the proclamation of the Lordship of Christ.
The spiritual method is of supreme importance, yet it perhaps needs the least exposition because it is so patent. We observe, first, Peter’s ready obedience to the Spirit. Christ had said to him, and to the rest, not above two weeks before, “When the Holy Spirit is come upon you … ye shall be My witnesses.” The Spirit came, and immediately the spiritual method of preaching was that of quick and ready and direct obedience to the Spirit, seizing the opportunity created by the amazement, perplexity, and criticism of the crowd, and declaring His message.
But notice also, the conviction of this preacher. It was the conviction of clear vision, resulting from the illumination of the Spirit. Not once in all the course of that first sermon do we find such phrases as: In all probability; or It is reasonable to suppose. There is not a nebulous statement in this message from beginning to end. It is positive, convinced, courteous declaration.
The courage of the preacher is equally patent. The crowds were amazed, perplexed, critical; but all the rulers were opposed to the Nazarene heresy, and he began by naming Nazareth. Peter now confronted the great mass of the people gathered from Judaea and from far and near, and he said boldly: “Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God unto you. . . God hath made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus Whom ye crucified.” It was the courage of spiritual conviction, resulting from the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
The mental orderliness of statement, to which we have referred, was the result of spiritual illumination. To every man who heard, a double witness was borne; the witness of the man, and the witness of the constraining Spirit of God. When the Sadducean opposition began, the rulers said to him: How dare you preach when we have forbidden? Carefully notice his answer, “We must obey God rather than men. . . . We are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit.”
The last spiritual note Is that of victory. This was manifested finally in the multitude who believed; but its first manifestation was in the preacher. The Spirit of God, Who had come with the sound and symbol of the wind and the fire, turned this cringing, fearful man of seven weeks ago, into a prophet, an apostle, an evangelist of the new age, and made him victorious in the delivery of his first message.
II. Lastly let us briefly notice the matter of the sermon. Peter commenced with the Old Testament Scriptures; and there is evident a fine sense of fitness in his selection of the passage from Joel; Joel who was either the earliest or the latest of the prophets, and whose message concerning the Spirit is more clear than any other of the ancient prophecies. This is the message Peter chose. Of that message he quoted part which was fulfilled immediately; part which is being fulfilled now; and part which is yet to be fulfilled. The day of the Lord has not come, and the signs of its coming are not yet. He quoted all the prophecy, because he knew that with the descent of the Spirit consequent upon the exaltation of the Christ, the movement had commenced, though it would take millenniums to work itself out to finality.
He then proceeded to declare the things of Christ. We will only name them.
The fact of Jesus: “Jesus a man.”
The perfection of His manhood, and the work of His ministry: “approved of God unto you, by mighty works and wonders and signs.”
The Death of Jesus: “Him being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay.”
The Resurrection of Jesus: “It was not possible that He should be holden of it.”
His exaltation and reception of the Spirit: He is exalted, He is glorified, He has received from the Father the gift of the Spirit.
His activity: “He hath poured forth this.”
The results were immediate and continuous. The immediate were those of conviction and enquiry; instruction and exhortation; obedience and addition. Men said, “What shall we do?” Peter answered them immediately, and led them forward.
The continuous results were those of the new ordinances; the new fellowship; the new experience; and the growth; to all of which we shall return.
From this general survey we can only gather broad applications. As to the Christian message, we learn that it is wholly a proclamation of what God has to say to men. The Word written-Joel’s prophecy; the Word living-Jesus of Nazareth; but always what God has to say to men. The business of the Christian preacher is to tell men what God has to say to them. The business of the preacher is not to speculate, or to attempt to evolve from the appearances of the hour some underlying truth. He is to come to the age saying to it, “Thus saith Jehovah.”
This address reveals the further fact that the preacher deals with the spiritual, and produces spiritual results. He does not begin at the circumference of things, but at the centre. But he affects the uttermost circumference, by beginning at the centre. He says to individual men, Crown the Christ Who is at the right hand of God; and then from that central point readjust all your life, correct everything.
Finally we learn from this study that the Christian messenger must know by experience, or he cannot preach; that he must be filled with the Spirit if there are to be any results from his preaching; and that he must be wise, for “he that winneth souls is wise.”
Acts 2:16-21 The brief and incomplete statement, “This is that” constitutes a key to this passage, in which we have the first movement in Peter’s answer to the enquiry of the amazed, perplexed, and critical multitude “What meaneth this?” Recognizing their right to enquire, and taking advantage of the opportunity which that enquiry afforded him, the apostle first took them back to the prophetic writings with which, they were familiar, and so reminded them that in these prophecies these things were foretold-“This is that which hath been spoken through the prophet Joel.”
The similarity between the manifestations predicted, and those being witnessed, was marked; and so Peter was able to remind them of the predicted cause-“I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all flesh”; and thus to claim that, as explaining what was passing around them, rather than the filling of new wine, as some of them had suggested. “What meaneth this?” said they; and some of them mocking made a guess: These men are drunken “filled with new wine.”
This relation between the Pentecostal effusion and the ancient prophecy is of interest to us also. Taking the brief phrase, “This is that” as text, these are our divisions: first, “That”; secondly, “This.” We will look back to the ancient prophecy; and then we will observe the fulfilment of it in its first manifestation, and in its suggestiveness as to the age of the Spirit.
I. In considering this prophecy which Peter quoted upon the day of Pentecost we will first take a broad survey of the whole book, considering the context as well as the text.
It is difficult to place the prophecy of Joel with historic accuracy, but we may say with practical certainty that he was either the earliest, or nearly the last of the prophets. He makes no reference to Cyrus, to the Assyrians, or to the Chaldeans. He but mentions Tyre, Zidon, and Philistia. He makes no reference throughout the whole of his message to idolatry, or to corruption. He refers throughout the whole of the prophecy to the Temple services as being maintained. He is quite silent as to kings or princes, but constantly refers to leaders and to priests.
He has none of the scorn for sacrifice which marks the writings of other prophets; on the contrary he mourns that through the locust plague there are no offerings to bring to the Temple. A number of passages found in the prophecy of Joel are also found in other books; which suggests that he quoted from them, or they from him. It is agreed that the prophecy could not have been uttered during the period covered by the prophets from Amos to Zechariah. It must have been earlier or later. This particular reference to the work of the Spirit, which is so peculiarly clear, concise, definite, positive; was either one of the earliest or one of the latest, and was in itself inclusive. Ezekiel said much concerning the work of the Spirit of God under different figures; Isaiah made clear reference to the coming of the Spirit; but in all the ancient writings there is no passage quite as precise, as definite, as positive, as this paragraph which Peter selected for quotation upon the day of Pentecost.
Either it was the earliest utterance of prophecy, concerning the dispensation of the Spirit, which served as inspiration to those which followed; or else it was the last, gathering up into clear statement all the things that had been said.
But now, what is the burden of the whole prophecy of Joel? Joel was first of all impressed by a plague of locusts, which had swept over the country, devastating everything. The men of the time were conscious of the calamity, but were not connecting it with their relationship to the throne of God. Just as to-day some plague, some catastrophe, some war, will occupy the thought of men, they will be deeply interested in it; but will fail to climb the heights, and interpret the events of the hour in their relation to the throne of God.
This however is precisely what Joel did. His prophecy was based upon the actual locust plague. He first called the people to contemplation. He made his appeal to the old men; he made his appeal to memory; he made his appeal to the drunkards; he made his appeal to the young. He called all to contemplation, and then declared that this visitation of the locust plague was an activity of the day of the Lord, that God was proceeding in judgment against them on account of their sin. He next called them to humiliation, as well as to contemplation.
When he had observed the things in the midst of which he lived, and interpreted their meaning to his age; he predicted another judgment, and used the past as illustrating that which was imminent, employing the locusts as symbolic of the armies coming upon them in battle and judgment.
In both these connections he indicated the Divine judgment, and announced the Divine grace. He told the people that if they would repent and humble themselves before God, He would spare them. So far, the prophecy seems to be of little interest to us. But now, the prophet said, “And it shall come to pass afterward.” Verse twenty-eight of chapter two in our Bible, is verse one of chapter three in the Hebrew Bible. Those who rearranged these chapter divisions thought they knew better than the Hebrews. They did not.
Our arrangement at least seems to suggest that what now followed was to take place immediately. As a matter of fact the word “afterward” shows that the prophet now climbed a little higher, and looked into the distances, and from that moment to the end, was uttering a prophecy of things that he saw far away. As he thus looked far ahead he saw a movement remarkable, strange, and different from anything that had been seen in the history of his own people: “I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh.”
The prophet had risen above his own times, above the immediate future, and he saw, what he described in the words, “I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days, will I pour out My Spirit.”
In these words every prejudice of the Hebrew was attacked. The Spirit was not to be poured upon the Hebrew nation only, but “upon all flesh,” The right to prophesy was not to be the peculiar privilege of priests, or Levites, or men, but “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.” It was not to be the peculiar privilege of sons and daughters, but servants and handmaids were to be among the prophets. There was to be an effusion of the Spirit of God upon all the race. There was to be an outpouring of the Spirit of God that should give men and women the power of prophesying. There was to be a bestowment of the Spirit of God, that should sweep out caste, and give slaves the high honour of proclaiming the spiritual mysteries.
What more did he see? “And I will show wonders in the heavens, and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of Jehovah shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those that escape, as Jehovah hath said, and among the remnant those whom Jehovah doth call. For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations.”
Now the prophet saw far beyond the Pentecostal effusion. He was still looking on, and in his vision, century merged into century, and age lay beyond age, in strange and wonderful perspective. Looking to the final things, he saw that God will bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem; will gather Israel from its scattered position o’er all the world, and will bring it back to the place of privilege and power and responsibility. This, God has never done yet. That prophecy is not fulfilled.
To summarize. Joel stood in local circumstances, and saw the locust plague as an act of God; and so interpreted it to his age. He then rose to a higher height of vision, and saw that the outcome of their sin must be a new judgment, and declared that it was coming. He then climbed still higher, and saw the age of the Spirit poured upon all flesh; the age when sons and daughters and bondservants and bondmaidens prophesy; the age when the old men dream dreams, and young men see visions. Then he said, before the day of the Lord come, there shall be signs on the earth and in the heavens, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke; and during that day of signs, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be delivered.
In Joel’s prophecy then we have a description of the whole dispensation of the Spirit; its commencement-“I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh;” its characteristics-“Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit”; its consummation-before the great day of the Lord come-“I will shew wonders in the heavens.”
Thus, according to this prophecy, the dispensation of the Spirit is not measured. There is no time given. It opens with the pouring out of the Spirit upon all flesh. Its characteristics are those of prophecy and vision. It will end with supernatural signs.
When on the Day of Pentecost, the multitudes amazed, perplexed, critical, enquired, “What meaneth this?” Peter answered, “This is that which hath been spoken by the prophet Joel.”
According to this ancient prophecy, upon which the apostle of the new economy set his seal, what do we mean when we speak of the Day of Pentecost? The Day of Pentecost historically, was the day upon which the Spirit was poured upon all flesh. The day of Pentecost dispensationally, is that whole period following, during which the true characteristics are those of prophecy, and of dreams and visions. The Day of Pentecost finally, is that period when, before the final acts begin, supernatural signs will indicate the end of the period, and the approach of God’s new and last method with the world.
Where then are we placed now? The dawn has passed away. The day is proceeding. The darkness has not yet come. Dawn: “I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all flesh.” Day: “Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams, yea, and on My servants and on My handmaidens in those days will I pour forth of My Spirit; and they shall prophesy.” Darkness: “The great and notable day . . . the sun turned into darkness, and the moon into blood.” That has not yet come.
This prophetic teaching should make us cease speaking of the day of Pentecost as though it were passed. This is the day of Pentecost. The dawn has passed, but who regrets the dawn when the sun has climbed to the heavens? Sometimes we think that it is westering; that the shadows are already about us. It would seem that we are approaching the end of this dispensation of grace; but there is no sorrow in our heart, there is no regret. We do not believe that this dispensation is the last activity of God for the world.
Our hope is also in the movements that lie beyond it; in the fact that He will gather Judah to Jerusalem, and Israel to Himself, and in other ways proceed to the accomplishment of His purpose. The whole subject is not for consideration now, but what it is important to remember is that this very age in which we live and serve, is part of God’s plan, but not the whole of it. It is’ an integral part of the whole. God has never been trying experiments with humanity. He has been moving surely, certainly on, and this age in which we live and serve is part of a larger whole. We need not sigh for the dawn; we thank God for it, and the story of its breaking always fascinates us.
We need not waste time looking for the ending of the age; for ere it come there will be supernatural signs that herald its approach.
In concluding this study, let us glance at the characteristics of this day of the Spirit. It is the Day of the Spirit poured forth. The Spirit has been associated with all human history. We begin our Bible with the Spirit: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” All the way through we find the Spirit-clothing Himself with a man, clothing a man with Himself, inspiring men to be cunning workers in gold and silver for the making of the Tabernacle. In all the past the Spirit is discovered, coming, departing; visiting, retiring.
As, over the original chaos He brooded for the production of the new cosmos, so over the processional chaos, He was ever brooding, until there came the Word made flesh, conceived in the womb of the virgin by the Holy Spirit. The day of Pentecost was not the day when the Spirit of God began. It was the day in which the Spirit was “poured forth” It was the day of a definite and specific beginning. The Spirit of God was to be no longer a Visitor, dwelling with lonely men and individual souls, but poured out in all fullness.
But again, the Spirit was “poured forth upon all flesh.” Take the Old Testament, and observe the recurrence of the phrase “all flesh.” It is sometimes used-once in Daniel, and notably in other of the prophetic writings-in reference to all animal life from the lowest to the highest; but where it is used evidently of human beings, it always refers to all human beings. The phrase “all flesh” is never used in the Old Testament of one nation, not even of the Hebrew nation. It is never used in any smaller application than to the whole of humanity. The Spirit was poured upon all flesh. That is, there is a sense in which on the day of Pentecost the Spirit of God came into relationship with the whole of humanity. Concerning the Christ, through Whom the Spirit was poured upon all flesh, it is written: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . .
And the Word became flesh.” Now that is not merely a description of the individuality of the Man of Nazareth; it is the generic term, showing that He came into contact with the whole race. When He became flesh, He took not on Him the nature of angels; He laid hold upon human nature. When He became flesh, He became a member, not merely of the Hebrew race, but of the human race. Presently, when His work as representative of the race was accomplished, and He had ascended on high, the Spirit was poured upon that whole race into union with which He had come, when He was made flesh.
The Spirit is upon all flesh for clearly defined purposes. He is on all flesh to convict of sin, of righteousness, of judgment. He is in the human race as the power that hinders evil, and He will hinder until He be taken out of the way.
The characteristics of the Day of the outpoured Spirit are those of visions, dreams, and prophesying.
What is a vision? Something seen by a watcher. What is a dream? Something seen by a sleeper. Visions are for the young men, who should be watching. Dreams are for the old men, who should be resting.
The New Testament prophet is a witness in speech, and the prophets are to be men and women, bond and free. This Spirit came to scorch and burn and destroy the false divisions which existed; He came to recognize humanity, irrespective of caste or sex; sons and daughters, bondslaves and bondmaidens.
What are the things we need to fear supremely? First, silence. If we cannot speak not necessarily to a crowd-for our Master, wherever the opportunity is given, then we should be afraid. The Spirit was poured out to give us power to prophesy. Let us be very afraid of silence.
We need also to fear if there is an absence of visions and dreams. If we have no dreams and no visions, why not? It is because we are not responsive to the Spirit. If we do not do this, it is not merely that we fail. We limit God; for the marvellous and matchless mystery of the Pentecostal age is this-that while the Spirit is on all flesh, He waits for a partner, and the partner must be a man, a woman, a child. God bring us into fellowship that we may give His message and hasten the Kingdom.
Acts 2:22-36 The more carefully this first message delivered in the power of the outpoured Spirit is pondered, the more wonderful does it appear. We have considered the first section, summarized in the words, “This is that.” We may now proceed to the study of the second section summarized in the words, “He hath poured forth this.” In this section there are three things of preeminent importance.
Peter first traced the process which culminated in Pentecost, beginning with the words, “Jesus of Nazareth”; and ending with the words, “He hath poured forth this.”
In reading the section we notice how much of it, in some senses, is in parenthesis. At Acts 2:25, with the words, “For David saith concerning Him,” we are conscious of the fact that Peter departed for the time being, from the main line of his statement, as he quoted from the Psalms, and proceeded to make application of what he quoted. At verse thirty-two (Acts 2:32) he practically repeated what he had already said in verse twenty-four (Acts 2:24), “Whom God raised up,” in the words, “This Jesus did God raise up.” The whole of that paragraph then (Acts 2:25-32) is in parentheses. I do not suggest that it is unimportant, but rather supremely important, showing that the apostle was dealing with what we may speak of as the pivotal fact in the mission of Jesus. This, indeed, is the second thing of value in this part of the discourse.
Then finally, having traced the process that culminated in Pentecost, and having parenthetically taken time to deal with the pivotal fact of the Resurrection, he made the Pentecostal proclamation, Jesus is Lord, and Christ.
Our present meditation is concerned with the process which culminated in the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The apostle distinctly indicated seven stages in the process.
He began by naming the Person, perfectly familiar in this way at least, to the crowds that were round about him: “Jesus of Nazareth.”
He next said that this Man, Jesus of Nazareth, had been demonstrated as a perfect Man in their midst; “a Man approved of God unto you by mighty works and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, even as ye yourselves know.”
He then referred to the death of this Person in terms full of significance: “Him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay.”
He then declared that this selfsame Person was raised from the dead: “Whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death; because it was not possible that He should be holden of it.”
He then affirmed that the Person so raised from the dead was exalted: “Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted.”
He then announced that the Person so exalted had received in some peculiar and special manner the fulfillment of the ancient promise of Jehovah: “Having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit.”
He finally declared that this selfsame Person poured forth the Spirit: “He hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear.” To more briefly summarize the stages: The apostle spoke of the Person; His demonstrated perfection; His death; His resurrection; His exaltation; His reception of the Spirit; His bestowal of the Spirit.
Of these, the central fact is that of resurrection. Three precede it: The being and Person of Jesus of Nazareth; His perfection; His death by the way of the Cross. Three follow it: His exaltation to the right hand of power; His reception of the Spirit; His pouring forth of that Spirit upon the waiting disciples. Thus, at the heart of the mission of Jesus is the fact of the Resurrection.
Now let us consider these seven stages. We will attempt to do so by dealing with each of the sentences.
Peter commenced by the use of a phrase which was familiar to the men who listened, “Jesus of Nazareth.” He thus designated the Person, upon Whom he would fix attention. In doing so he appealed to the knowledge of his hearers. The fame of Jesus had spread far and wide. Very many had seen Him. Multitudes of those who had never seen Him had yet heard of Him. He had become widely known by this peculiar designation, “Jesus of Nazareth.” So far as our records reveal, Philip first made use of it. When speaking to Nathanael he said, “We have found Him, of Whom Moses in the Law, and the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph.” This designation arrested the attention and aroused the criticism of Nathanael who said, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Presently a demon-possessed man looked into the face of Jesus and said, “What have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth?” Later on in His ministry, as He entered Jerusalem, on what we speak of as the triumphal occasion, the multitudes said, “Who is this?” The Galilean crowd in triumph answered, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” When, on the dark betrayal night, the soldiers came to arrest Him, He said to them, “Whom seek ye?“and they replied, “Jesus of Nazareth.” When Peter was warming himself at the fire built in the outer court, a servant maid looked at him, and said, “Thou also wast with the Nazarene Jesus.” Pilate the Roman Procurator commanded to be written, and affixed to the cross, this designation of the Crucified “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” At the Resurrection, the angel said to the waiting and weeping women: “Ye seek Jesus the Nazarene, Who hath been crucified.” Two men were walking to Emmaus when a stranger joined them, and asked them why they looked so sad; and they said to Him, “Dost Thou alone sojourn in Jerusalem and not know the things that are come to pass in these days?” “What things?” said He. “They said unto Him, The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, Who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people.” These instances are only given to emphasize what seems of importance here, the fact namely, that He was known as Jesus of Nazareth.
Peter took hold of that peculiar designation, which would appeal to his hearers, because they were perfectly familiar with it, and in view of the things he was about to declare, commenced by reference to the actual Personality with which these men were familiar, either by sight or hearing-“Jesus of Nazareth.” He thus reminded them of the fact of His humanity.
The effusion of the Spirit upon human life, with all that has followed, is related to the humanity of Jesus Christ, to the absolute fact of His presence in the world, as a Man of our manhood, a member of the human race. In that first descriptive phrase then, we immediately feel ourselves close to Him, and there can be no question that it was the intention of Peter to emphasize that relationship.
This designation of the Person was immediately followed by the words: “A Man approved of God unto you by mighty works, and wonders, and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, even as ye yourselves know.” We must very carefully note the plain, first meaning of this statement. The apostle did not by these words intend to declare that the Man of Nazareth was pleasing to God. We are a little apt to read the word “approved” as though it meant that. Let us change the word, and instead of “A Man approved of God unto you,” let us read, “A Man demonstrated of God unto you.”
Peter’s declaration was that the Man of Nazareth was proved to them by mighty works, and wonders and signs. The question that arises is, what was proved by these things? In order to answer that, we must give careful attention to the whole statement. Let us begin with the method of the demonstration, or proof. It was that of mighty works, and wonders, and signs. The first word, “powers,” or “mighty works,” indicates the exercise of a power. The next word, “wonders,” indicates the effect produced by the power upon the mind of other people. The last word, “signs,” indicates the value of the power and of the wonder it produced.
Peter declared that these were works of God; that they were things which “God did by Him in the midst of you.” If for a moment the statement seems as though it were robbing Jesus of some dignity, let us remember what He Himself said, “I do nothing of Myself; I work the works of Him that sent Me.” The works which became wonders, and were signs, were wrought by God, but they were wrought by God through Him. This Man of Nazareth was the Instrument through Whom God wrought. The Man of Nazareth was a fitting and perfect instrument of God; was a Being absolutely at the disposal of God, through Whom God could exercise His powers, produce His wonders, give His signs. What then did this prove concerning Him? It was not the demonstration of Deity; it was rather the demonstration of His perfect realization of the Divine ideal in His human life, so that He was an instrument absolutely fitted to the use of God, one through Whom God could work. That is the difference between Jesus and ourselves, on the level of humanity.
We are men; so was He. We are imperfect; He was perfect. God cannot through us do all His work. Jesus was so absolutely perfect as an instrument, that through Him God could work in such a way as to produce wonder in the minds of sinning men, and to give signs to them of the things He would have them know. This second movement of the apostle’s interpretation of the process that led to Pentecost reveals Jesus as a perfect Man, and a sinless Man.
Then the apostle passed to the next step in the process. Still emphasizing the identity of the Person by the introductory pronoun he said: “Him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay.” In that statement we find the whole mystery of the Cross. In it the apostle recognized the Divine side, and the human side in that Cross. We are nineteen centuries away from it. The men who listened to him were not more than seven or eight weeks away from it. They remembered it; that rough, cruel, bloody, Roman gibbet.
They knew what crucifixion meant. When he referred to it he did not begin with the brutality of it; he did not begin with the dastardliness of it; he began from the heights and from the infinite distances: “Him being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.” That is the aspect of the Cross to which man clings in the hour when he knows himself a sinner. We are not saved by the murder of a Man. We are saved by the death of the One Who was delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. It was a murder; a vile murder; but it was more, infinitely more. It was something that took place “by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.” The Greek word translated “determinate” here, is the word from which we derive our word “horizon.” The phrase “determinate counsel,” suggests the plan of God, that which was within the boundaries of His purpose.
The death of Jesus, said Peter in effect upon the day of Pentecost, was not an accident, not something brought about by men. It was the working out, in human history, and into visibility, of an eternal purpose and plan and power.
But there was a human side to it, and Peter brought all the guilty face to face with the Cross. Carefully notice his recognition of the two human agencies; “ye” and “lawless men’’ The “ye” referred to the men of Israel whom he was addressing; the “lawless men,” that is men without law, referred to Gentiles, the procurator, and the soldiers. All were involved, the Israelites, and the Gentiles. So the human element is seen. When that Cross was lifted, and that One was nailed to it; men under the law, violated law; men without law, seared their consciences. On the human side His death was caused by sin, dastardly, grievous, final; beyond which there is no sin. Jesus of Nazareth, the Man demonstrated perfect, sinless, was delivered by the counsel of God, and executed by the crime of men.
Peter immediately continued, and again insisted upon the identity of the Person by the first word of his statement: “Whom God raised up.” That was the central fact. We will not pause there now, but leaving the statement in its simple sublimity, will return in our next study to its exposition by the Psalms which the apostle quoted. It is of special importance at this point however that we emphasize the identity of the Person. It is the same Person from beginning to end: Jesus of Nazareth; a Man demonstrated; Him delivered; Whom God raised. If the identity be denied here, then there is no meaning in this message, and the whole superstructure of Christianity has been erected upon an imaginary foundation, indeed upon a lie, which is absurd.
The next stage in the process the apostle described in the words: “Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted.” This was a reference to the Ascension.
A glance to verse thirty-four (Acts 2:34) will give us the interpretation of the word “exalted.” There we have a quotation from David: “The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand.” This is one of the occasions in which it would be a good thing to retain the Hebrew form-“Jehovah saith to Adonai.” If we turn to the Psalm (Psalms 110:1-7) we see the meaning of the statement. That this Psalm is Messianic, all Hebrew commentators and Christian interpreters are agreed. In it we see the Messiah crowned and enthroned; and so winning His ultimate victories. That is the meaning here of the declaration that God exalted Him. Jesus of Nazareth, demonstrated perfect, crucified, raised, was exalted to the place of power and authority, to the centre of the universe of God; and His exaltation was in order to His final victory-“Till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.”
The next phrase of the apostle, in language which is full of mystery, reveals to us what took place at that centre of the universe. Here all earthly language fails. We speak of location and place, and we must do so in order to follow the process, and yet it is difficult to follow. Peter declared that being thus exalted, as David had foretold, to the right hand of power, to wait until His enemies are the footstool of His feet, “He received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit.” This expression “the promise of the Holy Spirit” takes our minds back to the things which our Lord Himself had said before He left them: “Behold I send forth the promise of My Father upon you.” What, then, was the promise of the Father? Let us glance back at the ancient writings. God had said by Isaiah-“I will pour out My Spirit.” He had said by Joel-“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour My Spirit upon all flesh.” He had said by Jesus Himself-“I will inquire of the Father and He shall give you another Comforter.” Now, said Peter, this Man of Nazareth, perfect, crucified, raised, exalted, received the promise of the Father; that is, He received the Spirit for all flesh; the Spirit for the new age. Thus Peter described poetically and yet actually, the fact that, when there came into that centre of the universe the crucified and risen Man of Nazareth, God fulfilled the ancient promise and gave Him, not for Himself, but as a deposit for all flesh, the fulness of the Spirit; “He received the promise of the Father.”
One can never read this without attempting to witness the august and glorious event, without in imagination observing the coming of the Man of Nazareth to the high and exalted place of His glory. He was the first Man to enter into the perfect light of heaven, in the right of His own holiness. Heaven had never before received such a Man. Abel had passed home by faith and prophetic sacrifice; and all the long line of the spirits of the just men made perfect were there upon the basis of the mercy of God. But on that Ascension Day there came into heaven a Man Who asked no mercy. Pure, spotless, victorious, He came into the light of heaven, and caused no shadow there.
But, as we look at Him, we wonder, and we say: How is it that the perfect is wounded? What mean these wound-prints in hands, and feet, and side? Tell me ye angel spirits! There is but one answer, and it is the answer that comes welling up out of our ransomed nature; “He loved me, and gave Himself for me.” To the wounded Man, Who had won the victory for the lost race, God gave the Spirit, and gave it Him for the race, which He had redeemed.
Then Peter ended his story of the great procession, and declared its consummation. Here again the identity of the Person is emphasized by the first word: “He hath poured forth this.” Do not think of a vapourized presence, a lost individuality-“He hath poured forth this.” All the vision, and the ecstasy, the light and the power, which had astonished Jerusalem, had come through Jesus of Nazareth.
Finally observe that the great argument of Peter’s declaration is, that the whole mission of Jesus was of God. God demonstrated His perfection; God delivered Him to death; God raised Him from the dead; God exalted Him to the throne; God gave Him the Spirit. Thus the statement is a revelation of the victory of grace over sin. Men acted to a certain point. They watched Jesus and listened to Him. Then they crucified Him. In that they had done the worst thing. In that act, sin finally expressed itself. Grace operated all through. It gave Jesus to human life. It delivered Him to death. Then it continued, when sin had ended. God raised Him, He exalted Him, He gave Him the Spirit. Sin and grace are seen in dire conflict in the Cross. The victory is with grace, not with sin.
The very spear that pierced His side, Drew forth the blood to save. By that poured-out Spirit, the declaration is uttered to all the ages of the triumph of the grace of God.
Acts 2:24-32 This paragraph is an exposition, in the apostolic preaching, of the central fact concerning Jesus of Nazareth, that, namely, of His Resurrection. The statement concerning the resurrection stands at the centre of the whole movement of this discourse. Three facts precede it;-the manhood, the perfection, and the death of Jesus; three facts follow it;-His exaltation, His reception of the Spirit, His bestowal of the Spirit upon the assembled disciples. The former three culminated in the resurrection. The latter three resulted from the resurrection.
Let us first notice briefly, but carefully, the structure of this particular paragraph. It consists of three parts; -a declaration; an affirmation; and an explanation. The declaration;-“God raised Him”; the affirmation; -“It was not possible that He should be holden of it”; the explanation is found in the Psalm quotations.
The declaration is simple and explicit. The affirmation which follows it is bold and defiant. In reading it the emphasis should be placed on the pronouns: “It was not possible that He should be holden of it” The He refers to that one Person, Jesus of Nazareth, demonstrated perfect, crucified by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Of Him the apostle said: “It was not possible that He should be holden of it” The simple meaning of that affirmation is that God was bound to raise Him in the very nature of the case.
This affirmation he then explained by quoting one of the Psalms:
“ For David saith concerning Him, I beheld the Lord always before My face; For He is on My right hand, that I should not be moved; Therefore My heart was glad, and My tongue rejoiced; Moreover My flesh also shall dwell in hope; Because Thou wilt not leave My soul unto Hades, Neither wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to see corruption. Thou madest known unto Me the ways of life; Thou shalt make Me full of gladness with Thy countenance.” Then followed the defence of his use of the Psalm. It was quite within the bounds of possibility that somebody listening to him might have said, What right have you to make use of that language as applicable to Christ? Peter therefore declared that all that was suggested by the Psalm was not fulfilled in the experience of David, for “he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us unto this day.” Peter interpreted the Psalm as prophesying the Resurrection; he understood that the writer of it was referring to some one who should pass into death, triumph over it, and emerge from it. David did no such thing; he died and was buried, and his sepulchre was with them unto that day. He declared and let us carefully remember that he was speaking under the inspiration of the new baptism of the Spirit which he had received that when David wrote that, he wrote as a prophet more than as a Psalmist: “Knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins he would set one upon his throne; he foreseeing this, spake of the resurrection of the Messiah.”
The affirmation-“It was not possible that He should be holden of it”-was both bold and defiant. The boldness was born of the confidence that God cannot violate eternal principles. The defiance was born of the assurance that death had been conquered in the resurrection of Jesus.
The explanation was a radiant revelation of the evidence for resurrection, as contained in the necessity of the case. We often defend the truth of the resurrection by historical evidence, and there is ample proof along that line, for if the testimony of these men is not to be accepted, then there is no testimony upon which we can depend concerning anything in the history of mankind. Peter’s evidence here, however, was not that he had seen the risen Christ, although he came back to that when presently he said, “Whereof we are witnesses.” The line of his argument here is that if the things he had already declared concerning Jesus were true, then the resurrection was absolutely necessary, or else God was violating eternal principles. If this Jesus of Nazareth was indeed demonstrated by the works, wonders, and signs, perfectly sinless; then, though He died, death could not hold Him. It is as though Peter had said: An understanding of Him and an understanding of it, will demonstrate the fact that there could be no final relationship between Him and it; that His passing into “it” was a necessary, and a voluntary act, but that, even though He passed into “it,” it could not fasten upon Him, and hold Him. It held David.
David foresaw a victory; David sang a song of great confidence; David was filled with hope; nevertheless he died, and was buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day; but this Jesus was other than David; other than any other man; and it was impossible that He should be holden of it. Peter’s reason for this affirmation is revealed in the quotation which he made from the Psalm. Let us then first of all examine the quotation itself. There are three parts to it.
There is first a description of life:
“I beheld the Lord always before My face;
For He is on My right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore My heart was glad, and My tongue rejoiced.”
Immediately following it, is a description of death, in which an attitude toward death is assumed that can be postulated of no human being, except this One:
“Moreover My flesh shall also encamp in hope; Because Thou wilt not leave My soul unto Hades, Neither wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to see corruption.”
Then, after life and after death, is a description of the resurrection:
“Thou madest known unto Me the ways of life; Thou shalt make Me full of gladness with Thy countenance.” Cause and effect are set in relation to each other in this Psalm quotation. Let us trace the effect to the cause. We begin with the effect, which was that of resurrection. That resurrection resulted from the peculiar nature of death. The way of life was made open to One Who, laying down flesh in hope, was certain that His soul could not be left in Hades, nor His flesh see corruption. The peculiar nature of that death, which issued in resurrection, resulted from the peculiarity of life, the life which could say:
“I beheld the Lord always before My face; For He is on My right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore My heart was glad, and My tongue rejoiced.” Let us take the same line of thought, tracing it in the other direction, and observing the sequence. The life described was such that in death encamped in hope; such death made resurrection necessary in order to the maintenance of eternal order.
Let us now confine ourselves to the reasons for the resurrection, as here set forth. In the words of the Psalm describing the life and death, there is revealed a threefold victory over sin; first the victory over the possibility of originating evil,-“I beheld the Lord always before My face”; secondly, the victory over evil as suggested from without,-“For He is on My right hand that I should not be moved”; and finally, the victory over evil as responsibility assumed:
“Therefore My heart was glad, and My tongue rejoiced: Moreover My flesh also shall encamp in hope; Because Thou wilt not leave My soul unto Hades; Neither wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to see corruption.” Victory over the possibility of originating evil is claimed in the words, “I beheld the Lord always before my face.” Whenever we think of this Man of Nazareth we must remember His unique and lonely personality. He was very God and very man. Therefore He was other than either, because He was both. Other than man, because God as well as man. Other than God, because man as well as God. So that when this Man of Nazareth, very man and very God, came into our human life, there came into the universe of God a new Being, a new creation.
In His coming the first movement was that He took the form of a servant. In that great word in the Philippian letter, in which Paul was describing that descent from heights that we cannot see, to depths that we know experimentally, he declared that He, being in the form of God, thought it not a prize to be snatched at, this equality with God, but emptied Himself and took upon Him the form of a servant. That statement is followed by the words, “Being made in the likeness of men.” The first fact then that we have to consider when we see this new Being in the universe of God, is that He was a Servant, on the plane of angel relationship, though not of angel nature. “He took not on Him the nature of angels,” but He stood on their plane of relationship to God. It was a descent from sovereignty to subjectivity. This is a mystery that cannot be fully explained; it transcends all human experience, but we dwell upon it in order that we may see the meaning of this first phase of victory.
As we look upon this Man of Nazareth Who is very God and very Man, standing in relation to the eternal God as Servant, we see at once that a new possibility is created of the origination of evil. Jude declared of the angels that fell, that “they kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation.” There is a difference between the sin of angels and that of Adam. Man did not originate evil by his own volition; he responded to temptation from without. The mystery of evil in the universe is older than the history of man. The story of the fall of the angels is that they kept not their habitation. That is not an account of punishment; it is an account of sin.
When Isaiah sang the song of the fall of the king of Babylon, he interpreted the mystery of evil. Lucifer, son of the morning, left his own orbit when he said, “I will ascend into heaven… I will be like the Most High.” Then he left his proper habitation, so losing his principality, and falling. That, so far as we know from revelation, was the origination of evil.
When the Son of God came into a new sphere of existence, for the purpose of carrying out the eternal counsels of God, an opportunity was created for a new origination of evil. For the servants of God a habitation is ordained by God; and the law of maintaining their habitation, of moving in their orbit, is that of always keeping Him before their face as King. In the case of Lucifer and those angels who followed him there came a moment when they chose to exercise their will outside of relationship to the command of God. In that moment there was a beginning of evil, not by suggestion as from without, but by the action of the will in independence, instead of in dependence, upon God.
That conception of the possibility of choosing evil, not in answer to . allurement from without, but by original action, is involved in this word: “I beheld the Lord always before My face.” It is as though this One had said: I never indulged in independent or self-caused action; I never left My proper habitation; and so I have reserved My principality. I took upon Me the form of a Servant, and having taken the form of a Servant, I never rebelled against the service, or chose My own method of life”-I beheld the Lord always before My face.” By the very mystery and uniqueness of His Being, this Person might have been a centre from which evil should originate and spread out in ever-increasing circles; but He says: “I beheld the Lord always before My face”; I kept My first habitation; I held My original principality; I never broke from My allegiance to the God Whose Servant I became in the mystery of My being. That is the story of the Being Who passed into death. He was One Who could say, “I beheld the Lord always before My face”; One Who did not originate evil. That was the first phase of His victory over evil.
Let us pass to the next declaration: “For He is on My right hand, that I should not be moved.” The difference is apparent. The first declaration may thus be expressed, “I have not moved.” The second declaration may thus be expressed, “I have not been moved.” I have not moved by My own volition, choosing to act as apart from Divine movement; and I have not allowed any outside attack to overcome that allegiance. This brings us to the consideration of the position of Jesus in the world, to the fact of His Manhood. He came into a world where the force of evil was already in existence, and active. He stood through all the years of His human life between two arguments, the argument of right, and the argument of wrong, just where we stand; He stood between two forces, the force that forevermore was drawing Him towards the Throne, and that which was drawing Him from the Throne. Between these two arguments, these two forces, He, in common with all humanity, was called upon to choose.
Angels fell by their own volition and choice. Man fell because standing between these two arguments, he listened and yielded to the one of rebellion.
Jesus stood in both places. With regard to the first He said, “I set the Lord always before My face.” With regard to the second He said, “Because He is on My right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore My heart was glad, and My tongue rejoiced”; which means, being expressed in other language: I found the way of pure happiness, because I recognized His nearness to Me, and made Him My defence against all the assaults of the evil one. He gained His victory over the temptations that assailed Him from without, by constant cooperation with the God Who was at His right hand. As the Servant of God, on the angelic plane of relationship, He set the Lord before Him, and never left His habitation. As the Man on the human plane of relationship, He recognized God on His right hand, and availing Himself of His strength, was never moved by the forces that were against Him.
Thus He gained a victory over the possibility of originating evil; and over evil as suggested from without. Thus a double victory over sin was gained in the life of this Man.
We now come to the third phase of His victory, that gained through the mystery of His death. If we could but free our minds from matters with which we are familiar in this story of Jesus, we should never read of His death without being startled. Here was One Who, as Servant, had not left His habitation: Who, as Man, had won His victory of purity and holiness by cooperation with God; in Whom therefore there was no reason for death. We see Him passing to death. But now carefully observe His attitude toward death. Out of the midst of this life of victory, this double victory over evil in life, He looked at death, and He said: “My flesh shall rest in hope.” He looked to that which lay beyond death, and He said, “Thou wilt not leave My soul unto Hades, neither wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to see corruption.” As a Servant He had won victory on the first plane; He had not originated evil.
As man He had won victory on the second plane; He had overcome evil in its assaults from without. He now said: I am going into death, but death cannot hold Me. Death is the wage of sin. Death is that which has resulted from the fact of rebellion against God. I am going into it, but it cannot hold Me;
“Thou wilt not leave My soul unto Hades, Neither wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to see corruption.” This was His claim to victory over evil, as responsibility assumed. Why passed He into death, this Man of perfect life? The explanation can only be gathered from all the teaching of the New Testament. It is hinted at in this very discourse when the apostle said: “Him being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.” The meaning of it had been suggested by our Lord Himself ere He departed, when He said: “No man taketh My life away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” The reason why He laid it down is declared in the selfsame discourse, in these words, “I am the Good Shepherd; the Good Shepherd layeth down His life for the sheep.” The meaning of that death is declared by all the writers of the New Testament. “Who His own self bare our sins in His body upon the tree.” “God commendeth His own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” This Man of perfect victory went down to death because He had assumed the responsibility of sin not His own. “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.”
It is sometimes said that it is difficult to understand how one Person could take such responsibility. There is no difficulty if we remember Who the Person was Who took the responsibility. It must not be forgotten that He was more than man or servant; Who in the midst of His Manhood’s days could say, “I and My Father are One”; “I do nothing of Myself, but the things of the Father”; “My Father worketh and I work.” This is the One Who went down to death, and so into the grave.
Did He never rise? Was the stone never rolled away? Did He never come back, the Man of Nazareth? Then of all men we are the most miserable. Then is our preaching vain, and our faith is vain also. But more is involved.
If the story of the perfect life be true, God has violated eternal principles in allowing death to hold One in Whom there was no place for death. That is what Peter meant when he said: " It was not possible that He should be holden of it” God raised Him up; and the raising was proof finally of victory, over the possibility of orginating evil, over evil as suggested, and over evil as responsibility assumed. “It was impossible that He should be holden of it.” We accept that dictum; we accept the witness of the actual fact of the Resurrection; and so we know that He Who took the responsibility of human guilt has been able to accomplish His purpose; He has turned His vision into victory, and His victory into virtue.
We never stood on the angel plane, and so never could have originated evil as could they; but we have stood as men upon the human plane, and we have listened to the voice of the tempter, and we have yielded; our record is spoilt, we have failed, we are broken. But this Man Who never failed, took the awful, and the mysterious and incomprehensible responsibility of our failure, and went down into death, and sang as He went: “My flesh shall rest in hope.” From death He emerged, His soul delivered from Hades, His flesh never having seen corruption, and by that resurrection we know that the value of His dying is at our disposal. If Christ won this threefold victory, death could not hold Him. If Christ rose, He did so because He had won. Therefore the central verity of the Christian faith, and the central note of Christian preaching is the Resurrection. This explains the meaning of the Cross; and must issue in the exaltation and the coming of the King.
Acts 2:34-36 We come now to the final words of the apostolic discourse; words to which all the rest have led up; words which constitute the Pentecostal proclamation.
Peter had commenced by saying, “Be this known unto you.” He had continued by explaining that all they saw was in fulfillment of their ancient prophecies: “This is that which hath been spoken by the prophet Joel”; and that all had come to pass as the result of the ministry of Jesus.
He now passed from explanation to application. He had completed his argument, and was seeking a verdict. His last words were: “Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus Whom ye crucified.” This proclamation was preceded by an arresting illustration:
“For David ascended not into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on my right hand, Till I make Thine enemies the footstool of Thy feet.” In our examination of this final movement in the apostolic discourse we will take first the proclamation, and then return to the illustration.
The last note of the proclamation took the men who were listening back to the apostle’s first reference to the Person. He had commenced on the level of their knowledge, and in the region of their contempt, with the words: “Jesus of Nazareth.” Then he had led them on to statements concerning Christ which had challenged their belief, and which had probably raised many questions in their minds. With stately argument, and scriptural demonstration, he had proceeded from point to point; -A Man approved of God; a Man crucified, not by accident nor by blunder, but by the determinate counsel of high heaven; a Man raised from among the dead in spite of all their Sadducean unbelief; a Man lifted high and placed at the right hand of God in glory; a Man receiving there in mystic manner the gift long promised to the nation, of the outpoured Spirit; a Man pouring out this gift. As they had followed and wondered, perhaps they had lost sight of the Man of Nazareth, and forgot the villainy of their own crucifixion of Him, in the strange things that were being said to them. So the apostle finally brought them back face to face with the same Person, in the words, “This Jesus Whom ye crucified.” This is a matter of great importance, as it serves to emphasize the identity of the Person. If these men were inclined to think that perhaps the apostle’s conception of Jesus was changing, and that as he ascended the heights and saw the light of the heavenly, he was forgetful himself of the Person to Whom he had been attached; they found that he brought them back again very definitely to that same Person; “This Jesus Whom ye crucified.”
The proclamation, by claiming that this Jesus had been made by God, both Lord and Christ, emphasized the central doctrine of the Resurrection. The One at the right hand of power, the One elevated by God to Lordship, and manifested as the anointed Christ, fulfilling all the promises and purposes of the past; this One is the actual One Who was crucified, and therefore must be the One Who had been raised.
The actual proclamation was that “God hath made Him both Lord and Christ.” A natural reading of this word of the apostle makes it plain that he intended to declare that in the fact of resurrection, and in the fact of ascension, and in all those mysteries which are so difficult to speak of in the language of time and sense, God did definitely put Him in the place indicated by the twofold designation, “Lord and Christ.” The word “made” here, is a very common one, but it is a word that is always indicative of a single act; it indicates a crisis; it indicates the fact that now, the process being ended, the consummation had been reached. “God hath made Him.”
The intention of the apostle’s declaration was not that of signifying the perpetual Lordship of Christ, though that also was included. There is a sense in which through all the years of public ministry He was God’s anointed One, speaking the word of authority; both Lord and Christ. Here, however, the apostle indicated the fact that at a crisis, definitely, positively, God did by one act, make Him both Lord and Christ. In the eternal counsel and purpose of God, the Son of God was the Saviour before sin was committed, for the Lamb was slain in that eternal counsel from the foundation of the world. But now this fact had become part of human history, as well as part of a divine purpose.
This was, and is the Pentecostal proclamation. God hath made him Lord. The word Lord indicates His personal supremacy. He hath made Him Christ. The word Christ indicates His relative supremacy.
God hath made Him Lord; that is, hath vindicated His Lordship; hath declared in the sight of heaven, and earth, and hell, the fact that He is Lord by an inherent superiority. That fact was ratified by God in His resurrection, and in His ascension. When one speaks of the inherent supremacy of Jesus Christ, one refers to the fact that He is Lord,-whether we will or not,-by virtue of what He is. Jesus of Nazareth is Lord. He is facile princeps among the sons of men, incomparable in ideals and realizations, in ethical purposes, in moral achievement, in grace, and grandeur, and beauty of character. Whether we submit to Him or not, is another matter. Whether we choose to have other lords reigning over us, is not now the question.
There is none other to compare with Him. No other ideal has broken upon the imagination of man that comes into comparison with the supernal and superlative loveliness and light of the strange picture that the four Gospels give us of the man called Jesus of Nazareth.
This Lordship God has recognized and ratified. He has lifted out of the human race this Man Who is of it, and He has put Him in the place of Lordship. In His humanity Jesus fulfilled, not merely the hope and aspiration of humanity, but the will and intention of Deity. “Let us make man in our own image " was the ancient and eternal counsel. Behold this Man in Jesus. God hath made Him Lord.
But, thank God, there is another word. He hath made Him Lord and Christ. We must interpret the word Christ by the Old Testament. We must go back to its ritual and its ceremony, to its hopes, its aspirations, its increasing light, to its sob, and its sigh, and its singing, if we would know what the word Christ means. When we know it all, we do not fully know what Christ means. We need the New Testament also to tell us what Christ means.
For first values we need the Old Testament. The word itself emerges in a very dark day in Israel’s history. In the day of the Judges, when chaos was everywhere, one woman in answer to faith was given a child, Samuel; and she sang a song. It was her own song. Probably Hannah did not know the value of her song in its wider application, but it was an interpretation of the Divine method in that dark age. That song ended with the words “His anointed”; and the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Scriptures, translates it “His Christ.” There the great idea first appears.
According to that song the Christ was the King Who was to come. We move on through the history to those days of clearer vision, the days of the prophets, and we find that the Anointed was seen as anointed to loose the captive, to open the prison door, to bind up the broken-hearted, to preach the acceptable year of our Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God. There we see the Anointed supreme in a great and glorious sovereignty; but we also see the Anointed bowed and broken beneath a weight of sorrows, and we hear the Seer sing of Him, " He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him.” Now said Peter, He hath made Him-this Jesus the-Anointed. He it is Who has fulfilled the hope, realized the aspiration, provided the Atonement, made possible the restoration.
This final declaration of Peter must be interpreted by all his previous argument. We must go over those seven movements again if we would understand the ultimate meaning of His Lordship and Messiahship. Who is this that God makes Lord and Christ? Jesus of Nazareth; a Man approved of God; delivered to death; raised from the dead; ascended to the right hand; Receiver of the fullness of the Holy Spirit; Communicator of that fullness to the waiting souls on earth. All these things are necessary, for an interpretation of the royalty of Jesus, and of the virtues and values of His saviourhood.
Let us take those seven matters once again, and refer to them in other terms, attempting to deduce from the historic facts their moral and spiritual values. He hath made Him Lord and Christ; crowned humanity, is at the centre of the universe; vindicated holiness, holds the sceptre; sacrifice, as the principle of deliverance, is upon the Throne; ultimate victory, as demonstrated by resurrection is there, and all the fight is the skirmishing of administration;-spiritually Armageddon is already fought and won; it is not open to debate as to whether God or the devil is going to win; the victory is won;-He received the promise of the Father, and so established fellowship between God and humanity.
Yes, but more; He, pouring forth this gift upon frail and fainting men and women, their paralyzed lives were remade.
So the moral and spiritual values of the Lordship of Christ are these-A crowned humanity, holiness, sacrifice, victory, fellowship, and power. “Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made Him both Lord and Christ.”
Now let us turn back to Peter’s illustration. Speaking to these men, familiar with the ancient Scriptures, he said, “David ascended not into the heavens.” That takes us back to what he had already said concerning David when arguing for Resurrection-“Brethren, I may say unto you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us unto this day.” Exactly the same thought is now expressed with regard to ascension and to crowning. In this statement we have a clear revelation of what Peter meant by ascension. If ascension was merely the passing of the spirit out from material limitation into the larger life that lay beyond, then David did ascend into the heavens. But if ascension meant the coming out of death of the body of the person that passed into it, and the passing of that same body into the heavens, then David did not ascend, for, as the apostle says, “His tomb is with us unto this day/’ Peter now made a quotation from the Psalms, and said it was from a Psalm which David wrote. In our Bibles it is Psalm no. One wonders whether Peter would ever have quoted that Psalm in this connection if he had not heard Jesus Himself do so (Matthew 22:44).
Reference to this Psalm will show that it is peculiarly a Psalm of the Messiah. It falls into two parts. In the first four verses the Messiah-King is presented in His relation to Jehovah. In the last verses the same King is presented in His own might, and in the ultimate victory of His judgment. In the first four verses the Psalmist sang of the King; Who is seen in relation to Jehovah, appointed and strengthened by Jehovah, surrounded by His people; and the King is Priest;
“Thou art a priest forever, After the order of Melchizedek.” In the closing part of the Psalm this selfsame King is seen in His might and victory, proceeding through judgment to the ultimate establishment of His Kingdom. This is the Psalm that Peter quoted in exposition or illustration of the claim he made for Jesus of Nazareth. All that the Psalmist saw in dim and distant vision from some mountain height, and expressed in song, is fulfilled in the Christ. The Christ is the One appointed and strengthened by Jehovah. The Christ is the One Who gathers His people around Him, the people that become willing in the day of His power, the people who are as dew issuing from the womb of the morning, in freshness and beauty, and strength. That is the vision Peter had in mind as he declared that Jesus of Nazareth, the Person Whom they crucified, was thus appointed of God.
But let us turn to our Lord’s quotation of this selfsame passage, as it is found in the Gospel of Matthew.
“Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, What think ye of the Christ? Whose Son is He? They say unto Him, The Son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in the Spirit call Him Lord, saying,
The Lord said unto My Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, Till I put Thine enemies underneath Thy feet? If David then calleth Him Lord, How is He His Son? And no one was able to answer Him a word.”
Let us observe the relation of that question of Christ to what had gone before. His enemies had asked Him three questions; and He asked one. Every one they asked, He answered; the one He asked, they could not answer. Their first was a political question. It was asked by a coalition of Pharisees and Herodians. It was concerned with the paying of tribute. The second question was a theological one. It was asked by Sadducees, and had to do with resurrection in which they did not believe. The last was an ethical question. It was asked by a lawyer, a sincere man, and yet for the moment in all probability a tool and mouthpiece of the rest, as to which was the greatest commandment.
Jesus answered particularly and in detail every one of them. To the question about tribute, He said: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s”; to the question about resurrection, “In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage. . . . God is not the God of the dead, but of the living;” to the question about law, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” He then explained how He had been able to answer, by drawing attention to Himself, and setting up the claims of an absolute supremacy in every department. “The Lord said unto My Lord.” Whose son is that? David’s. Then how does David call his Son his Lord? They gave Him no answer.
We know the answer. David’s Son is David’s Lord, because David’s Son, of David’s nature, is also of other nature than David’s nature.
Interpreting the quotation then by Christ’s own use of it, the Lordship of Jesus is that of His final authority in matters political, theological, and ethical. He is still the supreme authority in all national and international matters. He is moreover Lord in an everlasting dominion, dealing with the whole life, that which lies beyond the present, finally cancelling death in His Lordship. He is Lord to-day, ruling this life, giving us the laws of conduct for time, and earthly conditions. Death has become a mere transition, for we are in His empire now, and shall forever be.
The quotation shows that the appointment is also to restful dominion.
“The Lord said unto My Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand.” The right hand is the place of power and the place of peace. There is no panic in the nature of God, and there is no need for it in those who know Him.
But observe finally that the appointment has its limits: “Till I make Thine enemies the footstool of Thy feet.” Not while I make Thine enemies the footstool of Thy feet. That is not the word; it is not that God has put Him there as Lord and Christ while He carries on a process of getting His Kingdom ready for Him. God has not yet begun to make His foes the footstool of His feet. The doing of that lies beyond the present age.
To quote another passage: “He shall not cry, nor lift up His voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street. A bruised reed will He not break, and a dimly burning wick will He not quench; He will bring forth justice in truth.” When He sends forth judgment to victory He will break the bruised reed and quench the smoking flax, and will win His last victory over finally rebellious hearts by the processes of judgment.
That day has not come. When is it coming? We know not. God has given us no calendar. We do not ask to know. Our comfort is that He sits at the right hand now, the Lord and the Christ.
That is the Pentecostal message; that is the all-inclusive witness of the Spirit to-day; and therefore it is the all inclusive witness, of the Church; that alone for which the Church can claim Pentecostal power. Our business-may God grant that it may be more than our business, our passion it ought to be, -to make Him Lord and Christ, Whom God hath made Lord and Christ, in our own lives, in our homes, in our cities, in the wide wide world.
Acts 2:37-47 In the Hebrew Economy Pentecost was described as the “Feast of harvest, the first fruits of thy labours.” The spiritual suggestiveness of the feast was fulfilled in the Christian dispensation on this occasion.
We have followed the course of Peter’s sermon. Now we consider,’the results of the preaching of that sermon. The story is contained in these verses. The immediate results are chronicled in the first five (Acts 2:37-41); and the continuous results in the remainder of the paragraph (Acts 2:42-47)
The immediate results were: First, conviction and enquiry; secondly, instruction and exhortation; and finally, obedience, and the addition of those who received the Spirit.
When they heard the message of the apostle they were pricked in their heart, and said: “Brethren, what shall we do?” This enquiry immediately followed Peter’s final proclamation concerning the Lordship of Jesus. In making that proclamation he did so in such a manner as to urge upon these people the sin of the death of Jesus-“God hath made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus Whom ye crucified.” Two thoughts were thus borne in upon the mind of the people that listened; first, the fact of the Lordship of Jesus; and secondly, the fact of their sin in the light of that Lordship. Conviction of these two things produced the immediate enquiry, “Brethren, what shall we do?”
The preaching which is to produce conviction in the minds of men concerning their need must be that which presents the Lordship of Christ. It was the fact of the absolute supremacy of Jesus, that produced in the minds of these men the sense of their own sin. We are often being told that men to-day lack the sense of sin that characterized the thinking and conviction of our fathers. That is probably true. One of the greatest difficulties of the hour is that men are not conscious of sin. Among the reasons for this may be the fact that we have too often brought men to the Mosaic Law, and too little to the pure majesty and lonely splendour of the Lordship of Christ.
There are men to-day who never tremble though they recite the Decalogue with great regularity; but we have yet to meet the man who can be brought face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ as He is presented to us in these Gospel stories, who can stand in the presence of His inherent Lordship, and of that Lordship which He won by the process of His work of redemption, without coming to the conviction of sin. If we are to measure our life by the standards of any law, including the Hebrew law, we may know little of trembling; but when we stand in the presence of this Lord first in the presence of the light, the holiness, and the splendour of His character; and then in the presence of that ineffable mystery; of His Passion, in which Love has wrought itself out into visibility-then we shall place our hand upon our lip and cry Unclean! It was when Peter traced the story of this Man of Nazareth, crowned Lord of all, God’s eternal Type, as well as God’s perfect Redeemer, that these men cried out in the consciousness of their own sin.
This conviction was produced by the double witness, that of a man, and that of the Holy Spirit. To attempt to produce this conviction by the preaching of Christ in one’s own strength, would be to utterly fail. And it is also true that the Spirit is dependent upon the witness of man. Where these two are united in witness, then these results follow.
Then followed the apostle’s instruction and exhortation. His instruction as to sin was expressed in the words: “Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, unto the remission of your sins.” His instruction as to the Lordship of Christ, in the words: “And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” There must be on the part of those who raise this enquiry, a turning from sin, and faith, which is symbolized by baptism; but there must also be the reception of the Spirit, in order that they may know the Lordship of Christ and obey that Lordship. His encouragement was expressed in words which declared that the ancient promise was made to them, and to their children, and to all such as God should call. Moreover he warned them to save themselves from the untoward generation.
Now observe carefully what is written about that which followed immediately: “They that received his word were baptized; and there were added . . . about three thousand souls.” The use of that word “added” here, is an interesting and valuable one to observe. The old Version read that they “were added to the Church.” The phrase “to the Church” has been omitted, and the italicized words “Unto them” substituted. As an actual fact neither phrase is in the text. Presently, it is again written, “The Lord added to them,” and here also the words “to them” are not to be found in the text. The statements respectively are, “There were added, . . . three thousand souls”; and, again, “The Lord added . . . those that were being saved.” In each case the real intention is that of showing the growth of the Church. The word translated “added” literally means to place forward; that is, the placing of certain things next to things already in existence, for the increase of that which is already in existence.
Secondarily, these people were added to the one hundred and twenty, added to the company of the disciples; but primarily, they were added to the Lord. In that hour when the Holy Spirit fell upon the hundred and twenty, the hundred and twenty were added to the Lord, made members of His Body, His flesh and His bones; in the deep and mystic sense of the New Testament teaching, they began to share the common life of the Christ of God. Here also on this day of Pentecost these people convinced, obedient, were added to the Lord, and in their addition they gained all the values of His death, and the virtues of His life. In their addition to Him, He gained the enlarged instrument through which to proclaim His message, and to do His work in the world.
So the first results of the Pentecostal sermon are seen. Conviction and enquiry produced not by the eloquence of the preacher, not by his logical argument, but by his declaration of truth concerning Jesus in the power of the Spirit; and by the Spirit’s demonstration of the truth declared, in the mind and heart of those who listened.
Conviction and enquiry were immediately followed by instruction and exhortation on the part of the apostle and the other apostles who were with him. Obedience, by turning to Christ as Lord, and repentance in the presence of sin, was followed by the reception of the Spirit, and the adding of these souls to the Lord. So the Church grew, the instrument through which our Master was able to deliver His message, and carry on His work.
Now let us glance at the continuous results. There were unquestionably un tabulated results of that first sermon in the. power of Pentecost. There were gathered together at the Feast devout men from every nation under heaven. In that company of three thousand, who heard, and were convinced, who enquired, and obeyed, who received the Spirit, and were added to the Lord, were people from the whole known and civilized world. As they returned to their lands and homes, they went as members of the mystic body of Christ, sharing His life. In the places to which they went, Christ found His opportunity through them.
There are two instances at least in the Acts of the Apostles that reveal the truth of this. The most conspicuous perhaps is that of the Church in Rome. Paul wrote his letter to the saints in Rome. Desiring to see them, and being prevented, he sent them a letter. Whence came the Church there? We have no story of the visit of an apostle. “Sojourners from Rome” heard that Pentecostal sermon. “Sojourners from Rome” became obedient to the message, and went back, and so in all likelihood the infant Church was founded.
When Saul of Tarsus was stricken by the roadside it was to the Church in Damascus that he was going. Believers were gathered together in that city. Whence came they? We have no account of an apostolic visitation. Most probably as a result of this first sermon, men had gone back to Damascus, and so the Church had been formed. How far the results went no man can ever tell.
The sermon was preached in the power of the Spirit concerning Christ. Immediate results followed, but all the results of such preaching can never be tabulated. The scattered people, going here, there, and everywhere, carried the evangel, carried more than the evangel,-they carried the power of the Christ-life by the Spirit.
But there were other clearly manifest results. The picture of the new society, the Christian Church, is full of interest. Notice its ordinances. “They continued stedfastly in the apostles’ teaching, and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.” These are four ordinances of Christian fellowship. Baptism is not an ordinance of Christian fellowship; it is the ordinance that indicates the entrance upon fellowship. The four ordinances to be constantly observed in Christian fellow ship are: the apostles’ teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers. These are not the ordinances of Christian service, but of Christian fellowship.
Service lies beyond them. They form the method of equipment for service, and are the ordinances for conserving the life of the members of the Church.
With the subject of the apostles’ teaching we need not tarry now. Suffice it to say it is preserved for us in the New Testament. The ordinance of fellowship, we have too much neglected. Are we not tempted to read these two words “teaching” and “fellowship” together, as though they indicated but one fact? Or are we not inclined to think of fellowship as merely the sentimental oneness of people, who were listening to apostolic doctrine? But that surely is not the meaning of the word here. The use of the word fellowship here indicates certain definite habits of the Saints in their assembling together. I believe that one of the secrets of the success of the Methodist Church has been its Class Meeting.
In that meeting they have had at any rate something of the realization of Christian fellowship. Dr. Dale of Birmingham once said to me, “If I could graft the Methodist Class Meeting on to our Congregational Church life, I would do it to-morrow, and make attendance upon it obligatory.” It has become very difficult for Christian people to talk of the things of Christ to each other. They meet together in ordinary life, and they talk of everything except the deepest things of their spiritual life; and that not because they have not deep experience, not because they are unfamiliar with the things of God and His Kingdom, but because they have never learned how to help each other in mutual converse concerning them. Those early Christians talked together of the things of their spiritual life, and there is no surer way to conserve and strengthen Christian life than that of such fellowship. The Old Testament has a gracious illustration of it in its last book. In those days of formalism against which Malachi thundered: “Then they that feared Jehovah spake one with another.” That was not a Prayer meeting, that was a fellowship meeting.
Then there was the breaking of the bread; that is, the gathering together as members of one family, around the one table, in obedience to the Lord’s command, to take the emblems of bread and the fruit of the vine, in memory of Him, and in proclamation of His death upon the Cross.
Finally there was the ordinance of “prayers,” that is of systematic, definite, positive praying, not as individuals only, but in connection with one another.
The effect produced by this company of people who continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching, in fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers, was that “fear came upon every soul.” The outside multitudes were conscious of fear in the presence of this strange new society existing in the midst of their life.
The fellowship in spiritual things had its outcome in other fellowship; -the fellowship of goods, fellowship in worship-they continued in the temple worshipping; fellowship in home life-from house to house they passed in social inter-relationship, eating “with gladness and singleness of heart.” They did all this, “praising God”-and mark this well-“having favour with all the people.” The persecution of the early Christians never originated with the people, but always with the rulers, the priests.
“Having favour with all the people.” If we fail there, if the Church is not in that attitude now, what are we to do? Are we to leave the Church and criticize it? A thousand times No! Rather let us face the fact of our failure, repent, do the first works, realize the Christian fellowship, and so begin to win back the favour we have lost. Have we lost favour with the people? To-day it is being admitted on every hand that the Church, as such, has ceased to have favour with the masses of the people. If so, why is it? Fundamentally she has failed to realize her own corporate life and to reveal the life of the Christ of God. She has turned to other lords and other masters, and has adopted other methods than the methods of the Christ Himself.
The Church of Christ-take a local Church as indicating the great and ideal application-a local Church, so at the disposal of the Spirit as that the Spirit through the Church can flash and flame upon the outside world, so as to amaze, perplex, and raise an enquiry; a local Church, one within its own borders in fellowship with Christ, and testifying to Christ is invariably a Church in favour with the people. Not that we should seek the patronage of the multitude, but that we are so to reveal Christ as to be centres of attraction to the multitude. The moment we depart from Him, we lose the crowd. The Church of Christ, where the Christ Himself is the supreme revelation made,-not only through the individual lives of its members, but in its corporate capacity,-where the compassion of Christ and the life of Christ are manifest in the mutual inter-relationship of the souls forming the Christian Church, is the Church to which the weary and woebegone will turn. That is the truly influential Church. How we have degraded ’that word influential.
We call a Church influential now because of the kind of people that attend it, because of the money which it raises for philanthropic objects. There was a Church in the olden days that said: “I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing,” and the Master walking amid the golden candlesticks said: “Thou . . . knowest not that thou art the wretched one and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” So He would say to-day to many Churches which we describe as influential. The influential Church is the company of loyal souls who “continue steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread and the prayers,” who eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, who manifest in their individual lives and corporate capacity the strength, the beauty, the glory, the compassion of the Christ. Wherever there is such a Church you will find the Church that has favour with the people.
The lessons of this study for the worker, and especially for those in the ministry are patent. First, preach for a verdict. That is what Peter did. Secondly, when you have preached, take time to gather your results. Thirdly, having gathered them, set them in order.
Finally let us remember for our encouragement that all the results of our teaching and preaching, if we are at the disposal of the Spirit of God, can never be tabulated. If we can tabulate the results of preaching, then the preaching is a comparative failure. But it is not so with any man who will but bring himself, with his ignorance or knowledge, with his weakness or strength, with his halting or eloquence, to the Spirit of God, for the declaration of this evangel. Rome will feel its power, Damascus will feel the effect of it. The far distant places of the world will be the places where the last ripples of the water touch the shore, and he will never know till the Day break. Cast thy bread upon the waters, for after many days thou shalt find it.