By Phil Wood
Then Peter stood up
with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd:
"...Therefore let
all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified,
both Lord and Messiah."
When the people heard
this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles,
"Brothers, what shall we do?"
Peter replied,
"Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for
the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all
who the Lord our God will call."
Acts
2:14-39
I cut out a lot of the above Scripture passage for the sake
of brevity. I hope you'll open your Bible and read the whole passage for
yourself. It's the absolutely brilliant speech made by Peter right after he and
the disciples received the Holy Spirit by what seemed to be tongues of fire at
Pentecost.
The whole speech
is magnificently constructed, so convincing, so articulate – so far beyond what
we have come to expect from Peter up to this point in the Bible – we can only surmise it is the power of the
Holy Spirit working through him.
It's this last part of the speech, however, and the people's
response to it, that has drawn my interest these past few days since Pentecost.
Not only do we see Peter enabled to bear such powerful testimony to the truth,
we see the people enabled to hear the
truth, recognize what a tragic mistake they had made, and take whatever action
was necessary to make amends.
Likely, many of these people were part of the crowd
forty-some days earlier shouting, "Crucify! Crucify!" Yet here they
were, convicted by the Holy Spirit, "cut
to the heart," accepting the Lordship of Christ, and submitting to baptism
for the forgiveness of their sins.
The Holy Spirit was acting in both the speakers and the hearers at that first Pentecost
event. And is it just me, or does it seem like the same thing might be happening
right now, in this season of Pentecost 2020?
It has been a strange time, unlike any we've ever witnessed.
No violent winds or tongues of fire, but it seems to me like the messages
brought in our online worship services are spirit inspired, the music touches
me more deeply, the Scriptures read by children feel purer, and the words of
our daily devotionals have brought new understanding. Has the Holy Spirit been training
my ears to receive the message?
Have you noticed anything similar happening in your own
experience?
Peter said, "And you will receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off –
for all who the Lord our God will call." That would be you and me.
We know from the verses following these words that the
people then "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to
fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." They were cut to the
heart. Their ears were opened, and they went on to learn and do everything they
could to be more like Jesus.
I believe this is the legacy of Pentecost. We are to learn
and do everything we can to be more like Jesus. And the Holy Spirit will be
there to help us every step of the way. Peter wrote later in 2 Peter 1:3-9,
stating basically that the power of the Spirit is given to us to transform
wickedness into goodness, cruelty into kindness, self-indulgence into
self-control, hatred into love.
But the Spirit does not come at our beck and call. Jesus
said it's like the wind, it "blows wherever it pleases." (John 3:8)
"The wind of God
is always blowing", said Francois Fénelon, "...but you must hoist
your sail."
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