No 10

(The Holy Spirit at Pentecost)

When Jesus was on earth, He promised that God would “give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever” (John 14 : 16); the Comforter is, of course, the Holy Spirit. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Apostles were gathered together in a room and had just drawn straws to see who would be the 12^th apostle to replace Judas. They were celebrating the Jewish feast of Pentecost to commemorate the the offering of “first fruits” that was ordered by God in Leviticus 23 : 16. The word Pentecost means “fifty days” and fifty days had transpired since Jesus ascended to heaven. The Holy Spirit descended upon them in the form of tongues of fire and they were filled with divine power (Acts 2 : 1 – 4). They began speaking languages they had never spoken before (Acts 2 : 6 – 8) and boldly preached the Gospel to whoever was listening. They healed the infirm and gave God all the glory. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit did not indwell believers – He was upon them but not in them. We, as believers today, have the same Holy Spirit as the Apostles had and what a wonderful privilege it is to know that we have divine power within our grasp. The Holy Spirit not only empowers believers but convicts sinners to repentance. The Bible says in John 16 : 8: “And when He is come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgement”. His work still goes on today but there will come a time when He will be removed and lawlessness will take over. In one of our past studies on eschatology we saw that the Holy Spirit will be removed at the Rapture of the Church and antichrist will take over. We all know that Satan is alive and well on this earth today - “..the mystery of lawlessness is already at work only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way” (2 Thess 2 : 7). The only thing that holds back Satan from completely taking over the world is the Spirit of God in believers.