God's Preparations

“When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4).

We are struck by the suddenness and the magnitude of this first outpouring of the Holy Spirit as He falls simultaneously upon 120 disciples who are filled with the Holy Spirit and speak in foreign “tongues” - what follows are the outcomes of being baptized in the Holy Spirit which enables His disciples to live together in loving harmony and to engage in God’s mission.

We need to take account of two things – firstly, God had prepared for this momentous happening from the moment our first parents rebelled against Him in the Garden of Eden and that those preparations took on a new urgency when Father sent Jesus to earth to accomplish His plan of salvation when the eternal Son of God was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary and took on human flesh. The accomplishment of God’s purpose to save us took place at the cross where Jesus died, three days later He rose triumphantly, forty days later He returned to Father and 10 days later we arrive at today –the Day of Pentecost, the occasion of Jesus Christ pouring out the Holy Spirit on 120 disciples who were gathered together, waiting for God to fulfil the word He had spoken to them just before He left them,