Pentecost Sunday

The end of Luke and the beginning of Acts both record Jesus instructing his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for “the promise of the Father,” which is the coming of the Holy Spirit. Shortly after giving them this instruction Jesus ascends into heaven and once prompted by angels the disciples follow Jesus’ instructions and return to Jerusalem.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live... These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

One of the most tragic aspects of sin and its consequences is our alienation from God.

We were made by God, are sustained by him at every moment, and yet find ourselves wandering through a world wondering where he is. We do not hear God “walking in the cool of the day” like our first parents, and even though the whole world at every moment is a kind of book about God, we struggle to learn to read it. 

Pentecost is about God returning to us, and in a manner far better than before.

Instead of walking with us, he enters into us.

We become the “holy of holies,” each one of us: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit?” (1 Cor. 6:19)

As flesh ascends to heaven in the Ascension, now heaven descends to flesh in Pentecost. It is a major development in God’s redemptive work and a sign of the extent to which Christians participate in the nature of Christ. 

Scripture to consider:

• Acts 2

  
  

Question for your kids

• Why do you think the crowd was sad after they heard Peter tell them about Jesus?

• Do you think this kind of thing could happen today?  (Hint: Yes! God is still the same God)

Peace,

Danny+