Those who know it best hunger and thirst to hear it again
January 23, 2009 (Friday)
As Jesus ascended to Heaven, his last instructions to his disciples were to stay in Jerusalem and pray, waiting for what the Father promised: the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. They obeyed him, and at the Feast of Pentecost the promise was suddenly fulfilled as the Spirit descended upon them and they spoke excitedly about Jesus in languages they had never learned.
The many visitors from other cities and countries heard them speaking in their own language and were amazed. Some made fun of them and accused them of being drunk.
Peter arose and began to speak to the crowd by announcing that those speaking in other languages were not drunk, but were part of the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel, uttered many years before, in which he predicted a miraculous outpouring of God’s Spirit and the offer of salvation for all.
The sermon Peter preached that day made clear that Jesus had done nothing worthy of death but had been crucified by the wicked hands of those listening to him. God broke the chain of death and Jesus had burst forth from the tomb. Jesus himself was alive and was the one responsible for what the crowd was seeing and hearing. The people cried out, “What must we do?” Peter solemnly and gladly replied, “Repent!” At that moment many of them began to believe in Jesus, and by the end of the day three thousand had been baptized.
And so it began. The numbers continued to grow, and two millennia of history are now on record, showing the power of God in the growing Church. Today there are more than two billion Christians and people are becoming believers in Him at a greater rate than ever before.
The story is still being told, and will never end.