Dearly loved by God in Christ,
When a child is smallish, concerned parents might take him or her to see their pediatrician. The doctor examines the child, finds nothing wrong, and assures mom and dad, “Don’t worry, he’ll grow,” or, “She’ll soon have a growth spurt.”
At the time Jesus went to the cross only to rise again for our justification, the Christian Church was smallish. We don’t know the exact number of believers prior to Jesus’ ascension into heaven but almost certainly, it did not number in the thousands. Soon, however, it would.
Already to Abraham the Lord had promised growth to the church. Jesus promised his disciples that the Father would send “the Counselor, the Holy Spirit,” who would “teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you,” as we heard in the gospel. The prophet Joel, quoted here by Peter, saw this day.
This growth spurt happened on the first Pentecost festival ten days following Jesus’ ascension. Jesus Poured Out His Spirit on the Church. It was time to know and to share God’s Word; it was time to expect Judgment Day.
Pentecost was the second great festival on the Jewish calendar. It was the spring harvest festival. You may have heard the Methodist hymn, “Bringing in the Sheaves.” On Pentecost, worshipers brought recently ripened sheaves of barley and wheat in gratitude to the Lord for providing their daily bread. On this Pentecost, through the gospel, the Holy Spirit brought into God’s kingdom many sheaves of new believers in Jesus Christ.
Peter and the others disciples, not just the Apostles, received knowledge in a once in a lifetime miraculous outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Christ’s church. The Holy Spirit filled their hearts with a clearer understanding of the Scriptures, of the discourses Jesus spoke, and the work Jesus accomplished for the world’s forgiveness and salvation. The Counselor led them to greater knowledge and appreciation of the truth that is God’s Word. He gave them courage, and the ability to suddenly speak other languages in order to share that truth, “declaring the wonders of God.”
The church experienced growth as Jesus poured out his Spirit on the church. It was time for knowledge and to share God’s Word to all the nations. Jesus’ saving work is too great to keep in one place. It is not for just one nation. Peter preached this truth to the people from all the nations who had come to Jerusalem. Peter preached Christ, and repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins. The Holy Spirit worked through the Word of God Peter preached to bring a growth spurt. While not part of our text, St. Luke wrote, “About three thousand were added to their number that day.”
Knowledge and sharing have been around since Eden. Pentecost is not the birth of the church but its sudden growth. The smallish Old Testament church grew from an immature child who needed the law as a tutor to prepare for Christ, into the New Testament church living as a more mature child in the freedom of Christ.
Jesus continues today to pour out his Spirit on the church. He does not do this with a special outpouring of the Spirit apart from the Word but through the Word as it worked when Peter preached. The Christian Church and our church body and our congregation continue to grow as the Holy Spirit adds believers to our numbers through the gospel of Christ in Word and sacrament.
The Holy Spirit continues to impart the knowledge of the truth in our hearing and study of God’s Word. The Spirit in the Word and sacrament reminds us of what Christ has done for us. Through the gospel, the Spirit endows us with the eternal benefits of Christ’s work of redemption.
We are the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy as we see visions of God’s mercy in Jesus’ cross and empty tomb. We dream dreams of the day when we no longer will live in this sinful world but in the glorious perfection of the new heavens and the new earth, citizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem. It is time to expect Judgment Day.
We do not know a lot about Joel but his message was a precursor to Peter’s, both preached repentance. Peter mentions Joel’s prophecy of the day all believers not just the prophets would receive the Spirit to prophecy, that is, speak God’s revealed Word. That time would come “in the last days.”
The clock for the last days began to tick down to zero the instant Jesus ascended into heaven. The angels said Jesus would come back. That is Judgment Day. From the ascension until this instant, Jesus’ return to judge the living and the dead has been imminent, near. The Lord Jesus did not leave without setting up signs. One of those is Joel’s prophecy fulfilled in the disciples speaking those known languages without having to learn them. The growth of the church through the Word is a continuing sign.
Jesus also speaks of signs that would come immediately before Judgment Day “blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Peter ties the miracle of Pentecost with the end of the universe. Both are reminders that it is time for Judgment Day. Any second now, God will consume all the earth not with water but with fire. It will be literally, lights out, when God who created the sun shuts it off.
There is one way to have confidence and hope in that great day. “Those who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” This is a description of believers. We have salvation through the forgiveness of sins imputed to us by the Holy Spirit through the gospel. Believers will not cry out for the hills and mountains to cover us and hide us. The name of the Lord, Christ, his reputation as my Savior is what I will call upon in the midst of the terror and despair that will come from the weeping eyes and gnashing teeth of those who rejected Christ.
Rather than dread that day, we look forward to it. It was time for Judgment Day that first Pentecost. It is time for Judgment Day now as Jesus pours out his Spirit on the church through the Word of Christ. God chose the day 10 days after Jesus ascension because the world had come to Jerusalem. Now, these three thousand would travel home with new hearts, a new understanding, and a new anticipation.
Travel home again today, brothers and sisters in Christ, with those same Pentecost blessings. Amen. <SDG>