Main menu
2.2 The promise
Jesus calls it the promise from the Father. Acts 1:4 – “…Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.”
The Father had spoken about it again in connection with Jesus’ work.
When John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the river Jordan, he said: “He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 3:11 and other verses).
Then a complete new time will be starting for ‘God’s people’, as had been predicted by the prophet Joel. That this happening was of such great and vital importance, becomes clear from Jesus’ commandment to his students (7) that they have to wait for the fulfilment of the Father’s promise.
What is this promise from the Father? That is the baptism in the Holy Spirit (see for example Acts 1:4-
On the day of Pentecost, Peter says in his speech:
• Jesus is exalted!
• He has received the promise from the Father!
• He has poured ‘this’ out!
There is no mistake to be made about this. What happens on this day of Pentecost with the 120 students, is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, is the promise of the Father!
All God’s promises are in Christ (in the Church, his body, of which He is the Head); yes! And the amen (the result of this), is also through us, His Church! What a fortune of love!
But it is beyond any doubt that this promise is meant for everyone.
Peter continues. This is his alter call at the end of his speech:
• repent (turn around, let your life’s purpose be focused on God);
• be baptized ( be pushed under in water)
• and you will receive the talent (donation) of the Holy Spirit,
for this promise is for you…
(Acts 2:38 and 39: “Peter replied, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call”).
Can you see them standing there? The Jews and the ones that became Jews gathered from all over the world in Jerusalem? This promise is for you …for all who are listening here, not for just one, for a chosen group of special people, but for all of you!
For everyone that listens, turns to God, and is baptized…God’s promise of giving the Holy Spirit as a gift (meaning: for free, you don’t earn it) is also for him and her.
At later times many people (mostly ‘theologians’) wanted to limit this promise to the first century or the first centuries of Christianity. “That was meant for that time, not for always, not for now! The Church still had to prove itself. The Word was not there yet. But that is all different now. Now we don’t need ‘this’ anymore!”
It is good to see a change in our days, a rediscovering, that ‘this’ is also meant for our time and for us indeed!
Peter also said it when he held his speech, freshly filled with the Spirit: “The promise is for you and your children (offspring) and for all who are far off.”
Great!
It is for Peters’ generation and … for his offspring, the next generation and for all who are still far away.
It is meant in the way it has been said.
How can the people be part of this? Does it work automatically because the Spirit was once outpoured anyway?
This promise is for “all whom the Lord our God will call”! It is a never ending precious good. Jesus had to pay for this with his life. And after that He had to be exalted (= to be taken up in the Father’s throne) to be able to obtain this promise for you and me and to be able to share this promise.
It was a high price that was paid for it, not something that can be taken for granted.
Therefore, whoever hears God’s calling and is obedient to it, may receive. It is like Peter says: “Repent and be baptized and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
The promise is for those who are called, for those people that follow Jesus and want to apply his words in their lives (live?). God gives his Holy Spirit to those who obey Him, which means: those who listen and do what He says. Acts 5:32 says this:
“We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
So when you answer to God’s call, turn around, focus on God’s purpose, and banish sin out of your life, then you are invited to receive the promise through God!
Receiving this promise is so big that, in describing the happening around Pentecost Luke uses several different words to describe the same manifestation.
It has to become clear to us how important the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is to the Kingdom of God. Indeed God wants to lead us to the fulfilment in fullness, to a life in abundance, to the example (image) of Jesus.
We read that the Father’s promise means:
• the gift/donation (Greek: doorea, present) of
• the baptism in
• and the fulfilling with the Holy Spirit.
By the promise God makes his will and his Plan known to us.
By the gift, God lets us know how his hand is completely reaching out for us.
By the baptism (in the Holy Spirit) we realise and experience the reality of God’s dynamic power.
By the fulfilment it becomes clear to us that we are able to be full of and conform to Jesus Christ!
7. Student: In the N.I.V.-
« Back | Next »