new life is received

Image by dtcchc via Flickr

“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” ” (Acts 2:1-13, ESV)

“They have had too much wine.”

Apparently there are a whole bunch of people, Jesus’s disciples, some women, Jesus’s mother and his brothers, all gathered together somewhere in Jerusalem during this time called Pentecost. Suddenly it sounds like a 747 has parked in their living room and little flames of fire move around the room and land on every single one of them. Then, they are filled with the Holy Spirit, they all start speaking in foreign languages and spill out into the street were the crowds accuse them of being drunk.

What in the world is going on here?

Now, how many of you think that Pentecost is a purely Christian phenomenon; that this celebration began when the Spirit was poured out on the church?

Pentecost was actually an ancient Jewish festival that went all the way back to Mt. Sinai.

Pentecost marked the time when the Israelites received the covenant.

Remember, Israel had been enslaved under Pharaoh in Egypt, and God had sent Moses to help liberate his people. The night that the Israelites left Egypt, they were told to celebrate this special meal, called the Passover. They were to slaughter and cook a perfect lamb a certain way, and spread some of its blood on the door posts. When the Angel of Death saw that blood he would pass over that house and not enter that house.

That night Pharaoh decided to let them go, and a new chapter started in the history of Israel.

They were given a new beginning.

Turn with me a minute to Exodus 12

” The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.” (Exodus 12:1-2, ESV)

The first month.

The passover marked the new beginning for Israel.

They started a new life.

They were freed from oppression because of the blood of the lamb they had spread on the door post.

Then, the Israelites leave Egypt and head out into the desert. They miraculously cross the Red Sea and wind up in the desert of Sinai.

A wasteland of rocks and dust and mountains.

50 days after they celebrated the passover, the Israelites stood before Mt. Horeb in the desert of Sinai and met with God.

“On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.” (Exodus 19:16-19, ESV)

It is here that God meets them and gives them an amazing promise. It is here, in the desert, that God gives them their new identity.

In Egypt the Israelites were defined by how many bricks they could produce, by what they could achieve. But here before the mountain, they had only to receive this covenant that God was giving them.

Look at Exodus 19

“You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” ” (Exodus 19:4-6, ESV)

The Israelites stood there before the mountain and heard God promise that they would be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

This is what is celebrated at the time of Pentecost.

So the followers of Jesus were gathered together in one place, celebrating Pentecost, reading the stories of God appearing with fire, and thunder, and trumpets on Mt. Sinai.

“And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.” (Acts 2:2-3, ESV)

The original readers would have thought, “Sinai,  the covenant. Is this the coming of the new covenant?

The new covenant promised in Jeremiah 31.

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34, ESV)

No “ifs”, “ands”, or “buts”. Simply, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

The pouring out of the Spirit ushers in a new beginning, a fresh start.

A fresh start, not just for Israel, but for the world.

“Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” (Acts 2:5-11, ESV)

There were people in the city from every nation under heaven, and they all hear the mighty works of God in their own languages.

This is a reversal of Babel.

Turn with me to Genesis 11.

This story starts with all people having one language and they decide to make a name for themselves, they decide to achieve their worth while God called them to receive it. They try to build a tower for themselves so they could become famous and draw all people to them, and God comes down to have a look at what they are doing.

“And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. ” (Genesis 11:6-9, ESV)

In order to stop the people from seeking to achieve their identity, God confuses their languages and scatters them over the face of the earth.

God takes one nation and makes many.

But here at Pentecost there are representatives from “every nation under heaven.” All the nations created at Babel have gathered in Jerusalem and they all hear the mighty acts of God in their own languages.

God has taken many nations and made one, one nation united through the Holy Spirit pointing to the incredible acts of God through Jesus Christ.

Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, gave himself as the ultimate passover lamb on Good Friday.

He gave himself as the new passover meal to inaugurate the new exodus for the new Israel.

The blood of Christ on our hearts replaced the blood on the door frames of those houses in Egypt.

Then, fifty days later, the Spirit was poured out on his people. It seals on us the new covenant, a covenant written not on stone tablets, but on our hearts.

The Spirit gives to us the new life promised in Christ.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23, ESV)

The new life in Christ is something that is never achieved, it is received.

This is why the image of baptising a baby is so appropriate.

They can only receive from us what they need to survive. They are unable to fend for themselves, they are unable to do anything to earn what we give to them, they can only receive it.

Maybe this is one of the reasons Jesus says the kingdom of heaven belongs to little children.

Maybe it is not just about becoming innocent, pure, trusting.

Maybe it is about becoming willing to receive.

“Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:10, ESV)

May you come to see that the new life offered to you in Christ is not something that you have to achieve.

May you come to see that you become a part of this new people of God through the blood of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.