Prior to the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, He informed His disciples that, even though He would be leaving them, they would not be without comfort, the reason being that the Holy Spirit, another member of the Triune Godhead, would compensate for the absence of Himself. Being omnipresent, there was no time or place devoid of the Holy Spirit. Yet, Christ told them in John 14 that, in addition to the Holy Spirit being with them, He would now be in them. Chapters 14, 15, and 16 provide more details about the Holy Spirit than any other passage in the New Testament.
Peter, the apostle, in his great Pentecostal address recorded in Acts 2, informed his Jewish countrymen that the Holy Spirit was responsible for the phenomenon they had experienced. The rushing mighty wind that filled the entire atmosphere where they were gathered in the temple was God Himself visiting them. What is more, this special divine visit, enabling all present to hear the message in their own language, was in direct fulfillment of the promise God gave to Israel through the prophet Joel, in chapter 2. Now, here in Acts 2, on this particular day of the Feast of Pentecost, God was making good on His promise. Peter went on to say, “If you, being responsible for the death of your Messiah, will now repent, reverse yourselves, and be baptized in the very name of Jesus whom you earlier rejected, God will give you the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The result is that three thousand did so because the truth Peter spoke penetrated their hearts. They knew they had been wrong and could not undo their wrong, but they could admit it. That, to admit one is wrong and has been wrong, is a quantum leap. Man’s fallenness and ego hates to repent and acknowledge his wrong. Yet, the Holy Spirit stands by to bless with His indwelling and presentation of Himself as a gift. We know of three thousand Jews who did just that.
A new phase in the ministry of the Holy Spirit begins here in Acts 2, but do not be deceived into thinking that Peter’s message was unanimously received by his audience. We are enamored by the fact that there were three thousand who came to faith, but subsequent passages in Acts make it clear that the vast majority of Jews remained in their unbelief. For sure, we know the religious establishment remained entrenched in their opposition to Jesus as the Messiah. We’re not told how many were actually present when the three thousand believed and were baptized, but it is entirely likely there were many more thousands who did not believe, besides the three thousand who did. In any case, the Holy Spirit has now manifested Himself in an entirely new way.
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