The Holy Spirit was sent that these students would be enabled to understand, commissioned to love, ready to obey, & encouraged to propel the Gospel forward. And yet here we see Jesus charging them not to go forward until they received the gifts & graces which they were to be furnished with for the perfect discharge of their ministry.
And perhaps I’ve been in that season of waiting too. Oh that He
graciously tarries for the appropriate time to release His Spirit upon
the people He entrusts with the greatest tasks of ministry. Because our
excitement for the appointment doesn’t naturally translate to the
empowerment of the assignment.
His beckoning them to “stay in the city” would require them to sit still, be silent, not preach, attend to prayer, and wait on the Spirit. And I love some versions that say the disciples were said to have been “endued” with the Spirit that came down. Endued.. which means clothed. They were to be literally clothed with the Spirit. What a tremendous responsibility! What a terrific privilege!
The disciples, too, were being asked to wait in Jerusalem for the Spirit... uniquely and surely purposefully.. the very place where the Spirit had been dishonored and blasphemed.
And don’t forget that up to this point the disciples had shown insufficient determination (Mt26:41,43), weak courage (Mt 26:56), and had little understanding of Christ’s aim (Acts1:6). Oh and how much they needed to prepare for the long, hard, but glorifying work that lied ahead!
And so could it be that the waiting for the Spirit to descend was indeed for their ultimate benefit and God’s highest glory? It is the perfecting by & by. It is about the transforming into His image. And what can be an arduous process, can absolutely produce an amazing result!
The question we must wrestle with daily is: How well will I host the Spirit of God?
His beckoning them to “stay in the city” would require them to sit still, be silent, not preach, attend to prayer, and wait on the Spirit. And I love some versions that say the disciples were said to have been “endued” with the Spirit that came down. Endued.. which means clothed. They were to be literally clothed with the Spirit. What a tremendous responsibility! What a terrific privilege!
The disciples, too, were being asked to wait in Jerusalem for the Spirit... uniquely and surely purposefully.. the very place where the Spirit had been dishonored and blasphemed.
And don’t forget that up to this point the disciples had shown insufficient determination (Mt26:41,43), weak courage (Mt 26:56), and had little understanding of Christ’s aim (Acts1:6). Oh and how much they needed to prepare for the long, hard, but glorifying work that lied ahead!
And so could it be that the waiting for the Spirit to descend was indeed for their ultimate benefit and God’s highest glory? It is the perfecting by & by. It is about the transforming into His image. And what can be an arduous process, can absolutely produce an amazing result!
The question we must wrestle with daily is: How well will I host the Spirit of God?
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