Who’s Come? Who’s Here?

“Tell them He is coming.” That is what I heard in my spirit when I first read the proclamations of Ezekiel and Joel. (Ezekiel 36:27, 37:14; Joel 2:28,29) He prompted these prophets of God to speak. His power anointed their words and imparted them with the wisdom of God, so they were able to accurately prophesy the Father’s promise toward mankind.

At the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry, in the evening before He was betrayed and arrested, He spoke to His disciples and gave them insight into the coming of the Promise. After supper, after He washed their feet, after telling them what was about to happen, He comforted them and told them that the Father would send them another Comforter. (John 14-16)

Every year Christians remember Pentecost. We must not remember it as a certain day that happened fifty days after The Lord Jesus Christ resurrected from the grave and ten days after He ascended to the Father. This was not for a certain day in history, but for a certain age in eternity. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2:1-4 NKJV.

When the prophecy was fulfilled, and when the day was fully come, they were all amazed and were in doubt. They said to one another, “What does this mean?” Today we would say, “What is going on?” Different translations point out that the crowd was confused or perplexed. My Grandaddy would say they were bumfuzzled, as ones that did not know whether they had found a rope or lost their cow.

The crowd was seeking a natural explanation for a supernatural manifestation. Often, that which cannot be understood causes some to form an answer that will satisfy the mind. It was that way with Jesus in His earthly ministry. Remember when Jesus healed the paralyzed man that had been let down through the roof of the house? Mark tells us that when the man jumped up and walked out, the onlookers were stunned. They said, “We have never seen anything like this before!”

I want us to think about this crowd that had gathered. The Word tells us that the crowd were God-fearing, God-loving Jews from every nation. I believe this crowd, both Jews and converts to Judaism, had been divinely positioned in Jerusalem for this very day. The message that Peter would deliver consisted of an explanation of what happened, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and a call to repent and be baptized. Those that believed Peter’s message would take this back to their nation. (Acts 2)

But some made fun of, scoffed at, even ridiculed by suggesting that the new and few members of the Body of Christ were drunk. (Acts 2:13) Over two-thousand years later and ain’t much changed, has it? Today that crowd is the much larger and ever-growing Body of Christ that is in the world. And yet, when He wills to supernaturally manifest His presence in local churches or individual believers, there are still many God-fearing, God-loving believers that ask, “What is this?”

And sadly, there are many that still scoff, mock, and ridicule. When this is done in ignorance or by trying to understand with worldly wisdom, there can be an excuse. But when, because of false teaching or to the worst degree blasphemy, the consequences can be devastating. As a young immature believer, I learned quickly that if I did not understand something, or I was hearing a differing teaching, I shut my mouth until I got revelation. Then there is their attitude in their ridiculing. To me it is as if they are seeing this divinely ordered manifestation as an intrusion into their normal daily lives. But the reality is He was here already. They were the Johnny-come-latelies. He was here when the earth was dark and wet. (Genesis 1:2)

Before I became a Christian, I would hear people talk about the Holy Spirit and I would wonder what is it? Right away you would have noticed, as you could today when the Holy Spirit is referred to as an it, that I was ignorant of Him. The Holy Spirit is not an “it” or a force. He is God! He possesses the same attributes and characteristics as the Father and the Son. He does, however, serve a differing role toward mankind.

He was present when the braying donkey began to speak, when the sun held its place for twenty-four hours, and when a stone left a shepherd boy’s sling. He gave skill to Bezalel, strength to Samson and unmatched wisdom to a king. While there are many other aspects of His workings, some that I have seen is that He empowers, restrains, and speaks through those called by God to fulfill His purpose. When God chose a person to do something it was the Holy Spirit that gave them the power and ability to do it. And if it was something too big for the britches of man, He only asked for faith and obedience and then get out of the way. This is how He worked in Mary’s life and the conception of God the Son.

Just as Jesus’ earthly ministry was empowered by the Holy Spirit when He descended on Him at His baptism, anointing Jesus to preach, teach and heal. He continued in the lives of the Apostles and others as testified to by Dr, Luke in the Book of Acts. He desires to continue His works and ways in the lives of every believer today. This starts at the moment of our salvation by His indwelling when He gives us eternal life and seals us for the day of redemption. After He regenerates our spirits by causing us to be born again. He then works fruit in us and conforms us to the image of Christ. The same empowering that He gave to Jesus, He wants to give to us. How else would we do the greater works that our Lord told us, His Church, we would do? It is by His power working through us.

So, that is Who has come. That is Who is here.