Grace At Pentecost

Linda Rock
May 31, 2024
3 min read

We hold in our minds that the coming of the Holy Spirit on that First Pentecost, was including, involving and inviting, a number of people, none of whom was a follower of Jesus. Does this not still fascinate you, when you stop and ponder the provision which grace made and still continues to make for non-believers?

Grace still makes provision for those who are afar off, to hear and believe. This was evidenced most clearly at Pentecost when, not only the disciples received, but in their receiving and doing, others were made witnesses.

Now, we are brought to contemplate and feed on a few thoughts, which bring us nearer and nearer to our Lord and Master.

We must never ever be deceived, come what may, even for a moment, to think that the Gift of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, was for self-edification, first and foremost. This must be emphatically stated. This Gift was not given to make people more holy, more Christian, or more saved than others.

He, God’s Promised Gift, was given to equip the disciples with power, to be Christ’s servants, in a dynamically different way.
He, God’s Precious Gift, was given for the disciples to receive power to be the witnesses of Jesus Christ, everywhere.
He, God’s Present Gift, was given so that people will know that Jesus is alive, and is present in His disciples, right here on earth.

The Gift of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, was made manifest in two ways. I know that most of us, or all of us know this well, but it is good to pause and hear it again; hear it with Pentecostal hearing. We listen to what Jesus told His disciples, just before His ascension, as He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, before receiving the Promised Gift from His Father.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1: 8

The first thing that is given note, is that the power was manifested in supernatural action. In other words, the evidence of the Pentecostal filling, was not seen in an act of human power, skill, ability, or any such thing that the disciples ever did. It was nothing that they knew beforehand. In other words, it was not that Peter was a German and when the Holy Ghost came upon him, he spoke boldly in German. No! It was as though Peter was not a German and only after the filling of the Holy Ghost, after receiving His power, was Peter able to speak in German. Do you really believe this miracle of Pentecost? This is true for everything and anything. What I mean is that when a person is filled with the Holy Ghost, he or she can be enabled to do whatever service, whatever work the Lord requires.

The Power of the Holy Ghost, enabled and still enables Jesus’ servants to do the impossible, the supernatural.

Another thing that is given note and count, is that the power was for others, not for themselves. It still leaves me breathless, to think that while God, the Holy Spirit was enabling the disciples of God, the Son, to speak in other languages, concerning God, the Father, He was also enabling people who spoke those exact tongues, to hear. Was this by accident, I ask you? Was it just one of those unexplainable phenomena? Was it simply coincidental? No! With every fibre in my being, I say never! That was the total miracle of Pentecost. It was the fulfilment of the Triune God’s Word, Way and Will, through His Holy Ghost.