Many years ago I was visiting a friend in Idyllwild, California. It is a small mountain town just above Los Angeles. This particular visit had been just a few days after a massive fire storm had rampaged over the mountains. As I drove up the mountain I could still smell the smoke in the air even though the fire had been contained. I could not really see the evidence of a fire, but I could smell it. Reports had been made that considerable amounts of acreage had been consumed. And I thought about my friend’s conversation on the phone just days before as she described rushing to pack their most important items and documents, while dipping the cats and dogs in a tub full of water to keep them cool. Thankfully the fire did not destroy their home and they were able to return after a few days off the mountain.
My friend took me out to the edge of a burn sight. I had never actually been in an area of a massive burn. It was weird and wonderful and strange. I felt like I was looking at a black and white photograph. There was no color, nor was there any sound. All of the things that create sound in a forest were utterly destroyed or gone. No leaves for the wind to dance through; no twigs for our feet to break; no animals to rustle the underbrush; no limbs for birds to sit on and sing from. There were a few black posts, remnants of great trees, jutting up from the gray floor. As far as we could see in one direction there was nothing but gray and black against an alarmingly blue sky. And all the while a deathly silence.
As we quietly walked through the black posts of the remaining tree trunks we noticed a few things. Over in one direction were some paint cans that someone apparently had tried to dump in the forest. The metal was bent and warped from the intense heat to which they had been exposed. Black branches of varying sizes, usually quite large, lay scattered around like pick-up sticks.
And then there was something I had never seen before. I noticed in the ground these holes that looked like they were small animal tunnels. I was completely captivated by these. We stood there looking down on a couple of them trying to figure out if the firefighters had used some kind of tools to dig under the ground, or if in fact they were small animals holes. There would be three or four of them grouped together and then they would all lead off in opposite directions. I got down on my hands and knees to look and I discovered that these holes tapered off to almost nothing. They looked like funnels. My friend and I stood there for the longest time just trying to figure out what would make a hole like that. All of the sudden reality met with logic. These were holes left by burned out roots of trees. The fire had been so intense that the heat had consumed even the roots of the trees! I was stunned at the power of fire. I stood there for the longest time just trying to grasp the immensity of the flames and heat that could do that kind of thing.
When a fire starts it rushes through catching up everything and everyone it can. It changes everything. It transforms a lush animal-populated forest into a barren black and white silent world. Even after it has subsided the territory looks different, the smell lingers, the ash floats in the air and there are strange holes in the ground—empty places that need to be filled.
Previously we have explored the various characteristics of the Holy Spirit found in the Bible. We discovered that the Holy Spirit comes to us as a gift through baptism of fire. This is a powerful and almost overwhelming image—through fire. There are three things very specifically that a fire does: 1) it guts and cremates everything in its path; 2) it levels the field—no shrub or flower or animal or much of anything is standing after a most devastating fire. Fire does so many things, and so does the gift of Holy Spirit fire. As we move now into the second chapter of Acts we will watch as the Holy Spirit does the work of consuming and leveling.
If you have traveled about in Christian circles for a while, the second chapter of Acts is one of the most famous in the New Testament. It is a radical chapter that pushes out the boundaries of our sensibilities and understanding of communication. It reminds us that the physical world that we have grown accustomed to is not really all there is to this life. It challenges us to understand who the Holy Spirit is and what kind of work the Spirit does.
Some have considered this chapter as the record of the beginnings of the New Testament Church. And in many respects it is that. But, I believe it is primarily the demonstration of the coming of the Holy Spirit in a whole new way, which had been prophesied for centuries and preached about by Jesus. The ancient prophet Ezekiel, in 36:26-27, recorded the words the Lord spoke to him, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” The promise of the indwelling and rejuvenating work of the Holy Spirit was, and still is, God’s promise for all his children—Jew and Gentile alike. The Holy Spirit is the actual and living presence of God among and in us.
Prior to the time in Acts 2 the Spirit had not been absent from the earth, rather the Spirit had been demonstrated in a variety of ways. It was the Spirit of God who was “brooding over the face the waters” at Creation (Genesis 1:2) and who put the breath of life into humanity (Genesis 2:7). This same Spirit was the one who dwelled in the Temple built by the children of Israel during their travels in the desert, who spoke with Moses and caused his face to glow with the glory of the Presence (see Exodus 34). This same Spirit poured himself into prophets, priests and kings in those ancient days.
But on one day in particular, in a room in Jerusalem, the physical presence of Jesus was replaced by the power, the authority, yes—the Spirit himself coming into and on common people in an uncommon way. No longer was the Spirit just for prophets, priests and kings, but that day and today the Fire of the Spirit is for all believers everywhere.
Read Acts 2:1-13 to explore the work of the Holy Spirit.
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
John the Baptist and Jesus had been very clear about the way the Holy Spirit would come—with fire. Now, our dear writer Luke struggled to describe what he saw and experienced that day. He said it seemed like a violent wind, it looked like fire—it had all the appearances of a firestorm. These are words of a human being trying to describe in concrete ways the highest form of Spiritual Being intersecting life with theirs. It is like fire. It changes everything.
The disciples and many other men and women, were praying in a room, seeking God’s presence, being obedient to the words of instruction that Jesus had left them. “Be together. Pray. Wait for the Gift.” Just as Jesus rewrote the meaning of the Passover bread and wine into the covenant of communion, now the Spirit rewrote the meaning of Pentecost. Pentecost had been the traditional feast celebrated by the Jews at the end of the Harvest each year. It was to be celebrated fifty days after the Passover.
So, there they were being good Jews in Jerusalem with thousands of others and then something new happened. A new form of communication erupted from their hearts now filled with the Holy Spirit and his fire. This was not a new kind of computer or a new kind of telephone or a new way to send signals through numbers, beeps or drum beats. No, this was the Holy Spirit touching the disciples and the ears of the listeners so that everyone understood.
God knew what he was doing.
In the first place, God knew what he was doing by totally transforming frightened, sad and confused disciples into courageous, joyful and focused evangelists. Can you imagine with me the disciples after Jesus left? As obedient as they were in returning to Jerusalem, they must have been confused, perhaps afraid. They had just been on an emotional roller coaster. They had watched Jesus die, buried him in a cold tomb, heard the news that he had risen from the dead, fell down at his feet in worship as he appeared to them resurrected from the dead, were comforted by him, were given a charge to help others become disciples and then he ascended into heaven. I don’t know about you, but I would be a little befuddled, too.
And then there was the matter of their failures. Just as each of us can be ashamed by the times we have failed our Lord, they must have been remembering running away from him during his arrest, hiding while he was being beaten and cowering on the edge of the crowd while he was crucified. I imagine Peter remembered, with very acute pain, how he had denied knowing the Lord at all. All of these failures could have set them back, could have destroyed their Christian experience, except for one thing. The Holy Spirit came upon them with fire.
Remember that fire does three things. The Holy Spirit fire came upon these people and burned out selfish motives, addictive behaviors, divisive thoughts, fear, discouragement and disillusionment. You name the kind of tree in your life that seems to dominate your landscape and keeps you from moving forward, and those were the kind of trees that were consumed down to the very roots of their soul. These folks were so dramatically transformed that their fear and shame about their old actions seemed to vanish. They became so excited and so filled by the Spirit that new life was breathed into their discouraged and frightened hearts and they could not contain the message of the Gospel.
It is no accident that the coming of the Holy Spirit happened in Jerusalem. It was, and still is in many respects, a major crossroads of nations. God intended for the power of the Holy Spirit to be manifested in this new way in a very strategic place—a place where people from so many nations might gain access to the preaching of the Gospel and demonstration of the Truth by fire.
Luke lists many different groups in this passage. It’s fascinating to me that he took the time to list them, but I’m so glad he did. When you sit down with a biblical map and a modern day map you see what an incredible thing this is. Here is where these people originated. Parthia, Media, Elam and Mesopotamia are in the vast modern region of Iran. Judea is the general area of modern Israel. Cappodocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia and Pamphilia, called East Asia by Luke, is the area we know today as Turkey and Armenia. Egypt, Arabia and Libya are exactly as we know them today—the very top of the continent of Africa. Crete is the same today, the island just off of Greece. And Rome the far-reaching isthmus of Italy was represented there as well.
The Holy Spirit was very strategic in reaching many nations in one location at one time. All of the individuals there, whether long time residents of Jerusalem or just visitors, knew completely different languages and dialects from one another—yet they heard the same message. It was the Spirit who enabled the disciples to speak and for people to hear that same message. This was clearly a miracle of God—a kind of undoing of the Tower of Babel. Certainly now the news of the Gospel would travel by word of mouth through their family and friends to vast regions and continents. Like a great wall of fire leaping from one mountaintop to another, the message of God’s love and compassion, exploded onto this scene in Jerusalem. One writer put it this way, “It is the work of the Holy Spirit to join people of diverse racial and social backgrounds into one body—the body of Jesus Christ, which is his church.”[1]
There were three things that I said a fire does: it guts everything, it levels the field, and the third thing a fire does is most wonderful of all. Ecologists and forestry folk will tell you something true. A fire can be one of the most remarkable miracles of God’s nature. A fire makes way for new growth. It burns out everything and out of the ash comes the most wonderfully brilliant new green sprouts. The seed shells of some trees only break open under extreme heat. When that hard shell is burst, the seed can breathe in the oxygen and start to grow. Within a relatively short time the forest springs to life again. Trees reach to the sky and burst forth with leaves. Birds come and sing in the forest again and animals scurry from one shrub to the next seeking food and shelter.
On that day—that wonderful, wild day—the Sprit who is Fire and Truth burned a new path of the Gospel. The field was leveled. No one person was more important than another, no fear dominated their hearts. All of it was joy and witness. Out of the gray ground of their newly burned lives, at an astronomically fast pace, grew vibrant and exhilarating witnesses. Not only did the Holy Spirit fill the disciples, but he also caused them to declare his glory to every individual there!
When a fire starts it rushes through catching up everything and everyone it can. It changes everything. Even after it has subsided the territory looks different. And always we are forever changed. That day the Holy Spirit fire changed everything. Just as Jesus Christ preached the good news to the poor, now the disciples emboldened and filled with the Holy Spirit became what they were to be—witnesses not only in Jerusalem but to the ends of the earth.
I had my first experience of the Holy Spirit fire when I was a teenager. After that nothing else really mattered. I knew God loved me—really loved me. I was overcome with the reality that the old roots of those towering bitter and angry trees had just been burned out and there were these holes, these wonderful holes being rapidly filled with new life. There was no longer room for that old stuff. Behold God was making me new!
There have been many more times that the Hold Spirit fire has come in and cleansed areas of my life. I will always be returning to prayer and waiting on that fire, for the repeated gift of the firestorm of the Holy Spirit. I don’t want roots of bitterness and selfishness. I don’t want depression and discouragement to take over. I always want the fire of the Holy Spirit to touch me and make what me new again and again.
A wonderful song written by Jon Mohr and Randall Dennis has been a long-time favorite of mine.
The Refiner’s Fire
There burns a fire with sacred heat
White hot with holy flame.
And all who dare pass through its blaze
Will not emerge the same.
Some as bronze and some as silver,
Some as gold, then with great skill
All are hammered by their sufferings
On the anvil of His will.
I’m learning now to trust His touch
To crave the fire’s embrace
For though my past with sin was etched
His mercies did erase!
Each time His purging cleanses deeper
I’m not sure that I’ll survive.
Yet the strength in growing weaker
Keeps my hungry soul alive!
The Refiner’s fire
Has now become my soul’s desire.
Purged and cleansed and purified
That the Lord be glorified.
He is consuming my soul,
Refining me, making me whole.
No matter what I may lose
I choose the Refiner’s fire.[2]
If you have never asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins, do so now. Confess your sins to him and make room for the Holy Spirit fire to sweep through your life making you into the man, the woman, the boy, the girl that his fire storm can make you to be.
Perhaps you have experienced the infilling fire of the Holy Spirit before. Open your heart and mind up to what more the Spirit’s fire can do for you today.
Amen
Copyright M.R. Hyde 2012
[1] Wycliffe, p. 1127
[2] Words and music by Jon Mohr and Randall Dennis. Copyright 1989 Birdwing Music/Jonathan Mark Music (admin. by Gaither copyright management)/J.R. Dennis Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission.
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