TRACINGS FROM THE ACTS OF THE
APOSTLES
THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY
GHOST.
ACTS 2.
TEN days were running out since the Lord had ascended. As
yet the promised Comforter had not come; and cheered though they had been by
the angelic messengers announcing the personal return of Christ in the future,
they had no fixed time made known, when the promise of the Father would be
received. To prayer they betook themselves, and in that exercise they
continued.
Pentecost. - "Not many days hence" was all that the
Lord had said. Their waiting, therefore, would not be long. Yet why there was
any delay, and when exactly it would terminate, were questions which very
probably none of them could then have answered. But we know, and surely they
must afterwards have understood, that the date in the ecclesiastical calendar
had been fixed for well-nigh fifteen centuries, and fixed as definitely as that
of the Lord's crucifixion. He, the true Paschal Lamb, suffered at the Passover
on the 14th of Nisan. Then, as the antitype to the wave sheaf, the first-fruits
of the harvest, His resurrection had taken place on the morrow after the
Passover Sabbath. And now the full meaning of the introduction at the feast of
Weeks, or Pentecost, of the two wave loaves baked with leaven, that new meat
offering unto the Lord, was to receive antitypical elucidation, by the
presentation to God, through the Gospel about to go forth, of believers from
Jews, and also from Gentiles, as first-fruits unto Him (James i. 18). This was
to be accomplished through the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, and not
otherwise.
So till the day of Pentecost that work, with which we are now
made familiar, could not in accordance with the mind of God have its beginning.
Yet it could not be delayed for one single day, for that feast lasted just the
one day. For seven days they kept the feast of unleavened bread. For eight days
they celebrated that of Tabernacles. One day only was appointed for the feast
of Pentecost. And as on one day in the year, and one only, the Lord could die -
viz., the 14th of Nisan - so on one day in the year, and on one only, as we
learn, could the Holy Ghost have come as the promise of the Father. That day
was the feast of Pentecost.
The day had come, and "they were all
together," as perhaps we should read, "in one place." No one on this occasion
was absent from the company. Nor were they at this time in the court of the
Temple, or elsewhere in any place of public resort, intermingling with devout
Jews, who had come to keep the feast. All together they were, quite apart from
others, gathered there surely by the leading of the Spirit. "Suddenly there
came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the
house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues [or,
tongues parting asunder] like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance " (Acts ii. 2-4). Such is the brief
yet distinct account of the coming of the Holy Ghost. The attitude of the
company is stated. They were sitting, not engaged in prayer, or they would have
been standing. Suddenly the fulfilment of the Lord's words took place. A sound
was heard; a sight was seen; an effect was manifested. The sound was that of a
rushing mighty wind ; the sight was the tongues cloven, and like fire, which
sat upon each of them ; the effect was that they all began to speak with
tongues. The tongues the disciples saw, but the multitude which quickly
assembled apparently did not. For they do not speak of them. The sound they did
hear; for this we believe is the historian's meaning, and is so translated by
the Revised Version.* The sound, and not any report about it, is that to which
St. Luke draws our attention. That sound had collected a great multitude
together of the devout Jews then assembled at Jerusalem from every country
under heaven. The Temple court must have been thinned that day of its
accustomed crowds, for the centre of attraction was the house in which the
disciples were assembled.
* It is questioned what the multitude heard -
the sound of the rushing mighty wind, or the report of the wonder taking place
in the disciples speaking with tongues. Certainly the former supposition is
quite in character with the manner of the Spirit's coming. Meyer, followed by
Alford, so takes it.
Cloven Tongues. - Of the cloven tongues
on the head of each of the disciples the multitude, as we have remarked, make
no mention. Had they seen them, would they not have spoken of them, as well as
of the utterances they heard in their several tongues? What did these tongues
thus seen portend? Cloven (or, parted), like as of fire, - such is the
description. Seen on that occasion, we never read of them being seen again.
Cloven (or, divided), they seem to indicate that the recipients of the Spirit
would be empowered to speak in more languages than one. And "like as of fire"
may foreshadow the effect of the Word of God. The Word discerns the thoughts
and intents of the heart (Heb. iv. 12). And those who persistently refuse
obedience to it will find that it will judge them in the last day (John xii.
48). The fire is an emblem of judgment. Of the power of the \Vord to act on
consciences the three thousand bore testimony ere night closed on that eventful
day, as, pricked in their hearts, they cried out in agony of soul, "Brethren,
what shall we do? " The Word, reaching
the conscience now, does act
judicially within. Light shines in, and shows the person what he has never seen
and judged before. Self-judgment it works now bringing blessing. Later it will
judge the ungodly, rising up as a witness against them.
Filled with the
Holy Ghost, each disciple began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave
utterance. Intercourse between people of different races and of different
countries is much impeded by differences in language In the beginning it was
not so, nor for some time after the Flood was there any language but one. For
all sprang from a common ancestry. All spake the language of the original
parent. That this was the case, the inspired record in Genesis affirms. "The
whole earth was of one language, and of one speech" (Gen. xi. 1). Combination
therefore for some settled purpose would be facilitated by that state of
things, and men were taking advantage of it to build a city, and a tower whose
top should reach unto heaven, adding, "Let us make us a name, lest we be
scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." Possessed with the thought
of their wisdom and their power, they began to build, forgetful that they were
creatures wholly dependent on the will of the Creator. How far they had carried
out their plans and to what height they had raised their tower are facts not
recorded. Whatever commencement was made, the tower was never finished. The
Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men builded.
He confounded their language.* Their work stopped. It was an act of government
on God's part, and that act He has never reversed.
* Canon Kawlinson writes
{Ancient Monarchies, vol. i., p. 55) ; " The subjects of the early Kings [of
Chaldea] are continually designated on the inscriptions by the title of
kiprat-arbat, The four nations," or Arba-lisun, The four tongues.
In Abraham's time, again, the league of four kings seems correspondent to a
fourfold ethnic division - Cushite, Turanian, Semitic, and Arian, the chief
authority and ethnic preponderance being with the Cushites. ... So that it is
at least probable that the ' four tongues' intended were not mere local
dialects, but distinct languages, the representatives respectively of the four
great families of human speech."
But though God has never reversed it,
He can, and in the early days of Christianity He did, override it, empowering
servants to speak languages which they had not previously studied. Such was the
gift of tongues, now for the first time bestowed.
To saints alone was it
given. None else could share in it, for it was an effect of receiving the Holy
Ghost. He who confounded human speech at Babel, could and did empower some at
Jerusalem to speak with tongues they had not previously learnt. Some, we say,
because, even in apostolic days, all Christians did not share in this
manifestation of the Spirit. In the Acts there are but three occasions on which
this power is recorded as having been bestowed - at Pentecost (ii), at Caesarea
(x), and at Ephesus (xix); and on each of these occasions every member of the
company who received the Holy Ghost participated in that manifestation of the
Spirit. At Corinth, where some shared in that power, all, it would seem, did
not (1 Cor. xii. 10, 30, xiv. 5). At Philippi, at Rome, at Thessalonica, and in
Galatia we read not of its being bestowed on any of the converts. Paul himself
spoke with tongues more than any of the Corinthians. He needed it for his work,
and he tells us the purpose of it was to impress and to attract unbelievers (1
Cor. xiv. 22). And as each manifestation of the Spirit had for its object the
profit of others, wonderful as was the power of speaking with tongues it was
not bestowed on any for mere display or self-glory.
So far we find
recounted in Acts ii. 1-4 the time, manner, and effect of the coming of the
Holy Ghost. St. Luke, who alone has told us what took place on the night of the
Lord's birth, is also the one who has put on record what happened on the
morning of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. His contributions to Scripture
history are most interesting and most valuable. At the Lord's birth angelic
voices were heard. At the Holy Spirit's coming men's mouths were opened in a
new and wondrous manner. The shepherds heard the angelic choir break forth in
praise to God. Devout men at Jerusalem gave unsolicited testimony to the nature
of the communications that came from the lips of the different
disciples.
The Multitude; - We have spoken of that which took
place in the house. The historian next relates the effect on the multitude
which found their attraction centred on that house and on the company within.
The sound drew them to the spot, where they heard the voices of the disciples
speaking in tones and accents peculiar to each one. Far from their home as many
of them were, in a country where Aramaic was the language of the common people,
whilst Greek was pretty well understood as the language of commerce of that
day, they heard voices which addressed them in their own mother tongue and
spoke of the mighty works of God. For that miraculous gift of speech was to be
used in the service and for the glory of God. Devout Jews from every nation
under heaven heard, and attested, that utterances came forth from the Galilean
company in the language in which they were severally born. Galileans, they
said. Yet surely their speech, whatever it was in which each expressed himself,
was grammatically as correct, and in meaning as clear, as those devout Jews
could themselves have uttered. It was no unmeaning jargon, no babbling, no
gibberish, but intelligent language, which some of that multitude could affirm
to others was their own vernacular. From the far north some had come - Parthia,
Media, Persia, Mesopotamia, had furnished contingents. From the south, Egypt,
Libya, and Gyrene were represented. From the northwest had come representatives
from the provinces of Asia Minor. The capital of the empire, too, had helped to
swell the crowd; whilst from the islands of the Mediterranean, as Crete, from
the south-east, as Arabia, there were those who heard, and rejoiced to hear, in
their own language the wonderful works of God.
God was now speaking to
them by human instrumentality, through vessels guided of the Holy Ghost. When
God speaks, He desires souls should hear and understand. He who can speak
direct to the conscience and hold intelligent intercourse with His creatures,
whether the untutored savage or the most cultivated of mankind - He showed His
desire that men should hear from Him, in the language with which they were
severally familiar, what would conduce to their everlasting welfare. By an
exercise of His power He had rendered intercourse between nations a matter, in
some measure, of difficulty. By power in connection with grace He made
provision, that without let or hindrance different nationalities and those
speaking diverse tongues should hear in their own language about His Son, and
about salvation. Confounded, amazed, and in doubt (or, perplexed), thus does
Luke describe the crowd. Confounded, when they heard each man his own language.
Amazed, as they remembered that those who addressed them were Galileans.
Perplexed, since they could not understand what it meant. Something new,
something strange, had undoubtedly happened. What did it portend ? Such was the
impression produced on many who were present. But others, very probably
native-born Jews, who did not understand the different languages, mocked,
saying, "These men [rather, they] are filled with new wine." None disputed the
fact that something unusual had happened. Yet no one could satisfactorily
account for it.
Peter's Sermon. - And no wonder. God, however,
would not leave them in doubt; so the Apostles stood up (we last read of them
sitting), and Peter lifted up his voice. He spoke aloud, and to an audience
such as he doubtless had never anticipated. " Ye men of Judsea, and all ye that
dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words" (Acts ii.
14). The first Christian sermon was now to begin, and Peter, who had thrice
denied his Master, was permitted to preach it. For, as we can understand, no
other person upon earth could have done it, seeing that to him, and to him
only, were committed by the Lord Jesus Christ the keys of the kingdom of the
heavens (Matt. xvi. 19). The keys, therefore, entrusted by Christ to him, he
used that day for the first time. To the marvellous power given to the
disciples, we have seen, people were not indifferent. Mocking on the part of
some, earnest inquiry on the part of others, testified to the impressions
produced. Neither the mockers, however, nor the devout Jews could offer any
reasonable explanation. The Apostles then stood up. All were now to hear what
they had to say. And Peter as their mouthpiece expressed himself, addressing
especially the home-born Jews. What that movement was not, he first took up. "
Full of new wine," the mockers had said, - an easy solution, as they thought,
of that strange and startling spectacle which they witnessed. But the charge
was readily refuted, and the folly of it demonstrated. The time of day should
have made the accusers keep silence - it was but the third hour. Men were not
wont to be overcome with wine by nine o'clock in the morning. The disciples
were not drunk with wine. They were filled with the Spirit. God then was
working, and in power ; and in explanation of what the marvel was, he proceeded
to cite Old Testament Scripture.
Joel. - Now of the outpouring
of the Spirit, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Joel had all written. Isaiah (xxxii. 15,
xliv. 3) and Ezekiel (xxxix. 29) predict it, but in connection with the last
days, and as a blessing to be bestowed on Israel. Their prophetic horizon in
this matter was bounded by the limits of the nation. Joel is different. His
range of vision takes in all flesh, and the blessing in store for such he was
empowered to foretell. Now Peter, it will be observed, makes no reference to
either Isaiah or Ezekiel, though his audience were admittedly only of Jewish
descent; but turns them all to Joel in explanation of the phenomenon then
witnessed. Why was this? We can answer, as we plainly see, that no passage in
the whole of the Old Testament save Joel (ii. 28-32) could have fitly been
quoted that day. God was about to go beyond the narrow bounds of Judaism and to
minister blessing to Gentiles. By some of all flesh then, and not only by some
of Israel's race, was saving grace to be known. Hence Peter, divinely guided,
knew where to turn in the inspired volume for a quotation applicable to the
occasion. Divinely guided whence to quote, he was also divinely taught where to
stop. He stopped in the middle of a verse, omitting to add that which will be
fulfilled in a future day. It should also be observed, that he was careful in
the way he introduced the quotation. "This is that," he said ; not, "Then was
fulfilled." Joel, like his fellow-prophets, predicts the outpouring of the
Spirit in the latter days. His prophecy therefore, in common with the others,
awaits its fulfilment. But as the son of Pethuel writes of the pouring out on
all flesh, Peter quotes him. And as he describes the effect to be produced on
those on whom the Holy Ghost should be poured in a way the other two do not,
Joel's prediction therefore, and his alone, could be fitly brought forward to
explain what was then witnessed by the multitude, as well as to announce the
character of the new dispensation that had just commenced. For again, we
remark, " on all flesh " are the words of Joel, for not on Israel only was the
Spirit to be outpoured. So Peter quotes that prophet, and passes by the other
two.
Pleading what he gives us, we see that he was quoting exactly from
neither the original Hebrew nor from the Greek translation called the
Septuagint. For he transposes the clauses about the " old men " and the " young
men," and adds, in ver. 18, "and they shall prophesy," substituting, too, the
word "notable" for "terrible." Further, as we have already stated, he stopped
in the middle of a verse. "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall
be saved." Joel assigns a reason for that, adding, "for in Mount Zion and in
Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom
the Lord shall call" (Joel ii. 32). Peter stops at the general statement of
salvation, true for all dispensations, but carefully forbears quoting to the
end, which is applicable only to the futiire, when the Lord returns to reign at
Jerusalem. Divinely guided indeed was the Apostle. For who on earth at that
moment, save the Holy Ghost, knew exactly what was to take place, or the
character of the work that must precede the advent of Israel's blessing ? Who
of the Apostles had then understood the complete abeyance of the nation's
pre-eminence and blessing, to let Christian times run their course ? Naturally
he might have finished the verse, for God was at that moment working in
Jerusalem ; but, filled with the Holy Ghost, he stopped short of
that.
Testimony to Christ. - From Scripture explanation, thus
furnished, of that which had perplexed the multitude, we are led on to hear why
that manifestation had been vouchsafed. To make this plain, it was needful to
announce the exaltation to glory at God's right hand of the Lord Jesus Christ,
whom the Jews had but a few weeks before crucified. For the first time was this
truth of tremendous import to Israel openly and fearlessly proclaimed. Peter
does it, the rest of the Apostles standing up and concurring. Jesus of Nazareth
(or, the Nazarean) had been among them working in power, His mighty works
attesting His approval by God. Delivered up in accordance with Divine and
predetermined counsel, they by the hands of lawless men, as we should there
read, had crucified and slain Him. How bold now, and uncompromising, is Peter,
who had once quailed before a woman !
All before him he charged with the
death of Him of whom God in His life had openly approved. Further, God had
raised Him from the dead, "Having loosed the pains of death; because it was not
possible that He should be holden of it" Of whom else who had walked upon earth
had that ever been affirmed? Yet Scripture ten centuries previously had
predicted it.
To Psalm xvi. 8-11 the Apostle referred, and quoted the
passage at length. To whom did it refer ? Tho Psalmist speaks throughout in the
first person.I, me, my, are, one or other, introduced in every verse. Was David
writing of himself ? Impossible. He had died and was buried, and his sepulchre
was with them, still tenanted by his dust. Evidently his tomb was then well
known. And all were perfectly agreed that he, the first of his dynasty, had not
risen from the dead. Yet he wrote of One who would die, and would shortly
afterwards be raised; for God would not leave that One's soul in Hades (the
place of the unclothed spirits), nor would He suffer His body to see
corruption. For centuries that Psalm had been read. Probably every one of the
audience was acquainted with it. But to that day none of them could point to
any one who had died and say, "Behold the man." Now, David was a prophet, and
wrote of One of his house who would succeed him on the throne. And Peter
unfolds the application of the passage. The crucified and risen Nazarean was
the man - Jesus was the Christ. All knew that He had died. Peter and those with
him knew that He was risen, and he openly declared it. He had seen Him. So,
with the eleven Apostles who stood up with him. he was a witness of the
resurrection of Christ. But more, he knew, and proclaims it, that the risen One
had ascended ; and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,
had shed forth that which they then saw and heard.
Would any cavil at
the thought of a man in heaven? Another Psalm, also ascribed to David by Peter,
and in the Book of Psalms as well, had foretold this : "The Lord said unto my
Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, until I make Thy foes Thy footstool." David's
Lord was to sit at Jehovah's right hand. David's Lord had done that. The proof
of it was forthcoming in the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, which had that day
taken place. The Lord had told the disciples (John xvi. 7): " If I go not away,
the Comforter will not come unto you: but if I depart, I will send Him unto
you." He had gone, and in consequence sent the Spirit. Peter thus told them all
of facts, unquestionable facts. Was that all? No. What conclusions were to be
drawn from them? If what he said, and gave Scripture for it, was true of the
resurrection and the ascension of Jesus the Nazarean, God had made that same
One whom they had crucified both Lord and Christ. Who with an open mind, and
with those Psalms opened up to him, could resist the conclusion thus
unequivocally stated ? To this the historian leads on.
The multitude,
astounded by what they had witnessed, were now pricked in their hearts by the
discourse they had heard ; and unable to restrain themselves, said, addressing
the twelve Apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do? "Apparently, as far as we
have gone, we have the text of Peter's address, and not simply some notes of
it. What interest it excited - and well it might - as the people heard the
Scriptures of the prophets expounded in this way! Often they may have read
those Psalms, and have been told by the scribes that they were prophetic
announcements about the Messiah; but never before had they heard, or could they
have heard, that in the past few weeks they had received their fulfilment. It
was Christian ministry to which they now listened - ministry so different from
any with which the scribes could feed them. It was the opening up of the Divine
Word, and the application of those two Psalms to the crucified One. "He shall
take [or rather, taketh] of Mine, and shall show it unto you," the Lord had
said (John xvi. 15), with reference to the coming and the teaching of the Holy
Ghost. The Spirit had now come, and was showing that day by Peter things
concerning the Lord Jesus.
On the day of the Resurrection the Lord had
opened the understanding of the disciples to understand the Scriptures (Luke
xxiv. 45), and so ministered both to the two disciples on their way to Emmaus,
and also to the company in the upper room, that the faith of each and all might
rest on the written Word. We find Peter on this the first occasion which
presented itself to him doing the same thing. And whilst pointing them to Joel
to explain the effect of the outpouring of the Spirit, he reminded his hearers
of those two Psalms, the 16th and 110th, which in the Hebrew, and in the
ancient versions the LXX., the Syriac, and the Vulgate, are ascribed to
David.
Are we quite in the dark when we write thus ? Modern critics may
insist on the post-exilic authorship of the latter. Those versed in Jewish
learning in Peter's day apparently had no such thought. The way in which the
Apostle quotes them leaves no doubt in the mind that the Jews had received them
as from the pen of the sweet Psalmist of Israel. And if we believe that the son
of Simon was speaking as filled with the Holy Ghost, which surely with Acts ii.
4 before us it would be hazardous to contest, his words are a witness of the
testimony of the Spirit to the Davidic authorship of them both, as the words of
the Lord in Mark xii. 36, 37, are decisive of that of the latter of these two.
Further, the way of their introduction by Peter, and the use of them by Paul
(Acts xiii. 35 ; Heb. i. 13, x. 13), are assertions, too plain to be ignored,
of the Messianic application of them both. Thus the faith of Peter's audience,
if his statements were received, would be established on the written Word. The
one Psalm predicted the resurrection of Christ; the other had foretold His
ascension. Both as to these events had received their fulfilment, Peter and
those with him being eye-witnesses of the fulfilment of the former, and that
which had just taken place being proof of the fulfilment of the
latter.
Exercised Souls. - Had God really espoused the cause of
the One they had crucified ? Of His resurrection there was no doubt. The stupid
story the soldiers were to tell could deceive no one, and doubtless was
credited by no one. And during all the time that the Apostles were bearing
testimony in Jerusalem to the resurrection from the dead of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we never read of any one who contradicted it, though the ecclesiastical
power had the greatest inducement to discredit it. And some of the influential
members of the Sanhedrin had special reasons for controverting it. Yet no one
did. No one could. The Lord risen then, raised by the glory of the Father, and
at Jehovah's right hand on high, it needed no skilful advocate to point out the
irresistible conclusion. God was for Him. Who then could prevail against Him?
And though He had died, put to death by lawless men, His enemies would in a
coming day have to own His supremacy, and be subject to Him, being made the
footstool for His feet. Such was Peter's testimony, drawn from the Divine Word.
All this dawning on the multitude for the first time, affected them deeply, and
their question showed it: "Brethren, what shall we do?"
What a question
to ask of Peter, and of the rest of the Apostles ! But when men are in earnest
about their souls, they turn to those that they believe can really help them.
The high priest, the Pharisees, the scribes, none of them could minister to
these anxious ones. To the Apostles they turned, willing to sit at the feet of
His disciples whom they called the Nazarean. Galileans they were. But that did
not matter. Jewish prejudice against Galilee disappeared like foam on the water
before the urgency of that need, which the Holy Ghost had by the words of Peter
created in their souls
The Answer. - Simple and full was the
answer: "Repent ye, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of your * sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that
are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts ii. 38, 39).
Repentance was called for. The death of Christ was no light matter. Judgment
therefore of themselves, and of their ways, and a turning from them, was
imperative. The Lord on the day that He rose commissioned His disciples to
preach repentance. Peter here does it.
* " Your sins " we should read. It
was a personal matter with each one.
But more, Peter insisted on their
being baptised in the name of Jesus Christ, for (or, unto) the remission of
sins.
Conscience-work and a public profession of Christ were required,
if they would enjoy the blessings he held out to them; and on their receiving
the Spirit, they would share in all that believers now possessed. Their
children also could share in the same, and Gentiles as well, those afar off;
for by this were such designated in opposition to the Jews, who as such were
dispensationally nigh (Eph. ii. 17). The prophecy of Joel, and the reference
here to those afar off, both intimated, what for a time even afterwards was
evidently not really understood, that some from the Gentiles would be called to
partake of the richest blessing that could be enjoyed upon earth, and in common
with an election from Israel. Then solemnly and earnestly Peter exhorted them
to save themselves from that untoward (or, crooked) generation. But here the
historian has not reported all that was said. Many other words of a hortatory
character uttered by Peter have found no place in inspired
Scripture.
Christian Baptism. - On baptism the Apostle laid
stress - that baptism with water instituted by the Lord after His death and
resurrection. Here for the first time is it mentioned as incumbent on
disciples. What it expresses St. Paul has taught us - viz., burial with Christ
unto death (Rom. vi. 4; Col. ii. 12); hence it had no place, and could have had
none, before the cross. It is the avowal of, and the way of entering on the
path of, discipleship - the open declaration that, as baptised, people are in
the company of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter writes of it as saving those who
carry out their Christian profession, as those in the ark were saved through
the waters of the flood. It saves, he tells us (not by the external washing,
the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer - or, demand * - of a
good conscience towards God) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
(1 Peter iii. 21). Both Apostles agree that it could have had no meaning before
the cross. And both teach us that it was incumbent on all who desired to be
enrolled as disciples after the cross. So Paul was baptised (Acts ix. 18). And
writing years after, he classes himself amongst such (Rom. vi. 4). "We are
buried," He said, "with Him by baptism unto death." Peter, who had no need of
it, having been a disciple, and openly known as such before the cross, could
write as he really did, "Saves you," not "us" (1 Peter iii. 21), distinguishing
himself from those who had submitted to it. Now the difference between those
who wert; disciples before the cross and those acknowledged as such after it is
quite borne out by the Lord's command to the former to baptise others (Matt,
xxviii. 19), without one hint being dropped of the need of their being
baptised. There was no need at all for it in their case. There was no one who
could have done it.
* The word here used by Peter, eperotema seems to
mean the question asked ; hence in the A.V. the
answer.
Ingathering. - An inward work, then, repentance, and
a public profession by baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, were both insisted
on, as needful in their case, ere grace in its fulness and the gift of the Holy
Ghost would be bestowed on them. For as part of the nation which had crucified
the Lord, and many of them certainly dwellers at Jerusalem, they must openly
stand forth as disciples of Christ. A test this was indeed - disciples of the
crucified One! Which of them, and how many, would respond to it? About three
thousand heard and obeyed, and that same day submitted to the first Christian
baptism that had ever taken place. Thus the company of believers began to
increase, and now could be called Christians, because they had received the
gift of the Holy Ghost, and so had the Spirit of Christ (Rom. viii. 9). Not,
however, that they had as yet received that name. It was reserved for the
population of Antioch to bestow it. But as partakers of the Spirit of Christ,
they belonged to Christ, and so were really Christians. What an ingathering had
been brought about! "Greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto My
[or, the] Father," the Lord had said (John xiv. 12). These words had that day
commenced to be fulfilled.
A Picture. - Now follows in a few
verses a picture of that time (Acts ii. 42-47). As for the converts, "they
continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking
of bread, and in prayers." Earnest desire was manifested for apostolic
teaching. And the whole company kept together in fellowship, united by the
Spirit, however little as yet they may have been doctrinally instructed about
it. We write thus guardedly, because, as will be seen, the picture is more of
that which must have been seen from without, than an account of what was
understood by those in the assembly. All might observe how they kept together,
joining in religious exercises, at their meala remembering the Lord's death,
and at other times engaging in prayer. Nor were outsiders unconcerned. Fear
came upon all of them, and many wonders and signs were done by the Apostles,
doubtless keeping up the awe which the miraculous powers of speech displayed at
Pentecost had first excited. But what the wonders and signs were the historian
has not related. Evidently the demonstrations of the Spirit were many and
marked.
Now of the whole company we read. They were not afraid. They
kept together; and conscious of their oneness, and perhaps, as has been
suggested, expecting the near approach of the Lord's return, they had all
things in common, those having possessions and goods disposing of them, to
distribute to every one as he had need. Day by day they continued steadfastly
with one accord in the Temple. The feast of Pentecost was over, but they were
like people keeping high festival still. Daily and steadfastly "in the Temple,
and breaking bread at home, they did eat their meat with gladness and
singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people." What
had God wrought?" And the Lord added together those that were being saved" -
i.e., a class of people so characterised, sharers in salvation. A question had
been asked of the Lord in His life about that class, as the inquirer said, "
Lord, are there few that be saved?" (Luke xiii. 23). Day by day it was now
being seen how that class was increasing in numbers.
Praising
God, - in this they were engaged. Joy filled their hearts. It was not,
however, the joy of those just emancipated from slavery. Their fathers at the
Red Sea had known what that was. Nor was it the joy of those who were tasting
the fruits of victory. In the days of Joshua the people had experienced that.
It was joy of another kind, and springing from another cause. It was the joy of
souls now sharing in the love of God, partakers of Divine grace, brought into
relationship with God as their Father, indwelt by the Holy Ghost, and so in
happy spiritual fellowship with one another. A joy this was that none of them
had ever known before.
A word now, ere closing this chapter, on that
which had taken place.
What had taken place? - One had come whom the
world could not see, and come to dwell in person on earth, and who had never
dwelt here before. The Holy Ghost had come, and has remained on earth ever
since. God in the person of the Spirit was really on earth. And He dwelt in a
habitation wholly new - the House of God, the Church of the living God, the
pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. iii. 15). Of old there had been, and
still was, the assembly of the Lord, formed of a nation called out by God to be
a witness for Him. In the midst of that nation He dwelt, from Sinai to the
Babylonish captivity, and in a sanctuary erected in accordance with Divine
revelation. Now afresh God dwelt on earth, but by the Spirit in the midst of a
new assembly, called the assembly of the living God, and also the assembly or
Church of Christ (Matt. xvi. 16-18). By the Spirit, we say, not meaning thereby
merely a spiritual presence. God in the person of the Holy Ghost was and is
really dwelling on earth. The Church or assembly is actually His House. It is
also His Temple. And in relation to Christ it is not only His Church or
assembly, but also His Body and His Bride. Of all this the world was ignorant,
and probably at first believers knew very little about it. Subsequent apostolic
revelation has, however, taught us of these things, and given us to understand
what an epoch it really was, when the Holy Ghost, for the first time since man
was upon earth, formed for Himself a habitation down here, composed of all who
professedly believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. What, then, must true Christians
be to God ? For now began to bo formed that holy Temple, which still grows,
composed of living stones, even of all true Christians. We can but just touch
on all this here, and only further remark, ere passing on, that, whilst much of
what we have just noticed was outside Old Testament revelation, we have the
distinction therein between the congregation of the Lord, or, as Stephen called
it, the assembly or Church in the wilderness, and the assembly of the living
God - we have the distinction, we say, plainly marked for us in Psalm xxii. 22
by the Holy Spirit's comment on that verse in Heb. ii. 12. We learn from this
latter that the assembly in that verse of the Psalm is the Christian Church or
assembly, distinguished from that mentioned in ver. 25 of that same Psalm. The
congregation in the former verse is the Church. The great congregation in the
latter verse is the congregation of Israel - i.e., the nation (1 Kings viii. 65
; 2 Chron. vii. 8).
Go To Chapter Three