Happy Birthday to the Church

May 23 is the Day of Pentecost. To Christians, this day it is forever associated with our Lord’s promise to “send another comforter”---the promised Holy Spirit---after he returned to the Father following his death, burial and triumphal resurrection. (Read John 14-16 and Acts 2).

It was on the Day of Pentecost after Jesus' resurrection that the Apostle Peter preached to a large crowd gathered in Jerusalem for the holiday. He proclaimed that the risen Christ had poured out the Spirit promised long ago through the Prophet Joel, that forgiveness was now available to all who will respond to the gospel, even all who are “far off” (i.e. from Jerusalem, from God, from the old covenant). The Spirit’s outpouring on that Pentecost Sunday signaled the beginning of a New Covenant, the success of God’s great work of redemption in Christ and the beginning of the new community of faith, the church. In this new fellowship, racial and ethnic distinctions and legalistic or ritual claims of virtue that had meant so much for so long are set aside. The invitation Peter extended  to come to Christ for salvation is the invitation to be part of a “chosen race (of all races), a holy nation (out of every nation), a people for God’s own possession” (1 Peter 2:9) based on the merits of Christ and the perfection of His work.

Jesus had promised that out of the hearts of those who would receive the promised Spirit would flow “rivers of living water” to quench the soul’s deepest thirst. Surely this blessing includes the specific things Jesus said the Spirit would do including that through the Spirit, the Father and the Son would “make their dwelling within us” (John 14:23).

We proclaim the same message Peter announced all those days of Pentecost ago: God raised Jesus from the dead and invites all of us to turn to Him in faith, trusting that because Jesus lives (by his sinlessness, he alone could overcome sin and death) we can live also….forgiven and hopeful.

We extend the same invitation Peter made so long ago to those who believed this word: “Repent and let each of you be baptized for the forgiveness of sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38).

This promise is for you too! Let us know if you’d like to know more about it and how to accept it.

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