2017-07-28
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Once Pentecost, the giving of the Holy Spirit [AC 2: 1-4] happened, a large group of believers from all over Israel who spoke many dialects came together and heard Peter give a speech. Despite their many dialects, each person there understood Peter. AC 2: 36 is key to this speech, “All the people of Israel are to know for sure that this Jesus, Whom you crucified, is the One that God has made Lord and Messiah.” AC 2: 38-39 also is a core issue. “Each one of you must turn away from his sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven and you will receive God’s gift, the Holy Spirit. God’s promise was made to you, your children, and those far away—all of whom the Lord God calls to Himself.” Peter went on to urge them to save themselves from the punishment coming to those who are serially wicked. Many people believed and were baptized. About 3000 people came to Christ that day. There was nothing accidental about this number, as the Levites long before in EX 32: 28 had been commanded by God to kill 3000 people, in response to the Golden Calf incident in the desert.
Baptism is the outward ceremony that symbolizes a tremendous inner change in one’s life—salvation, eternal forgiveness, and justification as a result of accepting Jesus Christ as one’s personal Savior/Messiah [JN 3: 16; 1 JN 1: 9; RO 4: 3]. We need to better understand what baptism is, as JN 3: 5, Christ’s own words to Nicodemus describe it. “I am telling you the truth, that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.” The water here refers to purification; the Spirit here refers to reception of the Holy Spirit to dwell in one’s soul. Please consult the following citations to learn more about the prophecies of Pentecost and the end times: IS 2: 2; HO 3: 5; MIC 4: 1; JL 2:13, 26-30; 1 TIM 4: 1; 2 TIM 3: 1; HE 1: 7; 1 PET 1: 20; 1 JN 2: 18; AC 2: 17; AC 11: 13-18.
Another key change that God instituted came with Peter’s vision on Cornelius’ roof, which can be found in AC 10: 9-22. Cornelius was a captain in the Roman army who lived in Caesarea. He was a good man, who was devoutly faithful and prayed often. He helped the Jewish people. The pivotal citations here are AC 10: 15 and AC 11:5- 12, which spelled the end of God obligating the Jews to keep a kosher (kasrut) regime.
You’ll remember that during the Lord Jesus’ time on earth and for a time afterward, the Jews were split into four sects: the Pharisees, who believed in an afterlife; the Sadducees, who rejected this notion; the Essenes, who set themselves apart and lived in a commune in Qum. They wrote and later hid the Dead Sea Scrolls when the Romans (Kittim) invaded; the Zealots, who were as their name describes, extremists. During the Council at Jerusalem, the question of whether or not Gentile believers should be circumcised and keep a Kosher home came up. The Pharisees asserted that they should, but Peter, and later Paul, opposed laying this spiritual burden on the Gentile believers [AC 15: 1-35]. Peter cited AM 9: 11-12 in his speech, which tells us the Lord will restore the royal line of David, Israel will return from exile and be rebuilt, and all the Gentiles He called to be His own will return to Him. This citation appears in AC 15: 16-18. During their interchanges, Paul and Barnabas disagreed over the issue of circumcision and decided to part company. Later, Paul and Silas became working partners [AC 15: 36-41]. Mark went along with Barnabas to Cyprus (39).
PRAYER: O Lord, we often disagree, sometimes on small points of style or beliefs, and sometimes on more important ones. It is the sinful nature we have, our lack of perspective in comparison to Yours, or our egos wanting to win over or even defeat our opponents. You alone have the wisdom one needs to know the truth and to apply it to our attitudes, thoughts, decisions, and actions. We believe this is the reason that both Judaism and Christianity have so many sects and denominations. Peter’s speech after Pentecost contains fundamental truths that must claim our attention even today and forever in the future. Paul used the wisdom You gave him to settle the question that arose between Pharisee Judaizers (who felt male Gentile believers should be circumcised and that they, they should celebrate the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, and their families should keep a Kosher regime), and the formerly Pagan Gentiles, (who felt this shouldn’t be required [RO 2: 6-11; RO 3: 9-20, 24-31; RO 6: 15-23]). Our baptism is a precious rite, one that signifies our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and willingness to profess that faith. Furthermore, we covenant with You to be open about our sins, to confess them before You, and to stop our sinful thoughts and behavior. We offer You praise and thanks for being available to us at all times and for sending Christ to us to die for our sins. Yes, Lord, He is our Lord, Savior, and Messiah. We profess our faith in Him in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: There is more to say about how God’s power was great enough to convert Saul of Tarsus--persecutor of Jewish Christians working for the Sanhedrin-- to Paul, the greatest apostle to the Gentiles the church ever had. As I look back on my own baptism and the process leading up to my faith in the Lord Jesus, I am awed by God’s power to bring about good in people’s lives-- the least expected of people to come to faith. I was lonely and depressed in my life before the Lord entered it. It was my habit to bury myself in my studies, in order to avoid the emotional and spiritual pain I felt. No amount of forcing me to train for a life in traditional Judaism on my parents’ part deepened my faith or brought me closer to God. Only God’s call to me to have faith in Jesus Christ worked. Once He made His presence known to me, my whole life changed, and I discovered what fired my spirit into a life of serving Him. I would wish that something similar to that could happen for each of you. The early servants of the Christian church each had a miracle of God’s power in their lives. We can learn a lot from them in approaching God first and asking Him, “what do You want me to do?” If we will ask that question, He will let us know. Praise be to our Lord and Savior!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2017. All Rights Reserved.
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