Some Thoughts on Pentecost

We are the Temple of the living God (1 Cor. 6:19). The reality of such an idea profoundly struck me this week. With the celebration of Pentecost only a few days away, our attention is once again drawn back to the outpouring of God’s Spirit on the early church. Before the construction of Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem, God revealed his glory in the tent or tabernacle that Moses constructed. It was there that God would come, dwell, and meet with his people. “Let them make me a sanctuary,” the Lord spoke to Moses, “that I may dwell in their midst” (Ex. 25:8). It was there that “the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and [there that] the Lord would speak with Moses” (Ex. 33:9). It was there that “the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Ex. 40:34). The tabernacle was where the people of Israel would draw near to hear from God, to worship God, and to stand in his presence (cf. Lev. 9:23; Num. 14:10).

Any reading of Acts or John, the two main places in the NT where the Spirit plays a large part, reveals that Pentecost is a time of great awakening to challenges facing God’s people both in the world and in their own life, and of the urgent need for the inspiration, strengthening and guiding of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is about God’s kingdom being established here on earth. It’s about heaven and earth coming together as they were always meant to be.

N.T. Wright says, “Pentecost is therefore to be seen as the moment when the personal presence of Jesus with the disciples is translated into the personal power of Jesus in the disciples; because Pentecost signals the mode and means by which the chief executive is putting his new authority into operation.”

According to Paul, God has established a new temple in us (1Cor. 3:16-17). In other words, we are the new dwelling place for God’s Spirit. Think about the implications that God’s constant abiding presence in us should have on how we conduct our everyday life. Pentecost is about the presence of God with his people; about the implementation of Jesus’ healing and whole life salvation for all; and it signals the final day when heaven and earth shall be one. It isn’t just that the Spirit is the ‘down payment’ of what is to come for us as his people; the Spirit is the advance sign of what God is going to do for the whole earth, the entire created order. God continues to pour out his Spirit on us so that we can both be and accomplish his new creation in our self and in the world.