Faith First Media

The following is an excerpt from the book A Theology of Peace by Matthew Elton, copyright 2009 Matthew Elton.

The Holy Spirit

Just before ascending into heaven, Jesus instructed his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit to come to them. The disciples replied, “Lord, has the time come when you will free Israel and restore our kingdom?” (Acts 1:6). The disciples understood the connection between the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. Jesus had just spent the past forty days teaching the disciples about the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:3) and the disciples clearly understood that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was a long-prophesied Kingdom event:

For I will pour out water to quench your thirst

and to irrigate your parched fields.

And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants,

and my blessing on your children.

--Isaiah 44:3

I, the Sovereign LORD, will gather you back from the nations where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel once again.’ “When the people return to their homeland, they will remove every trace of their vile images and detestable idols. And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart, so they will obey my decrees and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God.

--Ezekiel 11:17-20

And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.

--Ezekiel 36:26-27

Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the LORD. I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the LORD has spoken!’”

--Ezekiel 37:12-14

And I will never again turn my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit upon the people of Israel. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!”

--Ezekiel 39:29

28 “Then, after doing all those things,

I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy.

Your old men will dream dreams,

and your young men will see visions.

29 In those days I will pour out my Spirit

even on servants—men and women alike.

30 And I will cause wonders in the heavens and on the earth—

blood and fire and columns of smoke.

31 The sun will become dark,

and the moon will turn blood red

before that great and terrible day of the LORD arrives.

32 But everyone who calls on the name of the LORD

will be saved,

for some on Mount Zion in Jerusalem will escape,

just as the LORD has said.

These will be among the survivors

whom the LORD has called.

1 “At the time of those events,” says the LORD,

“when I restore the prosperity of Judah and Jerusalem,

2 I will gather the armies of the world

into the valley of Jehoshaphat.

There I will judge them

for harming my people, my special possession,

for scattering my people among the nations,

and for dividing up my land.

--Joel 2:28-3:2

14 The palace and the city will be deserted,

and busy towns will be empty.

Wild donkeys will frolic and flocks will graze

in the empty forts and watchtowers

15 until at last the Spirit is poured out

on us from heaven.

Then the wilderness will become a fertile field,

and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.

16 Justice will rule in the wilderness

and righteousness in the fertile field.

17 And this righteousness will bring peace.

Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever.

18 My people will live in safety, quietly at home.

They will be at rest.

--Isaiah 32:14-18

These scriptures and many others clearly demonstrate the relationship that exists between the outpouring of the Spirit and the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. The disciples clearly understood this relationship, and their question in Acts 1:6, “Lord, has the time come when you will free Israel and restore our kingdom?” was not out of place. Jesus had been speaking of the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the disciples understood the relationship that exists between the Spirit and the Kingdom of God. John the Baptist had previously prophesied about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and he too linked it to the final judgment of the world that will occur at the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God on Earth:

John answered their questions by saying, “I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”

--Luke 3:16-17

John’s prophecies (and many other prophecies like them in the Old Testament) do not offer any distinction in the timing of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the timing of the final judgment of the world. Therefore, the question asked by the disciples in Acts 1:6 – “Lord, has the time come when you will free Israel and restore our kingdom?” – was a very logical question to ask in the context of what Jesus had just told them regarding the soon-to-be-poured-out Spirit. Jesus answered their question by explaining that the final judgment will occur at an unknown time – not necessarily the same time that the Holy Spirit is poured out:

He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

--Acts 1:7-8

This explanation breaks the timing of the fulfillment of biblical prophesies into three parts. First, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” Then, “you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere”. And finally, the final judgment will come upon the living and the dead.

The disciples had previously expected the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to occur simultaneously with the final judgment, but instead, this Kingdom event occurred “early”, so to speak. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit gave the disciples the wisdom and power they needed to effectively witness according to the great commission they had been assigned to carry out during the interim period between the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the final judgment. Empowered to work miracles including the healing of the blind and the sick, the casting out of demons, and even the raising of the dead, the disciples could prove by the power working through them that Jesus Christ was indeed alive, and that he was Lord over all the Earth. Three Kingdom events had occurred "early":

1. The coming of the Messiah.
2. The resurrection unto immortality (occurred early with Jesus, but will occur in the future for all other believers).
3. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

For thousands of years, the Jews had expected these events to occur simultaneously with the final judgment and the restoration of the world back to paradise. They fully expected for these events to mark the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God on Earth, not occur before the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. But Jesus had clearly stated that in order to give people a chance to accept Jesus as Lord and be saved before the coming of the final judgment, an interim period had been established between these “early” Kingdom events and the final fulfillment of all Kingdom prophecies. During this interim period, the disciples were called to be “witnesses, telling people about Jesus everywhere”.

Three of the most important events in all of human history had just occurred far earlier than anyone expected, and these events had changed Judaism forever – so much so that the followers of Jesus would become known as a whole new religion – Christianity. For thousands of years, the Jews had believed that one day, the Messiah would come and establish the Kingdom of God – judging the entire world with God’s righteous judgment, and restoring the world back to paradise. But these “Christians” who now traveled for hundreds of miles spreading the good news of Jesus Christ everywhere – they believed that the Messiah had already come, but that a brief, interim period of time had been established between his coming and the final judgment and restoration of the world, in order to give mankind an opportunity to repent before the final judgment came. Not only that, but the disciples of Jesus could prove with the signs, miracles, and wonders they performed by the power of the Spirit of Christ working through them that Jesus not just another false messiah, but the true Messiah who was alive and seated in the heavenlies at the right hand of God.

The Messiah had come! A new age had dawned. We cannot expect the people of God to be the same after the coming of the long-awaited Messiah as they were before his coming. The Jews had waited for thousands of years in eager expectation of the coming Messiah, believing that as soon as he came, the world would be judged, the wicked would be destroyed, and the Earth would be restored to paradise. Jesus did not change this plan, but he did add three epic plot twists that no one saw coming:

1. Rather than defeating evil through military force – as the Jews were expecting the Messiah to do – Jesus cleansed us of sin by nonviolently taking the guilt of our sins upon himself on the cross – offering himself as a holy sacrifice to make atonement for the sins of mankind. No one had seen this plot twist coming. Although Jesus did tell his disciples that he was going to die and be raised again, the Bible makes it clear that they did not understand him until after these events were fulfilled.
2. Then, in a second epic plot twist, God rose Jesus from the dead and exalted him as Lord over the whole Earth, thus proving that Jesus is the one who God has appointed to judge the world on His behalf at the final judgment. Acts 17:31 says that God “has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.”
3. The Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost – earlier than was previously expected – giving the disciples of Jesus the wisdom and power they needed to be witnesses of him in all the world and carry out Christ’s great commission of Mark 16:15 (“Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone”) during the interim period between the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the final judgment and fulfillment of the Kingdom of God on Earth, which will occur when Jesus returns to rule the world as the King of kings.

These three events had ushered in the beginning of the Messianic age. They fulfilled the ancient prophesies and serve as proof that the rest of the Kingdom prophesies will come to pass just as these events did. Again, now that these prophesies are fulfilled we cannot expect God’s people to live the same way they did before the coming of the Messiah. The Messianic age has begun, and at the end of this final age, the Kingdom of God will be firmly established on Earth for all eternity, and all evil forces will be forever defeated and destroyed. With this glorious hope in our hearts, we have a very different worldview than those who have no hope.

Following the plan laid out by all the great prophets, there is one final event we expect to occur after the coming of the Messiah, his death, his resurrection, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This next prophesied event is the soon coming Kingdom of God - a literal Kingdom that will rule the entire world in peace and justice forever. When Christ returns, he wil have the honor of establishing this Kingdom and judging the living and the dead on God’s behalf. But for now, God has allowed an interim period of time between the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God on Earth. This interim period exists in order to give people a chance to accept Jesus as Lord and repent of their sins before Jesus returns and the final judgement occurs.

The first century church fully expected Jesus to return at any moment. The Holy Spirit had been poured out, and Old Testament prophesies clearly linked the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the coming Kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit came upon the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius, signifiying God’s acceptance of Gentile as well as Jew. A New Covenenant had been confirmed between God and man - something far greater than the Old Covenant made by Moses. This New Covenant would affect not only the Jews, but the entire world.