- [Narrator] The three occasions
when the Holy Spirit came down in a special way.
Number one, the Holy Spirit came down to conceive of Jesus.
When Jesus Christ was conceived,
the Holy Spirit made his initial
and most significant appearance.
The divine Holy Spirit was responsible
for the conception of the human Jesus.
Luke chapter one, verses 31 to 35.
"Listen carefully.
You will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and eminent,
and will be called the Son of the Most High.
And the Lord God will give him the throne
of his father, David,
and he will reign over the house of Jacob, Israel forever,
and of his kingdom there shall be no end."
Mary said to the angel,
"How will this be since I am a virgin
and have no intimacy with any man?"
Then the angel replied to her,
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you
and the power of the Most High
will overshadow you like a cloud.
For that reason, the holy, pure, sinless child
shall be called the Son of God."
As a result of this miraculous occurrence,
the Holy Son of God was able to take on human form
and enter the world.
We can rightly say
that this was the first great coming of the Holy Spirit.
The word overshadow carries the sense
of God's holy powerful presence,
as in the depiction of the cloud covering the tabernacle.
Exodus chapter 40, verse 35.
"Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting
because the cloud remained on it
and the glory and brilliance of the Lord
filled the tabernacle."
This word is used in all three transfiguration accounts
to describe the clouds overshadowing.
Likewise, in each account,
the voice emanates out of the cloud,
recognizing Jesus as God's Son.
The child is called the Holy One,
both because of this connection with the Holy Spirit
and because of Jesus' life of purity.
Number two, the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus at his baptism.
The event that marked
the second significant arrival of the Holy Spirit
was the baptism of Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit descended upon him
at the outset of his public ministry
and he remained filled with the Holy Spirit
throughout the entirety of the time
that he spent ministering to people all over the world.
The following is the testimony
that John the Baptist provided
regarding the identity
of the one who was baptized in water by him.
John chapter one, verses 32 and 33.
"John gave further evidence,
testifying officially for the record
with validity and relevance, saying,
"I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven,
and he remained upon him.
I did not recognize him as the Messiah,
but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me,
"He upon whom you see the Spirit descend and remain,
this one is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit."
The reference here
was to the time John baptized Jesus in the Jordan.
After the Lord went up out of the water,
the Spirit of God descended like a dove
and remained upon him.
Matthew chapter three, verses 13 to 16.
"Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan River
to be baptized by him,
but John tried to prevent him,
vigorously protesting, saying,
"It is I who need to be baptized by you
and do you come to me?"
But Jesus replied to him,
"Permit it just now,
for this is the fitting way
for us to fulfill all righteousness."
Then John permitted it and baptized him.
After Jesus was baptized,
he came up immediately out of the water.
And, behold, the heavens were opened
and he, John, saw the Spirit of God
descending as a dove and lighting on him, Jesus.
The writer goes on to explain the meaning of this.
John had received a revelation from God
that the Messiah would be arriving in the future,
and that when he did,
the Spirit would come down upon him and remain with him.
Therefore, when this happened to Jesus,
John realized that this was the one
who had baptized with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is a person,
one of the three persons in the Godhead.
John performed baptisms using water.
However, Jesus would perform baptisms using the Holy Spirit.
The day of Pentecost was set aside
for the observance of the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
Acts chapter one, verse five.
"For John baptized with water,
but you will be baptized and empowered
and united with the Holy Spirit not long from now."
Acts chapter two, verse four.
"And they were all filled,
that is diffused throughout their being with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in other tongues, different languages,
as the Spirit was giving them the ability
to speak out clearly and appropriately."
Acts chapter two, verse 38.
"And Peter said to them,
"Repent, change your old way of thinking.
Turn from your sinful ways.
Accept and follow Jesus as the Messiah
and be baptized each of you in the name of Jesus Christ
because of the forgiveness of your sins
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
At that time, the Holy Spirit came down from heaven
to dwell in the body of every believer
and also to make each believer a member of the church,
the body of Christ.
1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 13.
"For by one Holy Spirit, we were all baptized into one body,
spiritually transformed, united together,
whether Jews or Greeks, Gentiles, slaves or free,
and we were all made to drink of one Holy Spirit."
Since the same Holy Spirit fills each life.
The Holy Spirit identified Jesus as the promised Messiah.
He would be the one who would eventually baptize
with the Holy Spirit.
Number three,
the Holy Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost.
The coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost
is considered the third and greatest of the comings.
After Jesus' ascension,
the Holy Spirit came down in a unique way
on all those who have believed in Christ.
Acts chapter two, verses one to 12.
When the day of Pentecost had come,
they were all together in one place,
and suddenly a sound came from heaven
like a rushing violent wind,
and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
There appeared to them tongues resembling fire
which were being distributed among them,
and they rested on each one of them
as each person received the Holy Spirit.
And they were all filled.
That is, diffused throughout their being
with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in other tongues, different languages,
as the Spirit was giving them the ability
to speak out clearly and appropriately.
Now, there were Jews living in Jerusalem,
devout and God-fearing men from every nation under heaven.
And when the sound was heard, a crowd gathered
and they were bewildered
because each one was hearing those in the upper room
speaking in his own language or dialect.
They were completely astonished, saying,
"Look, are not all of these who are speaking Galileans?
Then how is it that each of us
hears in our own language or native dialect?
Among us, there are Parthians, Medes and Elamites,
and people of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia Minor, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the district of Libya around Cyrene
and the visitors from Rome,
both Jews and proselytes, Gentile converts to Judaism,
Cretans and Arabs.
We all hear them speaking in our native tongues
about the mighty works of God."
And they were beside themselves with amazement
and were greatly perplexed,
saying one to another, "What could this mean?"
Pentecost was one of three major Jewish feast days.
Deuteronomy chapter 16, verse 16.
"Three times a year,
all your males shall appear before the Lord your God
in the place which he chooses:
at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Passover,
and at the Feast of Weeks, Pentecost,
and at the Feast of Booths, Tabernacles,
and shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed."
On that day, according to the Old Testament,
the priest would bring two loaves into the temple
and wave them before the Lord.
This spoke of the time
when the Holy Spirit would be outpoured
and souls would be gathered together as one.
Now that Jesus had returned to the Father,
the divine preparation was complete
and the side could become reality.
Though so different in temperament and background,
the apostles gathered in one accord
to wait for the power of the Holy Spirit
so they could carry out the excellent commission
Jesus had given them.
Second, what happened at Pentecost?
Stated simply, the Holy Spirit was poured upon the disciples
and they were given heavenly power.
Of course, the Holy Spirit was already in the world.
He was instrumental at creation.
He inspired the scriptures.
He illuminated the disciples' minds.
At Pentecost, however, he came in power.
Two explicit miracles
announced the arrival of the Holy Spirit.
First was the sound of a rushing, mighty wind.
Jesus compared the Spirit to wind
when he spoke with Nicodemus.
John chapter three, verse eight.
"The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound,
but you do not know where it is coming from
and where it is going.
So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
Just as wind is invisible, yet irresistible,
soul is the Spirit of God.
We cannot control him nor dictate how he will operate
but when the Spirit moves, things are forever different.
Where the wind of God blows on a church,
the walls of resistance topple
and that church is well on its way to becoming ingrained.
Not only did the apostles hear the Spirit's descent,
they saw him as a fire.
The fire of the Holy Spirit
cleanses and purifies the church.
Exodus chapter three, verse two.
"The angel of the Lord appeared to him
in a blazing flame of fire from the midst of a bush.
And he looked, and behold, the bush was on fire,
yet it was not consumed."
Hebrews chapter 12, verse 29.
"For our God is indeed a consuming fire.
His fire consumes the rags of righteousness,
the dross of pride, and the stubble of doubt."
Finally, fire conflagrates, producing more fire.
The Spirit takes hold of us and makes us what he is,
a burning flame.
Now, let's consider a third question.
Why did Pentecost happen?
Pentecost took place
because God wanted to do something in us.
Even though historically Pentecost occurred only once,
never to be repeated,
experientially and personally,
Pentecost takes place at the time of salvation
in every believer's life.
1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 13.
"For by one Holy Spirit,
we were all baptized into one body,
spiritually transformed, united together,
whether Jews or Greeks, Gentiles, slaves or free,
and we were all made to drink of one Holy Spirit."
Since the same Holy Spirit fills each life,
every Christian has the privilege
of the presence of God's Spirit in his or her life.
God also wants to do something through us.
Being filled by the Spirit
means that we will speak for the Spirit,
communicating the works of God.
The disciples faced a huge crowd of men, women, and children
from all the nations of the world
and they did not know how to reach them.
But the Holy Spirit enabled them to tell about Jesus.
If the church today could simply trust God,
he would provide the means to reach the crowds.
In fact, we are told
that Jesus exercised the authority of the Messiah
by sending the Holy Spirit upon others.
Peter said to the crowd on that day,
Acts chapter two, verses 32 and 33,
"God raised this Jesus bodily from the dead,
and of that fact we are all witnesses.
Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God,
and having receded from the Father
the promise of the Holy Spirit,
he has poured out this blessing,
which you both see and hear."
To the Corinthians, Paul wrote the following.
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with all of you."
People of God.