Breaking Through Spiritually

It was Pentecost (50 days after the Sunday following Passover - 50 days after Resurrection Sunday). In looking at Acts 2:1-21, we see something that is often mistaken for a paradigm of personal Christian experience rather than the redemptive-historical breakthrough that it is. Reading carefully, we find that because God has poured out his Spirit fully and powerfully (vv. 17-18), we are to make clear that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (v. 21). While we may wonder what the coming of the Spirit in power means (v. 12), we can tell from what is recorded that 1) salvation in the New Covenant is for all (vv. 6-11, 21) — not just those living near Jerusalem; and 2) The Spirit's coming marks the start of the last days (v. 17) — when promise and prophecy have been and are being fulfilled. As Justin Holcomb puts it: "The story in Acts is also our story, because we are participating in God's story. The descent of the Spirit on these apostles is really the birth story of all who are in Christ."