Wednesday, May 3
They all became filled with holy spirit.
The year was 33 C.E., and it was the day of Pentecost. In an upper room in Jerusalem, a group of about 120 Christians were gathered together, “persisting in prayer.” What was about to happen to them fulfilled a prophecy uttered by the prophet Joel. God’s holy spirit was poured out on that group of Christians who were gathered in the upper room. They started to prophesy, or bear witness, concerning the wonderful things they had seen and heard. To a multitude that soon gathered, the apostle Peter explained the significance of what had happened. Then he told his audience: “Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the free gift of the holy spirit.” Altogether about 3,000 accepted the invitation that day, were baptized, and received the promised holy spirit.
COMMENTARY
God’s spirit was the power that originally created the universe. It was his spirit that molded the first man out of clay and animated Adam by blowing the breath of life into his nostrils. It was God’s spirit that came upon Samson and gave him the strength of a hundred mighty men. God’s spirit came upon Elijah too and moved him to run faster than horses for 40 miles.
God’s spirit worked in more subtle ways too, moving men to accurately write down the things they saw and heard and thought to form what we know as the Bible.
Jesus received the full measure of God’s spirit when he was anointed with the holy spirit. And the same spirit anointed others after Jesus. But even before his ascension, the apostles were given God’s spirit. How else could they have cast out demons and performed healing? But after his resurrection Jesus appeared to the apostles in a materialized body and imparted even more holy spirit to his disciples, as recorded in the 20th chapter of John: “Then the disciples rejoiced at seeing the Lord. Jesus said to them again: ‘May you have peace. Just as the Father has sent me, I also am sending you.’ After saying this he blew on them and said to them: ‘Receive holy spirit.’”
So, the spirit was given in accord with the commission to preach, which is why Jesus sent the apostles. The anointing came afterwards.
With the appearance of the Bible Students grouped around C.T. Russell in the 1880’s it is apparent that God’s spirit was on the move again. Not only were they uncovering long-hidden doctrinal truth, but the Bible Students immediately began preaching. Given the difficulty and sacrifice involved, surely God’s spirit was the impelling force that moved them. After a long period of drought the spirit was being poured out again, not only sending preachers out into the world, but anointing them to be joint heirs of the heavenly Kingdom.
But just because a person has been anointed by the spirit does not mean they are continually filled with the spirit. It is a constant process of renewal and replenishment. And even at that, God has not given the full measure of his spirit. How do we know? Because according to prophecy, that is reserved for the future —when Christ returns.
The 32nd chapter of Isaiah lays it out, saying: “Look! A king will reign for righteousness, and princes will rule for justice. And each one will be like a hiding place from the wind, a place of concealment from the rainstorm, like streams of water in a waterless land, like the shadow of a massive crag in a parched land. Then the eyes of those seeing will no longer be pasted shut, and the ears of those hearing will pay attention. The heart of those who are impetuous will ponder over knowledge, and the stammering tongue will speak fluently and clearly.”
Presently Jehovah’s Witnesses imagine that Christ has been reigning since 1914. They also have been deluded into believing that the elders are the princes who are a refuge from the storm. In reality, the storm has not begun and Jehovah’s Witnesses are those whose eyes are pasted shut, who have impetuously believed that they have nothing left to learn.
The reason for the delusion is because the organization is influenced by apostates. The prophecy continues: “The senseless one will no longer be called generous, and the unprincipled man will not be called noble; for the senseless one will speak nonsense, and his heart will devise harmful things, to promote apostasy and to speak what is wayward against Jehovah, to cause the hungry one to go unfed and to deprive the thirsty one of something to drink. The devices of the unprincipled man are bad; he promotes shameful conduct to ruin the afflicted one with lies, even when the poor speaks what is right.”
The Watchtower’s entire 1914 invisible parousia doctrine is best summed up as total nonsense. It is packaged in a way to make it seem plausible, it seems like secret knowledge that is only accessible to the wise, but it is nonsense. In demonstration of that fact Jehovah’s Witnesses cannot coherently answer the simplest questions posed, such as in these 30 Questions or Ten Questions.
Presently, Jehovah’s Witnesses lavish praise upon the faithful slave for his bounteous spiritual provisions, in spite of the nonsense they are fed. But what happens when the whole thing comes undone, as it surely will when world war erupts? The spiritually hungry one will go unfed and the thirsty one will go without drink. The Watchtower Society will become useless. It will become like an abandoned city.
Then the next phase will begin: “Until the spirit is poured out on us from above, and the wilderness becomes an orchard, and the orchard is regarded as a forest. Then justice will reside in the wilderness, and righteousness will dwell in the orchard. The result of true righteousness will be peace, and the fruitage of true righteousness will be lasting tranquillity and security.”
After the wicked are eliminated along with their lies, during the darkest period of history the spirit will be poured out from above as never before. It will accomplish the final sealing. Then the chosen ones will shine as brightly as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. The truth will shine as never before. Isaiah 30:26 describes it this way: “And the light of the full moon will become like the light of the sun; and the light of the sun will become seven times stronger, like the light of seven days, in the day that Jehovah binds up the breakdown of his people and heals the severe wound from the blow he inflicted.”
Just as the apostles saw Christ after his resurrection, when he blew upon them in gesture of their receiving the holy wind, the spirit, so too, the chosen ones will see Jesus and receive the full measure of the holy spirit —becoming full-grown into Christ. Jesus will come alongside of them and minister to them, which, of course, is what parousia literally means. That is sure to be an enlightening experience. Then the chosen ones will become as strong as Samson in a spiritual sense. They will be like lions for Jehovah. Micah 5:8 describes their transformation this way: “The remaining ones of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of a forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, that passes through and pounces and tears in pieces; and there is no one to rescue them. Your hand will be raised over your adversaries, and all your enemies will be destroyed.”
Then the chosen ones will serve as princes who will be a hiding place from the reign of tyranny. That is when the sons of God are revealed. Then the new world will begin even before this wicked world is destroyed.
