A Flaming Tongue!

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violet wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak and other languages (tongues) as the Spirit enabled them." Acts 2:1 – 4; All Scripture references from NIV.

They were waiting. They were waiting for the greatest cosmic event of all time since that first moment when God said, "Let there be light!" (Genesis 1:3) Maybe it would be greater than the first creation-- they didn't know. All Jesus had said to them was to wait.They were to wait-- for power. They were to wait-- for the Holy Spirit.

What would it be like? For a thousand  years God's people had speculated what it would be like if God himself were to reign on earth. They dreamed of cataclysmic events. They dreamed of mountain- splitting earthquakes. They dreamed of stars falling from heaven and of whole oceans boiling dry in a single day. Power! How it rolls nicely off the tongue.

In recent generations the best sellers among the Jewish religious circuit had been stories of the End of Time. The End of The World had captivated the fantasies of the Jews. Thousands of them had formed End-Of-The-World communes. Some had gone off to mountain caves to quietly await the end. Others were more dramatic. They had built impregnable mountain fortresses with great supplies of food and water, defended by armories filled with the latest high-tech weapons. Between prayers they practiced  martial arts and trained themselves in survival techniques. Because the End of the World was so near, they did not marry in these communes. They meditated on God, they read the Scriptures, they dreamed of the cataclysmic End of Days and often they published their dreams in best sellers.

The disciples of Jesus, more than anyone else in their generation, had seen the beginning of the End. They had seen Jesus feed multitudes of thousands with a few pennies' worth of bread and fish. They had seen Jesus quell the violence of a midnight storm and walked nonchalantly across the lake as if it were solid earth. They had seen Jesus raise the putrid dead. They had seen an empty tomb and a living Jesus eating and visiting  with them. They had seen a living Jesus so recently dead that the marks of the nails were still clearly visible on his hands. They had spent days visiting with a living Jesus who sat across from them in excellent health, apparently oblivious to the gaping hole where the spear had pierced his heart.

The disciples had seen a crucified and living Jesus gently defy the laws of gravity as he slowly moved  up, up and away from them, disappearing into the clouds. As they cheered him goodbye, messengers from heaven appeared at their side, oblivious to the magnitude of what had been happening,  strangers who chided  them for staring up into the sky. They said,"Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you  into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven"(Acts 1:11). Truly, the disciples had seen the beginning of the End!

So now they waited. Now they waited for the next shoe to drop. With a mixture of fascination and fear they prayed and sang their Psalms. Many of those disciples had been followers of John the Baptist.John had prepared The Way of the Lord with sermons brimming over with wrath and judgment. The axe was laid to the root of the tree. God would be raising up children of Abraham from desert rocks. Fruitless fruit trees would be rooted up and thrown into great bonfires along the river banks. And then the Christ would appear. He would baptize the world with the Holy Spirit and with fire! The Christ would gather up the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he would "... burn up...with unquenchable fire" (Luke 3:15 – 17). Fire! It always came back to fire.

So they waited. For ten days they waited. Then it happened! Maybe they had been praying all night, I don't know. Maybe they were meeting for an early, sunrise breakfast prayer meeting. Where they were doesn't seem to be important. At least nobody remembered, that Luke could find for an interview. But it was on the morning of the day of the great Feast of Pentecost. For over a thousand years the Hebrew people had celebrated this Feast in order to consecrate to God the first fruits of the harvest season. It was a feast to celebrate the promise of life and health and happiness for another year. The city of Jerusalem was filled with pilgrims from all over the Roman Empire, pilgrims who had come to Jerusalem to eat and drink before the Lord.

And then it happened! The disciples could hear it coming. It roared in upon them like the mighty rushing winds of a hurricane. It sounded like God was going to blow away the whole city. Like a screaming siren, closer and closer it came until it finally stopped... right where they were meeting. And then, silence... no earthquake, no crunching axe, no mushroom cloud of dust and debris and no holocaust.

One by one they opened their eyes. Then they saw it. It looked like a large flickering candle flame, but it wasn't. It was colored and alive. It was moving and dancing. It broke up into pieces before their eyes. Then the little flame- like things skipped and jumped around the room until one had landed on the head of each one of the 120 disciples who had been praying. Then the disciples recognized what was happening. Those little tongues. Each disciple had a tongue on his head, a tongue moving and flickering like a flame of fire. Then:"All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them" vs.4.

It wasn't quite what the disciples had been waiting for. It wasn't quite what they had expected. The chaff of the world wasn't being burned up on God's threshing floor. The garbage of this world was not being thrown on God's cosmic bonfire. In fact, there was no fire at all. God had given them-- not fire, but-- tongues, tongues so fiery and alive that they looked like tongues of flame.

Like the burning bush that so attracted Moses on the Holy Mountain, nothing was burning up. Nothing was being consumed. Moses had stood off at a safe distance in order not to be caught up and destroyed in a raging desert brush fire. But nothing had happened. When Moses went over close to that strange tongue of flame, it spoke to him. It talked to him of God's promises. It talked to him of God's compassion. It talked to him of God's deliverance and of a new future for Moses' people back in Egyptian bondage. The voice from those tongues of flame sent Moses to proclaim deliverance and a new creation to a lost generation of slaves. Not since the days of Moses had God sent tongues like that. Tongues that burned and did not consume. Tongues that spoke of comfort and deliverance. And the disciples were caught up in the enthusiasm of telling the stories of God's mighty works.

Like curious crowds drawn to the furor of fire trucks, people began to swarm toward the disciples. Pilgrims from ten, fifteen or perhaps seventeen nations who had spent Pentecost Eve in the Holy city, ran to see the latest excitement of Jerusalem. They had heard where the rushing wind had stopped. They knew where to go. As they gathered in close, they also heard, each one of them, in his own mother tongue, Galileans talking about the mighty works of God. What an attraction! The Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce must have spent a bundle to start off the festivities of Pentecost like that.

The pilgrims thronged in close to the story like a cozy family around the fireplace on a chilly evening, soaking up warmth and beauty. The good news of God's love, the good news of deliverance-- that's what they had come to the Holy city to hear. They were pleased. They were comforted. They were amazed. But they were also confused. They were perplexed. Why Galileans? Couldn't the Chamber of Commerce have found more eloquent native speakers for such a grand occasion? What did it all mean?

Then a voice boomed out from the back ranks of rubberneckers, "Aw, they're drunk! This ain't no part of the Feast. They're drunk!" With that wisdom-filled explanation from a sidewalk philosopher, the crowds began to draw back. But one of the Galileans stepped forward.

Peter walked out into the crowd of curious pilgrims and yelled back. "Drunk? It's only nine o'clock in the morning!" That stopped the exodus,but the accusation had stuck in Peter's throat. Here they were, telling the best story ever told. Here they were, on the Day of the First Fruits, telling the good news of all the wonderful deeds God had done for his people, and proclaiming promises of deliverance  from oppression-- and some wise idiot wanted to charge it all up to brains sautéed in alcohol.

Peter knew that the Lord would forgive the sins of the pilgrims because of Christ's sacrifice upon the cross. Peter knew from experience that the Lord is gracious and slow to anger. That's what the Good News is all about. But what about the sidewalk philosopher who cannot tell the difference between the Lord's kindness and an alcoholic? What does the Lord have to say to that man?

Well, Peter reached back into one of the great End-of-the-World prophecies from Joel. He decided to put the fear of God into that scoffer. Peter told him that he was witnessing a sign of the Last Days. "All these people are prophesying," he said. "Young and old, men and women, even the servants-- they are all under the influence of God's Holy Spirit." Then Peter went on to remind the mocker that in the Last Days there will be signs in the heavens, and,"... the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the day of the Lord comes..." furthermore Peter stated that,"... it shall be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2:17 – 21, quoting Joel).

By the time Peter got through with the mocker, the whole multitude of rubberneckers was "cut to the heart." They were deeply troubled and began calling out to Peter, asking him, "Brothers, what shall we do? What shall we do?" It was no longer an early-morning spectator sport. They had suddenly become wide-awake. Their very lives were at stake. Peter had touched their soul through the Word of God. They were not mockers. Those pilgrims were devout servants of the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. They were faithful followers of Moses. Whatever was right before God, that's what they wanted. They asked Peter, "What shall we do?"

Peter told them. He had no doubts. He may not have had any idea what the Lord Jesus was planning to do with the world before high noon, but he knew what to tell the congregation of devout pilgrims. He said:"... Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--- for all whom the Lord our God will call" (Acts 2:38). Amen.





 

A Crippled Saint!

 The same night [ Jacob] arose and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had.And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and Jacob's thigh was put out of joint ...Then he said, " Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said, " I will not let you go,unless you bless me." And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then he said, "Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." Genesis 32:22-28

What does it take to make you believe in the promises and the power of God? God protected you through all the foolishness of your youth. He got you out of all the troubles that you were dying to get into. He got you a job. He has blessed you with a lovely family. He brought you into the gracious household of faith called the Church. He has forgiven your lies and your deceits  and the moments of sheer panic. God knows you want his blessing, and he has promised you a life full of the fruit of his Spirit-- a life full of love and joy and peace, a life full of patience and kindness  and goodness.  He has promised you faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.

So, why is it that you find it hard to believe  that God forgives the past, makes right the present and guarantees the future? Why is it that you find it hard to believe that God can influence other people and make your enemies give you the kiss of peace? Oh, I know that our Father Jacob lived that way, but that's no excuse for you to live like that. Jacob was terrified  for his future. He had left his mortal enemy back in his future, back in the Land of God's Promises. Jacob really did not believe that God could do anything about his brother Esau.

Why, I can remember a half-century of sincere belief among American Christians that God has no influence whatsoever over any Communist or over the Evil Empire of Russia. Those good Christians raised me on the belief that says, "You can always trust the Communists to do exactly what  Lenin and Stalin have written in their books that they will do." Many millions of good, God-fearing Christians bought into the Communist lie that God is helpless, merely a powerless idea in the hands of duped believers. This is much the same way many view ISIS today.

Yet the Bible teaches, from cover to cover, that God is the God not only of the heavens but also of the earth. The Bible teaches that our Lord Jesus is the King of earthly kings, the Lord of earthly lords, that he controls nations and empires. Why did Jacob not believe that God could transform Esau into a good neighbor? Sure, Esau was his mortal enemy, but also, God is God!

When it came time to claim the Land of God's Promises, Jacob was in a panic. He sent wave after wave of expensive gifts rolling down toward Esau in the hopes of pacifying him. Then his scouts came back with the chilling word that Esau was riding toward the border with 400 light cavalry. It was almost sundown, and Jacob was running out of options.. Once he crossed the River Jabbok there was no turning back. Once he and his herds and his flocks and his servants and his maids, his wives and his children crossed the river, they would have to face far superior military might in the hands of Jacob's mortal enemy-Esau.

The day before, when they were looking South  toward the Promised Land, God opened Jacob's eyes and let him see a whole army of angels camped out on the mountain sides,camped between him and Esau. But Jacob has had religious visions before, and not once did they influence his planning. Jacob is a religious man who lives as if God were powerless in this world. Jacob is a religious man who believes that God's angels are nothing more than cute little figures fit only for Christmas cards and children's coloring books or props for Sunday school pageants.

So, Jacob, religious man that he was, said a prayer and went about forming a last-ditch defense  against total loss. He divided up his wealth into separate groups, hoping that Esau might be tricked into thinking that he had captured everything, and would be satisfied. Last of all, in the most protected position, he sent his family across the River Jabbok, but he didn't cross, not Jacob. Jacob stayed on the safe side of the border.

As darkness came over the land, Jacob walked along the river bank and hid himself  down in under the thick underbrush, in the muck. After all, "He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day." The rest of the story is as dark and confused as the night. Sometime in the middle of that night, we hear noises coming from along the river bank. It is the noise of two men struggling. We realize that the commotion is coming from Jacob's secret hiding place.

Someone has penetrated the perimeters of Jacob's last defense. Someone has grabbed Jacob and they were fighting. It is too dark and too far away for us to see the face of the opponent, but we hear the grunts and the cries of pain as they fight through the dark night. Finally, from the sounds it seems like Jacob has pinned the assailant to the ground. There is a pause, and then we hear Jacob talking to the man in the darkness.

Later, Jacob tells us that just as he was beginning to win the struggle, the faceless man does something strange to his leg. Suddenly Jacob feels a terrible cramp in his leg and it is blown out of joint at the hip. The pain is unbearable. Jacob makes a desperate clinch and holds the man so tightly that the dark stranger screams out, "Let me go! It's almost daylight." And Jacob, in that death clinch will not let him go. Jacob demands a blessing.

Down there in the muck, exhausted from hand-to-hand combat, in excruciating pain from a dislocated hip, Jacob comes to the conclusion that his enemy is one of God's angels, maybe God himself. So Jacob pins him to the ground in a death match and demands a blessing. Jacob has finally bested God!

For all we know, God had gone to Jacob's hiding place with peaceful intentions. For all we know God had sought out Jacob to bless him and assure him that Esau had already been taken care of, that Esau would open the frontiers with a hug and a kiss on both cheeks. But Jacob has never known how to receive a gift or a blessing, not from God. He must fight for it, he must demand it, he must win it in a no- holds- barred battle to the death.

"Bless me!" Jacob demands as he pins the stranger to the muck. The stranger answers,, " What's your name?" What a time for introductions! Without shaking hands, Jacob tells him. Jacob gives him the name he had received in another battle, in that struggle with Esau  as the twins emerged from the darkness of Rebekah's womb. "My name is Jacob, The - One -Who- Wins- By-Tripping- His- Opponent." The stranger, with mud in his mouth, replies, "From now on you will be called 'Israel,' for you have striven with God and with men, and you have prevailed." It's as if the stranger is saying, "Oh, Jacob, you're still at it after all these years.. You have learned nothing."  So, down there in the muck, the god-like stranger tells Jacob, "It's all right. You wanted to win, you have won. Now let go of me, it is almost daylight and I must be off." Jacob begged to know his name but the stranger wouldn't introduce himself.  Nevertheless, for years afterwards, Jacob told his children and grandchildren and anyone else who would listen, saying, "I have seen God face to face and yet my life is preserved!"

By the time the sun's rays got down into the valley, Jacob limped his way back across the river, out to face  Esau. Jacob still wasn't convinced. He sent his least favorite women out first with their children. Behind them, he said his least favorite wife and her children. And then, still between him and Esau,  he placed his beloved Rachel and her son Joseph.

Suddenly, like the midnight stranger, Esau came crashing through all of Jacob's defenses and jumped off his war mule right  in Jacob's face, backed up by 400 light cavalry. But the midnight stranger was right. Jacob had won. Esau, in true Oriental fashion, embraced his old enemy, kissed him on both cheeks and acted like Jacob was the most important man in his life. And they both lived happily ever after.

Do you believe that story? Or do God's blessings still sound like fairy tales fit only for small children? Does God have to cripple you to make you stop fighting against him? Is that what it will take? Are you still struggling with God's salvation as if salvation were an enemy sneaking up on you in the middle of the night, penetrating your last defenses?

We all struggle! Why is it that we struggle with God endlessly, year after year, as if he is not willing or not able to keep his promises to us? Christ has won. He has prevailed. It's all over! Salvation has already been accomplished, justification imputed and the enemy is not going to harm us. However, God may have to cripple you to make you stop struggling. But crippled or not, get up out of the muck you are struggling in, wash up in the bayou and step over into the world of God's Promises. Sure, you and I know the Enemy is out there; even in the Promised Land he is out there but he won't harm you. He may try to deceive you but he won't kill you. And the whole future of God's promises are yours. Amen