When the electricity fails, and you light a candle, have you ever lit just one candle and then taken that one flame to light many candles and create multiple light sources around a room? It is certainly a common occurrence at our house.
In the Old Testament, the symbol of God's presence with his people Israel as they were led out of Egypt and through the wilderness was the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.(Ex 13:21-22, Ex 40:38, Num 9:15) Every day, that cloud/fire was a reminder that the Israelites were God's chosen people/family, with whom he chose to dwell.
When God met Moses at the burning bush, he spoke out of the fire that kept burning but didn't consume the bush.
God is described as a 'consuming fire' reflecting his almighty power and supremecy (Ex 24:17, Deut 4:24, Hebrews 12:29)
The Honour of His Presence Individually as well as Collectively
But God's presence as a fire over the tabernacle, was a corporate and collective presence for his people. His individual people only enjoyed his presence because they were part of the greater group of chosen people with whom God decided to dwell in a very special and unique way. They knew his honour on them as 'chosen' primarily in a collective sense.
Today on this Pentecost Sunday, I am reminded that God brought the fire of his presence from the collective presence to involve an individual presence.
We are told that God's presence in the form of the Holy Spirit, was symbolised in the coming of a fire that 'divided up' - 'separated' - into multiple flames, one flame for each individual person. No longer was God's presence a collective presence only. Not only was He with them as a group, but he was going to be in each of them individually, to guide, direct and empower (Ezekiel 36:27).
Prior to Pentecost God's people were still individually accountable, but as far as God's presence was experienced it was primarily by being part of the collective group.
After Pentecost, God's presence was able to be experienced individually by everyone who belonged to God through Christ.
Prior: God chose to presence Himself with the collective group in which individuals were a part, thus the individual's access to God was via the collective group. God's presence was something they looked to outside of themselves.
After: God chose to dwell directly in the individuals who then together formed the collective presence of God in Christ by the Spirit. Not only does the Christian enjoy the privilege of the honour of God's presence collectively as part of the body of Christ, but individually and directly as His beloved child. The temple where God dwelt was no longer only external to them, but internally within them as an individual.
In explaining Acts 2:3, Scholar and Theologian Bill Mounce said:
Just as the Spirit of God rested on the nation of Israel corporately, after Pentecost the Spirit divides and rests on every individual of the new covenantal community.
But in this new reality, Christians can be assured that we don't each have 'part' of the Spirit, but like a flame when it lights many candles, we each fully experience the fulness of the power of God in our lives.
This is also why, Jesus could say 'I am the light of the world', but also tell his disciples that 'you are the light of the world'. His presence with us and in us collectively and individually as the many members of his body, is not diminished in any way by God moving from 'dwelling' in one huge cloud/fire and the one room of the Holy of Holies to dwelling within every Christian all over the world. He is not like a soup that you water down to make it go further, but a burning flame given from himself to empower each one of us.
The Honour of the Presence of His Power
In Acts 1:8 we are told that when the Holy Spirit came, Jesus' disciples would receive power. Not just a power to perform miracles but the power of his presence with them, that would enable them to be his witnesses, his ambassadors wherever they went.
Israel looked outward to the cloud/fire and to be assured of God's presence with them and they had to wait day by day to see where and when the cloud/fire would move to know if they would move here or there or wherever... and they would then follow the cloud/fire.
But when Jesus' ascended, he gave the command to 'go' into all the world and 'lo I am with you always'. He said when the Holy Spirit came he would enable that 'going' into the 'all the world' that they were instructed to go to.
Habakkuk 2:14 says
"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."
As we go into all the world, we go with the honour of His presence in us. The wider and more extensively we go in fulfilling our great commission, the more the knowledge and presence of God's glory and honour fills the earth.
In the book of Genesis, the first family of Adam and Eve was meant to 'fill the earth' and cover it with God's image bearers. God's glory and honour in the human beings he created and had breathed his life into, were meant to wrap and fill the earth with His glory and honour.
But as we know, all we as fallen human beings managed to do was fill the earth with failure, sin and shame.
But through the Spirit and in his power, God gives a fresh opportunity for us as the New Family in Christ, spread the good news of restored honour in salvation.
Right across the globe, the glory and honour of God's presence more and more fills the earth, to end one day in the new heaven and earth which will be filled with the glory and honour of his presence forever.
Pentecost was both the culmination of God's plan to restore his presence in the life of human beings whom he created to be in his image…and the beginning of the working out of that plan - a plan that he calls us to be a part of, as we bring the good news of reconciliation to those who are alienated from the life of Christ across all nations, so that they too can come to know the reality of God's presence with, in and through them.
We have a great message to share with the world!
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