But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be My witnesses, telling people about Me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:8
The disciples had been told to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came upon them. We have discussed the matter of waiting in Jerusalem for the gift that had been promised, in Gem 1341. Now we see that gift that had been promised, is God equipping us with the outpouring of His Holy Spirit.God has all authority in heaven and earth (as Matthew told us) and as a result of that authority,He will send forth the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be clothed with [dunamis] to be his witnesses. The word dunamis is the word from which we get ‘dynamite’ in the English language. It is that kind of power or might that is meant here. It is also a word that is frequently used in the New Testament to mean miracles or the miraculous. What is interesting is that when Jesus himself gave witness or testimony to the fact of who He was, it was accompanied by the miraculous. The Old Testament prophecies related to the coming Messiah included a list of the miracles He would perform. It was like an authentication of His office. He would grant recovery of sight to the blind, set the captives free, deliver the oppressed and usher in the life of the Age To Come. There would be a definite power encounter between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light.
Thus, God is multiplying the number of His witnesses and the effect of their witness, given the fact that they will be enabled, clothed by the Holy Spirit to do His work. It was important for the twelve disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the Spirit to come upon them to equip them for their role as witnesses. In that early time period, the Holy Spirit had not yet been given. Now that Jesus had accomplished the work on the cross and was to ascend to heaven, then the Holy Spirit could be released to enable His disciples for the work to come. This was the beginning of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit predicted for centuries before, when many would be equipped for the role they were to be given. That which is true for those disciples of old is also true of us today. We need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the work God has for us. That is why He has distributed the gifts of the Holy Spirit to His Body in the way He has. But let me make it clear, the Gift which was referred to in verse 4 is NOT the gifts of the Holy Spirit but rather the Holy Spirit Himself. It is this multiplying of the presence of Jesus in all of His disciples, which means the impact is spread throughout the world. During the time Jesus was on earth and walking in the Spirit, He was limited to the environs of Israel. Now that His Holy Spirit is present in each and every believer, the presence or potential for power in the witness is spread everywhere. It is the beginning of a significant new era.
The message each witness ought to share is the incredible love and grace found in Christ. Don’t allow the message to be adulterated into something else. The essence is that God loved the world so much that He gave His son to die on the cross to redeem us from our tendency to live apart from God. When you share that message,all the resources and power of heaven are at your disposalto add credence to the message. God backs that message with the power of His Holy Spirit. Read these past Gems I wrote on our journey of love and the over-the-top excessive way God pours out His grace and blessing on those who love Him.
Bible Gem 661 – Rooted and grounded . . . comprehending . . . knowing Love (Eph 3:17-19)
Bible Gem 662 – The More Than Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious God (Eph 3:19-21)
First we must learn to grow in His love, knowing first that we are rooted and grounded in His love because He loved us first. God doesn’t respond to our love for Him. He always and forever initiates the process. He will always love you first. Many struggle with doubts as to whether God loves them. I hear it time and time again in talking to people who are already Christians. Paul tells us in Ephesians that we are rooted and grounded in God’s love. However, after that we are to move on to grasp the dimensions of God’s love for us. You will never exhaust its dimensions. But this process does not end there. We must move on to experience His love by coming to “know” it. In the same way Adam knew God intimately, we are to come to know God’s love intimately by experiencing it. When you know the love of God you can’t help but share it.
God’s plan is to love you so lavishly that you can’t help but tell others about what you have found. Imagine if you had found the perfect human lover. You would be telling all your friends how you have met this amazing person who you have fallen in love with. You couldn’t keep your mouth closed. Well, it is like that with God’s love. The Holy Spiritconvincesyou of the truth and depth of God’s love. He then convicts you of sin and the changes needed in you tomatchyou to this new lover you have found (God). Then He empowers you to tell the world of what you have found. He does all of the work of empowering you to be a witness. Then He releases you into the each-one-teach-(tell)-one principle. The Holy Spirit makes Him real. Put another way, He convinces us of the dimensions of God’s love, a love that is for everyone. No one misses out. Now why would you not want to share that experience?
How far along the journey in God’s love are you?
Ian Vail
Do you know you are rooted and grounded in His love? Without having to do anything, He loves you immensely.
Ian Vail
Have you grasped the dimensions of His love? The length, breadth, height and depth of how much God loves you?
Ian Vail
Have you moved from head knowledge of knowing about God’s love, into actually experiencing it? It is the Holy Spirit who takes you into that dimension.
Ian Vail
Now there is only one thing left to do – tell someone about it today.
Ian Vail
When it is real in you it will be real to them; and I will let you into a secret – the world is looking for reality.
Ian Vail
Go be a witness. You receive the dynamite when you open your mouth.
Ian Vail