Our reading today begins with the Holy Spirit coming upon believers on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-4. Pentecost was one of the three major agricultural and religious Festivals of the Jewish people. Jesus had been crucified 50 days before on Passover. In addition to the Feasts of Pentecost and Passover, the Jews celebrated Tabernacles in the Autumn, at the end of harvest season. It wouldn’t surprise me if Jesus’ Second Coming will occur during the Feast of Tabernacles.

God’s Faithful Providence

In God’s providence, Jesus was crucified as the ultimate Passover Lamb, who takes away the sins of the world, according to the testimony of John the Baptist (John 1:29, 36). Jesus sets free anyone, Jew or Gentile, who turns to Him in repentance and faith.

It is no accident that on the Day of Pentecost there were Jews, and Gentile converts to Judaism, from all over the Roman Empire present in Jerusalem (Acts 2:5-12). And it’s no accident that the disciples started praising God in the many different languages of the world when the Holy Spirit came on them. God’s intent in choosing Abraham and his descendants was always to bless all nations (Genesis 12:1-3).

Christianity has deep Jewish roots. Most of these early Christians were Jewish. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus, came as a Jewish carpenter. The major events of early Christianity, Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, as well as the initial pouring out of the Holy Spirit, all occurred on major Jewish Feasts. God was indicating that the religious/spiritual significance of these Festival Days were now being fulfilled in Christ and His followers.

It is no surprise that in the first sermon of the Church age, after the Holy Spirit is poured out on the gathered believers, the Apostle Peter explains the events as fulfillment of the Jewish Scriptures and the promises of Israel’s God. Peter appeals to Scripture passages like Joel 2:28-32 and Psalm 16:8-11 to explain the meaning of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the death and resurrection of Israel’s long-expected Messiah (Acts 2:15-21; 2:22-32). Peter even appeals to the Jewish Scriptures (Psalm 110:1) to explain the ascension of Jesus to God in heaven ( Acts 2:33-36).

In Acts 3 and 4, the Apostles continue to witness to their unbelieving Jewish brethren by appealing to their eyewitness testimony of Jesus’ resurrection, as well as appealing to the Old Testament Scriptures. The Jewish Scriptures are being fulfilled in the very days these people are living in.

Knowing and Relying On God’s Love

There are a couple of implications I would like to emphasize that flow from our reading today. First of all, there is no room for any kind of anti-Semitism for a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. Our Savior came as a Jew. And not only that, the reason a Gentile is a believer today is because of the faithful testimony of Jewish Apostles and other faithful Jews in Old Testament times. We are not to make an idol of the nation Israel, like some Christians tend to do, nor are we to overly politicize the faith on behalf of Israel. But we are to deeply appreciate and respect the Jewish people.

Secondly, we are to have great confidence in the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God we worship. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the One who has fulfilled the ancient promises to bless the whole world through their descendants. Jesus as come forth as the Seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:6-14, 26-29).

The Apostle Paul says that if we belong to Christ, whether Jew or Gentile, then we “are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:29). We are no longer slaves, but sons and daughters of God. We have been redeemed and adopted into God’s family, and God’s Spirit indwells the believer’s heart and cries out “Abba, Father” to God (Gal. 4:4-7). We can know personally the love of God and rely on the love of God, especially in these difficult times, when the world has literally been stopped in its tracks by an invisible virus. Nothing in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ, our LORD (Romans 8:35-39). This is Good News for us today. Praise be to God!

QOTD: Do you know and rely on the love of God that is in the Lord Jesus Christ?