As many as He Calls

The Gift of the Spirit is for every man who repents and follows Jesus, even to those afar off, and in fulfillment of the promise of the Father.

After completing his sermon on the Day of Pentecost, Peter summoned his audience to repent and be baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ.” But something more than a call to accept the Gospel was transpiring. The Apostle concluded his sermon on a note of fulfillment and with a foretaste of things to come, for the “promise is to you, your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God will call.”

Peter’s sermon began with a citation from the Book of Joel, and he finished it with a clause from the same passage, thus neatly bracketing his message. What began on the Day of Pentecost was the commencement of the Messianic Age characterized by the Spirit. It must continue until the “Day of the LORD.”

[Cascade - Photo by Henrik Eikefjord on Unsplash]

What the crowd of Jewish pilgrims “saw and heard” in Jerusalem was none other than the promised outpouring of the Spirit “in the last days” predicted by the Prophet Joel:

• “And it will come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit” – (Joel 2:28).

With the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, the “last days” commenced; therefore, the Gift of the Spirit has been granted to his people, beginning with the young church of Jerusalem, but certainly not ending there. From that day until now, everyone who hears the Gospel must repent while the opportunity remains - (Acts 2:37-38).

SPIRIT BAPTISM

The “Promise” referred to by Peter in his sermon was the “Gift of the Spirit” foretold in the Hebrew Bible and by Jesus. Just before his Ascension, Christ commanded his disciples to “wait in Jerusalem” until they received power from on high, the “Promise of the Father.” They would then become his witnesses and the Gospel to the “ends of the Earth”:

• “You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send forth the promise of my Father upon you. But wait in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” – (Luke 24:49).

• “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the ends of the earth” – (Acts 1:8).

The sights and sounds that accompanied the Spirit’s initial outpouring caused confusion among the pilgrims gathered near the Temple, “Jews and proselytes” from at least fifteen nations. The Book of Acts does not list these nations for literary effect, but to make a theological point. The bestowal of the Spirit marked the start of the mission to announce the Kingdom of God to all nations and to regather the scattered remnant of Israel (“Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven”).

The Covenant of Abraham always envisioned a people composed of more than just the Patriarch’s biological descendants. At one point, God showed Abraham the stars of heaven and challenged him to number them if he could. So, also, would be the number of his “seed”:

• “And he brought him forth, and said, look to the heavens and number the stars, if you can number them. And He said to him, So will your seed be” - (Genesis 15:5).

• “Neither will your name be called Abram any longer, but your name will be Abraham, for the father of a multitude of nations have I made you” – (Genesis 17:4-6).

• “After these things, I saw, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the Throne and before the Lamb…” - (Revelation 7:9).

Abraham’s physical descendants failed to keep to the Covenant, but that did not mean God had rejected Israel. On the contrary, to facilitate their redemption, He promised to provide a new covenant relationship, one that included the Gift of His Spirit. God would regather Israel from among the nations and write His laws on their hearts, a process that began on the Day of Pentecost:

• “For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you will be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye will keep mine ordinances, and do them” – (Ezekiel 36:24-27).

The fulfillment of the promise to regather Israel and implement the New Covenant with the Spirit began on the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, not only with the outpouring of the Spirit but also with the addition of three thousand Jews to the Church from the surrounding nations.

This was only the beginning. The “Promise” is “to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God will call.” The proclamation of the Gospel began in Jerusalem, but as the Book of Acts demonstrates, it progressed from there to “Judea, Samaria,” and eventually to Rome, the center of the World Empire - (Acts 28:30-31).

The Gospel of Jesus Christ including the Gift of the Spirit does not represent a replacement of the Abrahamic Covenant, but its fulfillment. The Spirit is part of the promise to bless the nations through the Patriarch – (Galatians 3:14).

What began on Pentecost was only the first stage in taking the Gospel to all nations, and the call to repent and receive the Spirit is to men and women of every nation. The Divine offer began on the Day of Pentecost and must continue until the “Day of the Lord” and the return of Jesus.

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SEE ALSO:

• The Spirit is Life - (The Spirit of God imparts life, especially the everlasting life of which the Gift of the Spirit is the foretaste and guarantee)

• The Blessing of Abraham - (The Gift of the Spirit is one of God’s covenant promises and his ways of blessing all Nations in Abraham’s Seed)

• The Life-Giving Spirit - (Jesus grants the Life-Giving Spirit without which there is no enduring life. His words are spirit, and they are life)

• The Promise of the Father - (With the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost, the blessing for all nations promised to Abraham has commenced)