As we continue to examine the concept of the Great Exchange we will look at the following exchange: Jesus took our weakness and gave us His strength; “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8; Eph 3:14-16). Show More
The beginning of the Christian Church started on the day of Pentecost. The term Church means “the called-out ones” these are the believers in Jesus Christ. The Church started in a powerful explosive way with the Holy Spirit being released into the Believer. In the Old Covenant, the Holy Spirit was “on” or “with” a person. Now in the New Covenant the Holy Spirit “lives in” the Believer.
The Church, as we know it today, did not start until the Day of Pentecost, 40 days after Jesus rose from the grave. Before the crucifixion, Jesus ministered in the synagogues as an Old Testament Prophet. He preached that the Kingdom of God was present in the hearts of Believers, which, as you can imagine, did not go over well with Jewish teachings. In the beginning, they tolerated Jesus, but as time passed and the followers of Jesus grew, the Jewish leaders felt threatened, and they looked for ways to expel Him.
What Jesus taught was “new wine,” but it was received in “old wineskins” and, therefore, rejected. This means that God was doing a new thing, and the religious Jews preferred the old familiar ways! As Jesus said in Matthew 21:42, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” This verse was a reference to Psalm 118:22 and meant that the devout Jews who trusted in their religious practices stumbled over the message of Grace and Faith that Jesus taught.
Prelude to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
The gift of the Holy Spirit did not happen without prior notice. It was foretold in the Old Testament (read Jeremiah 31:31) and foretold by Jesus beginning in John 7:37, “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
Then in Acts 1:4, Jesus said, “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” The term “promise of the Father” is found in Luke 24:49. Jesus said, “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued (put on) with power from on high.”
Let’s take a look at the term “Baptized with or in the Holy Spirit.” The word Baptized means to be totally immersed or submerged. In the case of Water Baptism, you are fully submerged in water. In Spirit Baptism, you are immersed in the Holy Spirit. In other words, you are surrendering to the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.
While Jesus ministered with His Disciples, He spoke of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. After His resurrection, He mentions it again in Acts 1:9, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Baptism of the Holy Spirit
“you shall receive power”.
The word Power is Dynamis in the Greek and it means; force, miraculous power, a miracle itself: — ability, abundance, meaning, mighty deed, worker of miracles, power, strength, violence, mighty wonderful work. We get the word dynamite from Dynamis.
We are referring to supernatural works of God. No matter how talented or gifted you are, your natural ability can only take you so far. When your natural ability has run-out, that is when the power of God takes over.
“when the Holy Spirit has come upon you”.
The word “eperchomai” in the Greek means; to arrive, come, occur, impend, attack, or influence. The Holy Spirit of God somehow invades the person and empowers that person to do supernatural acts.
1 Corinthians 12:8-10 describes the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit, all of which are supernatural in origin. “The word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.”
There are other gifts as well such as the ministry gifts of the Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher.
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the commitment you make to God to allow Him to direct your path in your personal life and in your ministry life. An important part of that is the knowledge that all believers are called to the Great Commission, which is to make Jesus Christ known by words and deeds.
“You shall be witnesses to Me.”
Let’s continue by looking at the phrase, “you shall be witnesses to Me”. The word Witness comes from the Greek word martys; which means a witness, a “martyr,” to record or witness. Here are two scripture verses to help us understand the word witness.
- Luke 7:22 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the Gospel preached to them.”
- Acts 4: the Jewish religious leaders commanded Peter and John not to teach in the name of Jesus. “19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
A witness is one who speaks what he or she has personally heard or seen! Boldness to speak out is what is required. To boldly speak as to what God has shown or done in us is to be a witness to Jesus Christ.
“in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria”.
We need a little geography lesson here. The Kingdom of Israel was one nation, but after King David passed away, the country was split into two parts. It was divided into Israel in the North and Judah in the South. Jerusalem was the capital of Judah, and Samaria was the capital in the north, Israel. Judea is the Roman/Greek name for Judah.
So, the phrase “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria” refers to everywhere Jesus ministered while on earth. While Jesus ministered to the nation of the Hebrew people first, He didn’t end there. Jesus made it clear that the Gospel be preached to the ends of the earth.
If we extend this model to our circumstances it means, we are responsible for our village, town, city nation first, then to take the message of the Gospel to the “ends of the earth!”
Conclusion:
Some try to teach that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit was for the Apostles only, and when they died off, so did the work of the Holy Spirit. How can we believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is no longer available to us as believers when the scriptures say in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” God does not change!
To overcome this kind of negative thinking requires faith. In the Kingdom of God, if you don’t believe it, then it will not be possible. You get what you believe for! The opposite of faith is doubt, distrust, or denial.
Faith is believing in the unseen faith is the key to unlocking what has already been provided for you by God’s grace. Remember, faith doesn’t create the supernatural; faith makes it available.
Keep in mind that God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and His ways are not our way of doing things. It was His idea that faith should unlock the gifts of Heaven. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the assurance of things unseen!” That means it is not about figuring things out or human logic. To the natural mind, faith may seem foolish and unreasonable, but you are putting your trust not in logic but in the One who makes the promise. Don’t worry about how God will accomplish it; rest in the confidence that He will achieve it.
Let me close with the words of the Apostle Paul, probably the greatest of the Apostles of Christ. He said in 1 Corinthians 2, “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”