In the Beginning Was the Holy Spirit

Day of Pentecost

May 19, 2013

Genesis 1, Matthew 1, Acts 2

In the Beginning Was the Holy Spirit

In the name of Jesus.

In the beginning was the Holy Spirit. He was there in the beginning for all the important milestones of history.

He was there when the universe was created by His will and the will of the Father and Son. In the beginning God said: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (Genesis 1:26 NASB).

The Holy Spirit was there at the world's next great milestone—the Incarnation of God. Our Savior was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Virgin Mary. By the Holy Spirit God took on human flesh.

So her husband Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly. But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:19-21 HCSB)

And the Holy Spirit was there when the Church of the New Testament began on the Day of Pentecost.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:1-4 NASB)

These are the great milestones of history. Genesis gave humans bodies and souls. Incarnation gave sinners the Savior. Pentecost gave believers the Church. And the Holy Spirit was there for all three milestones.

[Jesus said:] “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.” (John 15:26-27 NASB)

The God who gave us mouths and hands, who forgives us, is the One who comes on Pentecost. The disciples' quiet contemplation of Christ's resurrection and ascension was loudly disrupted by the coming of the Holy Spirit. There was a hurricane, a tornado, a mighty wind, rushing through this house!

This loud wind was a fitting picture of what would follow. For Peter his loud screams that he didn't know Jesus would be transformed by the Holy Spirit into powerful sermons that declared Jesus. This Jesus knew Peter, had heard his denials, and despite this, and indeed because Jesus knew how treasonous Peter was, Jesus died for Peter's sinfulness.

Now Peter loudly testified that he knew Him, “God has resurrected this Jesus. We are all witnesses of this. Therefore, since He has been exalted to the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, He has poured out what you both see and hear.” (Acts 2:32-33 HCSB)

This Pentecost sermon of Peter that declared Jesus to be the Word of God gave birth to the Church. You are part of this Church today. In the Church of Christ God's Word is proclaimed in simple words and language, not in incoherent gibberish. The Holy Spirit pours out Jesus in simple words, in all the languages of the world. Here, it is English. But even more profound is that the Holy Spirit pours out Jesus in water, bread, and wine—simple sacred things that need no translation.

We didn't witness the loud commotion of Pentecost, the glorious coming of the Holy Spirit. Instead our Pentecost is quiet, celebrated in the private milestones of our lives. The Holy Spirit comes to us when we baptize our children. The Holy Spirit comes to us when we bury our loved ones.

Between the time of the death of our sinful flesh and the death of our flesh, the Holy Spirit comes to us still, as we gather in God's house. He comes to us when the pastor absolves us. He comes to us when the pastor places Christ on our tongues, the very same tongues we use to sing His praises in His house and in our homes. Like Peter, these are the same tongues we use to confess what Jesus has done for us, because He knows how pitiful we are and how desperately we need His forgiveness.

And because the Holy Spirit comes to us, we have Jesus' forgiveness. There is no tornado in the house, there is no large crowd beating down our door, but the Holy Spirit—who was there in the beginning and will be with us until the end—brings us the one thing we need: you are forgiven, you are forgiven indeed!

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.