P3 The Holy Spirit's work of illumination - putting it all together

Acts 10:28 "And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean."

Introduction:
Yesterday we looked at how the Holy Spirit is the Divine agent of illumination and began exploring how it is that the Apostle Peter was illuminated to the truth of God's redemptive purposes for Cornelius and other God-fearers like him.  In today's post we will continue on our study of Acts 10 and drawing together what the Bible has to say about this crucial ministry of the Holy Spirit - illumination. 

Illumination's work requires repeated exposure to the scriptures. Acts 10:9-13; 14-16.
It is rare for you and I to achieve understanding of a truth from God's word on the first pass.  Often we need multiple exposures to the truths of God's Word before we "get it". Peter is being told to take up and eat all of the animals He was shown.  As a practicing Jew, Peter evoked the passage from Leviticus 11 on God's admonitions on eating clean versus unclean animals.  Peter's understanding was correct, but the way in which He was applying it was out of step with the seismic shift that had occured between Old and New Testaments. He was being told that what defines "clean" and "unclean" is no longer the ritual of the ceremonial law (which was done away with by Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection), but rather God Himself.  Peter of course would not had known that, which is why God showed Him the vision three times. (Acts 10:16)

We can tell Peter is still struggling with all of this due to what we read of him being "perplexed" in 10:17. God used an Old Testament passage (Leviticus 11) and what would in practical terms be the revelation of New Testament truth (Acts 10:9-14) to illuminate to Peter the understanding that Gentiles like Cornelius were becoming the increasing objects of God's Divine working and salvation. Over a period of days Peter is wrestling and waiting to see when and where this illumination of God's truth is going to be applied.  Which leads us to the third main thought about the Spirit's illumination....

Illumination's insights from the Spirit and His word must be applied. Acts 10:17-33
As Peter was mulling over what God had shown Him, the men who had been sent by Cornelius to Peter arrived. As Peter went with them, we see him arriving at Cornelius' house in Acts 10:24-33, with Cornelius explaining to Peter how an angel of God had dealt with him and prepared him for what would be Peter's representation of the Gospel. Clearly Peter was still nervous and somewhat unsure, nonetheless it was time to act out and apply what the Spirit of God has illumined.  1 Corinthians 2:12-13 states "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit,combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words." As the remainder of Acts 10:34-48 shows, Peter preached God's Word to Cornelius and his household.  As the Spirit intended, the outcome was not only salvation but the specific outpouring of Himself upon the other God-fearers who were gathered at Cornelius' house (Acts 10:44-48). 

Unless the Holy Spirit had illumined Peter, such a meeting would not had occured.  How do we know Peter was illumined? We can see that the Agent, the Holy Spirit, was illuminating Peter by several exposures to the revealed truth of God's Word.  This in turn was demonstrated to be the case in Peter's life by how he walked it out.  

Putting it all together - final thoughts on illumination
The chief reason why the Spirit of God illuminates truth to us is for us to walk it out.  For us today, illumination is not the Spirit of God revealing truths never before revealed (which would be revelation). Nor is it obviously new scripture (inspiration).  Rather illumination simply is the Spirit's work taking already completed revelation and inspiration and showing us how to apply it in different settings. In subdividing illumination into the ministries of teaching and guiding, John Walvoord notes: "While the teaching work of the Spirit in this age is directed to make clear the content of the Word of God, guidance is the application of the truths thus known to the individual problems of life."1

Illumination aims to put God's people on the move to fulfilling the will of God illumined to them in the scriptures.  As only the Spirit can do, once the illuminated truth has been worked out in the mind and walked out in the actions, the child of God instinctively knows that they need further light to walk ever further in the things of God.  The Holy Spirit is the Agent, who repeated illumines things to us through God's Word in order to teach and guide us in the application of it. Thanks be to God for the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit. 

Endnotes:
1. John Walvoord. The Holy Spirit. 1969. Zondervan. Page 221

P2 The Holy Spirit's work of illumination means He is illumination's Agent

Acts 10:9-14 On the next day, as they were on their way and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray.10 But he became hungry and was desiring to eat; but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance; 11 and he *saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, 12 and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. 13 A voice came to him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.” 

Introduction and review
Yesterday we began considering the ministry of the Holy Spirit to believers that is commonly called "illumination". We briefly defined it as the work He does in enabling believers to observe, interpret and apply the scriptures. We also considered an illustration of illumination as turning the lights on in a building to light the way for people. Then we finished up considering illumination's relationship to four other important teachings regarding the relationship between the Spirit, the scriptures and Christians: revelation, inspiration, canonization and preservation of the Biblical text. Today we continue further by seeing what the work of illumination looks like when it is in action.

The Apostle Peter and the Divine illumination of the Holy Spirit
The Book of Acts and the New testament Epistles fit like hand and glove when it comes to establishing doctrine and practice for the Christian life.  The Acts of the Apostles give us flesh and bone examples of God's New Covenant revelation in Jesus Christ being put to practice.  The New Testament Epistles (most of which were written in the same time frame recorded in Acts) provide much needed explanation and clarification of what is seen in Acts.  With that said, we see in Acts 10 an amazing work of the Spirit in a man's life by the name of Cornelius. 

Cornelius was a leader and commanding officer in the special Roman legion called "The Italian Band" (Acts 10:1). As was becoming more common in those days, Gentiles who were influenced by the teachings of Judaism and revelation of the Old Testament were called "God-fearers".  Such people evidenced piety, appreciation and somewhat sympathy for the plight of the Jews - with Cornelius being a prime example of this group.  No doubt He was devout in a piety and a religious man, but in terms of the Gospel still needing conversion. He is one of the two men we find featured in Acts 10.  We could certainly spend more time on Cornelius' pre-conversion life as told in Acts 10:1-8, but our interest lies of course in the second man featured in this chapter - Peter.

Peter of course was an Apostle to the Jews and the lead spokeman of the Apostles on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). Much had occured in the 12-14 months since Pentecost.  History and understanding of God's salvation had shifted from Old Covenant or Old Testament to a New Testament era.  The cross, Christ's resurrection and Pentecost function as the Divine International date line so-to-speak. Much illumination from the Spirit of God was going to be required for men like Peter to make the shift.  Seeing how the Spirit of God worked in his life to be ready for men such as Cornelius instructs us in better understanding the Spirit's work of illumination.  Note the following key thoughts:

Illumination's Agent - The Holy Spirit. Acts 10:13,19,28.
Though we have already pointed this out, it is worth noting again how the Holy Spirit is the Divine agent of illumination. Acts 10:13 describes the Spirit as "a voice" directing Peter to get up, kill and eat the animals he is seeing in His vision.  We know that this "voice" is the voice of the Spirit as seen in Acts 10:19 "While Peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you." Acts 10:28 further confirms this truth when Peter attributes the revealer and explainer of the vision as God Himself.  When all taken together, God in the Person of the Holy Spirit is the Divine Agent of illumination. (compare 1 Corinthians 2:10-13) 

More tomorrow......

P1 The Holy Spirit's work of illumination - Opening thoughts

John 16:12-14 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bearthem now. 13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you."

Introduction: Briefly defining the Spirit's illumination

In today's post we are interested in understanding an important ministry of the Holy Spirit to Christians that we can term "Illumination". The illuminating work of the Spirit simply has to to with the insight and understanding He gives to Christians concerning the observation, interpretation and application of God's Words. Jesus of course promised this to His disciples on the night before His crucifixion. Following His resurrection and even moreso His ascension, the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost included the Spirit's work of illuminating Christians to the truths of God's written Word - the Bible, and God the Living Word - Jesus Christ. 

Illustrating the Spirit's illuminating ministry

When I walk into the church on a Sunday morning before anyone's arrival, as I turn on the lights I will often say to myself: "illumination". Why?  Because in that building that is dark, shadowy and un-illuminated lies rooms that are empty and difficult to navigate in low light. We need lights turned on to see and to know our way.  Furthermore, as a pastor I know that in the proceeding hours, the hallways and rooms of the church building will be bustling with physical life and spiritual life. The Bible will be taught and preached, and those sitting under the physical illumination of those lights will also receive a measure of spiritual illumination from the same Holy Spirit who authored the sacred scriptures. Unless He shows up and attends the teaching and preaching of God's Word, no insights, meaning, application nor change will occur.

Relating the Spirit's illumination to four other vital concepts: revelation, inspiration, canonization and preservation. 

The work of illumination lies at the end of the process by which the Holy Ghost brought to us the scriptures. He began of course revealing it to His Apostles and Prophets - or what is called "revelation" (2 Peter 1:21). Then they wrote it down of their own accord as so directed by the Holy Spirit, producing error free original documents - or what is called "inspiration". (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Then The Holy Spirit providentially worked through His people to recognize what had been written as inspired scripture - or canonization. As each book of the Bible began to circulate and be used, those documents had to be hand copied, translated and used throughout the centuries of church history.  Today in our English Bibles we see the words and message of God still with us in what is called "preservation". (Matthew 5:18; John 10:35) Those four consecutive works: revelation, inspiration, canonization and preservation, function as the Holy Spirit's train of authority, carrying the entirety of inscripturated (written down) revelation in the 66 books of the Bible. So then what is the caboose? Illumination. 

More tomorrow.....

The Need to Wait on God - A Personal Testimony

Psalm 37:3-5 "Trust in the Lord and do good;Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it."

These past several posts have been dedicated to showing the need to wait on God.  We have been focusing most of our attention upon those final instructions Jesus gave to His disciples prior to His ascension to "wait" in Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8.  We thus far have discovered that the reasons why God has us to wait are due to the following:

1). Wait for reception of the Father's promise. Luke 24:49a & Acts 1:4

2). Wait for empowerment from the Holy Spirit. Luke 24:49b & Acts 1:8a

3). Wait so as to minister the message about the Son to all people. Acts 1:8b

I thought in today's post I would get a bit more autobiographical and speak from personal experience of the seasons wherein God has had me to wait, what I learned and how I saw such seasons benefit me. Hopefully what I write today may aid readers a little bit in their own Christian walk. 

Personal lessons learned from seasons of waiting on God
This writer has went through three extended seasons of waiting and numerous occassions of smaller periods of time wherein God has put the proverbial brakes to things. Through them all it seemed God was oftentimes silent and I wondered whether He was going to ever use me again.  

In the first such season of waiting my wife and I were in our mid-twenties with our two oldest children being toddlers at the time.  I had served as an Assistant Pastor on staff and had finished that ministry with a deadly combination of pride and anger in my heart.  Without going into all the details - I felt like I had gotten the short end of the stick on many things in my life at that time and felt like God "owed me".  Perhaps you have been in such places - its not a good place to be.  At the time my wife and I moved.  I enrolled in Seminary, beginning my studies in the Fall of 1999.  I can recall telling God that I had no interest in preaching ever again, and that I had my own plan and was going to go to Seminary to achieve that plan (which at the time entailed being a Professor).  

Needless to say after a year or so of working through my classes, a time came when God broke me, some people confronted me over my arrogance and self-pity, and perhaps for the first time in nearly two years I felt the fog of confusion lift.  By 2001 I was serving with some other wonderful Christian people in a ministry outreach and by 2003 led my family to a wonderful little church where I got ordained.  God was every so gentle in His Fatherly discipline of me. 

As Hebrews 12:5-6 notes - "and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him; 6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.”  God taught me in that first season of waiting and that long dark period of silence that He was and will always remain my Heavenly Father, and that I by the Spirit of adoption am His son (Romans 8:16). 

So in the first season of waiting, which lasted for roughly four years, God had to sift out pride and anger.  The second season entailed God teaching me about following and serving.  Interestingly enough that season followed on the heels of the first one - although the two were clearly distinct.  Often when you are going through something, you cannot discern its rate of progress or purpose until after you have completed it, and not until some time has passed. 

Thankfully this second season, which lasted for a year, occurred at the very church where I was ordained.  My wife and I knew God was calling me to pastor, and God had me to serve under a wonderful man who is to this day still my friend and serving at a church in the North East.  I learned the ropes of pastoring from Him, went on visits and did whatever it took to advance the cause of Christ at the church.  The eagerness to preach and pastor was growing in my heart, but I knew that if I was going to get anywhere in ministry or life, being prideful and taking up offenses (i.e getting bitter) was not going to work.  If I were to assign a verse to this second season of waiting on God, it would be: 1 Corinthians 10:31 "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."  

As only God can do, the time had come for my family and me to answer a call to a place, which we did and which God gave us some instructive years of ministry.  It was challenging, at times blessed and even along the way God gave us some dear life-time friends. Ultimately though it ended in sadness and dissapointment but through it all - God showed Himself to be good.  It was in 2009 that we moved out to Oklahoma, where God would take me through my third major season of waiting.   

The third major season of waiting on God entailed about 20 months of time.  In some ways it was the most spiritually uplifting and deepening time of my life.  However in otherways it was the most spiritually challenging, humbling and at times frustrating time.  By this point we had two more children - equalling four in all.  When we moved to Oklahoma, I didn't have a job, no money and no church to go and pastor.  God provided friends who worked with us to aid us in making the transition from where we had been to Oklahoma.  As this new season of waiting had begun, my heart was filled with sadness and dissapointment.  All my wife and I knew was whatever God was going to be taking us through - His whole purpose was going to involve healing our hearts.  We had come to Oklahoma broken, anguished and having more questions than answers.  During our third season of waiting, further lessons about service, as well as the deepening of my prayer life and honing my ability to hear God were learned.  God placed people in both of our lives who were intercessors and who had been places with God that you read about in books but rarely ever meet.   

At the time such seasons of waiting are not fun - however they are essential.  After each season I have found God brews forth a message.  Waiting on God serves the purposes of working forth whatever message from the Word God would have you and I to tell. As that third season was coming to a close - God called us to the wonderful church where I am serving and pastoring in South Eastern Oklahoma.  The one passage that guides me through that third season was Psalm 37:3-5, quoted at the beginning of today's post.  

Closing thoughts
I'll admit that the message He poured into me during those 20 months is still unfolding.  I know healing has occured - and like broken pieces of metal that are welded back together, the seam where the welding takes place makes the overall metal stronger than what it was before the break. I'm a different man today (2014) than I was in 2009. God the Father always knows what is best.  It is always worth waiting on God. Truly whatever gifting or calling or message is worked in and through you - it always exceeds you.  Why is that so important? Because the Lord Jesus Christ who gives you and I our giftings, callings or message always exceeds those things - Thus Jesus Christ is Supreme in all things.  

The Need to Wait on God - To tell the world about the Message of Jesus

Luke 24:49 "And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Introduction & Review
In yesterday's post we were interested in understanding the need to wait on God for the sake of being empowered by His Spirit to do His bidding. Between the time Jesus ascended in Luke 24:50-53 and Acts 1:9-11 until the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 was 10 days. In yesterday's post we also looked at other scriptures that feature ten day periods of time as signifying those seasons in which God desired to impart new insights, faithfulness, strength or tests of character.  That timeframe was to be the specific time of waiting for those 120 disciples in the upperoom in Jerusalem. In these past couple of posts we have explored how both sets of verses in Luke and Acts give us some reasons as to why Jesus had these disciples to wait.

1). Wait for reception of the Father's promise. Luke 24:49a & Acts 1:4

2). Wait for empowerment from the Holy Spirit. Luke 24:49b & Acts 1:8a

3). Wait so as to minister the message about the Son to all people. Acts 1:8b

In today's post we once again consider the need to wait on God - with the emphasis being upon positioning ourselves to minister the message about the Son to all people.  Truly we wait, as the the early church had to wait, to receive more about Who God is and what he has for us, as well as to be empowered for His work.  But in this post today, the way we know we are to go from waiting to doing is when we have a message to tell.

We need more of God's presence and power in our lives and churches
Ronnie Floyd is a pastor of a large church in Arkansas who has written a wonderful book entitled: "The Power of the Prayer and Fasting". The one statement he writes is really apropos to the subject of our post today on the need to wait on God.  The quote is a couple paragraphs but well worth the read: "God can do more in a moment than I could ever do in a lifetime. God can also do more in and through the church in a moment than programs, ministries, technical excellence, great worship or mere machinery. No one can take the place of God. Nothing can take the place of God. I am weary of what I hear about the passivity of the churches today in our nation and world. While many churches sleep or act daily as if they are out for an evening drive, many other churches are chasing the latest fad for the church today. It appears that most are looking for a short-term success and a shortcut to get there. What is the problem? 

When we look at the church today, we are seeing what man can do. While we may have greater technology or more expressive worship or more fine-tuned targeted ministries, let me ask you this:Do we have more of God? I am convinced today more than ever before in my ministry that it is past time for the church to see what God can do."1

What Ronnie Floyd wrote is so true! I echo with him the fact that we need more of God in our churches and in our lives.  So often I'll hear in conferences or read in books how leaders and pastors need to "cast a vision" for their church or people will often ask: "what is our mission?" or "what is our message?" Whenever you look at the early church and how Jesus positioned his disciples to wait upon God, you understand that lest they had waited per His instructions -they would not had had a message to tell, nor a vision to cast!

We wait on God who is the message we are to tell
Two key passages must be considered together to understand the message that the early church communicated throughout the Medditerranean world of the first century.  The first text is what we call "The Great Commission" and is found in Matthew 28:18-20  "And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” The second text is the one we have been focusing upon these past several days - Acts 1:8 "but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Both of these texts appear to have two seemingly different emphases: Matthew's text has Jesus telling His Disciples to "go and tell" and the Acts 1:8 passage has Jesus telling His disciples to "wait" before going and telling.  Harmonizing both of these texts together yields the pattern of waiting and then going. For 40 days these disciples had been in a "holding pattern" as Jesus made various post-resurrection appearances to them, instructing them and demonstrating to them the new realities of His post-resurrected humanity.

Now as Jesus was getting ready to ascend out of sight, they would need to wait ten more days until the full outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost occurred. The message of the Great Commission required an accompanying time of meeting with the Lord.  

The linkage between the heart and the mouth in scripture
A question for you and I to consider is: "how well do we know the Jesus revealed on the pages of the Bible?" Only when we get to know Him in the scripture will we then come to grasp what the Spirit is telling us about Him in our hearts. Oftentimes in the scriptures we see the link between the heart and the mouth. Matthew 12:35 "The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil." Luke 6:45 "The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart." 

As we come to the epistles, the linkage between the heart and mouth in spiritual matters is continued. Romans 10:9-10  "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." Ephesians 4:29 "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edificationaccording to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear."  In all of these passages the idea is made plain: that whatever message flows out of our mouth comes as a result of the overflow of the heart. When we communicate, its not just the words, but the way in which we say the words, the tone of our voice and the main topics of our discussion.  

How God uses waiting periods to brew forth a message from the Word for all to hear
I find it interesting how often God would have His people go through seasons of waiting to brew forth some changes in their hearts.  Only a changed heart can communicate a life changing message.  Moses spent 40 years on the backside of a Midianite desert, Elijah the prophet was brought to a brook in a desert, Jesus Himself spent the first 30 years of His life in relative obscurity and the Apostle Paul spent 3 years in Damscus following His conversion.  All of these, and many more, went through extended seasons of watching and waiting before going forth to proclaim their message.  Habakkuk the prophet relays how in waiting on God he was getting prepared for the right moment to deliver God's message: "I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, And how I may reply when I am reproved. 2 Then the Lord answered me and said, “Record the vision And inscribe it on tablets, That the one who reads it may run.
3 “For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail.
Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay."

Such waiting seasons are often prescribed by God to give ourselves a chance to recallibrate our hearts to the rhythm of His voice and leading in our lives. The message of Jesus Christ is not just about Him, but is Him.  Whenever we show God how willing we are to follow Him, only then can we be effective in calling others to do the same.  

More tomorrow....

Endnotes:
1. Ronnie Floyd. The Power of the Prayer and Fasting. B&H Books. 2010. Page 144

The Need to Wait on God - Empowerment from on High

Luke 24:49 "And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Introduction & Review
In yesterday's post we did an overview of what scripture had to teach on the subject of waiting on God and zeroed in on Jesus' final instructions to His disciples in His post-resurrection appearances in Luke 24:49 and Acts 1. Between the time Jesus ascended in Luke 24:50-53 and Acts 1:9-11 until the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 is 10 days.  That timeframe was to be the specific time of waiting.  We saw yesterday how both sets of verses in Luke and Acts give us some reasons as to why Jesus had these disciples to wait.

1). Wait for reception of (greater illumination) of Who God is and what He has for you. Luke 24:49a & Acts 1:4

2). Wait for empowerment from the Holy Spirit. Luke 24:49b & Acts 1:8a

3). Wait so as to minister the message about the Son to all people. Acts 1:8b

We focused mainly on the first thought and concluded that one of the reasons Jesus had his disciples to wait, and why He often has us to wait, is to receive what He has for us and who He is. Jesus in His post-resurrected humanity breathed out additional grace and Spirit enablement upon the disciples. He "upgraded" them so to speak so that they could relate to Jesus. Soon He was going to be ascending and was going to be glorified ever further in His post-Pentecost state at the right hand of the Father.  In order for the apostles and the early church to enjoy and commune with the Post-Pentecost Jesus, they would require the full-orbed outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Much like what would take place if we plugged a toaster wired for 120 volts into a 240 outlet, these disciples required 10 days of waiting and refreshment and empowerment from on high to operate in all God was going to be requiring from them. Today we consider the second main reason we need to wait on God, so as to receive empowerment from on high.

A great quote that relates waiting on God and prayer
E.M Bounds was a preacher who prayed and a prayer warrior who preached.  His classic book: "Purpose in Prayer" is a standard on the subject of prayer and is recommended for the reader.  In the book Bounds explains how there can be no substitute for prayer, which touches upon our subject today about the need to wait on God.  E.M Bounds writes: "We cannot run our spiritual operations on the prayers of the past generation. Many persons believe in the efficacy (effectiveness) of prayer, but not many pray. Prayer is the easiest and the hardest of all things, the simplest and the sublimest (most profound); the weakest and the most powerful; its results lie outside the range of human possibilities - they are limited only by the omnipotence (all powerfulness) of God."1 

Jesus had the disciples wait in order to be empowered by the Holy Spirit
Truly prayer can be likened unto a lightening rod that points up into the air.  A saint who is in a posture of waiting on God will be likened unto that lightening rod.  Lightening rods can go for long extended periods of time before lightening strikes. Saints who wait on God do so until God in His Sovereign activity chooses to strike with His Omnipotent power to both energize and mobilize the saint. As Jesus was instructing His followers in the days leading up to His ascension, He knew they would need further enablement and empowerment to operate in the level God was calling them.  Luke 24:49b states - "but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Any Jewish person would had recognized the prophecies of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit from Jesus' phrase "clothes with power from on high".  Prophecies such as Isaiah 32:15 and Joel 2:28-29 looked forward to a time at the end of history where messiah would return, restore the nation in repentance and salvation and pour out the Holy Spirit.  Undoubtedly as the disciples heard jesus speak these words, they would had perhaps been amazed at the fact that Jesus was moving up some dates so to speak - and that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was going to be previewed in them.  Acts 1:8 re-echoes Jesus' words - "but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Why empowerment was needed, and why waiting was required
We have mentioned this already but it is worth noting again, namely that whatever experiences the disciples had with Jesus, a measure of the Spirit's presence and power was required for them to appreciate and enjoy Him.  In John 14:16-17 Jesus indicated that the Spirit of God had been "with them" in their journeys with him during his earthly ministry.  However the time was coming when the Father in His name would send the Holy Spirit to dwell "in them". When Jesus died on the cross, the Disciples' fellowship with the pre-cross incarnate Jesus ended. 

However following His resurrection, a whole new experience and level was going to occur - namely the post-resurrected incarnated Jesus. Unlike before, Jesus now could walk through walls, dissappear from plain site and take on different forms.  It is no wonder He breathed "upon" and "into them" a greater measure of the Spirit in John 20:22. For 40 days the disciples would be encountered ten times by Jesus, instructed in further teachings about the Kingdom and shown further miracles. (Acts 1:1-3). Much like a computer that receives periodic upgrades to handle greater loads of information and new demands, Jesus' did the same for His disciples.

But now the 40 days were coming to a close, and the post-resurrected incarnate Jesus was getting ready to ascend into Heaven.  Jesus in His humanity was going to be experienced by the disciples in a whole new dimension and altered way like never before. The moment Jesus began to defy gravity and ascend into the clouds, His ascension transformed his human nature from that of post-resurrection glory to what would be the post-pentecost incarnate Christ following the day of Pentecost.

Why the disciples had to wait for ten days 
The waiting period of ten days between His ascension and Pentecost is not a random period of time.  Studies throughout the Bible reveal that ten day periods of time were used by God and His people to communicate increased illumination, empowerment and further defining of identity.  David in 1 Samuel 25:38-39 acknowledges God's deliverance of him from an enemy following a ten day waiting period of silence and anticipation until the enemy died. Jeremiah in Jeremiah 42:7 had the people of Israel wait ten days until he delivered a message from God to them regarding their future. Daniel in Daniel 1:12-14 fasted from meats for ten days to demonstrate to the pagan authorities the ability of God to sustain he and his friends. When we study other passages concerning the relationship between empowerment and waiting on God (Psalm 27:14; 123:2; Lamentations 3:25; 2 Cor 12:9-10) it is crystal clear that the pattern of waiting on the Holy Spirit in Acts 1:13-2:1 was Divinely ordained was for the sake of further empowerment.

Life application: 
If we as the church today are ever going to move forward in the Lord, we need to practice waiting on God for the sake of being empowered and illuminated by His Spirit through His Word. The church of history is a connected to that infant Pentecost church by the Holy scriptures.  So if anything, we need to return back to the Bible. Waiting on God does not necessarily equal inactivity. 

Secondly, in Acts 2:1 we see the early church gathered "in one accord" in the upper room.  This phrase "in one accord" carries with it the idea of prayer and intercession, an idea we find similarly expressed throughout the book of Acts. (1:14; 2:46; 4:24; 5:12; 12:12) Thus increasing our emphasis upon prayer will practically enable us to be in a mode of waiting on God. 

Then thirdly, as we return back to the Bible and become a people of prayer, waiting on God includes the idea of doing it together in assembly with one another. The repetition of "together" and "with one accord" meant that the people were placing themselves corporately in order under God's authority as a local church. Unity does not happen automatically, it require intentional effort on the church's part. By getting back to the Bible, to prayer and to fellowship with one another, we can put into practice the necessity of waiting on God, and then we will empowered by Him to move forward to do His bidding.

More tomorrow..... Endnotes:
1. E.M Bounds. Purpose in Prayer. Moody Press.