Today is Pentecost Sunday, 50 days after Easter Sunday when the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles. They were gathered together and “saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them” (Acts 2:3).
I’ve been challenged by FB Meyer’s commentary on this event, in which he states this “anointing or infilling came to Peter at least twice afterwards…but probably it came again and again…Why, then, should we go on year after year without claiming our share in this Pentecostal power?… The Spirit may be in us…but it is necessary that He should be on us also.”
Meyer also mentions the oil running down the head and beard of the high priest, an allusion to Psalm 133. This is a tiny psalm (3 verses long) that can seem an odd inclusion in the psalter. But for us, in light of Pentecost, it points to Jesus, our High Priest, the Head from whom the Spirit runs down onto all the parts of the Body, unifying and equipping. It’s utterly beautiful.
And it sends us back again to Acts 2: the Spirit’s tongue-shaped, flame-like manifestation separating and resting on each person, each member of the Body – the Church that would now be – and the brethren there unified, equipped, enabled.
Meyer continues: “Why not acknowledge that there is a blessing here which is yours by right but not by possession? Why not confess that it is your failure and fault not to have claimed it? Why not search out, confess and be delivered from the sin or unbelief that has deprived you of your purchased possession? Why not humbly open your heart to the entrance of that blessed Spirit who changes the craven-hearted into courageous confessors and make the weakest mighty as an angel of the Lord?”
“It’s not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord. (Zech 4:6)
Sue McPherson
Reference: F B Meyer, Peter: Fisherman, Disciple, Apostle, CLC Publications
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