Hello, and welcome to Lechem Panim.
In our study of the book of Acts last week we talked about the outbreaking of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, where the disciples of Christ were anointed with His presence and given the gift to speak in other known languages so that ALL might understand the Gospel and have it speak through their own mother-tongues (their heart languages) so that it might touch and resonate with them at the deepest possible level. And we will continue speaking about the giving of the Holy Spirit today. Now this event naturally drew a crowd, many of which immediately recognized that something supernatural was taking place. And so naturally they wanted an explanation. And some hecklers try to write off this phenomenon as being the drunken ravings of these supposedly intoxicated disciples. It says in…
Acts 2:13 (ESV)— 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”
Divine Inebriation— Now it is ironic that the mockers of the crowd should accuse the believers of being drunk, because of how completely opposite being drunk is from the filling of the Holy Spirit. During ancient times people saw drunkenness as a way of connecting with the spiritual world. We remember from our study of the book of Esther how much alcohol permeated the culture and dramatically affected countless people. The king banished Vashti while in a drunken stupor. And that was because [{as} The Greek historian Herodotus explained…the Persians drank as they deliberated matters of state (cf. 3:15 ), believing that intoxication put them in closer touch with the spiritual world.] And that is likely what King Ahasuerus was doing with his leadership as they were preparing to march against Greece. They thought you could be more spiritual by being drunk. And when we look at many of the [ancient writers, especially the Jewish philosopher Philo, {we find that they in fact} depicted divine inspiration as a form of spiritual inebriation.] Now I want to stress this to you because there is a tendency (even today) to see being filled with the Holy Spirit to be kind of like getting high. Rather than a focusing of the mind on God; an engagement of your mental faculties on Him and His truth, it is sometimes seen as an emptying of the mind (like pagan meditation) in order to connect yourself with the spiritual flow of the universe, as in many of the religions of the Orient. Now I’m not saying that alcohol is always involved, but the reason it sometimes is is because it supposedly gets the mind out of the way so that your spirit can more easily connect with the flow of the universe. That is what eastern meditation is largely about. Yoga is an excellent example of this. Emptying the mind and putting your body in pagan positions of worship to allow the flow of the universe to flow through your body more easily. In China, there is the art of Feng-Shue, which is all about ordering everything (your life, your home, your country) in such a way so as to allow the Chi of the universe to flow through it most easily. Buildings are often constructed with Chi in mind. In fact (I kid you not) there are buildings in China with holes in the middle of them as part of their construction that were designed with Chi in mind, so that the Chi could more easily flow through the building.
Star Wars Theology— George Lucas, in creating Star Wars, drew heavily from these eastern pagan religions when developing his concept of the force. In the very first Star Wars film, there is a famous conversation between the Old Jedi Knight Obi-wan Kenobi and the young Luke Skywalker. And Luke asks Obi-wan about the force. And Obi-wan says, “The force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.” Now that is eastern pagan philosophy. That’s why Darth Vader’s helmet (if you notice) is shaped exactly like the headdress of a Samurai. George Lucas admitted that this is because he is a Samurai; obviously one who has embraced the dark side of the Chi (the “yin” vs. the “yang”).
Full-Mindedness— But all this is deeply pagan and at complete odds with what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Aside from the fact that the Holy Spirit is a person; not an impersonal force, rather than an emptying of the mind, Christians are to fill their minds with God’s Word and to meditate on what it says about God. It is an active thoughtfulness. And drunkenness (and any supposed enlightenment that drunkenness might produce) is part of a larger system that is at odds with Christianity to the core. This is why Paul places the two in contrast in…
Ephesians 5:18 (ESV)— 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
Self-Control— When a person is inebriated, he/she loses control and ends up doing things they would normally be ashamed of doing. Think of Noah; how he became uncovered in his tent after becoming drunk. Think of Lot’s daughters, who made their father drunk and committed incest with him; and they became pregnant with Moab (father of the Moabites) and Ben-ammi (father of the Ammonites). Interesting to think how two of the greatest persecutors of Israel came out of a man’s decision to allow himself to become drunk. However, a person who is filled with the Holy Spirit of God is characterized by self-control; a self-control that brings glory to God (Galatians 5:23). And though alcohol may give you a temporary exhilaration, the Holy Spirit can give you lasting joy; lasting fulfillment. Now at the suggestion of the gift of tongues being an alcohol-induced thing, Peter immediately stands up and denounces this false judgement. It says…
Acts 2:14-15 (ESV)— 14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.
9:00am— Now the Jewish day starts at 6:00am, so it was only 9:00am. People don’t usually drink at that hour and [Orthodox Jews did not eat or drink before nine a.m. on the Sabbath or on a holy day, nor did they usually drink wine except with meals.] So Peter immediately shows how that explanation does not make sense. Plus drunken people babble, a word that comes from Babel, where language was initially confused. But here (as we mentioned last week) we see a reversal of Babel. There is understanding; there’s coherence (nothing like a drunken stupor). And so Peter says in…
Acts 2:16-21 (ESV)— 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 20 the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. 21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
Joel Not Fulfilled— Now it is important to note that Peter was not saying that Pentecost was a fulfillment of this prophecy given in Joel, at least in its entirety. The signs and wonders Joel here describes have not yet come about. We see in its original context that Joel was not writing about Pentecost but rather the nation of Israel in the end times, in connection with “the day of the Lord.” Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit has led Peter to see in this prophecy a present application for the Church. Peter said, “This is that same Holy Spirit that Joel wrote about. He is here!” Now that would have been astonishing for these Jews to hear because they had been under the impression that God’s Spirit was only for a select and privileged few. And yet here they were witnessing [120 of their fellow Jews, men and women, enjoying the blessing of the same Holy Spirit that had empowered Moses, David, and the prophets.]
The Desire of Moses— You will remember that when Israel set out from Mount Sinai to go to the promised land, the people started to complain about the manna they were tired of eating and began hungering for the food of Egypt; and God became angry with them. And Moses also was tired of their grumbling and complained to God about his having to care for all these grumblers. And so God tells Moses what to do. It says in…
Numbers 11:24-29 (ESV)— 24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. And he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it.
26 Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. 27 And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, “My lord Moses, stop them.” 29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”
A New Age of The Spirit— You see, Moses had a dream; and that dream (which was also God’s dream), was to see a people (a community) anointed by the Spirit of God and being used by God as His instruments to reach a lost and broken world. You see Moses saw the power of what was happening. And His heart began crying out for that reality to be experienced by all of God’s people. And then later down the road comes this incredible prophecy from Joel about the Spirit of God being poured out on all flesh. Moses’ dream would be fulfilled! Now while the full prophecy of Joel is yet to be fulfilled, we see that the arrival of the Holy Spirit has come. [It was indeed the dawning of a new age, the “last days”] in which God has put His Spirit upon men and women to minister to them, to prepare them for the coming of the Kingdom of God (which means enabling them to live lives like Christ; lives of victory over sin), and also empowering them to complete Jesus’ commission of reaching the world with the Good News of the Gospel of Christ. And that presence of the Holy Spirit of God is available to all who come to faith in Jesus Christ. When we receive Christ, the Holy Spirit comes into our lives and frees us from all worldly entanglements so that we can be like Jesus. Do you want to be like Jesus today. Well that begins by our saying yes to Him and allowing the Holy Spirit into our lives. If you haven’t done that, do so today. Amen.
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free