No Other Name

John 20:23 (ESV) If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”

What is most clearly associated with the Good News? Isn’t it that in and because of Christ Jesus and his death and blood shed upon the cross of Calvary that we are and can be born again, having all of our sins forgiven? In fact I believe that the Good News is simply because of Christ Jesus and it is, “Be of Good Cheer for In Christ Jesus your sins are forgiven, Believe it or not!” The disciples were empowered with the message and reality of the Gospel, the message of reconciliation through the forgiveness of sins by the redeeming work of Christ Jesus upon the cross, as accepted by the Father God through the resurrection of his only son, Christ Jesus and through their now being indwelt by the Holy Spirit of the living God as regenerated children of the Most High God! Yes!

So, the question of their personal Salvation wasn’t the reason the Lord, just before his ascension, declared to the apostles that they would have to wait until they had been empowered from on high before going forth into the work he had ordained for them. So why did the Lord have the Apostles wait until Pentecost before going forth? They were already in Christ Jesus born again. They were already indwelt by the Holy Spirit, baptized into Christ Jesus, Sanctified, Justified, and Redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb as the New Children of the Most High. They were called and commissioned, but they still had to wait. Their Salvation most definitely however, was not the reason.

The reason is clearly stated in Acts 1.

Acts 1:8 (ESV) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Now, this statement was made just immediately prior to the Lords Ascension and approximately 40 days after his Resurrection. 40 days in which the Lord taught the apostles concerning the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). The Apostles have had the Holy Spirit for forty days within them, a product of their Salvation in Christ Jesus as we saw in John 20:21-22. The purpose they had to wait is simply that which Jesus clearly states, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you”. This endowment of power was especially for their becoming His empowered witnesses throughout the world. They would need this special endowment of God’s Holy Spirit power. They, as is also true of us all who are in Christ Jesus

2 Cor 10:3-4 (ESV) For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

Guy P Duffield and N.M. Van Cleave in their “Foundations of Pentecostal Theology,” pg280-281 write: “The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is distinct from and subsequent to, His (the Holy Spirit) regenerating work in the hearts of the unsaved. This baptism is especially that men might have the necessary spiritual power to carry on the ministry which has been committed to them.”

We see the immediate effect of this endowment of spiritual power in Peter’s sermon in which approximately 3000 souls came into the Kingdom. It wasn’t alone because of Peter’s great sermon, no way. It was, in itself, a sign and a wonder. Peter preached under the power of the Holy Spirit and the souls by the thousands came into the Kingdom of God and this was repeated over and over again by Peter and others. Who doesn’t need this kind of empowerment? Why couldn’t Peter do this before the day of Pentecost? They had the Holy Spirit within them. So, why did they have to wait? They simply had to wait until they were immersed in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now that this had taken place they could go forth. And go forth they did, changing the whole world as they went, in and with the power of the Holy Spirit. So, who doesn’t need such an impartation, such a Baptism, such an endowment of power from on high? I for one know that I do.

You see, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit wasn’t for their Salvation; it was for the Salvation of others and the fruitful ministry of the Body of Christ Jesus. It was so that they could walk as Jesus walked (Jn 14:12-14; 1 Jn 2:6), in and with the power of God’s Anointing to effectively do the works of ministry that the Father had ordained for them to do, bearing testimony and witness to the resurrection life and power of Christ Jesus in and through His people with the spiritual power of the Kingdom of God. It was, as Jesus ministry in the power of the Spirit was, to bear witness that the Kingdom of Almighty God was at hand and thus calling for repentance in light of this living and evident reality.

Acts 10:36-39 (ESV) As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), 37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.

It is through this witness and testimony, under the enabling anointing power of the Holy Spirit, that we then see 3000 souls come immediately into the Kingdom of God and shortly thereafter another, approximately 5000 more joined them. Indeed they were now endowed with the power of God from on high. The Kingdom of God was still at hand. The Ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ would now continue, in and throughout the earth, as it was before but it would be in and through his apostles, his Body, his Church, as a whole and with a rich endowment of Kingdom of God power.