Scripture Reading: Acts 2:32-41
Let us specially note Acts 2:33, which says, "He has poured out this." The Holy Spirit was poured out by the Lord Jesus at Pentecost. He was poured out on the basis that Jesus was exalted! The Spirit was not poured out because I have a clean heart or have been earnestly seeking and praying, but only because the Lord had been exalted. Israel must be brought to know assuredly that God has made this same Jesus both Lord and Christ. The Spirit was not poured out to prove that we have been good and earnest, but to let the whole house of Israel know that Jesus is Lord and Christ. How does God prove this? Verse 36 is connected with verse 33 by the word "therefore." What have they seen and heard? The Spirit poured out! The Spirit is poured out in order to prove that Jesus is Lord (cf. John 7:39).
The Spirit has been poured out. This is the gospel. There was a man in China who had this truth presented to him, then he knelt down and prayed, "Lord Jesus, You have received two things from the Father: Glory for You and the Spirit for me. You have received the glory, but I have not received the Spirit." Then he quickly corrected himself and said, "It is unthinkable that You have not received the glory, therefore it is equally unthinkable that I have not received the Spirit. I praise You that I have received the Spirit." Immediately, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon him. The remission of sins is based on what Christ has done on the cross. The Spirit of Christ was poured out because the Lord is on the throne, that is, on the basis of His glorification. The outpouring of the Spirit was based on the condition of His being glorified, not on us being or doing anything. We did nothing for the forgiveness of our sins, and we have done nothing to receive the Spirit. Look at verse 38. The condition for the remission of sins is also the condition for the gift of the Spirit. If we have fulfilled the condition for the remission of sins, we have also fulfilled the condition for receiving the Spirit. If we go to a shop and pay ten shillings for two books but bring only one book back, should we return and pay another five shillings for the one we left behind?
In Acts 8:14-17 the Spirit was poured out upon the Samaritans. Individuals receive the remission of their sins as, for example, the thief on the cross, but the outpouring of the Spirit is not for individuals, but for the whole Body. The outpouring joins all the disconnected members into one Body, just as cement unites separate stones into one building. "For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body" (1 Cor. 12:13). In the case of the Samaritans, Philip went out, he was not sent by the church. If the Holy Spirit had fallen upon them when Philip was preaching, the oneness of the Body would have been lost. The apostles laid hands on them to express their identification with them. With this expression of the oneness of the Body, the Spirit fell upon them. At the inception of things, God reveals the governing principles. The Samaritans were saved, but had no fellowship with the Body. This fellowship had to be clearly established before the Holy Spirit could be poured out.
Even though the Spirit has been poured out on all the Body, many of us have not realized it. A room may be full of furniture, but we cannot see until the light is turned on. Although Joseph had reached the place of exaltation in Egypt, his father considered that he was as good as dead. Joseph's brothers could not persuade their father that he was alive, much less that he had been exalted. But when their father saw the chariots, he believed. In the Old Testament chariots represent power.
Acts 10:44 says, "While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell." If the Spirit had not acted directly upon the audience and Peter had been called on to lay hands on the Gentiles as he did on the Samaritans, would he have been willing? The laying on of hands implies identification. Was Peter identified? If he had laid hands on them and the Spirit had fallen, how would the brothers in Jerusalem have reacted? They would have said to Peter, "This is all your fault. If you had not laid hands on the Gentiles nothing would have happened." They were still distinctly Jewish in their outlook. Peter did not lay hands on those gathered at Caesarea; he did not even speak about the Spirit, but while he was in the middle of his speech the Spirit fell. So Peter said, "Can anyone forbid the water so that these would not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit even as we?" (v. 47). To those in Jerusalem he said, "Who was I that I could have forbidden God?" (11:17). Peter was silenced by the falling of the Holy Spirit
The outpouring of the Spirit in Acts 19:1-6 was supplementary to that at Caesarea. In both cases the outpouring was upon the Gentiles. They were true believers because first, they were referred to as "disciples" (cf. 11:26), and second, if they were not saved, then Paul was preaching regeneration by baptism. Paul baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus, by which they bore testimony to their connection with the Head. The laying on of hands followed the testimony of their connection with the whole Body.
The passages prove that the Spirit that has been poured out upon believers is the common heritage of the whole Body, and that it should mean power in ministry. Why do so few really have power? It is because they lack the in-wrought work of the cross. The result of having the Spirit "within" and the Spirit "upon" is power. Paul speaks of the power of Christ's resurrection. Without the experience of resurrection life there can be no true power. Resurrection is life going into death and coming out with the natural energy, abilities, etc., ruled out. We have many natural powers, including intellect, personality, magnetism, etc. These must go before there can be resurrection power. Everything that does not come with the new birth must go. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John 3:6). We count on our natural ability for divine service, but because of our eloquence we lose utterance. We need a crisis, a revelation of the hatefulness and emptiness of our natural ability. God has no need of our strength or our wisdom.
