Section I

the testimony to the glorified messiah in the outpouring of his holy spirit, and in the life of his church

(Act 1:12-26; Act 2:1-43)

‘This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.’ These words contain the verdict of Heaven, God’s own explanation of the significance of Christ’s ascension: they are a sentence of revelation. But they are equally the expression of the heavenly confidence with which the disciples of Jesus returned from the Mount of Olives,—the confidence, namely, that the Lord would yet return again from heaven in personal form to bring His work upon earth to an end. Their future course of life, their whole conduct and conjoint action, their looking up to the glorified Lord in heaven, their receptivity for the fulness of His Spirit, and the establishing of His Church, were all founded on this certainty; it entered, as an expression that could not be shaken, into the depths of the Church’s life, and became one of the main pillars of her hope.

The disciples, shortly before this, had, from the first knowledge that Christ had come from the Father into the world, acquired the second knowledge, that He must again leave the world and go unto the Father; and now by revelation from heaven, accompanying their view of Christ going to heaven in the full glory of spirit and of life, they attained to the additional confidence that He would again return from heaven to earth.

But this confidence comprehended three things. They had now certain knowledge that their Master was exalted in His individual personality into the kingdom of supreme glory at the Father’s right hand, that is, into the kingdom of power; translated to the dominating point of things which appear, which must at the same time be the centre of the world’s dynamic relations, that so He was made perfect as the Prince or principle of the transformation of the world. But they knew, further, that henceforth He would from His throne begin to sanctify and transform the world in the power of His perfected life and work through the outpouring of His Spirit, and the general rule which He exercises over the world in the power and fellowship of the Father. They knew, finally, that the work of the transformation of the world, or of perfecting His spiritual foundation and bringing it to manifestation or regeneration, and renewal of the visible world in the depths of its spiritual life, must necessarily be completed by His reappearance—in short, that His appearing is necessary to complete the glorification of the Church on earth, and perfect its union with the Church above.

They waited, therefore, with all their soul for Him and His coming. They looked for His revealing Himself henceforth in the ‘thunder of His power,’ in the quiet and gentle influence of His Spirit shaking the heart and overcoming the world, until the whole earth should glow with the fire of His love and the light of His Spirit—until His coming as lightning from the other world into this to complete its transformation in its judgment. But He had told them with sufficient distinctness that He would not, in the first instance, reveal Himself to them in that new form of appearance, but by sending His Holy Spirit, who should glorify His entire formation and growth in them, whereby He designed to fill them, in the first instance, with His presence, and with the full peace of the presence of the Father Himself (Joh 14:23). Hence they waited for that mystery with their souls strung to the highest tension.

They felt the more intensely, as they were not as yet aware of the form assumed by the life of Christ in its fulness and power. It was first a commencing and growing power of life in their spirit. And now He had withdrawn into the inaccessible regions of heaven, while they were surrounded on all sides by a world which, being prone to darkness, could not but express a natural antagonism to the principle of the transformation of the world which was in them—namely, the birth of the glorified Christ (Joh 17:13-14). Thus, as formerly Herod, the gloomy representative of the world’s power, sought to kill the new-born Messiah as a denizen of this earth, so now the spirit of the world, which Christ had vanquished on the cross, rose up, threatening to quench the risen Saviour—that is, to hinder the implanting by His Spirit of His glory in their hearts. They felt this, and therefore withdrew with their blessed secret into an upper chamber in Jerusalem (Act 1:13) to cherish there continued devotion, although they still regularly visited the temple also, praising and blessing God (Luk 24:53). They were all assembled with one accord, like a flock which apprehends a storm, or which has heard the shepherd’s voice calling them to other pastures. They knew that they needed to keep together in order to retain the remembrance of their Lord in all its vividness, and that the sparks of their individual reminiscences of Christ must be collected upon one hearth if the flame of the Spirit should be kindled upon it. Each disciple seeks and loves the other, because he sees in him a living relic of his Lord, and recognizes in him lineaments and similitudes of the life of Christ of which he himself stands in need. Thus they form a compact circle for the purpose of faithfully retaining remembrance of Christ, refreshing and enlivening each others’ memories with respect to Him. The centre of this assembly was formed by our Lord’s disciples, His relatives, and the holy women who had followed Him. It is worthy of remark, that Mary too (who is here mentioned for the last time in the New Testament history) is named as a member of this praying church which waited for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. From the same ground, in order to be quite complete and prepared for the reception of their Lord in the glory of His Spirit, they seek to fill up the void caused in their midst by the fall and ruin of Judas. In those days Peter stood up in the midst of an assembly which consisted of 120 names,¹ and proposed that the place of Judas should be filled up by another apostle. Referring to Judas, he said: The Scripture must needs have been fulfilled; namely, those two sayings referred to above. Judas, who had obtained part in the desirable ministry of the apostles, had in his downfall exchanged it for the field of blood as a burial-ground.² Therefore one of the men who belonged to the wider circle of the disciples from the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, should come in the place of Judas, to be, with the rest of the apostles, a witness to the resurrection of Jesus. The assembly agreed at once to this proposal; they all acknowledged that it would be conformable to the will of God, and to the theocratic significance of the number of the apostles, if the sacred circle of twelve should be again completed. But how ought they to fill up the place of an apostle? They chose two men, and then committed the decision to the lot, or rather to the Lord through the lot. There was no hazard in using the lot in this case. The Church doubtless chose the two men who seemed to be most suitable: she did not apparently know which of the two to prefer. So the lot fell, at all events, upon a man of apostolic dignity. But in this individual case there was something positively to recommend the using of the lot. As the other apostles had been called individually by the Lord Himself, the disciples believed that they would encroach on His sovereign right were they to choose an apostle by their own judgment alone. The full significance of His institution came into consideration here, in contrast to the action of the Church; and all the more prominently, as this was a case concerning an apostle who required to have not only the spiritual dignity of the New Testament, but also the full measure of Old Testament theocratic authority. This latter circumstance might specially recommend the employment of the theocratic form of the lot. But perhaps the disciples humbled themselves once more for their former intercession in behalf of Judas, by committing the decision in this case to the Lord, who knows the hearts of all men, as expressed in the prayer with which they consecrated the lot. The two men whom they thus placed before the Lord were Barsabas, surnamed Justus, and Matthias. The lot fell upon Matthias, and he was associated with the apostles.³

But the internal attitude of the disciples still continued their most essential preparation for the coming of the Holy Ghost. They were in spirit withdrawn from the world, and lived in the contemplation of their glorified Lord; their eyes hung on His throne; they were of one heart in the most earnest entreaty for the fulfilment of His promise. They continued for days in the state of meditation and longing, like one great heart absorbed in the depths of heaven and crying to God. We may in some measure form a conception of the greatness and the mystery of this prayerful repose, of this withdrawal and rapture, when we consider it as the continued effect of the impression left by Christ on His disciples at His ascension, or as the depth of that mental frame which corresponded to the full stream of the Holy Ghost which they received at Pentecost.⁴

The Israelite Pentecost drew near; they were again assembled with one accord, and now the Lord fulfilled His promise to them. They were very probably assembled in a porch of the temple, for it was at an hour of prayer which they would be inclined to spend in the temple, especially during the time of the feast (Olshausen, iv. 359). The Spirit came accompanied by great and marvellous signs, striking on the ear in a sound ‘as of a rushing mighty wind,’ and appearing to the eye in cloven tongues as of fire. He thus announced Himself in signs so long as He was outside of them: first in a sign of His circumambient universality, and then in a sign also of the definite individualizing of His rule in individuals. But as soon as He filled them with His inward presence, His sway was revealed in the first festal form which it assumes in the human heart. They began to speak with other tongues. The porch in which they were assembled was filled by a concourse of participants in the feast. All heard them speak with wondrous clearness, beauty, and solemnity in the language of their home, their people, and their heart. And yet there was the highest unity in this wondrous manifoldness of the different voices, a unity of the spirit and the understanding, which formed a perfect contrast to the confusion of tongues at Babel. The feast of the reunion of the nations into one family, the feast of the spiritual harvest of mankind on the field sown by Christ,⁵ the solemnization of God’s new lawgiving, destined to be written in the heart of God’s people in all nations, had begun, and always continue silently ever since. The tenor of all the inspired utterances of the individual members of this choir was very easy to understand: they proclaimed simultaneously the great acts of God, and the eternal significance of the great acts in the life of Jesus which was now glorified by the Spirit. It belongs to the history of the apostles and of the Christian Church to treat fully of this event and its consequences. What in the meantime must engage our attention, is the founding of the first Church, and how it sets forth the divine glory of Christ.

The New Testament Church commenced her existence, not as toiling, but as keeping holiday. She formed first a heavenly choir, which by speaking with new tongues proclaimed the glory of God in Christ, and of Christ in His spiritual rule. The most opposite opinions were formed of this spiritual life by the people who crowded around. Some expected wonders from heaven. Others mocking, said, ‘These men are full of new wine.’ The great division of the people into believing and unbelieving which had shown itself in our Lord’s presence when on earth, became again manifest as soon as the glory of His Spirit was revealed in His disciples. This division was the significant beginning of a crisis which must be completed hereafter in the final judgment. The hostile attacks upon the new life of the disciples made Peter raise his voice to justify and explain this fact. From the solemn joy of one speaking with tongues, he turned to the labour of addressing a very mixed audience, partly receptive and partly unreceptive, and gave them his first testimony to the resurrection of his Lord.

The power of his address immediately showed that the greatest change had taken place in the disciples, and that they had now become apostles. ‘The new time,’ said he, ‘has now appeared which the Lord promised by the prophet Joel, and these are its signs. The resurrection from the dead, of which David prophesied, has now come to pass in the person of Jesus. Him has God exalted to His right hand, as was aforetime prophesied by David, and thence He has shed forth this fulness and power of the Spirit and of the new life with which the new time commences, even Messiah’s kingdom in its spiritual glory. Thus God declared Jesus to be the Christ by the things which they saw. By the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, God has evinced that that same Jesus whom ye crucified is the Christ.’

This Jesus, whom ye have crucified, hath God approved as the Christ through the outpouring of the Holy Ghost: this testimony of Peter’s pierced the hearts of all the receptive among the Jews present. And now he could call upon them to repent and to renounce by baptism the old world and the old life that they might receive, in the name of Jesus, remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost. About three thousand souls were added to the apostolic Church on that day. The Church of Christ was now introduced into the world by His disciples, the institution founded by Him was planted among His people.

According to the express declaration of Christ, this outpouring of the Holy Ghost is to be considered as His own return to His disciples. He—He Himself is the fundamental life of His Church. The Church has not a kind of subordinate spirit of Christ, but His Holy Spirit; her inmost life is essentially of the same kind as the life of Christ. She possesses His gifts not in part, but in their entireness; or, in other words, she has not a half possession of Him, but spiritually she has Him altogether;—we say spiritually, although not yet in the full riches of His being and the glory of His appearing. This presence of Christ in the Church is evident in her tendencies as well as in her gifts. The members of the Church continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine; they continued to live in solemn remembrance of their Lord, letting nothing slip which pertained to His word and life. But this life in the pure doctrine of Christ was not with them a mere theoretic, one-sided, and weak life; it proved its practical power in the firmness of their brotherly fellowship. Thus the Church had, in respect to doctrine, all the mental activity of the school, and in respect to life, all the love of the family, and both in the higher sense and style of the Holy Ghost. She was assured of the spiritual presence of her Lord in her midst, and continually sealed this certainty by breaking of bread and by prayer. But at the same time the members of the Church in the constant communion constantly celebrate the hope of their Lord’s return in His appearing. That return is the collective expression of everything which they still needed, which the world still needs. And in the midst of their riches they had always a strong feeling of this need, which feeling proceeded from the very sense of their riches, and expressed itself in their prayers.

Thus the Church stood in the strength of the Lord; and therefore a holy awe was spread around her, and wonders and signs were done by the apostles. This is the sphere of the holy influence exerted on the world, with which the Church was and continues to be surrounded, as the earth is surrounded by its atmosphere, and the living man by his breath. She continues to spread through the world the work of the glorification of Christ through the Spirit, who reproves the conscience of the world, diffuses in it a sacred awe, and makes it to rejoice, in its awakening faith, with the wonders of love and of help.

But as her characteristics and power give evidence that Christ lives in her, the same is specially shown by her gifts.⁶ The Apostle Paul, in his description of the fulness of life in the early Church, gives us a grand view of the richness of the gifts of Christ, as He communicates Himself through His members, and as He establishes the inner and essential organism of the Church through the unity of the Spirit in all His manifold operations (1Co 12:1-31) The grace of Christ is manifested, on the one hand, in the objective form of the word, and of distinct understanding: in one, as the word of wisdom, which refers everything to the final aim; in the other, as the word of knowledge, which always recurs to the first foundation. The same life is manifested, on the other hand, in the subjective form of power and of faith in the narrower sense;⁷ and here again one has the gift of healing, and another that of giving miraculous proofs of spiritual power (against demons). Here comes the gift of prophecy, which unfolds to view fresh developments or revelations from the ground of Christian truth; and side by side with it the gift of discerning of spirits, in order to distinguish and guard the truth. The Christian appears in one aspect giving way enthusiastically to his intuitions, exulting, exclaiming, and singing, while he speaks with different kinds of tongues; and in another, in a state of the highest reflection, repose, and circumspection of the Christian understanding, explaining the lofty, the deep, and the dark utterances of Christian experience, and dealing with all the questions put by men whose minds have been sharpened and exercised by worldly culture. The life of Jesus included all these gifts in all their fulness, in His individual unity; but in His Church they are mysteriously divided among the members, and their unity in this case exists only in the unity of the Church.⁸

And so Christ has always remained by His Spirit in His Church, and He abides in her to the end of the world. It cannot be said that the Church’s unity in Christ was ever wholly lost, although it rested as a deep secret throughout all Christendom, and came fully to view only in the preaching of the Gospel and the due celebration of the sacraments. Just as little can it be said that the word of Christ, as it is expressed in the New Testament, ever disappeared from the heart of the Church, however concealed a book this scripture of the New Testament written on the heart may be, whose leaves and characters are spread through millions of hearts throughout the world. The same holds true with respect to the essential lineaments of the life of Christ. They have become inalienable characteristics of His eternal Church, however much the outward appearance of the Church may seem estranged from the life of her Lord. Finally, the like is true of the miraculous gifts of Christ. All His powers for health and victory continue working in the Church, and bringing on the transformation of the world. But they work mediately, in altered forms, in separate and secret operations, according to the changes induced by difference in the times. Were it not really so, were Christ no longer here, He would be no longer putting forth His strength to complete the unfolding of His victory in spreading His eternal life throughout the world.

But there are three different proofs of Christ’s presence in the world, which work in constant unity. Christ is here, first, in the power of His historical efficacy, in the living effects produced by His manifestation on the history of the world. He is here, secondly, in the constant continuance of His intercession in heaven, and working upon mankind through His Spirit in His Church. He is here, thirdly, in constant and painful progress of life and development, in the pangs of birth urging on mankind and the earth to meet His appearing, and very specially in the unutterable groanings of the Spirit in the hearts of believers who sigh for perfection, which groanings constantly tend to bring on His ultimate appearing.

The Lord, by the outpouring of the Spirit, thus gained in His Church a definite and living form. The Church recognized Him in the divine glory with which He revealed and continued to make Himself known to her, and recognized in this revelation both His pre-historic glory before the world was, and also His post-historic eternal glory. His elect recognized Him most profoundly in His eternal majesty, and announced it to the Church. John and Paul have given us in their writings the most glimpses into these depths of the glory of Christ. We will follow the former in our considering the pre-historic glory of Christ, and the latter in considering His post-historic glory.

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Notes

1) The expression ὄχλος ὀνομάτων might induce us to understand here, under the number 120, the working members of the Church in particular, as distinguished from the women and the younger members of the circle. [So Calvin.]

2) Olshausen maintains that vers. 18 and 19 are to be considered as a historical addition by Luke, so that ver. 20 must have immediately followed ver. 17 in Peter s address. But the necessary explanations would then be wanting for the address in ver. 20, without taking into account that the ἔδει πληρωθῆναι would then have to be referred to the fall of Judas himself, and not to his lot. .

3) According to Eusebius, he was one of the seventy disciples; according to Nicephorus, he is said to have preached the Gospel in Ethiopia, and to have suffered martyrdom there.

4) [The attitude of the disciples waiting for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost is very vividly depicted by Arthur in the Tongue of Fire, chap. ii.—ED.]

5) To keep in remembrance the giving of the law on Sinai was unquestionably the first motive for the appointment of the Jewish Pentecost; although from the connection of the theocracy with the blessings of nature, it was celebrated chiefly as the feast of harvest, and this in proportion as the reference to the giving of the law was lost sight of. [On the connection of Pentecost with the giving of the law, see Baumgarten's Apostolic History, i. 50, or Jenning's Jewish Antiquities, p. 488.—ED.]

6) Compare Conradi, Chriatus in der Gegenwart, Verganycnheit und Zulmnft, p. 78, &c.

7) I take the πίστις to be here a contrast to the λόγος. They form the two elements of the contrast in the one and the same Christian life. The λόγος represents it in so far as the objective prevails in it; and the πίστις, in so far as the subjective prevails in it

8) Comp. Neander, History of the Planting and Training, &c., i. 130 [Bohu].