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THE HOLY SPIRIT MAKES GOD
KNOWN.
ACTS 2:1-21
In
the name + of Jesus.
How do you know where to find God? People have crafted many ideas about where
and how to find God. Some tell you to
look within yourself to hear the voice of God, either through meditation or trusting
your feelings. This is appealing because
we end up crafting God in our own image.
Others tell you that you can see the face of God in a newborn baby, in a
homeless person, or in any stranger.
These are objects of our compassion, but they are not God. You may be told you can find God in the
beauty of creation. If you can marvel at
the grandeur of a mountain range, at the serenity of a brook, or at the
vastness of space, they say, you can catch a glimpse of God. While all created things bear witness to
God’s existence, they are not God.
God, however, has made himself known; and
he tells us where to find him. In the
Old Testament, God was quite specific about this. He spoke to Moses and told him, “(The
Israelites) are to make a sanctuary for me, so that I may dwell among them”
(Exodus 25:8). He promised that that
is where the people would find him.
Eventually, King Solomon constructed a permanent dwelling for the
Lord. Once again, God gave a promise
about Solomon’s Temple: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place
for myself as a house for sacrifice. …Now my eyes will be open and my
ears attentive to the prayer from this place.
I have chosen and consecrated this house for my Name to be there
forever. My eyes and my heart will be
there every day” (2 Chronicles 7:12,15,16). The Lord had made it clear where he would be
found. He fixed one place where he put
his name, where he would meet his people, and where he would bestow his favor
upon them.
Even though the Lord was very clear about
where he would be found and how he was to be worshiped, people still proved themselves
sinners and turned to their own inventive ways.
They did not come before God as he had directed. They wanted God to be the way they thought and
felt. God had first created man in his
own image. But men became sinners and
chose to craft God in their own image.
This invented god is not God.
There is no life or mercy or hope in any fabricated God. To find those, you need to know who the true
God is and cling to him. To find God,
God must reveal himself to us. The Holy
Spirit makes God known to us.
God is made known most vividly in Jesus of
Nazareth. He is God in the flesh. In him, we see how God speaks and acts. In Jesus, we see how God interacts with other
people—in mercy on those in need, in patience with sinners and those slow to
understand, and in diligently upholding God’s commands—both in his life and in
what is expected of us. We see it
especially in his redeeming love in which he gave himself as the ransom payment
for our sins. Jesus rescued us from the
consequences of approaching God according to our desires, of crafting a god who
is just like us, and of living to please ourselves rather than God. Jesus delivered us from the curse we
deserve. He bore our curse and revealed
God’s blessing. He has won our place in
the kingdom of God.
After completing his work of paying for
the sins of the world and conquering death by his resurrection, Jesus ascended
to heaven. So, it’s not like we can
travel to one place to find Jesus and to see the face of God. We cannot meet Jesus to receive his blessing
and his benefits. So, how does he
deliver those to us?
In the second part of the Apostles’ Creed,
we confess who Jesus is and what he has done to save us. The Apostles’ Creed does not get to the
blessings that Jesus won until we get to the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who imparts the
blessings Jesus won. So, our confession
about the Holy Spirit includes these things: “the forgiveness of sins, the
resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.” Jesus won those benefits, but they are
delivered you to by the Holy Spirit.
When the day of Pentecost came, the Holy
Spirit whom Jesus promised was poured out upon his apostles. The signs of his coming were obvious—the
sound of a violent wind which filled a house, the flames of fire resting upon
their heads, and the ability to speak in many unlearned, foreign
languages. The crowds who heard the
violent wind also acknowledged the languages.
They also acknowledged the content of the apostles’ preaching: “We
hear them declaring in our own languages the wonderful works of God” (Acts
2:11). This is where the Holy
Spirit was at work. This is where life
in God’s kingdom is given. This is where
the Holy Spirit makes God known.
The day of Pentecost produced a seismic
shift in where God said he would be found.
In the Old Testament, God confined himself to one location where he put
his name. There, the sacrifices were
made. There, God listened to his
people’s cry for mercy. The day of Pentecost changed where God would be found
from one place to many places. If God
wanted to have his disciples lock into one place on earth, he would not have
blessed the apostles to speak in languages which were spoken around the
world. Rather, he would have converted
all the people to speak Hebrew so that they would find him in one location—his
temple.
But now, the Holy Spirit makes God known
wherever his word is preached. Through
that word, the Holy Spirit makes God known to all people. And the Holy Spirit does more than impart
knowledge. Just knowing Bible facts does
not save anyone. Rather, “Everyone
who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21)—whether they
call upon the Lord in Hebrew, Russian, Hindi, German, or English. God has chosen to bless all languages to
carry the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. As St. Paul declared, “Faith comes from
hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ” (Romans
10:17). The message of Christ was
given by the Holy Spirit to the apostles and prophets. They wrote it so we can hear and read it. The Lord does not tell us that we have to
learn Hebrew or Greek if we want to know what God has to say. Rather, God’s word has been translated into
almost every language on earth so that everyone can call upon the Lord
in their own native language and be saved.
Through the word, whether in Greek, Farsi, Finnish, Urdu, or even in
Braille, the Holy Spirit makes God known to all people.
While the Holy Spirit does not draw
attention to himself, you cannot get far into the Bible before you find him at
work. You have to make it to verse
2. “In the beginning, God created the
heavens and the earth. The earth was
undeveloped and empty. Darkness
covered the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the
surface of the waters” (Genesis 1:1-2).
The Holy Spirit was connected with the waters. The Holy Spirit plus water results in a new
creation. And isn’t that what happened
to you? When you were baptized, the Holy
Spirit connected to the water made you a new creation.
Not only did he change your status from
sinner to saint, but the Holy Spirit also took up residence within you. As a result, you are now the temple of
God. St. Paul wrote: “Do you not know
that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit lives
in you? If anyone destroys God’s
temple, God will destroy him. For God’s
temple is holy, and that is what you are” 1 (Corinthians 3:16-17). So, rather than command you to go to one
place where God has placed his name, such as the temple in Jerusalem, now God
has put his name upon you. God dwells in
you and is with you at all times and in all places. That means that God’s favor always rests upon
you. Your sins are continually
forgiven. Your place in God’s kingdom is
certain and constant. There is nothing
for you to fear—not war or pestilence, not loss of health or wealth, not
unfaithful friends or bitter enemies, not death or the devil. You are the Lord’s and the Lord is
yours. The Holy Spirit has made all of
this known to you.
As we had considered earlier, it is not
merely the knowledge of God and the Bible that saves you. It is by faith that you are saved. It is through faith that you receive the forgiveness
of sins, new life, and salvation. And to
sustain this faith, you and I gather together where the word is preached and the
sacraments are administered. This is
where God is found to strengthen and sustain us in this saving faith. In order for anything to remain alive, it
needs to be nourished. If you stop
providing nourishment, whatever is living will starve and die. Consider a bouquet of flowers. When they are delivered to you, they look and
smell beautiful. You can put them in a
vase, and that will keep them looking and smelling beautiful for a while. But since they have been cut off from their
root, it will not be long before they wither.
They dry out. Their petals fall
off. Eventually, they are tossed in the
trash. Faith is the same.
St. Peter assured the Pentecost crowd, “Everyone
who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21). Those who do not hear the word of the Lord
and who are not fed by the body and blood of the Lord will eventually stop
calling upon the name of the Lord. It
does not mean they forget who Jesus is. Knowledge
won’t die, but trust in the Lord and in his promises fades and dies when it is
not being nourished. You neglect God’s
word and sacrament at the peril of your faith and your salvation. St. Paul declared, “Faith comes from
hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ” (Romans
10:17). That is a present
tense. Faith comes. It continues to come and it grows and it is
strengthened, because the Holy Spirit comes through the words he gave to the
apostles and prophets. That’s how he
makes God known to you. This is where
God is found for your benefit.
The Holy Spirit has enlightened you to see Jesus as your Savior. The Holy Spirit has called you to know God as a merciful and faithful Father. The Holy Spirit has gathered you and people from around the world with their various languages into the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit has set you apart from sin and death and sanctifies you for lives of godliness and holiness. For, the Holy Spirit does not only make God known to you, he works in you the desire to live according to the word of the Lord. In this way, the Holy Spirit also makes you known as God’s people. Thanks to the Holy Spirit, God is known to you. You are known to God. God is yours. You are God’s. And you will be forever.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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