And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. (3) And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
As this open display of God the Holy Ghost in the Church, after the ascension of Jesus, is among the most momentous doctrines of our holy faith, and the proper apprehension of it, is, of all others, the most interesting, I persuade myself that the Reader will grant me a more than usual indulgence, to dwell upon it particularly. And I am free to confess, that, according to my view of things, it is to our ignorance and inattention on this blessed part of the Gospel, is to be ascribed the lamentable state of Churches, (and even some Churches professing all the truths of our holy faith), so confessedly destitute, as for the most part they are, of vital godliness. For surely, if God the Holy Ghost, in his Almighty ministry, be not known nor enjoyed, if his Person and Godhead, if his covenant-office work and character, his influences and graces, be kept in the back ground of the ordinances, be those ordinances ever so sweet in themselves, or ever so frequently observed by the people, there must be great leanness of soul amidst the whole of them. It matters not what the minister saith, if we hear not what the Spirit saith to the Churches, Rev_2:11; Rev_2:17; Rev_2:29, etc.
The first thing I beg the Reader to observe with me in what is said in those verses, is, the manner which God the Holy Ghost was pleased to make use of, to manifest his Almighty presence. It was with sovereign strength, and by effects making known both his person, and eternal power, and Godhead. And, surely, if anything could be supposed to identify both person and power, this display of Himself, by a sound from heaven, a rushing mighty wind, and filling the whole space occupied by the disciples, these were full demonstrations of both.
And here I stop the Reader, to remark the glory by which God the Holy Ghost was pleased to manifest himself to the Church, for the first time after Christ's ascension. He had presided over the Church from the first moment he formed the Church, and numberless instances are on record of his Almighty agency, both on the Person of Christ, the great Head of his Church, and the Church, Christ's members, all along the way the Church was brought through the whole of the Old Testament dispensation. Hence Christ was called by that name before his incarnation, and the Lord Jesus, by the spirit of prophecy, so described himself ages before he was born, Isaiah 61:1, etc. And as the Lord the Spirit anointed the head, so did he shed abroad his influences in the hearts of his members. See Numbers 11:16-17; Nehemiah 9:20; Ezekiel 2:2, etc. But now the Lord the Spirit will make an open manifestation of himself, and enter with state and dignity upon his blessed office, as Lord of Christ's Church, now Jesus, having finished redemption-work, is returned to glory. So that the whole efficiency of salvation, in the heart of every individual member of Christ's mystical body, becomes his province, according to covenant-engagements. Reader! I pray you to ponder well the subject, for it is well worthy the most animated consideration, of the Lord's people. Let you and I both look up for the testimonies in our own hearts of His divine teaching, for every view of His Almighty agency in the Church of whom I am now speaking is blessed.
When the Reader hath duly considered these things, I would beg of him next to observe what a beautiful order and harmony there is shewn in the joint acts of the Holy Three in One, as relating to the Church, now fulfilled by this manifestation of God the Spirit at the day of Pentecost. God the Father, in his covenant-office and character, through the Old Testament dispensation, had all along been manifesting his everlasting love to the Church, in proclaiming the Person, Work, and Glory of his dear Son; and under the New Testament dispensation, when Christ appeared, he confirmed the same by a voice from heaven, in a public and audible manner, in the presence of the people, declaring the identity of Jesus, by saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, Matthew 3:17; Luke 9:35; John 12:28. God the Son, before his openly tabernacling in substance of our flesh, is expressly said to have been in the Church in the wilderness, when he spake to Moses in the Mount Sinai with our fathers, for so Stephen, when filled with the Holy Ghost, and speaking therefore under the influence of his divine teaching, declared, Acts 7:37-38, and which, by the way, it may be observed, throws a light on many other parts of the Old Testament Scripture, in proof that it was Christ who all along manifested himself as the Shechinah to the Church. So that when the fulness of time was come, and the Son of God was to make his open appearance in our nature, he came as God manifest in the flesh, entered upon, and finished his office-work of redemption, and returned to glory. See Genesis 32:24; Genesis 32:24, &c; Exodus 24:9 to the end. And God the Holy Ghost, thought he had all along presided over the Church, (which he himself founded), during the whole of the Old Testament dispensation, yet now comes at the day of Pentecost in an open manifestation of himself, in his Person, Godhead, and Ministry, and makes himself known as the Almighty Teacher in the Church, to render the whole effectual of salvation-work in the hearts of his people. See 1 Peter 1:10-11; 2 Peter 1:21; Hebrews 9:1-8. And wherefore all these glorious manifestations of each divine person, and all but to testify to the Church that the whole Godhead is alike concerned, and alike entitled to the adoration, love, obedience, and praise of the whole Church of Jesus, for their joint favor to the Church before all worlds, in her present time-state on earth, and her everlasting happiness to all eternity.
I do not think it necessary in a work of this kind to enter into a critical enquiry concerning the appearances here made by the Holy Ghost. It will be sufficient to remark that the whole plainly proved the Lord the Spirit's personal presence, his Almighty power and ministry in his government over the Church. The suddenness of it implied how unexpected the manifestations of his grace are in all instances. The direction coming from heaven, proved that the blessed Spirit is from above, agreeably to Scripture, James 1:17. The sound, as of crushing mighty wind, was in exact conformity to what the Lord Jesus had before said, when speaking of the work of God the Holy Ghost, whose operations are like the unknown and unexplored source of the air, which bloweth where it listeth, John 3:8, See Commentary there. The appearances of cloven tongues, like as of fire, were suitable to denote his presence, who is a Spirit of judgment, and q Spirit of burning. Isaiah 4:4. And their sitting upon the head of each of them, graciously taught, that where the Lord the Spirit came, he would abide forever. So the Lord Jesus taught his disciples to expect, and, blessed be God, so his people know, John 14:16-17. But what I would yet more particularly beg the Reader to notice, from all these different manifestations, is, that they all proved the Person, Godhead, and Ministry of the Holy Ghost. And I beg of him to observe, that this manifestation at Pentecost was as folly and decidedly in proof of God the Holy Ghost's office-work in the covenant, (as far as an open appearance became necessary), as the personal appearance of the Son of God manifest in the flesh, was for his part in this mysterious work. The one is as demonstrative as the other. Reader! do not hastily pass away from meditating on these things. Carry them about with you wherever you go, as so many credentials of your faith, in the present awful day of infidelity with which the Church of God is surrounded.