LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Necessary Training
After His resurrection, the Lord instructs the disciples about the steps they are to take next. He sends them to make disciples, baptize them and teach them His commandments (Matt. 28:18-20). These instructions are crucial, solemn, important. They are among the last that the Lord gave to His disciples on earth.
However, later, in those forty days that the Lord appears to them "with many undeniable proofs ... speaking to them about the kingdom", He gives them a final command, which apparently contradicts the previous one: He commands them not to move from Jerusalem, until the Father sends them the promise, the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5).
How are these two apparently contradictory commands explained? In Matthew, the Lord gives a general instruction, valid for all his disciples, in all ages and places. In contrast, the command given in Acts is specific to that group of disciples. Matthew's was also for those disciples, but they had to receive spiritual training first: "But you shall receive power ... and you shall be my witnesses ..." (Acts 1:8). The great commission is valid for us today, but so is, before it, that of Acts 1:4, 8.
Now, when God sends, he first equips. This is not a total equipping -because many things will be learned along the way- but, at least, it is a basic spiritual training, which will allow us to face the immediate needs. The experience acquired later will provide other necessary elements.
The investiture of the Holy Spirit would give the disciples the power to be witnesses of Christ. Without Pentecost there is no power, no glory, no conviction of sin, no salvation, no victory.
If we observe attentively, after the resurrection of the Lord, the disciples live two experiences with the Holy Spirit. The first, described in the Gospel of John, is the one in which Jesus breathes on them and tells them: "Receive the Holy Spirit" (Jn. 20:22). The second is the experience in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon them as a "rushing mighty wind" (Acts 2:2).
The apostles lived the two experiences, and later believers must also live them. The first is the initial outpouring of the Spirit, which quickens our spirit and produces in us the new birth. By this experience we can confess that Jesus is Lord, we become children of God, and we are sealed by the Holy Spirit.
The second experience is the investiture of power for service to the Lord. The ways in which the Holy Spirit manifests Himself are varied, but they all have the same objective: to empower. It may have the same (or very similar) characteristics as the biblical Pentecost, or it may be expressed in a different way, but whoever experiences it will never have any doubt about having lived it. From then on, he can serve the Lord with new strength and effectiveness.