Ten days ago we celebrate Ascension Day. Ascension Day marked forty days after Easter and the ascending of Jesus to the place from which He descended in order to fulfill the promise He made in the Garden of Eden that He would take care of the sin of Adam and Eve and all people by paying the price for sin which is death, eternal spiritual death. After Jesus’ resurrection He showed Himself to be alive and He did this for forty days, showing Himself to many people so that they might believe that He did indeed rise from the dead. Before He ascended He promised that He would send the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Helper to be with His Apostles so that they too might have the ability to perform signs, wonders and miracles which would attest to the truth of their proclamation of Jesus’ resurrection. Today is the day we celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit.
Before we get to our text I want to briefly look at the other lessons. The Old Testament Lesson for today is the account of the sending of the Holy Spirit on the Elders of Israel. This account happened soon after Israel was delivered from Egypt and the purpose was to show that these elders were set apart by God to help Moses in leading and governing the people. The interesting part of this account is the fact that even the two men who remained in the camp, for whatever reason, were given the Holy Spirit, showing us that it is not we who deserve or initiate this giving and being given the Holy Spirit, but it is God who gives and He gives according to His good and gracious will.
In the Second Reading for today, the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we have the account of the events of that first Pentecost day and the giving of the Holy Spirit. This Pentecost event of the giving of the Holy Spirit actually coincided with the Jewish Feast of Pentecost which was a harvest celebration. Here again we see God’s hand and perfect timing in time and history as the events of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, ascension and now the sending of the Holy Spirit fit so well so that there would be many people in Jerusalem to bear witness of this new Pentecost event, so that they might be given faith and be able to take the message of salvation back to their own towns and cities.
Now, getting to our text for this morning, our Gospel reading. Again, the words of the text, “37On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”’ 39Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (v. 37-39).
John tells us that this is the last day of the feast in other words, this is the last day of the feast of tabernacles or booths and it was the great day, that is it was the last day of the feast. On this day the leaves and branches used to build the booths were taken down and waved against the altar. The priests would process around the altar seven times in thankfulness, then a priest was sent to get a pitcher of water from the pool of Siloam and pour it out on the side of the altar. All these ceremonies had been added over the years and the last symbol, the pouring of water was to find its fulfillment in the days of the Messiah.
It was at this point that Jesus stood up, not as a teacher, but as a proclaimer. He applied these words of Isaiah 12:3, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation,” to Himself telling the people that He is the fulfillment of these words, that is, He is the Messiah.
The words of Scripture Jesus quotes are from God providing water in the wilderness for the Children of Israel. The water of the pool of Siloam was considered living water because it was continually filled by means of a natural spring in the rock. However, it was still only earthly water so that if anyone did drink of the water they would still get thirsty again. Jesus, however is the fountain of living water so that if they drink from Him they will never thirst again.
Jesus was pointing to the Holy Spirit whom He would send after His ascension and glorification. At this time the miracle of Pentecost had not yet happened. Thus Jesus makes note that those who would be given the Holy Spirit are those who do not reject Him, indeed it would be those who believe in Him who would be given the Holy Spirit. And again, after His work of redemption was complete and He returned to His glory in heaven.
So, what does this mean? First it might serve us well to debunk a couple historical heresies. One, God is not three Gods, one God the Father, a second God the Son, and a third God the Holy Spirit. Second, God did not present Himself in different modes, in other words He was not God the Father who then changed into God the Son and finally changed into God the Holy Spirit. God is God, three distinct persons in one divine being, never separated, always one so that the Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God, but the Son is not the Father, nor the Spirit and the Spirit is not the Father nor the Son and the Father is not the Spirit nor the Son. Next week we will confess this in the Athanasian Creed on Holy Trinity Sunday. Anyway, the fact is that the Holy Spirit has been around since before the creation of the world, with the Father and the Son. In Genesis we read that the “spirit” of God, that is the Holy Spirit, hovered over the face of the earth. We read how God said, “Let us make man in our image.” We read how God plural says He is one, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4). And there are many other passages from the Old and New Testament attesting to the fact that the Holy Spirit has been around with the Father and the Son since time eternal.
Not only has the Holy Spirit been around, He was active in the Old and the New Testaments. Again, we read of His participation at creation. We read of the Spirit working at the time of Moses as we read in our Old Testament reading for today. We read of the Spirit working especially at the time of the judges and even the kings of Israel. Especially in the New Testament we read of the work of the Holy Spirit.
Many times Jesus proclaimed and promised the sending of the Holy Spirit. Especially as we read in our text for today, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit and He connected this promise and its fulfillment with the proclamation that He was the Messiah. So, we can see why the Pharisees and teachers of the Law continually wanted to be rid of Him.
As Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit is given to those who believe and actually is the one who works and gives faith. Yes, the Holy Spirit is alive and well and is working in our world today. Today, however, the Holy Spirit’s usual way of working with us and giving to us is indirectly, or as we say mediately through means and in particular through the means of grace, which are confession and absolution, the very Word of God and the sacraments, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. It is especially through the means of Holy Baptism that the Holy Spirit first comes to us in our lives as we are brought to the living waters of Baptism and have water and God’s name placed on us and at that very moment the Holy Spirit does His work giving us faith, forgiveness, life and salvation along with writing God’s name on us and writing our names in the book of life.
As to the question of the outward, immediate working of the Holy Spirit in our world today let me say this, as the Apostles, to whom the Holy Spirit was first given and as He was given to attest to their message, so as the Apostles died out so did the immediate working of the Holy Spirit. I am very skeptical of so-called direct miracles in our world today. Today God has chosen to work in us and to give His gifts to us through means. Certainly God can go outside His usual way, but that is a rare thing. In our world today, normally, God comes to us and gives the gifts He has to give through the very means He has given us to give His gifts.
As for the work of the Holy Spirit, His work is to always point to Jesus. You may have noticed that the reason we do not see or hear too much of the Holy Spirit is for the simple fact that He never points to Himself. He is always only pointing to Jesus. And He points to Jesus through the means of grace. Again, what this means for us today is that the way we are given God’s gifts and blessings, the way or the means through which God gives us His gifts is through means. Thus, when we absent ourselves from the means of grace we absent ourselves from being given the gifts God has to give. It is kind of like our daily food. If we do not go to the grocery store, the place where we get our food, then we have no food to eat and we eventually starve. We may not remember all the meals we have eaten, but it is important that we eat. So likewise, we come to divine service to be fed and although we may not always remember what we have been fed, it is important to be fed. And interestingly enough if we continue to absent ourselves, refusing and rejecting the gifts God has to give, He may give us our way and harden our hearts against Him as He did with Pharaoh in Egypt.
Certainly we have all heard of the unforgivable sin. The unforgivable sin is the sin against the Holy Spirit, which is a denial of the proclamation of the Holy Spirit, or better said, the unforgivable sin is dying in unbelief. So, as we refuse and reject God’s gifts by absenting ourselves from the means of grace and in particular from the place in which the means of grace are regularly distributed, divine service on Sunday morning, we put our spiritual souls in peril.
God loves us so much. God loves you so much and He has so much that He wants to give to you, so many gifts and blessings, even beyond your imagination. God created you to love you. God created you so that He might give to you. And He gives the gifts He has to give through His means of grace.
Today we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit and His giving us faith, strengthening and keeping us in faith and stirring in us to live lives of faith to God’s glory. We also celebrate the fact that just as He did in the Old Testament so it is today that the Holy Spirit works when and where He pleases despite and at times in spite of us. We are not the prime movers. It does not depend on us. God is the prime mover. God works, God gives, God stirs in us, God motivates us, God gives and we are given to.
Today we celebrate God’s gifts of the Holy Spirit. We also celebrate God’s gifts of faith, strengthening of faith, forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. We celebrate that our justification began and ended with Jesus and so now even our sanctification begins and ends with Jesus. And we celebrate that He works in us and stirs in us to say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Before we get to our text I want to briefly look at the other lessons. The Old Testament Lesson for today is the account of the sending of the Holy Spirit on the Elders of Israel. This account happened soon after Israel was delivered from Egypt and the purpose was to show that these elders were set apart by God to help Moses in leading and governing the people. The interesting part of this account is the fact that even the two men who remained in the camp, for whatever reason, were given the Holy Spirit, showing us that it is not we who deserve or initiate this giving and being given the Holy Spirit, but it is God who gives and He gives according to His good and gracious will.
In the Second Reading for today, the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we have the account of the events of that first Pentecost day and the giving of the Holy Spirit. This Pentecost event of the giving of the Holy Spirit actually coincided with the Jewish Feast of Pentecost which was a harvest celebration. Here again we see God’s hand and perfect timing in time and history as the events of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, ascension and now the sending of the Holy Spirit fit so well so that there would be many people in Jerusalem to bear witness of this new Pentecost event, so that they might be given faith and be able to take the message of salvation back to their own towns and cities.
Now, getting to our text for this morning, our Gospel reading. Again, the words of the text, “37On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”’ 39Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (v. 37-39).
John tells us that this is the last day of the feast in other words, this is the last day of the feast of tabernacles or booths and it was the great day, that is it was the last day of the feast. On this day the leaves and branches used to build the booths were taken down and waved against the altar. The priests would process around the altar seven times in thankfulness, then a priest was sent to get a pitcher of water from the pool of Siloam and pour it out on the side of the altar. All these ceremonies had been added over the years and the last symbol, the pouring of water was to find its fulfillment in the days of the Messiah.
It was at this point that Jesus stood up, not as a teacher, but as a proclaimer. He applied these words of Isaiah 12:3, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation,” to Himself telling the people that He is the fulfillment of these words, that is, He is the Messiah.
The words of Scripture Jesus quotes are from God providing water in the wilderness for the Children of Israel. The water of the pool of Siloam was considered living water because it was continually filled by means of a natural spring in the rock. However, it was still only earthly water so that if anyone did drink of the water they would still get thirsty again. Jesus, however is the fountain of living water so that if they drink from Him they will never thirst again.
Jesus was pointing to the Holy Spirit whom He would send after His ascension and glorification. At this time the miracle of Pentecost had not yet happened. Thus Jesus makes note that those who would be given the Holy Spirit are those who do not reject Him, indeed it would be those who believe in Him who would be given the Holy Spirit. And again, after His work of redemption was complete and He returned to His glory in heaven.
So, what does this mean? First it might serve us well to debunk a couple historical heresies. One, God is not three Gods, one God the Father, a second God the Son, and a third God the Holy Spirit. Second, God did not present Himself in different modes, in other words He was not God the Father who then changed into God the Son and finally changed into God the Holy Spirit. God is God, three distinct persons in one divine being, never separated, always one so that the Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God, but the Son is not the Father, nor the Spirit and the Spirit is not the Father nor the Son and the Father is not the Spirit nor the Son. Next week we will confess this in the Athanasian Creed on Holy Trinity Sunday. Anyway, the fact is that the Holy Spirit has been around since before the creation of the world, with the Father and the Son. In Genesis we read that the “spirit” of God, that is the Holy Spirit, hovered over the face of the earth. We read how God said, “Let us make man in our image.” We read how God plural says He is one, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4). And there are many other passages from the Old and New Testament attesting to the fact that the Holy Spirit has been around with the Father and the Son since time eternal.
Not only has the Holy Spirit been around, He was active in the Old and the New Testaments. Again, we read of His participation at creation. We read of the Spirit working at the time of Moses as we read in our Old Testament reading for today. We read of the Spirit working especially at the time of the judges and even the kings of Israel. Especially in the New Testament we read of the work of the Holy Spirit.
Many times Jesus proclaimed and promised the sending of the Holy Spirit. Especially as we read in our text for today, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit and He connected this promise and its fulfillment with the proclamation that He was the Messiah. So, we can see why the Pharisees and teachers of the Law continually wanted to be rid of Him.
As Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit is given to those who believe and actually is the one who works and gives faith. Yes, the Holy Spirit is alive and well and is working in our world today. Today, however, the Holy Spirit’s usual way of working with us and giving to us is indirectly, or as we say mediately through means and in particular through the means of grace, which are confession and absolution, the very Word of God and the sacraments, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. It is especially through the means of Holy Baptism that the Holy Spirit first comes to us in our lives as we are brought to the living waters of Baptism and have water and God’s name placed on us and at that very moment the Holy Spirit does His work giving us faith, forgiveness, life and salvation along with writing God’s name on us and writing our names in the book of life.
As to the question of the outward, immediate working of the Holy Spirit in our world today let me say this, as the Apostles, to whom the Holy Spirit was first given and as He was given to attest to their message, so as the Apostles died out so did the immediate working of the Holy Spirit. I am very skeptical of so-called direct miracles in our world today. Today God has chosen to work in us and to give His gifts to us through means. Certainly God can go outside His usual way, but that is a rare thing. In our world today, normally, God comes to us and gives the gifts He has to give through the very means He has given us to give His gifts.
As for the work of the Holy Spirit, His work is to always point to Jesus. You may have noticed that the reason we do not see or hear too much of the Holy Spirit is for the simple fact that He never points to Himself. He is always only pointing to Jesus. And He points to Jesus through the means of grace. Again, what this means for us today is that the way we are given God’s gifts and blessings, the way or the means through which God gives us His gifts is through means. Thus, when we absent ourselves from the means of grace we absent ourselves from being given the gifts God has to give. It is kind of like our daily food. If we do not go to the grocery store, the place where we get our food, then we have no food to eat and we eventually starve. We may not remember all the meals we have eaten, but it is important that we eat. So likewise, we come to divine service to be fed and although we may not always remember what we have been fed, it is important to be fed. And interestingly enough if we continue to absent ourselves, refusing and rejecting the gifts God has to give, He may give us our way and harden our hearts against Him as He did with Pharaoh in Egypt.
Certainly we have all heard of the unforgivable sin. The unforgivable sin is the sin against the Holy Spirit, which is a denial of the proclamation of the Holy Spirit, or better said, the unforgivable sin is dying in unbelief. So, as we refuse and reject God’s gifts by absenting ourselves from the means of grace and in particular from the place in which the means of grace are regularly distributed, divine service on Sunday morning, we put our spiritual souls in peril.
God loves us so much. God loves you so much and He has so much that He wants to give to you, so many gifts and blessings, even beyond your imagination. God created you to love you. God created you so that He might give to you. And He gives the gifts He has to give through His means of grace.
Today we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit and His giving us faith, strengthening and keeping us in faith and stirring in us to live lives of faith to God’s glory. We also celebrate the fact that just as He did in the Old Testament so it is today that the Holy Spirit works when and where He pleases despite and at times in spite of us. We are not the prime movers. It does not depend on us. God is the prime mover. God works, God gives, God stirs in us, God motivates us, God gives and we are given to.
Today we celebrate God’s gifts of the Holy Spirit. We also celebrate God’s gifts of faith, strengthening of faith, forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. We celebrate that our justification began and ended with Jesus and so now even our sanctification begins and ends with Jesus. And we celebrate that He works in us and stirs in us to say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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