The DoveSample

The Fire

We finish this study in Acts 4. There is no dove here, but there is that fire that John was hoping for.

John the Baptist, already promoted to glory by then, must have been smiling from the cloud of witnesses that day because this is what he had been preaching: that the Messiah would come with power and fire.

Imagine the disciples on this day. Everyone had gathered in Jerusalem because it was the Feast of Weeks. Jews from all over had pilgrimaged to celebrate this holiday as they gave thanks for the first fruits of the harvest.

But for this group who had been with Jesus, who were convinced that he was the Messiah, they no doubt wanted to join in on the holiday that they had always celebrated, but they were no longer what they once were. They were still Jews who worshipped Yahweh, but they were now also... more. They were what would come to be known as Christians, belonging to a New Covenant. They were a square peg in a round hole. How did they fit now?

Heaven’s pierced son had ascended, bearing the wounds of their – and our – freedom, and they were left behind. He’d promised a helper, but so far, they just feel scared, unsure and alone. And so they gathered together in an upper room.

But suddenly, ‘a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting’: this was not the gentle fluttering of a dove, but a mighty wind accompanied by tongues of fire that came to alight - rest, to perch - on each of them. Like the one that blew the waters for Noah, or the Red Sea for Moses, like they saw at Sinai, or Elijah heard in the cave, God’s presence was made evident in power. Here was a seal of the new creation work that was pointed towards that day at the Jordan.

Jews were gathered to celebrate the first fruits of the harvest, but here in the upper room was the first fruits of the Church. In fire and power, the Church was born.

An act of Creation.

And you know what comes next: now they’re on mission.

They go from here, filled with the power of the spirit, spurred on by fiery presence, a people attached to the vine, ready to go and bear fruit. That day, 3,000 were baptised and added to the kingdom.

And now, it’s our turn.