After the resurrection of Jesus, the Lord appeared to His disciples on several occasions to confirm He was alive. He had one mission in mind during those appearances, “And He talked to them about the Kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). He didn’t talk about politics, sports, His favorite recipes, or the financial markets. He talked about the Kingdom of God. While those lesser topics have some merit, they are not what moves the Kingdom forward.

One of His Kingdom instructions was the coming upon of the Spirit that would occur on the Day of Pentecost to empower the disciples to accomplish the Great Commission. Previously in John 14, the Lord spoke about a future indwelling of the Spirit. While they walked with Jesus for three years the Spirit was with them. In John 20, in one of His post-resurrection appearances, Jesus breathed the Spirit into the disciples to fulfill the promise He made of the indwelling presence of the Spirit. In that moment of indwelling, the disciples became the first born-again humans in history. In Acts 2, on the Day of Pentecost, Jesus promised a third interaction with the Spirit would take place. The Spirit would come upon these disciples who came to that event carrying the indwelling presence of the Spirit. Now as the Spirit came upon them at Pentecost, they would be anointed for service. 

Jesus described that coming upon in the first paragraphs of Acts 1, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7-8).

The interaction of the Spirit with the disciples from the moment they began to follow Jesus until He ascended to the Father and the eventual outpouring on the Day of Pentecost can be described simply as with, within, and upon. When the disciples walked with Jesus for three years the Spirit was with them. In John 20, when Jesus said, “Receive the Spirit”, the Spirit entered them, and finally, on the Day of Pentecost, the Spirit came upon them.

Much of the Church has the “with” and “in” parts down, but to accomplish the supernatural mission of the Church, we must experience the coming upon of the Spirit to empower us to become the kind of witness Jesus spoke about in Acts 1.  In this uncertain season of history in which we live, the need for a supernatural witness becomes more and more important with each passing day.

What happened on the Day of Pentecost? Scripture tells us the Spirit came like a mighty rushing wind, people began speaking in tongues, and the amazed citizens of Jerusalem came running to see what all the commotion was about. When they arrived, they asked, “How can this be?” (Acts 1:7). The miraculous event gave Peter an opportunity to preach the Gospel, and 3,000 people who heard and saw the power of the Spirit being demonstrated were born again. All 3,000 were then baptized and added to the Church. That is the kind of witness those who have been baptized in the power of the Spirit demonstrate to an unbelieving world. It is also what Jesus told His disciples would take place when He taught His first disciples about the Kingdom and what an alive and empowered Church would look like in the future.