An Experience for us All

There is perhaps an unprecedented amount of prayer in Australia at the moment, which is characteristically a forerunner of revival. I have long been theologically convinced that Pentecost proceeds from Calvary, but as I was seeking the Lord in a prayer meeting recently I had a deep insight about the cross that left me speechless. Since, “the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7), this teaching is an attempt to sum up the implication of what I saw for the body of Christ.

One Body made Whole

As I sensed the Lord calling out to his Church, “Consider the cross!” I could actually “see” the brokenness of Jesus own battered body. The Spirit was trying to tell me that the body of Christ was not the body of an isolated individual; Jesus was carrying in himself the corporate Body of the Church[1]. I became deeply aware that as the fracturing of Jesus’ body in suffering and death was a bearing of our fractured and broken humanity, so in the reconstitution of his body in resurrection a new and whole humanity was created (Eph 2:15). The power by which Jesus himself is raised and made one was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon him (Rom 1:4; 8:11; 1 Tim 3:16; 1 Pet 3:18). It is this power which Jesus himself will later pour out at Pentecost. The disciples however were not only witnesses of the resurrection but also Christ’s ascension (Acts 1:8, 9-11).

The Spirit’s work in making Jesus perfectly whole involves his exalting Christ into heavenly glory. He is now enthroned in heaven as “the Lord of glory” (1 Cor 2:9; James 2:1). The psalmist invoked the King of glory to enter into the gates of Jerusalem (Ps 24:7-10), but in witnessing the ascension the apostles knew that the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem had been opened to receive their friend and brother on the occasion of his coronation as King of all (Acts 10:36).  Having witnessed such great things the first believers were irresistibly moved to pray “with one accord” (Acts 1:14) as they awaited “the promise of the Father” and the Spirit’s baptizing in power (Acts 1:4-5).

The First Pentecost

Jesus had taught the first Christians to anticipate the coming of the kingdom of God with Spirit-power, and now that day had arrived (Acts 1:3ff.). They understood Pentecost to be the beginning of the earthly reign of their recently exalted heavenly Lord. The power poured out at Pentecost is not a private Spirit-baptism, but the baptism of the Church into the cloud of glory which lifted Christ into the heavenly places above every rival rule (Eph 1:20-21). Our glory as the Church is to share as a Body in the wholeness of Jesus healed and perfected humanity. With Jesus’ outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:33) all things in heaven and earth (Matt 28:19) were now being drawn together into a perfect unity[2].

The post-Pentecost testimony of Acts is a witness to the presence of the exalted Lord to create a people who hold “all things in common” (Acts 2:44; 4:32) and through whom all the old divisions of Jew, Samaritan and Gentile have been overcome[3]. As the plan of God unfolds through the glorification of Christ in his Church, a community is created in which there must be “no partiality” amongst those who believe in “the Lord of glory” (James 2:1)[4]. The scattered children of God (John 11:52) have been reassembled through the body of Jesus, broken and healed for us. “In Christ” we enjoy a perfect wholeness (1 Cor 12:12).

This one family likeness expresses “the manifold wisdom of God…made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” (Eph 3:10). This “mature and secret wisdom” was released when “the rulers of this age… crucified the Lord of glory”; the great things “God has prepared for those who love him” have now been revealed by the gift of the unifying Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:6-10). In the face of such wisdom displayed in the Church the principalities and powers are helpless. This message is designed to point to the cross as the remedy for any disorder amongst the people of God that would detract from the victory of Christ.

Christian Fragmentation

It is natural for hurting men and women to cry out to God for an outpouring of power to relieve their suffering and distress. Tragically, when such power descends from on high and clothes the mortal bodies (Luke 24:49) of those ungrounded in the humiliation of Christ it is easy to “feel immortal” (cf. 2 Tim 1:10). In such an intoxicating and heady spiritual atmosphere self-confidence flows out into divisions, false teaching, sexual immorality and problems in fellowshipping around the Lord’s Supper. This was the situation in the most charismatic church in the New Testament, Corinth, and has plagued the majority of revival movements since[5].

The Corinthians’ error was to separate the power of God from its source in the cross of Christ. Paul’s remedy for the infantile Corinthians (1 Cor 3:1) was to point them to the cross where in the broken body of Jesus all fragmentation and pride is finally put to death (1 Cor 1-2; 12). In the terms of this teaching, Pentecost must never be separated from the whole of the life of Jesus (cross-resurrection-ascension-enthronement). If we fracture Christ, our own communities will be fractured in the midst of the day when the Lord of glory reveals “the day of his power” (Ps 110:3).

Conclusion

There are strong signs across the Australian Church of an imminent outpouring of the Spirit. In such a situation it is vital that we “see” by revelation that any Christian revival is a participation in Jesus own broken and healed life. Such an insight cultivates humility which is an essential prerequisite for continuous spiritual renewal. The pre-eminence of “Christ crucified” (Gal 6:14) is the wisdom that guards the Church from that prideful hunger for power which allows the evil principalities and authorities to derail the work of God. May the Lord grant us all such wisdom so that we may enter most fully into the joy of his coming Spirit.