Spirit Unites

Acts 8:14-17 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
 
LUKE, author of Luke and Acts wrote of God’s activity in the world in a sequential pattern. One thing led to another. In Acts. Luke first informs us of Jesus’ ascension as the event that gave the apostles a true understanding of Jesus as the Divine Son of God. When the apostles genuinely believed in Jesus, God anointed them with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. He baptized them with tongues of fire, giving them the gifts of specific tongues, preaching, teaching, healing and more. Jesus rising and the Spirit descending are two events in God’s sequence to equip the apostles for ministry in Jerusalem. We learn the fruit of these gifts in chapters 2-7.
   God next revealed his power in Samaria: Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. As the apostles believed in Jesus at his ascension, the new believers had faith to know Jesus is Messiah. Salvation for eternal life is through faith in Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension. We can only truly know this when it has now been revealed by the Spirit. (Ephesians 3:5)
   That brings us to a question the church has deliberated for centuries: If the Spirit has revealed Jesus to the new believers, why does Luke say that the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them?
   In God’s order of events to reveal Jesus to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth, he used Peter and John to be the messengers of a second Pentecost event. God had given his apostles the keys of the Kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 16:19) Peter and John discerned God’s work in Samaria. They understood people had come to faith in Jesus. They also knew God would deliver the Spirit’s gifts into Samaria. Through the Spirit’s work in John and Peter, the new believers received God’s power for kingdom work, just as the apostles had received the Spirit’s power at Pentecost.
   Many believe God revealed himself in this sequence to unite Jerusalem and Samaria. Their centuries-old division had created great hostility between the Jews. They would not readily unite as one church. The LORD used Peter and John as a unifying authority, so his church would be one body under one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.  (from Ephesians 4:4-6)
   God’s salvation is a sequence of events. The Spirit reveals the gospel. The Spirit then anoints you with particular gifts to be a kingdom builder.