Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Acts 2:2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
WHAT'S THIS I HEAR?
Now the little band of Easter believers had a nucleus. But who would pay attention to them? Well, attention was just what this congregation got when that sound filled their house. It sounded like a mighty, rushing wind.
Now wind is a very powerful thing. It can toss around droplets of water high above the earth until they become pellets of ice large enough to dent a car and break a windshield in the middle of July. Wind can uproot trees that have stood for decades or even centuries. It can pick a house off its foundation -- or drive a piece of straw through a telephone pole. In the "tornado belt" of North America a sound like that of a mighty rushing wind would be enough to send people anxiously to their weather-band radios.
But that would not be the case in Jerusalem on that Pentecost, as you have no doubt heard. It brought to that house many curious people who were in Jerusalem for the harvest festival. They had come from all across the Roman Empire and now were gathered together to see what was going on. How many different ways has the LORD used to bring the people in your church together to hear His life-giving Word? This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes!
Grant, then, O God, where’er men roam,
That, when the church bells are ringing,
Many in saving faith may come
Where Christ His message is bringing:
"I know Mine own, Mine own know Me;
Ye, not the world, My face shall see.
My peace I leave with you." Amen.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 467:7)
