Month: April 2026

This is what was Spoken?

Here we will look at a couple of examples in scripture of things that the New Testament (NT) believers saw a little differently than the Old Testament (OT) writers. Our two passages of scripture, begin with the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, the outpouring of the Spirit and birth of the church followed by Acts 15, the first church council generally referred to as the Jerusalem Council due to where it took place. Out title, ‘this is what was spoken’ comes from the first phrase of Acts 2:16. Our question to be answered is how the events of Acts 2 fulfilled Joel’s prophecy as Peter asserted.  

14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. 18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. Acts 2:14–18 (NKJV)

Peter quoted Joel saying that the outpouring of the Spirit would manifest in prophecy, visons and dreams. However, when we read earlier in the chapter, we find that the 120 were declaring ‘the wonderful works of God’ (Acts 2:11). There is no reference to dreams, visions or prophecy. These all came later as directed by the Spirit. Yet for Peter what was happening to he and others speaking in tongues declaring these works was the fulfillment. We don’t know what the 120 were saying beyond this, we do know they had a dramatic encounter with and filling of the Spirit. We also know that they were speaking in the various languages of their hearers from across the Roman empire. Interestingly, this is the only reference to tongues that we have in the NT where known languages are referred to. In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul addresses the need for an interpreter of tongues, not a translator.   

For Peter the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy wasn’t about specific items in the list Joel provided, it, it was about the dramatic outflowing of the Spirit through His people. The Spirit had been poured out and the results were evident, hence his insistence, ‘this is what was spoken.’

We now move to the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. Here the church met because Peter, followed by Paul and Barnabas, had taken the gospel to the Gentiles. The new church was no longer a sub sect of Judaism. It was now a new movement of the Spirit. Some Jewish believers wanted the new Gentile converts to in essence become Jews through embracing the Mosaic law and a lifestyle change. The elders and apostles debated the issue and James, Jesus’ half brother and leader of the church in Jerusalem settled the matter by quoting Amos 9:11 about the restoration of the Tabernacle of David.  

15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written: 16 ‘After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; 17 So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the Lord who does all these things.’ Acts 15:15–17 (NKJV)

Here we encounter similar problem as with the Joel passage. The Tabernacle of David was a tent containing the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem prior to the building of the temple. It was not the tabernacle of Moses, that remained at Gibeon where the morning and evening burnt offerings were presented (1 Chronicles 16:39-40). The Ark carried the presence of Yahweh between the cherubim, a replica of His throne in the spirit realm. So how do we reconcile the seeming differences? The Tabernacle of David was about open access. The opening of the door of the gospel to the Gentiles was about open access! Thus, James recognition that the restoration of the Tabernacle of David was about open access to salvation, not the restoration of a building.

A side point is that many believers expect the temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem when the NT points to believers as the present-day temple (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19).

My point in all of this is that the fulfillment of OT promises or prophecies in the NT may not look like what we are expecting and we need to seek His wisdom to understand. Thus, if we come across things in scripture that we don’t understand let us humbly and prayerfully seek to understand them depending on the Spirit and our fellow believers.

The Son of His Love

There is an interesting phrase in Colossians, “the kingdom of the Son of His love.” Contextually Paul writes that we have been delivered from darkness and that deliverance came about as a result of our transfer of allegiance to Jesus. Which tells us that salvation isn’t about saying the right words, it is about having a right heart, one loyal to Jesus.  

Paul’s turn of phrase here is very interesting. He says the Father has, “conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” Spiritually we have moved domains, which is why later Paul references that our lives are ‘hidden with Christ in God’ (Colossians 3:3). There is a lot to unpack here so let’s dig in. We know from the gospels that the kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven are interchangeable terms. Thus, however we view it, at conversion we were moved to another kingdom. Now we look at the implications as seen in John’s gospel. Our initial phrase in Colossians 1:13 reveals the Father’s heart. Knowing that Jesus is ‘the Son of His love,’ tells us that the Father’s motive in the incarnation was to express His love to and through Jesus. While the Father, Son and Spirit are all involved in everything, at times the scriptures focus in on one of them. Here we are looking more closely at different roles. The Father is in view in the famous John 3:16 and later in verse 35 Jesus affirms how the Father loves Him.

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 (NKJV)

35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. 36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John 3:35–36 (NKJV)

The Father loves the Son and the world. Jesus says the Father’s love has placed our future in His hands. We can see this clearly. Yet as we move further into John to the ending of Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, we see what is available to us.

26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” John 17:26 (NKJV)

Here Jesus is expressing that His revelation of the Father has the power to impart to our hearts the same kind of love for Him that the Father has. I can’t fully grasp that yet at the same time I know that this is the potential fruit of having been ‘conveyed’ into this kingdom. So, from the place of intercession let’s ask to receive, for both ourselves and others, a revelation of the Father’s love for Jesus and seek to remain in this love in His kingdom in all that we do.

The Gift of Presence

I have thinking lately about what we do or may carry into our interactions with others. Primarily I am thinking about being carriers of Jesus’ presence in our interactions. First, I will provide a context for the concept.

We all carry something into our interpersonal interactions. An example that has stood out to me for decades took place in May 1983 when I was 23. I had an issue and saw the Dr. on a Monday afternoon. He quickly diagnosed me with cancer. When I asked him how sure he was he said about 90-95%. I was admitted to the hospital the next day, had my first surgery on Thursday, I had a small cancerous tumour removed, and was discharged Saturday at noon and was married later that day. A few weeks later I had major abdominal surgery and the surgeon discovered a grapefruit sized tumour around my aorta, which, thankfully, he was able to remove.   

Later in the summer I began chemotherapy treatments. It was frankly an awful experience, which brings me to presence. I tried to sleep as much as possible and my wife would come from work and sit near my bed and read the newspaper. We didn’t talk much, what was comforting was her presence. Neither of us were walking with the Lord at this point in time, however her presence brought a great deal of comfort. While I had been aware of various degrees of presence, this experience was what first led me to reflect on it in a meaningful way.

I had a recent experience that really highlighted the importance of presence. In March of this year, I attended a church men’s retreat for the first time. There I ran into Greg Musselman of Voice of the Martyr’s Canada. We had been trying for many months to schedule a lunch and things kept getting in the way. Now we had an opportunity to catch up.

As part of catching up Greg shared the story of a pastor from Nigeria. His pregnant wife and five daughters were murdered by Fulani Muslim herdsmen. He became embittered and wanted nothing to do with God any longer. People kept going to him and talking with him but he remained bitter. Then someone went and didn’t talk, they just sat with him in his grief and that is what opened his heart to turn back to serving the Lord. Later that evening I was sharing the story with a fellow from church and when I got to the part about the man simply bringing the Gift of Presence he exclaimed, “Of course you don’t say anything.” What was significant about this was he was from the same region of Nigeria where these events had taken place and has only been in Canada a couple of years. He understood the importance of presence.

Decades ago, I was working in downtown Edmonton and had a friend who was down there at periods of time for work. We had both been spending time focusing on our relationship with Jesus and intentionally spending time sitting in His presence. Occasionally we met for lunch and we said very little but simply sat together with a focus on Jesus and His presence was very tangible. We made room for Jesus to be part of our lunchtime.

I think the reality of this is found in what Jesus promised. In the last phrase of Matthew 28:20 Jesus says, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Jesus said some things in John and prior to His incarnation He said something to Moses.

18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. John 14:18 (NKJV)

23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. John 14:23 (NKJV)

14 And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Exodus 33:14 (NKJV)

There are many more scriptures that address this issue but if we are believers He is both with us and in us. In Romans 8:16 Paul said that His Spirit bears witness with our spirit, there is an inner awareness, which is why we can sometimes meet someone and know they are a Christian because the Holy Spirit in their spirit is bearing witness in our spirit. His presence is real with us and in us. The point of my examples above is that I believe we can be more intentional about paying attention to His presence and inviting Him to manifest His presence in our interactions with others.

So, let’s be mindful of what we are carrying into your interactions with others and seek to bring the Gift of Presence.

Glorious Day

In recent weeks I was driving somewhere and the song Glorious Day by Casting Crowns came on. I recognized that it is a song replete with Easter references and it drew my heart. We will look at some of the lyrics, though the primary significance of Easter is captured in something Paul wrote, ably summed up in the last verse below.

23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. Romans 4:23–25 (NKJV)

However, to the lyrics.

Living, he loved me
Dying, he saved me
And buried, he carried
My sins far away

Rising, he justified
Freely forever
One day, he’s coming
Oh, glorious day
Oh, glorious day

In living on earth Jesus walked in love to those around Him and out of love for us laid down His life (John 3:16). On the cross He paid the price for our sins. When He cried out, “It is finished” (John 19:30) He was stating that the debt of sin had been fully paid and Paul tells us that our list of sins, our violations of the Law, were nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:14). Reflect on that. Each of us have a sin debt, charges filed against us under God’s moral law. Charges that affirm that we are deserving of death. Yet Paul states boldly that the list of wrongs against each of us was nailed to the cross and in essence with Jesus sacrificial death, written across our debt was, ‘Paid in full!’

However, not only was our debt paid, scripture goes further. A line in the song is ‘carried my sins far away.’ Paul tells us where they were carried to.

3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Romans 6:3–4 (NKJV)

In His death Jesus took our sin debt to the grave with Him. He carried our sins not to some distant place but down to the grave, to burial, to be left in the grave.  

This now takes us back to our starting verse, Jesus was delivered to the cross for our offenses, our sin debt, and then raised to life to justify us and establish our freedom from death and sin. Let’s walk through this a bit to appreciate the significance of the Easter story. Jesus took on flesh and the limitation of humanity out of His love for us. He then revealed the heart of the Father through His ministry (John 1:18, 14:9-11) He completed His earthly ministry by going to the cross. The sentence against us was carried out on Jesus, He then took our sins to the grave with Him, they are buried and done away with. He then gloriously rose to newness of life in a resurrected imperishable body as a foretaste of what will experience.

Given all of that, I encourage you, mediate on His finished work and the effects of this glorious day to truly appreciate what Jesus did on our behalf.

The full lyrics and a link to the song are below.

One day, when Heaven was filled with his praises
One day, when sin was as black as could be
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin
Dwelt among men, my example is he

The Word became flesh
And the light shined among us
His glory revealed

Living, he loved me
Dying, he saved me
And buried, he carried
My sins far away

Rising, he justified
Freely forever
One day, he’s coming
Oh, glorious day
Oh, glorious day

One day, they led him up Calvary’s mountain
One day, they nailed him to die on a tree
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected
Bearing our sins, my redeemer is he

The hands that healed nations
Stretched out on a tree
And took the nails for me

‘Cause living, he loved me
Dying, he saved me
And buried, he carried
My sins far away

Rising, he justified
Freely forever
One day, he’s coming
Oh, glorious day
Oh, glorious day

One day, the grave could conceal him no longer
One day, the stone rolled away from the door
Then he arose, over death he had conquered
Now he’s ascended, my Lord evermore

Death could not hold him
The grave could not keep him
From rising again (rising again)

Living, he loved me
Dying, he saved me
And buried, he carried
My sins far away

Rising, he justified
Freely forever
One day, he’s coming
Oh, glorious day
Oh, glorious day
Glorious day

One day, the trumpet will sound for his coming (we long for your coming)
One day, the skies with his glories will shine (glories will shine)
Wonderful day, my beloved one bringing
(My Saviour) my Saviour Jesus is mine

Living, he loved me
Dying, he saved me
Buried, he carried
My sins far away

Rising, he justified
Freely forever
One day, he’s coming
Oh, glorious day
Oh, glorious day
Glorious day

Oh, glorious day

Songwriters: Mark Hall, Michael Bleecker. For non-commercial use only.

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