The Bible's Biggest Buts - Do not leave but wait

Do Not Leave But Wait On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. Acts 1:4 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/act.1.4.NIVUK Now you might be questioning how this even remotely qualifies as a big 'but'. I mean, waiting in line is the new normal right now, particularly if you're two metres apart from everyone else. What's so special about this command? To understand that, you have to understand where they were. It was only a matter of weeks earlier that Jesus had been crucified just outside Jerusalem, by the authorities in Jerusalem, by the Romans who occupied all of Judaea, but particularly Jerusalem. Not only that, but these men were mostly Galileans who had a distinctive accent. As Peter found out, that made it hard to avoid being recognised: About an hour later another asserted, ‘Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.’ Peter replied, ‘Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!’ Just as he was speaking, the cock crowed. Luke 22:59‭-‬60 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/luk.22.59-60.NIVUK These men had been with Jesus when He taught in the Temple. People would know who they were. But worse. Much worse. Pentecost was coming. Jerusalem was about to be packed with pilgrims from the Judaean provinces and indeed the known world. The possibilities for being spotted and turned in to the Romans or the Jewish authorities as being Jesus' disciples was increasing by the day. Why was that a problem? Jesus and His followers had claimed He was the Messiah - the One the Jews believed at that time would liberate them from Roman rule. The claims that He had risen from the dead would only strengthen these claims. We know from one of the earlier resurrection accounts that the disciples were afraid of being caught: On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ John 20:19 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/jhn.20.19.NIVUK Jerusalem for them was a place of fear, potential persecution and even death. And Jesus was telling them to stay there. He didn't even tell them for how long. Now do you see why this is a big 'but'? But we need to appreciate the other side of the 'but'. Jesus was telling them to wait for the gift from the Father that He had told them about. This gift was the Holy Spirit. But God is omnipresent. Surely He could deliver the Holy Spirit to them wherever they were? To understand why the disciples had to stay in the place of danger, we have to read on a bit into chapter 2: When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: ‘Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs – we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!’ Acts 2:1‭-‬11 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/act.2.1-11.NIVUK God's purpose was for them to be in one place at Pentecost so that they could declare the glory of God to pilgrims from across the world in their own language. The whole point of them being willing to risk their own safety was so that others might be saved: Those who accepted his message were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. Acts 2:41 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/act.2.41.NIVUK This crucial detail is often missed in all the over-heated discussions about Pentecost. The purpose of the outpouring of the Spirit was not so there could be a great supernatural display of special effects. This was not so God could sit in Heaven and call out, "Hey! Spielberg! You call that Mission Impossible? And I didn't even use CGI!" No, it was primarily about salvation. God had a tremendous purpose that was being worked out, and it could only be worked out if the disciples were willing to obey Jesus and stay in the place of risk. Now I'm not saying that it's always God's will for us to stay in the place of risk. Jesus Himself was taken to Egypt to avoid being killed by Herod. We read these words in the Gospels: When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’ Matthew 2:13‭-‬15 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/mat.2.13-15.NIVUK There are situations where the right thing to do is to leave if we can, particularly if we are responsible for other people. I've taken the decision to leave a place due to high levels of risk several times as a missionary and I've never regretted it. But equally there are times when God clearly calls us to stay. In 2001, my boss called my team into our office in Brasov and allocated people to the teams they would lead. There would be two outreach teams. She allocated my colleague Airton to lead a team to the town of Mangalia. He was delighted. Mangalia is a holiday resort town with a beach on the Black Sea coast. That suited him fine. Then she allocated my location. I was allocated the city of Tulcea. Tulcea is situated at the edge of the Danube Delta. It's hot, humid, has twelve different gypsy tribes, Bulgarians, Turks, Ukrainians, ancient peoples related to the Kossaks, umpteen different types of Orthodox churches and bugs coming off the Delta that are so big that insect repellent doesn't repel them, it only makes them dopey. I would be sleeping in the basement of the host church and washing in a wooden latrine using a hose pipe each day. And I loved it. This was why I'd become a missionary. This was the wildest outreach I'd ever been part of in my life. It was nuts. I ended up preaching at a wedding because the pastor chickened out. And then I found out why. The bride and groom were new believers who arrived with wet hair because they'd been baptised in a bathtub on their way to church. The start of the service was accompanied by wailing and cursing from both families because neither of the them approved. During my sermon, both families left and immediately disowned the happy couple. I've never preached at a wedding since. We were harassed during children's evangelism in a park. We tried to teach children's choruses in a gypsy village where illiteracy was so high that even teenagers couldn't read the flashcards. We slept in stifling heat in the church in that village because if we opened the windows to let in air, all our bags would be gone in the morning. When we left, we had to check ourselves for fleas. It was insane. But in the middle of all the craziness, we attended all-night prayer meetings and, right at the end of the outreach, led that small, deeply persecuted church as they took small steps forward in evangelism. It was by far the best outreach I had been on. Right now, our circumstances might be crazy. We do not know when they will end. But the disciples were asked to stay when the risks were high because God had a purpose for them that was far greater. When I was in Tulcea, God had a purpose for me and my team that was bigger than the insects. So what purpose could God be working out in our lives now? Have we asked Him? So we've now seen two of the Bible's biggest 'buts': Jesus was dead but is alive, and He told the disciples not to leave but to wait. The third 'but' is also controversial: NOT WATER BUT THE SPIRIT.