While We Wait - Waiting For Blessing
- Paul Downie
- 2 minutes ago
- 16 min read
Acts 1:4-5 NIV
[4] 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. [5] For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.1.4-5.NIV)
Waiting is part of life.
We have seen through numerous studies that it can be arduous and challenging. Sometimes we have to wait for things to happen that are not at all positive.
At other times, we are waiting for something exciting to happen. For example, from the time my wife went into labour, twelve hours elapsed before the obstetrician and the midwife attending her decided that my daughter wasn’t going to come out on her own (something which had been known for months) and sent her for a Caesarean section. My daughter appeared not long after.
These waits for something we are longing to happen feel like they are long when we are in them, but in hindsight the moments flew by.
Here, in these verses, we don’t just see the birth of a human being – as special and wonderful and miraculous as they are – but the birth of the church: a movement that has grown out of an upper room gathering to fill the world.
That is equally as miraculous.
But at the heart of this wonderful event is something perhaps we wouldn’t expect:
A wait.
Now, isn’t that interesting?
So although this is a very famous, well-renowned event, preached on with enthusiasm and vigour at least once a year, we are going to focus on one particular part of it: the wait. We will see what we can learn that will encourage and strengthen us while we wait.
The first aspect we will look at is The City where the wait took place.
The City
Acts 1:4 NIV
[4] 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.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.1.4.NIV)
I was born in Glasgow. I studied there. I worked there. While I was a child and in my teens, it was known as ‘No Mean City’.
And that was correct. The collapse of shipbuilding had hit the city hard. There was a lot of unemployment and poverty. That allied to sectarianism, drug and alcohol abuse and its proximity to Irish terrorism turned it into a city with a terrible reputation.
Thankfully, it’s been turned around. The city has been redeveloped. It’s much more of a forward looking place now.
But back in the day, there were neighbourhoods where you just would not want to go.
Ancient Jerusalem was quite a special place. It was a place of worship and pilgrimage – Jesus spoke these words between two huge festivals that drew crowds that are thought to have increased the population between threefold and sixfold, at least. The Temple, the very focal point of the Jewish religion, was there.
But after what had happened in the city around forty days previously, the disciples would have had a different understanding of this city.
For them, it was a city of fear.
Look at what happened during one of Jesus’ resurrection appearances:
John 20:19 NIV
[19] 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!”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.20.19.NIV)
So on the day when Jesus appeared to them, on the third day after His death, the disciples were meeting in fear. Having seen the brutal injustice and violence that had been meted out on Jesus, no-one could blame them for being afraid.
Yet Jesus met with them behind that fearfully locked door.
Apart from being an outstanding miracle, this is also an outstanding act of grace.
For them, I don’t doubt for a second that it would also be a city of failure.
After all, what had they all done there?
Mark 14:50 NIV
[50] Then everyone deserted him and fled.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.14.50.NIV)
It would have been worse for Peter: he had actually denied knowing Jesus there (Matthew 26:69-75; Mark 14:66-72; Luke 22:54-62; John 18:15-18, 25-27).
While there would be much in the city that would remind them of the good times, there would also be much to remind them of how often they had let Him down.
And Jesus left them there. Alone. If we do the maths, there are fifty days between Passover and Pentecost, Jesus was resurrected the day after Passover Sabbath and appeared to them for forty days. This means that they were alone in this risky city for around eight full days.
Eight days.
Maybe you struggle with this. Maybe your idea of God as a God of love does not include a God who would leave His people in a position of physical and emotional risk.
I don’t. I don’t struggle with this at all.
Because I have been there.
Seventeen years in a bad neighbourhood, waiting to get out.
A badly organised missions trip in 1994 which left my team and I spending a night in Bucharest North railway station in Romania.
A cheaply bought ticket by my boss which led to me spending an overnight in Brno railway station, Czech Republic, a week after a racist attack outside, with three women and a Korean.
I have an idea of what this means. It isn’t nice. It isn’t pleasant.
But God is absolutely still in control. He is still working out His plan. That plan is still for our good.
No matter what.
So let’s move, then, from the city to The Gift.
The Gift
Acts 1:4-5 NIV
[4] 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. [5] For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.1.4-5.NIV)
I remember as a child I would get quite excited for Christmas and birthday gifts. Who wouldn’t? Getting something for free is always great – even more so if you know what they are and you know they are worth having.
But there are always gifts you receive that leave you confused because you don’t know what you are receiving and you haven’t a clue what it does.
This was not such a gift.
The disciples would already know What it was.
John 14:15-18 NIV
[15] “If you love me, keep my commands. [16] And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— [17] the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. [18] I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.14.15-18.NIV)
It was the Holy Spirit, who would be basically Jesus, but in them.
We need to notice something very important here. The Holy Spirit was, and is, a gift. They were not entitled to it. They did not achieve it. They did not earn it. It was not a mark of superior spirituality or seniority.
No, the Holy Spirit was, and is, a gift: a gift of grace to those who need Him – which is every believer.
The Holy Spirit always exalts God, never us. If someone uses a gift of the Holy Spirit to exalt themselves , they are abusing that gift.
Jesus didn’t just tell them what this gift is, but also What it does.
The Greek word used for the Holy Spirit is ‘parakletos’, meaning ‘one who stands beside’.
Jesus Himself described His ministry as follows:
Truth-teller (John 14:17)
Teacher (John 14:25-26)
Empowerer (Acts 1:18)
To which Paul added:
Interceder (Romans 8:26-27)
Assurer (Ephesians 1:13-14)
Note something very important here. None of these roles includes ‘Special Effects Coordinator’. The Holy Spirit’s role is not to snatch glory from God, but to bring glory to God. If you see someone claiming to be filled with the Holy Spirit who is a bit of an exhibitionist and seeks to draw attention to themselves, that is not the Holy Spirit they are filled with. The Spirit works in the background, out of sight, and only appears miraculously when necessary. The only time when we see huge, barnstorming special effects in Acts are for the advancement of the Gospel, not at all to glorify human beings.
So yes, the Holy Spirit is a tremendous gift. We will never receive a better gift. But we need to know what the gift is for and not in any way abuse it.
Apart from the city and the gift, we should also pay special attention to The Mission, because that is the reason why God gave the gift.
The Mission
Acts 1:6-8 NIV
[6] Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” [7] He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. [8] But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.1.6-8.NIV)
Matthew 28:18-20 NIV
[18] Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.28.18-20.NIV)
Have you ever met people who have lost a reason to get up in the morning? They are joyless. They lack enthusiasm. They are listless. They are dead inside. They only live for the day when they do not live anymore.
There are fewer things in life that are sadder than that.
Have you ever seen a group of Christians that has forgotten their purpose?
They may raise money for charity and be politically active and hold coffee mornings and shopping trips and golf outings and bring-and-buy sales, but if they have forgotten their purpose, they too are dead inside. They have no reason to exist other than just to exist.
And the irony with a community like that is that pretty soon they will not exist.
Jesus talks of three potential purposes of the church here. Just like the parlour game of ‘Two Truths and a Lie’, one of these is not our purpose, but the other two are.
The first of these potential purposes is to know. Specifically, to know the date when Jesus will return. This is something we cannot know and will never know:
Mark 13:33 NIV
[33] Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.13.33.NIV)
1 Thessalonians 5:1-3 NIV
[1] Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, [2] for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. [3] While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1th.5.1-3.NIV)
2 Peter 3:10 NIV
[10] But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/2pe.3.10.NIV)
Revelation 16:15 NIV
[15] “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rev.16.15.NIV)
Anyone who claims to know is a liar. What is more, when they claim to know when Jesus will return, they instantly invalidate their claim, because Jesus will not come when He is expected (Matthew 24:44; Luke 12:40).
It is simply not our place to know. It is not why we exist.
It is our place, though, to receive.
Now, this spins things right around. Paul explained during a debate on a different subject that ‘knowledge puffs up’ (1 Corinthians 8:1-2). Which is true. It does. Which is why if we had some form of hidden knowledge of Jesus Christ's return, it would exalt us and make us look better than everyone else. That is not the Holy Spirit’s purpose. His purpose is to exalt God, not us.
But if we don’t have this hidden knowledge and are instead need to receive from God the power we need to carry out His mission, that reduces us from insider traders in life to queuing up at a soup kitchen; from those with expert knowledge on how to make money to those who rely on handouts.
It might be challenging for our egos to hear it stated in this drastic way, but the fact is that we need the gift Jesus has for us and we need Him to fulfil His promises because we do not have the resources to complete His mission without it.
We are entirely reliant on receiving it as a gift and an act of grace; we have done nothing to earn or deserve it.
Such a receipt humiliates our self and exalts God.
So we have seen, then, that it is not our mission to know the hidden date of Christ’s return. Any attempts to calculate or predict are a meaningless and futile distraction from our mission that will ultimately fail and bring shame to the Gospel. We ought to stop speculating about it immediately.
However, it is our mission to receive the fulfilment of Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit.
It is also our mission to bear witness.
Now, this word has three senses.
The first is ‘one who observes’ – someone who is there when a significant events occurs.
The second is ‘one why testifies’, such as in a legal case. It’s someone who sees and talks about what they see.
The third, which we often miss, is ‘one who dies for their cause’. This was absolutely true of the Apostles. Ten of them died a violent death. One of them died in exile. They each paid for what they believed.
Sometimes it is also true of modern Christians. There are still countries where people pay with their lives for being a Christian.
However, there is another way in which this is true:
Romans 6:11 NIV
[11] In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.6.11.NIV)
Our old, sinful way of life needs to die. Our new, God-pleasing way of life needs to rise.
This is truly what it means to be a witness of all that Jesus has done in our lives.
So it’s not our mission to know, but it is our mission to receive and bear witness. It’s also our mission to go:
Acts 1:8 NIV
[8] But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.1.8.NIV)
Think about these four locations to where they were commanded to go:
Jerusalem – where they were and had been told to stay, but where they had let Jesus down and where Jesus Himself had been crucified. It would not have been such a safe place to be.
Judea – where they spent a lot of time ministering and where Jesus was already well known.
Samaria – their sworn enemies: a syncretistic people who had distorted the Word of God, but also where Jesus openly declared Himself to be the Messiah.
The ends of the earth – Gentile places where people were less familiar, if at all, with Jewish teaching and with what Jesus had done by dying for them and rising from the dead.
This was an incredible global mission – one in which we participate both as recipients of the Gospel and those charged with passing it on.
But the Apostles weren’t sent out straight away. They may have been like revving cars at a stop light or they may have been thoroughly intimidated by their call, the Bible doesn’t tell us. What we do know is that they were told to wait until the power came to carry out this incredible mission.
And around eight days or so later, it came.
So after looking at the city, the gift and the mission, we finish by looking at The Outpouring.
The Outpouring
Acts 2:1-13 NIV
[1] When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. [2] Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. [3] They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. [4] All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. [5] Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. [6] When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. [7] Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? [8] Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? [9] Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, [10] Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome [11] (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” [12] Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” [13] Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.2.1-13.NIV)
These are very famous verses. There can be little doubt that the church had a quite spectacular birth.
Many people love this event, some more than Christmas or Easter (which is crazy). It should not be avoided or brushed over as if it was embarrassing. That should never be the case.
But neither should it be held up as the gold standard of human achievement. It’s very clear in Acts this was a spectacular and miraculous event, but it was a one-off, never-to-be-repeated event.
It was one of those ‘Where you when...?’ type of events. History was unfolding, and it would not unfolding like this again.
We need to examine it, but it’s worth examining it by checking to see how this event met the Holy Spirit’s purpose.
One of the most remarkable, and often missed, facts about this event is that it happened not in a pulpit or on a stage or in a stadium but behind closed doors. They were all together in a house. They were not outside. This was also a very supernatural event. There was nothing about this that could be attributed to human ability or achievement. Even as Peter explained the event during his famous Sermon (Acts 2:14-41), the focus was very much not on the disciples and very much on God.
This fulfilled the Holy Spirit’s main ministry: to glorify God, not people.
We also see this in what was communicated:
Acts 2:11 NIV
[11] we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.2.11.NIV)
It really was all about God and for His glory.
And look at those to whom the message was communicated:
Acts 2:7-11 NIV
[7] Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? [8] Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? [9] Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, [10] Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome [11] (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.2.7-11.NIV)
These were people from across the length and breadth of the known world. The Apostles were fulfilling the Acts 1:8 mandate without even leaving the city!
And the reason why? Because they had obeyed and waited in the city until God poured out His blessing during a major Jewish festival. The Festival of Ingathering became a festival with a harvest of souls for the Kingdom.
Now it all makes sense. They had been asked by God to remain in a risky situation for a reason: because the world was about to come to them. They would later go to the world. But Jesus meant for them to stay where they were so that people might be saved through them.
I experienced something similar in 1995. I had planned to be going to Romania, but the team leader’s wife had an ovarian tumour removed and the mission was called off at late notice – too late for me to find an alternative team heading to Romania. I was disappointed and frustrated.
That summer I served on a camp for poorer children from the Scottish city of Dundee. I shared my testimony. Two of them came to Christ that evening.
God has a purpose in our waiting. We don’t often appreciate it. We don’t often understand it. We often find ourselves in limbo or in risky situations, wondering what on earth God is doing.
But if our eyes are on Him and we humbly seek opportunities to serve, He can still use us to be a blessing.
Conclusion
Acts 1:4 NIV
[4] 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.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.1.4.NIV)
They say that ‘good things come to those who wait’. And it is true. Impatience often robs us of the richest of blessings.
I find it ironic that there are many people who will happily line up for hours to go to a sporting event or to see a movie or even to wait on a store opening.
But ask them to wait on Almighty God and they just can’t do it.
Isn’t that just so true?
When we have a small blessing in our hands but we have to wait for a bigger one, psychologists call it ‘delayed gratification’. In experiments with children, they’ve shown they children who are able to be patient through delayed gratification are those who quite simply do better in life, are generally wiser, better educated and higher earners, because they are willing to work hard for something better.
What Jesus asked the disciples to do here was not easy. Not at all. The atmosphere in that upper room, hidden away from the Jewish leaders, as pilgrims arrived in their droves, must have been quite something. They must have wondered what Jesus had in mind.
But the outcome on Pentecost was far better than they could ever have hoped for.
These were people who were willing to obey and wait in a risky city, who were willing to receive a gift from God as it was something they lacked, who had received a calling from God but waited for the power to obey it.
Waiting is often part of God’s plan for us. Often that wait is difficult. Sometimes it can be risky, and very stressful.
But if we are patient and trust in God, the outcome will be beyond our wildest dreams.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I’m sorry for the times when my impatience has impeded Your plans. I see in these verses that if I take the risk of obeying You and waiting on Your blessing and power, You can use me more than I could expect or imagine. I trust on You, Lord God. Show me what You can do through me. Amen.
Questions
What was so difficult about waiting for those eight days in Jerusalem?
The Apostles had the calling, but not the power? Why did they need the power? What did the Holy Spirit do through them?
What did we learn about the Holy Spirit in these verses?
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