I read a story about a man in Spain who was found dead inside a papier-mâché dinosaur. It appears that he had dropped his cell phone inside the decorative statue and tried to crawl in to retrieve it. He fell in, head first, and was trapped. And since no one knew where he was, and the phone was on the bottom of the leg, he could not alert anyone. That seems to be another argument for cell phone lanyards. I would surely lose or misplace mine a lot less. (Inventors alert!)
Just a thought. That was a very expensive cell phone. He gave his life for it. I wonder how often we trade something very valuable for a bauble of relatively trivial worth. I wonder what the Bible says about that.
The first thing that comes to mind is Esau, trading his birthright for a bowl of red bean stew. (Genesis 25) The firstborn got a double portion of the father’s wealth, so in the case of Jacob and Esau, that would have been two-thirds of the estate. Even if they merely traded inheritances, Jacob doubled his holdings. And if the deal was for the share, Jacob became the owner of the whole kit and caboodle. However you slice it (pun intended), Esau made a bad deal. But probably not as bad as what this man in Spain did.
Moses, on the other hand, traded the riches of Egypt for the “reproach of Christ.” (Hebrews 11:23-26) That was a very good trade. No one even knows who the Pharaoh of Egypt was who adopted Moses. Nor is anyone sure who replaced Moses in the hierarchy of Egyptian government. Good trade.
Second, and completely different thought:
Colin Smith was preaching on the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. He had a different view that was very interesting and instructive. The Holy Spirit came with the sound of a rushing wind. Dr. Smith surmised that the entire city of Jerusalem heard it and that is what impelled them to go out into the streets, trying to discover what it was. “What is going on?”
And when they encountered the 120 from the upper room, the crowds heard the message of the Gospel in their own languages. The result was that over 3000 believed that first day.
In order to understand the Bible, it is best to look to the rest of Scripture to interpret it. So we ask, “When did anything like this occur before?’ And the answer was in Genesis 11. Man was in the process of building a tower to himself and to his own accomplishments. We will not explore the theological ramifications of that, other than to comment that they were doing it in the attempt to supplant God as the key figure in the world. (Or as God.)
Did you ever wonder why Genesis 11 proceeded as it did? What if God had merely sent a whirlwind or an earthquake and destroyed their temple to man? I imagine that they would have merely recalculated their plans to deal with such catastrophes and rebuilt. Obviously a “verbal warning” would not have deterred them. They were planning to replace God anyway. Who cares what He says or wants?
The solution was ingenious. Or rather, it was supernaturally inspired. (Pun intended.) One morning, the builders woke up and were not able to understand each other. The architects could not give the foremen their instructions. And, even if the foremen understood, they could not communicate the directions to the laborers. Add to that, the problems with materials procurement and delivery, and even the simplest tasks such as preparing and delivering lunch and water to the worksite.
In frustration, different groups banded together, based on a similar language, and then they migrated away from the “pagans” who could not understand them. The work was terminated and a barrier to ever initiating it again was erected. Who could have conceived such a novel, effective, and permanent solution? God could.
So when we come to Acts 2, the nations of the world, were figuratively assembled in Jerusalem for the Pentecost celebration. Except that they could not understand each other. Citizens from nearly every nation came together for this religious ceremony. At least, those who were descendants of Abraham and Jacob assembled. They had been dispersed over the years by deportation by conquering armies. Assyria and Babylon come to mind immediately. Then, in the intervening years Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome had invaded the Holy Land and further dispersed the children of Israel.
So, in AD 33 (probably), the habit of returning to Jerusalem at least once a year was repeated. Only this time, a supernatural intervention accompanied their memorial. They heard the Wonderful News that the Messiah had come and had died for them. And they heard it in their own languages. No cumbersome or bulky, let alone error-plagued, interpreters were needed. The Holy Spirit took over from Peter and the other preachers’ sermons and communicated the message in their own languages.
And the result of this “reverse Babel” incident was to, again, spread to the entire world. Only this time, the message was not one of separation, but of unity. The body of Christ was unified in the message that He had come; He had died; and He had risen again. He was the Messiah. And the final part, was that He was coming back to gather all of His people together to Himself. Glory!
And the active Agent in this anti-Babel action was again the Holy Spirit. He had confused the languages in Genesis 11. In Acts 2, He clarified the languages and gave understanding to the entire world. God the Father had a role. God the Son had a role. And God the Holy Spirit had a role. And since they are One, the Message and role were unified. Even now, we look to the Holy Spirit to fill us and enable us to do the work that the Lord Jesus gave us to do.
The best news of all is that we do not have to beg for the Holy Spirit to be given to us. He is in us when we believe. We have the Spirit. Our “complicating factor” is our response to Him. Do we yield to His control and let Him work through us? We have the fruit that He gives (Galatians 5:22-23) and that will enable us to do what pleases Him. The catch is that we have to yield to Him. We have to give up control of our lives and seek Him and allow Him to control us.
But our focus is not on “getting the Holy Spirit.” It is on pleasing God. C. H. Spurgeon is said to remark that if you keep your eyes on Jesus, the Dove, the Holy Spirit will come to you. (Matthew 3:16 Isn’t it interesting that this is another 3:16 verse?) Conversely, if you keep your eyes on the dove, it will fly away. Our focus must be on Jesus and the Holy Spirit will take and remain in His rightful place. He will then do His work through us. Trying to attain the Holy Spirit will interrupt our focus on, and communion with, the Lord. Keep your eyes upon Jesus.
