Acts 19:1a
And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed
through the upper regions, came to Ephesus.
It’s around 54 AD
We’re watching as The Holy Spirit has Paul and Apollos
tag teaming the towns with a special emphasis on Ephesus.
In Acts 18, Paul was in Corinth and then sailed 314
miles with Aquila and Priscilla, to Ephesus.
Paul invested more time in Ephesus than anywhere
else—two to three years.
Priscilla and Aquila stayed in Ephesus, ever since
Paul’s first visit.
Ephesus, on the Aegean Sea was a major seaport, a
gateway to Asia; and had over a quarter million people.
Today it’s in ruins, an archaeological dig site and a
small Turkish village called, Selçuk.
There were about fourteen temples and worship to about
that many mythical gods; including emperor worship to, Julius, Augustus and
Domitian.
It was mostly known for the temple of Diana (Greeks
referred to her as Artemis).
That temple was one of the seven wonders of the
ancient world.
Discovered December 31, 1869, by British archaeologist
John T. Wood. The T stands for Turtle, and like a turtle they dug 20’ under the
sand before they discovered the temple.
It was bigger than a football field, 425 feet long,
220 feet wide and had 127 pillars, 60’ high.
The temple employed around, 1,000 male and female prostitutes.
To most people, Artemis was goddess of the moon and the
hunt.
However, the Ephesians customized her a bit to fit
their lust and greed and called her the goddess of sex and fertility. They depicted
her with multiple eggs, or breasts, symbolic of fertility.
The worship looked more like gluttonous, drunken,
orgies. Once a year, in the spring, (reportedly Diana’s birthday), Ephesus was
Mardi Gras on steroids…spiked with Viagra.
That environment is
where Jesus had the apostle John send the first of the seven letters to the
Churches. Revelation 2:1-7.
Reportedly, sometime after the apostle Paul’s death (64-65
AD), the apostle John ministered in Ephesus until emperor Domitian banished him
to the island of Patmos, where by Divine revelation, he wrote the book of
Revelation.
Patmos is a little island about 65 miles southwest of
Ephesus.
Today the Ephesian temples of Julius, Augustus,
Domitian and Diana, have crumbled; are all but forgotten. The town of Ephesus is
no more.
But, a couple letters written
to the Church in Ephesus; one by an old man named Paul, on death row in a Roman
prison; the other from an older man named John, on a prison island called
Patmos; those letters, against all odds, have stood the test of time, have
changed the hearts and minds of multitudes. The word of the Lord grew
mightily and prevailed (Acts 19:20).
All the world’s kingdoms crumble, but the
Word of the Lord, and the Kingdom of God, endures forever.
And finding some disciples 2 he
said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether
there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 And he said
to them, “Into what then were you baptized?”
So they said, “Into John’s baptism.”
4 Then Paul
said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance,
saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come
after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”
5 When they
heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And
when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon
them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.
7 Now the men were about twelve in all.
Interesting question. Did you receive the Holy
Spirit when you believed?
The question only makes sense if asked to Christians. A
non-Christian would just give you that deer in the headlights look.
The Bible reveals these men are Christians, by calling
them disciples and believers.
Paul wasn’t asking a trick question, and he wasn’t questioning
their salvation; he acknowledged that they believed.
Yet, he saw something in them, or not in them,
that caused him to ask the disciples, if they received the Holy Spirit
when they believed.
Good question.
You might say. Well, yes, of course, I received the Holy
Spirit the moment I asked Jesus into my heart. The moment I was born again, I
received Christ as Lord and Savior and He resides in me.
Well, yes, God the Father, God the Son and God the
Holy Spirit are One. So, when you receive Jesus, you receive all three, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit.
Perhaps the first official recorded example of this is
John 20:22. Jesus appeared to His disciples after His
Resurrection. He breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit.
Did you know, the Greek word for spirit and breath
is the same word, pneuma.
And, the Hebrew word for spirit and breath is
the same word, ruach.
Jesus, God the Son, breathed on them, akin to
when He did something similar about 4,000 years earlier, when He breathed the
breath of life into the pile of dirt, He called, Adam. Genesis 2:7.
(Interestingly, Adam
comes from Adamah, meaning ground, earth, dirt. So, men, our name really is,
dirt. Additionally, did you know that science has discovered that our bodies
are made up of the same 27 chemical elements of earth? All honest science eventually
catches up with the Bible.)
At that moment, when Jesus breathed on His disciples,
mankind came back to life after 4,000 years of death by separation because we walked
away, willingly seduced by the forbidden fruit.
Now with that breath, after His death, burial and
resurrection, we were made alive again, born again.
The penalty for our sins had been laid on
Him, paid in full by Jesus our Resurrected Lord.
Jesus fulfilled His promise of John 14:17-18.
I will send the Spirit of truth, whom the
world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know
Him, for He dwells with you and will
be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will
come to you.
After that, Jesus would no longer dwell with
them, (in His earthly flesh and blood body) but in them, by His
Holy Spirit.
So, from that moment, when Jesus breathed on them and
said, “Received ye the Holy Spirit” His Presence, His Holy Spirit, dwelt in
them.
Like He dwells in you, if you’re born
again.
Jesus was
smiling. God was smiling. The Holy Spirit was smiling. The angels were rejoicing.
Luke 15:10.
The Lord had been waiting for that moment since Adam
and Eve kicked Him out by letting sin in.
Now, the debt has been paid, the divorce decree torn asunder,
as the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
Now, finally God could dwell with and in, mankind once
again.
But...
As awesome as that is, according to Jesus,
according to the Bible, there’s more.
More? How could there be more?
Well, since the Church is called the Bride of
Christ, think of it like this:
All that we just described was like the part in the
wedding where the preacher says, “You may now kiss the bride.”
Now you’re married. Congrats!
Now, you’re the Bride of Christ. Saved. Born again.
Hallelujah! Angels rejoice.
As awesome as that is... there’s more.
According to Jesus.
According to the Bible.
According to our wedding analogy.
After you kiss the bride, what comes next?
Cake? Dance? Party? Yes, yes, yes, but something more,
much more than that...
Consummation.
Jesus put it like this:
He commanded them not to depart from
Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you
have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized
with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy
Spirit not many days from now.” Acts 1:4-5.
Wait, appropriate Word
regarding marriage consummation. Wait.
He concludes by saying: But you
shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon
you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8.
The Holy Spirit will come
upon you and fill you with His dunamis (dynamite) Life giving Power, to be His witnesses
(martyrs), to plant His Seed, and be fruitful and multiply, birthing believing
disciples to the utter most parts of the earth.
That’s what Paul was
asking the dozen disciples about.
Have you received the
Holy Spirit?
Have you been filled with
His dynamite Power?
Ephesians 5:18 says, don’t
be drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit.
The implication in the
original text is to be being filled.
Keep being filled with
the Holy Spirit.
You may have one wedding
day, one salvation day, but keep being filled, keep getting filled repeatedly.
We need to do this, because,
we leak.
Have
you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?
Okay, now please notice our
text actually mentioned three baptisms.
1. John’s baptism of repentance.
2. Jesus’ baptism of salvation.
3. Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
John’s baptism of
repentance.
Long before Jesus came in
the flesh, the Jews practiced baptism according to ritual purity laws as an act
of purification and the initiation of converts to Judaism.
The Levite priests
performed ritual purification by immersion in a mikvah (pool of water) before
and after religious duties. Leviticus 16:4.
John the Baptist took that
ritual and applied it to those who saw the need for spiritual cleansing in
preparation for the Messiah.
John’s baptism was
pre-salvation in anticipation of the coming Messiah.
The voice of one
crying in the wilderness, Repent, make straight the way of
the Lord. Isaiah 40:3, Matthew 3:3, Mark
1:3, Luke 3:4, John 1:23.
John pointed at Jesus as
said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! John
1:29.
CURRENT EVENT OBJECT
LESSON:
Just as I finished
writing this Bible Study, about 10:30 the night before it was to be given. I
glanced at Telegram to see if there was any breaking news I needed to know
about. There were hundreds of posts on the few channels I follow. I was too
sleepy to even begin. So, I scrolled to the very last post by Amir Tsarfati,
and lo and behold, it was several pictures of exactly what we’re talking about.
A newly uncovered ritual bath (mikvah). It was found near the temple in Jerusalem
and dates back to the 2nd temple times of Christ, and is attributed
to ritual purity laws.
Cool huh?
Thank You Holy Spirit for Your, Divinely timed, always amazing, object lessons; confirming to us, time and again, that You are our Teacher.
You can view the post and
additional photos here: https://t.me/beholdisraelchannel/47787
Jesus’ baptism of salvation.
This was what Paul
did with the dozen believing disciples in our text, Acts 19:6.
This is still practiced today.
They were water baptized
by immersion, post salvation, as an outward sign of an inward commitment.
Jesus is ever our
example. He did not need to be saved, yet He was baptized.
Matthew
3:13-17
Then Jesus came
from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And
John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You
coming to me?”
15 But
Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting
for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.
16 When
He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the
heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove
and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven,
saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Baptism of the
Holy Spirit.
This is what Paul asked
the dozen believing disciples about.
The Holy Spirit is
mentioned 56 times in the Book of Acts.
He is the third member of
the Godhead. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, He should
never be referred to as, “it”.
He should never be
shunned.
He should never be
mocked.
We discussed the Holy
Spirit at length earlier in Acts, so for more information read or watch our
message: With
Other Tongues, Acts 2:4-13
According to Jesus His
Holy Spirit is our, Helper, Teacher, Guide, and Spirit of
Truth; He abides with us, reminds us, testifies through
us, and tells us of things to come. John
14:15-16, 15:26, 16:13.
Being filled with His
Holy Spirit produces His fruit which is: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Galatians
5:22-23.
The Holy Spirit gives gifts
of: Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith, Healings, Miracles, Prophecy, Discernment, Tongues,
Interpretation. 1
Corinthians 12:4, 8-11, 28.
Those are the characters of
folks filled with the Holy Spirit.
Did you receive
the Holy Spirit when you believed?
Paul is not asking about
salvation, he’s asking about consummation, about being filled with, His Holy
Spirit, His Presence, His Peace, His never-ending, all consuming, Power and Love
that never fails.
Have you received
the Holy Spirit?
Jesus puts it like
this in Luke 11:9-13:
“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek,
and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10
For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks
it will be opened. 11 If a son asks for bread from any
father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish,
will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if
he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If
you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
those who ask Him!” Luke 11:9-13.
Let’s pray.
Holy Powerful
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word right now, rightly divided to us. A
diamond in the rough. A Light in the dark. Alive and powerful, piercing and
dividing our flesh from Spirit; discerning the thoughts and intents of our
heart. We lay bare before You, to receive You, and yield to You, asking only
Your will be done in us and through us, on earth as it is, in heaven.
We love You,
forever.
Amen.
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This was feed for you to
read. Now it’s Seed for you to sow.
Thank you for sharing.
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