The crowd around the cross would meet again. Pilate, Herod, Annas, and Caiaphas thought it was all over when they buried Jesus, but how wrong they were! The priests had taken all precautions. Soldiers guarding the tomb were paid off. Followers of Jesus were disbanded and worshipers threatened. Christ, Who had risen from the dead, was missing; some said He had ascended.
Fifty days after the crucifixion and ten days after the alleged ascension, the city of Jerusalem was astounded by the most dramatic event in its history. Thousands thronged near a tiny upper-story room where 120 believers had been secretly praying and waiting. From that meeting, a missionary effort would arise that would reach the entire world. A spiritual explosion occurred which the priests and officials could never contain. God's Holy Spirit had filled these believers, and they would charge through the world with the glorious news.
Because they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they spoke boldly about Christ; people recognized they had been with Jesus; and they could not keep silent even though threatened, beaten, and jailed. Even during persecution, they prayed for power rather than deliverance. The entire world would be shaken by these believers. Today, before Christ returns, we can move our world as those men did theirs.
Jesus--the same yesterday, today, and forever--can fill us so full of the Holy Spirit that we too can speak boldly, show by our countenance we have been with Christ, and be so overjoyed with the Lord that we cannot help but tell what we have seen and heard.
“He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone.”
Acts 4:11 NASB
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