Expecting

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

EXPECTING

Acts 20:13-16

13 We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot. 14 When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene. 15 The next day we set sail from there and arrived off Kios. The day after that we crossed over to Samos, and on the following day arrived at Miletus. 16 Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.

NIV

What do we do with this travel log of cities except the one comment about Paul’s chose to forego Asia in order to get to Jerusalem by the day of Pentecost? Of course there is a great significance about this day beyond the Jewish celebration of the feast of weeks, which it has been called. This day is the fiftieth day after Passover that God established as the day to bring grain offering, or first fruits of the harvest. The Greek word means fiftieth day. But it is unlikely Paul was wanting to make a grain offering, but rather wanting to take advantage of the large number of people from many regions who would be at Jerusalem for the feast. He was also well aware of the outpouring of the Spirit that one particular day of Pentecost and most likely was hoping to be able to preach the Gospel to many and most of all see a repeat of the outpouring of the Spirit. What a glorious event that would be if God decided to use that day of Pentecost as a day of outpouring of his Spirit. We do know, which we will see later, that Paul does not know what will happen to him there, but that he is compelled to preach the Gospel. We might learn, but that is sort of based on assuming he was hoping to see a repeat of the Spirit outpouring on the people, that man does look for rituals from what God does. Of course God did establish certain rituals for the people, such as Passover and the Day of Pentecost. There is something to be said about having a routine to follow. A sense of order is needed otherwise men left to his own might flounder aimlessly or create rituals of their own which have little meaning to God. So perhaps it is good to expect God to do in the present what he has done in the past. Perhaps it is a good thing that Paul expected the day of Pentecost to be a special event in the new church, as it was for the Jews. Have  we left that day behind in the post-modern church? Have we forgot to look for or expect the outpouring of the Spirit? Are we expecting to see the evidence of his outpouring? It surely seems Paul was anxious to see what was going to happen, are we? It would be a good thing if we were expecting the Spirit to pour out whenever we gather together.