God's Gift and Greatest Tool

Acts 1: 6-8
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Exodus 12: 35-36
The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

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John the Baptizer recognized that Jesus was “the Lamb of God” who takes away the sin of the world. This was a reference to the Exodus where God’s final plague against the Egyptians was the death of all the firstborn in the land, but for all the people of Israel who sacrificed a male lamb (one year old, without blemish) and smeared it’s blood above their doors, God passed over that household and the Feast of Passover was instituted.

The tenth plague and the Passover was a crucial point in Israel’s history, but it was also an extremely significant moment in world history. God had declared that day to a broken creation, fallen in sin and unable to reconcile itself back to him, that he promise of restoration had just taken a huge leap forward: he was graciously forming a people who would be his royal ambassadors on earth.

When it says that the Israelites plundered the Egyptians, it wasn’t just for plundering’s sake. God later commanded them to use most of these valuables in constructing holy items, such as the Tabernacle, ornaments for priests, lamp stands, etc. After Israel was freed from the bondage of Egypt, they were given tools and authority to carry out their unique role in the earth.

But the Passover also pointed toward the day when God would send his own Son to be the sacrificial lamb for all people on the earth. Just as it was important that God provide Israel with material needs to survive a journey to the promised land, and tools to carry out their responsibility as God’s people, Jesus likewise promised his apostles that they would receive something that would empower them to carry out their roles as his followers. This was the promise of the Holy Spirit.

Once Israel was in the wilderness they weren’t just freed from the empire of Egypt, they were then free to serve God and take up a divine calling, one that was unique to them out of all the people of the world. It would require them to set themselves apart from all other nations, for the sake of displaying God’s glory and goodness to the rest of the world. Likewise, once we come to faith in Jesus, we go on our own process of embracing a new responsibility, a new lifestyle. This is the life of following Christ. It’s being equipped and empowered by the Holy Spirit to be the unique people of God.

Today, this is a helpful reminder that each day I live, it’s not just a routine, day-in-day-out, “normal” kind of day. Each day is filled with the question, “How will I represent Jesus Christ today in all I think, say, and do?” I don’t have to worry much about the particulars, for God has given the tools and equipment - the Holy Spirit.