Throughout the Old Testament there is this sense of distance between the ordinary person and God. There were particular people like Moses and David who experienced God’s presence more intimately, but the wider community would have felt a great gulf between them and God. This was confirmed to the Israelites in the imagery of the tabernacle. The great pillar of fire, representing the presence of God (cf. the burning bush in Exodus 3), rested over the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle but only the high priest was allowed to enter that place, and only after lots of preparation once a year for just a few moments. It was otherwise strictly out of bounds. It is important to read Acts 2 against this background because here something momentous happens. The same pillar of fire now appears. But this time it separates and rests on the head of each of those gathered. What did this mean? Six hundred years earlier Ezekiel had seen a vision of the presence of God leaving the temple because it had been defiled by the sins of God’s people. Ever since that time the Jews had been waiting for God to forgive them and return to his temple. This is what is happening here. But the temple was not that of wood and stone. The new temple would be the hearts of God’s own people. Jesus’ death had enabled a cleansing from sin and, here in Acts 2, we see God returning to his temple. You are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Act accordingly.
Ask God to fill you anew with his Holy Spirit and wait in silence before him for a while.
Read Acts 2:1-3
