05/25/2026
There’s a big difference, you know, between that, which is Symbolic, and those who are Vessels.
With the sound of a rushing wind, an apparition of tongues resting on each, and the gift of the ability to speak in other languages, we find ourselves asking, along with the crowd of witnesses, “Just what does this all mean?”
When Peter addresses those who live in Jerusalem, who are immigrants and yet inhabitants, he addresses folks, like you are I, who’re just utterly amazed. -amazed not as much with a sense of joy a child might have in seeing a magic show, but more with a sense of adults being overwhelmed by signs and portents they behold before them.
Remember when God began creating the earth, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and the Lord God had not yet caused it to rain?
Wasn’t it, at such a moment like this, when a stream was said to rise from the earth? ..when water would cover the whole face of the ground when the Lord God formed humanity?
Wasn’t it, at such a moment like this, when God was said to breathe into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life? …when Adam became one, like us, as a sentient living being?
Moments like this, are not just symbolic, they’re substantive. Symbols point to something above and beyond themselves. Vessels, on the other hand, point to things and truths that can hold water. They embody the truth about who we are, and what we are to be about doing.
God’s call to Adam and Eve was to fill the earth and care for it. God’s intentions for creation were to be a blessing where abundant life could be realized. He created us, male and female, in His image so that we’d be faithful stewards of these blessings.
“So, what does it mean, then, at a moment like this, at the Jewish festival of Pentecost, when folks of Jerusalem would gather to celebrate the first fruits of harvest and the giving of the Mosaic Law?
Moments like this, are not just symbolic, they’re substantive. They challenge us to grapple not only with understanding what’s happening. We’re challenged, as well, in discerning how and why it’s all happening. Why, at a moment like this, with signs and sounds of a blowing wind, tongues alight on fire, are folks inspired to speak about such wonders of God?
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth. He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle; he put the deeps in storehouses.
The question of what does it mean appears again and again. It’s a question that constantly arises in Luther’s Catechism. What does it mean for us to live inspired by God’s Spirit? To fill the earth and care for it so that God’s intentions for creation to be blessed with abundant life could be realized?
In order to understand what’s happening, we need to see what’s not happening.
Remember when the tower of Babel to heaven was built, when folks said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we shall be scattered abroad on the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4)
This definitely is not happening. It’s just the opposite. God never intended that we stake a camp in one corner of creation and build walls and towers around it. Those who do so brazenly attempt to stake their claim in heaven. But God confounds their tongues and scatters them abroad to foil their evil designs.
Only later, in Isaiah , the 5th Chapter, do we hear further of the fallout from building such Buildings of Bable:
Woe to THOSE who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is room for no one but you, and you are left to live alone in the midst of the land!
…who do not regard the deeds of the Lord, or see the work of his hands!
…who drag iniquity along with cords of falsehood, who drag sin along as with cart ropes, 19who say, “Let him make haste, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the plan of the Holy One of Israel hasten to fulfillment, that we may know it!”
…who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of their rights!
…who have rejected the instruction of the Lord of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel
Don’t we know how God’s power differs greatly from human power? It’s doesn’t just use Symbols to do some magic tricks; God’s power is rooted in the very Vessels of Divine Promise.
Unlike human power, Divine power never has been a matter of Country First, when those in power are expected to show off examples of power; Divine Power is based on principle of God First, when those with agency lead by the power of example.
Spirit Power’s not about taking short cuts; it’s not about circling around or going around what’s legal or moral; it’s not about jumping over or trampling over one another in a race to the top of any center of power, where folks even jump to conclusions about others’ experiences, assuming that only they have all the right answers.
Spirit Power’s about bringing the blessing “to the ends of the earth”—signaling both an end to the curse of Babel and the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham. It’s about the witness the Spirit activates is to the very arrival of the Kingdom of God among them and not just for Israel, but for all of humanity,
…where sons and daughters shall prophesy, young men see visions, and old men dream dreams, where “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21). The promise of repentance, forgiveness and a life empowered by the Holy Spirit is “for you, for your children, and for all who are far away” (Acts 2:39).
The sound of rushing wind and the tongues “as of fire” not only signal but embody the divine presence connected with the renewal of God’s covenants with us. The pouring out of God’s Spirit solidifies and seals the promise of an eschatological hope, where our destination toward destruction, is turned around and drawn back on course of the one Who Creates us, Redeems us, and Rejuvenates us.
The Lord of hosts is exalted by justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy by righteousness.
True prophecy is about truth telling. It’s the interpretation and ability to name the ways and places where God’s salvation is realized, and where God’s presence is found, and where His influence can be more fully realized. It empowers and equips ordinary people, like you and I, to notice the signs of the times, and locate them in the wider story of God’s purposes.
Let us continue, then, building up the body of Christ, and seek out where the Holy Spirit is still at work, even in the most unexpected of places. Let’s be mindful, in the meantime, about the difference, between that, which is Symbolic, and those who are Genuine Vessels of Blessings of the Grace and Mercy of Our Lord.
