The Day After Pentecost

By Ps Alby Yip

Our church family Zion Bishan welcomed 33 new members two weeks ago on Pentecost Sunday. It was a day of rejoicing for the church family and also for the catechumens and their families too. There are many reasons for joy whenever we witness people confessing their faith in Christ and desiring to be baptized.

The quintessence of these reasons for joy, on the day of Pentecost as described in Acts 2, is that we are celebrating the new beginning of those who confessed their faith in Christ and desired to be baptized. It was a public proclamation of the inward work of the Holy Spirit who brought about a changed “language”, a changed heart and a changed life.

But beyond this personal dimension of change is actually a bigger picture, God’s bigger plan of redemption and restoration of His Creation. We read in Genesis 11 the account of the Tower of Babel. United by one language, the people built a great tower hoping to reach the heavens. They wanted to be like God. They wanted to make their names known.

I don’t believe that God was threatened by their vain endeavour nor their human unity. As we all know, this modern day is where humankind is united by one language, English. But look at the wars, animosity and fragmentation. Humankind is still as dispersed as were the people of Babel.

We need a unity beyond human language. We need a divine language. We need a language that unites rather than divides. God through Pentecost, the outpouring of His Spirit poured out that One language that unites the hearts of the people despite their linguistic and geographical differences.

They, WE, are united by the One Gospel Message regardless of nationalities and ethnicities. Pentecost was the great reversal of the curse and condemnation of the Tower of Babel. Since the Fall of humankind in Genesis 3, man has been desiring to build human empires, make a name and be like God. 

But through Pentecost, God enabled and empowered His people to possess a new language, the language of the Gospel that unites and reconciles people to people, and more importantly, man and God. A new heart, a heart that truly longs for the things of God. A new life, a life that lives not just for one’s own well-being and survival but a life that builds other lives and builds the Kingdom of God.