Journey Through Actsنموونە

Gospel & Restoration: In the Text

The Good News carried by the Early Church had a common message for both Jews and Gentiles: God had provided a way to restore all people to himself. Restoration was so profoundly universalized that it was actually controversial among most Jews.

A Gospel of Restoration

The Gospel is ultimately a message of restoration. This is the last stage in the cycle we have watched in earlier chunks of redemptive history: Relationship > Rebellion > Reckoning > Restoration.

Now it is clear that this is the storyline of the Bible as a whole. The ministry of restoration that Jesus began, and the apostles continue, is an expression of God’s “re-” purposes (restore, renew, rebuild, redeem, recreate, etc.) that move history to its climax. And that climax is for a representative remnant of the Jews and the Gentile nations.

Pentecost and Babel

See the table below for some comparisons and contrasts between Babel and Pentecost.

| Babel | Pentecost |

|:----------------------------------:|:-------------------------------:|

| From the one, many | From the many, one |

| Done in the power of men | Done in the Spirit of God |

| Men trying to reach toward heaven | Heaven reaching toward humanity |

| Speaking in many languages | Hearing in many languages |

| Confusion | Understanding |

| Scattered | United |

The Holy Spirit

This gathering of “exiles” from among all people is a return to the world before Babel, when God—and people—were united and could speak to each other and be fully understood. The harmony we see in Pentecost is impossible through the human spirit of ambition, but it’s possible through the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.

God uses the gift of languages to make communication of the Gospel clear to diverse groups who would otherwise have little in common. Paul will reference the role of the Holy Spirit in unifying all of God’s people (Jew and Gentile) in his letter to the Ephesians:

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:3 (NIV)