I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 16:19

The Keys of the Kingdom

This power is not simply our faith in power. It is not a matter of going through a routine and believing that the power of God is at work, invisibly. His power should be seen and be manifested. There should be effects, both physical and personal, that can be attributed to the power of God. People’s lives should be affected in some tangible way. The Holy Spirit is not a theory or a statement about what goes on – unknown to us – in some distant world; nor is it a soft-breathing influence. His power is power made manifest.

Let’s face it. Christianity is either supernatural or nothing at all.

There are two forms of power. The one most Christians speak of is dunamis. We can identify with that word because we use it so much in English: dynamo, dynamite, dynamics. But actually, those words express power under wraps. Dynamite is simply a grey substance which you can carry in your briefcase. Be careful though! It is a power pack. It is latent power that is stored up.

Paul uses another word called energema, like our word “energy”. When the power of dynamite is released, it becomes energy. Energy is power let loose. In 1 Corinthians 12:6, the same word is translated “operations” (KJV) which refers to power in operation. The “working of miracles” in 1 Corinthians 12:10 is a combination of both words – “power operating in energy.”

Let’s face it. Christianity is either supernatural or nothing at all. In New Testament times, we had a supernatural Jesus with a supernatural ministry – and nothing about him or his ministry has changed! That creates a supernatural church, with a supernatural gospel and a supernatural Bible. Take the miraculous away and you have taken Christianity’s life away. The church becomes an ethical society or a social club, when it is intended to be the grid system for transmitting the power of God into this powerless world.

The Book of Acts tells of the days of small things, which paved the way for the acts of today.

The Christian age is the age of power. In the Old Testament, we read of the God of wonders performing marvels under Moses, Elijah and Elisha. Not much more stands out in the 39 books of the Old Testament, except as Holy Spirit power occasionally fell on a few individuals and the prophets. Then Jesus gave Peter the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 16:19). Those keys are not jangling from Peter’s belt at the Pearly Gates. The keys are the gospel of Christ crucified and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit opened the Kingdom and the same keys are available to us today.

Peter saw what no one on earth had ever seen before. Three thousand people, in one day, turning in repentance and being born again by the Holy Spirit. Then the apostles went out and put the power of those keys to the test. The dead were raised; the deaf, blind and crippled were restored to full health. Multitudes turned to Christ and a new thing arose in the world, the church of Jesus Christ.

Pentecost is God at work.

Pentecost is the giving of the Holy Spirit to the world, in manifest form. It is God at work in the physical and material world. We know of only one form of the Spirit and that is in manifestation. There is no “resting” Spirit and no Spirit in quiescence. The essence of Pentecost is the moving of the Spirit; the “Mighty Wind” from heaven and the “Flaming Tongues of Fire”. There is no Spirit without movement, any more than there is a wind without movement. A wind that does not blow is not a wind at all. Wind is never quiet, nor just an atmosphere. The Holy Spirit is a gale-force wind. Nobody can stand still in a force eight gale and talk politely about the atmosphere! Where the Spirit is there is action, the miraculous, and God in operation.

Any talk of miracles as belonging to the past denies the very purpose and nature of the gospel, as well as the character of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is sent to work in this world. Deny the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit and you deny what Christianity is supposed to be. God’s power is in action, in the present age, of living men and women. That makes this age the Christian age. Perhaps we ought to call this the Holy Spirit age or the Pentecostal age.

Sometimes people have suggested that the Acts of the Apostles ought to be re-named the Acts of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps. The book describes the Acts of the Apostles, as its title indicates, but it certainly does not give an exhaustive account of all the acts of the Holy Spirit. He did not cease to operate at the end of Chapter 28. The Day of Pentecost is already 2,000 years long. The Acts of the Apostles carries on uninterrupted to the acts of the early church and then to the acts of God’s people today. The Book of Acts tells of the day of small things, which paved the way for the acts of today. It is a book that is still being written!