March 15

Read: Acts 2:1-4

Suddenly there came a sound from heaven… And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:2-4).

God Comes In A Crisis Experience

Not only is entire sanctification received after we are converted, but the Holy Spirit comes to us in a moment of time. This was the way it happened on the Day of Pentecost. No language could be clearer than our text: “Suddenly there came a sound from heaven… And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.”

A crisis is a decisive moment, a turning point. Certainly this is accurate language to describe the baptism with the Holy Spirit. God requires us to make preparation, but this is to get us ready for the moment of experience. Jesus directed the disciples to make their preparation: “Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). He also promised them a decisive moment of realization: “Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence” (Acts 1:5).

This pattern also prevailed later in the New Testament Church. In the house of Cornelius there was sincere preparation. A man had fasted and prayed; he had received instructions from God; he had done what God told him to do. He gathered his household and said to Peter, “Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.”

Certainly these preparations pointed to a decisive moment — and that moment arrived. The Holy Spirit came suddenly to these sincere seekers even before the altar call was made! “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word” (Acts 10:44).

The blessing by faith I receive from above. Oh, glory! My soul is made perfect in love; My prayer has prevailed; and this moment I know The Blood is applied, I am whiter than snow.

— John Nicholson