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June 2 Daily Devotional

The Spirit upon All Flesh

Frans Bakker

I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh. —Acts 2:17

Bible Reading

Acts 2:16–21

Devotional

Oh, the miracle of Pentecost! The pleading ground for a carnal man sold to sin lies only in Christ. When the Spirit descends on man’s flesh, be it in His cleansing or His comforting work, it is never because of any good thing in our flesh. It is only because the Son first descended into that flesh.

This Spirit descended on all flesh. Even though the flesh is ungodly and depraved, the Spirit is still willing to associate with it. Even though the flesh is filled with prideful opposition, the Spirit is powerful enough to remove it. The Spirit works impartially and irresistibly.

Do you know something of this work of the Holy Spirit? We are able to know this; we must know this for when the Spirit descends on flesh something happens to man. The flesh is subdued. Then man has to give up his resistance against God. He must die to everything belonging to him. He has to die to his own pride, his vanity, his own opinion, his own honor, his own desires, his own thoughts, and all that which cannot please God. The Spirit convinces man of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He who is a stranger to these things is a stranger to the life of the Spirit.

We also must take note of the fact that the Spirit descended on flesh and not in the flesh. This means that flesh itself is not changed. What is born of flesh remains flesh. The renewed man must carry his ruined and carnal existence with him his entire life. It is his reminder of the grace of God in his life. He can see how far God has brought him from his depraved condition, for it indeed still exists and shows its ugly head daily. The Spirit descended on flesh and strives against its selfish ways. And the flesh strives against the Spirit. It must be subdued. With the Spirit of God, the new man becomes a stranger to and an enemy of his own flesh to which previously he was so very attached. No, flesh itself does not improve. The complaint remains, “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Yet, the power of Pentecost is such that flesh will be lost forever. The more we live out of the administration of the Spirit, the more we experience this miracle.

Do you feel you must complain more and more about your own flesh? Is it a miracle for you that the holy God still wants to dwell within you? Do you think it is eternally impossible on account of all your sins? Is this becoming more and more impossible? Yet, it is still possible! It is never because of you. It is never because of your flesh. There you will only find more and more abominations. But the Holy Spirit is willing to enter your heart because of Him who has descended in the flesh. The Spirit is upon flesh, for the Word came in the flesh. This is the only pleading ground for a person who is without this Spirit.

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.

 

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