Preserving and Sharing Our Heritage: The Biblical Mandate (Part 2)
The Church of God will celebrate 125 years of Pentecostal witness on August 19, 2011. This is the second in a series of articles relating our commitment to preserve and pass on our heritage to our children and grandchildren.
In Part One we noted that the Bible itself is our model for preserving and communicating God’s past actions and His continuing work in the Church of God today. From Genesis to Revelation much of the Scriptures are a record of God’s work among and through His people, and God used historical accounts and worship practices to reveal Himself from generation to generation.
God not only instituted worship practices to communicate to next generations, He also used tangible, physical objects and signs. When the people of Israel were preparing to cross the Jordon River into the Promised Land, God instructed Joshua to take from the dried river bed twelve stones to build a memorial.
These stones would become a public record and sign of God’s work—a record designed to pass knowledge of the wonderful works of God to succeeding generations. Following the instructions of the Lord, Joshua commanded twelve men, “Each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever” (Joshua 4: 5b-7, NKJV).
Is there such a sign in the New Testament? We already know that the Acts of the Apostles demonstrates the importance of keeping a record of what God is doing in the churches. Without the book of Acts we would be deprived of much of the history of the early church. Luke’s volume includes the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, a record of Peter’s sermon, events in the early church, statistics about salvations, individual conversion stories, testimonies of miracles, the minutes of two business meetings, the historical context of the Pauline epistles, and a narrative of Paul’s missionary journeys.
The book of Acts also suggests that the practice of speaking in tongues is a sign by which the wonderful works of God are passed to coming generations. In his sermon on the day of Pentecost, Peter suggests that speaking in tongues is a critical aspect of communicating our heritage and serves as a sign to all generations. Acts 2: 5-12 reveals the powerful potential of speaking in tongues as a means of drawing attention to the works of God. In verse 5 we learn that there were “dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation.” These were the spiritual if not always genetic descendants of Abraham scattered around the world. Verse 6 reports that when the sound of Pentecost occurred, “they came together, and were confused because everyone heard them speak in his own language.” Verses 7 and 8 relate, that the hearers “were all amazed and marveled saying to one another, ‘Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?’” They continued in verse 11, “…we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” Luke then observes in verse 12, “So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘Whatever could this mean?’”
Peter’s explanation connects God’s past promises with the events of that day and the hope of the future. In the New King James translation, Peter says, “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel” (Acts 2: 16). Peter’s reference to Joel not only recalls the promise of the Father but also establishes the context of Joel’s prophecy as a biblical directive to pass our heritage to the next generations. Identified as “The word of the LORD that came to Joel” (Joel 1: 1) we read, “Hear this, you elders and give ear…. Tell your children about it, let your children tell their children, and their children another generation” (Joel 1: 2-3, NKJV). In Joel’s day the message began as a lament about the destruction that had come to the land. But in the midst of their trouble, the Father promised a latter rain.
Peter’s sermon then draws his hearers into the biblical heritage by referencing both Joel and the prophecy of King David about the coming Messiah. This rehearsal of their heritage as well as the events around them provoked Peter’s hearers to ask what they could do to be saved. After rooting the Christian gospel in their heritage, Peter concludes with hope for coming generations: “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2: 39, NKJV).
Just as the stones taken from the bed of the Jordon River provoked the children of Joshua’s generation to ask what these stones mean, the practice of speaking in tongues continues to provoke the question “Whatever could this mean?” This question provides the opportunity for our Christian communities to rehearse the history of sin, redemption and reconciliation. In Eden all sinned. At Babel our selfish desire to create a name for ourselves distinct from God’s name for us provoked God to divide our languages and to scatter all the people of the earth. But in the cross we are redeemed and reconciled to God; and at Pentecost we are given a new language and reconciled into one community of the Spirit.
If telling the works and promises of God to next generations is important in Scripture, then it is no less important today. If we fail to record and pass on the wonderful works of God though out our Church of God history, we will fail to testify that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. We will fail to honor the work of the Spirit throughout the ages. May God give us the wisdom and foresight to heed the biblical mandate to record, preserve and share our heritage.
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Dr. David G. Roebuck is director of the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center and an assistant professor of the history of Christianity at Lee University. He also serves as church historian for the Church of God. This article is drawn from David G. Roebuck and Darrin J. Rodgers, “Preserving and Sharing our Heritage: The Biblical and Institutional Mandate” published in Spirit-Empowered Christianity in the 21st Century, ed. Vinson Synan (Lake Mary, Florida: Charisma House, 2011), pages 217-236.
