The Incarnation was an event in history. So was the crucifixion, as also the resurrection. They happened, and they happened in the same way that other historical events happened. Christ was born at a point in time, and He died at a point in time, and He rose from the dead. All these things happened at particular times of the day, on particular days, at a particular time of the year.
In one respect, the day of Pentecost was like the first Christmas, or the day of resurrection. There was a particular day when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples in Jerusalem. But something else was going on there too. A great deal more was involved than something the Spirit decided to do one day.
The Spirit was poured out upon “all flesh” (Acts 2:17), and what that means has relevance for us here, gathered around this Table today. The meaning of Christ’s birth, death and resurrection needs to be applied to us. The efficacy of His work must be mediated to us. Otherwise, it is removed from us by the passage of years, and the more time goes by, the more removed Christians will be from it.
And this means that when the Spirit was poured out on all flesh, He was poured out on everytime. He is present here with us now. In fact, it is His presence with us that enables us to partake of Jesus Christ in the way we do. If it were not for the Spirit’s work, we could no more partake of Christ’s work than we could leap to the moon.
And with the Spirit’s work, we are as much partakers of the resurrected Christ as were the disciples who first broke bread together on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:46). We are not partaking at a far remove. We are not sitting in the back corner of an enormous banqueting hall. We are present with an immediate mediator because the Spirit is present in everytime, and we are present in His Spirit—and so the Spirit and the Son bring us into the presence of the Father.
So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.