CHRIST'S KINGDOM NOT OF THIS WORLD (4)
CHRIST’S KINGDOM NOT OF THIS WORLD (4)
JT Heaven’s repeated interventions, according to this book, greatly help in the consideration of our subject, especially the one in the verses read. A vessel is seen let down from heaven and taken up so as to remain there — pointing to the finish of the present dispensation, which is now imminent; and this passage was suggested as conveying a very definite thought as to what is before us, the heavens opened and the sheet let down, all in connection with Peter’s vision. He said, “it came even to me”, as if to remind us that he had been engaged as in the lead throughout, and that he is now being helped as to the change in the course of the testimony, in which heaven is even more stressed as asserting itself.
What was said this morning connected itself with Peter’s work at Pentecost being accomplished, heaven asserting itself in a powerful way. There was “a sound out of heaven as of a violent impetuous blowing”, as indicating the character of service which was to be rendered; it would be marked by power. Then Stephen, at the turning point, sees the heavens opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Luke tells us in the close of his gospel, of Christ being carried up into heaven, but he does not say that the disciples saw Him as He was there, but Stephen sees Him standing at the right hand of God. It was as yet a transitional state of things, God was lingering in longsuffering as to His ancient people, maintaining the character of this dispensation. The Son of man standing at the right hand of God is to remind us that a change is taking place in heaven as the centre of operations, all men being now in view for blessing. And then, the light from heaven that surrounded Saul and the Lord’s voice speaking to him, saying, “Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?” are mentioned in Acts 9. All this precedes our chapter, where again the heaven is opened and a vessel like a great sheet is let down to the earth; in which were all the quadrupeds and creeping things of the earth and the fowls of the heaven. Following on the light afforded to Stephen and Saul this vision to Peter makes known to him that God was now operating among the nations, bringing them into the assembly.
The truth of what the Lord said to Pilate, that His kingdom was not of this world, is thus opened up and amplified. It was the time of suffering. Stephen was exemplifying this. Kneeling down he cried with a loud voice, “lay not this sin to their charge”. It was a time of persecution. That is the idea that we are seeking to make clear now: that the kingdom of which the Lord Jesus speaks is not of this world, and that one who is of it and characterised by its principles is not revengeful, but on the contrary, prays for his enemies. And when Paul is brought in, the Lord says of him, “I will shew to him how much he must suffer for my name” (Acts 9: 16). It is very remarkable that the Spirit of God stresses that the present period is one of suffering.
CSP Would this have a link with the opened heavens in Luke 3?
JT Yes. There heaven opens and proclaims what it thinks of Jesus as down here; but in the Acts heaven opens and Jesus is seen there, and its operations in the power of the Spirit here below are intimated. In Luke 3: 22 it is as the Lord was praying the heaven was opened, and the voice came out of heaven, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”. It was to announce the Father’s pleasure in Jesus. In the Acts the interventions of heaven are to remind us of what heaven is doing or going to do. Jesus is made [p. 72] Lord and Christ up there, and having sent the Holy Spirit, divine operations are proceeding. All men are in view for blessing and the assembly is the building. The great and blessed work is now nearly complete. Acts 10: 16 says, “the vessel was straightway taken up into heaven”. That is what should be before us. The time is coming for the assembly’s translation to heaven. In the meantime the Lord is providing men to carry on as His servants to preach the gospel and work generally “with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ; until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ” (Ephesians 4: 12, 13).
JLF Is the thought in Acts 9: 6, “rise up and enter into the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do”, in keeping with the thought of heaven being prepared to proceed in relation to what is here?
JT Yes; it was really indicated in the Lord’s first word to Saul and Saul’s reply, “Why dost thou persecute me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest”. Saul was convicted of dreadful criminality but, instead of the deserved penalty, the chief of sinners, as he characterised himself later, was taken into the service of Him whom he had persecuted. The Lord’s further word to him was, “rise up and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do”. But he must suffer, not for his guilt, but as bearing testimony to the Master whom he was now learning to obey and to love. The Lord said, “this man is an elect vessel to me, to bear my name before both nations and kings and the sons of Israel: for I will shew to him how much he must suffer for my name” (Acts 9: 15, 16). Instead of penalty Saul had part in the continuation of this wonderful kingdom of which the Lord spoke to Pilate. He was to be one of His servants; he was indeed a pattern servant. As to what [p. 73] the Lord had in mind, Saul himself says, “that in me, the first, Jesus Christ might display the whole long-suffering, for a delineation of those about to believe on him to life eternal” (1 Timothy 1: 16). To the saints he could say, “Be my imitators, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11: 1). So that it is now a question of putting ourselves into this immense matter each in his measure, as serving in Christ’s kingdom for the little while that remains. As an example for us John addresses himself to the saints: “Your brother and fellow-partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and patience in Jesus” (Revelation 1: 9).
JAW You are suggesting in this that if we are determined to go in for these heavenly things that you have been suggesting in these readings, we must be prepared to suffer?
JT That is the point. Any attempt to avoid suffering implies that in principle we are moving out of the position into which we have come professedly through baptism and the Lord’s supper.
JAW It is on the principle of laying down your life for His name’s sake and gaining life eternal.
JT Quite so, “because to you has been given, as regards Christ, not only the believing on him but the suffering for him also” (Philippians 1: 29). It is given to us.
DH Given by God, do you think? Paul says, “I think that God has set us the apostles for the last, as appointed to death. For we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men ... . Railed at, we bless; persecuted, we suffer it; insulted, we entreat: we are become as the offscouring of the world, the refuse of all, until now” (1 Corinthians 4: 9 - 13).
JT Quite so. To the Corinthians the apostle enlarges greatly on his sufferings.
CHH Would the character of the dispensation be preserved in the prayer in Acts 4? They pray in regard to the threatenings of their enemies. They ask God to [p. 74] stretch out His hand to heal; instead of asking for revenge.
JT That is right. We noted when looking at Romans 12 that we are not to avenge ourselves. God says, “Vengeance belongs to me, I will recompense”. Our part is to be like Stephen, who kneeling down, as he was being stoned, and praying said, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge”.
CHH Would this section suggest the work of God as securing right feelings? Peter, being hungry, is affected in this sense.
JT Yes; “he became hungry and desired to eat”, before the ecstasy came upon him; the sense of hunger prepared him for the vision, in which he is directed to slay and eat. He had gone up on the house to pray. In this we are reminded of the need of peaceful conditions as engaged in prayer. We are to pray at all times, but suitable conditions should not be overlooked. In view of the vision, the state of Peter’s stomach was taken account of, that the feeling of hunger should be there.
RRT Is there a significance in this passage in God correcting Peter, because he was one that was inclined to cling to the old dispensation?
JT Yes; as Ananias questioned the Lord as to what He said of Saul, so Peter refuses the direction to him, “slay and eat”. He said, “In no wise, Lord; for I have never eaten anything common or unclean”. Peter questioned Him. That is often the case with us, we profess obedience, but when conditions do not suit us we rebel. We call Him Lord, but do not the things that He says.
JAW What you said about praying is very interesting. Stephen kneeled down and prayed, and one of the features that Ananias was to find in Saul was that he was praying; and you find Peter going up to [p. 75] pray.
JT The Lord Himself was praying when the heavens were opened on Him, showing the importance of prayer in all that has come before us.
ADS He went up to pray about the sixth hour. Would that have some significance?
JT Well, I have no doubt that certain allusions in the Acts to time have spiritual significance. The sixth and ninth hours point to the cross. The ninth hour in chapter 3 is very suggestive of the actual time of our Lord’s death, when He said, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” This hour also comes into chapter 10 — involving the remarkable experience of Cornelius. The moment is quite significant as linking the incoming of the nations with the actual time of day in which the atoning death of the Saviour of the world took place. And in chapter 10 we also have the sixth hour — connected with the same event. The light for the revelation of the gentiles was becoming dispensationally effective, Luke 2: 32. Referring again to sufferings as marking Christ’s kingdom, James says, “Ye have condemned, ye have killed the just; he does not resist you”. That was exactly what Saul found in the disciples in Jerusalem. He entered into the houses “one after another, and dragging off both men and women delivered them up to prison” (Acts 8: 3). People say, What will you do if an enemy comes in and attacks your wife or your mother? What did the christians in the early days do? That is the point. What did they do when Saul dragged them out of their houses and put them in prison? They did not resist. Just as he says of himself later: “For thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we have been reckoned as sheep for slaughter”.
CSP That is always in keeping with the attitude of God in Christ at the present moment.
JT Exactly. The matter of suffering is so little understood and experienced that we are hardly able [p. 76] to speak of it in power. We are privileged to take the attitude of suffering; “to you has been given, as regards Christ, not only the believing on him but the suffering for him also” (Philippians 1: 29).
It will be well to follow the history as we have it in Acts in regard to the subject before us — the heavenly side of it. Chapters 2, 7 and 10 treat of this great feature. Chapter 7 is the most touching of all the records, Stephen follows so closely the example of his Master, representing what His kingdom is. “My kingdom is not of this world”, the Lord says. It is an order of things involving suffering. He was about to suffer, the apostles suffered, and Stephen follows. Stephen seems to have been taken up to exemplify that side of the position. Kneeling down he says to the Lord, “Lay not this sin to their charge”. He is priestly, maintaining a suitable attitude in severest suffering.
JLF The heavenly feature was evidenced in the fact that “all who sat in the council, looking fixedly on him, saw his face as the face of an angel”.
EGM Do you find in the stoning of Stephen characteristically what marks persecutors? He says, “O stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers, ye also. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain those who announced beforehand concerning the coming of the Just One, of whom ye have now become deliverers up and murderers!” (Acts 7: 51, 52). And it is recorded that “hearing these things they were cut to the heart, and gnashed their teeth against him. But being full of the Holy Spirit, having fixed his eyes on heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God”. In a way he disregarded their murderous efforts against him — no doubt largely because he had his eye on heaven.
JT Just so. Stephen looks up into heaven. Being [p. 77] a true martyr, he is accepting the stoning, “having fixed his eyes on heaven”. He sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He tells those present what he saw. He put it in his own words: “Lo, I behold the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God”. Stephen is one of the most important persons entering into our inquiry. Among other things he understands what is going on in heaven, and while experiencing dreadful sufferings he is able to describe the position visible to him there. There was a turn in the course of the testimony, and this description of what he sees in heaven implies this. Heaven was to determine everything, and Stephen conveys in his own language what he saw. Instead of referring to Jesus as the Christ, he says, “I behold ... the Son of man” — this implying that the testimony is going to widen out. The witness is being murdered, but the testimony is going to widen out to the whole race of man. In all this Stephen is a representative of Christ’s kingdom — both in verbal testimony and suffering.
EGM In the power of this, does he still control the situation? It says, “And they stoned Stephen, praying, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And kneeling down, he cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And having said this, he fell asleep” (Acts 7: 59, 60), as though he was in the full effect of what he saw in heaven.
JT Yes. The position is morally very great. It is as if what he saw in heaven dominated him. As already said, it represented what the Lord conveyed in the expression, “My kingdom”. Had Stephen seen the Lord coming out in full military form, as in Revelation 19, riding on a white horse, and the armies which are in heaven following upon white horses, he would not have said these things. He would understand the position was changed. But in effect Stephen’s face,
[p. 78] actions and words reflected the attitude of heaven at that time, and this continues to the present moment. Heaven is still pursuing this course of testimony in grace, and suffering is involved. Normally the believer is accepting the suffering, in keeping with heaven’s attitude.
HG Is that why three great converts follow immediately: the Ethiopian eunuch, Saul of Tarsus and then Cornelius?
JT Just so. The prayer of Stephen reflected the impression made on him by what he saw in heaven. It is a heavenly matter. Heaven is the centre of operations, and thus we need to know what is current up there.
HG It would work out in the whole earth.
JT Yes. The present war accustoms us to every part of the earth; names of places in all parts of the earth are coming up constantly. That is not for nothing; God thus enlarges our view through governmental circumstances.
RRT What Stephen does here is according to the manner of what the Lord did as recorded in John 17. He lifted up his eyes to heaven.
JT The next feature of our subject is in chapter 9. Chapter 8 shows there was an evangelical activity without a commission. We have to learn to carry on without a commission. Let us do what our hands find to do and the work will be successful, as we observed in Nehemiah. What a successful service his was! Outwardly he was simply a Persian governor, but he carried on in God’s work and God blessed what was done. The great result in Samaria through Philip was similar. And then Philip was taken on definitely by heaven. It is a question of what the man is, which is evident in the results of his work. Acts 8 is a finished matter in itself; and chapter 9 is Paul. It is a particularly heavenly matter. Paul is to be shown how much he must suffer for Christ’s name.
JAW It is interesting in regard of Philip, that he ultimately had his commission — “Rise up and go southward ... and he rose up and went”. And Paul is directed by the Lord to go into the city, and he goes into the city. Later Peter is told by the Spirit to “rise up, go down, and go with them, nothing doubting”, and he did so. All the ministry that is constantly coming before us in these meetings is meant to have an effect upon us and it is incumbent on us to follow it up, being responsive to it.
JT Exactly. First Philip is directed by an angel; but later the Spirit takes him on, Acts 8: 26, 39. It is a greater thing to be taken on by the Spirit than by an angel. “The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip”. He is in this way distinguished, and also called an evangelist; and he had four daughters who prophesied.
DR It seems to complete his work. The Spirit said to Philip, “Approach and join this chariot;” and then the Spirit caught him away, his work with the eunuch being finished.
JT Just so. He was found at Azotus. He did not immediately go to Caesarea. Evidently the Spirit of God at first worked in Caesarea without any servant, that is, in Cornelius. Later Peter opened the door to the gentiles there. But Paul’s ministry is all-important, following upon Stephen. He was a witness to Stephen’s martyrdom. He saw the way that saints die in service. Stephen shows how to die for the truth, and I am sure his death impressed Saul. The Lord says, “For I will shew to him how much he must suffer for my name”. Who suffered more? You marvel at the record we have of Paul’s sufferings. The Corinthians forced him to write about them, and what he wrote is in Scripture for us to read.
CHH You quoted Revelation 19 in connection with the Lord coming out of heaven sitting on a white horse, but just previous to that the chapter speaks about the Lamb’s wife having made herself ready. That [p. 80] involves suffering during the present time, does it not?
JT Yes. The Lamb is the Sufferer. She is His wife. It is granted to her to be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure, which is the righteousnesses of the saints.
Now when we come to Acts 9 we get the Lord’s mind about Paul; also the history of his conversion and early service. Peter had been somewhat in the background; but the movement of heaven centering in Paul having begun, he is seen in this chapter active in “all quarters”, verse 32. This would imply that he was able to sense the changed conditions through the new ministry. He directs one man to rise up and make his bed for himself; and then he raises up Dorcas. Afterwards we are told that he remained in Joppa with a certain Simon, a tanner. He was on the Mediterranean, having an outlook toward the west; he was there “many days”, after raising up Dorcas.
All this is preliminary to what is presented in chapter 10 — the creatures in the “vessel;” because a tanner must have skins, and these are from cattle that are slain; so that he would be conversant with the thought of animals. Adam had to do with them and named them. And now Peter is on a tanner’s housetop and sees the vessel which descended from heaven containing all the quadrupeds, etc. I am saying this to bring out the position. What skin did Jehovah Elohim use to make coats for Adam and Eve? We cannot tell, but he made them of skin. And now we have another idea, skins tanned by the man with whom Peter “remained many days”. “But a certain man in Caesarea by name Cornelius, a centurion of the band called Italic, pious, and fearing God with all his house, both giving much alms to the people, and supplicating God continually”. He had not been evangelised so far as we know, but now he is directed by the angel to send for Peter.
PH The thought of tanning clearly has to do with [p. 81] death.
JT Yes. The tabernacle was marked everywhere by what suggested death. The outer coverings were all of skins of animals; and if the law was carried out animals were slain every day, blood was flowing. As of the antitype, we have to face those solemn facts. All that suffering referred to the death of Jesus, and the saints must be in accord with that.
JAW The house of Simon the tanner was by the sea. Does that give a suggestion that Peter is in readiness to see what God was going to do in the peoples of the earth?
JT Yes, the Mediterranean is regarded as the centre of the western world. It was an outlook for him, and whatever he may have understood by it, we can understand it now. The truth is all out. God would impress him with it; he had an outlook from the roof of the house. We are on the western extremity of the earth at this moment. 7,000 miles from where Peter was. His outlook would be in this direction; the western world was specially in God’s mind for blessing.
CAM I suppose with that vision he would pray for one who could navigate! Navigation had to wait for Paul, the great navigator.
JT Quite so. “Yonder is the great and wide sea; therein are moving things innumerable, living creatures small and great. There go the ships” (Psalm 104: 25, 26). The gospel ships were being prepared.
JAW You are speaking of having reached the extreme point in the west. Does that make the present moment a very important one, as if the testimony was about to be completed?
JT I think it does. What are the dear brethren going to do about this extremity? How is this end to be held up? The finish is near, and conditions among the saints must be right. Peter’s prayer on the housetop would surely extend in this direction.
EGM Peter no doubt had the choice of any of the saints’ houses in that town, but he chose this one; this would be in God’s ordering as marked by the suggestion of death, and it had a right outlook.
JT That is what I think. The facts mentioned have a meaning, also the facts relative to the garments made by Dorcas. All that is said about her garment making reminds us of conditions that the gospel had to overcome.
EGM Would you take it that the vision coming at the time of Peter’s prayer was rather a surprise to him? Peter was evidently exercised over something, and God says, I will give you the right answer, but it may not be what you are looking for. Is that the way unexpected events often come into our circumstances?
JT I think so. He was not ready for what the creatures in the sheet signified. His reply to “the voice” was negative.
WF What would help us in relation to Peter’s answer here? The Lord said, “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?” Peter had a great deal of experience with the Lord, yet he questions His voice.
JT I suppose it suggests to us the danger of being self-willed, although calling Him Lord, Lord; but not doing the things that He says. The voice says, “Rise, Peter, slay and eat”. Put into spiritual language that means, Arise, Peter, and appropriate the effect of the work of God among the gentiles, as well as among the Jews. God is taking them on; the vessel is full of them in representation, and Peter must accept them. Cornelius is, of course, the one immediately in mind. But Peter says, “In no wise, Lord; for I have never eaten anything common or unclean”. He has to learn that what God cleanses is clean indeed and must be recognised as qualified for christian fellowship. Peter submits, however. The Spirit took him in hand and he went with the men who were sent by Cornelius.
[p. 83] And as with him and the company gathered in Caesarea Peter said, “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him”. The answer to Peter comes three times: “What God has cleansed, do not thou make common. And this took place thrice”. We see here the patience of heaven in bringing servants into accord with itself. Three times is a perfect process, so that it is said, “the vessel was straightway taken up into heaven”. Then it is said that, “as Peter doubted in himself what the vision which he had seen might mean, behold also the men who were sent by Cornelius, having sought out the house of Simon, stood at the gate, and having called someone, they inquired if Simon who was surnamed Peter was lodged there. But as Peter continued pondering over the vision, the Spirit said to him, Behold, three men seek thee; but rise up, go down, and go with them, nothing doubting, because I have sent them”. The Spirit comes on the scene. Wherever the Spirit comes in definitely, as we may see in chapter 13, a conclusion is reached. The Spirit Himself is taking the thing in hand. It is not now an angel, as in verse 3, but the Spirit. He says, “go down, and go with them”. That is how Peter was adjusted.
RRT In regard to this “pious soldier”, verse 7, here was a military man, and yet a pious man. Would that help us as to how we are to regard brethren who are called into the service, and yet carry with it piety?
JT The reference is very remarkable. Luke especially mentions military men as coming into relation with the testimony. We must not despise brethren because they are military men. There are brethren in Great Britain who are in actual service, both in the navy and army. They joined before they were converted. Undoubtedly Cornelius and the pious soldier were of this class. No doubt the word, “if thou canst become free, use it rather”, governs such positions. What has been said as to Christ’s kingdom in its present form should determine the christian’s attitude as to combatant military service. John 18 makes the matter perfectly clear. It is due to the government that he should do what he can for it except taking human life. Anyone enlisting takes things out of the hands of God. It is a heavenly matter, involving that the bodies of the saints belong to the Lord and His kingdom. Our struggle is not with flesh and blood.
EGM Does the sheet with all the different animals, fowls, etc., in it, indicate that God had a different way of subduing them than by the sword?
JT Yes. They are in the sheet and come down from heaven. We should have confidence in what comes down from heaven. The voice tells Peter to slay and eat; it is not slaying men, but slaying beasts, making them available for food. All is typical — to show that what God had cleansed in a spiritual sense should be appropriated in this sense.
CSP Is the thought that when a man is converted, he is slain?
JT Well, that is the way it works out, made available for the purpose in hand. That is what the type means, an element for the clean or unclean.
MDFJr Our young brothers are asking one another, What is the difference between a man who makes a bullet and one who fires it?
JT You are serving for wages, and the government has certain work to do and you do it. What the government does with the product you make is not your business. We pay taxes: there is no question as to what the authorities do with the money. The governments of the world are ordained of God, and they represent Him in the work required of them. For this they need physical means to maintain order, involving the taking of human life, extending even to war. Christ’s kingdom [p. 85] in its present form recognises all this as we saw when considering John 18, but it does not admit of christians using the sword, as the Lord’s words to Peter and Pilate recorded in that chapter plainly show.
EGM In verse 21 Peter is seen going down to the men who were sent to him from Cornelius, and he said, “Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause for which ye come?” He was ready to go now, but he would not yet have complete understanding of the situation because in verse 29 he says, “Wherefore also, having been sent for, I came without saying anything against it. I inquire therefore for what reason ye have sent for me”. I suppose you take each step in faith as you come to it.
JT Just so; and in Simon’s house he invited in those who came from Cornelius. Let us not forget that. It suggests that if you come to a town to serve the Lord and a brother receives you into his house you may have liberty to invite others to it. Peter invited them in. He did not ask his host to invite them in. “Having therefore invited them in, he lodged them. And on the morrow, rising up he went away with them, and certain of the brethren from Joppa went with him”. All this points to the liberty marking Christ’s kingdom.
JAW Is it not interesting that Peter, although evidently not quite clear in his mind as to why he was going, moved in faith and obedience, verse 23? And in verse 24 it is said that “Cornelius was looking for them”. There is faith in the receiver and in the one who was sent.
JT Just so. Peter is now the object of attention. The Spirit of God occupies us with Peter as an adjusted man; heaven taking account of him in this way. “And on the morrow they came to Caesarea. But Cornelius was looking for them, having called together his kinsmen and his intimate friends. And when Peter was now [p. 86] coming in, Cornelius met him, and falling down did him homage”. Cornelius was looking for them, and “falling down, did him homage”. That is remarkable. Peter is tested and through this a needed truth is asserted — that the most honoured of Christ’s servants is not an object of worship. Peter is a representative of heaven, but his so-called successor is not a representative of heaven. He who sits in the Vatican would accept as due to him the reverence which Cornelius rendered Peter. But the apostle here is in accord with the Lord’s designations, “my kingdom” and “my servants”. He said to Cornelius, “Rise up: I myself also am a man”. He is thoroughly with the Lord Jesus as the Son of man standing at the right hand of God. He is working for heaven. So that the record is very beautiful as developing what the Lord designates as “my kingdom” and those He calls “my servants”. To Cornelius and his company Peter explains the position in relation to Christ in a general way, and he preaches the gospel to them. And the Spirit fell on those men who are listening to the apostle’s words — a wonderful scene of heavenly operations! “While Peter was yet speaking these words the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were hearing the word. And the faithful of the circumcision were astonished, as many as came with Peter, that upon the nations also the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out: for they heard them speaking with tongues and magnifying God. Then Peter answered, Can any one forbid water that these should not be baptised, who have received the Holy Spirit as we also did? And he commanded them to be baptised in the name of the Lord. Then they begged him to stay some days”. So that is the finish of this great administrative service committed by the Lord to Peter according to Matthew 16 and by the grace and guidance of the Spirit carried out so successfully, as we have seen in the chapter before us.