The Fruit of Pentecost - The Ecclesia of the New Creation

As revealed in the Old Testament scriptures, the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost indicated the inauguration of the messianic kingdom - the kingdom of creational renewal and restoration promised by all the prophets. The kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of the new creation, and so it is that its subjects are themselves partakers in the Spirit's work of renewal. Thus Luke moved immediately in his narrative from Peter's proclamation of the Christ and His kingdom to the fruit of the gospel of the kingdom in the new household of faith. The enthroned Son of David was now commencing His work of building a house for Yahweh. This dwelling is a spiritual house consisting of living stones, formed and enlivened by the Spirit and constructed upon the King Himself as the singular Living Stone. The sons of the kingdom are sons in the Son, and thus Luke was careful to describe the fledgling Church in language expressive of its spiritual, otherworldly character. Christ's Church isn't a religious organization or assembly of like-minded religious people; it is a spiritual organism sharing the life and likeness of Christ Himself; it is the beginning of the triune God's work of renewal which will one day take the whole creation into its grasp.