4. PENTECOST - THE COMING OF THE SPIRIT - Acts 2:1-13

 

In this passage we will see just how the apostles and the early church became the effective instruments of God in the spreading of the gospel throughout the world. Before this important event the apostles were not spiritual giants, yet after this event they were indeed so. The reason for this was the Holy Spirit. It is He who equipped and enabled the apostles to get on with and accomplish their mission in the world. In the previous chapter the apostles were seen as waiting for the Spirit, in this chapter they receive the Spirit. But it is not just the apostles, it is the entire church that receives the Spirit in this way (1:13-15; 2:1).

 

Please Read Acts 2:1-13

 

Verse 1: It is unclear in this passage just where this event took place, for the description is left as the believers being altogether in the one place. For this reason it cannot be said with any degree of certainty that they were in the same upper room (1:13) or in the temple (Lk 24:53), though verse 2 suggests a house of some sort. Yet we do know the time of the event, for it was the Day of Pentecost, when it had fully come.

According to Scripture the Day of Pentecost occurred some fifty days after the Passover Feast (Ex 23:16; 34:22,23; Lev 23:15ff; Num 28:26; Deut 16:16). Pentecost actually means fifty. The Spirit coming at such a time is more than likely significant, pointing to Him as the firstfruit of glory for believers (2 Cor 5:5; Eph 1:13,14) and the certainty of gaining the rest of their inheritance in the Lord.

Verse 2: The event being described here by Luke came upon the apostles and early believers without immediate warning. Previously there had been no such experience, now suddenly they were in the midst of the experience. That the Spirit was coming was known (1:5), yet the disciples were still surprised by the Holy Spirit’s sudden arrival. Note the sovereignty of God in the outpouring of His Spirit in this Pentecost event.

From heaven came a sound like a great wind blowing, yet it was not wind. Clearly this was a divine event, for the sound came from heaven. The whole house in which the believers were gathered was filled with this ‘mighty wind.’

QUESTION: Why was it do you think that it was only the house in which the believers were gathered that was filled with this ‘mighty wind?’

 

Verse 3: What has been called through the ages tongues of fire is clearly not what happened at Pentecost, for this visible appearance was only like divided tongues of fire. These ‘tongues’ were not literal fires on the heads of the believers, but that which appeared as such. At the same exact point of time each believer received the same experience.

NOTE: INDIVIDUAL DISCOVERY QUESTION HERE: What sort of tongues did the apostles speak in Acts 2:4? Explain the reason for your answer.

 

Verse 4: The significance of the event so described is now highlighted in this verse, for the Holy Spirit had indeed now come to every believer. The evidence of His coming was seen in each believer speaking in other tongues immediately. Each believer was enabled to do so immediately through the sovereign working of the Holy Spirit within each believer, there being no need to practice or study foreign languages in order to do so.

The passage clearly describes the apostles and early believers as actually speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit enabled them. Certainly the passage later on describes the listeners as hearing in their own languages (2:6,8). Immediately one thing is clear, these were in fact legitimate human languages that were being spoken by the apostles and early believers. The passage also implies that the apostles were able to repeat their message in each of the languages necessary for the people that gathered to understand what was said. Whether each one spoke a different language or each one spoke each of the languages is not exactly clear, but the people did understand in their own languages.

This supernatural work was carried on in the believers and not the gathered crowd, therefore the apostles must have been able to translate their message into the various languages, the message not being supernaturally changed in the hearing of the unbelievers. This is the only way that the passage can be rightly understood, for the apostles spoke in different tongues (2:4) and the people gathered heard in their own languages (2:8,11).

Verse 5: At the time when this amazing event took place, Jerusalem was seemingly packed with Jewish people from around the Roman world. These Jews generally were not that sort that were play acting in their religion, but were serious about their worship of God and for that reason had come to Jerusalem.

Verse 6: When the sound from heaven was heard, a great crowd of Jewish people from around the world gathered together to see what was happening. Curiosity over this great noise drew these people together and now they witnessed something far more amazing, for now they heard this group of believers speaking in languages that they all recognized as their very own.

QUESTION: Describe what you understand as being described in verses 5 and 6?

 

Verses 7,8: The crowd that had gathered were amazed at what they heard and saw, for the speakers were all from Galilee. In other words these were just normal people that were regarded as untaught (Jn 1:45,46; 7:52). Yet each person gathered heard what was being said in his or her own language. It is important to note that the languages were not just the main languages spoken in the Roman Empire, for they heard in their own native tongues.

Verses 9-11: In these verses Luke gives a summary account of where in the world the people that made up this gathered crowd had come from. There were Jews from further east, probably made up of those whose ancestors had been transported there during the various exiles by the Assyrians and Babylonians, right through the Asian and African provinces to Rome itself. This would seem to have been the extent to which Jewish people had dispersed throughout the world at that time.

The amazing thing to these Jews was that they each heard the message proclaimed by the apostles in their very own languages. Though originally caught up with the noise from heaven and then the use of their own languages by the believers, the gathered crowd was soon caught up with the message itself. This became the focus of the crowd, the message being proclaimed by the early believers.

QUESTION: Explain the significance of this visible supernatural miracle in the life of the early church? What does this suggest about the place of miracles in the early church?

 

Verse 12: Being amazed the gathered Jews began to question one another in order to discover the meaning of that which they were witnesses.

Verse 13: Some of the crowd appears to have understood nothing of what the apostles were saying, dismissing the event as simply a drunken disturbance. Yet this is more than likely a deliberate refusal to accept what was going on, being unprepared to hear the message that the apostles sought to bring to the hearing of the crowd. For these people scorn soon replaced amazement as they sought to suppress the truth in their ungodliness and unrighteousness (Rom 1:18). The opposition to Jesus and His ministry is clearly continued in these people, it being quite likely that some of these people were of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

 

Individual Discovery

Explain the significance of verse 17 to what had occurred in this event?

 

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17/10/2006

AN OUTPOST PRODUCTION