Pentecost

Acts 2:1–21 NASB95

1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. 5 Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 “And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? 9 “Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” 12 And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of sweet wine.” 14 But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. 15 “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; 16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams; 18 Even on My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit And they shall prophesy. 19 ‘And I will grant wonders in the sky above And signs on the earth below, Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. 20 ‘The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood, Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. 21 ‘And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

I. Context

A.(2:1a) “Had Fully come.”

Part of the redemptive plan (see Luke 9:51 “51 When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem;” Galatians 4:4 “4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,”) and is signified by Acts 2:1 “1 When the day of Pentecost ‘was being fulfilled’, they were all together in one place.”

B. (2:1b) A Festival of Harvest and thanksgiving.

1. What is Pentecost? (Lev. 23:15-17; Exodus 23:16,19)

Meaning “ 50th day” in greek, Pentecost is an old testament festival where Israel offers their first fruits of the grain harvest to God and give thanks (we can liken it to our Thanksgiving Holiday that originated at the first autumn harvest in America and was celebrated as a two day feast with the Native Americans). It also commemorates the giving of the Law on Sinai 50 days after Israel was set free from Egypt.

The ultimate meaning of Pentecost is the harvesting of all the produce of the completed redemptive work of Jesus Christ. It features a celebration of the first fruits of the redemptive work of Christ and a consummation of His marriage to his bride. In addition, it fulfills all that Jesus said he would do to those who believe in receiving the Spirit and commanding them to make disciples. This word of Christ that was give comes to fruition in the lives of His disciples (echoing Exodus 19:8; Jeremiah 31:33; Matthew 28:19-20)

This Pentecost was intentional. God having instituted it at the giving of the law a festival of thanksgiving means that the redemptive work of Christ was a plan from the beginning. Through the centuries God’s people would trained to be together this this event so that when Christ comes and accomplished redemption for his people once for all that they would be in the habit of coming together and then God would breakout among them in a special and intimate way.

God’s way of preparing His people for what shall come.

2. God breaks out.

It goes without saying that God breaks out when his people gather. And yes God breaks in to individual lives as well but for the purpose to benefit the whole. Therefore, the point remains that Gods people gather together and God break out among them. So don’t forsake the assembling together. The most intimate act of God- becoming one with his people takes place publicly and collectively.

And to be sure there is an individual aspect of God break it in to our personal lives forging an intimate relationship with him and then when those individuals gather He breaks out among them.

At any Moment: For those who are waiting for those we love to believe in Jesus, take heart, for the Spirit can rush upon them at any moment. The Disciples were waiting and then in an instant the Spirit rush upon them. We do not know the hour or which epoch in their life will bring their rebirth but we do know it will happen suddenly when the Spirit comes.

3. God breaks in. (Baptism)

What God is doing at Pentecost is revealed throughout the Gospels (Matt 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:5)

a. Baptism by water.

Baptism with water signifies our union with Christ (Gal 3:27 ). That we give up our life and join him in death and walk as His. It is a sign that we have let go of this life of death and now cling to Christ for the life we now live. We become marked as His bride. But what of the baptism of fire?

Galatians 3:27 NASB95

27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

b. Baptism by Fire.

On the other hand, Baptism by Fire brings out union with Christ in full circle. Fire, in the bible, represents the presence of God in one form or another. Consider all the various all the stories of old that mention fire. Therefore, what we have at Pentecost is a baptism upon those who believe with fire, which is the presence of God (Holy Spirit) breaking into their hearts. This means that Christ unites his life with ours.

The Baptism by water, joins our lives to Christ and marks Him as our Husband (He is our God). The Baptism by Fire, joins Christ to us and marks us as His bride (We are His). These two Baptisms brings full relationship between us and Christ. “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine (Song of Solomon 2:16a.)”

Now that we have some context to understand what is happening, Let’s look to the specifics of what took place...

II. Commentary

A. The Phenomena of the Holy Spirit (v.2-4)

the coming of the Holy Spirit among the 120 that were gathered together in the house was a audible and visual phenomena. This signified that is was a divine act of God and that it was supernatural and something that doesn’t occur naturally. But the question arises, if the Spirit came in this manner, does he always come in this manner. To put it another way, why don’t we hear or see this happening when someone is filled with Holy Spirit?

The initial giving of the Holy Spirit is a supernatural phenomena, just like the coming of the incarnate son of God. These events are a unique and special act of God who is initiating a new thing. There is a pattern in scripture where what God initiates in one way continues with the people of God in an another way. It could be that the initial giving of the Holy Spirit is first celebrated in a special way but is continued and shared in a less dramatic way. Those who first receive the Spirit, proclaim by the power of the Spirit. Then anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved and then receives the Spirit. So the Spirit is passed along from person to person as they proclaim and believe. God includes his people never leaving them out.

“Filling” of the Spirit-The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity but is God eternally and equally. Therefore, we can grow in the Holy Spirit, receive a different “filling” of the Holy Spirit for a specific purpose, just as we grow in knowledge and grace of Christ. We cannot exhaust the living God, we know Him and are growing in knowing Him and will do so for all eternity. Therefore, the same is true about the Holy Spirit. We should pray to have the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to increase in our lives and pray for another “filling” of the Holy Spirit to empower us in accomplishing God’s will or proclaiming God’s word.

B. Prophesying in the Spirit. (v. 4-11)

1. Means: tongue

Tongues, are the vehicle to speak. When you speak wrongly, we say “Hold your tongue”, When someone can speak several languages they have the gift of tongues. So we can infer that the symbolism of the tongues signifies something to do with speaking and speaking a particular word (message). But what of the Holy Spirt and the tongue? We also see the Holy Spirit active around the Word of God. When God is speaking, the Holy Spirit takes action. In others words, the Holy Spirit accompanies the word of God. It helps illuminate the mind to understand the Word of God, It acts in us to effect the Word of God in our lives, and it helps us speak when we do not have the words or do not know what to say. From this we could say that the significance of Flaming tongues points to the Spirit and the Word of God resting upon the people.

2. The Message: Good deeds of God in Christ (v.11).

Speaking the Word of God is the first act of a Spirit filled life. We may think it enough to act good and to treat others well. But this could also be done by those who do not believe in Christ. It is not enough to only conduct our lives in righteousness, We must be a people who speak/preach/proclaim/declare first and then back it up with our piety. Piety isn’t salvific, Preaching is the means of salvation. For this reason Paul (who references Joel’s prophecy like Peter does at Pentecost) says in:

Romans 10:13–15 NASB95

13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”

3. The Multitude: The world is present (v. 7-10)

Given the fact that Luke includes the various regions who were present on the day of pentecost, When Peter addressed them, 3000 were added to their number. Of these 3000, they would return home, filled with the Holy Spirit, and begin to bear witness in their hometowns. This means that on the day of Pentecost, it had an immediate Global impact!

a. Not All (v.12-13)

1. Amazed and Perplexed.

the phenomena of the Holy Spirit isn’t itself convincing nor clearly evident of what is taking place. This shows us the the purposes of miracles and deeds only are understood and meaningful if the Word of God is proclaimed. For the Word of God is the only power unto salvation Romans 1:16.

2. Mocking and Ridicule.

Luke tells us that this word and wonders are mocked and ridiculed which leads some to dismiss what is taking place. This tells us that the message will not be received by all or welcomed by all. As one scholar points out in the book of Acts, those who reject the Word of God, “begins with ridicule; then afterwards it proceeds to questioning (4:7); to threats (4:7); to imprisoning (5:18); to inflicting stripes (5:40); to murder (7:58).”

Regardless of how it is received we nevertheless proclaim. We do not shrink back but keep advancing against the forces of the prince of this world and speak truth even if there is present those who refuse to believe it.

C. Peter Preaches (V.14-21)

1. Intoxication.

When they are accused of being intoxicated, Peter references that it is only the third hour of the day 9:00a. This could indicate that the wine consumed during the festival of weeks (Pentecost) happens later in the day than in the morning.

2. A Prophecy fulfilled.

This Prophecy, according to Peter, has been fulfilled on the day of Pentecost and we should not consider it unfulfilled or being fulfilled at a future time. The text reads as it has been fulfilled present on the day of Pentecost.

The Prophecy is:

All God’s people get the Spirit of God.

They will prophesy.

This initiates the Glorious Day of the Lord.

Where all who call upon the Lord will be saved.

III. Commitment

A. Love for God.

The day of Pentecost has come and makes it possible to have a real, intimate union with Christ. Us being his bride and he being our husband.

Christ presence in our lives, through Holy Spirit, is something we continue to grow in and therefore our love grows for Him.

Genuine love for Christ always manifests itself by declaring all that He has done for us and is made known to others by how we love them.

B. Love for others.

Humanity was created for Christ. He is deserving of all the world to know and love Him. As his bride we must give out Husband what he deserves which is every tribe, tongue, and nation loving and worshipping Him. The greatest way we can love others is by sharing with them the one who loves them and demonstrate His love for them through our love.

Pentecost is more romantic than I previous thought. It’s intentional, important, intimate and speaks to the love and goodness of a great God. It is for this reason that we should celebrate this special day within the church and remember its significance. We have must to be thankful for and the best way to celebrate is by giving thanks for all the wonderful deeds of God who loves us and unites himself to us as we have united ourselves to him.