Understanding Acts 2

Shavuot:

For how many of you is this the first time you are celebrating Shavuot?

Shavuot is one of three pilgram festivals where all males of Israel needed to appear before the lord to rejoice.

It is called by various names - feast of weeks, Yom Habikurim (day of first fruits), Feast of Harvest.

It was a time of great rejoicing and it celebrated the first fruits of the wheat harvest.

It is determined by counting 50 days, or seven weeks, from the ‘day after the Sabbath’ of Unleavened Bread. This is why it is called Pentecost because that is the greek for pentecoste which means fiftieth.

So we count from a time of no leaven being on the run, and at Shavuot they were to bring two loaves of leavend bread to be waived before the Lord as an offering.

It was also to be a day of a holy gathering - a miqra.

But the festivals are also prophetic pointing to the future. Israel had a calendar of Spring and fall festivals.

The spring festivals have been fulfilled in the events we read about in the Gospels and Acts.

Yeshua’s death and resurrection was during the Passover, feast of unleavened bread, and first fruits of the barley harvest.

The event we read about in Acts 2 takes place on Shavuot, the wheat harvest. Why on Shavuot?

Numerous connections, but Because this was the prophetic day to mark the wider harvest that was about to take place. It was a day of God’s special revelation and a sign for the nation.

So these events, Yeshua’s death and resurrection and the pouring out of the Spirit on Pentecost represent the ultimate fulfillment of the Spring Torah festivals. Of course we are still waiting for the fall festivals to be brought to their ultimate fulfillment.

In Ex 19.1 we read that the Israelites came to the foot of Sinai in the third month.

Based on that passage and other data, there are rabbinic conclusions connecting Shavuot in the Torah to the events at Mt Sinai in Ex 19ff where the people gather at the base of the mountain and Moses goes up to receive the 10 commandments.

One interesting Jewish tradition teaches that tongues of fire came out from God at Sinai in the 70 languages of the nations at shavuot’s giving the Torah. Clearly we see the connection Acts 2 and many languages through firey tongues.

Then of course at the giving the Torah 3000 people died in the sin of the golden calf, and at the outpouring of the Ruach in Acts 2 it says 3000 souls obtain eternal life.

All of the readings today - Ex 19, Ez 1, Hab 3 - are chosen because they deal with theophanies - appearances of God. And to that we appropriately include our own tradition and add Acts 2.

We aslo read Ruth as tradition - with its connectiont to harvest and also inclusion of the gentiles just like the Moabite Ruth was.

The Signifance of the Pentecost Event

The Pentecost event in Acts 2 is an extremly important event in our faith history.

But, The first myth to put to bed on this is the common statement that ‘Pentecost was the birth of the church’. This is not the case.

This event did not create the ‘ekklesia’ or the ‘church’ - rather this event was the catalyst to expand the ekklesia.

This was not an event from ‘bad Torah to good mercy’, not a time from ‘judiasm to christianity’ not a transition from ‘law to grace’.

No - It was an event from promise to fulfillment. It was an event from a people failing in broken covenant to the first steps toward a people succeeding in a new covenant.

The first thing to remember is that what we see in Acts 2 is directed toward Jews. Remember this is a pilgrim festival and it is Jews and converts that are attending and present at this miraculous event - it was not an event invovling the gentiles.

As mentioned, it was understood as fulfillment of Prophecy.

Read Acts 2.14-21

Acts 2:14–21 TLV

14 But Peter, standing with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: “Fellow Judeans and all who are staying in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and pay attention to my words. 15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose—for it’s only the third hour of the day! 16 But this is what was spoken about through the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ says God, ‘that I will pour out My Ruach on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. 18 Even on My slaves, male and female, I will pour out My Ruach in those days, and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will give wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth beneath— blood, and fire, and smoky vapor. 20 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and glorious Day of Adonai comes. 21 And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of Adonai shall be saved.’

Let’s think about this for a moment.

The outpouring of the Ruach cuases Peter to connect it Joel 2 which is the passage he is quoting here because he sees it as its fulfilment.

To better understand this let’s look at the discussion that Yeshua had with them in the prior chapter.

Acts 1:4–7 TLV

4 Now while staying with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father promised—which, He said, “you heard from Me. 5 For John immersed with water, but you will be immersed in the Ruach ha-Kodesh not many days from now.” 6 So when they gathered together, they asked Him, “Lord, are You restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” 7 He said to them, “It is not your place to know the times or seasons which the Father has placed under His own control.

The apostles understood that they were going to be given the promised gift of the Ruach. But notice carefully what that implies to them.

‘are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?’. They connect the outpouring of the Ruach with the dawn of the Age to come. The new kingdom where Israel’s enemies are defeated and she reigns victorious.

And with this mindset, Peter is quoting Joel 2 - and Joel is effectively saying that before the Day of the Lord, I will pour out the Ruach to produce signs and wonders so that men will call upon the name of the Lord to be saved from the coming destruction and usher in the kingdom.

In other words, God used the Ruach’s miracles to confirm that Yeshua was the messsiah, and that the generation is guilty of rejecting him, and therefore this new outpouring of the Ruach, manifested in tongues, as predicted by Joel is the sign to the Jewish audience that the coming judgement is upon them - therefore repent / call upon the name of the Lord.

Baptism of The Holy Spirit

The first myth that we need to address here is that Pentecost was not the first time the Holy Spirit shows up.

There are all kinds of events in the Tanach and in Jewish history that demonstrate similar events and talk about further events, and it is that historical backdrop that gives meaning to the Jewish audience.

Numbers 11 we find a similar event where some of the Spirit that is upon Moses is given to the 70 elders and they prophesied in the camp.

The Jewish people were not surprised from this event as if nothing like it was ever known, no - they expected events like this. It was their beliefs.

The issue for the audience is one of authenticity - is this a real move of the Spirit or are they just drunk?

So as we read one the real quesiton the audience has isn’t ‘we have never heard of this Spirit thing before, what is the Spirit, what is happening?’ - No - the question they would have had was ‘wow, this is a major prophetic event and move of the Ruach, something we have seen and heard in the history of our people, so what does it mean for us?’.

This also isn’t about the quality of the spirit - before it wasn’t strong enough but now it is or now it is some new spirit - no - this is about quantity of the spirit. It’s the same spirit that we read about in the past, but now it is being poured in mass, and it is being poured on ‘all’ ‘everyone’ in the upper room.

Nor in my opinion are we to understand that in the past the ‘Holy Spirit only came upon people, but now it fills people permanently’. This is a theoligcal teaching that is at odds with the Scritpure - just one example is Joshua who is described as a man who has the Spirit in him, Moses then lays his hands on him, and he is described as a man filled with the spirit of wisdom because of Moses’ laying on of hands.

This was not the first time the Spirit existed or was given. Many make the mistake of thinking people were saved by sacrfices and their own obedience in the past but now they are saved by Yeshua and the spirit.

The Scripture says Abraham offered a sacrifice and it was credited to him as righteousness - no. He beleieved. The Scriptures says Abraham saw the sacrficial system Moses would set up and he rejoiced in it - no. Abraham saw Yeshua’s day and rejoiced.

the Spirit is not new, the method of being justified through faith is not new.

One of the main purposes of the Holy Spirit is related to prophecy. This is what we see at the Pentecost event - the Spirit gives the disciples prophetic utterance to speak in tongues.

These are not tongues of babbling, but these are different languages that were miraculously given to the disciples so that the prophetic Good News of the Kingdom could be proclaimed to the Jewish pilgrims.

This message of Yeshua and the kingdom answers the audience’s question of meaning - ‘vs 12…’what does this mean?’. this event means that Yeshua is the hope of Israel, the messiah they have been waiting for.

So the main message of Acts 2 and Pentecost is the affirmation of messianic end time expectations - and this is what brings the peircing of the hearts of the people.

Acts 2:36–37 TLV

36 “Therefore let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him—this Yeshua whom you had crucified—both Lord and Messiah!” 37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the emissaries, “Fellow brethren, what shall we do?”

They were cut to the heart not because they haven’t heard of Yeshua, but because the signs proved his message was true and God was going to judge them.

Some charistamic and pentecostal groups teach that it is normal for believers to have ‘baptsim of the holy spirit’ after initial conversion and belief.

This means that there is a time difference between initial belief/conversion and receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible doesn’t explicity say this and it has been inferred from this passage amongst a few others.

But we shouldn’t take from this as some do that belief followed by an outpouring of the Spirit as some point later in life is common and normative for all believers.

This was not commonplace - it was not unknown to happen or to happen in the last days - but it was not considered common. it was a miracle, and if miracles happen all the time it is not longer a miracle but just normal.

Some people teach that unless you can speak in tongues you are not saved or don’t have the spirit working in your life. That is going to far.

What we have in this Shavuot event is a speical time in the plan of God and we shouldn’t expect this to be the norm for all believers at all times and to do so diminishes the Shavuot event itself.

Their Expectation Vs God’s Intention

Yeshua said to them chapter 1 that they were to wait in Jerusalem, then from there, through the power of the Spirit, they were to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

The book of acts flows and tends to follow this great commission that Yeshua gave the apostles.

Yeshua had also told them in the Gospels that we he was going to send them the Paraclete (Holy Spirit). In the old KJV translated this greek word as comforter.

But that was at a time when english was clsoer to the latin - cum forte. So what Yeshua was really saying is that I will sedn you the one who will come with strength.

The Holy Spirit was primarily sent for power and strength so that the testimony could be shared with boldness and persistence. This is what Yeshua did for the Apostles while on earth and when he left he sent the Ruach to continue that power on their behalf.

So this message was to go out, and the book of Acts is meant to provide the history and stories of those journies and testimonies along the path of Yeshua’s command.

There are three main groups to consider during the first century - the Jewish people, the Samaritans, the gentiles.

And so what we see in the book of Acts is not one Shavuot style event with outpouring of the ruach, but three that align with the above people groups.

Acts 2 describes the Spirit being poured out on the Jewish audience in Jerusalem.

Soon a great persecution took place, led by Paul, and that scattered the believers all through Judea and Samaria. We read about this in Chapter 8.

The Samaritans were half jews, living in Samaria, and we see an outpouring on them. The Samaritan believers had come to faith, been baptised, but had not received the outpouring of the Ruach until the Apostles came from Jerusalem and laid hands on them.

It doesn’t tell us exactly what that looked like but we do know it came with some type of power that was seen because simon the magician wanted some of that power when he saw what happened.

Then we go to the 10th and 11th chapters where Peter goes to the god fearer, Cornelius, and the Ruach fell on his entire house. We know the story - the jews who were with Peter are amazed that the Ruach was poured out on these god fearing gentiles just as it was on the jews.

This was a paradigm shift for the believing Jews - that God had included the gentiles as participants in the coming kingdom, eternal life, and not simply future servants of exalted Israel.

So we’ve seen three Pentecost style events where the Ruach was poured out - Acts 2, Acts 8, and Acts 10. There is another similar event in Acts 19 where Paul lays hands on disciples who simiilarly receive the Ruach.

What are we to learn from this? That the Shavuot event was the empowerment of the apostoles to spread the testimony of Yeshua in preparation for the harvest.

This was not about the birth of the church, not about slain the spirit, not about speaking in tongues to show they are real beleivers. It was about the harvest - the Torah going forth from Jerusalem.

But it wasn’t a harvest of grain rather a harvest of souls. And even more than the apostles could have even imagined - it included a crop from the gentile world.

What Does This Mean For Us Today?

We need to keep miracles, signs and wonders in their proper framework.

We must not be deceived. The Spirit is not given to make preachers and pastors look good. Not given to promise riches in this life nor health and worldly happiness.

The Spirit is meant to reflect the power and reality of the age to come.

Meaning the power and signs of the Ruach are for the purpose of pointing mankind toward the coming age - one that is brougth through the Day of Judgement.

Signs are just that - a sign. Something that points to the destination. The destination is the coming kingdom aka the kingdom of God aka the kingdom of heaven aka the olam habah aka the world to come aka the new age. All language for the same thing.

The gift of the holy spirit is meant to drive us toward the second coming, the day of the lord. We are not in the hope, we are still hoping.

The gift of the Spirit is designed by God to sustain us in the strength of the Ruach so that we will keep our faith in the crucifixion and so that we will be found guiltless and blameless in the day of his presence.

1 Corinthians 1:4–9 TLV

4 I always thank my God for you because of God’s grace that was given to you in Messiah Yeshua. 5 For in Him you were made rich in every way—in all speaking and all knowledge— 6 just as the evidence of Messiah was confirmed among you. 7 So you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you eagerly wait for the revealing of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. 8 He will also strengthen you until the end—blameless in the Day of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. 9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Yeshua the Messiah our Lord.

In other words Paul is saying that the spiritual gifts manifested amongst the community are for the purpose of building and sustaining the community in preparation for the coming hope.

This is why the message must accompany the sign. The message must be clear that Yeshua is coming to judge all people - and the signs being seen are to confirm that message.

We shouldn’t water down the message - the gift of the spirit is not simply for the purpose of saying ‘God loves you and has a wonderful plan for you life’. That’s true but diluted. The gift of the spirit is not ‘so God can make you fulfilled in life’ that’s true but lacking context.

The gift of the spirit is meant to be seen accompanied by the message that there is a coming hope, a hope of resurrection, a coming king, a coming justice to be brought to the earth and that God requires repentance and holy living - and all of that brings a deep Biblical joy in this life.

The gift of the spirit has a lot of meaning in the Apostolic Scriptures - it is about testifying to the apostolic message about the kingdom, and maintaining the community in the faith until the coming age.

It also means that we should desire the spiritual gifts. There are some people and denominations that teach cessationism - meaning that the spiritual gifts of the spirit ceased at the time of the apostles.

I’m sorry, for me personally, that box is simply too small for my God.

Paul says 1 Cor 14.1

1 Corinthians 14:1 TLV

1 Pursue love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

Our apostle Paul tell us to desire the spiritiaul gifts, especially that we should prophecy. Why prophecy? because it builds up the community - it strenghtens our faith and helps us to hold firm, to sharpen our lifestyle and conform it to the words of God.

We should long to experience the Spirit.

We should be hungry for experiential reality, not just doctrinal facts or historical facts, which are affirmed with the mind.

That’s the stereotypical way of thinking about Western Christianity and especially messianic judaism. We have a list of doctrines; we have a list of behaviors. We believe the doctrines, we do the behaviors, and we infer that we belong to God and that something supernatural is happening, but few experience anything.

That’s why Pentecostalism is succeeding the way it does, because they’re right on this. They’re right to say that to have the Holy Spirit is to have a reality that one experiences.

But we have to align the purpose and message when we do experience it - and this is where much of Pentacostalism falls short.

It also means that we need to live as an expectant people like they did. We are to be a ‘last day people’.

The kingdom is at hand, near, axe is at the root ready to be lifted and swung with a final blow. This is the mindset of the apostles and of the audience and it shoudl be our mindset as well.

Peter quotes Joel and says ‘the latter days’.

So the entire context that the apsoltes are working within relates to the latter days which they saw themselves within. The aposltes beleived they were near the judgment but they were not. They were not wrong, they were ignorant on this, there is a difference. They were not near the judgment, but they didn’t know that, and nor were they supposed to know.

Remember, Yeshua told them it was not for them to know - because our faith is to be one of urgency and expectation.

In Thessalonians Paul says ‘we who are alive and remain’. He doesn’t say “those future people who are alive and remain”. Paul thought himself, as did all the apostles, as part of the final generation before the day of the lord.

Each generation is to see themselves as just that - the one upon which judgement is coming. This is what evokes repentance and sobriety.

The day of the lord, judgement, salavation from the wrath - these are first century jewish end time concepts that we should also hold as central in our thinking and reading of Scripture.

Joel says “then everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved”. Saved from what? Saved from the wrath of God.

This is common language of the prophets. Is 63.1

Isaiah 63:1 TLV

1 “Who is this coming from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah? This One splendid in His apparel, pressing forward in His great might?” “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”

Isaiah 63:4–5 TLV

4 For a day of vengeance was in My heart, and My year of redemption has come. 5 I looked, but there was no one to help. I was amazed, but no one was assisting. So My own arm won victory for Me, and My wrath upheld Me.

This type of thinking is in line with the how the aposltes understood the Scriptures and events of Acts 2.

Romans 5:9–11 CSB

9 How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath. 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11 And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

So the death of Yeshua justified and it reconciled, but our savlation remains bound up with Yeshua until he returns and judges the earth and allow us escape from God’s wrath.

Justified means we are right with God, but saved means we will be saved by escaping the coming wrath. We look forward to salvation, standing upon our current justification.

The events Acts 2 which took place on Shavuot teach us that we need to have the same urgency in light of the eschatology we believe.

The Day of the Lord is at hand - we need to have an urgent response because of that.

The Spirit and miracles are for the sake of the community, to sustain us in our hope of the coming olam haba, world to come.

And the events of Shavuot remind us that we need to be sober minded. The day of judgment is at hand and that must inform how we live now. We must live holy lives.

We are children of the day - children of that day - who live not as if this age is our hope and desination, rather we live fully aware and expecting the coming wrath and hope to be found in the living Yeshua when he returns to judge all men.