Lesson: Acts 2:1-13
Golden Text: “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4).
INTRODUCTION. The early church was characterized by power that came from the indwelling Holy Spirit. In our lesson this week, we learn how ordinary believers were transformed into bold messengers of the gospel when they received divine power from the Holy Spirit. The background for this lesson begins just before Jesus’ ascension into heaven. After His resurrection the Lord appeared to His disciples over a forty day period (see Acts 1:3). During that time Jesus commanded His disciples to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the coming of the Spirit (see Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5) which would empower and equip them to be special witnesses for Christ. According to Acts 1:15, there were about 120 believers including the apostles, in Jerusalem at this time. After Jesus ascended into heaven, the apostles, led by Peter determined to select another believer to replace Judas as the twelfth apostle. Peter said this would be in fulfillment of Psalms 69:25 and 109:8.
II. THE PROMISE OF THE SPIRIT (Acts
2:1).
After they selected Matthias to replace Judas, Luke
begins our text by writing “And
when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one
place.” The phrase “day
of Pentecost” refers to the day this feast fell on. The Feast of
Pentecost was one of seven feasts that Israel was to observe according to the
Law (see Leviticus 23). The term is from a Greek word that means
“the fiftieth day” and it was observed fifty days after the Passover Sabbath
(see Leviticus 23:15-16). This means that it falls on a Sunday in
either May or June. Pentecost was also called the Feast of Weeks
(see Deuteronomy 16:10). The phrase “they were all with
one accord in one place” seems to refer to the apostles who were
gathered in the upper room (see Acts 1:13).
III. THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT (Acts
2:2-4)A. The mighty wind (Acts 2:2-3).
1. (vs.2). At this point Luke writes “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.” All of a sudden these believers heard a sound that they compared to “a rushing mighty wind.” This sound “filled all the house where they were sitting.” The reference to “house” appears to indicate that the disciples were in the upper room when this happened, but they could’ve been in the temple since the temple was often called a “house” (see Luke 6:4; 19:46). We should not focus so much on where the believers were when they heard this noise. The focus should be on the fact that this was a manifestation of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
2. (vs. 3). Along with the sound of a wind filling the house, Luke also says “And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.” The appearance of “cloven tongues like as of fire” describes a visible manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s arrival. This no doubt was a fulfillment of John the Baptist’s words about the Holy Spirit baptizing with fire (see Luke 3:16) as well as the prophet Joel’s prophecy concerning the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (see Joel 2:28-29). The Spirit appeared as “tongues of fire” most likely because tongues symbolize speech and the communication of the gospel. Fire symbolizes God’s purifying presence. On Mount Sinai, God confirmed the validity of the Old Testament Law with fire from heaven (see Exodus 19:16-18). Similarly, on Pentecost God confirmed the Holy Spirit’s ministry by sending what appeared to be fire. At Mount Sinai fire came down on one place, but on Pentecost fire came down on many believers symbolizing that God’s presence is now available to all who believe in Him. Note: God made His presence known to this group of believers in a spectacular way---violent wind, fire, and His Holy Spirit. God may reveal Himself to us in recognizable ways, but we should not expect to hear from God in that way. Elijah also needed a message from God. There was a great wind, then an earthquake, and finally a fire. However God was not present in any of those. God’s message came in a gentle whisper (see I Kings 19:10-13). God may use dramatic methods to work in your life or He may speak in gentle whispers. For that reason, we need to wait patiently and always listen.
B. The miraculous speech (Acts 2:4). When the tongues like fire sat on everyone present, Luke then says “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” The fact that they were “filled with the Holy Spirit” refers to Christ’s promise to the disciples just before His ascension that “Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence” (see Acts 1:5). The apostles needed this empowerment in order to carry out the Great Commission (see Acts 1:8). As proof of the Spirit’s presence, they all “began to speak with other tongues.” This means that they were able to speak other known languages that they had never learned. This gift would be necessary as they would soon be witnessing to Jews from all over the known world who spoke many different languages. We know that this was a miraculous thing because the disciples could only do this “as the Spirit gave them utterance” or as the Spirit gave them words to speak.
IV. THE PRESENCE OF THE SPIRIT (Acts 2:5-13)
A. The astounded crowd (Acts 2:5-6).
1. (vs. 5). At this point Luke says “and there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.” Luke informs us that many Jews had returned to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. They were called “devout men” because of their willingness to come to Jerusalem to attend the various Jewish feasts. These Jews came from “every nation under heaven.” This simply means that Jews came from every part of the known world. By this time in Jewish history, many Jews had been displaced throughout the Greco-Roman world as a result of being under the rule of many foreign nations.
2. (vs. 6). Here Like writes “Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.” Word spread rapidly that something extraordinary was happening, and crowds of people gathered where the disciples had assembled at this time (probably in the temple area). The crowd was “confounded” or astounded by what they saw and heard. What was so astounding to the crowd was that each person heard these disciples speaking in his own language, not some unknown gibberish (see I Corinthians 14:1-12, 22-23). Note: Unfortunately Bible students argue over the type of tongues spoken in Corinth (see I Corinthians chapters 12-14), but there is no argument over the fact that these tongues or languages spoken on Pentecost were understandable to the hearer. This is the only place in Scripture where we have a description of the gift of tongues. No one has any idea what unknown tongues were as used in Corinth. What we do know is that whatever the Corinthians were claiming to be the gift of tongues led Paul to address the problem it was causing. True spiritual gifts will not cause debates.
B. The amazed crowd (Acts 2:7-8).
1. (vs. 7). Not only was the crowd confounded at what was happening, Luke also says “And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?” Those in the crowd were amazed to hear these “Galileans” speaking in their different languages. “Galileans” were considered unlearned people (see Acts 4:13). It was not unusual for people to be able to speak foreign languages in the early days of the church. Many people were familiar with two or more languages as a result of being subject to conquering nations. What amazed these crowds of people was the fact that those who were speaking in different languages were exclusively Galileans or from Galilee. These Jews visiting Jerusalem at Pentecost were part of the Jewish Diaspora or dispersion and would not have been surprised if these disciples had spoken Greek, the common language of the Roman world.
2. (vs. 8). The people in the crowd continued to say “And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?” They were wondering how they could be hearing the dialects of their birthplaces coming from unlearned Galileans. What was happening was what Paul referred to in I Corinthians 14:22, “Wherefore tongues (languages) are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not.” Note: We can’t be sure how the message was shared that day. However, it seems most likely that each apostle spoke in a different language and the people would go to hear the one that spoke in their particular language. But regardless of how things happened, we are sure that the disciples preached the message the crowd needed to hear in order to be saved (see Acts 2:15-40; Romans 10:17). The sharing of the gospel on that day was in line with God’s plan for the gospel to be preached “to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (see Romans 1:16).
C. The astonished crowd (Acts 2:9-11).
1. (vs. 9). Now Luke begins to tell us what countries all of these Jews came from. He wrote “Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia.” Those Jews identified as “Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia” all came from places which were east of Jerusalem. It was the general area where Jews had been taken captive about six hundred years earlier by the Babylonians. When the captivity ended, many Jews returned to their homeland but many more stayed in the lands of their captors. “Judea” was the province where Jerusalem was located. Those who came from there had the shortest distance to come to Jerusalem for Pentecost. The Jews who came from “Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia” were from what is known today as Turkey.
2. (vs. 10). In this verse Luke continues to name the countries from which the Jews came. This included “ Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes.” The lands of “ Phrygia, and Pamphylia” were also in what is modern day Turkey. Of course “Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene” were in North Africa, Cyrene being a city in Libya and also the home of the man who was forced to carry Jesus’ cross (see Matthew 27:32). Egypt was where the Hebrews were enslaved for over 400 years before the Exodus. But as time went on, many Jews found their way back to Egypt and there was a large number of Jews in Alexandria, Egypt (see Acts 18:24). The “strangers of Rome” included “Jews and proselytes.” The term “Jews” refers to those who were born into Judaism, and “proselytes” were converts to Judaism. Jewish proselytes had all the rights and privileges of natural born Jews. As in other major cities, there was also a very large Jewish population in Rome (see Acts 18:2; 28:17).
3. (vs. 11). Continuing Luke includes “Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.” The island of “Crete” was south of Greece and was the place where Paul later left Titus to “set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city” (see Titus 1:5). “Arabia” was the large region southeast of Judea. Arabia is defined differently today, but in New Testament times the desert areas bordering Judea was referred to as Arabia. Paul went to Arabia after his conversion (see Galatians 1:17), and he said that Mount Sinai was in Arabia (see Galatians 4:25). Luke gives this list of nations that were represented in Jerusalem to emphasize that all of these Jewish visitors were hearing the “wonderful works of God” in their own languages. Of course there were probably other nations represented that Luke didn’t include.
D. The accused disciples (Acts 12-13).
1. (vs. 12). After naming many of the cities represented by the Jews in Jerusalem on Pentecost, Luke here writes “And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?” As with most situations where God has demonstrated His power, even though they all were amazed, the crowds were still perplexed about what all of this meant.
2. (vs. 13). In addition to those who were amazed and perplexed, Luke in this verse writes “Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.” The skeptics in the crowd were “mocking” or making fun of what was happening and even accused the disciples of being “full of new wine.” Whether or not these skeptics were just joking is irrelevant. At any rate they were making fun of God’s work. They were actually accusing the disciples of being drunk. Note: In verse 15 which is not a part of our lesson, Peter quickly refuted this charge declaring that they were not drunk, but what everyone was seeing was prophecy being fulfilled (see Acts 2:15-21). Peter went on to preach the gospel assuring everyone in the crowds that they too could receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (see Acts 2:38). As a result, about three thousand were saved (see Acts 2:41) giving birth to the church on the Day of Pentecost.
IV. Conclusion. God chose Israel to be a witness to the Gentiles. But instead of understanding His purpose, they became arrogant and flaunted their special relationship with Jehovah in front of the rest of the world. Then, rather than evangelize the Gentiles, they turned from God to the Gentiles’ idols. The miraculous gift of other tongues or languages showed another part of God’s purpose: it was evident that He would now speak to the Jews through Gentile languages.
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