The recipients of the Holy Spirit on that day were not coached or primed by other humans. This came unexpectedly, directly from God. Suddenly the temple area was filled with the sound of violent wind rushing through. Whether there were other characteristics like wind, we aren’t told. We do know that the sound "filled the whole house where they were sitting."

One day a group of boys decided to play a game of baseball. After rounding up enough players to form two teams, they were ready to start. With every fielder in place, the basemen all positioned, the batter at the plate, the pitcher called out, "Where’s the ball?" Everybody started looking around at each other, only to find to their disappointment that nobody had brought one. Just as they were about to break up and go their separate ways, the catcher called out, "Wait a minute, guys; let’s not go home yet! Why don’t we just go ahead without it?"

Can you imagine a baseball game without a ball? It wouldn’t be much of a contest, would it? In fact, there would be no game at all!

Playing a game of baseball without a ball would be a lot like trying to live the Christian life without the essential doctrines of the Bible. It just wouldn’t make any sense.

In fact it would leave us in peril according to what the apostle John said in Second John 9: "Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ, does not have God…."

In our ongoing spirit of concern for the doctrine of Christ, we recently began a study series through the New Testament book of Acts. This morning we will continue that study in Acts chapter 2. Today’s message is called, "A Promise Fulfilled" and it’s based on the first 12 verses of Acts 2. The events we are about to read took place on the Jewish feast day of Pentecost, 50 days after the crucifixion of Christ, in 33 A.D. Let’s read it.

We begin now with some:

A. First to note here is that this event described in Acts 2 was predicted before it happened. The prediction came originally by the Old Testament prophet Joel, who wrote hundreds of years before Christ.(1) If you’ll drop down in the chapter to verse 16 you’ll find Peter’s explanation of the happenings of this chapter in these words: "This is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel." Then Peter quotes the prophecy in verses 17 through 21...

The coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost was next predicted by John the Baptist in Matthew 3:11. There we read:

These words were spoken to a mixed multitude of Jews which included Christ’s twelve apostles along with a group of Pharisees and Sadducees who were not right with God. The "fire" John mentioned, in the context, was the fire of judgment. Thus, some present with John would be baptized with the Holy Spirit and some with the fires of judgment.(2)

Both Joel and John spoke of the coming of the Holy Spirit and some miraculous aspects of the event. Neither of them tells us specifically to whom it would happen, just how the event would happen, or when it was to happen (other than in the "last days" as Joel said). Exactly who would be baptized with the Holy Spirit isn’t clarified until Acts 1:5 where it was promised specifically to the apostles.

B. Second, these things happened on a special day of the Jewish calendar. I refer to the Jewish feast day of Pentecost. Verse 1 says, "and when the day of Pentecost had come...."

We learn about the Jewish feast day of Pentecost in Leviticus 23:15-21. Pentecost, as observed by the Jews of the first century, was seven Sabbaths plus one day after Passover Sabbath. It was the day when the first fruits of the barley harvest were gathered and offered to God. The Jews referred to it as "The Feast of Harvest," "The Feast of Weeks. It was a day of festivity and worship in Jerusalem. Jewish men living within twenty miles of the city were required to be there and since the weather was usually favorable on Pentecost (it falls in May on our calendar) the city was usually packed with locals and pilgrims from all over the world. William Barclay writes of Pentecost, "Never was there a more international crowd of Jews in Jerusalem than at the time of Pentecost." Josephus, a Jewish historian of that time records that in some years, as many as three million people attended the feast. The typical Pentecost in Jerusalem was a busy time of international mingling of Jews. It was in this environment that the events of Acts 2 took place.

Verse one says, "And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place."

The "they" here is the 12 apostles. We know that because of Luke’s use of the words "they" or "them" which refer back to the apostles. Keeping in mind that there were no chapter or verse divisions in the original manuscript of Luke’s writing, verse one of chapter two is just a continuation of verse 26 of chapter one. Let’s read it that way to get the proper sense:

The apostles were all together in one place.

What place? They were all together in the Temple in Jerusalem. I’ll explain that in just a moment. But first read verse 2:

Note Luke’s word, "suddenly." This didn’t happen gradually. It was abrupt, even though it had been predicted ahead of time.

Notice the source of this event. Verse 2 says "there came from heaven…." This wasn’t a man-made or man assisted event. The recipients of the Holy Spirit on that day were not coached or primed by other humans. This came unexpectedly, directly from God. Suddenly the temple area was filled with the sound of violent wind rushing through. Whether there were other characteristics like wind, we aren’t told. We do know that the sound "filled the whole house where they were sitting."

Some folks believe that these events happened in the upper room where the apostles had been staying; mentioned back in chapter 1, verse 13. That seems highly unlikely to me, first because verse six says, "And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together...." It is highly unlikely that there was an upper room in Jerusalem that would contain a multitude.

Second, the closing words of Luke’s Gospel, in Luke 24:53, Luke tells us that during the ten days the apostles waited in Jerusalem, they were "continually in the temple, praising God." When you read Luke 24 and Acts 1, the picture that emerges is that the apostles were staying in the upper room and gathered there with the 120 on several occasions. But as the hours of prayer were sounded, they went to the temple just like other Jews staying in the city.

Third, from verse 15 of Acts 2 we learn that this event took place "the third hour of the day." That’s 9:00 AM by our clocks. This was the hour of the morning sacrifice and it seems only natural to assume that devout Jews, present for the Pentecost celebration, would be in or near the temple at that time. The presence of the apostles in the temple would afford many acres of space for the multitude to gather.

Why do I belabor this point? Because it is sometimes assumed that this happened when the apostles were gathered with the 120 brethren who were with them in the upper room and therefore, others besides the apostles received this baptism of the Holy Spirit. That further leads to what I believe is the mistaken conclusion that the 120 were baptized with the Holy Spirit and that therefore, according to some, we today should be also. My study this passage tells me that only the apostles received the baptism of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. I’ll give you further verification of this as we cover the rest of Acts 2. Let’s move on to verses 3 and 4.

Again, notice the pronouns. Trace them back to their last noun antecedent. You’ll find that they refer to the apostles. These "tongues as a fire" came down and rested on each apostle. As this happened each man began to "speak with other tongues, as the spirit was giving them utterance."

The Greek term for "other" in these verses is heteros. We get the prefix of our English word "heterosexual" from it. It means "other of a different kind or an opposite nature." These men who were of one tongue or language were speaking in other languages as the Spirit gave them words. Verses 5 and 6…

The Greek word translated "language" there is dialektos. We get our English word dialect from it. The apostles were speaking known, understood languages or dialects. Those who suggest that this was unrecognizable babble, understood only by the speaker, must ignore this obvious reference to recognizable language. Luke amplifies this reference to language in verses 7 and 8:

What was so amazing about all this? The Galileans were the uneducated class in Israel. That these common, uneducated Galilean apostles could suddenly speak fluent languages they had never learned was remarkable!

By the way, you might note that Luke says that all those who were speaking were Galileans. This is more evidence that shows us that it was the apostles and not the 120 on whom the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost. It is highly unlikely that all 120 were Galileans.

Some have asked the question whether the miracle here was in the speaking of the apostles or the ears of the hearers, since verse eight says that each one was hearing in his own language. That question is easily answered when we look back at verse 4 of this chapter: "and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues...."

What kind of languages were they speaking? We don’t know for sure, but they were speaking whatever languages were represented in the crowd that was present. Luke lists them in verses 9-11.

Those who know much more about languages than I and have investigated the nationalities represented here say that there was the potential for 9 or maybe 10 different languages.

May I digress with you for just a moment? Paul tells us in First Corinthians 14:22, while teaching on the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit present in the early church, that "tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers..."

Understanding that, what was the purpose of the tongues on Pentecost? Was it not to convince by miracle those in the crowd who were unbelievers? That is certainly what it did! Why then do those who claim they can do this miracle today usually do it in meetings of the church only among believers? The "tongues" in that setting are usually unverifiable and for the wrong purpose.

Significantly, Paul predicted that the miracle of speaking in tongues would cease at some time in his future - a point that is in our past, I believe. Paul wrote in first Corinthians 13:8: "love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away."

The three miraculous gifts of tongues, prophecy, and knowledge(3) (the latter word here referring to the miracle of knowing things one had never learned by conventional methods) were to cease at some point. I won’t go into the "when" right now because of our time, but I will cover it in a later message. I only quote Paul now so that some of you don’t think I’m just making things up when I speak of the miracle of tongues ceasing at some point in Paul’s future.

So, what do we have here? (1) We have the apostles receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit which is exactly what Jesus had predicted back in Acts 1:5. (2) We have these miraculous manifestations of wind sounds and tongues (or columns) of fire resting on each apostle. (3) We have the 12 Galilean apostles speaking "the mighty deeds of God" in languages they had never learned. (4) We have a multitude of yet unbelieving people impressed by an evident miracle. We move on now to verses 12 and 13:

Incidentally, do you remember what Jesus said would happen when the Holy Spirit came on these 12 men? We covered it in a previous message.

Guess what? That is exactly what happened. From this point onward we don’t find these apostles lacking something to say or the confidence and attesting miracles to prove it. They spoke with authority. This is the point at which they became inspired to by the Holy Spirit. Their teaching from this point onward would be authentic. They would be Christ’s witnesses, delivering the New Covenant to the world. Jesus didn’t deliver the covenant to the world. According to Matthew 15:24 He was sent only to the house of Israel. Jesus didn’t write Scripture. So who did? These apostles! (And later, certain men called prophets, on whom they laid their hands.)

Peter later wrote about the inspiration of the Old Testament prophets in Second Peter 1:21: "Men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." And look - that is exactly what happened here. Verse 4 of this chapter says that the apostles "began to speak... as the Spirit was giving them utterance."

How does God speak to men today? Follow the chain of communication: God sent Christ.(4) Christ commissioned these apostles whom the Holy Spirit inspired and empowered right here in Acts 2.(5) They and certain selected prophets on whom the apostles laid their hands wrote the New Testament.(6) We read the New Testament – the Word of God for us today – to find out what God wants us to know.(7) My friends, you and I are on the end of this transmission chain, not at the beginning or somewhere in the middle. God has always spoken through certain chosen men and not to the masses directly.(8) Today is no exception. If you want to know the will of God, study this book! Even the early church did the equivalent of this. Later, in Acts 2:42, we see that the newly baptized believers "were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching..." That is what we should be doing. That is what we are doing right now!

Now back to our text… You don’t have events like this transpire without attracting a lot of attention. Go down through this passage and pick out the adjectives and adverbs that describe the reaction of those who were close enough to the temple to hear these things. Verse 6 says some were "bewildered." Verse 7 says they were "amazed" and they "marveled." Verse 12 says they "continued in amazement and great perplexity." Then strangely, in verse 13 we read that some "were mocking."

Perhaps those closest to the apostles who recognized one or more of the languages being spoken were the ones marveling. Perhaps those mocking were those who were far enough away that they didn’t recognize any language and the whole thing sounded like a cacophony of drunken singers.

Certainly some explanation was needed, which sets the stage for what comes next - Peter’s sermon. We are out of time however so that will have to wait until next time.

Footnotes: Please use your back button to return to your place.

1. It is not possible to determine the exact time of Joel’s writing.
2. Be sure to read the verses immediately before and after verse 11. Some equate the "fire" mentioned here with the tongues of fire that appeared on Pentecost. However, in the context of John’s words, it was the fire of judgment he had in mind.
3. The miraculous gifts of tongues, prophecy, and miraculous knowledge, were three of nine miraculous gifts given by the Holy Spirit in the first century A.D. see First Corinthians 12: 8-10. These three are mentioned because they were necessary for the transmission of knowledge from God to man.
4. Hebrews 1:1-2
5. Acts 1:8
6. 1 Timothy 4:14;2 Timothy 1:6
7. Ephesians 2:20; 1 Corinthians 14:37
8. Ephesians 2:20; 1 Corinthians 14:37

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

[Archive]    [Home]   [Comments]   [Search]