Pentecost: The Arrival Of The Holy Spirit (Part 3) Series

PENTECOST: The Arrival Of The Holy Spirit

Part 3

Acts 2:5-13

Over the last couple of weeks we have been studying the subject of “Pentecost: The Arrival Of The Holy Spirit”. So far we have seen that “The Arrival Of The Holy Spirit Transformed The Believers. Today I would like to continue to examine the arrival of the Holy Spirit and focus on how the events on the day of Pentecost affected the Jews who were gathered in Jerusalem. Let’s look to the text and consider the fact that:

B. The Arrival Of The Holy Spirit Confounded The Jews

- Verses 5-13 will show us:

i. Why These Jews Were In Jerusalem

ii. What The Jews Saw On The Day Of Pentecost

iii. What The Jews Heard On The Day Of Pentecost

iv. How The Jews Responded To What They Had Seen & Heard

- We will see that:

a. Some Of Them Were Confused

b. Some Of Them Were Cynical

c. Some Of Them Were Convicted

d. Some Of Them Were Converted

When the Holy Spirt fell on those Believers at Pentecost they began to speak in “other tongues”. The Greek word for “tongues” can be translated “languages” and that is certainly the case in this context. There were people in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost from at least 12 different countries. When they arrived at the place where the Christians were gathered, these Jews were amazed that they could hear the Disciples speaking in their own native languages. It is important to note that the miracle was the “speaking” of the disciples, not the “hearing” of the Jews. Luke says that the Disciples began to “speak in other tongues”. Speaking in other tongues was a miraculous gift provided by the Holy Spirit. Verse 4 tells us that “the Spirit gave them utterance.”

- The Believers were filled with the Spirit, spoke in different languages and astonished the Jews who were witnesses of this miraculous event. I would like to take a few moments and explain:

WHY THESE JEWS WERE IN JERUSALEM

v5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.

The “devout men” here refers to the Jews who had traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost. These men were “from every nation under heaven”. This means that there were people there from all over the known world. When they ran to where the Disciples were, these Jews were probably expecting to hear them speaking Aramaic or Greek. Imagine their surprise when they heard them speaking in their own native languages.

- Let’s move a little farther and examine:

WHAT THE JEWS SAW ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST

After the Spirit fell, the Apostles began to praise God for His mighty works and the fulfilment of His promises. I cannot imagine the joy experienced by these faithful followers of Christ when they realized that they were the recipients of the promise given by God through the Prophets and through Jesus Christ Himself. The disciples were experiencing a supernatural move of God and the Jews were witnesses of this miracle. However, the Jews did not recognize this as a move of God, they were confused and some even theorized that the disciples were drunk. This leads us to:

WHAT THE JEWS HEARD ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST

v6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?

The first thing that this multitude of Jews heard was the sound of a mighty rushing wind. Upon hearing this sound they ran to where the Believers were gathered. The Jews immediately recognized these followers of Jesus as “Galileans”. Galileans were inhabitants of the rural area of northern Israel near the Sea of Galilee. They were a people who had a very distinct accent. You may remember that one of the reasons Peter was identified as a follower of Christ in the courtyard was because of his Galilean accent. (Matthew 26:73 After a little while those standing there approached and said to Peter, “You really are one of them, since even your accent gives you away.”)

Galileans were viewed as being unsophisticated by the Jews from Judea. When these Jews arrived, they heard these uneducated Galileans fluently speaking many different languages. Verses 9-11 record all the different countries and regions that were represented in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Notice: v9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,11 Cretans and Arabs--we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God."