“What’s the Point of Pentecost?”
Acts 2:1-41 5.13.07
Lloyd John Ogilvie asks the question, “if you asked the average Christian, which of these events they could most do without: Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, or Pentecost, which do you think most would choose?” Probably Pentecost, and yet without denying the force and significance of the other three, we cannot do without Pentecost! So today, we ask, “What’s the Point of Pentecost!” If you asked the average Christ-follower that question, you might not get the right response. If we played “word association” with the word “Pentecost”, chances are we’d get “speaking in tongues” from a lot of folks. But were speaking in tongues an end in themselves? Today, some folks seem to think so. But the point of Pentecost wasn’t speaking in tongues…let’s consider what the point really was! PRAY
José Luis de Jesús Miranda (b. 1946) is the founder and leader of Growing In Grace International Ministry, Inc., a new religious movement based in Miami. Miranda claims to believe that his life and teachings supersede those of Jesus, a point which he emphasizes by referring to himself as the Antichrist and by exhibiting a "666" tattoo on his forearm. He has also previously referred to himself as "Jesus in the flesh". Most recently, followers have shown their support by getting "666" tattoos on their bodies. In early 2007, he acknowledged others’ claims that he was the Antichrist and explained that the term is true. He says it applies because people are no longer to follow Jesus, his mission having concluded with his death on the cross. (Wikipedia)
Well, aside from the resurrection, and the ascension, the work of Christ was not finished even then—and in fact, it is not finished today, for His Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and does His work!
I. Anticipating the coming of the Spirit - :1
The disciples were together again in one place, having chosen Matthias as successor to Judas, presumably praying and waiting as Jesus had instructed them to. And then, to them assembled,
II. The coming of the Spirit - :2-4a
This outpouring of the Spirit of which we’ve read took place a little over 7 weeks after Good Friday, effectively. A good bit of this time, of course, Christ was appearing to the disciples, giving proof of the resurrection, and so it isn’t long at all after the Ascension when the Spirit comes in response to the promise of Christ. And He comes “suddenly” – the Spirit isn’t on my time schedule; He cannot be summoned as a genie in a bottle; He’s not my cosmic bellhop. Notice the descriptions:
A. Sound like wind
B. Tongues like fire resting
This must have been an amazing thing to witness, don’t you think? This incredible sound, loud enough that it was heard by others in the surrounding area, maybe like the deafening sound of a tornado up close. Beyond this, apparently gently resting above the heads of each of the believers, were tongues of flame, a terrifying sight, quite frankly, something almost out of a modern-day sci-fi film. These sounds and sights were the audible and visual representation of the Holy Spirit of God, come in response to the promise of Christ. And this wasn’t only for the apostles; note the
C. Filling of each Christ-follower
This Holy Spirit filling was for everyone there. Remember that the filling of the Spirit involves the control of the Spirit, and that’s what we’re seeing here: they began
D. Speaking with other tongues as Spirit empowered
What was going on? It was a witness to others of the mighty works of God, only in tongues they’d never learned.
What is Luke’s understanding of what was going on here?
Not inebriation; during a festival such as Harvest, Jews fasted during the morning anyway
Not merely a miracle of hearing, though some have suggested this, the idea that these followers of Christ spoke in ordinary language but the hearers heard otherwise. Luke says specifically that they began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit enabled them.
Not gibberish or some kind of ecstatic babbling
Supernatural ability to speak in an unlearned tongue, in a language that the speakers had never studied. There is discussion about whether or not this is the same type of tongues Paul refers to in I Corinthians 14, which some take to refer to a special prayer language, but that’s not germane to our purposes here. These were real languages spoken by real people but unlearned by those doing the speaking.
John Stott finds symbolism in each of these particular manifestations of the Spirit, as a new age is ushered in at Pentecost, and he does so by considering the typology used in the rest of the Bible for each of these things. Wind symbolizes power, fire purity (as we see in Isaiah 6), and tongues the universal nature of the church as opposed to the idea that God was God of the Jews only. Without definitively suggesting that this is what God had in mind in working this way, it is something to consider, given that the Spirit’s work does purify us from within, that He provides power for witness and service, and that the church’s message and ministry is for the whole world.
III. Results of the coming of the Spirit –
:4b-13
A. Gathering together of Jews
The feast of Pentecost was a time when pilgrims would make their way to Jerusalem from all over the known world, one of three big parties that the Lord commanded the people of Israel to observe yearly (so much for the idea that God is a cosmic killjoy!), as is recorded in Exodus 23. This was the Harvest festival, also known as Pentecost. Pentecost means “fiftieth”; it was held fifty days after the Feast of the Passover—and remember, this was the feast that Christ had celebrated in the Upper Room with the disciples, vesting it with special significance; remember? He’d said, “this is My body, broken for you”, and “this cup is the new covenant in My blood”; no longer when you eat this bread and take this cup should you look back to Passover lambs and blood sprinkled over the doorpost, but rather to Me! This we remember when we take the Lord’s Table together.
But not only were there Jews from all over the known world gathered there in Jerusalem, they came running when they heard the sound—this was something that obviously was loud enough that it wasn’t merely limited to the room where the disciples had gathered. This was the timing and working of God’s unleashed Holy Spirit! And there were many named
B. Emotions – “bewildered, amazed, astonished, amazed, perplexed”
These folks were, to put it in the modern vernacular, “freaked out!” They’d never seen anything quite like this (nor have we); they reacted just as we would have, and Luke uses about as much exclamatory language as we read anywhere in Scripture to try to capture the emotions of these hearers and witnesses.
C. Questions
This is only natural; after they stand mouth-gaping for awhile witnessing this spectacle, there are natural questions: “what gives?” “What’s all this stuff about?” We seek answers naturally as human beings; when tragedy strikes, even though the answers we receive won’t change the outcome, we want to know what happened. What possessed a tormented senior at Virginia Tech to take out his frustrations on a group of innocent strangers? Why did the plane crash, even though the pilot was experienced? What was in the bottle Michael Vick tried to take on the plane in Miami? Inquiring minds want to know! And thus the need to seek out an explanation for the events that were ringing in their ears and parading before their eyes. But this did not mean that all wanted to honestly seek the truth, for the witnesses had
D. Choices – “drunk with wine” (while others listened and responded)
Two reactions to the work of the Spirit are instructive to us. Some mocked, while others, as we’ll see, accepted. This does not mean that we take anything and everything that comes down the pike and baptize it into the kingdom; there are religious charlatans aplenty. On the other hand, it should be a word of caution to some of us who are so analytical, or who might think that we’ve got the “God thing” all figured out, to suggest that we don’t have God in a box, that He might do something that busts outside our paradigms, that we attempt to corral Him to our own detriment.
IV. The message of the Spirit - :14-40
I want you to notice what the incredible display of power, of signs and wonders, led to: the relatively ordinary, mundane if you will, message of the truth of the gospel. Not that the gospel is mundane, mind you, but that this mighty move of the Spirit paved the way for the preaching of the Word of God; this once-in-history outpouring at Pentecost led to, was explained by, paved the way for something that happens millions of times a week in our world today, and has happened how many billions of times throughout history: the simple preaching of the Bible. Peter seizes the initiative to explain to these Jews who’d gathered just what it was they were witnessing, and just as importantly, its significance in their own lives. The task of the Bible teacher, the role of the preacher, is really to do two things regarding the text, to answer two questions: 1.) “what?” 2.) “So what?” I try to organize my speaking each week in such a way that I answer those questions: what does the Bible say, and what difference does it make in my life? This is exactly what Peter does. Let’s briefly look at the outline of his message:
A. The plan of God in history
What’s happening is not an accident; it’s not evidence that a bunch of people have gotten drunk either. Peter grounds the events of the day in the plan of God for history; remember that we said at the outset of this study that the book of Acts is unique among religious literature in that many faiths wouldn’t care about the specifics of the actions of its principal players, but Christian faith is a historical faith. In the AJC this week was a typical article from a typical pagan who engaged in the typical patronizing, sloganeering style that characterizes such liberal-types, railing about what he found to be the silliness of believing anything other than Darwinism to explain man’s origins. Darwinism, according to his tired screed, is compatible with the Bible—compatible, that is, if you gut the Bible of literal meaning, count its teachings as well-intentioned and morally upright myths, and posit God as an irrelevant, 98-lb.-quasi-deity of dubious existence. No…if God didn’t create the universe as Genesis 1 declares, then let’s take a pass on all of this stuff. Peter doesn’t hesitate to explain that what God has done here was
i. Foretold by prophets
Peter says, “this is what is happening here and now, the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy”. The “last days” are currently happening, ushered in at Pentecost. He says that there’ll be signs and wonders, that men and women alike will prophesy, and that the events of this day are in direct fulfillment of that centuries-old prophecy. This idea that all will prophesy needs a tad of explaining. We are all, men and women alike who open themselves up to the work of the Spirit, given an understanding of God such that we are able to witness to the work of Christ in our lives and the need for Christ in others. There is no Christ-follower who cannot be a witness; there are those who will not be one.
Further, though prophets foretold these events, they’re
ii. Enacted by God
God says, “I will” do these things; it is the work of God that is going on. But in all of this God is
iii. Pointing men to decision
“Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”, the prophet says and Peter repeats. There is a moment of decision in each person’s life; what will I do with the evidence that is presented to me? We’ll speak more of this in a few moments.
B. The work of God through Christ
Joel prophesied this work of the Spirit, but we interpret Pentecost through Jesus, not Joel, for it all points ultimately to Him. “Mighty works and wonders and signs” is the way Peter puts it—but while he mentions it, and its significance, he doesn’t dwell on it. Interestingly, the very thing that those without Christ claim to admire so much about Him, as though it were all He did—His teaching—isn’t even mentioned by Peter. It’s not that Christ’s teaching is insignificant, far from it, but in Peter’s first recorded sermon, it’s not Christ’s moral teaching that stands out, or even gets mentioned, but rather the heart of Christ’s work, which is
C. The death of Christ
Also interesting is that this very Peter, who had only a few months earlier railed against the idea that Christ would sacrifice Himself, makes that crucifixion the centerpiece of his message. Funny what a resurrection will do…but we’ll get to that in a moment. He attributes Christ’s death on the cross to two equally-culpable entities: first, Christ died
i. Because of God’s plan
It is the definite plan of God, it is the exhaustive foreknowledge of God, that caused Christ to be delivered to Calvary’s cross; in fact, it is God the Father Who willfully carries this out! “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” No accidents here; it was God’s giving of Christ that caused Him to be put to death as He was! Second, Christ was crucified
ii. By sinful men
Peter doesn’t let the actors off the hook; “you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” The supposedly pious Jewish religious leaders violated not only God’s law, but their own in their zeal to rid themselves of Christ, but the blame falls as well on the many who called out for the blood of Christ, who demanded His crucifixion. Peter says, “you” crucified Christ; he doesn’t hold back or hesitate to lay the blame directly on his hearers. You say, “but some of his listeners weren’t there, and almost certainly some others were sympathetic to Christ!” And that’s true…but it’s also true that each of us, by virtue of our sin, and every person who’s ever lived, again by virtue of their sin, is culpable as well. Who is calling out for Christ’s death there on that Friday we call “good”? Who is erecting the cross in the ground? Who is driving the nails in His hands and feet? Mel Gibson got it right; the only place in which he appeared in “The Passion of the Christ” was when he held the nails that were being driven into the hands and feet of Jesus. I held the nails! I drove them in with the hammer! I condemned Him to die! I crucified Jesus! And Peter, who had in fear cowered just a few weeks earlier at the thought of owning up to Christ, now stood boldly and fearlessly and said, “you folks are guilty!” Funny what the coming of the Holy Spirit will do…but Peter continues:
D. The resurrection of Christ by God
Ah, here is the capstone: Jesus not only didn’t remain in the grave, but He couldn’t! It was not possible! How you gonna hold God down? A grave, a big rock, and a few soldiers? God had created the entire universe, and had breathed the breath of life into human beings, and these are going to keep Him in the ground? I don’t think so! And thus, in verse 32, Peter says that he and His fellow disciples were witnesses of these things. What else explains his boldness? What else explains the continued devotion of all of the disciples save the traitorous Judas? And what does Pentecost now vouch for? The reality of the resurrection, that’s what. And he backs this up with
E. The exaltation of Christ
As Stott says, “God exalted Him to be in reality and power what He already was in right.” This answers the question of where Christ went when He ascended before their eyes, what His nature and role really were, that of being ruling at the right hand of God, Christ the God-man now glorified. This is backed up by
F. The testimony of David
Looking forward to these events, David had prophesied. We don’t have time to go into this today, but Peter further makes his points from Scripture by appealing to the most-respected king in Jewish history, the writer of most of the Psalms, the giant-killing King David. There’s some grist here for further study, to be sure; suffice it to say for our purposes that Peter used the Hebrew Scriptures to point these wondering Jews to the reality of Christ and the Spirit. And in verse 33, Peter finished up with a masterful
G. Interpretation of the events of the day (according to Scripture)
“This is what’s happening right here, right now”, is what Peter was saying; all of this seeming mayhem is none other than the fulfillment of centuries-old prophecies, and with this, we find him
H. Calling for a decision
The response of the listeners was that they were moved on several levels; “cut to the heart” is the way the Scripture puts it. And Peter points them to the reality that they now, armed with this evidence and explanation, are forced into a decision!
Remember the words of Christ in Matthew 16? He asked His apprentices what the scuttlebutt on the street was regarding Him, and Peter answered, “Lord, some say you’re the prophet Elijah, come back to earth, or one of the other prophets”. And then Jesus turned the question back to Him and said, effectively, “ok, what is your verdict?” What do you think of Christ? Who is He? Is He a good man? That is an impossible position, though it’s quite popular today; the Oprahzation of our culture has created of tolerance the highest virtue in such a way that exclusive truth claims are the one thing we should not make, and thus we can say, “Jesus was a good man”, but to claim that He is the only Way to Heaven is to be intolerant.
Except, of course, that that is precisely what He claimed for Himself. Except, of course, for the fact that He claimed to be God—and if He wasn’t, He was a blaspheming liar—but if He was, well, then we can’t very well slide Him right onto a shelf of equal religious leaders, can we? Except, of course, that He told people to pin their eternal hopes on Him and Him alone. Except, of course, for the fact that there is good, solid evidence to back up the fact that He rose bodily from the grave. And for each person today, just as for each person listening to the voice of Peter giving this message, there comes a time of decision—what will you do with Jesus Christ? Will you turn to Him in faith? Your sin separates you from a holy God, and His wrath will rightly fall upon the sin of mankind; His grace, however, has made a way for us to be reconciled to Christ, and it is through faith in Christ.
Peter calls for individual repentance, which entails a personal change of heart and a personal confession of sin; these Jews were not going to be “safe” simply because they were Jews, but they had to as persons repent. Repentance is an antidote to the “easy believism” of our own day and age, where according to some, if we make a few mental nods in Jesus direction, we’re forever forgiven, never mind repentance, never mind the acceptance of Christ for Who He is: Lord. Interestingly, Luke does not record Peter specifically mentioning “belief” or “faith”, but in verse 44, it’s evident that this was taking place as well, for the group is called ‘believers”. In the back-and-forth theological argument, “which comes first, repentance or faith”, though I see those as two sides of the same coin really, that we honestly don’t do one without the other, I see faith as preceding repentance, and these people were ready to believe the facts about Christ.
Peter points them to repent of sin, and then he adds, “be baptized”. Jews regarded baptism as necessary only for Gentile converts, and thus to submit to it in this context was proof of the genuineness of their faith. It is not that baptism saves us—we’d have to reinterpret many other clear passages of Scripture to make that claim—but that baptism has been, in most cultures except perhaps our contemporary American evangelical culture, a clear mark of one’s profession of faith. Somewhere along the line, we got off track, I think, in evangelical churches; we speak of “professions of faith”, whereas in the New Testament, the “profession of faith” wasn’t words spoken, but rather submission to baptism. No, baptism doesn’t play into our salvation, but it clearly was very important in the New Testament, that subsequent to a rational decision to place one’s faith in Christ, baptism was the expected act.
And Peter promises that forgiveness of sins will result, and the Holy Spirit will be given as a Gift to all who repent. But Peter didn’t stop there; he kept on encouraging acceptance of the gospel, and the “saving” of themselves from a corrupt generation. How does this happen? Through identification with the visible body of Christ, and through that body being the Body, as it ought to, which we’ll talk about on preview Sunday next week. Now note
V. The results of the Spirit’s message and work - :41
And 3000 people believed what he had to say, put their faith in Christ, and participated in a massive ceremony of baptism. No supernatural signs are recorded of these newly coming to Christ, but they are formed into the church, along with the 120 who were there initially. What an encouragement this must have been to the small group of Christ-followers! The fledgling church was off!
Practical Application
• The point of Pentecost is that the disciples received the power of the Holy Spirit so that they might be witnesses of Christ.
“You shall be My witnesses”, Christ had said in Acts 1:8, and this, not the fantastic tongues-speaking or the roaring wind or the flames of fire resting above their heads, is the point of the coming of the Spirit. The Spirit changes us from the inside out and empowers us to gout and be His witnesses.
• Never try to put God into a box.
• The very center of the gospel message is Jesus Christ.
We proclaim the same gospel, and it’s centered on Jesus. A lot of people today are comfortable talking about God; this is a point Joe Stowell made several years back in a message I heard not long after 9/11. He said that everybody is comfortable talking about God these days; hardly anybody blanches at such talk. But talk about Jesus, and about Him being the exclusive way to God, and the uniqueness of Christ in a world full of religious leaders, well, Jesus isn’t PC, don’t you know! But Jesus is the heart of the gospel, the message of the gospel, and if we don’t proclaim Jesus, we aren’t proclaiming the gospel. This was Peter’s message, centered around Jesus, and it’s ours today.
