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."
Here we have a list of specific nations that covered most of the first century Roman Empire. There were Jewish communities located in each of these specific countries. With all of these different countries and languages represented, it was astonishing to hear the Disciples of Christ speaking in each of these native tongues. Even more important than the fact that they were speaking different languages was the message that the disciples were proclaiming; they were declaring the “wonderful works of God”. This crowd consisted of “both Jews and proselytes”. In the earliest days of the Church, most of the converts were Jewish. There were a few Gentiles present at Pentecost but they were “proselytes”, this is a reference to Gentiles who had become full converts to Judaism. All who were gathered were confused and astonished by what they were seeing and hearing.
- Let’s take a few moments and examine:
HOW THE JEWS RESPONDED TO WHAT THEY HAD SEEN & HEARD
v12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "Whatever could this mean?" 13 Others mocking said, "They are full of new wine."
- There were different responses from the Jews concerning this pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Some were ‘amazed and perplexed” while others were cynical and derisive. Notice that:
SOME WERE CONFUSED
Those Hellenistic Jews from other parts of the world understood that the disciples were speaking foreign languages and they could not deny the supernatural work that was taking place in their presence. They didn’t know exactly what was going on, but they knew that it was something amazing. Some were confused while others were cynical. Notice:
SOME WERE CYNICAL
The Hebraic Jews did not know the foreign languages that were being spoken, so the speaking of the Believers sounded like gibberish to them. As a result they concluded that the Disciples were drunk. They mocked the Believers and said "They are full of new wine.” New wine was a drink that could have made men drunk, but the disciples were under a different kind of influence at Pentecost, they were being influenced by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In response to their erroneous assessment, Peter stands and addresses this massive crowd of Jews and delivers one of the most important sermons in the history of the Church. Peter wanted these Jews to know that the amazing sights and sounds that occurred on Pentecost were not the result of too much wine. He points out that it was only 9 a.m. and it would be very uncommon for so many people to be drunk at such an early hour. These people were not under the influence of alcohol, what was happening was actually the fulfilment of prophecy.
Peter then begins to reference certain prophecies by the Prophet Joel & King David that spoke of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit and the identity of the Messiah. He used Old Testament scriptures to prove that Jesus Christ is the one and only Promised Messiah. In his sermon, Peter references the life of Christ and the many “miracles, wonders, and signs” that He had performed in their presence. They may not have believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah, but they could not ignore the miracles that He had performed. Peter says that “God did these things through Him in their midst”. However, even after all the miracles that Jesus performed, they took Him “by lawless hands, crucified Him, and put Him to death.”
In that message, Peter lays the death of Christ at the feet of these “men of Israel”. He indicted those Jews who rejected Christ and instigated His crucifixion. They were the ones who cried “crucify” when Pilate asked “what shall I do with Jesus called the Christ?” They were the ones who turned Him over to the Romans who in turn carried out His execution. Peter went on to boldly declare that Jesus had risen from the dead and He is alive! Following His resurrection, the Lord Jesus was exalted to the right hand of God, and now the Holy Spirit had been sent as promised by the Father. This was the explanation of what had happened in Jerusalem earlier in the day.
- Following Peter’s sermon, many of those Jews in attendance were convinced of the truths that Peter had declared. Not only were they convinced, verse 37 shows us that:
SOME WERE CONVICTED
v37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"
These men wanted to know how they could be forgiven; they wanted to know how they could be delivered. Peter replied “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” It is amazing to know that the very people who were guilty of the death of Christ had the opportunity to receive forgiveness and salvation. They were given this opportunity by the very One that they had rejected and demanded to be crucified!
- Some of the Jews in attendance were confused, some were cynical, some were convicted and:
SOME WERE CONVERTED
We are not told how many Jews were in attendance. We are not given an exact number of how many were “pierced to the heart”. But we are told that three thousand of them responded to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. 3,000 men repented, were baptized, born again and filled with the Holy Spirit of God. This is certainly not what they were expecting when they heard the sound of a mighty rushing wind and came running to see what was happening. These men were not expecting to have an encounter with God, they were not expecting to receive salvation and they were not expecting to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
It is very possible that there are some here today who did not come expecting to be changed eternally; but you have heard the truth of God’s Word, you have had and encounter with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and now (like those Jews) you are “pierced to the heart”. The Holy Spirit has convicted you of your sins and convinced you of your need for a Savior.
You may be asking the question “what shall I do?” If so, the proper response is for you to “Repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins”. If you will do this, then you can rest assured that “you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Some amazing things happened when the Holy Spirit arrived and began to move among the people who were assembled on the day of Pentecost. In the same way, some amazing things can happen when the Holy Spirit moves in our midst. I pray that you will be obedient and submissive to the direction of the amazing Holy Spirit of God.
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