Acts 2: 1 – 47
God in the hands of angry sinners
2 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 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? 9 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.” 12 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.” 14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. 18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. 21 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’ 22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— 23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. 25 For David says concerning Him: ‘I foresaw the LORD always before my face, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope. 27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’ 29 “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. 34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”’ 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 37 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?” 38 Then Peter said to them, “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. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” 40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. 46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
There was a sermon preached back in the 1700’s by a preacher named Jonathan Edwards. His sermon which even to this day stirs the hearts of people was titled ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.’ Edwards preached to his own congregation in Northampton, Massachusetts and again in Enfield, Connecticut. The sermon combined vivid imagery of Hell with observations of the world through reference of the scripture.
This is a typical sermon of the Great Awakening, emphasizing the belief that Hell is a real place. Edwards hoped that the imagery and language of his sermon would awaken audiences to the horrific reality that he believed awaited them should they continue life without devotion to Christ. The underlying point is that God has given humanity a chance to rectify their sins. Edwards says that it is the will of God that keeps wicked men from the depths of Hell. This act of restraint has given humanity a chance to mend their ways and return to Christ.
Jonathan Edwards was interrupted many times before finishing the sermon by people moaning and crying out, "What shall I do to be saved?" Edwards' words have endured and are still read to this day. Edwards' sermon continues to be the leading example of a Great Awakening sermon and is still used in religious and academic studies
Today we are going to see another great impacting sermon. This one was delivered by the Apostle Peter. However I believe that you will agree with me that his sermon was titled a little different than Preacher Edwards. Its impact however has also been a standout sermon for centuries longer than Mr. Edwards. I like to title it for my brother Peter as ‘God in the hands of angry sinners.’
The Feast of ‘Sevens’ or Harvest, or Pentecost, was one of the three great feasts at which all Jewish men were required to attend in Jerusalem. It emphasized fruitfulness. It had become associated in the minds of the Jews with the giving and sealing of the covenant at Sinai. Here then was to be another sealing of the covenant as a result of God’s gracious activity towards His people. No more suitable day could have been chosen for the giving of the One Who was to make the church fruitful, and Who was to be the seal in men’s hearts of their ‘anointing’
2 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Suddenly, as they were praying there, there came the ‘sound from heaven of a rushing mighty wind which filled the all the house where they were sitting. It is primarily said to be a noise that they heard not a wind that they experienced. They were surrounded by the noise of a wind. The word used for wind is interesting. It is not ‘anemos’ the usual word for wind, nor is it ‘pneuma’ which we might have expected as symbolizing the Holy Pneuma (Spirit). It is ‘pnoe’. It is used only once elsewhere in the New Testament where it means ‘breath’ and is paralleled with ‘life’ (Acts 17.25). It is, however, more common in the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint) where it most often translates ‘neshamah’ which refers to the ‘breath of life’
Stop and think about this for a moment. Put yourself in with all of the disciples and experience what they did. You are in a locked room with all the windows shut. Everything is dead quiet. Then all of a sudden you hear God breathing. This should cause the hairs on the back of your neck to stand up.
This also agrees with what the Lord did to the disciples as John indicates in chapter 20 verse 22 of his Gospel. In John also it was the breath of the Lord, which, while more gentle noise wise, was none-the-less equally powerful. There He breathed on them and His Apostles ‘received the Holy Spirit’. Here in Acts, then, is an extension to that when the mighty ‘pnoe’ is the breath of God publicly coming in mighty life-giving power so that by becoming one with His body, the church, men might become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1.4). It is a new revelation of the creative and life-giving power of God and the application of it to His people.
3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
There also “appeared to them divided tongues as of fire” sitting on each of them. Previously such fire would descend on the Sanctuary. This would suggest that the fire is here a symbol of the presence of God as covenant-maker and adopter of those whom He has made His own, as protector of His people, and as declarer of His holy commands from the midst of the fire. It therefore signifies a new deliverance, a new presence of God with His people, and a new giving of God’s instruction with the same awesome demand for obedience, as the fire at Sinai and elsewhere signified of the old. Its resting on each of them, in the same way as it had rested on the Mount, is declaring that as God had dwelt on the Mount so He was now permanently indwelling each and all of His people as His new Tabernacle and Temple, while the dividing of the fire demonstrates that each one present is experiencing the fullness of the whole. While therefore His fire is overall and all absorbing, it is also specific and personal to each individual involved.
Here then was the ‘drenching of the Holy Spirit. Here was the revelation of the new presence of God on earth which would be manifested wherever these men were, and would continue to be manifested on all those who through them became partakers of the Holy Spirit. Here was God’s new Dwelling place, these people who were now the Temple of the Holy Spirit. God was here to stay.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
I do not know if you noticed this or not but verse 4 indicates the third emphasis of The Holy Spirit’s action. Please take a note of the progression of the Lord’s
1. There came the sound of a rushing mighty wind/breath, ever the symbol of power. God was revealing that He had given life and power to and through His people.
2. There came the cloven tongues of fire, ever the symbol of God’s purity, and glory, and consuming power and the sign of His indwelling. His people were now to be seen as, and would in fact be, God’s new Temple, His new Dwelling place on earth.
3. There came ‘speaking with other tongues’, resulting from the Spirit filling them for the purpose, which expressed the fact that God was seeking men and women out in His love and speaking personally to those whose individual tongues they were because He knows and is aware of the tongues of all men.
5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 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? 9 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.”
A lot of conversation has been conducted regarding the use of ‘tongues’. First of all God speaks to men and women through languages, through words. If people are to hear God they must understand the tongue with which He speaks and listen to it. When His people gathered before the Mount they were made conscious of His wind, they saw His fire and they heard His words from the midst of the fire. This is especially brought out in Deuteronomy 4 where a great emphasis is placed by Moses on the fact that they saw His fire, and that from it they heard His voice speaking His words to them. From the fire of God came the words of God. Here at Pentecost we have the same picture, the ‘tongues’ of fire sat on each of them, and then the other ‘tongues’ came as a result of the fire, so that the watchers could see the fire and hear His words. God was speaking from the fire of His presence as He had at Sinai.
In this way those who heard the other tongues were made conscious, except in the case of the scoffers, that this was God present among them to speak to them His words in their own native languages. While all spoke either Aramaic or Greek, or both, most of them would be familiar with their own native languages, the languages of the region in which they were born, which were treasured as evidence of their ancestry and of their forebears, and of their own distinctive culture. But they would not expect to hear them so far from home. Yet here now they were made aware that God had sought them out through these Galileans and was speaking to them in the language of home. So those who were receptive, when they heard those native languages on the mouths of the Galileans, recognized that this was a place and an atmosphere in which God was speaking to them in the most personal and loving way. They were made to recognize that the God of Pentecost knew who they were. That God loved them for what they were. And by this their hearts were being opened and prepared for the Spirit inspired words of Peter. Nothing stirs a man like hearing the language of the country of his birth. No wonder that so many then responded. No other sign could quite have opened their hearts to the voice of God in the way that this one did. God had by it demonstrated to them His personal interest in them. This was the first significance of the ‘other tongues’.
The second significance of these ‘other tongues’ was that they were clearly miraculous and declared the wonderful works of God. The Jews believed that the days of prophecy had ceased and would not be renewed until the day of consummation when God again began to work powerfully on behalf of His people. But now here it was apparent that a new day of prophecy had come. This therefore identified these Galileans directly with the outpouring of the Spirit as promised by Joel. This is why Peter will be able to say, ‘This is that’ (verse 16) and be believed. The new day of prophecy has dawned! And God is prophesying to His people through these men, and to each in his own tongue.
Thirdly a further aspect of this speaking in ‘other tongues’ is that it was also a declaration that the judgment of the world resulting from the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 was now over. At Babel had begun the process that led to men being divided through their different languages because they did not want to listen to the voice of God, here was beginning the process of unifying men, of bringing men of different languages together as one, so that they could hear the voice of God together.
So these manifestations of the Spirit’s activity had a crucial part to play in an understanding of what was now happening. They declared that God was speaking to them personally, that the new day of the Spirit and of prophecy had come, and that God was now seeking to unite a world divided at Babel.
12 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.”
Opinions about what was happening were divided. Some were intrigued and even recognized that it somehow held a message for them. They recognized that there was some form of miracle here. In contrast the more cynical merely laughed and said that the men were drunk. However, to the more thoughtful and receptive it would have come home as in some way God Himself speaking to them, for what other explanation for the phenomenon could there be for them hearing their own native language from an unexpected source?
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. 18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. 21 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’
In his reply Peter reveals a combination of what he has learned through the ministry of The Lord Jesus, and what Christ Jesus had made clear to His disciples over His resurrection appearance. Now, newly inspired by the Spirit, Peter enunciated to his listeners what he had learned from our Lord Jesus.
Peter stood up with the eleven. He did not sit as did the Rabbis, and put forth blessed thoughts, he stood and proclaimed. He did not wait for them to come and sit around; he lifted up his voice so that all the great crowds could hear. For what he had to say was for all who were present.
He first points out the unlikelihood of these men being drunk. It is too early in the day. Most Jews would only drink wine when they ate flesh and it was usual to eat flesh in the evening. Furthermore even heartier drinkers were unlikely to have drunk enough to be in such a state by roughly 9.00 am on a Feast Day, for they would not even have had their first meal, and this was a recognized time of prayer. So drinking by this time would simply not have been done. They were here for prayer in preparation for the more religious side of the Feast at the Temple.
He then explains what is really happening. Quoting Scriptures by citing the prophet Joel who had spoken of a coming effusion of the Spirit in the days when God began to act, he declares that God had now begun His promised work of ‘the last days’. ‘This is that’ indicates that what they are seeing this day is a part of that pouring out of the Spirit promised by Joel. Let them now recognize that the days of promise and warning are now here.
The prophecy promises ‘the pouring out of the Spirit on all flesh’. In context ‘all flesh’ means all types of people, sons and daughters, male and female, young men and old men, menservants and maidservants. And that day was also to be marked by ‘prophecies’ such as these they were hearing in their own languages from these men about whom they were commenting. It was especially to be a time of prophesying, and also one of visions and dreams. This identified what was happening with Joel’s prophecy. It was all evidence that the Holy Spirit, God’s own Spirit, was being poured forth.
That day was also to be a time of vivid signs and wonders. Peter had noted that such things were already beginning. In respect of the ‘wonders in the heaven above’ many of them would remember the darkness that had descended on the day of the crucifixion of Jesus. Here in Jerusalem it was not likely to have been forgotten, and certainly not by Peter and the disciples.
Moreover Peter was now expecting that not only the present but also the future would also hold such world-shaking events, for Jesus had told them of what was to come and he knew that such signs would follow the pouring out of the Spirit. It had to be so for the world had crucified the Son of God. They had sent Him away marked ‘Unwanted’. Peter reminded them what his countrymen allowed to be done to a Loving God by evil hating evil men. So he saw what had now happened at Pentecost as the beginning of all that Jesus had promised, and all that Joel had prophesied, but as something that must also issue in judgments on the world. His words not only describe what has just now taken place but also stress what is to come, as a warning to his listeners.
Peter did not see the coming of the Holy Spirit as just a joyous event for His people, although it was certainly that. He saw it in a context of God’s whole dealings with the world and with mankind. God was now beginning His activities of the last days. For those who responded that could only mean joy and gladness and salvation. But for those who rejected the Spirit’s work there could only be gloom, disaster and despair.
He himself had only too recently heard from the lips of Jesus the dreadful and awe-inspiring events which were shortly to happen to Jerusalem and to the Temple which were also inevitably to see the devastation of Israel and carrying away of His rejected people among the nations, and which would result in blood and fire and vapor of smoke, together with the inevitable effects on the visibility of the sun and moon, which the warfare involved would produce.
In view then of what they have seen and of these coming wonders and catastrophes let them now recognize that if they wish to be saved they should ‘call on the name of the Lord’, this means on Jesus Christ. For the wonderful truth is that now, because of what is happening, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. They will find mercy and escape the wrath of God as depicted by the signs mentioned.
Having commenced with the prophetic word from the Old Testament he moves on to the second stage of the apostolic message, a description of the life and death of Jesus, and what has followed. They had recently seen the mighty works, and wonders, and signs, when Jesus of Nazareth had walked among them. They all of them knew about them. These evidenced that God had worked through Him, and had thus approved Him. Let them then remember what they had heard and seen.
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— 23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. 25 For David says concerning Him: ‘I foresaw the LORD always before my face, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope. 27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’ 29 “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. 34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”’ 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Please note the words - ‘Mighty works and wonders and signs.’ The three descriptions stress the completeness of The Lord Jesus’ ministry looked at from three aspects.
1. He had done mighty works, the works of God. He had cast out evil spirits. He had healed the sick in large numbers. He had raised the dead. By this it could be seen that God was active on earth.
2. But these were also wonders. They had revealed His extraordinary power, especially when amalgamated with his miraculous feeding of the crowds and His control over wind and wave.
3. And this leads on to the fact that they were signs of the presence of the Messiah, for, as He had gently pointed out to a despairing John the Baptist that they fulfilled all that the prophets had promised.
They also knew that they themselves were of the people who had caused Him to be crucified and slain. Peter pulls no punches. He will not allow that the Romans should take all the blame. He knew too much of what had happened. Indeed for some of it he had been personally there. He knew that the guilt lay as much, if not more, on the Jews as on the Romans. Nevertheless the Romans are included for they were the ‘lawless men’ by whose hands it was done.
Please note the statement - By the hand of lawless men (or ‘by lawless hands’).’ Is this not what we see also today? This word ‘lawless’ can simply refer to those who transgress the Law, or it can refer to those who are ‘without the Law’ (1 Corinthians 9.21). Thus here it may refer to the Jews as behaving as if they had no Law, or it may be referring to the Romans as behaving in the same way because they do not have the Law of God. But either way (or both may be included) it indicates rebellion against God and His laws.
Nevertheless, he declares, even before he tells them this that it was not an accident, or even an unforeseen circumstance. Let them not really think that they have got rid of The Lord Jesus. Let them now recognize that The Son of God Jesus Christ had also been offered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of Father God. He wants them to know that God’s ways and purposes had not been forestalled, and that this extraordinary event had been of His doing. It had been in accordance with His predetermination that The Precious Lamb of God Jesus Christ should die. His death had been the result of God’s own counsel and wisdom. But His death had not been the end. For God had raised Him up, and had released Him from the pangs of death. Indeed it had not been possible for Him to be held by them because the Scriptures had already declared that He would be raised from the dead.
Peter goes on to declare that this Psalm could not literally apply to David because David did die, and was buried, and because his body did see corruption, as was evidenced by the fact that his tomb was with them to that day. He therefore declares that the literal fulfillment of the Psalm requires its fulfillment of another ‘David’. This fulfillment having not happened to David, it must necessarily happen to the coming David, His Holy One, the Messiah. In this way it would happen to David in his descendant.
Now having given Scriptural proof Peter now applies it powerfully. This Coming King was Jesus, and Him therefore God has raised up, as all His disciples present had witnessed. And having been raised up He has ‘poured forth’ His Holy Spirit. (The Spirit was thought of as ‘poured forth’ because He was thought of by the prophets as like pouring rain). And this present pouring out of the Spirit is proof positive that He has been exalted by God’s powerful right hand. The coming of the Holy Spirit, with the manifestations that indicated the presence of God, demonstrated that He had received the promised Holy Spirit from the Father and had here and now poured it out on His disciples.
He then again contrasts David’s situation with that of Jesus. He had drawn attention to the fact that David was still in his tomb. Now he stresses that, unlike Jesus, David had not ascended into heaven. Here then is One greater than David, great David’s greater son, of whom David had said, “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit you on my right hand, until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet.” David had thus prophesied that his superior ‘son’, Who was really his Lord, would rise to heaven and take His place at God’s right hand, there to await the submission of those who opposed Him.
Peter then brings them to his final conclusion. All the house of Israel, (all those who claimed descent from Jacob), should therefore recognize from a combination of these Scriptures and what has happened here that God has made Jesus, this Jesus Whom they had crucified, both Lord and Christ (Messiah). The crucified Jesus Is also He Who has been raised from the dead and seated at God’s right hand as His anointed King, and as the Lord of glory, and has sent the Holy Spirit to carry forward His work of restoring and revivifying Israel.
As ‘Messiah’ (Christ) Jesus Is the fulfillment of all the hopes of Judaism, and of mankind. He is the Man Who on behalf of men has received kingship and glory and power. All that is to be ours is ours in Him. In Him we have died, because He died. In Him we have been raised, because He was raised. In Him we are seated on the throne, because He is on the throne. We are even now seated with Him in heavenly places, in the spiritual realm, in Christ that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace, His freely offered unmerited favor, in His kindness to us through Him.
As ‘Lord’ - He Is ‘my Lord and my God’. He Is the One Who came from God and returned to God. He Is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. He Is the One Who enjoyed the glory of God with His Father before the world was. So, from having emptied Himself for us He has been restored to the fullness of His Godhood- All praise and blessings belong to You Lord Jesus!
37 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?” 38 Then Peter said to them, “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. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” 40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
What they had seen and heard had convinced many of them. Their hearts and consciences were pricked, and they appealed to the group of Apostles as to what they should do. [Remember back to the beginning of the people who heard Jonathan Edwards, what did they cry out? – The same thing these people do –what must we do?]
Peter tells them what they must do. They are to ‘repent’, to have a change of heart and mind about the Lord Jesus Christ, and about their sin, and turn to Him. They are to be baptized ‘on the name of Jesus Christ’ unto the forgiveness of sins. Then they will receive this same gift of the Holy Spirit as the disciples now had.
42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. 46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
We see here the blueprint on how the church of our Lord Jesus Christ should conduct its services and operations.
A. They continued steadfastly in the Apostles’ teaching. Having responded to Christ they were eager to learn about Him from the Apostles, and to learn more about the significance of His death and resurrection. This would also include learning of His ethical teaching which the Apostles, who would have memorized it, would be able to pass on them word for word. Their sole desire now was that their lives might become pleasing to God, and that they might please their risen Lord. Additionally they would seek to gain an understanding of the Christian application of the Old Testament, for that was their ‘Bible’. By this continual process of teaching the words of Jesus, later called ‘the Testimony of Jesus’, would become fixed in form while it was still fresh in the memories of the Apostles.
B. They continued steadfastly in fellowship. Fellowship means ‘sharing in common’, the maintenance of unity and harmony. There was on openness between them as they met together for worship and all barriers were broken down between them. They walked ‘in the light’ together, sharing each other’s lives, and each other’s problems. They were ‘brothers and sisters’ together.
C. They continued steadfastly in the breaking of bread. The fellowship meal was a regular means of worship in many religions, and here the new Christians are now portrayed as setting up their own fellowship meals, eaten in the presence of God in their houses. They invited one another to each other’s houses and shared their food together. This would eventually develop into the Christian love feast (the Agape) which would be a cause of much joy to all but which would eventually cause such trouble in Corinth
We do not know whether at this stage they regularly celebrated ‘the Lord’s Supper’ with the bread and the wine. It would depend on whether Jesus’ words ‘whenever you drink it’ were interpreted as meaning each Passover or whenever they drank wine. But we may see it as more certain that Luke wanted us to see in the phrase a recognition that they met together in the name of the crucified One, the One represented by broken bread, and if it was not already celebrated wanted us to see in it a link with the future ‘breaking of bread’ in its fullest sense. In Luke 24.35 it was by ‘the breaking of bread’ that the presence of Jesus as risen was made known to two of His disciples.
D. They continued steadfastly in prayers. As Jews they were familiar with daily prayers and would continue to use them, gradually giving them a more Christian slant. In all that they did they remembered God and were faithful in praying, and giving thanks and rejoicing. Since the coming of the Spirit prayer would have attained a new dimension and a new urgency. The coming together in Jerusalem to worship was to be a sign of the new age.
They were filled with reverential fear. As the wonder and signs continued, and people continued to respond, they did not forget the awe that was due to God in the face of the wonderful privileges that they had been given and the new revelations from His word that they were receiving. They had waited long for the new age and now it had suddenly dawned. What they were experiencing was awe-inspiring, and would not soon be forgotten. During the 1970’s Jesus Movement you witnessed similar actions by believers.
Those who believed had all things in common, and sold of their possessions and goods, and divided up the proceeds according to the needs of each. They were open-hearted and generous towards each other. This would be the natural result of the situation combined with their learning about what Jesus had taught. There would be many who were poor in Jerusalem, and such who joined the ranks of the Christians would soon be welcomed and provided for, including the widows and orphans. There were seemingly so many of them that the better off Christians began to sell off their possessions so as to be able to supply the needs of the whole.
The point behind these descriptions is in order to represent the new church as growing and becoming established in the faith, and as showing the love for one another that our Lord Jesus had taught them. Their conversions had been genuine and it was revealing itself in their lives, and in their fulfilling the teaching of Jesus. And it was fulfilling all that the prophets had promised.
