PENTECOST
Acts 2 verses 1-13
Everyone loves to celebrate Christmas. Even the most pagan of people in this community celebrates Christmas. They may not know the true meaning, or even care about it. When Easter comes the world recognises it as important, at least for Christians. However today is Pentecost and most people have no idea what today signifies or means. Even within the church there is genuine ignorance concerning Pentecost and what actually occurred on that day in history. So this morning I thought it would be appropriate for us to look at Acts 2 and the historical recording of Pentecost.
CONTEXT
As ever I am going to set this passage in its context. The author of the Acts of the Apostles is Luke, we read that in 1.1 and he is writing to Theophilus. Luke has recorded in his gospel the life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus and in chapter 1 of Acts he records the ascension into heaven of Christ and the choosing of Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot, who had hung himself after betraying Christ. Now in chapter 2 we read of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Feast of Pentecost, this is significant as we shall see. The disciples (from chapter 1) had been instructed by Christ Jesus to wait in Jerusalem until power from on high had descended upon them and then they were to take the message of Christ to Jerusalem, Samaria and the ends of the earth.
PENTECOST.- VERSE 1.
Pentecost was a Jewish festival and was celebrated 50 days after the Passover. Originally it was the celebration of the first fruits of the wheat harvest but by the time of Christ it had come to celebrate the giving of the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai. So for the Jew it was the celebration of the Law and the renewal of the Mosaic covenant. It was no accident of history that this was the day that God chose to send the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, and subsequently His church. The contrast between the Law and the OT covenant and Christ (who is the fulfilment of the Law) and the NT covenant is sharply focused on the day of Pentecost. Under the old covenant the day signified the coming of the Law but under the new covenant it signified the coming of the Holy Spirit.
SIGNS OF PENTECOST – VERSES 2-4.
The coming of the Holy Spirit in the bible is often accompanied by physical signs and on the day of Pentecost it was no different. In each of the three verses there is an accompanying sign or manifestation of the presence of God.
VERSE 2 – ‘SOUND LIKE THE BLOWING OF A MIGHTY WIND.’ In both the Hebrew and the Greek the word of ‘wind’ and ‘spirit’ are the same – ‘ruah’ in Hebrew and ‘pneuma’ in Greek. This enables John for example to use ‘pneuma’ to speak of the blowing of the wind and the movement of the Spirit in John 3. It also enables Paul in his second letter to Timothy to speak of Scripture being ‘God-breathed’ (pneumatikon). However I think the significant passage in connection with the ‘wind’ of verse 2 is to be found in Ezekiel 37 verses 9-14 READ. Ezekiel here prophesies that the wind as the breath of God will breathe new life into dead (dry) bones in the valley of dry bones. Ezekiel envisioned a day when the Spirit of God would come through the Messiah to breathe life into that which was dead. Isn’t that the purpose of the Holy Spirit? How did you or I become Christians? The Holy Spirit breathed the life of God into our dead souls. Does not the Word of God tell us that we ‘were dead in our sins?’ Where you able to make yourself alive spiritually? Of course you weren’t, you need the Holy Spirit to come and breathe life into dead spiritually dry bones.
But look closely at what Luke writes in verse 2. It was a violent wind from heaven and it filled the whole house. It came from God and it engulfed the whole place, like in the Tabernacle when the presence of God came. The people in the wilderness knew God’s presence because the earth shook and the place was filled with His presence. The disciples knew this wind was from God because it came with power from heaven and filled the entire house. Think about it for a moment. When God comes in power He fills the place with His presence and no one is left in any doubt that He is present. He does not share the house with anyone else or anything else – He fills it with His presence. There is a simple lesson there for our lives and the life of this fellowship. God comes in power to fill us (completely) and to fill this place (completely) with His presence and He has not come to share the glory with any one or anything else. The Holy Spirit came in power on Pentecost and He came to empower at Pentecost as we shall see.
VERSE 3 – ‘TONGUES OF FIRE.’
I don’t know if you have ever seen a pictorial representation of what happened at Pentecost. Usually the artist has little flames hovering above the heads of the disciples in the upper room. But read the text closely and you will see that Luke says ‘it appeared like flames’ – it was the only way they could describe the manifestation of the Holy Spirit upon them. Fire in the scriptures often signified the holy presence of god. The burning bush, the pillar of fire, the consuming fire at Mt. Sinai and the hovering fire over the tabernacle in the wilderness. Let me read a verse to you from Luke 3.16. This is a prophesy spoken by John the Baptist about Christ Jesus – ‘Holy Spirit and fire.’ So the day of Pentecost fulfils that which was spoken by John the Baptist.
Please note also that the wind filled the whole house but the ‘tongues of fire’ rests upon individuals. The tongues of fire separated and rested upon each of them. In the OT covenant the presence of God rested on the nation of Israel as an entity but under the NT covenant the presence of God comes upon individuals. The emphasis from Pentecost onwards is upon the individual personal relationship with God. Further to this we should note that ‘fire’ in Scripture in relation to God also speak of purification. The Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples, and us, to purify us. That is why when you become a Christian you find that things are brought to the surface which need to be dealt with. It appears initially at least that becoming a Christian has in fact turned your world, your life upside down. All sorts of past issues seem to come to the surface to be dealt with. The reason – the purification of your life. The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost upon individuals to purify them for service.
VERSE 4 – ‘OTHER TONGUES’
I want you to note that these ‘tongues’ are distinctly different from the ‘tongues of fire’ mentioned in verse 3. I want you also to note that these are in fact ‘other languages’ as can be clearly seen from the context of the verses that follow and are therefore distinct and different from the ‘tongues’ which Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians. I don’t wish this morning to get into the debate of ‘speaking in tongues’ sufficient to say here on the day of Pentecost it is clear that the disciples were speaking in known languages that they had not learned – which was the miracle – and not the spiritual gift of tongues which Paul dealt with in 1 Corinthians.
Luke stresses here that these ‘tongues’ are immediately understood by the crowd who had gathered at the hearing of the sound of the mighty wind. He also makes it clear that the disciples speech is clearly understood by a variety of people (verses 9-11). In fact he lists 15 countries, depicting the nations of the world, who understand what the disciples are saying. What is the significance of this on the day of Pentecost? Turn with me to Genesis 11 and especially verse 7. Here we have recorded the story of the tower of Babel when man in his arrogance and sin thought he could build a tower into heaven. In fact when you read the passage closely you see that God has to come down to the tower, so feeble is its height in relation to where God is. The lack of understanding that God is not physical and cannot be reached by physical means is only compounded by the arrogance of the human race at Babel. So God confused the language of men at Babel, which resulted in the separation of nations. Here on the day of Pentecost the coming of the Holy Spirit brings the nations together again as each man understands the message of the gospel in his own language. The lesson here is simple – the Holy Spirit comes to unite men from all nations under the truth of the gospel of Christ Jesus and yet we see that it also causes bewilderment and mocking (verses12-13).
We haven’t time this morning but when you go home read the rest of chapter 2 of Acts and you will see that Peter immediately preaches the gospel to these people. The lesson is clear – when the Holy Spirit comes upon an individual (or individuals) it is the proclamation of the gospel (and not the manifestations) which is His purpose. The Holy Spirit is never concerned with self-glorification nor the glory of the individual. The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to lead us to Christ that He might lead us to the Father. In Genesis chapter 1 we see that clearly. Let me read Genesis 1.2. From the beginning of creation the purpose and work of the Holy Spirit was to bring to fruition that which was planned by the Father and begun by the Son. The Holy Spirit brought order out of chaos. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit brings to fruition that which was planned by the Father and begun by the Son – the redemption of man by a new covenant. Peter is enabled to preach because He has been empowered by the Spirit, purified by the Spirit and given the ability to communicate the gospel to these people in their own language. The result we see in verse 41 was 3000 people converted.
CONCLUSION
There has probably been nothing new in this sermon this morning. I deliberately kept it simple so that we all would have a basic understanding of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit’s purpose is to fulfil the plan of the Father and the Son. From Acts 2 we understand that the Holy Spirit came to empower, to purify, to reveal and to unite the disciples and the church. He comes to prepare hearts to receive the message of Christ so that dead bones may by the breath of God become living. AMEN.
