The Coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-21)
One of the claims of the current coalition is that our country has reached an epochal stage in its history because of the proposed changes that will be brought about by the arrival of the coalition. Time will tell whether that will be the case or not. Of course, we can look back to events in our national history that were very significant, so we can appreciate the magnitude of such occasions. The coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost was one of the great events in biblical history.
Its greatness is not because the Spirit had not been in the world before. The Old Testament contains many references to the activities of the Spirit. For example, he was involved in the creation of the universe. In Genesis 1, he is described as moving upon the unformed creation, preparing it for its future role; in Job 26:13, it says that by the Spirit the heavens were made fair. Many times in the Old Testament he came upon people such as prophets and judges and equipped them for their God-given roles. He also enabled David to compose his songs of praise that are recorded in the Book of Psalms (2 Sam. 23:2). By deduction from New Testament teaching, we also know that he was active in the work of regenerating sinners and giving them eternal life; it was the Spirit who led such to repentance of their sins and to have faith in the promised Messiah. Instead its greatness is seen in that Pentecost was the beginning of a new chapter in the unfolding of God’s plan of redemption.
This new stage in God’s purpose is concerned with the reign of the Messiah. Luke has already described the ascension of Jesus to glory in heaven. There he has been exalted to the throne of God, and is in charge of the working out of God’s secret plan that was conceived before the universe was made. This plan required that, in addition to the active enthronement of Jesus as ruling Lord, the Holy Spirit would also be sent by him into the world. Pentecost tells us that the Spirit has arrived.
Signs of his presence (2:1-4)
Luke mentions two external signs – a rushing mighty wind that filled the house and fiery tongues (tongue-shaped fire) that rested on each of them. He also mentions one internal sign – the filling of the Spirit, which was followed by his provision for the disciples to speak in other recognisable languages. It is very important that we understand what took place on this occasion because many Christians base their opinions of spiritual gifts on this passage.
The external signs of things that were like a wind and like a fire are symbolic of the presence of God. I suspect that the wind indicates his pervasive power (it filled entirely the room in which the people were) and the fire indicates his purity. The coming of the Spirit would involve these two permanent features of his presence, although the signs themselves would speedily go away.
Luke is careful to point out from where the sound like a might rushing wind came – it came from heaven. It was not a north wind or a south wind, an east wind or a west wind. Instead it was like a wind, the effects of which cannot be estimated by earthly knowledge. In our climate, we can say that a north wind brings cold weather, a south wind brings warm weather. The wind of Pentecost brought its own atmosphere, and created its own effects. In that earthly location, those present received a sample of the world of glory
By whom and in whom was this mighty Wind going to work on earth? The answer to this question is the ones who had been purified by him. This was displayed by the tongues of fire that remained on each of the Christians (they have already been described in Acts 1:12-14). Although they had been failures recently, they had been forgiven by Jesus, restored to his service and cleansed from their sins. This is of great encouragement to us if we have failed. While we may not expect to go through the experience of the people at Pentecost, we can still be used by the Spirit of fire.
We can ask ourselves this question: Who should be afraid of the presence of the Spirit of holiness? An impenitent sinner should, even a professing Christian (as we can see later in the Book of Acts in what happened to Ananias and Sapphira). Yet a penitent sinner is safe in the presence of the Spirit of fire, even although such a person may be marked by fear of punishment for his sins.
In passing, we cannot help noticing the emphasis that Luke places on unity. In verse 1, the disciples are ‘all together in one place’; in verse 3, tongues of fire rested on each of them; in verse 4, they ‘were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues’. Unity is very important.
The external sign which Luke mentions is the ability to speak in other human languages (the strangers visiting Jerusalem heard them speak in various languages). In contrast to much that is claimed today regarding tongue speaking, there is no evidence in the Bible that suggests it was anything other than a normal human language. The miracle was not the appearance of a new language; rather the miracle was uneducated people speaking a wide variety of earthly languages simultaneously.
What was the significance of this gift of human languages? One likely answer is that Pentecost is a reversal of what took place at the tower of Babel. Human languages were the divine judgement that God imposed on the human race because it refused to obey his command and separate throughout the world. His judgement ensured that the separation occurred. Now he is going to use these instruments of judgement as the means by which his plan of salvation will be revealed to the peoples of the earth. The gospel will be declared in every human language. And a sample of this took place at Pentecost.
Surprise of the people
Most of the individuals in the gathered crowd had come to Jerusalem from elsewhere in order to keep the Feast of Pentecost, which was one of the three annual feasts that each Jew was commanded to attend. No doubt they had come with the intention of worshipping the God who had done great things for their forefathers at the Exodus. Their worship would have been limited to what God had done historically for Israel in the Exodus from Egypt and in the Restoration from Babylon. Now they heard a group of their fellow Jews praising God for additional wonderful activities by him (v. 11), the amazing works of God performed in his Son, Jesus Christ.
Luke does not say what these people heard. Instead he records their reaction to the those who had received the Holy Spirit. Regarding some, there was great curiosity; others concluded that they were drunk. This connection suggests that their speech must have been very excited and exuberant. The people observed that the disciples were under the control of another power, and Luke tells us who he was – the Holy Spirit. Each of the disciples was filled with the Holy Spirit.
What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? It means to be so under his influence that others will see the effects. These effects will depend on the particular situation in which believers find themselves. On this occasion, the disciples were experiencing the arrival of the Spirit. Obviously some observers thought the behaviour of the disciples was similar to a drunk person who has lost control of himself. Clearly the onlookers did not think the disciples were like those who drink to drown their sorrows. Instead they were like those who drink because they wish to celebrate a triumph, and such singing is accompanied by joy. The disciples were praising God with a passion, with intensity and delight. It is interesting that Paul, in Ephesians 4:18-19, links the filling of the Spirit with praise: ‘And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart.’
It is not surprising that the believers were expressing joyful praise: their sins had been forgiven, they knew that Jesus had ascended, the fulfilment of his promise to send the Holy Spirit was confirmation that he had reached the throne of God, and they realised that the Father had kept his promise to reward his Son for his work on earth by giving to him, for the benefit of his church, the Holy Spirit.
Yet it is important to notice that these supernatural activities did not enlighten the observers nor did they convert the onlookers. Sometimes we imagine that if God were to perform unusual signs then people would bow down and worship him. Often such a response does not occur. The benefit that the unusual phenomena caused was a desire to hear more about it. Instead of using the signs to bring conversion, Jesus used the sermon of his servant, Peter.
The sermon of Peter
Luke’s account of what Peter said is probably a summary of his address. It contains a great deal of important issues, and we will take several more chapters to consider it. In the remainder of this chapter, we will look at Peter’s explanation of what had taken place in Jerusalem. His answer reveals that the coming of the Spirit took place about nine in the morning (the third hour of the day).
In response to the words of the crowd, Peter elucidates to them what has happened. In order to explain the various phenomena, he turns to the Old Testament, a reminder to us where to find the explanation of all God’s work. The best way to appreciate the ways of God is to search the Word of God for his answers.
This explanation is a marvellous example of how quickly Peter has grasped the significance and meaning of Old Testament predictions. Perhaps the passage from Joel had been expounded by Jesus during the forty days he spent with his disciples. In any case Peter turns to the prophet Joel to explain what took place at Pentecost. Joel had predicted a future outpouring of the Spirit (Joel 2: 28-32). It is important to note that Peter adjusts the words of Joel because the time of their fulfilment has come. For example, Joel’s prophecy says that the fulfilment will take place after certain events have taken place (Joel 2:28)). Peter replaces ‘After this’ with ‘in the last days’ because the message of Joel is being fulfilled as Peter speaks.
The first detail to note is that Joel’s prophecy is probably an Old Testament reference to the deity of Christ. If we look at verse 33, we will see that Peter says it was Jesus who poured forth the Spirit from heaven. In verse 17, which is a quotation from Joel, it says that it is God who pours out the Spirit. Verse 33 clarifies for us that it is Jesus who is speaking in verse 17. This means that Joel’s prophecy is a prediction of what the divine Messiah would do in the future.
The second detail to note is that Pentecost belongs to the ‘last days’. This phrase, ‘the last days,’ does not refer to the period just before the second coming of Christ, although people often use it in such a way. Biblically, time can be divided into two: there are the former days, which describes the period before the coming of the Messiah; there are the last days, which describes the whole period between the ascension of Christ to heaven and his return from heaven.
The words of Joel point to three important features of the last days. The first feature is that every believer will be a prophet (2:17-18). This is what is meant by seeing visions and dreaming dreams – in the Old Testament these were two of the ways by which prophets received their messages from God. It does not mean that these will be the ways in which they will receive messages from Jesus, instead it is a prophetic picture of the universal ministry of God’s people in the last days. Concerning this prophetic ministry, it will be common to those who are young, to those who are old, to males and to females, to Jews and Gentiles. Sometimes, when we think of the task of a prophet, we think only of predicting the future. Yet prediction was not the usual work of a prophet. The common duty of a prophet was to convey God’s word to others. Peter here is saying that throughout the last days, and not just at Pentecost, every believer will receive help from the Holy Spirit to confess the name of Jesus and tell others about who he is and what he has done. He is not referring to preaching, but to the common activity of every Christian.
The second feature of the last days will be social upheaval (2:19-20). We are not meant to understand the image of cosmic shaking in a literal sense. It was common for Jewish teachers to use this type of imagery to depict turmoil in human governments, hostility and war among different nations, disaster in the natural world, and distress in human populations. In other words, alongside the spiritual activity of the church, Jesus is also going to work as the King of the nations, ruling and over-ruling through his providence. When such things happen, Luke is saying to his readers, remember that Jesus is in charge, even when things seem to be going out of control.
The third feature of the last days that Peter mentions is the universal offer of the gospel: ‘And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved’ (2:21). In this verse, we see the simplicity of salvation (call upon the name of the Lord in faith and repentance), the consistency of salvation (each person who will be saved is delivered in the same way), the confession that is the essence of salvation (a recognition of the sovereignty of Christ), and the certainty of salvation (every person who truly calls on God will be delivered from the judgement that his or her sins deserved.