The Spirit is Poured Out
Acts 2:1-13
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
When God made a Covenant with Abraham, He made him promises:
2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.[a]
3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
This covenant extended to Abraham’s children (seed)
When God made a Covenant with Moses He made him promises:
Exodus 19: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you[a] will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
Deuteronomy 28: 9 The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. 10 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you. 11 The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.
12 The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. 13 The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. 14 Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.
These promises are for all of the Children of Israel, the Grandson of Abraham.
The New Covenant is a covenant between God and Jesus. The promises of our covenant are:
Jeremiah 31:
31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,”
declares the Lord.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
Joel 2:
28 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
The promises of God are for all who trust in Christ and are adopted into God’s family!
John 1: 9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Thus, the Day of Pentecost and the Pouring Out of the Holy Spirit is the completion in history of the establishment of the New Covenant of God for His people!
And since the blessings of the New Covenant relate to complete forgiveness and new connection to God, we see the importance of connecting the Day of Pentecost to Passover.
- Pentecost is Connected to Passover
What we see is that just as Jesus is the fulfillment of Passover, Passover is a symbol of His ministry, the coming of the Holy Spirit is a symbol of The feast of weeks, also called Pentacost or feast of first fruits.
- Feast of Weeks
Seven sevens. Forty nine days after Passover, or fifty days total for penta= fifty.
Deuteronomy 16: 9 Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. 10 Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. 11 And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you.
- A festival of harvest
In this sense it is a completion of Passover as it relates to Jesus. The coming of the Holy Spirit is the completing of the New Covenant. And the working of the Holy Spirit in the life of the follower of Jesus is the great blessing and promise of our Covenant beyond Redemption through Christ.
- A festival of first fruit
This is a celebration of the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest. Transition of provision.
The people who are about to believe, because of the work of Christ, (especially His miracles, teaching, Crucifixion and Resurrection) are the first fruit as it were of the coming of the Holy Spirit. About three thousand people this one day! By Acts 4:4 the number has grown to five thousand!
What does the Coming of the Holy Spirit look like?
- The Manifestation of the Holy Spirit
When God does something new…
- Obvious Outward Signs
There are things happening here that are occurring because it is a first.
Moses’ burning bush, staff changes and plagues. David’s miraculous deliverances and victories in battle. The Angels speaking to Mary, Elizabeth, Zechariah, and Shepherds. The Magi seeing signs in the heavens.
Not all miracles are signs. But some are.
And not everyone sees the signs. But some do.
God is making it obvious that something new is occurring. And I believe this new thing happens in four different contexts in Acts.
And those occurrences correspond to the topical outline of Acts 1:8. As such, these strange occurrences act as signs.
Acts 2: Jerualem
Acts 8 Samaratans receive the Holy Spirit verses 14-18
Acts 10 Gentiles receive the Holy Spirit Verses 44-48
Acts 19 Disciples of John the Baptist Verses 4-7
- Sights and Sounds
Luke 3: 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
A sound like a rushing wind filled the room
(Wind, breath, spirit) Pneuma.
Tongues of fire, perhaps a confusing term, think of it as little flames coming to rest on them. (Symbolic of the pillar of fire from OT, the presence of the glory of God that inhabited the tabernacle.)
Exodus 40:
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
36 In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37 but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. 38 So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.
We are called by Paul the building of God, inhabited by the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22
- Speaking in Tongues
They began to speak in other tongues (languages) as the Spirit gave them the ability. This seems especially significant since there are God fearing Jews from every nation in Jerusalem because of the feasts!
The manifestation of tongues speaking/ people hearing in their own language is an indication that God is going to use the testimony of those who have seen the Resurrected Jesus as His tool, proving the validity of the claims and ministry of Jesus. They could just make the proclamation, but the tongues act as a sign that the communication is important. We will see that Peter’s sermon next week is the completion of the project to those communicate with all of these different people in Jerusalem. And who believe in Acts 2 and 4 are the harvest.
- The Crowd is Bewildered
Bewildered: to stir up folks, to create an uproar. V.6
- Hearing their own language spoken
Some say it is a miracle of hearing, not a miracle of speaking. It is a sign that something strange is going on.
And this is the sign: God wants the gospel to spread to the whole world. This is the biggest take away from the entire book of Acts. This idea will reappear over and over again.
I will pour out my Spirit on All Flesh. Joel
No longer will they say, “Know the Lord” for they will all know me! Jeremiah
- Amazed at Galileans ability to speak to them
Notice that they mention many groups, twelve or more depending on how the commas are understood.
And there are twelve Apostles. I take this as symbolic. World, meet Apostles. Apostles, meet the world. In any event, if each group is to hear in their own language, it’s gonna take more than Peter speaking!
The completion of the ministry of Jesus is that He would choose people to continue His ministry and they would be helped and counseled by the Holy Spirit, just as He helped and counseled the Apostles. This is God’s plan for the Messianic ministry! This is the mystery of Christ.
Romans 16: 25 Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith— 27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
- Perplexed and dismissive 12-13
“They are drunk” Acting in strange ways. Strange boldness.
As is often the case with a sign, not everyone sees it.
Think of all of these events as the opening set, the attention getter for Peter’s sermon to come in the rest of the chapter.
Jesus would do miracles and teach. Miracles get people’s attention!
Peter is going to follow that pattern. He will explain Jesus’ person and work to them, Peter is going to explain the coming of the Holy Spirit to them. And then tell them what to do!
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