The Lord
said to me…”I will test my people with a Plumbline, Amos 7:8 (TLB)
The
Plumbline is a blog to encourage the Body of Christ.
Acts #2 The
Day Of Pentecost
Acts 2:1 (NKJV) When the Day of Pentecost
had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
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| Revelation from God's Word |
The 120 continued in prayer and praise about ten
days after the ascension of Jesus, until the Day of Pentecost. This was a
harvest festival among the Jews. It was also called the Feast of Weeks (Exod.
34:22; Num. 28:26; Deut. 16:10, 16; 2 Chron. 8:13) as there was a week of weeks
(seven weeks) between it and Passover.
Pentecost means “fiftieth,” and it was so-called
because on the fiftieth day after the waving of the sheaf of firstfruits (Lev.
23:15–16) they waved two loaves for firstfruits (Lev. 23:17). When the Day of
Pentecost came the period of waiting was coming to an end. The Old Testament
prophecies and the promise of the Father (proclaimed by Jesus, Acts 1:4) were
about to be fulfilled.
The 120 were still in one accord and all were “together
in one place.” None were missing. We are not told where the place was; but most
take it to be the Upper Room, which was their headquarters (Acts 1:13). Others,
in view of Peter’s statement that it was the third hour of the day (nine
o’clock in the morning), believe they were in the temple for prayer, probably
in the Court of the Women (see 3:1). We have already seen that the believers
were habitually in the temple at the hours of prayer (Luke 24:53). One of the
porticoes, or roofed colonnades on the edge of the court, would have provided a
good place for them to gather and join in worship. This would help explain the
crowd that gathered after the Holy Spirit was outpoured. Those who believe they
were in the Upper Room suggest they went down to an open-air marketplace, but
there is no evidence to support this idea.[1]
Acts 2:2 (NKJV) 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,” surprisingly and without warning, a
sound came from heaven like “the blowing of a violent wind,” or tornado. But it
was not an actual wind; it was only its sound that filled the house where they
were sitting,8 overwhelming them. That the sound came “suddenly” and
“from heaven” highlights “divine, not human, control of the Spirit’s action.”
The sound of wind would remind them of powerful Old Testament divine
manifestations. God spoke to Job out of a storm, probably a windstorm (Job
38:1; 40:6). A mighty east wind dried out the path through the Red Sea,
enabling the Israelites to escape from Egypt on dry ground (Exod. 14:21). Wind
was also a frequent symbol of the Spirit in the Old Testament (Ezek. 37:9–10,
14, for example). Jesus also referred to wind in speaking of the Spirit (John
3:8). The sound was undoubtedly loud enough to attract the attention of the
crowds that filled Jerusalem at the Pentecost season.
The sound of the wind indicated to those present that God was about to
manifest himself and His Spirit in a special way. That it was the sound a wind
with carrying power would make also spoke of the empowering Jesus promised in
Acts 1:8, an empowering for service.
Acts 2:3-4 (NKJV) 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. Just as suddenly, “what seemed to be tongues of
fire” appeared and “separated” (were distributed). That is, something that
looked like a ball or mass of flames appeared over the whole group. Then it
broke up, and a single tongue that looked like a flame of fire settled on the
head of each one of them, both men and women. There was, of course, no actual
fire, and no one was burned. But fire and light were common symbols of the
divine presence, as in the case of the burning bush that Moses saw (Exod. 3:2),
and also the Lord’s appearance in fire on Mount Sinai after the people of
Israel accepted the old covenant (Exod. 19:18). The Spirit coming in power charred
the ropes that bound Samson (Judg. 15:14). The “fire of the Lord” burned up
Elijah’s sacrifice and even the stones of the altar and the soil (1 Kings
18:38). Fire is also connected with the Old Testament prophecies of the
outpouring of the Spirit in Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, and Zechariah. Tongues also
indicated speech—the fiery, powerful, prophetic witness that the Holy Spirit
would give.
Some suppose these tongues constituted a baptism of fire bringing
cleansing and fulfilling John the Baptist’s prophecy. However, the hearts and
minds of the 120 were already open to the resurrected Christ, already cleansed,
already filled with praise and joy (Luke 24:52–53), already responsive to the
Spirit-inspired Word (Acts 1:16), already in one accord. Rather than cleansing
or judgment, the fire here signified God’s acceptance of the Church body as the
new temple, or sanctuary, of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:21–22). Then
when the single flames rested on the heads of each individual, it signified
accepting them as also being temples of the Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). Thus, the
Bible makes clear that the Church was already in existence before the
Pentecostal baptism. Hebrews 9:15, 17; 12:24 show that it was the death of Christ that put the new
covenant into effect. From the resurrection day when Jesus breathed on the
disciples, the Church was constituted as a new covenant Body.[2]
Stanley Horton opens our understanding relating to
this glorious New Testament encounter with the third person of the Godhead, The
Holy Spirit.
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