Acts 2:1-13 (Click title for audio access)
"And Then The Spirit Came" • 5.8.11 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- Before moving onto our chapter today, I want to quickly revisit the data regarding the Holy Spirit that we gathered from chapter 1.
- In verse 2 Jesus commanded His disciples through the Holy Spirit. Jesus, despite being the resurrected Son of God, ministered in the power of the Holy Spirit to His disciples.
- Verse 4 tells us that the disciples were to anticipate a baptism, an immersion and initiation in the Holy Spirit.
- Verse 8 reveals that His coming would bring dynamic power to be witnesses to the Lord.
- The Spirit had been working presently through Jesus and would soon do the same for the Apostles. Then we come to verse 16.
- Peter asserts that the Holy Spirit "spoke," by the mouth of David. He is the voice behind scripture, in this case, scripture that predated the Apostles by hundreds of years.
- The Holy Spirit has always been. Just as He is prominent in the first verses of Acts, so also is He prominent in the very first moments of Earth's history. Listen to the first verses of the Bible.
• Genesis 1:1,2 : "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." : The Spirit of God, a feminine construction, literally means the "breath" or "breathing" of God. One can also use the word "wind." The word speaks of activity.
- He was "hovering." One translator, YNG, called it "fluttering." This word in the Hebrew language is used in Deuteronomy 32:11 of an Eagle "brooding" over her chicks.
- This is a mother hen who has an excitement over the new life that is growing, literally, under her body, under her influence!
- In Genesis 6, the world that God has created has returned to a chaotic condition as a result of sin. Violence, sexual deviance, and occultism were running rampant.
• Genesis 6:3 : "And the Lord said, 'My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.'" : The world had chosen it's path. Sin was the norm in the Antedilluvian world. But the Spirit "strove" with men.
- The best way to describe this is to contend alongside of. The way to think about this is that the Holy Spirit has contended for right judgment.
- He has been an advocate of righteousness among the nations, a witness to what good should be happening in anyone's life. This verse especially illustrates His relationship to the world.
- What about His relationship to the righteous ones, the men and women of faith?
- In Genesis 41, Joseph had calmed the Pharaoh's heart with his plan to deal with impending famine. Here is Pharaoh's comment.
• Genesis 41:38 : "And Pharaoh said to his servants, 'Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?'" : The Pharoah recognized that Joseph was endowed with something that other men had not been given. This was a man who exhibited, because of His wisdom, a connection with God's Spirit.
- In the Old Testament, there were several men who were filled with certain giftings from God to perform tasks that were greater than themselves.
- In Exodus 31:3 and 35:31, God told Moses that He had filled Bezalel, a man given the charge of constructing much of the tabernacle, with the Spirit of God in wisdom and understanding.
- In Judges 3:9, the Spirit of God came upon Othniel, who then went out to win a war for Israel. In Judges 6:34, He came upon Gideon.
- The same could be said of Jepthah, Samson, Samuel, Saul and many others.
- These were certain men of God who needed power, resource, strength, wisdom, insight to represent God in one form or fashion.
- Wherever there was creativity necessary for victory, the Spirit was intimately involved.
- At important times in the Old Testament, He spoke through men, to give insight into God or to prophecy of things to come.
- Baalam experienced this in Numbers 24:2 and David acknowledged this in II Samuel 23:2.
- The Holy Spirit shows up usually like this throughout the Old Testament, usually coming upon individual believers, and sometimes groups, but it does not seem to happen consistently or among all.
- This left Moses with a lament in his heart about the people of God that He was dealing with.
- Turn with me to Numbers 11. There is an interesting story that takes place here. Israel is complaining and this time, Moses brings his complaints to the Lord.
- God gives a little of the Spirit that had come upon Moses to the 70 elders. When He came upon them, they prophecied. Eldad and Medad especially continued. This prompted Joshua to action:
• Numbers 11:28,29 : "So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, 'Moses my lord, forbid them!' Then Moses said to him, 'Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!'"
- Call it a wish or desire from the human plane, but understand that it's prophetic in nature.
- God's Spirit could not come upon mankind while they were unclean, sinful vessels.
- While He would come upon men that God had chosen to lead, He would not come upon His people en masse permanently.
- This brings us to our Lord's ministry and a promise that He made to His disciples. Turn with me for a final time to John 7.
- Jesus was standing at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. On the last day of that great feast, He spoke out this amazing promise.
• John 7:37-39 : "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.' But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." : The word "rivers" refers to torrents. Floodwaters. In a world where there was a dramatic shortage of water, this was both a picturesque and welcome thought, as well as a powerful promise.
- When Jesus ascended into heaven, this promise became imminent, which is where we are today. The promise from the Father, the promise of the Holy Spirit is about to come to fruition.
Text
• Acts 2:1 : "When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." : The Day of Pentecost refers to the first day of the Jewish feast of Harvest. The word "pentecost" refers to 50 days.
- It was a measurement that begins at the end of the Passover Feast. 50 days later and you have the beginning of the feast of Harvest which was known by other names as well.
- It's called the feast of harvest, the feast of weeks, the day of firstfruits and, here, Pentecost.
- It originates in Exodus 23:16 and is one of the mandatory feasts for all Jewish males.
- The Jewish people held it in high regard, commemorating the law, believing that it had been given to them 50 days after the Exodus.
- Numbers 28:26 expands it and tells the people that they are to bring an offering from their new wheat grain to the Lord, this on the day of Firstfruits in the Feast Of Weeks.
- The idea of the feast of weeks comes from Leviticus 23:15 and 16, which specifies that the people were to count 7 sabbaths, 49 days and add one, making it 50.
- Jesus died on the Passover, raised on the day of Firstruits of the barley harvest. Now, 50 days later, is the firstfruits of the wheat harvest. The Jews baked their wheat into loaves.
- They presented the loaves, representative of the body of Christ that was about to be born. It was to happen right there at pentecost, the feast of Harvest.
- This day had "fully come." This doesn't just mean the 50 days between Passover and Pentecost. Luke is pointing to the fulfillment of all that the feast represented!
- Luke is the only man to use this word in the New Testament. The word in the original language speaks of a cargo bay on a ship that is fully and completely loaded.
- The ship is ready for voyage. The time of anticipation is over! They had been waiting with expectation together, in obedience to the Lord's command.
- I want you to see something here: The disciples did what the Lord said to do! They had waited, it seems like, for 10 days. They waited on a promise.
- They were waiting, not passively, but actively, praying and supplicating, showing a deep, earnest desire for God to move. And they were together in unity of heart and spirit.
- I think that this is something very important to note. It speaks to our attitudes as we come to church. Is there expectation in your heart? Is there a deep hunger for Him to move in you?
- Are you unified to and with the body of Christ? God moves there in the midst of His people.
- Do not get this wrong: God had sovereignly decided when the Spirit of God was to be released upon His people. Their praying did not cause it. Their praying caused them not to miss it!
• Acts 2:2 : "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting." : The word "suddenly" is curious. They had been sitting together in a retreat like situation.
- They had their meetings, they prayed, they sought the Lord through the Word.
- Now, suddenly, right there in the midst of what they were already doing, God sent His Holy Spirit. I have found that this is exactly the way the Spirit moves.
- You are waiting and waiting and sometimes, because of our flesh and impatience, we feel as though nothing will ever happen. AND SUDDENLY! That's the nature of the Spirit of God.
- He does what He wants, when and to whom He wants! For the disciples, this inauguration was powerful. First, there came a sound.
- The word for "sound" is the word "echos." Literally, this was echoes from the heavens! It was similar to the sound of a gale force, violent wind, except, there was no wind!
- Had there been an actual wind, the house would have torn away from it's foundation!
- This was the sound of a mighty wind. One commentator mentioned that people who lived through tornados identified the sound as 1,000 trains running at full speed.
- The power of wind is truly phenomenol. I heard a story once of a straw that had been driven into a telephone pole as a result of a tornado's wind.
- The wind is the identifying sound of the Spirit, who very much acts like the wind in a believer's life: Showing up and carrying the believer to greater heights than could be imagined.
- The Holy Spirit filled the entire house to the full. The Spirit came and this time remained for good, signaling the fulfillment of God's promise.
• Acts 2:3 : "Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them." : As the believers sat there, they received a visual manifestation as well. Cloven, parted tongues that were similar in appearance to fire.
- The tongue, glossa in the original, is a feminine noun and is most significant of language. That to me, is an interesting part of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
- They would have power and much of that power would emanate through the spoken word.
- Every one of them received one for themselves, as the Spirit sat upon each of them.
- Peter received a cloven tongue as well as Andrew. Thomas the Doubter received one. James and John, the Sons of Thunder received one apiece. Matthias, the new guy, got one as well.
- The Holy Spirit distributed to each one, equally and powerfully.
- Notice from verse two that the Spirit filled the whole house, unlike a wind passing thru. Now, He sits upon each of them. The word would be used of a monarch, settling down upon His throne.
- The Holy Spirit as promised, is settling upon these believers and taking up residence within each of them, empowering and baptizing them into God's power.
• Acts 2:4 : "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." : The disciples were all filled. They were fully furnished, rightly possessed by the Holy Spirit.
- At that moment, they began to speak in other languages, but notice, as the Spirit gave them utterance. They did not muster this up themselves. The Spirit gave them this ability.
- When they spoke, the spoke eloquently, properly. That is the force of the word utterance. They did not just speak in an elementary way in another language. They spoke properly!
- One cannot help but be reminded of the Tower of Babel, where God confused the languages as a curse to scatter a stubbornly rebellious people.
- Here, as if turning on a simple switch, the disciples were able to speak in other languages.
- These were languages that were unknown to them, but were in fact, known languages.
- This was a supernatural gifting for this day and is different from the gift of tongues, which is a gift that God's people have, but is a heavenly language directed toward God.
- What was happening here was a sign to those that were present on this day, letting them know that something special was taking place.
• Acts 2:5-8 : "And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, 'Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?" : Recall that the feast of weeks was a mandatory feast for Jewish males. There were millions of people likely crowding the streets!
- This incident that happened within the home was not isolated or private. It was heard by others and it gathered a crowd who had the ability to observe.
- This crowd was filled with people, but not your everday sort. Luke calls them "devout" men from every nation under heaven. The word "devout" means "careful and cautious" men.
- That really defines reverence doesn't it? When you revere someone or something, you are careful around them or it. This crowd was filled with those sorts of men.
- They heard the sound and they heard the languages that were being spoken. They were amazed beyond amazement!
- What really blew them away was the people who were speaking so properly! Those guys were hillbillies!
• Acts 2:9-13 : "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.' So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, 'Whatever could this mean?' Others mocking said, 'They are full of new wine.'" : Virtually every nation on the earth was represented here on this day. Luke gives his readers this list, to show the extent of the coverage that this event had.
- This is a well publicized media event, which will begin here in Jerusalem and spread to these nations!
- God does not need to send these guys out yet, but the news of His Spirit's power will reach the far reaches of the known world!
- What they heard at this point, was the event, but they also heard the content! The content of their speech was God's wonderful works. This was a great time of praise for the disciples.
- The heard of God's wonderful works and understood that this had meaning, perhaps even for them! What had God intended? What great thing was He up to?
- They were excited for what was about to happen. Maybe that's a little like you. You are hearing about this power and are optimistic about what He might bring into your life.
- However, there are others who just dismissed it as a bunch of party animals, drunk with fresh wine. New wine was diluted and in the early stages, would make getting drunk difficult.
- This is either a mockery of their being drunkards, or for not being able to handle their grape juice! I have never heard a drunkard speak other languages with eloquence!
- These represent people who will find any reason to dispel what God might want to do in their hearts.
- There might even be some today, who would look for proof that this was not genuinely God.
- But the proof of the Holy Spirit's power remains in the lives of changed men.
Conclusion
- As we conclude today, understand that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an event that happened here in Jerusalem at this time. It will never be repeated like this again.
- However, the results of this continue on today. God's Spirit desires to have control of your life and to exert influence in your world.
- Many have paralyzed themselves with fear or have bought into the supposed confusion of what this text teaches, and have thought to keep the Spirit of God at bay.
- He lives in you if you have received Christ. All Him to have you. Surrender to His power. Let Him speak and act in your life.
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