Acts - Part 2:
September 03, 2023
Last week we began a new series, a study of the Book of Acts. As I mentioned, this will likely be a bit of a fly-over & not necessarily a chapter by chapter study but I do encourage you to do a full study of the Book of Acts on your own!
Last week as we began our study, we talked about the fact that the physician Luke wrote the book of Acts… the first verse of Acts even says essentially, “This is Volume 2 of my writings… the first (the book of Luke) was all about the life of Jesus, what he did & said, how he lived. This book is a first-hand account about the life of the Church & the Christians who started it.
In chapter 1 we talked about the way that Jesus instructed the disciples before he ascended back to heaven & prophesied about the Holy Spirit as this ‘power’ that He was leaving them so they could do the work he’d called them to do (“Acts 1:8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”)
Now… as we get into tonight’s discussion, I want to keep this thematic verse in mind. Jesus is literally telling them, “Now that I’m no longer going to be in your presence directly, you need power to DO what I’ve called you to do–power you don’t have currently, but you need it! When the HS comes, you’ll receive the power to DO the life I’ve called you to.”
Then in Ch 2 we actually get to the real drama of the story… Ch 1 was like the opening crawl telling us a bit of back-story… Ch 2 starts the real action… Let’s begin there where we left off last week & tonight we’ll stay a while.
Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.
This is where we stopped last week… this opening action scene of the Book of Acts & we left off with a big question that we need to keep in mind throughout this study: What would you do for the kingdom of God if you were given the unlimited power to do it?
The point behind Acts is to help us see that when the people of God–the disciples there in the upper room or you & me–become filled with the SPIRIT of God–the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus & sent by God the Father–they now have the power to DO the Christian life.
Now back to Acts 2: there are three primary signs that Luke talks about when the Holy Spirit falls: Sound/Wind, tongues of fire, languages or tongues (PPT Acts 2:1-4)
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.
These signs all serve huge purpose as references for these jews in the upper room & for us to other things from scripture. All of them speak to God’s presence in different ways & they’re important to the function of the Holy Spirit and our ability to DO the Christian life as believers when we’re filled. Let’s look at each one through scripture & see what we can learn...
SOUND / WIND :: Most teachers & commentators actually focus on the WIND more than they do the SOUND (and there are some reasons for this) but the scripture here in Acts 2 actually says it was a “sound like a violent rushing wind” so we’re going to start with sound, then move to wind…
Sound of wind or thunder in scripture is OFTEN used to describe the VOICE of GOD. Psalm 18:13: The LORD thundered from heaven, And the Most High uttered His voice.
Psalm 29:2-4: Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders; the LORD is over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
Rev 14:2 2 And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps.
So the reference here in Acts is as if God Himself is speaking with His thunderous voice as the Spirit is poured out.
Then the reference to the wind:
John 20:21-22 21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and *said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
Genesis 2:7 Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Ezekiel 37: The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” 4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life.
9 Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.” ’ ” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their
feet, an exceedingly great army.
So this WIND that is present at the Day of Pentecost is part of the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s vision… it’s the fulfillment of Jesus breathing on the disciples after his resurrection… It’s a re-filling of the very breath/life of God from the beginning with Adam.
And the really crazy reason that scholars focus here on the wind when talking about the Holy Spirit is that in the Greek language the words ruach & pneuma are BOTH wind/breath & Spirit. So when it’s talking about the Holy Spirit, it uses the word pneuma and when it says it was a sound like a mighty wind, it’s STILL the word pneuma. These words are tangled really tightly together… and Luke knows that so he gives us the “SOUND of the BREATH/WIND/SPIRIT of God” as one of the signs that the Holy Spirit is falling.
FIRE:
Exodus 13:21-22 21 The Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.
Exodus 40:34-38 34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36 Throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; 37 but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up. 38 For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.
Matthew 3:11 [John says] 11 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Here scripture shows us that the “pillar of fire” that the Israelites followed in their exodus from Egypt was always in front of them… or filling the tabernacle… but it was always leading out front. Now in Acts, the fire is not something way out there in front, leading of the group but it’s disseminated to EVERYONE … showing that the power to be led by the Spirit is not just out there, way up in front and inaccessible but PERSONAL, “resting on each one of them.”...
This wind from previously AND the fire here are a reminder & representation of that Exodus time in the Jewish history where God was ‘clouded’ and hidden… or out there in front but not personal and intimate. Now the Holy Spirit has come and the WIND is clearly blowing away the clouded nature of who God is & filling each one of them with his fire & presence. It’s becoming PERSONAL & INTIMATE for the first time.
The Children of Israel didn’t have the capacity to follow when the presence of God was way out there…they kept falling into idolatry and sin. But now the presence of God is being PERSONALIZED and INTERNALIZED so that each individual can be filled & follow God by the power of the Holy Spirit.
TONGUES / LANGUAGES:
This one is one of the tripping points for a lot of denominations & individuals because somehow it’s the most ‘out there’ illustration or sign when the Holy Spirit fell on the Day of Pentecost. But even this one has loads of context from the Old Testament
Numbers 11:26-29 26 But two men had remained in the camp; the name of one was Eldad and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them (now they were among those who had been registered, but had not gone out to the tent), and they prophesied in the camp. 27 So a young man ran and told Moses and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28 Then Joshua the son of Nun, the attendant of Moses from his youth, said, “Moses, my lord, restrain them.” 29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!”
Joel 2: 28029 “It will come about after this
That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;
And your sons and daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will dream dreams,
Your young men will see visions.
29 “Even on the male and female servants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
So here, even Moses says, “Oh how i wish EVERYONE could have the gift of the Spirit”... to prophesy, to speak out… And there are many more illustrations of the Holy Spirit being given to individuals in the Old Testament and speaking out with languages…not really understanding all that they were saying… Scripture says in 1 Samuel 10 that “the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he joined in their prophesying.”...
Same thing for Samson so he could defeat the Philistines… Same thing for Gideon, same thing for many others… the point is that the gift of tongues or languages was something specifically given by the power of the Holy Spirit so that people could speak words that they wouldn’t otherwise know … so that other people could hear & follow the word/will of God.
The deal is… everytime the Spirit is mentioned in the Old Testament, it’s mentioned as “the Spirit of God came upon…” someone for some purpose. “The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon Samson and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands…” “The spirit of the Lord came upon Bezalel and filled him with … knowledge in all craftsmanship…” to build the tabernacle… but now the Holy Spirit is being POURED INTO each individual, just like Jesus said, “be filled with”, so that each person can begin to DO & LIVE in the power of the Spirit. Not a select few on occasion when it’s necessary… but internal, for all of life.
In Acts 2 we stopped reading when we got to the tongues…but let’s read just a bit further:
Acts 2:4 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.
5 Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10
Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.”
The story here is that these were uneducated Galilean fishermen…they hadn’t been taught the languages they were now speaking…not even close… and they weren’t stammering or stuttering or speaking with an accent that was hard to comprehend…they were speaking clearly & concisely… in many different languages… “speaking of the mighty deeds of God.””.
As we get into the rest of the book of Acts, we’ll see how these signs of the Holy Spirit played out in the lives of the first Christians. The points to me for now from these signs are that the SOUND & BREATH of God were poured out, blowing away the shrouded-ness & clouded separation so that the FIRE OF THE PRESENCE of God could be individualized (tounges of fire rested on each of them) instead of away/apart like the single pillar, and the ability to DO & SPEAK in impossible ways was given so that the people of God could be IN-filled with the presence of God & do the will of God.
It’s no longer about the Spirit being poured “upon” people for work like in the OT… but the Holy Spirit being poured “INTO” so that the tabernacle could be IN us and we could do the work of God, being His hands & feet.