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ACTS 104 (Early Acts was such a crisis in
Israel’s history! It is exciting to understand it. Remember, I’m not
asking you to believe what I say, look up the references and believe
God!)
Acts 2:1-11
1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all
with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty
wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire,
and it sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to
speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men,
out of every nation under heaven.
6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and
were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own
language.
7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another,
Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in
Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about
Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the
wonderful works of God.
What was Pentecost? It was a Jewish feast day.
Israel’s feast days foretell their redemption. Jesus, the "lamb of
God" (John 1:29,36) was sacrificed on
Passover. (John 19:14; Lev 23:4-6)
He rose from the dead "on the morrow after the sabbath".(Lev
23:10,11) 50 days from then was Pentecost
(penta = 50; Lev 23:15,16), called the
feast of harvest (Ex 23:16) or
weeks. (Deut 16:9,10) On that
day, about 10 days after Jesus left earth, the Holy Ghost came and
the disciples experienced the power of kingdom life.
(Acts 1:3-9; John 16:7) Three of
Israel’s feasts are yet to be fulfilled; the feast of
trumpets, the day of atonement, and the feast of
tabernacles. (Lev 23:23-37)
All the men of Israel were required to go to Jerusalem
3 times every year; for the feasts of passover, Pentecost and
tabernacles. (Ex 23:14-17; Deut 16:1-16)
So all of Israel was represented in Jerusalem for Pentecost
in Acts 2. This was the setting for the next big event, the
climax of 2000 years of prophecy.
(Acts 3:24)
Some teach that the "tongues like as of fire" in verse 3
fulfilled the baptism "with fire" foretold in Matthew 3:11.
But read Matthew 3:7-12. That fire is the "wrath to
come" (Mat 3:7,10,12), that time of
great tribulation and the return of Christ.
(Nahum 1:5,6; Mat 24:3-31) God will judge Israel, and two
thirds of them will die. (Zech 13:8,9; Amos
9:9,10) "He that is left in Zion...shall be called
holy...when the Lord shall have purged ...Jerusalem ... by..
judgment ...and ..by....burning" (Is
4:3,4) And then He will judge the Gentile nations too.
(Joel 3:1,2,12; Mat 25:31,32)
Keep this "wrath to come" in mind as we read on in Acts,
because Israel’s guilt and coming judgment is the
issue in the first 8 chapters. Contrast this to our
situation in Romans 5:9 & I Thes 1:10.
Being "filled with the Holy Ghost" is the baptism in
Acts 1:5,8 that the disciples were waiting for. This outpouring of
God’s Spirit (the Holy Ghost) had long been prophesied in the
Old Testament, (Is 32:15-18; 59:21; Ez
11:19,20) and it miraculously enabled them to think like God,
and so be that righteous nation (Is
26:2; Zeph 3:13) who will survive the coming judgment
(Is 33:14,15; Zeph 2:3) and inherit the
earth.(Ps 37:9,11,29; Mat 5:5)
Jesus had warned Israel that they could speak against Him and
get away with it, but if they spoke against the Holy Ghost when He
came, it would not be forgiven. (Mat
12:31,32; Luke 12:10) The Holy Ghost came here in Acts 2.
This was their last chance!
When the disciples were filled with the Holy Ghost, what they said
was actually God speaking (Mark 13:11),
just like the prophets in the Old Testament
(e.g. Ez 11:5) or those who wrote scripture.
(II Peter 1:20,21)
In contrast, now, God’s word is complete and written.
(Col 1:25) No more is being added. (I
Cor 13:8-10) God speaks through the scripture, and it
is all we need to be totally equipped to live for Him today.
(II Tim 3:16,17).
What were the tongues they spoke in? Verse 6 says they
were languages, and verse 11 shows they were understandable.
The miraculous ability to speak other languages was a sign to
Israel (I Cor 14:21,22) that the
prophesied times of refreshing and rest had come.
(Isaiah 28:11,12 & Acts 3:19-21)
As God’s priests during that time (Is
61:6; I Peter 2:9; Rev 5:10), Israel will take God’s word to
all the world (Is 66:19; Zech 8:23; Acts 1:8)
and will need to speak all languages.
It is commonly taught that our church, the body of
Christ, started in Acts 2, and that the disciples were speaking
to Gentiles here. But why would any Gentiles go to Jerusalem
for a Jewish feast day, unless they were proselytes?
(Gentiles who became Jews, vs 10; Ex 12:48,49)
And why would Peter address them as "Ye men of Judaea"
and "Ye men of Israel" if they were Gentiles??
(verses 14&22) No, the people there
were "Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven"
(vs 5) who had come for the feast of
the firstfruits as required by Jewish law.
How did Jews get into every nation under heaven? It started
after King Solomon, and by the time of Nebuchadnezzar, all Israel
was conquered and the people were scattered.
(Dan 9:7) Some returned, but most remain scattered to this
day.
The "middle wall of partition" between Jews and Gentiles
(Ephesians 2:11-16) was still up
in Acts 2, and God was still dealing with the nation Israel as His
special people. (Deut 14:2; Lev 20:26)
Peter addresses Israel exclusively, just as in Matthew 10:5,6, so
obviously God had not set them aside yet.
Since the body of Christ is composed of believing Jews and
Gentiles on equal basis, (Gal 3:28; Eph
2:15,16) the body could not have started until after
God made Jews and Gentiles equal, by setting Israel aside. As we
study through Acts, be looking for exactly when that happened. It
was not in Acts 2.
Also, the body of Christ, with Jew and Gentile being equal, was
a "mystery", unknown until revealed through Paul.
(Eph 3:1-6; Col 1:25-27) In contrast,
Acts 2 is all about Old Testament prophecy being fulfilled
(vs 16). Compare Romans 16:25 with Acts
3:21.
Why didn’t Christ return and bring His kingdom as He
promised Israel? Because God set Israel aside temporarily,
postponing His wrath and Christ’s return, in order to accomplish an
additional purpose. But that is getting ahead of ourselves in Acts.
Next we’ll read Peter’s first address to his nation
concerning their Messiah whom they had just crucified.
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