The Point of Pentecost

So that's Acts 2:1. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly, there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound, the multitude came together, and they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, are not all those who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians.

We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, what does this mean? But others mocking said they are filled with new wine. It's good to open God's word together and to think about it on this day. In the liturgical calendar, it's actually called the day of Pentecost, and so we actually have a sermon that connects with Pentecost, and we'll pick up what that means and why we have Pentecost.

But there are moments in history that you never forget. I remember the time I was pulling into the car park of a home show where I was living in Sydney. We had a pretty rundown house. I was looking for inspiration and help in renovating the house. So I go to this home show.

As I pull into the car park, in the middle of a song, they break into the song to announce the death of Princess Diana. And then as you go into the home show, they announced it over the PA system. It was that significant moment in history. And everyone in the home show, the conversation became the conversation in that home show. I didn't get many tips in the end on fixing my house.

I just sort of felt better if I go home. But I also remember well the morning I woke to this, the Twin Towers coming down in New York. I was on my way then to a class at the Reformed Theological College. I was studying there at the time. Bill Barron was lecturing at the time, and he asked the students to open the class with prayer.

And he mentioned just to be mindful of world events that were occurring at the time, and reflected in the prayer was the fact that the students had no idea what was going on. And so, again, we break into this class on theology, and we talk about world events, world history. So there are moments in history that we never forget. And I think what occurred here on the day of Pentecost would be a moment seared in the minds of all those who were in Jerusalem at that time for the feast, a day that they would never forget, a day that they would always be sharing with people. I remember the time I was in Jerusalem, and this happened.

It was significant for all those who witnessed it, but also for us too because it marks this turning point in the biblical story. And we come to this place where it's a transition, a transition which Jesus Christ has talked about, where Jesus who was present in the flesh, God would be present through Jesus in the flesh would now be present through the Holy Spirit. A transition that was from redemption accomplished by the Son to redemption applied by the Spirit. A once for all transition. And so in that sense, as a once for all transition, it's it's not normative for the life of the church.

And so we get a little confused if we place the emphasis on the experiences of those people there, of the experiences that really accompany this transition, this transition to redemption applied by the Spirit. Because if we if we zoom in on all the particulars to such an extent that we lose sight of the big picture, we don't, we miss God's work in the life of the church. Because the primary purpose of Pentecost is to show that, that excuse me, to show how the disciples were enabled by the Spirit to be on mission for God, for them to go out to the ends of the earth with the gospel. And as Luke does in his writing, so Luke writes the Gospel of Luke, and he writes the book of Acts. If you open Acts at Acts 1:1, in the first book, Theophilus, so his first book then is his gospel, and this is his second book.

His first book deals with all that Jesus began to do and teach, and now he's talking about what Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, continues to do and teach. But he opens with a historical marker, the day of Pentecost. The day of Pentecost. Pentecost is a Greek word for fiftieth. It's fifty days, and it marks this Pentecost.

Fifty days. You think, what's fifty days? Fifty days after the Passover. And Pentecost is the second of three great annual feasts, a feast that brought Jews from all over the world to Jerusalem, a day that's part of what they call the Feast of Weeks in the Old Testament. You find it recorded in Leviticus 23, and again in Deuteronomy 16, talking about this Feast of Weeks.

And part of that is this festival, this Pentecost festival, a joyful remembrance of the Lord's provision. Lord's provision for the year's harvest, the time of thanksgiving and praise to God for the first wheat harvest that comes in the season. And so they're thankful to God. And we, as those who come out of Pentecost as recorded in Acts, are thankful. We're thankful for the provision of God, the provision of the Holy Spirit.

But it was a joyful remembrance for them, and we read that on this day, the apostles were all together in one place. Altogether in one place. We think, well, what is that place? What's the place where they gathered? You know, we immediately think, oh, the upper room, of course.

Because earlier in Acts 1, it says that they go back to Jerusalem after Jesus ascends to heaven, and they meet in the house. They go back to the upper room. So we think, oh, upper room, the entire house where they were sitting. But I struggle with this as I read this, particularly after you've been to Jerusalem and you've seen the location, and you think, how does that work? So is there another option?

And I think there is, and many scholars work this way. There are a number of reasons to suggest that the house that's being talked about there is the temple, that the apostles were gathered in the temple courts. The Greek word used there has a primary definition of a house, a building in which people live, but it's also applied to all other kinds of dwellings, including the king's palace and other times the temple of God and more. So this word house has a much broader definition. It's certainly true of the Hebrew word that's used referring to the tabernacle or temple, a phrase you think through the Old Testament, the house of the Lord, the house of God.

So I think, well, what about here? Jesus had instructed his disciples to stay in Jerusalem until the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out. At the end of Luke's gospel, so Luke and Acts are written by the same author. At the end of Luke's gospel, we read, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually where? In the temple, blessing God.

For them to be continually in the temple meant that they would be there when the temple was open. They would go to the temple day by day. And this day of all days, this day of Pentecost would have drawn them to the temple. They were, after all, dedicated Jews, dedicated to the festivals the Jews had. So they would have been in the temple on Pentecost at the time of the morning sacrifice, 9:00 in the morning, which is what Peter refers to later in his sermon.

Another reason is that our house may have been the temple was the sound was like the rushing, a rushing wind, and it says it filled the whole house. This is an impressive event because this is what draws people in. This is what catches people's attention. In a private home, that would less likely have been the case. Less likely the Jews around would have heard the sound or been interested in what happened.

But this temple complex is about 37 acres, and it's packed at that time with Jews from every nation. They've all come to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. If this loud sound was heard in the temple, everyone would have been curious. Everyone would have been wondering about it, talking about it, looking around to see what was happening. They would not have missed what looks like fire falling from heaven, spreading into separate tongues, resting on this small group of people.

It would have brought the crowd running in all directions to what was happening there. And so while there is ambiguity about Luke's use of the word house, we can't say for certain that it occurs in the temple. Many people say that it does. I mean, here's what the NIV Study Bible says. Evidently, not the upstairs room where they were staying, but perhaps some place in the temple precincts.

Or the New King James Study Bible says the place may have been part of the temple. It's difficult to imagine how the large crowd mentioned in Acts 2:5 could have observed the activities in the upper room or congregated in the narrow streets outside the house where the disciples were meeting. So we can't be certain, but I would suggest the temple area because something extraordinary is happening that is capturing the minds, the attention of the people around. And you see it in the reaction of the crowd. They're trying to figure it out.

Verses 12 and 13, they're all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, what does this mean? However, others mocked them saying they are filled with new wine. And we too need to ask the question, what does this mean? What does it mean? What does Pentecost mean for them?

What does Pentecost mean for us? What happened here at Pentecost that's significant? And Alastair Begg was explained in an article he's writing about Pentecost explains that it's unmistakable, unconditional, unavoidable, and unrepeatable. An event where language and culture barriers were supernaturally broken down, where many people received God's word and were baptised. And so I'm going to use those adjectives from Alastair Begg as we work through this event.

So first, it's unmistakable. Unmistakable. There are three distinct phenomena described here that are unmistakable. First, there was the sound like the blowing of a violent wind. So what's described here is a sound.

It's not a sensation. They hear the sound of a mighty rushing wind. They don't feel this blast of fast moving air. So the word there is wind is also spirit and breath, and it's the same word that's paralleled in Hebrew and in Greek. So think of the Old Testament parallels at the very beginning.

We have in Genesis 1 the Spirit hovering over the waters. Then there's life given to Adam through breath. There's life for the dry bones in Ezekiel 37. Each of those cases is a sign of the Lord's presence, but an idea that something new is being formed, that something has been given life, and that something then changes everything. Here's a mighty wind, and it's a mighty wind that actually and ultimately leads to a mass conversion.

At the end of the chapter, we read 3,000 people came to faith. 3,000 people give a new life. And there's this tongues of fire that are resting on each believer. Again, Luke has taken us back to some of the Old Testament parallels. Moses called by God from a burning bush, the pillar of fire that leads the Israelites through the wilderness, the pillar or cloud of fire that rests on the tabernacle and later in the temple, signifying the presence of God.

The presence of God localised amongst His people, localised there in the Old Testament in the temple. Under the new covenant, this fire rests on people, on people that are present, a visible sign of God's presence, symbolising the opening of a new era where every believer in that sense becomes a temple of the whole where the Holy Spirit dwells. Sign of God's present presence in the life of believers. But it's interesting. It's also fire because fire in many times represents the judgment of God.

John the Baptist talks about Jesus baptising with fire, with the Holy Spirit and fire. Yet here, the fire rests on the disciples and doesn't consume them in judgment. Why not? Because of the cross. Because Jesus absorbed God's punishment for their sin.

Jesus absorbed it on their behalf. Jesus absorbs God's judgment for sin, our sin as well. So for them, instead of curse, there's now blessing. But there is a sober reminder that there is a fire of judgment to come. It's a fire of judgment to come on all those who do not receive the Holy Spirit, who have not turned in faith to Jesus Christ.

There's a future fire of judgment, and we should, that should move us to want to make sure that family, friends don't head down that path, aren't lost, uncondemned under the judgment of God, but turn to Jesus Christ in faith. And you add to that that third unmistakable marker, filled with the Holy Spirit, they began to speak in other tongues. We read there that people hear in their own language as the Spirit enabled them. We'll pick that up because that is quite significant. But we also know that it's unconditional.

Unconditional. There's no requirement. There's no plan of the disciples that they have to put in place so that the Holy Spirit would come. Rather, God acts irrespective of their conditions. He moved in the time when they were in the temple court because you'll often hear people say, well, if we're gonna have the Holy Spirit move in this place, we have to set up certain conditions.

We have to praise God in a certain way. We have to do this. We have to do that. Then the Holy Spirit will come. And if they say, you know, if we're really gonna be Holy Spirit people, then we have to go through the same process, the same pattern, and fulfil the same conditions as the early church.

But what were they doing? They were just in the temple courts praising God, and the Spirit moved. There were no conditions that they placed on themselves or on God for the Spirit to move. Guess the only condition was what Jesus told them to do, which was wait. Wait for the work of the Holy Spirit, wait for the Spirit to come.

Hardly a condition that they put in place. We also read that it's understood that it's unavoidable. It's unavoidable. What happens spilled into the community. This mighty wind, this tongues of fire, these new languages being spoken caused such a commotion that we read that even the God-fearing people, God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

They couldn't avoid the uproar. They began hearing the wonders of God in their own language. Verses 9 to 11, we have a description of 15 different language groups. 15 different groups of people who hear about the mighty works of God in their own language. In fact, it was such a phenomenon for those people there that they say, aren't all these speaking Galileans?

Why mention that they're Galileans? Well, it seems that Galileans had a strange way of speaking. They had a distinct dialect, and so at times, it seems they're hard to understand. What gets Peter into trouble when he's in the courtyard of the high priest during Jesus' trial? Aren't you one of those Galileans who are with Jesus?

Just his speaking. People pick up that he's from a different part of the world. The point seems to be that those who heard were hearing from people who are hard to understand, but they were hearing them speaking in their own language, now fully understood by those who are listening. And what we get is this glimpse of the beginning of the reversal of what happens in Genesis 11 at the Tower of Babel. The Tower of Babel in sinful arrogance, God causes the people there to confuse their language so they don't understand each other, and they have to go their separate ways.

God splits the people. But now here at Pentecost, the opposite is happening. People of many languages coming together understanding the gospel. A diversity of languages, but unity in the message that is spoken, the wonders of God. Yeah.

That's where our unity comes from as believers, the gospel message. We can come from different backgrounds, different places, different native tongues. We all come together across the world united under that one message, the wonders of God. One commentator writes this. What catches the attention of these onlookers is not ecstatic, nonsensical babble, but supposedly uneducated Galileans speaking in the known tongues of the people from around the Roman world.

At Pentecost, there's this ability given to the disciples in that moment to speak a foreign language allowing for the declaration of what God has done through Jesus in the native tongue of those who were there. What becomes clear is that every language is an appropriate vehicle for the praise and proclamation of God. We have some people in Wichita Church that heavily connected with Wycliffe Bible Translators. What they do is they go into the different native language groups around the world. They try and record their language so that the gospel can be given to them in their own heart language, so they don't have to learn English to discover the mighty works of God.

They hear God speak to them in their own language. And it raises a question, which we've only touched on here, but is the tongue speaking at Pentecost the same as in Corinth, or is it the same as today? There's a lot we can say about it, but I'll just use one commentator's thoughts on this. It's Derek Thomas. Is the gift of tongues given to the church today?

Is it meant to be the indispensable sign of spirit baptism? No matter how much Pentecost-like phenomena are interpreted today, the fact remains what occurred at Pentecost was the ability to speak in known foreign languages rather than some angelic ecstatic utterance. Moreover, the phenomena of tongues was one of those signs or marks of apostleship. The apostolic commission was an unrepeatable and foundational ministry that served to establish the New Testament covenant community. The supernatural signs performed by the apostles served to testify to this unique and divine commission.

Thus, the signs that accompany the apostles in their unrepeatable foundational ministry were also themselves unrepeatable, temporary, time specific to the apostolic age. Through Wycliffe, we work to bring the language into people's own heart language, but what happened at Pentecost was also then unrepeatable. We need to view the miraculous events of Pentecost in terms of the whole story of His incarnation, His death, His resurrection, His ascension. And when we do, we see that those events are unrepeatable, and that leads to Pentecost, which is unrepeatable. There's no way the death of Jesus is a repeatable event or the ascension of Jesus.

The same is true for Pentecost. That's not to say that the experience of God, the Spirit, the life of the church were somehow locked down. But at Pentecost, the river opened and there was an outpouring that takes place in this unmistakable, unconditional, unavoidable way. It's then unrepeatable because the dam is open. The Holy Spirit continues to be poured out, so there's no need for a second Pentecost event, a unique event like that. It's a one-time event.

Peter, as you see, as he preaches in his sermon, makes that clear to his listeners. What they had just witnessed is a visible display of the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus, the coming Holy Spirit. The Spirit continues to flow, but not in a way like that. It seems that it was unique for them so that they would understand that the words of Jesus have come true, that the Holy Spirit has been poured out as Jesus had said. So they wouldn't be left sitting around going, I wonder if the power has come that Jesus talked about.

Has it come? Has it not come? How do we know? Well, now they know. Now they know.

And you pick that up in Peter's sermon when he uses the prophecy of Joel to explain what's going on. He says there, what happened here, he says, is what Joel was speaking about, God making Himself known in and through His word in the priesthood of all believers. On every male servant, on every female servant, I will pour out My Spirit. How else are you gonna be able to witness, or were they gonna be able to witness in Jerusalem and Judea and to the ends of the earth? It's the power of the Holy Spirit that makes it possible, made it meaningful.

And it leads to Peter's great challenge to them where he says, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. In the midst of the chaos, in the midst of upheavals, this is a truth that we hold on to even in our day. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, and the Spirit will be poured out on them. It's the Spirit that gives them utterance. It's the Spirit that changes hearts and lives.

So the question persists in our day. What does this mean? What does it mean? Down through church history, the Holy Spirit has moved and continues to move as an unseen wind and brings revival, changes hearts and lives where He wills. It invariably starts amongst God's people, purifying God's people, igniting cold hearts with a renewed passion for knowing God, a renewed passion for declaring the wonders of God to the people around.

And I think, do we have that passion? Are our hearts ignited with the wonders of God to such an extent, not just as individuals, but also as a church? Are our hearts ignited to that extent that we just wanna declare the praises of God, the wonders of God wherever we go, proclaiming who God is, proclaiming what He's done through Jesus Christ? Nothing could hold back the apostles at this time from declaring the praises of God. It doesn't matter that it says there others are mocking them.

You read right through the book of Acts. They declare the wonders of God, and people mock them. They declare the wonders of God, but at the same time, people's lives and hearts are changed. Do we have that passion? We don't have a passion that says we wanna get together and make revival happen, but we wanna have a passion that people hear the wonders of God.

Praying that God would graciously continue to pour out His Spirit, and to do it in amazing ways for us would be just a wonderful thing. But we shouldn't go around also saying that, well, we know people are true believers because they have the same experience as those in the book of Acts. Is that what we're meant to take away from Pentecost? And the answer is no. It's a special historic event signifying a new era in God's dealing with His people.

Pentecost is not to encourage believers to seek an ecstatic experience for their own edification. Pentecost is a signal for the dawning of the age of the Holy Spirit, the time of the Holy Spirit, the fullness of God's promises and the pouring out of the Spirit, that through the work of the Holy Spirit, people's lives are changed. God's people are empowered for witness to all the nations, and that hasn't changed. Pentecost is God equipping His church with the power of the Holy Spirit so that He will be glorified amongst the nations. At Pentecost, God gave the Holy Spirit to His church so they could bear witness to His name, to the nations for His glory.

So the point of Pentecost is about mission, as the Holy Spirit fills people. The goal of the mission from Habakkuk 2 is that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. So we have this great historic event where the hearts of the disciples are inflamed in that sense to proclaim the wonders of God, causing them to speak to every tribe and tongue and nation that were there. But we have that glimpse of before the throne of God in Revelation again where people from every tribe and tongue and nation are bowing down before the exalted Lord Jesus Christ. That's all because of the work of the Holy Spirit that continues from Pentecost down through the ages to today and into the future, declaring the praises of God.

And may we do that as we go from here declaring the praises of God. Let's pray together. God, our Father, as we come before You, we thank You for the fulfilment of the promise, the promise that Jesus gave to His disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We thank You for what's recorded in the book of Acts that just point us to that event. We thank You for the way that it was witnessed by those around.

We thank You for the way that the people gathered there in Jerusalem at that time, for that feast of Pentecost, for that time when they come together for thanksgiving and praise for all that You've done for them in the harvest, are now seeing a beginning of a new harvest, of lives transformed through the work of the Holy Spirit. The dam that was burst open in the Holy Spirit is poured out and continues to flow through the world today. We thank You for the Holy Spirit that has been at work in our heart and in our life that has transformed us, that has turned us to You so that we too can declare the wonders and praises of You. But, Lord, we pray that You would inflame our hearts so that we have that message not just for ourselves, but that we will declare those wonders of You to all those who are around us. And we pray, Father, for its effectiveness.

Its effectiveness like it was at that time of Pentecost when 3,000 people who heard the message had their lives transformed. They repent and believe, and the Spirit is given to them. Father, we pray for that in our world. We pray for that in our setting here. We pray that Your Spirit will be poured out and lives will be transformed and changed as they hear Your wonders.

We thank You for those like Wycliffe and others who do Bible translation work so that people can hear the wonders of God in their mother tongue. We pray for that effective work. We pray that You'll continue to bless that. We pray, Father, that You'll continue to bless us. Bless this church here.

We pray, Father, that they will be a light and a witness to the community around them. And from them, Your Holy Spirit will flow into this area here as they declare Your wonders. We pray that in Jesus' name. Amen.