“The Power Comes” -- Acts 2:1-13

When I was a child, one of the best things about Christmas was the anticipation. For some reason, I remember the nights leading up to Christmas. I remember my dad wearing a coat and gloves coming in from work. It seems like he always brought the tree home on the way from work each year.

And then there was the waiting for the presents and for Christmas Eve. It was Christmas Eve when we opened our presents. Our routine, at least in the early days, would be Mom and Dad getting out the movie camera, and my sister, brother and I would walk into the room holding signs saying “Merry,” “Christmas” and the year on three separate posters, each child holding a poster. I think I was always the year. Then we’d read from the Gospel According to Luke about the story of Jesus’ birth, then we’d open presents. We’d take turns opening the presents, so we could all what each of us got. The presents were nice, but the waiting for them was also a part of the excitement.

For an unknown period of time, probably about 10 days after Jesus’ ascension, His followers had been waiting for the promised coming of the Holy Spirit. On Pentecost, the day arrived and they each received the power of the Holy Spirit. And the world has never been the same since.

Central Truth: When the Holy Spirit came, He filled the room and the world with wonder and awe.

The setting (v. 1)

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.” There is a great deal within that simple sentence, particularly the last part of it. Here are some of the things I notice about it.

First, even though the verse doesn’t say it, they were all in Jerusalem, and that tells me Jesus’ followers were being obedient to His command. Jesus had told them to stay in Jerusalem until they received the Holy Spirit, and that is exactly what they were doing. I think staying there wasn’t easy for them, either. After all, it had only been a month since Jesus had been crucified, and there was probably still a concern among the disciples that they were still subject to arrest. Maybe that fear had eased over the days and weeks that had passed, but I doubt it entirely left them.

Jerusalem really had nothing for the disciples, at least as a place to live. Granted, a few of the disciples were business men, but Peter, James, John and Andrew were fishermen, and their fishing was in Galilee, not Jerusalem. Still, they stayed, because Jesus had told them to, and they trusted Jesus enough to do what he had told them.

The next thing I notice is that they were all together. I may be reading into these things I want to see, but I don’t think so. When I read that, I understand it to mean that they were in agreement with one another for the most part. They all had the common bond of having seen the risen Christ, and of having followed Jesus for most of His ministry, if not all of it. When I read that verse and see that they were all together, I see the beginning of the church. A body of believers, joined in like commitment to Christ and to one another.

And, they were all in the one place. It wasn’t enough that they had an agreement with one another, but they also found comfort and encouragement in one another’s company. The second half of Acts 1 tells of the remaining disciples deciding they needed to find a replacement for Judas, and asking God who that person should be. We see the early decision making of the church, and we find them meeting together in one place to make plans, to pray together and to fellowship with each other.

The fact that they were all together in one place lets us know that the church in Jerusalem was ready to be born. All they needed was the Holy Spirit to give it birth.

The event (2-4)

How do you feel about experiencing something completely different than you had ever experienced before? There are some who welcome new experiences, while there are others who would be perfectly happy to never experience anything new. And yet, each of us have experienced new. At first, it may seem odd. Certainly, it takes some adjusting.

Imagine, then, what it must have been like in that place where everyone was gathered. One moment, the day is perfectly normal, not unlike any other day. Then, suddenly, without warning, the room is filled with sound of a violent wind, and the sound filled the house. I imagine it would be like someone turning on a stereo full blast when moments before it was absolutely quiet. The shock of the sudden sound must have been horribly startling.

But it wasn’t just their hearing that was assaulted in this matter. As they looked, no doubt wide-eyed at one another, they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire. Not only that, but the fire separated and began to land on each of them.

I think it’s important at this point to remind ourselves what the Bible says happened. There was no wind, and there were no flames. It was the sound of wind and it was the appearance of tongues of flame resting on each person. Again, thinking of modern technology, it would be as if virtual flames were landing on each person—there was no heat or damage, just the appearance.

It was at this point that each person in that house, being together in one place, that was filled with the Holy Spirit. And as soon as the Spirit filled them, they began to speak in other languages, all because the power of the Spirit enabled them to do so.

We need to stop here and look at what “other tongues” or “other languages” means. Our Pentecostal and charismatic brothers and sisters would tell us that they spoke in an utterance that was unknown to other ears, that it was a heavenly language they spoke. However, as we read at the beginning of the message, what the believers were saying was understood by those who were hearing their own languages, not some unknown tongue.

It’s possible that God gave each person in the street the ability to understand this heavenly language, but that would mean that they, too, would have to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and that is inconsistent with the Bible and the Gospel. I believe what was happening is that God had given each person in the room had been given the temporary ability to speak another language. In other words, there were those who had been in the house who were now speaking, for the first and possibly only time in their lives, Parthian, Egyptian, Arabic, and other languages.

There are a few other things we might want to discuss about the Holy Spirit and our Pentecostal friends understanding, but that will come in a later message as we continue on in Acts. For now, I will limit this to the fact that God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, had given each person in the room to speak a language that was unknown to them personally, but not to others in the city that day.

All of this is taking place within minutes, and the world of each person in that room was radically changed in those few minutes. No longer were they waiting for the promised gift—now they had it. No longer were they waiting on further instructions—now they had it. Now they knew they had the mighty power of the Spirit, and that power was residing within each person in that house. Now, they were not only together in their commitment to Jesus, but they were now together in being filled with the same Holy Spirit. It wasn’t just Peter or James or John or Andrew or the other disciples that had been gifted with the Spirit. Each person in that house had heard the sound of the wind, had seen the appearance of the flames and had watched as the flames had rested on each of them. And it was each of them that had now exhibited this indwelling presence by speaking a different language than their own. From this moment, we know that each follower of Jesus is equal to everyone else. Each of us has been gifted, and each of us has power and the responsibility to use that power as God leads us.

The awe (5-13)

As the people in the house were being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, it was drawing a crowd of people. It’s quite possible the windows were open and passersby overheard someone speaking their native tongue. It would draw people’s attention, and in fact, that’s what it did. The Bible says when they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, wondering what was going on.

I’ve shared with you before about my journey into a McDonalds in El Paso where everyone but me was speaking Spanish. I was desperately trying to remember what little Spanish I knew when the young man at the counter asked me in perfect English, “How can I help you?” I cannot begin to describe the relief I felt when I heard my native tongue being spoken by someone. And that was in El Paso. I can only imagine what such an event would be like if I were in some foreign land.

Yet, here were men and women from all over the Roman Empire, gathered together in Jerusalem to observe Pentecost. Pentecost was a harvest celebration in the Jewish community. This observance was given them by God through Moses, and it was a holy day. It came 50 days after Passover. Acts tells us that God-fearing Jews had gathered in Jerusalem for the observance. It was these God-fearing Jews that now gathered outside the house as they were hearing a familiar language coming out of the house.

And, as we know from this passage, each person was hearing a familiar language. And that was what was so bewildering to them. The Bible says, “Utterly amazed, they asked, ‘Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?’” So there was a recognition by the hearers that what they were hearing shouldn’t be happening.

We need to be reminded that Jesus’ followers were not, for the most part, learned men. They had a rudimentary education, yes, but very few of them had had extensive educations. Paul was a learned man, as was Luke. Matthew was probably more learned that most of the disciples, but he probably wasn’t as learned as others. These men were blue collar workers for the most part. What was taking place was truly extraordinary.

And it leads them to ask, “What does it mean?”

And that’s often the world’s response to the Spirit’s moving in our world. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:14 that a person without the Spirit cannot understand the things of the Spirit. To them, it’s foolishness. They see the Spirit working in their midst, but they can’t explain it. They know something is happening, but it’s something they can’t wrap their brains around. They try to explain it away or to define it, but ultimately they can’t. It takes a person of faith to understand the things of the Spirit, and that person of faith can only tell what they know. But to those who don’t or can’t understand, it comes down to dismissing the event.

“They’ve had too much wine.”

Conclusion

What happens next is one of the most effective sermons ever preached. It’s not a long one, and it’s not particularly something like the Gettysburg Address or an oratory from Shakespeare. What it was, though, is a message from the Holy Spirit, a demonstration of the power that had come upon the men in the room that day. As a result, about 3000 people came to know Christ and joined the Church that day.

We all like to get gifts, particularly the really good ones. When God gifted the disciples and others in that house with the Holy Spirit, it forever changed the way they acted and the way they saw the world. No longer were they going to hide behind locked doors. Now they would perform miracles and share the Gospel with boldness and confidence.

The same thing can happen to us. All we have to do is stop going by feelings, and embrace the truth of the Bible. Take a step of faith, and see what the Spirit can do within you.