- Luke,
the historian of the earliest church, is giving a general
description of the first congregation in Jerusalem. A sense of awe
pervaded this community of believers as the events of Pentecost
unfolded before their eyes. The New English Bible gives us a better
picture than the usual “And fear came upon every soul.”
It was not that they were afraid but that they were filled with
wonder. What they had seen and heard, what they themselves had
experienced, was mind-boggling. It was a reaction mixed with fear,
reverence and wonder. We may conclude that it was so staggering and
awe inspiring that it was almost too much for them.
-
- As
we look into these Christian origins for values and principles for
our time this is one we should not overlook. Theirs was no “baloney
attitude” in that they witnessed the events as fascinated
spectators. Nor was it a “hands in pocket” mentality in
that they could take it or leave it. Luke intends for us to see that
this was the most important thing by far that had ever happened to
them. The events were both life-changing and character-changing.
They would clearly never be the same again. The believers were
struck with a sense of awe. Pentecost was awful, in the proper sense
of that term.
-
- If
the modern church is to recapture the excited faith of these
earliest believers, it must come to realize its pentecostal roots.
It is not too much to say that Pentecost was not only the greatest
hour in the history of the church but the most momentous social
event in the history of the world. We have much to learn from
Pentecost in that it is here that we have the heart of the Christian
faith.
-
- The
setting was ready-made for a momentous event, for Pentecost, known
in Scripture as the Feast of Weeks, was one of those occasions when
the Israelites would “go up to appear before the Lord your God
three times in the year” (Ex. 34:24). The other annual feasts
were Passover and Booths (or Tabernacles). Pentecost, which came
seven weeks after Passover, was the harvest festival, the time of
the ingathering and the occasion when the first fruits of the wheat
harvest were offered to the Lord. It was a gala occasion, a time for
rejoicing over a plentiful harvest. As each family made its way into
Jerusalem it would bring along two loaves of bread made of fine
flour from the new harvest and wave it before the Lord with
thanksgiving (Lev. 23:17). It was the kind of thing the children
would remember in growing up at home.
-
- While
Pentecost did not attract the immense crowds that Passover did,
overflowing the city, there was nonetheless many pilgrims in
Jerusalem at this time of year. Unlike the other feasts, Pentecost
was but one day, always a Sunday. On this occasion the year was 30
A.D., the Jewish day and month, 6 Siwan (May 28 to us). We even know
that it was 9 o’clock in the morning (Acts 2:15).
-
-
The
excitement all began when some of these pilgrims, stirring about the
city as visitors do, intermingled no doubt with town folk, were
attracted to the strange behavior of a small band of men. It is
noteworthy that from this point on the rich symbolism has to do with
communication,
including
the symbol of tongues, as if the God of heaven had something special
to announce. That the Father would choose these great festivals,
Passover in order to manifest the Christ as the paschal lamb and now
Pentecost to declare him to be the first fruit of the resurrection
harvest, shows that he preferred to make history where the people
were. The Messiah was born in a remote village with angels looking
on, but the great
social
events,
including the birth of the Church of Christ, took place where the
crowds were.
-
- While
we cannot be sure of the sequence of events, it is clear that “the
crowd” (these visitors from all over the Mediterranean world,
with at least 16 nations represented) was attracted to a certain
part of the city, to a certain house, because of a strange noise
that seemed to have come from nowhere. It was not actually “a
strong driving wind” but that is what it sounded like. This
“wind” attracts them to the scene as if it were a
magnet. We may assume that by now, the disciples of Jesus who are
the stars of this drama, have overflowed “the house in which
they were sitting” and are now out in the street or streets.
-
- The
awful aspects of this drama include what the crowds saw as well as
what they heard. The disciples, now dispersed somehow among the
people, were “sat upon” by tongue-like flames of fire.
We might suppose a “tongue” danced above the head or
shoulder of each apostle, lingering there as he spoke of the mighty
wonders of God. At the baptism of Jesus it was the Spirit in the
likeness of a dove that hovered about him. At the baptism of the
apostles in the Spirit (Were they baptized in water?) it was in
tongues like fire that the Spirit was manifested.
-
- Acts
2:4 tells us, using the NEB: “And they were all filled with
the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other tongues as the Spirit
gave them utterance.” This alone was enough to awe those that
gathered. They both saw and heard manifestations of the Holy Spirit
of God from heaven. As “devout men,” as Luke describes
them, they would be of right heart and mind to respond positively to
what was taking place. Luke piles up the adjectives in describing
their initial response: they were bewildered, amazed, astonished,
and perplexed. These are the ingredients for a sense of awe.
-
- We
may not be able to determine precisely what it was that bewildered
the crowd. It was more than the sound of a mighty wind that first
attracted them. Luke says they were bewildered “because each
one heard the apostles talking in his own language” (v. 6),
and then the crowd complains “Why, they are all Galileans, are
they not, these men who are speaking? How is it then that we hear
them, each of us in his own native language?” (v. 8) Then
there were the tongues of fire that hovered over each speaker. No
wonder the chronicler was lost for words in describing the crowd’s
reaction!
-
-
It
must have been really something else to both see and hear the Holy
Spirit of God. But what did they hear? Were the apostles speaking in
ecstatic tongues, which appears to be the case in the church at
Corinth, which the crowd heard each in his own native tongue? This
would have made it a miracle of
hearing
as
well as speaking. Or were the “other tongues” (v. 4) the
native languages of those in the crowd? There is a third
possibility. The apostles may have been praising God in their native
Aramaic, not ecstatic tongues or foreign languages, and the audience
understand in their various languages. This would have made it
appear that “other tongues” were being spoken.
-
- If
it were primarily a miracle of hearing, it would solve the problem
of how the twelve apostles could be speaking fifteen or more
different dialects and languages, presumably at the same time. Some
think the tongues were ecstatic with just enough words in the native
languages to attract each one’s attention.
-
- Based
upon verse 8, which tells us that each one heard in his own native
tongue, my guess is that the apostles were dispersed over the area,
with each one speaking in a different language, which would draw
each nationality to the group of his own tongue. Then, finally, when
Peter stood up to speak to them all (verse 14) they became one large
crowd and the “tongues” ended, for Peter would speak in
Aramaic, which they would have all understood, being Jews. So the
“tongues” phenomenon was not so much to communicate with
them as to get their attention. The heart of the drama of Pentecost
was Peter’s message, which was the preaching of the gospel of
the Messiah.
-
- And
here we find the main source of their sense of awe. They were awed
by the gospel, which is God’s power to save. They were awed
because once they were smitten with the realization that they had
committed the gravest of sins, the murder of the Messiah, they saw
the grace of God in the forgiveness of what they had done.
-
-
The
crowd, witness to all the marvels, had but one question,
What
can this mean?
The
only exceptions were a few who sought to discount it all with “They
have been drinking!,” which in the light of the facts was
nonsense. We all know that even devout people sometimes talk
nonsense!
-
-
Once
Peter explains that there was no drinking involved, he gets on with
his message, which is all Jesus Christ. Here we learn our greatest
lesson, our heritage from Pentecost:
to
preach Jesus Christ and him crucified.
-
-
Peter
is proclaiming Jesus as the fulfillment of all that the Jewish
Scriptures hoped for. Eternity has at last invaded time and Jesus is
the hinge of history. The apostle proclaims the
kerugma,
the
message, for the first time, which was the prototype of all
Christian preaching that was to follow. The facts are clearly set
forth in his proclamation: the Messiah has come, born of the line of
David; his credentials were evident in the miracles he performed,
including the miracle of this Pentecost; he was nonetheless murdered
at the hands of wicked men, crucified; he came forth from the tomb
alive and he lives even now at God’s right hand.
-
- So
what did the marvels of Pentecost mean?, the question asked by the
crowd. Peter answers: “The Jesus we speak of has been raised
by God, as we can all bear witness. Exalted thus with God’s
right hand, he received the Holy Spirit from the Father, as was
promised, and all that you now see and hear flows from him”
(verses 32-33). Peter is telling them with both simplicity and awe
what is behind it all —the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has
come, and you’ve seen him with your own eyes and heard him
with your own ears. And what does that mean? It means that Jesus of
Nazareth, whom you murdered, Peter tells them, and who received the
Holy Spirit before we did, is the risen Christ, and he is the one
who has done all these wonders.
-
- The
apostle then hangs on them the one certainty that made this
Pentecost the day that it was: “Let all Israel then accept as
certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord
and Messiah” (verse 36). The certainty was sealed by Jesus’
resurrection from the dead, Peter tells them.
-
-
The
power of the gospel cut them to the heart. They now ask not for
meaning of events but for direction for their souls,
What
are we to do?
-
- Since
Pentecost served as a memorial for the giving of the law at Sinai,
it was appropriate for the apostle to turn to the two oldest laws
that God ever gave to man: repentance and obedience! “‘Repent,’
said Peter, ‘repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the
name of Jesus the Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins; and you
will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (verse 38).
-
- The
miracle of Pentecost was that even those that brutally killed the
Lord of glory could receive the Holy Spirit, the self same wonder
that they saw and heard that day. While it was God who had chosen
them rather than they who had chosen God, they had a response to
make by reforming their lives and being baptized for the remission
of their sins. Repentance, baptism, forgiveness of sins, the gift of
the Holy Spirit. It is the divine order that the church is to honor
forever.
-
- The
twelve (or 120 if you like) suddenly became 3,000 more, as verse 41
indicates: “Then those who accepted his words were baptized,
and some three thousand were added to their number that day.”
-
-
That
should end all argument about whether a believer is to be baptized.
Those who
accepted
the
word were baptized. We can only conclude that if one refused baptism
he would be one who did not accept the word. The implication is that
some were in that category, but those who
did
accept
the gospel truths were baptized. We may also conclude that they also
received the Holy Spirit on that day, just as the apostles did. The
Scriptures teach that all those who obey Christ are baptized by the
Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13).
-
- Yes,
there would be a sense of awe, wouldn’t there? They were all
now baptized in the Holy Spirit. And that is not all. They are now
Jesus’ functioning ecclesia, his own called-out community
—“church” we say though that hardly seems to fit
here. Verse 42 tells us: “They met constantly to hear the
apostles teach, and to share the common life, to break bread, and to
pray.”
-
-
Here
we have the basics for the ongoing Church of Christ on earth. They
assembled
to
study the apostles’ teaching; as a community they
shared
the
reality of Jesus together (the NEB does well to avoid the term
fellowship
here,
which is ambiguous); they
broke
bread
together,
which now included the Lord’s supper as well as a common meal;
and they were a
praying
church.
-
- Their
love as a new community in the Spirit reached out particularly to
the poor, for “as the need of each required” they would
sell their property and make distribution. But this is nothing like
Marxist communism, for it was first circumstantial, as there was
need, and not contrived and not necessarily continuous. And it was
voluntary, motivated by loving concern, and not by fiat.
-
-
Moreover,
Pentecost rang with the spirit of catholicity, even if the setting
was Jewish. When we see the fiery tongues as a symbol of Pentecost
we can think of the gospel reaching out to all men as well as of the
coming of the Holy Spirit. The pentecostal symbol is
tongues,
God
communicating to man,
all
mankind
that he is a God of grace and forgiveness. That is the point of
verse 5, for men were there from “every nation under heaven.”
Those who demand that the Bible means exactly what it says will have
trouble here, for only 16 nations were represented among the
hundreds that then filled the world. The Japanese were not there,
nor the Chinese, nor the Indians. Thus “every nation under
heaven” is Luke’s way of telling us that the heritage of
Pentecost is for all, universal or catholic.
-
- Luke
adds some tender touches, something like P.S.’s to a love
letter, as in verses 46-47: the new community was of one mind and
they continued their daily attendance at the temple (They did not
cease being Jews!); they broke bread together in private -homes;
they shared their meals with unaffected joy (How beautiful!); they
praised God and enjoyed the favor of all the people (Persecution
came later). And they kept having additions, every day!
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-
All
these things underscore that great line,
A
sense of awe was everywhere.
That
is what Pentecost is all about, awe, and now we see why. —the
Editor