Waters of Life

Biblical Studies in Multiple Languages

Search in "English":
Home -- English -- Acts - 010 (Outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost)
This page in: -- Albanian -- Arabic -- Armenian -- Azeri -- Bulgarian -- Cebuano -- Chinese -- ENGLISH -- French -- Georgian -- Greek -- Hausa -- Igbo -- Indonesian -- Portuguese -- Russian -- Serbian -- Somali -- Spanish -- Tamil -- Telugu -- Turkish -- Urdu? -- Uzbek -- Yiddish -- Yoruba

Previous Lesson -- Next Lesson

ACTS - In the Triumphal Procession of Christ
Studies in the Acts of the Apostles
PART 1 - The Foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and Syria - Under the Patronage of the Apostle Peter, Guided by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1 - 12)
A - The Growth and Development of the Early Church in Jerusalem (Acts 1 - 7)

5. The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13)


ACTS 2:5-13
5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under the sky. 6 When this sound was heard, the multitude came together, and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own language. 7 They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Behold, aren’t all these who speak Galileans? 8 How do we hear, everyone in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, 10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabians: we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God!” 12 They were all amazed, and were perplexed, saying one to another, “What does this mean?” 13 Others, mocking, said, “They are filled with new wine.”

Do you want to know what the apostles spoke while in the power of the tongues of fire? Read verse 11 and you will know that they only spoke of the wonderful works of God. They thanked their Creator for His creation, praised His treating the criminal sons of men forbearingly, glorified His holy law, and thanked Him for revealing His will through the prophets. They worshiped the Holy Father for his Son’s birth and incarnation and rejoiced in His embodied love made known to them, which they had seen and heard. They praised the Lord for His miracles, repeated His words, and worshiped Him for His death on the cross and His resurrection. The disciples glorified God for their meeting with the living Christ. They became joyful for His ascension, and rejoiced for the fulfillment of awaited prophecy. They believed in the necessity of preaching to the world, and were filled with the will of God to bring salvation to men. Are you in harmony, dear brother, with praising the wonderful works of God? Where is your gratitude? Do you honor yourself, or do you glorify God? Forget about yourself and honor your Father in heaven alone.

That harmonious atmosphere of praise, silent prayer, and holiness did not last long, for many others of those who waited for the Lord heard the sound of the storm of love, and raced to the place where the storm fell. There they stood perplexed, for they heard Galileans speaking in various languages, though they had never traveled abroad, or studied in a language school. The creative Spirit at Pentecost overcame the consequence of God’s anger when he had struck men, confused their language, and scattered them into different nations, that they could no longer understand one another. In their pride, they tried to reach to God’s level through building the Tower of Babel, which was intended to become higher and higher until it reached to God. Now, Christ had forgiven His followers their sin of pride, and the Spirit of Christ’s meekness and humility could dwell in the hearts of those praying. Not one of them thought of himself as better, cleverer, or greater than the other. The strong submitted to the weak, and the revered regarded himself to be the least. The Holy Spirit manifested Himself in love, which is the bond of perfection, and united different and scattered nations in the community of God. Thus, the Pentecostal gift of tongues symbolizes the reunion of scattered nations. Let it be known that from the Day of Pentecost onward the borders among the peoples, their languages, and their individual differences were crushed in principle. There are no longer degrees between the genius and the retarded. All are one in God, for the greatest gift was that the Holy Spirit had lifted mortal man to the level of the eternal Father. He had sanctified them by the blood of Christ, that they should be holy and without blame before Him in love.

At that first Pentecost a great concourse of representatives of many peoples gathered in Jerusalem to thankfully celebrate God’s abode at the termination of the harvest. Jews from Persia, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, North Africa, Italy, and Crete raced to Jerusalem. They all heard, in Galilean words, the voice of God speaking in their native language. The miracle of Pentecost was threefold: First, they heard the storm. Second, they saw the tongues of fire. Third, they understood the Galilean language, for God himself was a translator of the languages on that day.

We are particularly glad to recognize that among the hearers there were representatives of Egypt and of the Arabs. From the very beginning of His appearance, the Holy Spirit revealed the message of great salvation in Arabic and Coptic. These languages are neither difficult nor strange for Him. He satisfies them with His love, and fills their meanings with His holiness. Do you worship the triune God in your own language? Commit to Him your tongue, your heart, your determination, and all your strength, and you will continue in the joy of God’s praise.

How strange it was that those who raced to the storm were soon divided into two parties. There were those who considered carefully what they saw, and others who simply made fun of the believers. The first wanted to have full knowledge of the mystery of the Holy Spirit, while others took the speaking in God’s joyfulness to be gibberish and nonsense, such as drunkards sometimes talk. They must have experienced that unclean state, of which they accused the apostles, previously in their own experience. Yet they did not know God’s joy, and the power of eternal love remained hidden from them. Their hearts became more and more hardened by hatred.

PRAYER: Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s (Psalms 103: 1- 5).

QUESTION:

  1. What did the Holy Spirit teach the apostles to speak?

www.Waters-of-Life.net

Page last modified on March 17, 2015, at 06:32 PM | powered by PmWiki (pmwiki-2.3.3)