Please read this chapter in your Bible..
Verse 1: “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.”
Who were the ‘they’? The answer is in verse 14.
Verse 2: “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.”
Verse 3: “They saw WHAT SEEMED TO BE tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.”
‘what SEEMED TO BE tongues of fire’.
Why not real, burning, destroying fire? Because it could not be! Why not? Because these twelve men were NOT under judgment! Someone else had been a substitute for them. That ‘someone else’ was the Lord Jesus. On the Cross He Himself had suffered the judgment of a Holy God, when He cried: ”WHY have YOU forsaken ME?”
These twelve sinful men believed Jesus in His work on their behalf, .On the cross and in the grave, He made them become acceptable to a most Holy God and suitable for Him to, in them, begin a new work in His Kingdom. They were to be the foundation stones of the Church of the Lord Jesus.
Verse 4 “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
What was the point? Why did God Almighty deem this essential? What, to the mind of God the Holy Spirit, was the purpose?
Verse 5: “Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing JEWS from every nation under heaven.”
‘God-fearing Jews’ who understood foreign languages. Let us keep this in mind! Positively! They also heard that, as it were, unique sound.
Verse 6: “When THEY heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.”
A crowd came together. Who did hear the sound? And who were the crowd that came together?
Why were these ‘God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven’ in bewilderment? Because each one of them heard a Jewish apostle speaking in a, for him, foreign language.
Verse 11: “ . . . we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues”.
Verse 12: “Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another ‘What does this mean?”
Twice in my life I was caught in a congregation so called ‘speaking in tongues’.
I never heard one word about ‘the wonders of God’. I did hear what sounded like a hundred babbling babies, all in one room. Not one word in English or in my native language.
In the Bible ‘God-fearing Jews’ were explaining to ‘God-fearing Jews’ ‘the wonders of God’, the God of Israel, and no doubt, one of those wonders was the resurrection of Jesus, the Son of the God of Israel.
Today both Jew and non-Jew may turn to the witnessing of the Apostles. But so called ‘speaking in tongues’ is not God-glorifying but self-gratification. It is seeking after an non-spiritual experience.
Verse 13: “Some, however, made fun of them and said ‘They have had too much wine’.”
Yes, that’s what THEY said. BUT . . . GOD!. What did HE say?
Verse 14: “Then Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd ‘Fellow JEWS and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say:
Verse 16: “ . . . this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.”
Joel. Who was Joel? Joel was a Jew, a Jewish prophet who spoke and addressed only one nation, the nation of Israel. We may read about it in our Old Testament, the Book of Joel.
Verse 17: “In the LAST days, GOD says . . . ”
Verse 18: “ . . in THOSE days . . .. “ which GOD spoke about.
In the verses 19 and 20 we identify the LAST and THOSE days.
“I will show wonders in the heaven above, and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, BEFORE the coming of the great and glorious Day of the Lord.” (Matthew 24:29, 30).
On that ‘day of Pentecost’ (v.1) how could the Apostle Peter, referring to the events of that day, why did he say: ’this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.’
Verse 17: “In the last days, GOD says, I will pour out My Spirit on ALL people . . “
To many a Jew an awful offence. A Jew who earnestly endeavoured to live by the Law, the commandments and his blood-sacrifices, many who were not so diligent, considered them selves to be righteous before God. They looked down upon a non- Jew, who did not have those three rules to live by, as if he or she was a dog. There was this vast divide between Jew and Gentile. But Joel had prophesied ’My Spirit on ALL people, that is on Jew and Gentile alike. That’s why, on the day of Pentecost, Peter could quote Joel and why the Israeli hierarchy saw Peter as a troublemaker. Law and commandment had been abolished (Ephesians 2:14,15) and now ALL sinful people may gain access to a Holy God, through His one and only Son, the Lord Jesus.
Verse 21: “And EVERYONE who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.” Verse 22: “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which GOD did among you through Him, as you your selves know.”
The men of Israel could not deny this. They had seen and heard that Man of Nazareth, but in spite of all His miracles, wonders and signs, would not believe Him. They wanted a king who would set them free of the hated Roman occupation.
Now the Holy Spirit had come and taken up residence in a body of twelve apostles of Jesus. And the very first thing He did was to use one of those apostles, standing with the eleven, and address . . . the men of Israel.
Verse 23: “This Man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.”
Now please, let us get this straight God’s set purpose and foreknowledge had nothing to do with the men of Israel. All their planning and all their deeds were their own responsibility. That is also for you and me. Gratefully we may seek His guidance and protection but ‘His set purpose and foreknowledge’ are not involved with our decisions and actions.
‘God’s set purpose and foreknowledge’ encircle the grand glory of His majestic, holy Name. They enhance His glory. Israel may persist in raucous rebellion. God allowed wicked men to nail His beloved Son to the Cross and then to allow you and me to see a glimpse of His great glory.
Verse 24: “ BUT GOD raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him.”
The glory of God, for many of His people it seems to take second or third or no place at all. But to Him ‘his purpose and foreknowledge’ are matters of eternity. Not of temporal, human decisions and activities or desires.
Verse 32: “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses to the fact
Verse 33: “Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now SEE and HEAR.”
They had heard and seen so much! Would they now be convinced and convicted by what they now could SEE and HEAR?
Verse 36:“Therefore let ALL ISRAEL be assured of this: ‘GOD has made THIS JESUS, WHOM YOU CRUCIFIED, both LORD AND CHRIST.’ “
Verse 40: “With many other words he warned them, and he pleaded with them, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
‘Save yourselves’.
THEY had to use their own, God-given, inborn intelligence. THEY had to decide believing that message. THEY had to reject all other suggestions they heard. THEY were responsible.
Verse 41: “Those who accepted his message were baptized; and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”
That day there were about three thousand one hundred and twenty believers in THIS part of the Kingdom of God, the Church of the Lord Jesus. And God used this new section for HIM still to continue to deal with the old section in His Kingdom, The nation of Israel.” Great, how great is His faithfulness!
Verse 42: “They devoted themselves to
* the Apostles’ doctrine
* the Fellowship
* the Breaking of Bread
* and to prayer.
‘They devoted themselves’ to four church-activities. Not one of the four is more or less important than any of the three others. Leave out one of the four and that church-congregation will be faltering.
In that respect any congregation in the Church of the Lord Jesus is like the human body. That also exists in four essentials. It needs a head, a heart,
members and the blood-circulation. When one of the four is mal-functioning or missing that human body is dead, or pitiful.
For Christian fellowships the lack of one of those activities will surely mean a loss of spiritual beauty, power and effectiveness. All four are essential.
On that day the apostles’ teaching still was, to a certain extent, somewhat limited. The Holy Spirit, through their spirits, was still engaged with the nation of Israel, all in accordance with the instructions by the Lord Jesus. He did say: First Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria, after that the whole world. That’s exactly how it happened.
The ‘apostles’ doctrine would tell their congregation everything they knew about Jesus, all they had learned from Him, and outside those limits, all that the Holy Spirit did inspire. Teaching about the Church being the Body of Christ would come later.
For a short moment let us return to verse 41:
Verse 41: “Those who accepted his (Peter’s) message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”
‘That day’.
On ‘this day’ pastors and teachers need to be very careful. On ‘this day’ we have much more of the apostles’ teaching, which the apostles on ‘that day’ did not have.
‘This day’ Christians should not be baptized unless they have fair comprehension and honest intention about the apostle’s doctrine in Romans, chapter 6.
That day about three thousand were added to their number. The truth in the apostles’ doctrine joined all of them into one fellowship. Many of them had seen it, that human being, torn on a cross. And now their fellowship in faith became a fellowship of remembrance. The apostles’ doctrine told them some of the last words by Jesus: ’ Do this in remembrance of Me’ and they devoted themselves to ‘the breaking of bread’ and to ‘prayer’. Prayer to the God Who had forgiven all their sinfulness and Who had shown them that nothing is beyond His wisdom, power or control. Please remember, the Acts of the Apostles were the works of God! A bunch of humble fishermen, but . . . GOD! They simply were available for Him to use. God’s plan and purpose were from the past eternity. To carry out His eternal plan and purpose it pleases Him to use sinful people, forgiven sinners.
They devoted themselves to four weighty principles. And what happened? ‘Wonders and miraculous signs were done by the Apostles’. Done by the God of the Apostles. In them, the people could see the loving life of Jesus of Nazareth. Today, in our society we have a complete Bible and people are invited to believe it. To believe what God is saying about His Son, the Lord Jesus. In some other world-societies people do not have, are not allowed to have Bibles. To many of them God still speaks through wonders and miraculous signs.
On ‘that day’ what else could the general community see?
Verse 44: “All the believers were together and had everything in common.”
Verse 45: “Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone who had need.”
They had DEVOTED themselves!
Verse 46 “Every day they CONTINUED to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts”
In the temple courts and in their homes. In Christ their testimony was consistent! The outside community could not fail to notice that.
Verse 47 “Praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
Back in verse 40 Peter had warned them and pleaded ‘Save your selves from this corrupt generation’ . How could they ‘save them selves’? They could, by allowing their God-given, inborn intelligence to admit they were sinful and in need of forgiveness. Then the Lord could add them to those who were being saved.
They needed to realize that GOD saves sinners who are willing to repent and become ‘saved’ sinners.
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