Acts 2:1-21: The Coming of the Spirit

Acts 2:1-21: The Coming of the Spirit

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of Acts, and today the next passage we come to is Acts 2:1-21 as the passage upon which today’s message will be based. Acts 2:1-21:

1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” 14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 20 the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. 21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”

As we continue our passage-by-passage journey through the book of Acts, the next passage we come to is Acts 2:1-21. And I’ll just say here at the beginning that this is, without question, one of the most controversial passages in the entire Bible. The reason for that controversy, of course, is because of the phenomenon recorded here of the early Christians “speaking in tongues,” as it’s often called. That’s a somewhat archaic phrase that simply refers to someone speaking in other languages—but not languages that they’ve learned. Instead, they’re supernaturally empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak in languages they haven’t learned. So that’s what we mean when we say “speaking in tongues.” 

And Christians today are all over the board when it comes to this issue. Countless books have been written about it, countless arguments have taken place, and more than one denomination has split over differences of opinion about this issue. Some Christians are convinced that the gift of tongues no longer exists today at all—and that any purported practice of tongues-speaking is therefore either merely a psychological phenomenon or demonic. Yet other Christians argue that the gift of tongues is very much in operation today and is something that we should all be seeking to do. A few even take the extreme position that you’re not even saved if you haven’t spoken in tongues. So as you can see, confusion abounds when it comes to this issue. And I think “confusion” is also a good word to describe the way most Christians feel about the issue as well. They haven’t really studied enough to come to a settled conclusion about whether speaking in tongues still happens today or not, and so they’re just sort of confused about it. They’re not quite sure what to think. 

Fortunately, this morning, I’m going to give you all the answers. Everything you ever wanted to know about this will be thoroughly explained, and everything that’s been the occasion for so much controversy for the past 120 years will be completely solved—all in the span of 35 minutes or so. Obviously, I’m not really serious about that, but hopefully, as we go through this passage, things can nevertheless become at least a little clearer and I can be at least somewhat helpful for you as we all consider this issue together. 

Now, the background here is that Jesus has just told his disciples that they’re going to bear witness about his resurrection, starting in Jerusalem and eventually reaching to the ends of the earth. But, he said that they need to sit tight and wait for the Holy Spirit before they even try to do that. Then after saying all of this, Jesus ascended into heaven before their very eyes. That’s Acts 1. Then we come to Acts 2 and find this written in verses 1-4: 1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 

Now from these verses, we can see the main idea of the entire passage, which is that the Holy Spirit came upon God’s people like never before to mark the beginning of a new era. That’s what’s going on here. The Holy Spirit came upon God’s people like never before to mark the beginning of a new era.  

Verse 1 says that this took place on “the day of Pentecost,” which is a Jewish harvest festival that gets its name from the fact that it occurs fifty days after Passover. “And suddenly,” the text says, “there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind.” Wind in the Bible is frequently associated with the presence of God and with God showing up to do something, which he certainly is here. And we see in verse 3 that, not only was there wind, but there were also “divided tongues as of fire” that appeared to the early Christians and that “rested on each one of them.” If you’re familiar with the Old Testament, you may remember that fire also is associated with God’s presence. One especially prominent example of that occurs when the Israelites are wandering in the desert. Exodus 13:22 tells us that, during these desert wanderings, God’s presence was with them in the form of a “pillar of cloud by day” and a “pillar of fire by night.” So God’s presence was manifested at night in the form of a pillar of fire above the Israelite camp. 

But now…check out what happens in Acts 2. The fire of God’s presence isn’t just resting over the Christian community as a whole but over each one of the Christians individually. That’s huge. You can’t understand the significance of this passage without understanding that. God no longer merely dwells in the midst of his people—he now dwells within each one of them. Each one has direct access to God and, we might say, a personal relationship with God. The theological phrase for this is the priesthood of the believer. Every single Christian is a priest in the sense that we all have direct access to God and enjoy his presence up close and personal. 

And to be more specific, it’s the presence of the Holy Spirit that we enjoy. Verse 4 states that “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” Jesus promised the Spirit back in the previous chapter, and we now see that promise fulfilled. Now, this doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit wasn’t actively working in people in the Old Testament. He certainly was. But now, the Holy Spirit is coming upon God’s people in a new and much more powerful way. Again, as stated in our main idea, the Holy Spirit came upon God’s people like never before to mark the beginning of a new era.

Then as we continue reading, things continue to get more interesting. Verse 4 says that “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues [or languages] as the Spirit gave them utterance.” So what in the world is happening here? Well, let’s get some more details in verses 5-13: 5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” 

So these early Christians were proclaiming what verse 11 describes as “the mighty works of God” in languages that they themselves had never learned. Yet there were people in the crowd from all of those places and who knew all of those languages and who were therefore amazed at what was taking place. Now some of them, it says, mocked the Christians and said, “They are filled with new wine.” But others asked the question that perhaps many of us this morning want to know the answer to as well: “What does this mean?” Isn’t that a good question, there in verse 12? “What does this mean?” Well, let’s find out. 

Peter himself actually gives us the answer in verses 14-21: 14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 20 the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. 21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”

So Peter quotes from the Old Testament prophet Joel and explains that this phenomenon of speaking in tongues marks a new era in God’s plan for the salvation of the world—an era referred to in verse 17 as “the last days” and in verse 20 as “the day of the Lord.” This is an era that begins with Jesus ascending into heaven and that will conclude one day with his future return. And in this era, the text says in verse 17, God will pour out his Spirit on “all flesh.” That word “all” is quite significant. No longer will God’s Spirit only come upon certain people at certain times. Now, he’ll come upon all of God’s people. Kind of like the tongues of fire being above each one of them, right? Every single one of God’s people will get to partake of his Spirit in this new era. So, to give something of a summary statement here, the purpose of these early Christians speaking in tongues is to mark out a new era—an era in which all of God’s people will get to enjoy his presence in a personal and direct way. 

In addition, what we see taking place here is essentially a reversal of the tower of Babel. Genesis 11 describes how, originally, everyone in the world spoke the same language. But then, in their prideful ambition, they started building an enormous tower—called the tower of Babel—as an act of defiance against God. So God scattered them throughout the world and confused them so that they began to speak different languages and couldn’t understand each other. But now, we see a reversal of that, don’t we? Instead of a hindrance to communication being created, it’s overcome. And that’s intended as a sign that the message of the gospel is about to be spread not just among one people or in one language but—in the words of Acts 1:8—to the very ends of the earth. 

And we see this gospel message described in shorthand form in verse 21 of our main passage. Still quoting Joel, the Apostle Peter says, “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Now, Joel may have originally intended that word “Lord” as a general reference to God, but Peter here is applying it to Jesus specifically. The subsequent verses that we’ll look at next week make that very clear. So the way people can be “saved” from sin and from the judgment their sins deserve is through Jesus. Jesus existed as God from all eternity but came to this earth as a human being. And he did that so he could live a perfectly sinless life and then die on the cross to pay for our sin. We owed a debt to God’s justice for the sins we had committed, but Jesus paid that debt on our behalf. He endured the full force of the judgment our sins deserved so that we wouldn’t have to endure it and then rose from the dead three days later. And the result, as we see clearly stated here, is that everyone who calls upon his name shall be saved. Calling upon his name involves renouncing any confidence in our own works or efforts to get right with God on our own and putting our trust fully in Jesus. That’s the message of the gospel that God intends to reach the ends of the earth. And the gift of tongues here in Acts 2 functions as a sign of that intention in that it’s a reversal of what happened at the tower of Babel. 

Now, we do see in the Bible that the gift of tongues continued after this event here in Acts 2—not only several other times at key points in the book of Acts but apparently even as a regular occurrence in the early church. The portion of Scripture that talks very extensively about that is 1 Corinthians 12-14. Unfortunately, we don’t have time this morning to explore those chapters in detail, but if you want to learn more about how tongues functioned in the early church on a more or less regular basis, that’s where you’d want to look—1 Corinthians 12-14. And I’ll just mention very briefly that one important thing these chapters show us is that the gift of tongues didn’t just have evangelistic value like we see in Acts 2; it also edifying value for the church. In fact, it seems as though the edification of Christians may have actually been its primary purpose—or at least the purpose that receives virtually all of the emphasis in 1 Corinthians. 

Now you may be wondering how the gift of tongues edifies Christians. How exactly does it help us and benefit us spiritually? And I know this might surprise you, but the answer to that question is highly controversial. Some would claim that the gift of tongues edifies us in a way that more or less bypasses our mind. They’d say that our spirit experiences a kind of direct and mystical communion with God’s Spirit as we speak in tongues. However, others would say that that’s not really possible and that the gift of tongues would have to impress some kind of message upon our hearts in a way that involves our cognitive capacities in order to build us up spiritually. But regardless of which of those options you choose, I believe the important thing is to understand that the gift of tongues does go beyond what we see in Acts 2 and serves to build up Christians in some way in their walk with God. 

And that leads us to the question that perhaps many of you have been waiting for: is the gift of tongues still in operation today? Did it cease in the first century, as many Christians believe, or does the genuine, New Testament gift of tongues still exist today? And I’ll just go ahead and give you a heads up here that what I’m about to say here might offend some people. In fact, before the sermon’s over, I think I might manage to offend just about everybody—on both sides of the issue. And that does take a lot of skill. Usually, a preacher can only manage to offend people on one side of an issue, but I think I might actually offend people on both sides. If you’re more sympathetic to a Charismatic style of Christian living, you’re probably going to be offended. And if you’re more committed to a non-Charismatic or even cessationist style of Christian living, you’re probably going to be offended as well. So just consider this your official trigger warning. 

So with regard to the question of whether the genuine gift of tongues is still in operation today, I believe the answer is yes. Now, I didn’t always believe that. I used to be something pretty close to a “cessationist,” which is someone who believes that the gifts have ceased. However, I was reading Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology several years ago, and he laid out the teaching of 1 Corinthians 13 in a way that I just couldn’t argue with. I was very uncomfortable with the idea of tongues and the other so-called miraculous gifts because I had seen them abused so much, but I just couldn’t argue with Wayne Grudem’s exegesis of 1 Corinthians 13. So, like anyone who’s truly a “Bible-believing Christian” should do, I changed my position in response to what I perceived to be a convincing argument from Scripture. 

And here are the main contours of that argument. In 1 Corinthians 13:8, Paul writes, “Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.” So right away, we see that these three gifts—prophecy, tongues, and the gift of knowledge—are going to pass away. So, in one sense, we should all be cessationists, right? We should all believe that these miraculous gifts are going to cease one day—it says it right here. But the all-important question is, when? When can we expect these gifts to cease? Well, let’s keep reading:  9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. Okay, so that sort of answers our question. We’re told that these gifts will pass away “when the perfect comes.” You see that there? “The partial will pass away”—the gifts will pass away—“when the perfect comes.” But of course, we now have to ask, when is “the perfect”? What is that referring to? Well, let’s continue on:  11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then [when the perfect comes] face to face. Now I know in part; then [again, the perfect] I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So we’re clearly told here in verse 12 what the perfect will be like. “The perfect” will be the time when we see “face to face” and when we “know fully.” Guys, there’s just no way that could refer to anything other than the time when Jesus returns. We enjoy a lot of blessings in this life, but I’m sorry, seeing “face to face” and knowing fully can only describe our eternal dwelling. There’s just no other interpretation of “the perfect” that’s even close to being plausible, in my humble opinion. So the conclusion I believe we have to draw from 1 Corinthians 13 is that the gift of tongues and the other miraculous gifts won’t cease until the return of Christ. That’s a good summary statement of our conclusion: the gift of tongues and the other miraculous gifts won’t cease until the return of Christ. Because, again, verses 8-10 tell us that they’ll cease “when the perfect comes” and then verses 11-12 define “the perfect” very clearly as the return of Christ.  

 Now, this doesn’t mean that everything that’s claimed as the gift of tongues today is legitimately from God or pleasing to God. I actually believe much of it isn’t. And it also doesn’t mean that we should expect every Christian or even most Christians to speak in tongues. 1 Corinthians 12:30 clearly teaches that many Christians don’t possess that gift. But I do believe 1 Corinthians 13 is sufficient evidence that God intends the gift of tongues to continue to be in operation until Jesus returns. 

And by the way, let me also say that you don’t have to believe this. This isn’t the official teaching of our church or a requirement for church membership or anything like that. It’s just the interpretation of Scripture that I personally believe is the most faithful to the text. It’s not something that we as a church want to divide over. In fact, there are some rather significant disagreements among our church’s elders about this issue, and yet we all still manage to love each other and learn from each other and labor side by side for the sake of the gospel. So if we as elders can do that, then I believe you also—even those of you who are more opinionated—quite honestly, can swallow your pride and do the same thing that we as elders are doing.

So I am what’s often known as a “continuationist” in that I believe the miraculous gifts, including the gift of tongues, still continue today. And the reason I strongly prefer the term “continuationist” rather than Pentecostal or Charismatic is because I actually do have some rather significant concerns about the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. In fact, I’ll just say that I have grave concerns—three of them, to be exact. First of all, from what I’ve observed, the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements are breeding grounds for straight-up heresy. Whether it’s the Word of Faith movement and its teaching that each one of us are “little gods” with the power to speak things into being through our words or whether it’s the Prosperity Gospel which teaches that God promises all Christians earthly health and wealth and prosperity—these teachings are fairly widespread in Pentecostal and Charismatic circles. And even though it’s true that not all Pentecostal or Charismatic pastors are actively preaching these things, they certainly seem to be tolerating them in their churches more often than not—which I believe makes them complicit. If you know of a heresy that’s present and spreading in your local church and you don’t call it out as a pastor, you are complicit. 

In addition to that, I also have grave concerns about the way in which many Pentecostals and Charismatics seem to elevate their spiritual experiences above Scripture. At the end of the day, they view their experiences as self-authenticating rather than Scripture as self-authenticating. And that’s nothing less than a recipe for disaster and for making a shipwreck of your faith. Our experiences always, always have to be viewed in light of Scripture, never the other way around. 

Then third, the Pentecostal and Charismatic approach to the Christian life short-circuits progressive sanctification. Here’s what I mean by that. Basically, these movements teach that Christian growth happens primarily through a series of crisis experiences such as a sudden “baptism of the Holy Spirit” subsequent to conversion or some other kind of very dramatic spiritual experience that instantaneously takes someone who’s here in their sanctification and brings them up to here. Basically, they’re going along in their sanctification, maybe making a little bit of progress, and then all of a sudden they “level up” in their sanctification instantaneously. And I’m not saying that God can’t ever do anything like that, but having the view that that’s normal in the Christian life can actually be quite harmful in that it takes our focus off of what we should be focusing on in our sanctification—the daily process of dying to sin and using the means of grace such as Bible reading and prayer and Christian fellowship to stir our affections for the Lord. That’s the primary way in which sanctification happens, according to the Bible—repenting of sin and using the means of grace to stir our affections for the Lord. And if someone’s preoccupied with seeking a grand experience of instantaneous sanctification, they’re not able to focus on what the Bible says we should be focusing on. So those are some concerns I have with the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements and why I therefore prefer the term “continuationist” for myself. 

And, of course, there are also some notable blessings of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements as well that I don’t want to leave out. I greatly admire their zeal for the Lord and their evangelistic passion and the genuine love that they have for others and their emphasis on spiritual renewal. All of these things are very good and very commendable and are things that we should try to learn from. However, when all is said and done, my concerns about these movements are so grave that—even though I do believe the gifts are still in operation today—I just don’t think I’d be able to be a part of 95% of Pentecostal or Charismatic churches. And I’d like to encourage you all to avoid being influenced by them in an unhealthy way as well. So care for them as dear brothers and sisters in the faith and be very careful not to misrepresent them or imply that the extremes of the movement represent the whole movement, but at the same time, be aware of the dangers and even the heresies that seem to be present and growing in many places within these movements. 

And above all, my encouragement for you this morning, in light of everything we’ve discussed, is to fix your gaze on Jesus. The miraculous gifts are incredible blessings that God’s given to the church, and it’s not wrong to seek those gifts in prayer, but don’t let that become your primary focus. Your primary focus should be not on the gifts but on the Giver. Seek Jesus above everything. Colossians 1 teaches us that he is the one who’s the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of all creation. It’s by him that all things were created—and also through him and for him. He’s the one also in whom all things hold together as well as the one who’s the head of the church. It’s also in him that the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him that God reconciled to himself all things, making peace by the blood of his cross. And the result, we’re told, is that in everything he might be preeminent. Jesus is preeminent in the universe. Is he preeminent in your life? Is he preeminent in your worship and in your pursuit of God? Is he foremost in your thoughts and affections throughout the day? 

You know, as I look at Acts 2, the thing that sticks out the most to me about the gift of tongues in this passage is that it ultimately has the effect of turning people’s attention toward Jesus. It certainly captures people’s attention—that’s sort of the whole point of it—but it does so in order to give Peter a platform for preaching the gospel—as we’re going to see him do next week. So the gift of tongues was given in Acts 2 in order to exalt Jesus and to put the spotlight on him. So if you’re going to be a true Pentecostal—that is, someone who properly applies what happened at Pentecost to our lives today—then you also need to be all about Jesus. Make him the very center of your pursuits and the center of your life.