Last time we started a new study in the book of Acts. The big news from Chapter 1 is that Jesus returned to heaven. The apostles went back down into the city of Jerusalem to wait. That’s what Jesus had instructed them to do before He left. So, that’s where we left them last time. What are they waiting for? They’re waiting for the Holy Spirit to come. This morning, we are going to be in the second chapter of Acts and guess what happens? Spoiler alert – the Holy Spirit shows up!
To set the stage for you, the city of Jerusalem is celebrating the annual Feast of Pentecost. This feast falls exactly 50 days after Passover. I want you to think about this. Passover always falls on the Sabbath Day which is our Saturday. Fifty days later (7 weeks plus one day), that would be what day of the week? Sunday. So then, the events that happen here at Pentecost fall on a Sunday.
Jerusalem is packed with Jewish pilgrims from all over the civilized world. Jesus’s followers, however, they are not out mingling with the crowds. They are gathered together – 120 people in all – in the upper room of a house and they’re waiting for the Holy Spirit to show up. That’s where we begin…
READ Acts 2:1-3
The Holy Spirit comes on a Sunday morning. This is what Jesus said was going to happen back in Acts 1:5: “You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Isn’t it interesting that Jesus' earthly ministry began with His baptism with the Spirit (Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3). There the Holy Spirit came to rest on Jesus in the form of a dove. Now the beginning of Jesus's heavenly ministry begins with the Spirit baptism of His followers. The Holy Spirit comes to rest on these believers, not in the form of a dove, but in the form of fire. The same Spirit who indwelt and empowered Jesus during His earthly ministry will now indwell and empower those who believe in Him.
The form of fire is very interesting. In times past God appeared in the form of fire – in a burning bush (called Moses), fire and smoke on top of Mount Sinai, in a pillar of fire by night in the wilderness, and in a consuming fire on top of Mount Carmel (Elijah vs the prophets of Baal). Once again God’s holy presence appears in fiery form. But this time it’s in small tongue-shaped flames as of fire. These flaming “tongues” as they are described come to rest upon 120 of Jesus’s followers. God has come to dwell once again, but this time not just WITH His people or ON His people, but IN His people.
Some theologians see the coming of the Holy Spirit here in Acts Chapter 2 as marking the beginning of a new dispensation (a period) in God’s dealing in human history. This particular chart here (there are many versions out there) labels this period of time as the Dispensation of Grace. Sometimes you will hear it called the Church Age or the Period of the New Covenant. It lasts from Pentecost to the Rapture of the Church. So, we sitting here in June of 2024 are in this period of grace right now. Whatever your theological position might be (there are a number out there), we all agree that nothing like what we see here in Acts Chapter 2 had ever happened before. It is significant.
READ Acts 2:4
Let’s pause right here because this is really important. The “baptism” of the Holy Spirit (as Jesus called it) happens in v 3. The filling of the Holy Spirit occurs here in v 4 – to ALL the people who are gathered in the upper room of this house. In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit would come upon certain people and He would empower them for certain tasks. Again, there are all kinds of examples of this in the Old Testament. What occurs here is different because now the Holy Spirit comes and fills people, indwelling them permanently. Why? What is the purpose for the Holy Spirit indwelling and filling believers? Well, before Jesus left, He gave us a task to do. What was that task? The Great Commission – to go and preach the Gospel and baptize and make disciples. Those were His marching orders for us. The Holy Spirit empowers us to carry out that task.
Jesus is not going to tell us to do something that we can’t do. If we had to do everything in our own strength, we might be nominally successful. But to really have the kind of impact on our world that is required, we need the Holy Spirit. So, the Holy Spirit came to empower believers to carry out what Jesus called us to do. The Holy Spirit does many other things in a believer’s life. For example, He convicts of sin, He reveals God’s truth, He regenerates, He gives special gifts, He gives comfort, He helps us pray and on and on we could go. But the task of empowering us to carry out the Great Commission is very important.
V 4 says that they “began to speak in other tongues.” As we will see very soon, these are known languages. God has a specific purpose for this, which we will get to.
As soon as the Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus’ followers, they head out into the streets of Jerusalem and begin declaring all the mighty works of God.
READ Acts 2:5-11
There are two basic groups of foreign Jews living in Jerusalem at this time. You have those who have traveled to Jerusalem for Pentecost and then you have the permanent residents who moved there as a result of persecution. These Jews are hearing the words in their own native languages! The crowds are astonished at what they’re hearing. Think about it. These local Galileans, mostly uneducated, are speaking fluently in languages from all of these far-away countries. The foreign Jews here in Jerusalem are wondering, “How are they doing it? Who taught them my language?” Almost everyone living in that day spoke either Aramaic or Greek. So why would these people be speaking in all these other languages?” It’s all very perplexing and confusing to say the least.
At this point we need to ask ourselves, what is God’s purpose for allowing these believers in Jesus to suddenly be able to speak in all these different languages? It wasn’t just to show off. It wasn’t to draw attention to themselves. It wasn’t even to be able to communicate their message. They had common languages to be able to share the gospel. What’s happening here is nothing short of miraculous. So, I want you to think back to when Jesus was here. Why did JESUS perform signs and miracles? His purpose was to show that He was indeed from God and had a message from God. It was to authenticate that He really was who He claimed to be. In the same way these people, by miraculously speaking in all of these foreign languages are authenticating who they are. They are God’s people. And they have bee empowered by the Holy Spirit, by God Himself, to carry out a divine mission. We are going to see as we go through the book of Acts what that mission is.
READ Acts 2:12-13
The tens of thousands of people gathered for the Feast of Pentecost are drawn to this strange phenomenon – these Jesus followers are speaking in all of these different languages. The people are trying to figure out what’s going on. We are given three basic reactions by the crowds who are witnessing this: (1) some are amazed – “wow this is absolutely unbelievable!”; (2) some are perplexed – “what does this mean?”; and then (3) others ridicule and mock – “these people are drunk!”
But we know that they are NOT drunk! They’re filled alright, but not with wine. They are filled with the Holy Spirit.
With a large crowd now gathered, Peter stands up to preach. Keep in mind that this is the same Peter that just 8 weeks or so before had stood in the courtyard of the high priest’s house and had denied knowing Jesus at all. Now, this same man is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.
READ Acts 2:14-15
Peter refutes the notion that these people are drunk. There’s good reason to doubt this. The Jews of that day did not normally drink wine until the evening and it is only about 9 AM. Too early for that.
Now Peter offers a reasonable explanation for what the crowds are seeing. It’s something that was actually prophesied about by one of their Old Testament prophets…
Acts 2:16-21 is Peter’s quote of Joel 2:28-32
Peter begins by quoting scripture. He quotes from Joel Chapter 2. This is what Peter quotes (from memory) straight out of the book of Joel…
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out My Spirit” (Joel 2:28-29).
This Joel quotation parallels Acts 2:16-18. The only difference is that Peter adds, “and they shall prophesy” at the end of Joel 2:29.
The rather strange events that are happening here in Jerusalem are a partial fulfilment of this prophecy. That’s what Peter is pointing out. God’s Spirit has indeed been poured out on 120 people – “these are your sons and daughters. These are your fellow Jews.”
But then the prophet Joel shifts gears and he talks about something completely different in the next few verses. Peter quotes these also.
“And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved…” [Peter stops here] (Joel 2:30-32).
So, what on earth is Joel talking about here and why does Peter quote it? That has baffled a lot of people and there are various views on this. Based on the commentaries that I read, let me give you my best understanding of that question. The prophet Joel in these verses is prophesying about events that will happen on “the day of the LORD,” which will ultimately will be fulfilled during the Great Tribulation, described at length in the book of Revelation. This will be followed by Christ’s return and the Millennial Kingdom, which Joel describes. There is a lot of debate as to what Peter’s rationale is for quoting this passage. I believe Peter is making the connection to the New Covenant that Jesus had taught them about. It centers around this new dispensation, the Church Age that we are now in, that started at Pentecost and continues to the Rapture.
You need to understand where Peter is coming from. We often read things with our own understanding and based on what we have seen happen over time. Like most First Century believers, Peter anticipates Christ’s return for His church and the establishment of His kingdom on earth as happening soon, possibly even in his own lifetime. That’s the mindset as you read the Epistles. The early Christians anticipated that Jesus could come at any time and they were excited about it, as we should be. So then, as Peter quotes Joel’s prophecy about the last days, he is thinking that it could all happen any day now. That’s how Peter sees it and he ties all this together.
“Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” This is why we call the period we live in now as the Age of Grace. None of us deserves salvation, do we? It is a free gift from God to all who believe in Jesus.
Peter shifts gears after he has quoted scripture. Now Peter begins to apply all this. He begins to talk about the central character of His life, the One who changed his life, the Lord Jesus. Peter continues his sermon…
READ Acts 2:22-24
Jesus was the Jewish nation’s long-awaited Messiah. Jesus was the One spoken about by all of their prophets – Joel, Isaiah, Daniel and many others. But what had they done with their Messiah? They had killed Him! But then God raised Jesus back to life!
On one hand, Jesus’s death on the cross was God’s Plan A, from the foundation of the world. Knowing that mankind would sin and have a need for a Savior, God planned this from the beginning – it was the “definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” But, on the other hand, Jesus’s death on the cross was a complete miscarriage of justice, the murder of an innocent man. It did not absolve those who betrayed and crucified Jesus of their guilt. Peter said, “you crucified and killed.” This is a great example of how the sovereignty of God works together with the free will of man. That is one of those mysteries that the Bible talks about that we can’t explain but we know it works.
Peter goes back and quotes scripture. This time he quotes David from Psalm 16…
READ Acts 2:25-28
He applies this quote from David to the resurrection of Jesus. Peter goes on…
READ Acts 2:29-31
Peter’s point here out of Psalm 16 is that David is not talking about himself (because he’s still dead). He’s talking about someone else, the Messiah – “the resurrection of the Christ.” Who was this Christ, this Messiah? Peter answers that in verse 32…
READ Acts 2:32
Peter certainly believes that Jesus was the Messiah. The One who was resurrected from the dead was Jesus, the Messiah. Peter then testifies to the fact that he and many others there in Jerusalem (Paul would later say that there were hundreds that Jesus appeared to), they are witnesses to having seen the resurrected Jesus. What happened to Jesus after He was resurrected? Peter goes on, quoting scripture again, this time Psalm 110…
READ Acts 2:33-36
Based on what David said, Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father. That’s where Jesus is. Jesus is both Lord and Christ. He is the glorified Messiah. Peter closes his sermon with one last reminder: “this Jesus whom you crucified.” YOU crucified YOUR Messiah!
When the crowds hear his message, they are stunned. Their hearts are convicted of the evil they had wrought by crucifying their own Messiah. Many of the same people who had are standing here in this crowd listening to Peter had been among those who had cried out, “Crucify Him!” They are now overcome with remorse and regret…
READ Acts 2:37
They are convicted! Well, Peter tells them what to do…
READ Acts 2:38-40
Like John the Baptist and Jesus before him, Peter tells them, “Repent and be baptized.” This is a repentance that leads to salvation. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, about what he called “cheap grace.” He said “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance.” Many that day take Peter’s message to heart and they are saved.
READ Acts 2:41
Peter delivers his first sermon and 3000 people get saved. Do you think maybe the Holy Spirit made any difference? Absolutely! The Peter that we knew 8 weeks before and this Peter are completely different. The reason is because of what the Holy Spirit did in his life. He gave Peter a boldness he didn’t have before.
This new family of Jesus followers, the newly formed “church” in Jerusalem, quickly grows from just over one hundred to several thousand people overnight. But the church is more than just a social club. It is a community, a coming together of like-minded believers with one common purpose. And that is what the remaining verses in this chapter talk about.
This is a snapshot of the early church in Jerusalem…
READ Acts 2:42-47
To let you know what was going on in the early church – whenever they would gather regularly, the eleven apostles who had spent all those years with Jesus would tell their many stories about Jesus – what He said and did. Remember that the Gospels had not been written yet. This pattern follows the Jewish tradition where those with the knowledge would teach the people. This is what the apostles were doing.
They would enjoy fellowship with each other. They would worship, pray and eat meals together. They take care of each other’s spiritual and material needs and the needs of the poor (both in the church and in the community). They did this with loving, glad and generous hearts. They had servant spirits. They were united in a common purpose to share the Gospel they displayed the kind of love for each other that Jesus had taught them.
So, what can we take away from Acts Chapter 2?
- Wherever we as believers in Jesus meet together, that’s where the church is. Acts says that “they were all together in one place.” It doesn’t say where the place was. What’s important is that they gathered together.
- The Holy Spirit fills, empowers us, the church (1) to convey the Gospel message (see note below), our primary task; (2) to edify the church thru acts of service, meeting both physical and spiritual needs; and (3) to show the love of Jesus to others.
- As a church our message must be Christ-centered rather than on any number of side issues.
- We live in the Age of Grace. Whoever (no matter who you are) will call upon the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved (today).
- The first day of the week (Sunday) is important to us Christians because it was the day Jesus rose from the dead, but it was also the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came.
- An effective church, for that matter an effective Christian, is one that continually prays… “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:18).
- The Holy Spirit makes all the difference! He did back then and He does now.
Note: The Gospel is that God has a plan for us to be with Him, that we sinned and fell short of it, that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins, and that we must each personally respond in repentance and faith.