“The Gift of the Holy Spirit"
Acts 1:12-2:13
“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” [Acts 2:4]
“The time is now!” my coach would say at game time. “We’ve prepared all week for this day” and then he’d stress the importance of focus and execution. This is a bit like our passage this morning, only in Acts 2 was the time way more significant.
It was the time Jesus foretold His disciples before the Cross. “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” [Jn 16:7] Jesus then departed, ascended to the right hand of the Father [ref. Acts 1:9], and the Holy Spirit came upon the church.
It happened on that first Pentecost after the Resurrection. Fifty days from the Passover that Jesus died on the Cross, the New Testament church began. How did it begin? It began with the filling of the Spirit.
Pentecost was one of three Feast days that Jews traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate from all over the world [Passover and Tabernacles were the others]. Acts 2:9-11 reveals the international assembly: “Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs.” There were many dialects. “And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?” [Acts 2:8]
How? By way of the Holy Spirit! This is one of the great signs of the New Testament church. It points us forward to that day when every knee shall bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It is a foretaste of heaven where the language barrier will cease. “With one accord” [Acts 2:1] His saints will worship Him face to face.
Pentecost is a foreword to the day when we shall see our Lord face to face [Rev 21:3, 22:4]. What was done in rebellion at the Tower of Babel will be undone in submission at His Throne. The separation of human language will be undone and united in a Holy language of worship unto our Lord.
And what a glorious day it will be!
