This Changes Everything!
May 7
Acts Chapter Two marks a radical change in the nature of God’s relationship with His people. The disciples have watched Jesus ascend into heaven, and they gather in an upper room with over one hundred other people on the Day of Pentecost.
It’s important to note that Acts 2, the Day of Pentecost, does not appear in a vacuum. The first time the word Pentecost appears in the Bible is in Exodus 23:16. Pentecost was a feast, celebrating the annual harvest. It was also referenced later in Exodus 34:22 and Numbers 28:26 as “the day of the first fruits”. Pentecost means fiftieth and the feast occurred fifty days after Passover. Pentecost was celebrated every year for hundreds of years, as was Passover. But this Day of Pentecost was a new day of harvest, a day when the first three thousand Jews were brought into the harvest of the newborn church.
Throughout the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come on special people and give them special abilities to do special things. Think of the Old Testament kings and prophets, (Numbers 11:25–26; 1 Samuel 10:10–11; Isaiah 59:21, 61:1; Ezekiel 11:5) or the Old Testament judges (Judges 14:5–6; Judges 15:14–15). God’s Spirit came on other leaders of God’s people as well. (1 Samuel 10:6; Judges 11:29; 2 Chronicles 20:14–15)
We’re told in 1 Samuel 16:12–13 that the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on David. And in his confession in Psalm 51, David asked God to not take His Holy Spirit from him. (Psalm 51:11) David was legitimately concerned that God might remove His Spirit from Him. God had done that very thing to King Saul. (1 Samuel 16:14)
The Holy Spirit came on special people and gave them special abilities to do special things. But everything changes in the Second Chapter of Acts.
Dr. Luke tells us in Acts 1:15–16 that one hundred twenty ordinary people, consisting of the twelve disciples and others, including women, assembled and prayed in unity. Further, Dr. Luke uses words such as all which seems to indicate that each of the one hundred twenty people was filled with the Spirit and spoke unlearned languages as they were enabled by the Holy Spirit.
(Acts 2:4)
You may remember that in Acts 1:8, Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit came on them, He would empower them to bear witness all over the world. But at this point, they didn’t need to go anywhere! Devout people from every nation under heaven (Acts 2:5) were already in Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost, just as they had for the Passover celebration.
Jesus had been raised up seven weeks earlier, and now He was drawing all kinds of people to Himself! (John 12:32
In Peter’s first sermon, (Acts 2:17–21) he says that everyone present was watching the fulfillment of Joel 2:28–32. In fact, Peter quotes the Joel passage almost word-for-word from the Greek translation of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint.
Joel said that the Holy Spirit would be on, not just special people, but all kinds of people. Ordinary people. Dr. Luke described just that, and Peter told the people to just look around and watch this prophecy being played out right before their eyes!
But it wasn’t just Joel 2:28–32 that was fulfilled; Ezekiel 36:26–27 was also fulfilled! God had not only put the Holy Spirit on all kinds of people, He had also put His Spirit in all kinds of people. By doing this, God changed the hearts of His people, and changed their want-er. They now wanted to please and serve God!
Paul would later say that in pouring out the Holy Spirit on ordinary people, God revealed the wealth of a mystery that had been hidden for the ages: Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27)
No longer would God only put His Spirit on special people and give them special abilities to do special things. Now, God’s ordinary people would be empowered with special abilities (Acts 2:4) to do special things (Acts 1:8). For instance, these “uneducated” apostles (Acts 4:13) were given the ability to speak languages they had never learned so that people from other countries could understand the Gospel in their own native languages! (Acts 2:8; 11)
One final thing we need to see today is that the central theme in the Apostolic message is the resurrection. (Acts 2:24) The resurrection of Jesus is the key ingredient in the Apostles’ preaching in the book of Acts.
In Romans 10:9–10, Paul says that believing in Jesus’ resurrection is necessary to be saved. Therefore, we should never be ashamed of telling people that Jesus was raised from the dead. In fact, we must tell them if they are going to hear! (Romans 10:14–17)
Application
Spend a few moments thanking God for sending His Holy Spirit to live in you and changing your heart so that you could be transformed to look more like Jesus. Ask God to show you those areas of your life that don’t yet look like Jesus. And ask Him to continue changing your heart and changing your want-er so that you would be Holy as He is Holy. (1 Peter 1:16)