by Lane Rogers

Acts 2 Part One

I. What was the Day of Pentecost? (Feast of Weeks)

1When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.

2And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.3And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.4And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

A. Verse 1___The Day of Pentecost was now fulfilled. It was part of Old Testament "prophecy" and part of the "shadow" system. (Leviticus 23:15-16 ff)

The New Testament explains the "shadow system."

16Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day--

17things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Colossians 3:16-17

B. Notice that the "shadow" only represent things to come (speaking of festivals in the Old Testament). Once the substance is here the shadow goes away.

The "Shadow System" was temporary_________

1For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Hebrews 10:1-4

C. The "Day of Pentecost was part of the Law of Moses and thereby part of the "Shadow System. "

1. Feast of Weeks/Shavuot/Pentecost (Exodus 34:22, Leviticus 23:15-16)

2. The Day of Pentecost, the text.

Leviticus 23:15-21 The Feast of Pentecost (also called the Feast of Weeks).

And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord. And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be as a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the Lord. Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats as a sin offering, and two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a peace offering. The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
 Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord: Fifty days after the feast of firstfruits, at the completion of the wheat harvest, Israel was to celebrate the feast of Pentecost by bringing a new grain offering to the Lord; and by waving two loaves of leavened bread unto the Lord.

D. As the Original celebration of Leviticus 23:15-16 represented the Harvest of Israel, in Acts it represents the harvest of believers.

The Feast of Weeks or the Day of Pentecost: The first harvest of believers in Jesus Christ after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit

This is also known as Pentecost.

All this begs the question. What does "harvest of believers" mean?

It is impressive to see the connections between the Old Testament expectations and the events recorded in Acts 2. Moreover, there are interesting connections between Matthew 16 and Acts 2. Jesus promised to build His church (congregation) on His Messiahship (Matthew 16:18). Messiahship meant His death and resurrection (Matt.16:21). Acts 2 proclaims Jesus as "Lord and Messiah" (Acts 2:36) on the basis of His death and resurrection.

According to Acts 11:15, the events of Acts 2 marked "the beginning." So now, we must ask the beginning of what? Several items occur for the first time in Acts 2. These together mark the occasion as the beginning of a new age, the gathering of a new community (remember, we are celebrating Pentecost), the beginning or gathering of what we now call "the church" and the fulfillment of Matthew 16:18.

The beginning of the age of the Holy Spirit as promised in John 14:16. The coming of the Holy Spirit is what Peter particularly had in mind in Acts 11:5 when he designated the events of Acts chapter 2 and the beginning. "The Holy Spirit fell on them just as it had on us in the beginning" (Acts 11:5). He was speaking of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the house of Cornelius, the Gentile centurion (Acts 10:44-46). He proceeded to recall "the word of the Lord, how he had said, "John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit'" (Acts 11:16). These words from the resurrected Jesus are recorded by Luke in Acts 1:5.


II. Tongues of fire and the rushing noise. 2-4

A. Verses 2-4__ Notice, there was a "sound" as of the rushing of a mighty wind." It does not say there was a "mighty wind," but only the sound.
For the Biblical History of Speaking in Tongues: [ Observe Here or some of it is explained below]

1. Next we have "tongues as of fire distributing in verse 3. Let's look at the words.

γλῶσσα (glōssa 1100)

tongue -s

the tongue, as part of the body; also, personified (as in Php 2:11) πᾶσα γλῶσσα (pasa glōssa 1100), that is every person; compare Isa 14:23, where lxx. for לשון; and also, a tongue, a language, a gift of language.

2. Notice that "tongues" are a gift of a language. Now these "tongues" were as "cloven."

διαμερίζω (diamerizō)

1. cloven

to distribute, divide up, separate (referring here not to the tongues but to the apostles amongst whom the flames were divided out from one common source).

2. divide -ed, -eth, -ing

(μερίζω (merizō 3307) with δία (dia 1223) through, prefixed) to divide through, that is to say, completely; divide up.

3. part [verb] -ed

to dispart, separate into parts, divide out to each person from a common source.

3. So, here is what we have learned thus far. There was a loud sound in the room. Then there was something that "looked like a flame." These flames went to each of the apostles and gave them a gift of language.

B. Verse 4___Those affected began to speak in other languages. Notice below in 5 and 6. People from every nation understood what was being said because each heard in his own language.


III. The Results of the Immersion with the Holy Spirit

5Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.6And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language.7They were amazed and astonished, saying, "Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans?

8"And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?
9"Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
11Cretans and Arabs--we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God."12And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, "What does this mean?"
13But others were mocking and saying, "They are full of sweet wine."

14But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: "Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words.
 15"For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day;


A. Verse 5__There were people from all over the world.

B. Verse 6__ All were hearing the Word of God spoken in their own language.

C. Verse 7__They were amazed at how these Jews managed this!

D. Verses 8-12__A list of all the nations present and different languages.

E. Verse 12___They are trying to comprehend what this means.

F. Verse 13__Some accused the Apostles of being drunk__

G. Verse 14-15__Peter replied to the accusation that they were drunk by saying, "No, we are not drunk, since it is only 9:00 A.M."


IV. It is here that we must stop for a moment and give the background to "Speaking In Tongues."


The idea of “Speaking in Tongues” actually starts in Deuteronomy chapter 28 and verse 49. Deuteronomy 28:49 is in what we know as the “Law of Blessing and Cursing.” These laws were given at Moab and were part of Israel's covenant with God. They basically say, I will give you the land and you can keep it (I will bless you) if you obey me (Deuteronomy 28th chapter). But starting in 28:15 we find that if you do not obey me, I will curse you and drive you out of the land (Deuteronomy 28:63ff).

One of the signs that God will use to notify Israel/Judah about the coming destruction is speaking in tongues (other languages).

"The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand.” (Deuteronomy 28:49)

Now we need to move forward many years to the 8th century B.C., which is  four or five hundred years in the future. Israel has been living in the land all these years. They have not obeyed God and the prophet Isaiah comes on the scene to warn them that the cursing of Deuteronomy 29 is about to be fulfilled.

"Indeed, He will speak to this people; Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue (Is. 28:11).

In Isaiah 33:19, we find that if Israel will just repent, God will not send on them this calamity represented by “Speaking in Tongues.”

“You will no longer see a people of unintelligible speech which no one comprehends” (Is.33:19). Read the context, if they will repent they will not see the above.


But---they did not repent and guess what happened! -----See Isaiah chapter 36 and Sennacherib invades Judah. Here is a short form of the story. The prophet Isaiah and King Hezekiah are standing on the wall around Jerusalem. The Assyrian army has approached the wall. They know they are in trouble when:

"Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, 'Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in Judean (Hebrew) in the hearing of the people on the wall.'"(Is. 36:11). See also v.13.

The Assyrian army is standing at the gates of Jerusalem and the Assyrians are not speaking in their native language. The Assyrians, by some miracle, are speaking in “Hebrew.” How did that happen? Of course Isaiah recognized it as Deut.28:49 coming true and at that time Hezekiah did repent and was spared. But, in the context of Isaiah, who was the unbeliever? The Jews. God always uses speaking in tongues as a sign to the unbeliever!

Back to the New Testament and a misuse of “Speaking in Tongues.” The church in Corinth apparently had really gone wild with speaking in tongues [other languages ].  First, there was an apostle in the congregation distributing these miraculous gifts (the empowering of the Holy Spirit, II Cor.12:12). Paul tries to bring this problem under control and in doing so quotes Is. 28 and Deut. 28.

“With men of other tongues (languages) and other lips, I will speak to this people; And yet for all that, they will not hear me.” (1st Cor. 14:21f).

Paul just made a reference to the law (Deuteronomy 28, [v.21] and the prophet Isaiah and Israel's fall. What he is saying is: remember what happened to Israel and how God tried to warn them about their apostasy. Well, you are misusing the concept of tongues. They were using the idea of “speaking in other languages” for entertainment. Next, Paul says what speaking in tongues is really about.

“Therefore, tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers.”

So, speaking in other languages is always for the unbeliever and in the Bible those people are always Jews. See Acts 10:46 f.... Once again, the Jews were the unbelievers. Back at Acts chapter two in Jerusalem, who are the unbelievers? It should be noted that in the Bible, "speaking in tongues" is always speaking in a foreign language and never speaking in some unintelligible garble. Most modern translations have it translated correctly.
For instance, read the context of the NIV in Acts chapter 2:

  1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.
  5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11(both Jews and converts to Judaism Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"

Notice above, speaking in "tongues" is explained in the text. It is speaking in another's native language (v.6 and especially v. 11). These miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit were for the purpose of confirming that what was spoken was in fact from God (Heb.2: 4ff). The Word of God was confirmed and was delivered "once and for all" in the 1st Century (Jude 3). Modern tongue speakers are misusing the concept on at least two fronts. (1) Speaking in tongues was always speaking in other (foreign) language(s) and not some dribble. (2) Speaking in tongues was a sign to unbelieving Jews of the 1st century and part of God's effort to convert them to Christ through miraculous works. As with other miraculous works of the Holy Spirit, they ceased to exist with the development of what we call the Bible. To make any other claim, (that God speaks to you directly) other than that God speaks through the pages of the Bible, is heresy.

by Lane Rogers