Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place. Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under the sky. When this sound was heard, the multitude came together and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own language. They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Behold, aren’t all these who speak Galileans? How do we hear, everyone in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians: we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God!” They were all amazed, and were perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” Others, mocking, said, “They are filled with new wine.”
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke out to them, “You men of Judea, and all you who dwell at Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to my words. For these aren’t drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is only the third hour of the day.
But this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel:
‘It will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams.
Yes, and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days, I will pour out my Spirit, and they will prophesy.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 14, 17, 18 1. And when. To be fulfilled is taken in…
1. And when. To be fulfilled is taken in this place for to come. For Luke beareth record again of their perseverance, when he saith that they stood all in one place until the time which was set them. Hereunto serveth the adverb, with one accord Furthermore, we have before declared why the Lord did defer the sending of his Spirit a whole month and a half. But the question is, why he sent him upon that day chiefly. I will not refute that high and subtle interpretation of Augustine, that like as the law was given to the old people fifty days after Easter, being written in tables of stone by the hand of God, so the Spirit, whose office it is to write the same in our hearts, did fulfill that which was figured in the giving of the law as many days after the resurrection of Christ, who is the true Passover. Notwithstanding, whereas he urgeth this his subtle interpretation as necessary, in his book of Questions upon Exodus, and in his Second Epistle unto Januarius, I would wish him to be more sober and modest therein. Notwithstanding, let him keep his own interpretation to himself. In the mean season, I will embrace that which is more sound.
Upon the feast day, wherein a great multitude was wont to resort to Jerusalem, was this miracle wrought, that it might be more famous. And truly by means hereof was it spread abroad, even unto the uttermost parts and borders of the earth. For the same purpose did Christ oftentimes go up to Jerusalem upon the holy days, (John 2, 5, 7, 10, 12,) to the end those miracles which he wrought might be known to many, and that in the greater assembly of people there might be the greater fruit of his doctrine. For so will Luke afterward declare, that Paul made haste that he might come to Jerusalem before the day of Pentecost, not for any religion’s sake, but because of the greater assembly, that he might profit the more, (Acts 20:16.) Therefore, in making choice of the day, the profit of the miracle was respected: First, that it might be the more extolled at Jerusalem, because the Jews were then more bent to consider the works of God; and, secondly, that it might be bruited abroad, even in far countries. They called it the fiftieth day, beginning to reckon at the first-fruits.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 The twelve Apostles, which were to be the Patriarchs…
The twelve Apostles, which were to be the Patriarchs as it were of the Church.
The Apostles being gathered together on a most solemn feast day in one place, that it might evidently appear to all the world, that they had all one office, one Spirit, one faith, are by a double sign from heaven authorized, and anointed with all the most excellent gifts of the holy Ghost and especially with an extraordinary and necessary gift of tongues.
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Word for word, was fulfilled: that is, was begun, as Luke 2:21. For the Hebrews say that a day, or a year is fulfilled or ended, when the former days or years are ended, and the other begun, Jer. 25:12. And it shall come to pass, that when seventy years are fulfilled, I will visit, etc. For the Lord did not bring home his people after the seventieth year was ended, but in the seventieth year. Now the day of Pentecost was the fiftieth day after the feast of the Passover.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully…
1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Ver. 1. And when the day of Pentecost] This feast was instituted in remembrance of the law delivered to Moses in the mount, fifty days after their departure out of Egypt. Answerably whereunto the Holy Ghost (and God’s love thereby, Rom 5:5) is sent out and shed abroad the 50th day after that Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us, 1Co 5:7.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–18 Pentecost; this feast was fifty days after the feast…
Pentecost; this feast was fifty days after the feast of unleavened bread, or passover, as Lev 23:16, whence it had its name, and was called the feast of weeks, Exo 34:22, because it was to be observed seven weeks after the feast of unleavened bread, Deu 16:9. It was the feast of the first fruit of wheat harvest, Exo 34:22; and on this day (to answer the type) the Spirit was poured out in such a plentiful manner, as the first fruits of Christ’s ascending into heaven: besides, the law was given on this day, Exo 19:1,11, and it was expedient that the gospel (Christ’s law) should be published on the same day: and it being on the first day of the week, it did recommend and honour the Lord’s day, as our Saviour had before by his resurrection on that day.
With one accord; as if they had but one mind, as sent in so many bodies.
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In one place; probably that mentioned Act 1:13.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 14 In this extraordinary and miraculous descent of the Holy…
In this extraordinary and miraculous descent of the Holy Ghost upon the apostles;
Observe, 1. The time, When the day of Pentecost was fully come; that is, fifty days after Christ’s resurrection. The day of Pentecost is probably believed to have fallen then upon the Lord’s day; it is certain, from Acts 1 that the Spirit descended when the apostles were unanimously assembled for his worship, and continued with one accord in prayer and supplication. There is no way to obtain the Holy Spirit from heaven, both as a sanctifier and as a comforter, like fervent prayer, assiduity and perseverance in our devotions, especially in the public assemblies of the saints.
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Observe, 2. The place where; at Jerusalem, the more general place where our Lord had undergone his ignominy and reproach, there he manifests forth his glory and dignity: First by his triumphant ascension, and afterwards by his miraculous mission of the Holy Spirit. The more particular place was the upper room where they were assembled and constantly prayed. This upper chamber was most raised towards heaven, most remote form noise and company, and worldly distractions. The Spirit of God descends upon and rests with such as have raised affection above the world, and are nearest unto heaven; not upon such as are buried alive in worldly business. Earth will extinguish fire as well as water, as some say sooner; not only sensual lust, but an excess of earthly business and worldly drudgery, will quench the Holy Spirit, and cause him to depart and go away aggrieved from us.
Observe, 3. The persons on whom the Holy Ghost thus descended: namely, the apostles; not that they were without the Holy Spirit until now; they had him before in his sanctifying graces; here they received him in his extraordinary gifts, to fit them for extraordinary services. When God extraordinarily calls any of his servants to more than ordinary service, they; may expect more than ordinary assistance. The Holy Spirit now descended upon the apostles in his miraculous gifts, and if we be not wanting to ourselves, he will descend upon us in invisible favours every day, making our souls and bodies a temple, and fit habitation for himself to dwell in, by his sanctifying impressions, by his powerful assistances, by his quickening influences; pouring in both the oil of grace, and also the oil of joy and gladness into our hearts.
Observe, 4. The manner how the Holy Ghost at this time descended on the apostles:
1. Suddenly, like the wind: A mighty rushing wind from heaven: insinuating, that it was not the apostles’ prayer that brought, but Christ’s promise and power, that sent the Holy Ghost thus miraculously down upon them. This rushing wind also represents the mighty efficacy of the Holy Spirit now descending.
2. In the appearance of fiery cloven tongues; cloven, to signify the variety of languages which the the apostles should be enabled to speak, and to qualify them to preach the gospel unto all nations: And fiery, to represent that fervent heat and zeal they should be endued with themselves; that divine light they should impart to others; as also that purity and holiness which they and all succeeding ministers of the gospel ought to appear beautified and adorned with: Finally, As fire dissipateth and disperseth, multiplieth and increaseth, even so the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, the more they are diffused and well employed, the more will they be increased; by imparting to our people, we shall gather to ourselves.
Thus was our Lord’s promise fulfilled to his apostles, in sending down the Holy Ghost upon them, but not upon them only; the private Christian no doubt, as well as the public apostle, did receive the Holy Spirit according to his measure: To enlightnen, as a spirit of knowledge; to enliven, as a spirit of life; to warm and hear, as a spirit of zeal; to mollify and soften, as a spirit of holy fear; to quicken and strengthen, as a spirit of power; to guide and direct, as a spirit of wisdom and counsel; to unite and knit their hearts together, as a spirit of love. And blessed be God for the promise of the same Holy Spirit to abide with all believers, though not in his miraculous gifts, yet in his sanctifying operations and saving graces, to the end of the world.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 14 We have here an account of the descent of…
We have here an account of the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the disciples of Christ. Observe,
I. When, and where, this was done, which are particularly noted, for the greater certainty of the thing.
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1. It was when the day of pentecost was fully come, in which there seems to be a reference to the manner of the expression in the institution of this feast, where it is said (Lev 23:15), You shall count unto you seven sabbaths complete, from the day of the offering of the first-fruits, which was the next day but one after the passover, the sixteenth day of the month Abib, which was the day that Christ arose. This day was fully come, that is, the night preceding, with a part of the day, was fully past. (1.) The Holy Ghost came down at the time of a solemn feast, because there was then a great concourse of people to Jerusalem from all parts of the country, and the proselytes from other countries, which would make it the more public, and the fame of it to be spread the sooner and further, which would contribute much to the propagating of the gospel into all nations. Thus now, as before at the passover, the Jewish feasts served to toll the bell for gospel services and entertainments. (2.) This feast of pentecost was kept in remembrance of the giving of the law upon mount Sinai, whence the incorporating of the Jewish church was to be dated, which Dr. Lightfoot reckons to be just one thousand four hundred and forty-seven years before this. Fitly, therefore, is the Holy Ghost given at that feast, in fire and in tongues, for the promulgation of the evangelical law, not as that to one nation, but to every creature. (3.) This feast of pentecost happened on the first day of the week, which was an additional honour put on that day, and a confirmation of it to be the Christian sabbath, the day which the Lord hath made, to be a standing memorial in his church of those two great blessings - the resurrection of Christ, and the pouring out of the Spirit, both on that day of the week. This serves not only to justify us in observing that day under the style and title of the Lord's day, but to direct us in the sanctifying of it to give God praise particularly for those two great blessings; every Lord's day in the year, I think, there should be a full and particular notice taken in our prayers and praises of these two, as there is by some churches of the one once a year, upon Easter-day, and of the other once a year, upon Whit-sunday. Oh! that we may do it with suitable affections!
2. It was when they were all with one accord in one place. What place it was we are not told particularly, whether in the temple, where they attended at public times (Luk 24:53), or whether in their own upper room, where they met at other times. But it was at Jerusalem, because this had been the place which God chose, to put his name there, and the prophecy was that thence the word of the Lord should go forth to all nations, Isa 2:3. It was now the place of the general rendezvous of all devout people: here God had promised to meet them and bless them; here therefore he meets them with this blessing of blessings. Though Jerusalem had done the utmost dishonour imaginable to Christ, yet he did this honour to Jerusalem, to teach his remnant in all places; he had this in Jerusalem. Here the disciples were in one place, and they were not as yet so many but that one place, and no large one, would hold them all. And here they were with one accord. We cannot forget how often, while their Master was with them, there were strifes among them, who should be the greatest; but now all these strifes were at an end, we hear no more of them. What they had received already of the Holy Ghost, when Christ breathed on them, had in a good measure rectified the mistakes upon which those contests were grounded, and had disposed them to holy love. They had prayed more together of late than usual (Act 1:14), and this made them love one another better. By his grace he thus prepared them for the gift of the Holy Ghost; for that blessed dove comes not where there is noise and clamour, but moves upon the face of the still waters, not the rugged ones. Would we have the Spirit poured out upon us from on high? Let us be all of one accord, and, notwithstanding variety of sentiments and interests, as no doubt there was among those disciples, let us agree to love one another; for, where brethren dwell together in unity, there it is that the Lord commands his blessing.
II. How, and in what manner, the Holy Ghost came upon them. We often read in the old Testament of God's coming down in a cloud; as when he took possession first of the tabernacle, and afterwards of the temple, which intimates the darkness of that dispensation. And Christ went up to heaven in a cloud, to intimate how much we are kept in the dark concerning the upper world. But the Holy Ghost did not descend in a cloud; for he was to dispel and scatter the clouds that overspread men's minds, and to bring light into the world.
1. Here is an audible summons given them to awaken their expectations of something great, Act 2:2. It is here said, (1.) That it came suddenly, did not rise gradually, as common winds do, but was at the height immediately. It came sooner than they expected, and startled even those that were now together waiting, and probably employed in some religious exercises. (2.) It was a sound from heaven, like a thunder-clap, Rev 6:1. God is said to bring the winds out of his treasuries (Psa 135:7), and to gather them in his hands, Pro 30:4. From him this sound came, like the voice of one crying, Prepare ye the way of the Lord. (3.) It was the sound of a wind, for the way of the Spirit is like that of the wind (Joh 3:3), thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it comes nor whither it goes. When the Spirit of life is to enter into the dry bones, the prophet is told to prophecy unto the wind: Come from the four winds, O breath, Eze 37:9. And though it was not in the wind that the Lord came to Elijah, yet this prepared him to receive his discovery of himself in the still small voice, Kg1 19:11, Kg1 19:12. God's way is in the whirlwind and the storm (Nah 1:3), and out of the whirlwind he spoke to Job. (4.) It was a rushing mighty wind; it was strong and violent, and came not only with a great noise, but with great force, as if it would bear down all before it. This was to signify the powerful influences and operations of the Spirit of God upon the minds of men, and thereby upon the world, that they should be mighty through God, to the casting down of imaginations. (5.) It filled not only the room, but all the house where they were sitting. Probably it alarmed the whole city, but, to show that it was supernatural, presently fixed upon that particular house: as some think the wind that was sent to arrest Jonah affected only the ship that he was in (Jon 1:4), and as the wise men's star stood over the house where the child was. This would direct the people who observed it whither to go to enquire the meaning of it. This wind filling the house would strike an awe upon the disciples, and help to put them into a very serious, reverent, and composed frame, for the receiving of the Holy Ghost. Thus the convictions of the Spirit make way for his comforts; and the rough blasts of that blessed wind prepare the soul for its soft and gentle gales.
2. Here is a visible sign of the gift they were to receive. They saw cloven tongues, like as of fire (Act 2:3), and it sat - ekathise, not they sat, those cloven tongues, but he, that is the Spirit (signified thereby), rested upon each of them, as he is said to rest upon the prophets of old. Or, as Dr. Hammond describes it, "There was an appearance of something like flaming fire lighting on every one of them, which divided asunder, and so formed the resemblance of tongues, with that part of them that was next their heads divided or cloven." The flame of a candle is somewhat like a tongue; and there is a meteor which naturalists call ignis lambens - a gentle flame, not a devouring fire; such was this. Observe,
(1.) There was an outward sensible sign, for the confirming of the faith of the disciples themselves, and for the convincing of others. Thus the prophets of old had frequently their first mission confirmed by signs, that all Israel might know them to be established prophets.
(2.) The sign given was fire, that John Baptist's saying concerning Christ might be fulfilled, He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire; with the Holy Ghost as with fire. They were now, in the feast of pentecost, celebrating the memorial of the giving of the law upon mount Sinai; and as that was given in fire, and therefore is called a fiery law, so is the gospel. Ezekiel's mission was confirmed by a vision of burning coals of fire (Eze 1:13), and Isaiah's by a coal of fire touching his lips, Isa 6:7. The Spirit, like fire, melts the heart, separates and burns up the dross, and kindles pious and devout affections in the soul, in which, as in the fire upon the altar, the spiritual sacrifices are offered up. This is that fire which Christ came to send upon the earth. Luk 12:49.
(3.) This fire appeared in cloven tongues. The operations of the Spirit were many; that of speaking with divers tongues was one, and was singled out to be the first indication of the gift of the Holy Ghost, and to that this sign had a reference. [1.] They were tongues; for from the Spirit we have the word of God, and by him Christ would speak to the world, and he gave the Spirit to the disciples, not only to endue them with knowledge, but to endue them with a power to publish and proclaim to the world what they knew; for the dispensation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. [2.] These tongues were cloven, to signify that God would hereby divide unto all nations the knowledge of his grace, as he is said to have divided to them by his providence the light of the heavenly bodies, Deu 4:19. The tongues were divided, and yet they still continued all of one accord; for there may be a sincere unity of affections where yet there is a diversity of expression. Dr. Lightfoot observes that the dividing of tongues at Babel was the casting off of the heathen; for when they had lost the language in which alone God was spoken of and preached, they utterly lost the knowledge of God and religion, and fell into idolatry. But now, after above two thousand years, God, by another dividing of tongues, restores the knowledge of himself to the nations.
(4.) This fire sat upon them for some time, to denote the constant residence of the Holy Ghost with them. The prophetic gifts of old were conferred sparingly and but at some times, but the disciples of Christ had the gifts of the Spirit always with them, though the sign, we may suppose, soon disappeared. Whether these flames of fire passed from one to another, or whether there were as many flames as there were persons, is not certain. But they must be strong and bright flames that would be visible in the day-light, as it now was, for the day was fully come.
III. What was the immediate effect of this? 1. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, more plentifully and powerfully than they were before. They were filled with the graces of the Spirit, and were more than ever under his sanctifying influences - were now holy, and heavenly, and spiritual, more weaned from this world and better acquainted with the other. They were more filled with the comforts of the Spirit, rejoiced more than ever in the love of Christ and the hope of heaven, and in it all their griefs and fears were swallowed up. They were also, for the proof of this, filled with the gifts of the Holy Ghost, which are especially meant here; they were endued with miraculous powers for the furtherance of the gospel. It seems evident to me that not only the twelve apostles, but all the hundred and twenty disciples were filled with the Holy Ghost alike at this time - all the seventy disciples, who were apostolic men, and employed in the same work, and all the rest too that were to preach the gospel; for it is said expressly (Eph 4:8, Eph 4:11), When Christ ascended on high (which refers to this, Act 2:33), he gave gifts unto men, not only some apostles (such were the twelve), but some prophets and some evangelists (such were many of the seventy disciples, itinerant preachers), and some pastors and teachers settled in particular churches, as we may suppose some of these afterwards were. The all here must refer to the all that were together, Act 2:1; Act 1:14, Act 1:15. 2. They began to speak with other tongues, besides their native language, though they had never learned any other. They spoke not matters of common conversation, but the word of God, and the praises of his name, as the Spirit gave them utterance, or gave them to speak apophthengesthai - apophthegms, substantial and weighty sayings, worthy to be had in remembrance. It is probable that it was not only one that was enabled to speak one language, and another another (as it was with the several families that were dispersed from Babel), but that every one was enabled to speak divers languages, as he should have occasion to use them. And we may suppose that they understood not only themselves but one another too, which the builders of Babel did not, Gen 11:7. They did not speak here and there a word of another tongue, or stammer out some broken sentences, but spoke it as readily, properly, and elegantly, as if it had been their mother-tongue; for whatever was produced by miracle was the best of the kind. They spoke not from any previous thought or meditation, but as the Spirit gave them utterance; he furnished them with the matter as well as the language. Now this was, (1.) A very great miracle; it was a miracle upon the mind (and so had most of the nature of a gospel miracle), for in the mind words are framed. They had not only never learned these languages, but had never learned any foreign tongue, which might have facilitated these; nay, for aught that appears, they had never so much as heard these languages spoken, nor had any idea of them. They were neither scholars nor travellers, nor had had any opportunity of learning languages either by books or conversation. Peter indeed was forward enough to speak in his own tongue, but the rest of them were no spokesmen, nor were they quick of apprehension; yet now not only the heart of the rash understands knowledge, but the tongue of the stammerers is ready to speak eloquently, Isa 32:4. When Moses complained, I am slow of speech, God said, I will be with thy mouth, and Aaron shall be thy spokesman. But he did more for these messengers of his: he that made man's mouth new-made theirs. (2.) A very proper, needful, and serviceable miracle. The language the disciples spoke was Syriac, a dialect of the Hebrew; so that it was necessary that they should be endued with the gift, for the understanding both of the original Hebrew of the Old Testament, in which it was written, and of the original Greek of the New Testament, in which it was to be written. But this was not all; they were commissioned to preach the gospel to every creature, to disciple all nations. But here is an insuperable difficulty at the threshold. How shall they master the several languages so as to speak intelligibly to all nations? It will be the work of a man's life to learn their languages. And therefore, to prove that Christ could give authority to preach to the nations, he gives ability to preach to them in their own language. And it should seem that this was the accomplishment of that promise which Christ made to his disciples (Joh 14:12), Greater works than these shall you do. For this may well be reckoned, all things considered, a greater work than the miraculous cures Christ wrought. Christ himself did not speak with other tongues, nor did he enable his disciples to do so while he was with them: but it was the first effect of the pouring out of the Spirit upon them. And archbishop Tillotson thinks it probable that if the conversion of infidels to Christianity were now sincerely and vigorously attempted, by men of honest minds, God would extraordinarily countenance such an attempt with all fitting assistance, as he did the first publication of the gospel.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–18 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven,.... Which…
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven,.... Which is expressive of the original of the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God, which come from above, from heaven, from the Father of lights; and of the freeness of them, being unmerited; and so come suddenly, at an unawares, being unthought of, undesired, and unexpected, and so certainly undeserved; and may be a symbol of the sound of the Gospel, which from hence was to go forth into all the earth; and may likewise express the rise of that, and the freeness of the grace of God in it, and its sudden spread throughout the world:
as of a rushing mighty wind; it was not a wind, but like one; and the noise it made, was like the rushing noise of a strong and boisterous wind, that carries all before it: the Spirit of God is sometimes compared to the wind, because of the freeness of his operations; as that blows where it listeth, so he works when and where, and on whom he pleases; and also because of the power and efficacy of his grace, which is mighty and irresistible, and works with great energy upon the minds of men; and as the wind is secret and invisible, so the operations of the Spirit are in a manner secret and imperceptible unto men: this may likewise be applied to the Gospel, when it comes with the Holy Ghost, and with power; it makes its way into the heart, and throws down the strong holds of sin and Satan; there it works effectually, though secretly, and is the power of God to salvation:
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and it filled all the house where they were sitting; which was the temple, or the upper room or chamber in it, where they were assembled; so in the Ethiopic confession of faith (s) it is said,
"the Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles, in the upper room of Zion;
this may be a symbol of the Gospel filling the whole world,
(s) Vid. Ludolph. not. in Claud. reg. Ethiop. Confess. p. 13.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 At the pentecost of Sinai, in the Old Testament,…
At the pentecost of Sinai, in the Old Testament, and the pentecost of Jerusalem, in the New, where the two grand manifestations of God, the legal and the evangelical; the one from the mountain, and the other from heaven; the terrible, and the merciful one. They were all with one accord in one place - So here was a conjunction of company, minds, and place; the whole hundred and twenty being present.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 The day of pentecost being arrived, and the disciples…
CHAPTER II.
The day of pentecost being arrived, and the disciples assembled,
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the Holy Spirit descended as a mighty rushing wind, and in the
likeness of fiery tongues sat upon them; in consequence of
which, they were all enabled to speak different languages,
which they had never learned, 1-4.
An account of persons from various countries who there present,
and were astonished to hear the apostles declare the wonderful
works of God in their respective languages, 5-12.
Some cavil, 13,
and are confounded by Peter, who asserts that this work is of
God; and that thereby a most important prophecy was fulfilled,
14-21.
He takes occasion from this to preach Jesus to them, as the true
Lord and only Messiah, 22-36.
The people are alarmed and convinced, and inquire what they
shall do, 37.
He exhorts them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus,
that they may receive remission of sins and the gift of the
Holy Spirit, 38-40.
They gladly receive his word, about three thousand are baptized
and added to the Church in one day; they continue steadfast in
the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, 41, 42.
The apostles work many miracles; and the disciples have all
things in common, and live in a state of great happiness and
Christian fellowship, 43-47.
NOTES ON CHAP. II.
Verse 1. When the day of pentecost was fully come] The feast of pentecost was celebrated fifty days after the passover, and has its name πεντηκοστη from πεντηκοντα, fifty, which is compounded of πεντε, five, and ηκοντα, the decimal termination. It commenced on the fiftieth day reckoned from the first day of unleavened bread, i.e. on the morrow after the paschal lamb was offered. The law relative to this feast is found in Acts 23:15; Acts 23:16, in these words: And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete: even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days. This feast was instituted in commemoration of the giving the law on Mount Sinai; and is therefore sometimes called by the Jews, שמחת תורה shimchath torah, the joy of the law, and frequently the feast of weeks. There is a correspondence between the giving of the law, which is celebrated by this feast of pentecost, together with the crucifixion of our Lord, which took place at the passover, and this descent of the Holy Spirit, which happened at this pentecost.
1. At the passover, the Israelites were delivered from Egyptian bondage: this was a type of the thraldom in which the human race were to Satan and sin.
2. At the passover Jesus Christ, who was typified by the paschal lamb, was sacrificed for the sin of the world, and by this sacrifice redemption from sin and Satan is now procured and proclaimed.
3. On the pentecost, God gave his law on Mount Sinai, accompanied with thunderings and lightnings. On the pentecost, God sent down his Holy Spirit, like a rushing mighty wind; and tongues of fire sat upon each disciple, in order that, by his influence, that new law of light and life might be promulgated and established. Thus, the analogy between the Egyptian bondage and the thraldom occasioned by sin - the deliverance from Egypt, and the redemption from sin - the giving of the law, with all its emblematic accompaniments, and the sending down the Holy Spirit, with its symbols of light, life, and power, has been exactly preserved.
4. At the Jewish passover, Christ was degraded, humbled, and ignominiously put to death: at the following festival, the pentecost, he was highly glorified; and the all conquering and ever during might of his kingdom then commenced. The Holy Spirit seems to have designed all these analogies, to show that, through all preceding ages, God had the dispensation of the Gospel continually in view; and that the old law and its ordinances were only designed as preparatives for the new.
They were all with one accord in one place.] It is probable that the ALL here mentioned means the one hundred and twenty spoken of Ac 1:15, who were all together at the election of Matthias. With one accord, ομοθυμαδον; this word is very expressive: it signifies that all their minds, affections, desires, and wishes, were concentred in one object, every man having the same end in view; and, having but one desire, they had but one prayer to God, and every heart uttered it. There was no person uninterested - none unconcerned - none lukewarm; all were in earnest; and the Spirit of God came down to meet their united faith and prayer. When any assembly of God's people meet in the same spirit they may expect every blessing they need.
In one place. - Where this place was we cannot tell: it was probably in the temple, as seems to be intimated in Ac 2:46, where it is said they were daily ὁμοθυμαδον εν τῳ ἱερῳ, with one accord in the temple; and as this was the third hour of the day, Ac 2:15, which was the Jewish hour of morning prayer, as the ninth hour was the hour of evening prayer, Ac 3:1, it is most probable that the temple was the place in which they were assembled.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 14, 16 Act 2:1. When the day of pentecost was fully…
Act 2:1. When the day of pentecost was fully come — Of this feast, which had its name from πεντηκοστη, pentecostee, (which signifies the fiftieth day,) because it was celebrated fifty days after the passover, see notes on Lev 23:15-16. As our Lord was crucified at one of the great Jewish feasts, it was fit that he should be glorified at another. And this of pentecost was chosen with peculiar propriety, as next succeeding that of the passover, at which he suffered; and also as it was celebrated in commemoration of the giving of the law from mount Sinai, and as the first- fruits were then offered and anointed, Exo 19:1; Exo 19:11; Lev 23:17. To these answered the fuller discovery of the gospel on this occasion, and the anointing of the first-fruits of the Christian Church by the effusion of the Spirit. At the pentecost of Sinai, in the Old Testament, and the pentecost of Jerusalem, in the New, were the two grand manifestations of God, the legal and the evangelical; the one from the mountain, and the other from heaven; the terrible, and the merciful one. And as the Jewish Church was constituted at the former of these periods, it was fit that the incorporation of the Christian Church should be dated from the latter. As further reasons why it was peculiarly proper that this time should be chosen for effecting this wonderful miracle, it may be observed, 1st, That as great multitudes of people were wont to assemble at Jerusalem at all the Jewish feasts, so it is probable that the peculiar solemnity of this feast, the general expectation of the Messiah that now prevailed among them, and the length of the days, as it was about the middle of summer, would bring greater numbers thither on this occasion than usually attended at the festivals. This would make the miracle the more public, and cause the fame of it to be spread the sooner and farther, which would contribute much to the propagation of the gospel among all nations, and make way for greater regard to the apostles, when they came to the countries where the people lived who had been spectators of this great event, and upon returning home, reported it to their friends and neighbours. 2d, As this feast of pentecost happened on the first day of the week, by the effusion of the Holy Spirit on this day, added to the resurrection of Christ taking place on it, still greater honour was put on the day, and it was more manifestly confirmed to be the Christian sabbath, the day which the Lord had appointed to be a standing memorial in his church of those two wonderful events. This not only justifies us in observing that day, under the title of the Lord’s day, but directs us, in observing it, to give God praise, particularly for those two great blessings. They were all with one accord in one place — In what place we are not told, whether in the temple, where they attended at public times, (Luk 24:53,) or whether in their own upper room, where they met at other times; but it was at Jerusalem, because it had been the place which God had chosen to put his name there, and the prophets had foretold that from thence the word of the Lord should go forth to all nations; (Isa 2:3; Mic 4:2;) and it was now the place of the general rendezvous of all devout people, where God had promised to meet and bless them; and here, therefore, he meets them with this blessing of blessings. It is probable that the ALL here mentioned, included the whole one hundred and twenty who were together when Matthias was chosen. The word ομοθυμαδον, rendered with one accord, implies that they were united in their views, intentions, and affections, and that there was no discord or strife among them, as there sometimes had been while their Master was with them. Doubtless, they were also united in their desire and expectation of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the power from on high, which Christ had promised them; and in praying earnestly and importunately for it whenever they met together, which it appears they were in the habit of doing daily.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–18 And when the day of Pentecost - The word…
And when the day of Pentecost - The word “Pentecost” is a Greek word signifying the 50th part of a thing, or the 50th in order. Among the Jews it was a applied to one of their three great feasts which began on the 50th day after the Passover. This feast was reckoned from the 16th day of the month Abib, or April, or the second day of the Passover. The paschal lamb was slain on the 14th of the month at evening, Lev 23:5; on the 15th day of the month was a holy convocation - the proper beginning of the feast; on the 16th day was the offering of the firstfruits of harvest, and from that day they were to reckon seven weeks, that is, 49 days, to the feast called the Feast of Pentecost, so that it occurred 50 days after the first day of the Feast of the Passover. This feast was also called the Feast of Weeks, from the circumstance that it followed a succession of weeks, Exo 34:22; Num 28:26; Deu 16:10. It was also a harvest festival, and was accordingly called the Feast of Harvest; and it was for this reason that two loaves made of new meal were offered on this occasion as first-fruits, Lev 23:17, Lev 23:20; Num 28:27-31.
Was fully come - When the day had arrived. The word used here means literally “to be completed,” and as employed here refers, not to the day itself, but to the completion of the interval which was to pass before its arrival (Olshausen). See Luk 9:51. Compare Mar 1:15; Luk 1:57. This fact is mentioned, that the time of the Pentecost had come, or fully arrived, to account for what is related afterward, that there were so many strangers and foreigners present. The promised influences of the Spirit were withheld until the greatest possible number of Jews should be present at Jerusalem at the same time, and thus an opportunity be afforded of preaching the gospel to vast multitudes in the very place where the Lord Jesus was crucified, and also an opportunity be afforded of sending the gospel by them into distant parts of the earth.
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They were all - Probably not only the apostles, but also the 120 people mentioned in Act 1:15.
With one accord - See Act 1:14. It is probable that they had continued together until this time, and given themselves entirely to the business of devotion.
In one place - Where this was cannot be known. Commentators have been much divided in their conjectures about it. Some have supposed that it was in the upper room mentioned in Act 1:13; others that it was a room in the temple; others that it was in a synagogue; others that it was among the promiscuous multitude that assembled for devotion in the courts of the temple. See Act 2:2. It has been supposed by many that this took place on the first day of the week; that is, on the Christian Sabbath. But there is a difficulty in establishing this. There was probably a difference among the Jews themselves as to the time of observing this festival: The Law said that they should reckon seven sabbaths; that is seven weeks, “from the morrow after the sabbath,” Lev 23:15. By this Sabbath the Pharisees understood the second day of the Passover, on whatever day of the week it occurred, which was kept as a day of holy convocation, and which might be called a Sabbath. But the Karaite Jews, or those who insisted on a literal interpretation of the Scriptures, maintained that by the Sabbath here was meant the usual Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. Consequently, with them, the day of Pentecost always occurred on the first day of the week; and if the apostles fell in with their views, the day was fully come on what is now the Christian Sunday. But if the views of the Pharisees were followed, and the Lord Jesus had with them kept the Passover on Thursday, as many have supposed, then the day of Pentecost would have occurred on the Jewish Sabbath, that is, on Saturday (Kuinoel; Lightfoot). It is impossible to determine the truth on this subject. Nor is it of much importance. According to the later Jews, the day of Pentecost was kept also as a festival to commemorate the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai; but no trace of this custom is to be found in the Old Testament.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 14, 15, 17 Pariter in eodem loco. Greek: omothumadon epi to auto,…
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
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Pariter in eodem loco. Greek: omothumadon epi to auto, concorditer.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain On v1 Acts Chapter 2
Acts Chapter 2
Chapter 2 relates the fulfilment of this promise, in answer to the spirit of dependence manifested in their united prayers.
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The Spirit comes from above, in His own power, to possess and fill the dwelling-place prepared for Him.
This event, important beyond all others with respect to man’s condition here below, has here a very simple character, because there is no question of the causes of this marvellous gift, of the work on which it depends, of the glory with which it is connected and which it reveals, and of which it is the earnest: we have here only the fact of its power. The disciples “were endued with power from on high.”
The form of its appearance, however, is characteristic. On Jesus the Holy Ghost descended in the shape of a dove, because He was not to make His voice heard in the streets, nor break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax. But here it was the power of God in testimony, the word; which was like consuming fire, judging all that came before it. Nevertheless it was in grace, and was to go beyond the narrow limits of Jewish ordinances to proclaim the wonderful works of God to every tongue and nation under the sun. It was that mighty wind from heaven, which manifested itself to the disciples, and came upon them in the form of tongues of fire, each one divided into several. This marvel attracts the multitude; and the reality of this divine work is proved by the fact that persons from numerous countries hear these poor Galileans proclaim to them the wonderful works of God, each one in the language of the country whence he came up to Jerusalem. [4]
The Jews, who did not understand these languages, mock; and Peter declares to them in their own tongue, and according to their own prophecies, the true character of that which had taken place. He takes his stand upon the resurrection of Christ, foretold by the prophet-king, and upon His exaltation by the right hand of God. This Jesus, whom they had crucified, had there received the promise of the Father, and shed forth that which produced the effects that they heard and saw. They were therefore to know assuredly, that God had made that same Jesus whom they had rejected both Lord and Christ.
The character of this testimony will be remarked here. It is essentially that of Peter. It goes no farther than the affirmation of the fact, that He who had been rejected by the Jews is made in heaven Lord and Christ. It begins with Jesus known of the Jews on earth, and establishes the truth of His being raised again, and exalted to the position of Lord. God has done this. The apostle does not even proclaim Him as the Son of God. We shall see that, if it is not done by Peter in the Acts, Paul on the contrary does it from the first moment of his conversion. Peter states the result at that moment in power, and does not speak of the kingdom. He only reminds them that the Spirit was promised in the last days, and alludes to the terrible day of the coming judgment, which would be preceded by alarming signs and wonders. Without speaking of the fulfilment of the promise of the kingdom, the time of which the Father had kept secret, he puts the fact of the gift of the Holy Ghost in connection with the responsibility of Israel, to whom God still acted in grace, by preaching to them a glorified Christ, and by giving them proofs of His glory in the gift of the Holy Ghost, made sensible to all. This is the presence of the Holy Ghost according to Joh 15:26-27. The testimony as a whole, however, is founded on and carries out the mission of Luk 24:1-53. Only in Luke we have nothing of baptism. See Luk 24:47-49, to which this fully corresponds. The testimony was addressed to the Jews; nevertheless it was not confined to them, [5] and it was separative. “Separate yourselves from this untoward generation.” This separation was founded on a real and moral work-”repent”: the past was all to be judged, and publicly demonstrated by their reception amongst Christians by baptism, in order to receive the remission of their sins, and participate in this heavenly gift of the Holy Ghost. “Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” This work is individual. There was judgment on all the past, the admission amongst them by baptism, and the consequent participation in the Holy Ghost, who dwelt where they came. We see at once the difference between the moral change already wrought, the repentance which their godly sorrow works, and the reception of the Holy Ghost. This was consequent on the remission of their sins to which they were brought. This gift depended in a regular way on their admission amongst Christians, the house where He dwelt, built in the name of Jesus. Afterwards the promise is declared to belong to them and to their children-to the house of Israel as such-to them and to their children after them. But it went beyond the limits of God’s ancient people. The promise was also to those that were afar off; for it was fulfilled, in connection with faith in Christ, to all who through grace should come into the new house-all whom the Lord, the God of Israel, should call. The call of God characterised the blessing. Israel, with her children, was owned, but a remnant called out from among them. The Gentiles, being called, shared the blessing.
The result of this ineffable gift is related to us. It was not merely a moral change, but a power which set aside all the motives that individualised those who had received it, by uniting them as one soul and in one mind. They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine; they were in communion with each other and the apostles; they broke bread; they spent their time in prayer. The sense of God’s presence was powerful among them; and many signs and wonders were wrought by the hands of the apostles. They were united in the closest bonds; no man called anything his own, but all divided their possessions with those that needed. They were daily in the temple, the public resort of Israel for religious exercises, whilst having their own apart-breaking bread at home daily. They ate with joy and gladness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people around them.
Thus the assembly was formed; and the Lord added to it daily the remnant of Israel, who were to be saved from the judgments that should fall on a nation which had rejected the Son of God, their Messiah; and, thank God, from yet deeper ruin. God brought into the assembly-thus owned of Him by the presence of the Holy Ghost-those whom He spared in Israel. [6] A new order of things had commenced, marked by the presence of the Holy Ghost. [7] Here was found the presence and the house of God, although the old order of things still existed until the execution of judgment upon it.
The assembly was formed therefore by the power of the Holy Ghost come down from heaven, on the testimony that Jesus, who had been rejected, was raised up to heaven, being made of God both Lord and Christ. It was composed of the Jewish remnant who were to be spared, with the reserve of bringing in Gentiles whenever God should call them. It was as yet formed in connection with Israel in the patience of God, yet apart in power, God’s dwelling place.
Footnotes for Acts Chapter 2
4: The rationalistic notion that it was a kind of excited gibberish, just as the unbelieving Jews thought, is absurd beyond conception. Think of Paul’s thanking God that he spoke more kinds of gibberish than they all, and God giving a gift for interpreting gibberish!
5: The testimony is in terms which, applying to Jews there and scattered abroad, yet opened the door to the Gentiles in the sovereignty of God-”all that are afar off, as many as the Lord our God shall call.” God is still the God of man; but He calls whom He pleases.
6: This is the force of (‘soozomenos’) “those that were to be saved,” Act 2:47.
7: God never dwelt with man but on the ground of redemption, not with Adam nor Abraham. Compare Exo 29:46.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 14
SECTION II
THE FOUNDING OF THE CHURCH, AS THE CHURCH OF ALL NATIONS
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Act_2:1-47
A.—THE PENTECOSTAL MIRACLE ITSELF; ITS EXTERNAL FEATURES AND ITS NATURAL OPERATION, BY WHICH THE ASSEMBLED BELIEVERS WERE FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST AND ENABLED TO SPEAK WITH OTHER TONGUES
Act_2:1-4
Contents:—On the day of Pentecost, the festival, under the old covenant, of the completion of the harvest, the promise was fulfilled, and the Holy Ghost was poured out upon the assembled disciples; mighty signs accompanied the event; the internal fulness of the Spirit was manifested when the disciples spake with other tongues.
1And when [while] the day of Pentecost was fully come [was in the course of being fulfilled], they were all with one accord in one place [accord together].1 2And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it [omit it] filled all the house where they were sitting.2 3And there appeared unto them cloven tongues [tongues parting (or, distributing) themselves] like as of fire, and it sat [seated itself] upon each of them. 4And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Act_2:1. a. Luke states the time of the occurrence with sufficient exactness by mentioning the day of Pentecost, i.e. when this day was fully come, or, in the course of this day, with which the period of fifty days after the passover closed, the great event occurred. [The fifty days were counted from “the morrow after the (passover) sabbath,” Lev_23:15-16; the Greek ordinal πεντηκοστή was ultimately employed as a noun, or proper name (de Wette), equivalent to “the Fiftieth,” so that in the present passage, according to Meyer, and Alford, neither ἡμἑρας nor ἑορτῆς is to be supplied.—Tr.]. The words certainly appear to give special prominence to the completion of this particular day, and on this circumstance Meyer lays great stress (ἐν τῷ σνμπληρον͂σθαι τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς πεντηκ.); but the expression πληρον͂σθαι is invariably employed by Luke (Gospel, Luk_9:51; Act_9:23) in the sense that a certain period of time is now reaching its close, and he obviously employs the word in such a sense in the present passage. The festival of Pentecost was, accordingly, the day during the course of which the effusion of the Spirit occurred. This feast of (seven) weeks (חַג שָּׁבֻעוֹת Exo_34:22) was celebrated on the fiftieth day after the first day of the Passover festival. It consequently occurred, in the year in which Christ died, on the first day of the week, or our Sunday, if we assume that in the same year the first day of the passover occurred on a Friday, and the second, from which the fifty days were counted, on a Saturday. This statement is sustained by the very ancient tradition of the Church that the first Christian pentecostal season occurred on a Sunday. The Mosaic festival of Pentecost, which was one of the three annual or great festivals of Israel, was, as the appropriate passages of the Law show, a harvest festival, or, strictly speaking, the festival of the completion of the harvest; the commencement of the latter coincided with the Passover, and its completion was celebrated by a thank-offering of the first-fruits of the wheat harvest in bread baked of the new grain [Exo_23:16; Deu_16:9.]. That the festival of Pentecost was also intended to commemorate the giving of the law on Sinai, is an opinion which rests merely on the assertions of later rabbinical writers; it derives no support whatever from any passage in the Old or the New Testament, and none, moreover, from the writings of Philo and Josephus. The Church Fathers (Chrysostom, for instance), have, accordingly, regarded only the harvest festival, and not also the Sinaitic giving of the law, as a type in the Old Testament, of the outpouring of the Spirit; and the common practice of tracing a parallel between the Pentecost of the New Testament and the giving of the law on Sinai, is, at least, of very doubtful authority. But, on the other hand, an analogy may be traced with far more confidence between the new Pentecostal and the harvest festival, after the manner of Olshausen, for instance, in so far as “at the Christian feast of Pentecost the entire harvest of the Jewish people may be said to have occurred, when those who had ripened unto true repentance and conversion, were gathered in, and consecrated to God;” so, too, according to Joh_12:24, Christ, viewed as the corn of wheat that fell into the ground and died, on and after that day brought forth much fruit, or, a rich harvest.
b. The description given by Luke does not indicate the place in which the event occurred, as distinctly as the time. The first verse merely states that all the disciples were assembled in one and the same place, and the second adds only that the place of meeting was in a house, without giving any information respecting the class of buildings to which this house belonged. It was, probably, a private dwelling, and, possibly, the one which is mentioned in Act_1:13, as having previously afforded a place of meeting to the disciples. Many interpreters (among the more recent, Olshausen, Baumgarten, Lange) assume that the house in which the disciples sat, belonged to the temple, and was one of the thirty apartments in the buildings attached to the temple, which Josephus [Ant. viii. 3. 2,] has likewise termed οἵκονς. But as the language of the text does not even remotely indicate such an interpretation, and as no other sufficient reason can be adduced in support of it, we have no authority for assigning the place to one of the buildings adjoining the temple. For the opinion that on such a day, when a theocratic festival occurred, and at the first hour of prayer, the disciples could have with propriety assembled in no other spot than in the temple, may be plausible, but rests on no solid grounds. They had undoubtedly assembled long before the first hour of prayer; and, as all these occurrences required time, several hours after their first meeting in the morning may have already elapsed at the moment when Peter said: “It is but the third hour of the day,” Act_2:15. It cannot, besides, be supposed that the disciples could have assembled together in any part of the temple in such numbers, and as a united body of men who avoided all admixture with other Jews, without specially attracting public attention. The multitude, moreover, which came together, Act_2:6, does not necessarily imply the proximity of the temple, but simply makes the impression that some spacious spot existed in the neighborhood of the house then occupied by the disciples, which afforded sufficient room for a large collection of persons. The argument, finally, that the whole procedure acquires a much deeper significance, if we assign to it the temple as the place (“the solemn inauguration of the Church in the sanctuary of the old covenant” Olshausen), has the least weight of all; its force is derived only from the imagination.
c. Who are the persons that were assembled, and that received the gift of the Holy Ghost? We are informed, Act_2:1, that they were all with one accord in one place. It is at once obvious that not the apostles alone, but other disciples also, were present, and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. The correctness of this view is fully proved by Act_2:14, in which the twelve apostles are plainly distinguished from other persons who were also filled with the Spirit and spake with other tongues. Still, even when this fact is admitted, one point remains, on which a difference of opinion exists:—Were only the 120 disciples, mentioned in Act_1:15, present, or was a still larger number of persons assembled, and were all these endowed with the Holy Spirit? The former opinion is generally adopted, but the latter will appear to be better sustained when we consider that the day was a high festival of me old covenant, when those disciples of Jesus who did not reside in Jerusalem, or whom an express command of the Lord had not previously summoned, were, doubtless, also present in the city; it is natural to suppose that they, too, would assemble with the other disciples. Consequently, not only the twelve apostles, but the whole number of the disciples of Jesus who were then present in the city, were assembled together and shared in the effusion of the Spirit.
Act_2:2-3. a. The event which now occurred, took place suddenly (ὄφνω), that is, unexpectedly. So far were the disciples from looking for an event so extraordinary and impressive, that they were themselves amazed. Baumgarten (Apgesch. I. 36) supposes, it is true, that the disciples had sufficient grounds for believing that such a crisis was at hand, and were anxiously waiting for it. While, however, we may readily ascribe to them a devout frame of mind, corresponding in fervor to the character of one of the most solemn of the Israelitic festivals, we can find no indication that they expected precisely at that time a fulfilment of the promise which the Lord had given; that fulfilment was entirely unexpected.
b. A sound, etc.—The external manifestations and signs which attended the outpouring of the Spirit, were both a sound and a light, the one appealing to the ear, the other to the eye. The sound which came down to the earth from heaven, was very loud (ἦχος), like that produced by a blast, a gust, or a very strong wind which rushes onward; and it was this loud, penetrating sound which filled all the house in which the disciples were assembled. The text does not speak of an actual gust of wind, and still less of an earthquake, accompanied by a storm of wind, by which, as some have supposed (Neander), the house was shaken. The sound which was heard is, on the contrary, simply compared (ὤσπερ) to that of a vehement wind, for the purpose of giving a general description of it; it was a so-called בַּת קוֹל [for which see Herzog: Real-Encyk. I. 719, art. Bath-Kol.—Tr.]. But it appears distinctly from Act_2:6 that the extraordinary sound mentioned in Act_2:2, was audible in the city at a considerable distance from the spot.—In addition to the sound, which appealed to the ear, another manifestation, a luminous sign, appealed to the eye. The disciples saw (appeared unto them, Act_2:3) appearances of tongues of fire which distributed themselves, and alighted upon each individual. It was as little natural fire as the sound already mentioned was that of a natural wind; on the contrary, the appearances which were seen, only resembled flames of fire that assumed the form of tongues; these were luminous, but they neither burned nor singed. It is altogether inadmissible to trace these appearances of flames to ordinary or natural causes. We cannot possibly regard them as only electrical phenomena, such as the gleaming lights which are sometimes seen on the highest points of steeples, or on the masts of vessels, and which have been known to alight even on men (Paulus), since they are here beheld, not in the open air, but in the interior of a house. But none obtrude so many creations of their own imagination, that is, of a self-deluded spirit, on the text, as those writers who here speak of flashes of lightning which, as they assume, darted through the apartment, and in which the excited minds of the apostles saw strange and wonderful images (Heinrichs), or who allege that the apostles were in a trance, and hence only imagined that they saw the fiery tongues (Heumann).—The fact that such a pentecostal festival occurred, is incontrovertibly established by the terms of the text, namely, that a mighty internal revolution was effected in the souls of the disciples, which elevated their whole nature, and endowed them with such strength of faith as believers, and with such power as witnesses, that they were now competent to begin a contest with the world, and conquer it. This great fact is, besides, so wonderful in itself, that the miraculous appearances in the outward world which attended it, cannot justly give offence, except to those who recognize only a spirit-world, that is essentially and absolutely separated from the sensuous world, or, in other words, who are governed by an unscriptural and unreal spiritualism. Both that loud sound and these flames of fire bear only a certain resemblance (ὤσπερ, ὡσεί) to natural appearances, without really belonging to the class of ordinary or natural phenomena; like the main event—the impletion of individuals with the power of the Spirit from on high (Luk_24:49), they are supernatural, divine, and miraculous operations. These audible and visible signs may be regarded as the sensuous garment which the power of the Spirit assumed. They rendered eminent services: like heralds, they announced the coming of the Spirit, and gave an impressive character to the event; they exhibited, as emblems, the power and operations of the Spirit; and they fitted the mind in a still higher degree for receiving the gift of the Spirit. When they are viewed as emblems, the loud, rushing sound itself is the emblem of a certain vast power; its descent from heaven implies that this power is “from on high”—the power of Him who ascended to heaven and is enthroned on high. The fact that this sound filled all the house, was a sign that all who were there assembled, should be filled with the Holy Ghost. The visible flames were an emblem of that holy ardor and of those glowing emotions which, when enkindled from heaven, would break forth like flames from the heart. The form of tongues signified that the tongue, the word, or speech, thoroughly pervaded and controlled by the Holy Spirit of God, should communicate and reveal all that is heavenly and holy. The circumstance that such a tongue of light and fire descended and sat upon each individual who was present, was an emblem of that fulness of the Spirit which was designed for, and imparted to, each individual, as a permanent gift.
Act_2:4. a. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.—The central point or main purpose of the whole miraculous event is indicated in the original in only four words, namely, that all the believers were filled with the Holy Ghost. The phrase: ἐπλήσθησαν ἄπαντες πν. ἁγ. may, and indeed, must here be taken in its precise and full sense:—they were filled with the Holy Ghost, insomuch that the Holy Ghost was not given in part only, or by measure, but in all his fulness (Joh_3:34). A correct view of this impletion with the Spirit can be obtained only by surveying it retrospectively and prospectively, that is, by comparing it with those operations and actual communications of the Spirit which preceded, and with those which followed it. With respect to the earlier manifestations of the Spirit, it was undoubtedly said, already under the old covenant, concerning Bezaleel and other skilful men, and also with respect to Joshua, that God had filled them with “the Spirit of God,” the spirit of wisdom, etc. (Exo_31:3 ff.; comp. Exo_28:3; Exo_35:31 ff.; Deu_34:9). In these cases, however, the connection plainly shows that such language describes only the skill of a particular artist, or the eminent military abilities of a general. And in the case of the prophets of Israel, the influences of the Spirit are always described in such terms only, as convey distinctly the sense that no complete and permanent communication of the Spirit of God, or one which pervaded the whole being of the subject, had yet occurred. When the angel of the Lord promises Zacharias that his son John “shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother’s womb” (Luk_1:15), we meet with a case that is so peculiar (comp. ibid. Act_2:41), and, in view of the whole historic relation which the forerunner sustained to the Messiah, of so subordinate a character, that it can scarcely be taken into consideration in discussing the point now before us. The disciples and apostles of Jesus had unquestionably received the Holy Ghost already at an earlier period (Joh_20:22 ff.); but that such communication of the Spirit had been neither of a permanent nor of a fully satisfactory character, appears from the subsequent, repeated promises of Jesus respecting a communication and acceptance of the Holy Ghost and of power, which still belonged to the future (Luk_24:49; Act_1:8). We are, accordingly, conducted to the conclusion that the communication of the Spirit which occurred on the day of Pentecost, when compared with any that preceded it, was final, complete, and permanent in its character. Still, when we examine the subsequent history of the disciples, we cannot but perceive that this outpouring of the Spirit was not of a magical nature, neither did it instantaneously and thoroughly transmute and pervade the whole nature and being of the subject. It required and enabled the individual, on the contrary, to appropriate to himself, by degrees, the holy powers of the Spirit, to grow continually, to be taught, to be put in mind, and to be guided into all truth by the Spirit (Joh_14:26; Joh_16:13)—to be uninterruptedly sanctified, led and drawn (Rom_8:14; Joh_17:17).—The fact that all were filled with the Holy Ghost, also claims attention. Not merely certain individuals among the multitude, for instance, the apostles, but all the believing people who were present, without distinction of office or vocation, of sex or age, were filled with the Holy Ghost. Consequently, females and young men were not excluded (comp. Act_2:17 ff.); indeed, the visible signs of the Spirit, the fiery tongues, had descended upon each individual, Act_2:3.
b. Began to speak with other tongues; such was the effect or immediate result, when all had received the fulness of the Spirit. It was needful that the internal process in the mind and spirit of the individual, should be made manifest externally—not, however, immediately before the world (for the company of believers still sat apart), but in the presence of those who held their views, and were of a like mind, “for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.” Hence, it appears, also, that the words which they uttered, were not simple statements of the Gospel message, which would not have been adapted to that place and that moment; their discourses rather proclaimed the honor and praise of God; it was “a solemnizing [commemorative] discourse”. (Baumgarten; Lange). Such a circumstance, however, would not in itself, have been unusual; the extraordinary and new feature which the case assumed (ῆρξαντο), was the circumstance that the Christians, in consequence of having received the gift of the Spirit, spake with other tongues (ἑτέραις γλώσσαις). This expression might, possibly, convey no other sense than that “the tongues of the disciples were essentially changed by the operation of the Spirit, and now became the organs of the Holy Ghost, whereas they had formerly been the organs of flesh.” (Baumgarten). But the narrative which immediately follows, Act_2:6-13, does not allow a single doubt to remain in an unprejudiced mind, that we are here already, Act_2:4, to understand a speaking of foreign languages, which were new to the speakers themselves (see below, Act_2:5-13). The last clause of Act_2:4, which by no means implies that any labor or effort to learn, had preceded, distinctly describes the whole as a free gift of the Spirit, and, moreover, intimates that various languages were spoken. Now, as the disciples had hitherto constituted a company which sat apart, this speaking in foreign languages could have had no direct reference to other persons whose ordinary languages were the same; it must therefore have had a special purpose and meaning of its own. When the disciples, filled with the Spirit of the Father and the Son, and elevated in thought and feeling, uttered aloud the praises of God in solemn adoration, and employed for this purpose various foreign languages, they prefigured in their persons the entire sanctified human race of a future and distant age, in which all generations, tongues, and languages will serve and glorify God, and his Anointed, in the Holy Ghost (Bengel, Baumgarten, and others).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The precise times in which the promises will be fulfilled, are not revealed either under the old or the new covenant (comp. Act_1:5; Act_1:7). Even when a reference to the time occurs, it is never so exact that we can previously define with precision the moment in which the fulfilment may be expected; even the prophets searched what point or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them, did signify. 1Pe_1:11. But as surely as the promise is God’s word, so surely will the fulfilment, which is God’s act, occur at the proper time. The promise exercises our faith; the fulfilment strengthens it.
2. The Pentecost of the old covenant was the chosen day on which, under the new covenant, the Spirit was poured out. Thus the day of Pentecost has a twofold significance. The new covenant is founded on the old; the Gospel is the fulfilment of the law. Here, too, with respect to holy days and festivals, Christ did “not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”
3. In the revelations of God, the corporeal and the spiritual are always combined; in this respect the most exalted instance—the most intimate union—and the reciprocal interpenetration of the two, will be found in the Person of Christ himself, in so far as the fulness of the Godhead has dwelt, and still dwelleth, in him bodily. Col_2:9. But at all times, all that belongs to the acts and revelations of God, to the means of grace, and to the operations of grace, exhibits the spiritual and the corporeal in combination. Such is the nature of the Word and the Sacraments; in these, that which is corporeal, visible, and audible, is united in the most intimate manner with that which is spiritual and invisible. Such is also the case with the communication of the Holy Ghost; the Spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism like a dove (Mat_3:16); the Lord breathed on the Apostles, and thus at first granted to them the Holy Ghost (Joh_20:22). And here, on the day of Pentecost, when the fulness of the Spirit was imparted to the disciples, the event occurred amid visible and audible signs, which, descending from heaven and entering the material world, proclaimed and glorified the gift of the Spirit which they accompanied: these signs evidently possess an emblematical character, and refer to the promise that the disciples shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
4. The day of Pentecost coincides in time with the effusion of the Spirit. All the former operations, influences and communications of the Spirit of God, were only by measure, or in part; they were preliminary and transient in their character. The outpouring of the Spirit, in the true and only sense, could not occur until the present period had arrived; the Spirit could not be given until the Redeemer had previously finished his work on earth, and had been glorified and exalted; Joh_7:39. For it was then only, on the one hand, that the exalted Lord could send the Spirit from the Father (Joh_15:26), and pray to the Father for the Comforter (παράκλητος) in behalf of his disciples, or that the Father could send the Spirit in the name of Jesus (Joh_14:16; Joh_14:26); and then only, on the other hand, were the disciples fully prepared to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; for, now that Jesus had ascended, and that his visible presence had been withdrawn, they looked forward with all the strength of their souls, with eagerness and haste (2Pe_3:12) toward the fulfilment of his most glorious promise. The peculiar features of the Pentecostal gift, as contradistinguished from other communications of the Holy Ghost, are, first, the fulness of the Spirit, in all the riches of his power and gifts: and, secondly, the permanent union of the Holy Ghost with human beings, that is to say, with the human race.
5. Not only the apostles, but all the other disciples also, were filled with the Holy Ghost. The gift of the Holy Ghost was not at that time, and is not now, an exclusive privilege of a particular office (not even of the highest in the Church—that of the Apostles), nor of any rank or either sex, but is the gracious gift of the Lord, bestowed on all who believe in him. There is a common priesthood of all believers, and the Holy Spirit is the anointing by which we are fitted for, and consecrated to, this priesthood. (1Jn_2:27.)
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Act_2:1. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come.—The Pentecostal gift furnished new evidence on the part of the Lord that he came to fulfil [Mat_5:17]. The age of promise, it is true, preceded, and the people of God waited long; but then the fulfilment occurred suddenly. (C. H. Rieger).—The feast of Passover of the old covenant is succeeded by the Christian festival of Easter, and that of Pentecost by the Christian pentecostal season [Whitsuntide]; to the former, the death and resurrection of Christ, and to the latter, the outpouring of the Spirit, respectively, assign a higher character as antitypes, than the ancient festivals possessed. The people of Israel observed on the day of Pentecost the festival of the first harvest of the year [Exo_23:16], but here we behold, in the outpouring of the Spirit, the source of the first great harvest on that field, white already to harvest, to which the Lord, as he sat at Jacob’s well, directed the attention of his disciples; on that one day about three thousand souls were gathered, as sheaves of the first fruits of the harvest, into the garner of the Lord. If the people of Israel commemorated on their day of Pentecost the giving of the law on Sinai, we behold here, in the outpouring of the Spirit, the giving of the law under the new covenant; but the will of God is now written with a pen of fire, not on tables of stone, but, as a law of the Spirit, on the hearts of men.—They were all with one accord in one place.—The Holy Spirit is given, not to the contentious and ungodly, but to those who dwell together in unity, and continue in supplications and prayers. (Starke).—Let him who desires to receive the Holy Spirit, not forsake the assembling together of believers [Heb_10:25]. (ib.).—Perseverance in prayer, in place of being a burden, becomes our delight, when our faith fully relies on the fulfilment of the divine promises, and when we, in addition, obtain a richer experience of God’s fidelity in keeping his promises. (Ap. Past.).—United prayers, when they are perseveringly offered, are specially acceptable and effectual; the common experience of many believers that God answers prayer, in a special manner strengthens our faith. (ib.).—The intimate connection between God’s deeds of old, and his deeds in our day: I. He does not cease to work [Joh_5:17], but continually does new things [Isa_43:19]. II. He does not reject nor destroy that which is old, but establishes that which is new upon it. (Lechler).—The significance of the Christian festivals: they commemorate, I. The glorious deeds and the mercies of God; II. The truth and the faithfulness of God [“in so far as the Pentecost and the other prominent festivals refer to the fulfilment of the divine promises, and to the actual execution of the original divine plan of salvation.” (From the first edition).—Tr.] (ib.).—The holy and glorious connection between the divine promises and their fulfilment: I. The promises become more precious to us in proportion as we see them fulfilled; II. The fulfilment becomes the more adorable and glorious in our eyes, inasmuch as it was promised. (ib.).—What position shall the believing Christian assume, in reference to the promises of God? I. Let him wait (with patience); II. Let him haste (with eager desire); comp. 2Pe_3:12.—“The hope of the righteous shall be gladness” (Pro_10:28); when it, I. Is founded on God’s word and promise alone; II. Is united with humility; and, III. Manifests itself in persevering prayer. (Lechler).—Unexpected blessings. The disciples scarcely expected the outpouring of the Spirit on that particular day; but when the appointed hour arrives, our help comes suddenly from the Lord, and puts our doubts to shame. (Besser).—The Pentecostal season of the new covenant, the glorious consummation of the day of Pentecost of the old covenant: I. Viewed as the festival of the giving of the law; II. And as a harvest festival.
Act_2:2-3. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, etc.—God ordinarily manifests his influence through his word; but that influence, particularly in its more striking forms, is often experienced suddenly and unexpectedly, by those, in particular, whom the Spirit of grace had previously taught to wait with faith, and whose hearts had thus been opened. [Act_16:14]. The prayer which the apostles offered with one accord, was graciously received in heaven, and this sound from heaven was the cheering answer, so that this ἦχος was in truth an echo. The faithfulness of God to his children and servants is still the same; their cry reaches unto heaven, and enters his heart, and, as the devout Godwin expresses it, such a prayer returns to them without fail from heaven. (Ap. Past.).—The gifts of the Holy Ghost: they are from above, Jam_1:17; Jam_3:17; they are perceived in our Christian experience, 2Co_4:13; they exercise a controlling influence, Rom_8:14; they fill the whole soul. (Starke).—It was as if a mighty wind were rushing onward, when the Holy Spirit took possession of the hearts of the disciples; we have here a very beautiful illustration of the power which he exercises over the soul, when he urges willing hearts onward, even as a vessel is impelled when its sails are filled by such a gracious wind. So, too, he rends the mountains, and breaks in pieces the rocks, when he produces a godly sorrow and contrition in the heart. Happy is that teacher on whose “garden” or heart this holy wind of God has blown (Son_4:16), and like the “north wind,” has, amid holy alarms, awakened a salutary fear, dispersed the vapors of a false security, cast down every high thing that exalted itself in its own righteousness, and then conducted that heart to Christ! Happy is he, again, when that wind, like the “south wind,” carrying warmth and quickening power with it, fills his heart with all the blessed influences of the Gospel, so “that the spices thereof may flow out,” flowing, too, freely on others, insomuch that through him, as a messenger of God who “has an unction from the Holy One” [1Jn_2:20], the savour of the knowledge of Christ may be made manifest in every place! (2Co_2:14-15). (Ap. Past.).—A rushing mighty wind, and flames of fire, are only the harbingers and emblems of the Holy Ghost: he himself entered the hearts of the disciples in an invisible manner. “Even nature herself is called into action, and required to render services in the holy place. God maketh his ministers a flame of fire [Heb_1:7]. The creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God [Rom_8:21], and therefore utters praise in pealing anthems at all the great Christian festivals.” (Ahlfeld).—Tongues, like as of fire; this was the baptism with fire which John had promised (Mat_3:11)—the fire on earth which the Lord himself longed to see kindled (Luk_12:49). The Holy Ghost is a divine fire, purifying the heart, consuming all that is sinful in it, elevating it to God, and sanctifying it. (Quesnel).—Sat upon each of them.—Whenever the Spirit of the Lord has taken full possession of an abode, he dwells therein permanently; he rests upon those whom he has anointed, guides them, and governs them, in whatever manner they may be employed. 1Pe_4:14. (Ap. Past.).—The signs in inanimate nature which accompanied the outpouring of the Holy Ghost: they are, I. Evidences that the kingdom of power and of grace is governed by one God; II. Emblems of the Spirit and his power. (Lechler).—A rushing mighty wind and flames of fire, instructive emblems of the nature and operations of the Holy Spirit: I. The wind an emblem of them, in its (a) mysterious approach [Joh_3:8], (b) force, (c) purifying power, (d) refreshing influence. II. The tire an emblem, in its (a) brightness, (b) animating warmth, (c) power to consume, (d) rapid diffusion.
Act_2:4. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.—The human heart is never empty; in the same proportion in which it is delivered from the love of self, of the creature, and of sin, it is filled with the Holy Spirit, O blessed fulness—the fulness of the Holy Spirit! It does not burden, but rather lifts up the soul, and impels it to adore God. (Quesnel).—The same measure and the same gifts of the Spirit were not bestowed alike on all; nevertheless, each one was filled, receiving the measure of the Spirit which corresponded to his capacity, and to the work in which God designed to employ him. The Lord still proceeds in this manner, bestowing on each a fitting gift according to his own holy will and purposes, so that in truth the heart of every one is filled. (Ap. Past.).—The words recorded in 1Ki_19:11 ff. (“The Lord passed by Elijah, etc.”), naturally suggest themselves in this connection. Here, too, the Lord himself truly came, not in the great and strong wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the still small voice, when he entered into the hearts of his disciples, and spake by their mouth. (Williger).—And began to speak with other tongues.—A new tongue and effective eloquence in the sphere of religion, are gifts, not of nature, but of the Spirit. (Ap. Past.).—The Holy Ghost is never inactive, but always worketh, wherever he dwells; one of his principal instruments is the tongue. Eph_4:29; Eph_5:19 ff. (Starke).—When the Holy Ghost fills and enlightens the heart, we begin to speak with another tongue. 2Co_4:13. (ib).—We cannot properly proclaim the works of God, unless we acquire another and a new tongue, and, consequently, obtain, above all, a converted and renewed heart. Psa_51:12-15. (ib.).—Even as the tongue, when it is set on fire of hell (Jam_3:6,) setteth all on fire by the offence which it gives, so, too, when the tongue is enkindled by Heaven, it becomes a torch, which may enkindle a divine fire in many souls. (ib.)—Not swords nor arrows, but tongues, are designed to conduct men to the obedience of Christ, 2Co_10:4 ff. (ib.).—The disciples could not repress the joyful emotions awakened by the power of that, divine life which was poured into their souls, and all began to speak. But listen! They now speak with other tongues! They received new tongues, enkindled, not from below, but from above by heavenly fire, and with these they gave praise to God and proclaimed the great miracle by which all things were made new. Their tongues were new with respect to language also, as well as with respect to the thoughts; their cloven tongues enabled them to speak the languages of foreign and distant nations, as a sign that the testimony which they now began to bear, was intended for every creature (Mar_16:17), and that it was the office of the Holy Ghost to restore the unity of language, and substitute for the confusion of tongues which began in Babel, one holy and harmonious Zion of all nations. Anticipating the Hallelujah sung in heaven, they proclaimed the praises of God, whose glorious plan of salvation they now could comprehend. (Stier).—This family of God, when thus declaring the praises of God in the languages of the whole world, presents us with an image of that future age in which the whole world shall praise God in all its various tongues. (Bengel).—The confusion of tongues occasioned the dispersion of men, Gen. Acts 11; the gift of tongues re-united them as one people. (H. Grotius).—On this day, the new festival of Pentecost, (the joyful, happy and blessed kingdom of Christ, which is full of gladness, courage and security,) was founded. We now hear another language, which does not fill the heart with terror, like the voice heard on Mount Sinai; it neither alarms nor slays us, but rather inspires us with courage and joy; indeed, Christ had promised his disciples that he would send to them the Holy Ghost, who should not be a Spirit of fear, but a Comforter, imparting to them boldness, and power to overcome every fear. For as soon as the Holy Ghost descended from heaven on that day, each one of the apostles, whom none could previously comfort, stood forth boldly, as if he intended to subdue the whole world. When Christ first rose from the dead, the apostles resembled the trembling and scattered brood of the hen; all his exhortations and comforting assurances failed to encourage and strengthen them. But on this day, when the Holy Ghost comes with a loud sound, and breathes upon them, their hearts are so abundantly filled with joy and gladness, and their tongues become so fiery, that each one arises and begins to preach publicly. No one looks first at another; each one is inspired with such courage of his own, that he is willing to confront the whole world. Such words and such preaching are, therefore, very different from those which proceeded from Moses. (Luther).
The Pentecostal gift, the richest gift of God: on account of, I. Its source—the merits of Christ, his humiliation and exaltation; II. Its own nature—a union of the Spirit of God with men; III. Its influences and results—a new creation of the heart and of the world.—The permanence of the union of the Holy Ghost with men: viewed as, I. A continued indwelling, illumination, and sanctification; II. Not, however, as an external possession, (for thou canst grieve and lose him, Eph_4:30), but as a higher power that is exercised over the soul.—“Be filled with the Spirit!” (Eph_5:18). I. Such a spiritual state is necessary, if we desire to be saved; II. The means for attaining it: (a) humble self-knowledge, (b) earnestness in following holiness [Heb_12:14], (c) fidelity in applying the gifts that have been imparted, (d) perseverance in prayer. (Lechler).
The new tongue which is given to us also, by the Pentecostal Spirit: I. What is its nature? It is not a miraculous gift of tongues, nor a mechanical repetition of devout phrases, but rather the gift of a heart and a tongue which are always ready to proclaim the praises of divine grace with gratitude, and to confess the Lord with holy joy. II. From what source does it proceed? Not from any natural abilities, nor from art and science, but from above, from the Spirit of God, who touches the heart and lips with heavenly fire. III. For what purpose is it given? Not to gratify personal vanity, nor to secure carnal enjoyments, but to proclaim the praises of God, and convey the tidings of salvation to the world.—(See also the Hom. and Pract. remarks on subsequent parts of this chapter).
Footnotes:
[1]Act_2:1.—ἅπαντες ὁμοθυμαδόν [of text. rec. with C. (sec. cor.) E.] is preferable to πάντες ὁμοῦ of Lachmann [and Tischendorf], which latter reading is found in A. B. and other manuscripts [also C (orig.); Meyer also adopts the latter, while Alford retains the reading of text. rec.—Cod. Sin. omits both πάντ. and ἅπαντ., and exhibits simply ὁμοῦ, but a later hand (C) inserted πάντες.—Tr.]
[2]Act_2:2.—καθεζόμενοι [found in C. D., and adopted by Lach., Tisch., Born., and Alf.] is more accurate than καθήμενοι [of text. rec. with A. (B. e sil) E. and Cod. Sin.—Meyer prefers the former as the less usual form.—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 14, 15, 17 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as…
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, &c.--"The whole description is so picturesque and striking that it could only come from an eye-witness" [OLSHAUSEN]. The suddenness, strength, and diffusiveness of the sound strike with deepest awe the whole company, and thus complete their preparation for the heavenly gift. Wind was a familiar emblem of the Spirit (Eze 37:9; Joh 3:8; Joh 20:22). But this was not a rush of actual wind. It was only a sound "as of" it.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 1. The Advent of the Spirit, Act_2:1-13.
II.—THE PENTECOST.
1. The Advent of the Spirit, Act_2:1-13.
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1. Day of Pentecost—There were annually three great feasts at Jerusalem which every male Jew was required by the law to attend, namely, the Passover, the Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Each of these had a twofold reference; one historical, and the other agricultural. Israel was both a theocratic and an agricultural nation; and he blended the events of his theocratic history with the events of his agricultural year. Thus is commemorated God’s mercy both in the past and present. The God of the theocracy is thereby recognized as the God of nature.
(1.) The PASSOVER (a) commemorated the deliverance from Egypt by the hand of Moses, and (b) marked the earlier or barley harvest. It was continued one week. On the first day the Passover lamb was slain, symbolizing the historical event, as detailed in our note on Mat_26:2. On the morrow after the Passover Sabbath the priest was ceremonially, and with prescribed sacrifice, to wave a sheaf of the first-fruits of the harvest in token of acknowledgment of the divine bounty. And before this act neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears were to be eaten. (Exo_23:10-14.) It was rendering to the God who first delivered Israel his thanks for the bounty of harvest.
(2.) The Feast of TABERNACLES (see our note on Joh_7:2) commemorated the wanderings in the wilderness, and marked the final harvest, namely, of the vintage and the fruits.
(3.) Between these two, seven weeks, or fifty days inclusive from the day of the wave-sheaf, was the Feast of PENTECOST, kept for a single day. From the seven weeks’ interval between it and the Passover it was originally called by the Hebrews The Feast of Weeks. But later it was called Pentecost, from the Greek words signifying Fiftieth, from the number of intervening days. It marked a second or wheat harvest. That it also commemorated the giving of the law on Mount Sinai is not, indeed, said expressly in the Scriptures, and so is doubted by many biblical scholars; but we join with those who hold it as true: (a) because it was historically a fact that seven weeks did occur from the leaving of Egypt to the giving of the Law on Sinai; (b) because some of the most eminent Jewish commentators so held; (c) because the analogy of the other two great feasts requires a historical reference; and (d) because of the striking correspondence, yet contrast, between the giving of the Old Law by Moses and this giving of the New Law by Christ. The last day of the seven weeks, says Grotius, was the day of the given law, as is inferred from Exo_19:1-2, and was called on this account שׁמהת תורה, The Feast of the Law.
St. Jerome thus finely contrasts the two: “Each law was made on the fiftieth day from the Passover; the one upon Sinai, the other upon Zion. At the one, the mountain trembled with a shaking of the earth; at the other, the house of the apostles. At the former, amid fiery flames and flashing lightnings there sounded a whirl of winds and a crash of thunders; at the latter, together with a sight of fiery tongues, there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing wind. In the former, the blast of a clarion uttered the words of the law; at the latter, the Gospel trumpet sounded forth from the mouth of the apostles.”
Wordsworth says: “From the end of Saturday, the sixteenth day of Nisan, forty-nine days are counted; and the fiftieth, or Feast of Pentecost, falls on SUNDAY. It was the ancient belief of the ancient Christian Church” that the Pentecostal day was Sunday.
All with one accord—The same one accord as in Act_1:14, of the same body enumerated in Act_1:15; namely, the about one hundred and twenty names representative of the New Testament Church. This one accord beautifully and repeatedly emphasises the unanimity of heart and movement of this wonderful little condensation of Christianity. The they of this verse grammatically referring to this company clearly negatives the addition of some imaginary Christians from the country at the feast, supposed by Alford and others.
In one place—Not, as some suppose, in the Temple. (See note on Act_1:13.) Had Israel, indeed, accepted Jesus, (see note on Act_1:7,) the Spirit, the life, and the Shekinah (note on Act_7:2) would no doubt have made their centre, as of old, in the ancient house of God. The miraculous tongues would have belonged not to twelve, or a hundred and twenty only, but to more than a hundred and twenty thousand. All Israel, the chosen seed, would have been Christ’s holy apostles. But Israel’s unbelief shut them out of the holy sanctuary, and so shut the sanctuary out to be sanctuary no more, but to be food for fire and ashes, and left these, the new chosen seed, the holy remnant, to inaugurate the Dispensation of the Spirit in an unrecognised “upper room.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 Act_2:1-13. The Holy Ghost given at Pentecost. Effect first…
Act_2:1-13. The Holy Ghost given at Pentecost. Effect first produced thereby on the dwellers at Jerusalem
1. the day of Pentecost] The second of the three great Jewish feasts, the Passover being the first, and the third, the feast of Tabernacles. Pentecost is the Greek name of the feast, derived from Pentecostos = fiftieth; because it was kept on the fiftieth day after the Passover-Sabbath. In the Law it is called “the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours” (Exo_23:16), and also, from being seven weeks after the Passover, it is named “the feast of weeks” (Exo_34:22; Deu_16:9-10). The offering in this festival was the two first loaves made from the first portion of the wheat-harvest of the year, as a thank-offering.
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This day was perhaps chosen for the outpouring of the Spirit upon the Apostles, that there might be a greater multitude present in Jerusalem, and so the tidings of this gift might at once be spread abroad. It is perhaps for this reason that the very word employed is one which indicates that the day was fully come, and so all that were intending to be present at the feast were there. We find in Act_9:2 that there were Christians at Damascus before we read of any one of the Apostolic band visiting that city. It may well be that among those who saw the gifts now bestowed, and whose hearts were pierced by Peter’s sermon, there were some who went forth to this and other cities, bearing the fame and teaching of the new society along with them. In like manner, we cannot doubt that it was in order that more might hear His words, that our Lord so frequently went to Jerusalem at the feasts. (Joh_4:45; Joh_5:1; Joh_7:10; Joh_10:22, &c.)
they were all with one accord in one place] The best MSS. have they were all together in one place. Doubtless in the upper room where the Apostles abode, and where the disciples had met for the election of Matthias.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18 (1) When the day of Pentecost was fully come.—It…
II.
(1) When the day of Pentecost was fully come.—It is natural to assume a purpose in the divine choice of the day on which the disciples were thus to receive the promise of the Father. That choice may have been determined, if one may so speak, either in view of the circumstances of the feast, or of its history and symbolic fitness.
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(1) Of all the feasts of the Jewish year, it was that which attracted the largest number of pilgrims from distant lands. The dangers of travel by sea or land in the early spring or late autumn (comp. Act_27:9) prevented their coming in any large numbers to the Passover or the Feast of Tabernacles. At no other feast would there have been representatives of so many nations. So, it may be noted, it was the Feast of Pentecost that St. Paul went up to keep once and again, during his mission-work in Greece and Asia. (See Notes on Act_18:21; Act_20:16.) So far, then, there was no time on which the gift of the Spirit was likely to produce such direct and immediate results.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18 Was now come for was fully come, A.V.; all…
Was now come for was fully come, A.V.; all together for with one accord, A.V. and T.R. When the day of Pentecost was now come; literally, when the day of Pentecost i.e. , of the fiftieth day was in the course of being completed. The fiftieth day (reckoned from the end of the 16th of Nisan, on which Jesus was crucified) was actually come, but was not ended. (comp. Luk_9:11) All together; oJmou for oJmoqumadon: but oJmoqumadon a favorite word in the Acts (Act_4:24, note) seems preferable to oJmou, which occurs only in St. John. In one place. (see Act_1:15, note) The purpose, doubtless, of their coming together was for prayer, as in Act_1:14; and the third hour (9 a.m., ver. 15), the hour of offering the morning sacrifice, was close at hand. (comp. Act_3:1 and Luk_1:10)
HOMILETICS.
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Vers. 1-13. The unity of the Spirit.
If, with the idea of unity in our minds, we read this description of the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church, we cannot but be struck with the manner in which that great idea is exhibited and illustrated.
I There is first THE LOCAL UNITY OF THE CHURCH. They were all together in one place. Many in number, but all of that many come together; drawn by one common impulse to merge their separate existences, their various pursuits, their divergent vocations, their several movements, their independent actions, in one common action, and by that action to come together to one place. All the different reasons and motives which would have kept them separate, and which would have attracted them to different places, were overcome by the common reason and motive which drew them to one place. Nor must we overlook some of the aspects of this local unity. It reveals to us that there was something in the heart of each one of the assembly which felt the need of contact with the others, because there was known to be in those others a like nature and a like spirit and a like yearning to their own. No one felt himself sufficient to himself; there was an outlook in each breast for that which should make up the complement of its own wants, and that complement could only be found in the love of the brethren. It reveals also that sense which each had of mutual support and encouragement, that expectation of strength and countenance to be derived from the presence and the communion of the rest. The Christian instinct told each one, "It is not good to be alone;" faith, love, courage, holy enthusiasm, heavenly zeal, power to act for Christ and his kingdom, wisdom to know, and boldness to execute, counsel before the time of action comes, and decision when it is come, all are increased and perfected "by that which every joint supplieth." And then, again, this local unity had its immense importance considered in regard to its outward aspect the aspect which it presented to the world. The individual Simon, or John, or James, might be thrust aside with contempt as an ignorant enthusiast or an eccentric fanatic; but the compact body of the twelve, with the hundred and twenty firmly attached to them, already presented a front to the world imposing from its compactness and the close coherence of all its parts. And, in like manner, a little thought will reveal other aspects of this local unity. The one temple at Jerusalem had contributed not a little to the unity of the twelve tribes, who looked upon it as their common center, and who met together periodically at that one center for the offices of their common faith. And so this local unity of the Church, to whom the upper chamber consecrated, perhaps, by the Lord"s presence at the Paschal feast, and endeared by the hours of prayer and waiting passed in it between Easter and Pentecost-was the common place of meeting, was a material prop and buttress to that spiritual unity of which the Lord Jesus Christ was the true Center.
II But mark next what we may call THE OBJECTIVE UNITY OF THE CHURCH as contemplated by the Holy Ghost. It is not only that the disciples felt their unity, and displayed it in the local unity of which we have spoken, but God the Holy Ghost looked upon them as one, and treated them as one. We read in ver. 3 that "it sat upon each one of them;" not upon the apostles only, not upon certain favored persons, but upon each one of the assembled saints. It was the one Spirit filling the one body (see Exposition, ver. 3). It is added with emphasis," They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Here, then, we have clearly and most impressively set before us the unity of the Church in the sight of God; its unity in respect of privilege and covenanted possession. It is an exposition in practice of St. Paul"s saying, "If any man hath net the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his", (Rom_8:9) which is here laid before us. It is the baptism with the Holy Ghost, promised by Christ to all his disciples. Here there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither male nor female. Sons and daughters alike, bond and free, apostles and children, are all partakers of that one Spirit, because all have been baptized into one body. The invisible bands which tie together in one bundle of spiritual life each particular member of the mystical Body of Christ are seemed by the Holy Ghost.
III But thirdly, what we may call THE WILFUL UNITY OF THE CHURCH stands out prominently in the passage before us: the unity i.e. of will and purpose, resulting from the common possession and indwelling of one and the same Spirit, and the fixed desire to act together. Their voices were many, but their theme was one mighty works of God." Their voices were many, but they had one end and aim to proclaim God"s glory, to praise God"s works, and to draw all men, however diverse, to his blessed worship and service. The grand design of uniting all mankind in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, of bringing men of all creeds and all colors, of all nations and all languages, into one close unity and fellowship, was present to all their minds and influenced their common action. It was the work they had to do together. The end was dear to each single heart among them, but it was to be accomplished by united effort. And what wonders can be accomplished by united effort! Where one spirit runs through anti moves many wills in one direction with an unbroken movement, and those many wills run willingly, harmoniously, and unitedly in their onward course, realizing their union with the Divine will, and rejoicing in the harmony of their own several wills, what can withstand them? It is the waste of force in the antagonistic movement of the several wills which hinders and checks progress; when one thwarts another, and subtracts his own motive power from that of his brother, instead of adding it thereto. Hence the slow progress of Christianity in our own day compared with that of the apostolic age; hence the weakness of the Church, its feebler victories over sin, its almost defeats by the spirit of infidelity, its apparent inability to cope with the powers of this world. Surely the contemplation of the unity of the Spirit, as seen on the day of Pentecost, should kindle in every Christian breast a longing for a like unity among ourselves.
IV We may notice lastly, THE PROSPECTIVE UNITY OF THE CHURCH in its completeness. The long list of nationalities detailed by the historian, when he enumerates Parthians and Medea and Elamites, and so many other nations of Europe, Asia, and Africa, as all hearing in their own several languages the mighty works of God; the striking narrative of the Holy Spirit of God lighting upon the heads of the Galilaean disciples, and, by enabling them to speak with other tongues, removing the barrier of separation between man and man caused by the confusion of tongues; the exhibition of Jerusalem as the Christian metropolis, the birthplace of so many sons and daughters, the center of union between the apostles of the Lord and believers out of every nation under heaven" (ver. 5); all this was surely intended to lead our thoughts and our hopes forward to that blessed day, seen by St. John in vision, when" the great multitude, which no man can number, out of every nation, and of all tribes and peoples and tongues, shall stand before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands, crying with a loud voice and saying, Salvation unto our God which sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb." It is to this blessed consummation, when all things shall be gathered together into one in Christ, that every weary heart should look forward. It is a vision of glory to keep before the mind amidst the strife and discord, the divisions and separations, of the existing age. It is light which, seen even at the end of the long perspective of this world"s troublous way, should reflect back a softening cheering ray upon each step of our wearisome path, and encourage us to press forward with unfaltering purpose till we reach Mount Zion, and behold the Church in her glory. Then shall the brightness of the Pentecostal day pale before the beauty of that day of Christ, and God"s purpose will be accomplished in the perfect unity of heart and voice, of will and purpose, of thought and speech, of work and habitation, of the whole multitude whom Christ has redeemed and made kings and priests, that they may reign for ever in the new Jerusalem of God.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON.
Vers. 1-13. The coming of God in power.
The ascended Savior was about to come in mighty power to the disciples. They were in Jerusalem, "waiting for the promise of the Father;" doubtless they had no anticipation of the way in which that promise would be fulfilled, and must have been struck with the utmost awe and wonder when they found themselves wrought upon with such Divine energies. Our thought is directed to
I THE MANIFESTED PRESENCE OF GOD. God revealed his presence through the media of air and fire; the one in unusual, indeed supernatural agitation; the other in unkindled, lambent flame. Both air and fire are fitting elements for the vehicle of Divine manifestation; their ubiquity, their beneficence, the secret and indeed mysterious powers which reside in them, the mighty and even awful forces which slumber in them, and which, when aroused or kindled, work such terrible results ("Our God is a consuming fire"), these qualities make them suitable agencies to signify the presence of the Divine. But while our God is in the elemental forces of nature, both when they render the kind and constant ministry to mankind and when they are in unusual and quite exceptional activity though he is in the soft airs and the life-giving heats which breathe and brighten round us, and though he is in the storm and in the fire which rage above and about us yet the way in which he manifests himself in answer to our earnest prayer and reverent waiting is not thus. Our Lord comes now to us in
(1) illumination of the mind,
(2) enlargement of the heart,
(3) multiplication of spiritual faculty and force,
(4) renewal of the will and the whole spiritual nature we are "filled with the Holy Ghost.
II HIS CHOSEN TIME. Christ came again to his disciples when they were "all of one accord in one place" (ver. 1). When acting together, praying together, feeling together, hoping and expecting together, then he appeared in glorious manifestation. If we who for his appearing" really desire his coming and would do our best to bring him, we must act in the same way; we must be united in thought, in feeling, in prayer, in expectation, in activity.
III THE DIVINE END IN SPECIAL MANIFESTATION. It was not only to "sound a bell "calling attention to the birth of a new dispensation that Christ thus came in power. It was to convey redeeming truth to many minds and many peoples (vers. 5-11). "Devout men out of every nation" heard "the wonderful works of God," and carried back with them, whithersoever they returned, the knowledge of the great things God had wrought for the children of men. When men say to us "See here!" or "Lo there!" "Behold these strange phenomena, these supernatural appearances, these remarkable displays of Divine power," etc., let us dismiss them with incredulity unless they are working to the Divine end, the spiritual enlightenment and moral elevation of mankind. By their fruits we shall know them. If they "work not the righteousness of God," they are not of him; if they do, they are. So shall we "try the spirits whether they are of him.
IV OUR HUMAN RESPONSE. (Ver. 12, 13.) The manifestation of Divine power on this occasion excited amazement and incredulity. Of these the former is wholly insufficient and the latter altogether wrong. Only too often this is the result in our case.
1. We are surprised when we ought to be simply grateful; it ought to be a surprise to us when, in response to our prayer and holy expectation, God does not come to us in renewing, fertilizing power. When the Son of man does come, does he find the expectancy of faith or the astonishment of unbelief? (Luk_18:8)
2. We are incredulous, and perhaps derisive, when we ought to be congratulatory. Some Christian men can account for Divine energy and agency on any principle but the one which should be readiest to their mind, viz. that God is with us, willing to appear on our behalf, prepared to outpour his Spirit in rich effluence on our souls and on our labors. By cur incredulity we
1. displease him,
2. hinder the cause we should help,
3. make impossible any blessed share for ourselves in the shouts of victory. C.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
Vers. 1-4. The epoch of the spiritual dispensation.
I THE DAY. The fiftieth after the Passover; the beginning of the great festival of harvest. What associations of joy! It was a focus of national life.
It was a convenient season for the designs of Providence. Jerusalem was thronged, and the multitude was alive with thought. A sound now heard from the depths of the world of spirit must vibrate through the conscience of mankind for ages.
II THE SOUND. As of a mighty blast from heaven, sweeping through the whole house from top to bottom. The phenomena of the wind and of the storm have ever been the natural symbolism of Divine presence and power to the human intelligence. q he sense of hearing is the peculiarly believing sense; all through the grades of language faith "cometh by hearing." Now it is the soft voice of love, and now that of power, which speaks; in the zephyr or in the boreal blast.
III THE LIGHT. The eye, too, is addressed. This is the more skeptical sense, and either confirms or corrects the report of the ear. Thomas was in the meeting, and would possibly have explained the sound away. The testimony of the eye is needed for full satisfaction, and is given. Not one but many tongues, cleft and as of fire, are seen; on the head of each disciple rests a tongue. The picture is that of a wing of flame, distributed into manifold parts according to the number of those present. And this is the analysis of the symbol: cleansing, all-penetrating Divine activity; the love that consumes evil, and fuses the material of life to ends of refinement; unity of principle with distributive and various operation in this power. As the burning ray reveals the gem, so does the dispiriting flame reveal the love that ever burns in the center of things, in the heart of the living God. Here, then, was the "Spirit of power and of love" made known through ear and eye in inmost conscience and feeling.
IV THE EFFECT. It was fullness of conscious life, which in turn breaks forth in wondrous action. All things are for this epoch possible. They begin to speak in foreign tongues. Their utterances are felt to be not their own. It is "according as the Spirit granted them utterance." They are the Aeolian harps on which the wind is playing. The best of our speech and thought is in like manner from an inner fullness, and is felt not to be our own. What we do as we say "unconsciously," i.e. conscious that it is not we but God in us, is our true deed. Mozart could not explain to his friend the process of his marvelous musical constructions. At times the thoughts flowed into him in full stream, and he merely reported them as they came. We cannot artificially bring on the hour of inspiration. We must watch and wait and pray. For every faithful heart there are Pentecostal epochs. And of each it will be recorded, "suddenly it came," like all Divine comings, to leave unlooked-for power and blessing behind. J.
HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD
Vers. 1-4. The day of Pentecost: the manifestation of the Spirit.
I THE TIME AND PLACE. Correspondence with the facts of the natural world and of the Jewish Church. Harvest festival. Connection with the Passover, from which it was reckoned seven weeks. The gifts of God poured out at Jerusalem, where yet he was about to pour out his judgments. The new must be grafted on the old, according to the promises in the prophets, that there should still be a remnant according to the election of grace. Favorable position of Palestine to be the center of the world"s religious life. Distinction from Greece and Rome, and the great absolutisms of the East. Providential education of the Jews to be the world"s messengers in Christ"s Name. Rebuke of human pride. Not to the wise, not to the wealthy, not to the politically powerful, was the function assigned, but to the small and despised people in whom the gracious preparation was made, to the Church when it was in the attitude of prayer.
II THE FORM OF MANIFESTATION.
1. Tongues; not swords, not scepters, but the sign of persuasion and moral victory over men"s hearts.
2. Fire, changing, subduing, penetrating, purifying, irresistible. The element of the world"s destruction. So the power of truth brings about the overthrow of error and the destruction of the evil world.
3. Accompanied with the sound of a mighty rushing wind from heaven, symbol of the vastness of the spiritual forces now to be sent upon earth, of their mysteriousness of operation, of their super-earthly origin; not brought about by any devices or machinery of man"s, but the free gift of God, that his Name alone be glorified.
4. Distributed amongst God"s people; "sat upon each of them," "cloven tongues," probably referring to the flames being divided into portions asunder" (Revised Version). Whether the all of ver. I mean all the twelve apostles alone, or all the disciples, is of little consequence, for the promise of the Spirit was declared by Peter to be for all flesh (see below).
5. The voice of the Spirit. Either an unknown tongue which the Spirit interpreted, partly by inspiration of those who heard it, and partly by communication of its meaning to individuals, or the special gift of languages imparted for the occasion, by a miraculous elevation of the faculties, so that the uneducated Jew spoke a foreign tongue. The former seems the most likely. But the one great fact is the utterance of the Spirit"s voice. R.
HOMILIES BY P.C. BARKER
Vers. 1-41. The day of Pentecost, and its immediate gifts.
And when the day of Pentecost And the same day there were added about three thousand souls." The day of Pentecost is emphatically the complement of the great days of the New Testament. The visible glories of this day are the fitting sequel, the almost natural sequel, of the more veiled glories of certain days that had preceded it. The heavenly luster and music of the day of incarnation, unique as they were, reached the eye and ear of but few. The world was asleep. The dread, tremendous glory of the day of crucifixion, charged though it was with fullest significance, was not seen to be such at the time. The glories of the day of resurrection undeniably opened eyes and hearts to the keenest and most thankful appreciation of them, but their appeal was to a very limited number. When the calm, sweet, strange glory of Ascension Day revealed a vision of literally endless light, the scene undoubtedly began to widen, if only that it so heightened. And now but a short interval has passed, and there is a certain manifestation given to this day of Pentecost which reflects floods of glory upon the Giver, and pours light and hope, new and amazing, upon a world well-nigh prostrate. It is the simply told history of this day that is written for us in this chapter. And it tells us of
I THE MAGNIFICENT INTERVENTION OF A SUPERNATURAL PRESENCE. (Vers. 2-4).
Observe:
1. The signs of the presence. It is distinguished by
(1) the sound of wind, apparently without the usual other accompaniments of it to the feeling.
(2) The sound of wind of irresistible and conquering energy. It is not as when" the Spirit of God moved on the face of the" archaic "waters", (Gen_1:2) and it is not "as summer evening"s latest sigh, that shuts the rose. No; nor is it as the stormy wind and tempest.
The elements are not in confusion, and the wind is not furious. But it sweeps along, nevertheless, with a certain irresistible majesty; rather, it distinctly thus sweeps down from heaven. It is wind that bears itself down, and is full of might.
(3) Its facile pervading and penetrating of "all the house where" the disciples "were sitting." St. John, for certain, was there, and learned then the grand original of his later nay, much later Patmos experience, "I was in the Spirit." All in "that house" were enveloped, bathed, "baptized" in the Holy Spirit.
(4) An added appearance; an appearance of fire, manifold fire, every several portion of the bright burning shaped as the tongue, and one of these speeding to settle on each of the startled assembly of disciples.
2. The first and direct results off, presence.
(1) Those to whom it was vouchsafed, and who "were sitting in the house," are "all filled with the Holy Spirit." This is the testimony, the assertion, of the historian at a somewhat later period. Whether those who experienced the wonderful force knew in that same hour what had thus taken possession of them may be a question. If they knew it not in name, they very certainly began to know it in its marvelous nature. We justly give our imagination some leave of exercise here, and the more happily if that imagination can assist itself in any degree from the materials of our own experience of the quickening, invigorating influences of the Spirit in our heart. Evidently in degrees, ranging from little to the largest, does that Spirit vouchsafe his visits and his work in human hearts. What would it be if we knew him today in some really large measure! What conviction it would be to the individual heart! What commanding joy, inexpressible, overflowing to the very life and soul of any one disciple! But if such a visitation were granted to a gathering of disciples just one meeting of Christian people making account of the different time of day, the greater enlargement of scope of the day, the crowded people around, millions for thousands, the rapidity and trustworthiness of communication, surely England itself would scarce contain the excitement, and the Church might well be beside herself for very joy. The mere imagination of this will help to reproduce for us some more vivid idea of the surprise of that moment, that hour of the day of Pentecost.
(2) Those who were thus filled with the Holy Spirit are not rapt in ecstatic feeling, do not improvise celestial psalm and music, but they speak the many languages of earth. They speak, but the Spirit gives them the speech. They speak, but it is now literally fulfilled that the Spirit gives them in that same hour what they shall speak. The case is one of genuine verbal inspiration. There is little doubt, perhaps, that these numerous disciples spoke words which they did not understand the meaning of, (1Co_14:22) nor could have "interpreted" had they been called to do so. They uttered sounds, their faculties of speech being subject to the mighty and condescending power of the Holy Spirit. What of loss of dignity this may at first seem to the disciples, is far more than counterbalanced, not only by the suggestions of honor set on the organs of human speech in the use of them by One who may for the moment be called the Maker and Giver of them, hut also by the gain of a clearly more impressive result. There was far less mixture of the human element in the Divine communication that purported to pass from the Spirit to the ear and mind of a large number of various-speaking peoples. It is the difference to us of a correspondent who indeed uses an amanuensis, as St. Paul often did in his Epistles, but who keeps with himself the dictating of every word. Such a one has not left the selection of words, or style, or turn of expression to another; and this is the chief thing we care about, though we should have prized his handwriting as well. Nor need it seem at all too far-fetched an inference, if any one hesitated to count it a designed arrangement, that through this speaking being so essentially the act of the Holy Spirit, a very strong suggestion of the personality of that Spirit should be borne in on the disciples then, and much more on disciples of succeeding ages. Absolute speech does not come from what is merely an influence, an energy, a power. It is the function of a person. And it is one of the highest of prerogatives of the human being. The disciples had lost a personal Presence, in the person of Jesus, which could never be replaced, and which never was to be replaced till he should so come" again, "in like manner as they had seen him go into heaven." And yet, though the personal presence of Jesus was not to be replaced by another personal presence, it was most surely to be replaced by the presence of a Person. Would it not be calculated to assist disciples both to believe correctly and to feel grateful that the ever-invisible Spirit was none the less a Personage, a Being not a vague influence nor a phantom? And now there is probably no cardinal fact of Christianity less honored, less operative, than that of the personality of the Holy Spirit. It is one of the disastrous causes of his being too often slighted, sinned against, grieved, and "quenched,
3. Certain incidents in the presence. It is fitted
(1) to a certain time. "When the day of Pentecost was fully come." The time was certain; it was fore- spoken by Jesus; it was waited for by his disciples. But though certain, alluded to, and awaited, neither "the day nor the hour" was revealed.
(2) To a certain place. The place certainly was Jerusalem. And the same Being who told the disciples "not to depart from Jerusalem, but wait" there, was one who "knew" also "the place," the "one place," of his loved people"s loved meeting, as he had once well known "the place" of his own agony the garden.
(3) To a certain temper of heart. "They were all with one accord," i.e. together, "in one place." Juxtaposition and visible association do not always infer the purest of harmony by any means. But they did infer it now; and that the disciples were all with one accord in one place was the real fruit of their being all of one accord." Since that blessed day, true it is too true that Christ"s people have very often been "together" when they have not been "of one accord," "of one mind," having the same love," "like-minded." But it was so now. And if it had not been, the grandeur of the day would either never have been at all, or would have "set in darkness" and shame.
(4) Of undoubted design, to a congregate body, and one, comparatively speaking, numerous. No longer to a woman by herself, no longer to two disciples alone, no longer to the twelve, or the eleven, but at all events to some ten times that number. (Act_1:15) The Spirit often whispers silently, stealthily almost, in the ear of the soul most solitary. Not so now. The sacred illumination, sacred quickened faculty, and sacred joy shall possess "each" and "all together" of that new style of family, that infant Church that little company of fellow-pilgrims, of fellow-voyagers, of a mere handful of an army. They need food, and strength, and comfort, and the inspiration of experiences never, never to be forgotten shared together. Grand uses frequently come of the Spirit"s force over one individual, and him the obscurest of the obscure; but now grand uses were to come for themselves, for one another, for a world, in that the disciples were associated so variously, yet so closely, in ecstatic privilege, in unbounded surprise, and in the consentaneous joy of the unwonted inspiration that came "wild-murmuring o"er their raptured souls.
(5) To an occasion that either admitted of the testimony or invited the challenge of a large and various multitude. There were present the comparatively large number of those who experienced the power of the Holy Ghost, but there were also near at hand a very much larger number of those who soon became spectators of what was transpiring. They were not only a large number, but a very various number. They hailed from different regions; they spoke different languages; their objects and their modes of life were, no doubt, very various. It were inconceivable that any collusion should obtain here, so far as spectators, were concerned. In their excitement, and in the open expression of it, so natural, some did challenge, though the pitiful challenge fell stillborn to the ground. "New wine" never wrought such marvel, each nationality must have felt, when addressed touching "the wonderful works of God" in its own language. But till then the Parthian, for instance, might set down to "new wine" the discordant sounds, as they must seem to him, of a dozen other nationalities. Just so far there was reason in the "mocking;" and, at all events, there was use in it. For the "new wine" theory found expression, got a hearing, and got a verdict too. Most profitable was this occasion, when "the multitude were confoundedwere all amazed and marveled were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? and others mocking said, These men are full of new wine." Such awakening, such spirit of inquiry and investigation, such clear proof of a readiness to challenge appearances rather than succumb too readily and run the chance of delusion, made for every man that was there a strong, convinced witness in time to come, and in the home and country of each. From being excited spectators, they became, man for man, so many intelligent and determined witnesses of "the wonderful works of God." From being gaping hearers, they became instructed and impressive preachers. And the unsettledness of their mind gave place to deep, unmoved conviction. The adaptation of occasion here gave two great advantages the advantage of satisfactory and conclusive evidence, and that of an effective and willing missionary service over large portions of the earth.
II A GRAND MANIFESTATION-DAY OF PROPHECY. (Vers. 1621.) This was a very gala-day of prophecy. Often distrusted, often mocked, and often saluted with the taunting question, "Where is the promise of his coming? now the scene which stirred all Jerusalem was one "in demonstration of that Spirit and power" which dwelt in it. The day witnessed in matter prophetic the majestic force of the avalanche, overwhelming doubt and disbelief in deep destruction indeed, but carrying no other destructiveness with it. The piled predictions of ages past no longer tower aloft so proudly and forbiddingly, but they fall at the feet of an amazed, an astounded, but a revived and gladdened nation. Or, if the figure be permitted, the leases of property of immeasurable value fall in this day. And that this was a day of justest pride in the career of prophecy, may be testified by the thought:
1. Of the largeness of the contents of it. The volume is an ample one indeed. What treasures it unrolled, and all the while seemed to say spontaneously, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your hearing!" It was an abounding harvest that was now gathered in ripe, a rich and gladdening vintage. It is not prophecy fulfilled for an individual king or mighty man, nor for a caste of priests, nor for a band of prophets, but it includes "all flesh,...sons and daughters,young men and old men my servants and my handmaidens." It proved itself over a wide variety of human character and condition.
2. Of the intrinsic nature of it. "They shall prophesy. " It is a fulfillment in spiritual sort. The Spirit is the great Worker, and spiritual results are still what underlie great outer wonders. Living powers of human nature, immensely intensified and diversified, these are the phenomena at all events. They are marked as "the beginning," not of "sorrows," not of "tribulation," not of "miracles," but of "signs" that contain an amount and a kind of signifying power far in excess of all which had ever been. Now began whatever its duration should prove to be this world"s last aeon. And strongly marked are its characteristics from the first. "All flesh" begin to answer responsive to the might of the invisible Spirit, and in a certain sense the very presumption of Saul, and of those who were stricken because they touched the sacred ark, begins to be the law. Directness of individual contact with whatever should be most holy, for each and all, becomes the established, the enthroned religion of the world.
III A GLORIOUS DISCLOSURE AND EMPHATIC PROCLAMATION COUCHED IN THE VERY WORDS OF ANCIENT REVERED PROPHECY. (Ver. 21.) That very prophecy that had seemed to cover, now served to proclaim loudly and distinctly the universal mercy of the one universal "Lord." The "gracious word" now proceeds from its lip, to begin its unresting journey. What a word was this, And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved"! It is the disclosure in broadest daylight of the purpose of ages past; yes, of a purpose that had been purposed before the world began. Most assuredly prophecy had held it, and had made it visible, but to very few who beheld, though it was before their eyes. The eyes even of those to whom it was given to see "were holden that they knew" it not. And the vast multitude outside were long time dying without the knowledge or so much as one glimpse of it. Of the past three years Jesus had given significant hints of it in some of his works, and had whispered it sometimes in the ears of his disciples, and had distinctly uttered it in his parting commission, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." But to the day of Pentecost "is this grace given," that it should preach aloud, with a hundred tongues, and a hundred better than silver trumpets, the riches of the gospel of Christ. Three things mark what was then in particular, and what must ever essentially be the surprising riches of the proclamation.
1. It is hope to all and every one.
2. It is the call of a human voice alone, no doubt drawn deep from the heart, that is the method, the one simple method of access to that hope.
3. The hope is that of no mere respite, subterfuge, soothing relief, but of salvation. Exclusiveness is finished;" ritual, ceremony, sacrifice, the earthly priest, each "is finished; tantalizing expectancy, "is finished;" and everlasting salvation is to be had free, by any one and by every one, for the one anguished or trustful call of the heart "on the Name of the Lord." It is a fact worthy to be noticed, that, as the gospel of Jesus" own public ministry began from the quotation of Isaiah"s prophecy (Luk_4:17-21; Isa_61:1) so the gospel of the day of Pentecost begins its illustrious career with the motto of a quotation from prophecy. (Joe_2:28-32) These two links were they the only ones how strongly they bind together the Scriptures of the old and new covenants, and the covenants themselves!
IV THE FIRST OF THE LONG SUCCESSION OF CHRISTIAN PREACHERS. (Vers. 14, 29, 38). This honor was reserved for Peter, to be the first of that "great company which publish" the glad tidings of salvation through Jesus Christ. He had been preparing for this place now these three years. He had passed through good fame and through ill, through not a little most merited rebuke; he had passed through, not the discipline of warning and correction alone, but also through that of the genial influences and constant stimulus of priceless privileges. The memories of the fishing, and the storm, and the walking on the water, and the death-chamber, and the brilliant heights of the Transfiguration, and the darkest contrasts of the shades of Gethsemane"s garden, and the judgment hall, and the look vouchsafed from the very cross after the terrible thrice denial, and of all the rest, were now all upon him. And he has made, at all events, this impression on us the impression as of a man of:
1. Native impetuosity of temperament.
2. Imperious moral judgments.
3. Liability to fearful lapse.
4. Unbounded enthusiasm and devotion to a great and good Master
5. And now lastly, of a man with the eye of an eagle for the object dear to his heart.
V A MODEL TESTIMONY TO "THE TRUTH AS IT IS IN JESUS." (Vers. 14-36). The character of a model Christian sermon may be justly claimed throughout for this address of Peter to the multitude. The leading features of it are strongly marked.
1. It is one testimony to Christ; the subject is variously approached, but it is one. Whatever the then reason, the subject is not lost sight of nor allowed to linger. Each approach to it, each conclusion from it, becomes more telling, till the pronounced assertion confronts the people, "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
2. It is a summary of indisputable historic facts. The incarnation and birth of Jesus are, therefore, not adverted to, as perhaps too remote. They did not come directly within the range of facts patent to the hearers of Peter. "As ye yourselves know" was an argument Peter loved to use. He didn"t beg reliance on his judgment, opinion, or assertion, but he challenged the knowledge of those to whom he spoke.
3. The "Man of Nazareth, the approved of God by miracles and signs and wonders the delivered" (though here Peter does insert the transcendent statement of Divine "foreknowledge" and "counsel"), "the taken crucified and slain the raised up" from death"s kingdom and dominion, "the exalted by the right hand of God," and the corroboration of these statements of the Resurrection and Ascension from the prophecies of their own prized oracles, these are the vital facts summarized now by Peter. The chain breaks nowhere. Peter is strong in his facts.
4. There was an unflinching style in the address. The indiscriminate people of Judaea and Jerusalem are before Peter, and barely seven weeks are passed since the Crucifixion, and Peter brings the guilt home in uncompromising language to the heart and the hand of those whom he addresses; and also declares that the wonders of this day of Pentecost, of which the fickle multitude were no doubt the willing witnesses, are all the work of that "Man of Nazareth" whom they had disbelieved, ill treated, crucified. Many men will bear to be told of their guilt, who won"t stand the demonstration of their exceeding folly. But the hearers of Peter get both in his faithfulness and unflinchingness to his subject. "This Jesus hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
5. There was intense earnestness in the address of Peter. This, no doubt, went naturally a long way to disarm what might otherwise have seemed the offensive character of the matter of his indictment. The instance is an interesting and a remarkable one of the very severest rebuke consisting with a kindliness only thinly veiled. And without a word of kindness expressed, the impression and effect are probably gained by the manifest intense earnestness and strongest conviction of the speaker. These things, so that they are not abused, are legitimately within the province of the Christian preacher. With this proviso it is given to him to dogmatize, only not in his own name; to rebuke in the most uncompromising manner, only not for any offence personal to himself merely; and to wield the denunciations of the future and the unseen, only not otherwise than as drawn, both for matter and for justifiable occasion, and justly drawn, from the warrant of revelation.
VI A MODEL CONFESSIONAL OF THE CHURCH. (Vers. 37-40.) As was to be expected, in no respect is the transition from Judaism to Christianity more worthy of interested study than as it offers to view the healthy young growth of Christian institutions, taking root amid the ruins of the old and corrupt traditions of the "Jews" religion." Many a site that witnessed long time crumbling decay, stones no two of which lay together, and the very squalidity of disorder, now witnessed the surprising signs of vigorous, determined, and beautiful life. It were well if it had been possible to secure that these should not in their turn succumb, in lapse of time, to the affronts of human imperfection, and show again the pitiful sight of diviner growths within cumbered, choked, and finally killed, by fungus, excrescence, and merciless blight. Here, however, we have a fine example of the vitality of roused religious life, its own cries, and the methods of treatment with which it was blessed to meet. Observe:
1. The central fact conviction. The conscience itself is touched, wakens responsive to the touch, and takes upon itself to speak for its owner sounds that have the sounds of life. Men hear, and are "pricked in the heart.
2. The first immediate course resorted to under the circumstances. Those whose hearts are thus "pricked," whose conscience is thus touched, begin to make inquiry, and inquiry of what they "shall do." They play not the role of excuse for the past, of moralizing reminiscence, or of any other of the pretexts for procrastination. It is the moment for undoubted action, for decided action, and, if honest ignorance exist as to the shape of that action, for prompt inquiry as to the way: "What shall we do?" No doubt, when the men and the time and the circumstances and those to whom they now addressed themselves, when these all are put together, it must be granted that there was here the reality and the best part of genuine confession.
1. Religious interrogatories made, not under the probing of the confessional-expert; not under the conditions of morbidness, and it goaded; not in secrecy and solitariness. These, as between man and his fellow-creature, may be often more than doubtful. But it is in open day that this confessional-scene is placed. And safety invests it, and spiritual health and even symptoms of robustness are indicated.
2. Preachers not priest, doctrine not ritual, practice not penance, lively repentance not remorseful reflection, are the order of that well-omened hour. Yet, to speak of nothing else, if ever remorseful reflection something short of remorse itself might have put in a reasonably opportune claim, it was surely now, while Peter"s stinging words still rang in their ears: "This Jesus whom ye crucified" (Revised Version). But no; the answer to the questions put at this honorable, open confessional is "Repent," altering at once the thing you have been, though alter you cannot the crucifying thing that you have done; "Repent," and show it before men, by being "baptized, every one of you," actually in that very Name, "the Name of Jesus Christ," whom you rejected and crucified, acknowledging thereby that you are bounden to him for "the remission of sins;" "Repent," and be baptized, and enter at once on the inheritance of long promise, "the gift of the Holy Ghost." That "gift of the Holy Ghost," after repentance and offer baptism and after the remission of sins, as distinguished from the preeminent quickening effected by his sacred breath, would be the conclusive, surest token of the absolution of sin. For them and for ourselves this may sufficiently distinguish the ever-necessary working of the Holy Spirit in quickening the human heart from death, necessary equally with Abel and Enoch as with Paul or any man of modern days, from that special endowment of the Spirit for other uses, vouchsafed to the "new covenant" from the day of Pentecost downward to this day. This is the special grace and crown of the Christian Church, though probably still little understood, and its conquering force accordingly still little tested. From the language of ver. 40 we may understand that we have but a sketch of all that Peter said from the moment that he stood up to vindicate the prophesying army from the charge of drunkenness, to the moment that the actual administration of the rite of baptism began. Unstintingly he "testified," unweariedly he "exhorted," and this the burden of his enthusiastic and impassioned appeal, that those who heard should show themselves willing, anxious, eager to be rescued from the following and from the belongings of an inherently "crooked generation.
VII A GLORIOUS AND MOST HEART-GLADDENING HARVEST. (Ver. 41-47). Three thousand were that day added to the hundred and twenty or thereabout, who began the day as believers in Christ. The multiplication was twenty-five for every one. They are those who "received his word." It will not be going beyond chapter and verse if we regard this as equivalent to "receiving the Word." Still, this is not the exact meaning of the historian, and as it is very possible that some of these very thousands at some subsequent time were guilty of defection, we may prefer to hold that those who came to be thus guilty did not receive" with meekness the engrafted Word, which was able to save their souls." They only caught a transient enthusiasm as they listened to Peter. Any way, some then also did not "receive" the word of Peter. "Some" then also "believed and some believed not. " Some tares then also were mingled with the good seed." Glorious, therefore, as that harvest was of the "latter day," it falls very short of the glory that shall be of" the last day." Then no Peter shall baptize, and no Church shall charitably judge, and no adulteration shall be possible. Then "the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just"; (Mat_13:49) "The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity"; (Mat_13:41) "The Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him And he shall separate," etc. Meanwhile the spiritual harvest and ingathering into the Church visible and militant of that day of Pentecost was glorious and heart-reviving. The thought of it is so still. It is still unique for one time, one place, and one preaching. Yet these are but the clothing of circumstance; and perhaps many a day since, the eye that surveys all, and sees everywhere at one and the same time, may have witnessed equal proofs of the converting power of Word and Spirit, the one spoken by the lip of man, the other teaching that lip to speak. B.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCKVers. 1-4.
The symbols of the Spirit"s presence.
It is important that we mark with some precision what actually occurred on this memorable day. On the day of Pentecost the company of disciples met together as usual at the customary hour of morning prayer, but whether in one of the thirty rooms which Josephus tells us were connected with the courts of Herod"s temple, or in the private house where they lodged, is uncertain. As we know that they attended morning prayer in the temple, (Act_3:1) there is much in favor of the scene occurring within the temple precincts. There a large company could be readily and conveniently assembled, and there the high priest and Levitical guard would have the necessary authority to arrest "disturbers of the peace." While the apostolic company was engaged in prayer, a sudden rushing sound was heard, like that which accompanies an earthquake. It seemed to sweep through the room, and fill it with a new and inspiring atmosphere; and then, as each one of them looked in astonishment upon his companion, he saw a central flame come and part, settling in divided streams upon each head. The mystic symbols soon passed away, but they left the disciples conscious of a new life; they were as men moved beyond themselves by a mighty inward impulse. The glow of a Divine kindling was upon their faces, the passion of a Divine urging was within their souls, the freedom of a Divine utterance was upon their lips; they began to speak to the people around about the Messiahship of Jesus, the crucified. The rumor soon spread among the excitable multitudes, gathered from all parts, who were present at the feast. They crowded round the apostles; they felt the influence of their enthusiasm; they heard one and another of them speaking in the familiar language of their birthplace; they were moved by the power of a Divine presence, and that day three thousand bowed the knee to Christ. Those disciples had been told to wait for spiritual power inward, heart-power. And the signs that attended the gift were designed to indicate the kind of power that came. It was a mighty breath filling them with larger life. They were caught up, and encircled as with a great wind of Divine energy, and in this atmosphere they breathed more freely, and lived more nobly. F. W. Robertson well expresses this in the following note: as if the temperature of this northern atmosphere were raised suddenly, and a mighty tropical river were to pour its fertilizing inundation ever the country, the result would be the impartation of a vigorous and gigantic growth to the vegetation already in existence, and at the same time the development of life in seeds and germs which had long lain latent in the soil, incapable of vegetation in the unkindly climate of their birth. Exactly in the same way, the flood of a Divine life, poured suddenly into the souls of men, enlarged and ennobled qualities which had been used already, and at the same time developed powers which never could have become apparent in the cold, low temperature of natural life." It may be well to recall the associations of the Feast of Pentecost, especially noting that it was held to commemorate the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. Then Law came as a series of formal commandments; now Law came as an inward impulse to righteousness; it was" written in the mind and the heart." The symbols designed to show the character of the Spirit"s work in the disciples are three, viz. wind, fire, tongues.
I THE SYMBOL OF THE WIND. This would recall our Lord"s simile used in conversation with the inquiring Nicodemus, (Joh_3:7, Joh_3:8) "Thewind bloweth where it listeth," etc. It would also remind of the later incident when Jesus "breathed on them, and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost". (Joh_20:22) The figure in the Hebrew word for Spirit (punch) is "breath," or "wind." We may note that the wind suggests the freeness of the Spirit, the force of the Spirit, and the elevating and inspiring influence of the Spirit.
II THE SYMBOL, OF THE FIRE. This would recall the words of John the baptizer, "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." Fire is conceived as the great purging and purifying agent. John could not forgive sin, or cleanse souls, or sanctify. For this work he prepared the way. Christ cleanses and sanctifies, by his Spirit, with a fullness and a power that can only be represented by the work of fire on precious metal. A Power like fire is needed to destroy and root out self and sin.
III THE SYMBOL OF THE TONGUES. It is difficult to decide precisely the form of the gift that came to these first disciples. Afterwards we find the gift of tongues explained as an ecstatic utterance, which required interpretation. Here we may assume that the gospel message was delivered by different individuals, in different languages, and in different parts of the temple courts. We should see that it fulfilled the promise made to the disciples of power to witness. The first sign of the Power came in adaptation to the particular circumstances and needs of the day, and they might see in this the assurance that the power would come in adaptation to every day"s needs. Not always as power to speak a foreign language, but always as power to speak, as the freed loosened tongue, as a new tongue, so that they might preach Christ, and witness everywhere for the "Prince and Savior, exalted to give repentance, and remission of sins.
Conclude by showing that the symbols teach us this lesson that the same Spirit is still with the Church and with us; and is as certainly and precisely adapting his grace and help to the work and the witness we are called to render. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 12, 14, 17 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come.
Act_2:1-4
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come.
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The day of Pentecost
I. In the occurrences of the day of Pentecost we discover evidence of a special Divine influence. This idea is too prevalent, that the agency of the Supreme is only of a general character--that the repentance and salvation of sinners are brought about, independently of any direct agency on the part of God. They spake with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Most convincing evidence of a special Divine influence is found also in the effects produced upon the day of Pentecost.
II. The occurrences of the day of Pentecost confirmed the Divine mission of Jesus and the truth of Christianity. Whilst on earth the Lord Jesus gave abundant evidence that He was from God. Jesus encouraged His disciples to expect that they would be endued with special power from on high.
III. The occurrences of the day of Pentecost exhibit the folly of opposition to the Kingdom of Christ. The day of Pentecost assures us that Jehovah regards the kingdom of His Son with supreme affection, and that all His perfections are engaged for its defence and enlargement.
IV. The occurrences of the day of Pentecost exhibit the grand means of advancing the cause of Christ and saving sinners.
V. The occurrences of the day of Pentecost exhibit the Christian ministers grand source of encouragement.
VI. The occurrences of that day exhibit the reality and importance of revivals of religion. By a revival of religion we understand an uncommon and general interest in the subject of salvation, produced by the Holy Spirit, through the instrumentality of Divine truth. Such, substantially, was the revival on the day of Pentecost. Do you say that the excitement, denominated a revival of religion, occurs in connection with the special efforts of Christians? We answer, that the excitement on the day of Pentecost occurred in a similar connection. Do you say that the Divine influence to which we allude, as to the mode of its operation, is enveloped in the darkness of mystery? So it was on the day of Pentecost. Do you say there is enthusiasm connected with the excitement denominated a revival of religion? Fanaticism there may have been. But does such a fact prove the entire absence of genuine religion? Does it prove that no revival is a sober, rational work? Do you say that in a time of general excitement there will be instances of gross imposition on the Church? So it was in the Pentecost revival, when, in awful warning to hypocrites, Ananias and Sapphira fell down dead. Do you say that the excitement denominated a revival of religion, is often succeeded by instances of apostacy? We answer, that apostacies have likewise occurred under other circumstances. The occurrences of the day of Pentecost exhibit, likewise, the importance of revivals of religion. In a single day it gave to the Christian Church a weight of influence more than a hundredfold greater than it had previously possessed. It is important to individual happiness and to the community at large. (Baxter Dickinson.)
Pentecost--the first-fruits
But why was the gift of the Spirit delayed until the day of Pentecost was fully come? No man must irreverently pry into the purposes of Deity.
I. Pentecost was the feast of first-fruits; therefore symbolical of the first-fruits of the Christian Church (Lev_23:15; Lev_23:17; Deu_16:9). The first sheaf of the Christian harvest, the first fruit of the Christian reaping was there ingathered.
II. Pentecost was associated in the Jewish worship with the giving of the law from Sinai. Fifty days after the exodus from Egypt, the Israelites received the law from Sinai. To this day the gift of the law is kept in view in the Jewish observance of Pentecost.
1. Conviction of sin is the prominent idea of the apostolic Pentecost. Peters sermon resulted in the cry, Brethren, what shall we do? Conviction of sin is the prelude to a reformed life. In our Christian families and amongst our young people, trained from infancy in Christian virtue, we need not always look for the intense conviction of sin which is apparent on this first day of the Christian Pentecost. No! Gods ways are often gentle.
2. The first gift of the Paraclete on the day of Pentecost--the day which, in Jewish thought, was specially consecrated to the giving of the law from Sinai--was specially fitted to the mission of Him who will convict the world in respect of sin.
III. The first-fruits on the day of Pentecost are typical of the ingathering of all nations to Christ. More foreign Jews attended the Pentecost than any other Jewish feast. And in the light of Pentecost we look forward hopefully to the time when the great multitude, whom no man could number, out of every nation, and of all tribes, and peoples, and tongues shall stand before the throne and before the Lamb, and shall cry with a great voice, saying, Salvation unto our God which sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb (Rev_7:9-10).
IV. Pentecost teaches the union of vast spiritual power with feeble human agency. (George Deane, D. Sc.)
Whir-Sunday
I. What the day of Pentecost gave indisputable proof of.
1. The truth of Old and New Testament prophecies (Isa_44:3; Eze_36:27; Joe_2:28; Zec_4:6; Joh_14:16; Joh_15:26; Joh_16:7; Act_1:5, etc.).
2. The reality of the Messiahship and mission of Christ. The Holy Ghost would bring to the remembrance of the disciples the words they had heard their Master utter, and reveal the meaning of the things of Christ unto them. The Spirit bears witness with our spirits to-day that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
3. The person, presence, and power of the Holy Ghost.
II. What the day of Pentecost gave infallible pledge of. The success of the preaching of Peter on that day was the earnest of the successive victories the gospel would achieve over error in the world down to the end of time. Those victories would be won--
1. In spite of the paucity of numbers on the side of the gospel.
2. In spite of the poverty of the preachers of the gospel.
3. In spite of the antagonism of the enemies of the gospel.
4. In spite of the unfaithfulness of professors of the gospel.
III. What the day of Pentecost gave irrevocable pattern of. The primitive Church had to--
1. Wait for the day.
2. Work for the day. Human agony linked with Divine power. (F. W. Brown.)
Pentecost
I. The season when the Spirit was given.
1. In Gods appointed time. There is a set time to favour Zion, both to try our faith and to prove Gods sovereignty. If every drop of rain has its appointed birthday, every gleam of light its predestinated pathway, and every spark of fire its settled hour for flying upward, certainly the will of God must have arranged and settled the period and place of every gracious visitation.
2. After the ascension. The Spirit was not given till after Jesus had been glorified. Various blessings are ascribable to different parts of Christs work. His life is our imputed righteousness; His death brings us pardon; His resurrection confers upon us justification; His ascension yields to us the Holy Spirit. When He ascended up on high, etc. It was the wont of the Roman conqueror as he rode along to scatter large quantities of money among the admiring crowd. So our glorified Lord scattered gifts among men.
3. At Pentecost. Some say that at Pentecost the law was proclaimed on Sinai. If so, it was very significant that on the day when the law was issued amid thunders and lightnings, the gospel--Gods new and better law--should be proclaimed with mighty wind and tongues of fire. We are clear, however, that Pentecost was a harvest-festival. On that day the sheaf was waved before the Lord and the harvest consecrated. The passover was to our Saviour the time of His sowing, but Pentecost was the day of His reaping, and the fields which were ripe to the harvest when He sat on the well, are reaped now that He sits upon the throne.
4. When there was most need. Vast crowds were gathered. What would have been the use of the many tongues when no strangers were ready to hear? Whenever we see unusual gatherings, whenever the spirit of hearing is poured out upon the people, we ought to pray for and expect an unusual visitation of the Spirit.
5. Where they were all with one accord in one place. Christians cannot all now be in one place, but they can all be of one accord. When there are no cold hearts, no prejudices and bigotries to separate, no schism to rend the one sacred garment of Christ, then may we expect to see the Spirit of God resting upon us.
6. When they were earnest about one grand object.
II. The manner. Each word here is suggestive.
1. Suddenly. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, and so, though the Spirit may have been secretly preparing mens hearts, yet the real work of revival is done suddenly to the surprise of all observers.
2. There was a sound. Although the Spirit of God is silent, yet His operations are not silent in their results.
3. As of wind. In Greek and Hebrew the word used for wind and for Spirit is the same. The wind is doubtless, chosen as an emblem because of its mysteriousness: Thou canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth; because of its freeness: It bloweth where it listeth; because of diversity of its operations, for the wind blows a gentle zephyr at one moment, and anon it mounts to a howling blast. The Holy Spirit at one time comes to comfort, and at other times to alarm, etc.
4. It was rushing. This pour-trayed the rapidity with which the Spirits influences spread--rushing like a torrent. Within fifty years from Pentecost the gospel had been preached in every country of the known world.
5. It was mighty, irresistible, and so is the Spirit of God; where He comes nothing can stand against Him.
6. It filled all the place where they were sitting. The sound was not merely heard by the disciples. When the Spirit of God comes, He never confines Himself to the Church. A revival in a village penetrates even the pot-house. The Spirit of God at work in the Church is soon felt in the farm-yard, work-room, and factory.
7. But this was not all. I must now mention what was the appearance seen--a bright luminous cloud probably, not unlike that which once rested in the wilderness over the tribes by night--which suddenly divided, or was cleft, and separate tongues of fire rested upon the head of each of the disciples. They would understand that thus a Divine power was given to them. Heathens represent beams of light or flames of fire proceeding from their false deities, and the nimbus with which Roman Catholic painters always adorn the heads of saints, is a relic of the same idea. It was said by the ancients of Hesiod, the first of all the poets, that whereas he was once nothing but a simple neat-herd, yet suddenly a Divine flame fell upon him, and he became henceforth one of the noblest of men. We feel assured that so natural a metaphor would be at once understood by the apostles.
(1) It was a tongue, for God has been pleased to make the tongue do mightier deeds than either sword or pen; by the foolishness of preaching to save them that deliver.
(2) It was a tongue of fire, to show that Gods ministers speak, not coldly as though they had tongues of ice, nor learnedly as with tongues of gold, nor arrogantly as with tongues of brass, nor pliantly as with tongues of willow, nor sternly as with tongues of iron, but earnestly as with the tongue of flame; their words consume sin, scorch falsehood, enlighten the darkness, and comfort the poor.
(3) It sat upon them. So the Spirit of God is an abiding influence, and the saints shall persevere.
(4) It sat upon each of them, so that while there was but one fire, yet each believer received his portion of the one Spirit. There are diversities of operations, but it is the same Lord.
III. The result. After all this, what are you expecting? Shall the wind blow down dynasties--the fire consume dominions? No; Spiritual and not carnal is the kingdom of God. The result lies in three things.
1. A sermon. The Spirit of God was given to help Peter preach. You turn with interest to know what sort of a sermon a man would preach who was full to the brim of the Holy Ghost. You expect him to be more eloquent than Robert Hall, or Chalmers; more learned than the Puritans. You expect all the orations of Cicero and Demosthenes to be put in the shade. No such thing! Never was there a sermon more commonplace. It is one of the blessed effects of the Holy Spirit to make ministers preach simply.
2. The people were pricked in the heart, and cried, Men and brethren, what shall we do? What a disorderly thing! Blessed disorder which the Spirit of God gives. Men then feel that they have heard something which has gone right into their inmost nature and receive a wound which only God can heal.
3. Faith and the outward confession of it in baptism. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The descent of the Spirit
The circumstances connected with the event.
I. The Time. When the day of Pentecost was fully come. It was the fiftieth day after the Passover, and beginning of the harvest festival. Harvest home! Surely it was no blind chance that made this appointment for the inauguration of the dispensation of spiritual ingathering (Rev_14:15).
II. The place. It was a house, the noteworthy fact being that it was not the temple. Up to this time the temple had monopolised the formal worship of Jehovah; but to-day a new order begins. The privileges of worship are to be everywhere and for all sorts and conditions of men.
III. The dramatis personae. Here were a hundred and twenty feeble folk, none mighty or noble among them, distinguished from the multitudinous rank and file of common people only by the fact that God had chosen them to be the nucleus of the Christian Church. Thus, kneeling together, they held the coign of vantage. They were sure of the blessing. May it not be that, under similar conditions, the Church of our times would be similarly blest?
IV. The onlookers. There came together to witness this strange occurrence a motley and polyglot assemblage of Parthians, Modes, and Elamites, dwellers in Mesopotamia and in Judaea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians. Was ever a more representative body of people? And this was as it should have been, for the thing about to happen was of universal importance, and the power about to descend was, like the sceptre in Balaams vision, to smite even to the remotest corners of the earth. The time had come for the propagation of a catholic gospel; and this heterogeneous company of people was the first representative Christian congregation that ever assembled on earth. Those who, on this occasion, were sojourning at Jerusalem out of every nation under heaven, carried back to their countrymen the announcement of the new religion; and thus the seed was sown whose full and glorious fruition will be seen at the close of history, when a great multitude which no man can number, etc. (Rev_7:9).
V. What they saw and heard. At this point everything is significant.
1. The sound as of a mighty, rushing wind. This must instantly have recalled to the minds of the disciples their Masters word, The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit. In Ezekiels vision in the valley of dry bones we have a similar association of the wind or breath (Hebrew ruach) with spiritual influence: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live! The symbol is appropriate, suggesting an influence so elevating and inspiring as to mark the beginning of a new life.
2. The fire. This would instantly recall the words of John the Baptist, He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Fire burns, subdues, purifies, penetrates, illumines, energises. Fire is power. The heart that has received the baptism from on high is set on fire with a passion for all things true and right.
3. Cloven tongues. It is to be observed that the symbol used to designate the power of the gospel dispensation was not an iron rod, nor a sword, nor a pontifical mitre, but a cloven tongue--the symbol of speech, of argument, of the foolishness of preaching. The victory by which the world is to be subjugated to the gospel is to be a moral victory; and the power which is to accomplish it is the simple story of the Cross. Jehovah is not in the storm nor in the earthquake, but in the still, small voice.
VI. The significance of this event.
1. It marked the reformation and reorganisation of Judaism into the Christian Church. In this company of a hundred and twenty persons--like-minded as to the ruling principle of life and engaged with one accord in prayer for a specific blessing--we behold, in seed and promise, a mighty organism which is destined to survive all shocks and oppositions, gathering meat out of the eater and sweetness out of the strong, until at length it shall bring the world and lay it before its Masters feet. This is the living mechanism that Ezekiel saw by the river Chebar, a whirlwind out of the north and a fire infolding itself and winged creatures going straight forward: whither the spirit yeas to go they went, and they turned not when they went (Eze_1:4-10). This working Church of Jesus, inspired by a purpose above all carnal ambitions and endued with power to accomplish it, is at this moment incomparably the greatest force on earth.
2. The miracle of the day of Pentecost marked the beginning of a new epoch. The old economy of types and shadows was over; the dispensation of the Spirit was at hand. Thenceforth the Holy Ghost was to rule in human affairs. It was a transitional point in history. Let us thank God that we live on the hither side of it. Nay, rather, let us thank God over and over that we are permitted to take part in the splendid achievements of these days.
3. This Pentecostal effusion of the Spirit marked the beginning of the end. At that moment God Himself made bare His arm and said, The kingdoms of this world shall be Mine! Those who looked on were amazed and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? In answer they were referred by Peter to the prophesy of Joel: It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. It is scarcely to be believed that God will wait upon the slow processes which His people are using for the conversion of the world. He has mighty forces in reserve which we in our poor philosophies have never dreamed of; and who can tell at what moment He may bring them into requisition? (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)
Pentecost
1. Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. The exact day was not specified, and still less the precise nature of the gift. Expectation has always been the posture of the Church. For ages the expectation was that of the Messiahs coming; and no sooner did the Messiah appear than a new season of expectation set in; the expectation of His second coming. Nowhere is there, nor ought there to be, mere retrospection or satisfaction. Many chief graces can only be exercised by looking forward and upward.
2. The condition of the disciples between Ascension and Pentecost was one of expectation in a double sense. They were taught by the angels to look for their Lords return. But there was a near return as well as one more remote. When our Lord said I will see you again, etc., He said so in three senses--in His own resurrection; in their resurrection; but between these two there lay a spiritual but not therefore an unreal advent.
3. The feast of Pentecost was one of the three great festivals of Israel. It was so called from one particular point in the celebration of the Passover; the waving of the sheaf of the first-fruits of the harvest on the morrow after the Passover-Sabbath. From that day they were to number seven complete sabbaths, and then arrived the feast of weeks or of Pentecost; on which occasion, as at the earlier Passover, and the later Tabernacles, all the men were required to appear before the Lord at His sanctuary in Jerusalem. The Passover had already found its antitype in that season at which Christ the Paschal Lamb was sacrificed for us. The feast of Tabernacles, the celebration of the completion of harvest and vintage, and of the rest which followed the entrance into Canaan, is to find its antitype in that rest which remains for the people of God in heaven. The intermediate festival of Pentecost was to have its antitype in that gift which this chapter describes. Jewish tradition marked out the feast as the commemoration of the giving of the law. And peculiar significance is therefore given to the choice of the day for the giving of that new law, of the Spirit of life, by which the commandments of God were to be written, not on tables of stone, but on the tablets of a renewed and willing heart. At all events the festival of the first-fruits was now to be fulfilled in the Holy Spirit as the firstfruits of the heavenly inheritance. Two things in the narrative need to be distinguished.
I. The origin of the gift.
1. Men are slow in understanding and stubborn in disputing spiritual or supernatural influences; resolving everything into workings of nature, chance, or imagination. There is no spiritual influence which the philosophers and theologians of this age would not explain away, or laugh down. It is well, perhaps, that the gospel was established in mens convictions in an age of greater simplicity and of less presumption.
2. But if God would make it evident that He is at work, I know not how it can be done without miracle. If our Lord would convince common men that He had all the power of God, was there any mode so really decisive as that which the Gospels describe to us? Those who had actually seen Him still a tempest, raise a corpse, etc., must have felt that God had given them evidence of the Messiahship of Christ. Even thus was it with the coming of the Holy Ghost. Hearts might have been influenced, lives might have been changed, and men might have ascribed it to natural causes; but if it was to be made plain, beyond gainsaying, that the Holy Spirit had descended to make His abode in the Church and in the hearts of men, there must be some sign of which the senses could take cognisance, and from which but one inference could be drawn.
3. Such a sign was that marvellous power of which we have here the first example. If unlettered men were heard to utter sounds recognised by men of diverse nations as their native speech, what other explanation could be given save that which Peter gave?
4. And is there anything irrational in the supposition that God should come in direct personal communication with man, or should make it plain whence that communication was derived? It can be no reproach to a revelation that its utterance is decisive and its proofs intelligible to unlettered men.
5. In the signs which accompanied the descent of the Holy Ghost we can recognise all the emblems by which He had been foretold.
(1) The rushing mighty wind, blowing where it listeth, audible in its sound, inscrutable in its source and destination.
(2) The fiery flame which had been taken from the first as the description of the Saviours baptism.
(3) The voice which bore witness to the informing, instructing, and counselling presence within.
II. The gift signified.
1. We read of it in its prediction and in its experience. Look for the one to Joh_14:-16., and for the other to Rom_8:1-39., Gal_5:1-26. Study those and you will see how little they can enter into the fulness of the promise, who either imagine it to have been designed for apostles only, or as consisting principally of miraculous gifts. The Holy Spirit was promised as the Comforter, the Remembrancer, the Teacher, the Guide, the inward Advocate, the Representative of Christ, the Presence of God and of Christ in the soul, whose coming was to make it a gain even that the Saviour should depart. And what then was the experience of this great gift? How did they describe it who had found it for their own? Hear what Paul, who was not present at Pentecost, but only received the gift afterwards as any one of you might receive it in answer to prayer, tells how the Holy Ghost within had set him free from the bondage of sin and death; how He had turned his affections from things below to things above; how he had found the Holy Spirit to be indeed a Spirit not of fear but the Spirit of adoption, etc.
2. The gift of the Spirit is one half of the whole need of man. We need forgiveness first. But there is a need behind, without which forgiveness would be a mockery--the gift of the Holy Ghost pledged in baptism--promised in the Word of life. We are ignorant, poor, weak, sad, and lonely in heart, until the Sun of Righteousness rises upon us with that healing in His wings, which is first the joy of a free forgiveness, and secondly the joy of an indwelling Spirit! And be we well assured that, if we are filled with the Holy Ghost, the other words of the text will be realised in us; we shall also speak with another tongue, the Spirit giving us the utterance. How transforming is the influence of the Holy Spirit upon human lips! Can we live with a man in whom God dwells and not perceive it in his words? Let us pray for the gift of that new Divine speech, in the power of which he who once opened his lips only to trifle, to defame, or to deceive, has begun to breathe the sounds of love and joy and peace, of gentleness and goodness and faith and meekness. Thus shall men take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus. Thus shall we bear that testimony, not of word only but of sign, by which minds are convinced and hearts opened, by which Gods name is made known on earth, His saving health among all nations. (Dean Vaughan.)
Pentecost a spiritual spring feast
I. The spring breezes which blow: stormy blasts and soft zephyrs.
II. The spring voices which are heard: the inspired tongues of the apostles praising the mighty acts of God, and the timid voices of awakened consciences inquiring after salvation.
III. The spring blossoms which appear: childlike faith and brotherly love. (Gerok.)
The Pentecostal outpouring
I. The preparation for the gift of the spirit.
1. The ascension. Christ had taught that His going away was essential to the Spirits coming.
2. The attitude of the disciples.
(1) Patient waiting.
(2) Union.
(3) Prayer.
(4) Fellowship with the risen Christ.
II. Its sensible accompaniments. The elements of nature were now, as so often, symbolical of spiritual realities.
1. The sound like wind indicating the immediacy, secrecy and swiftness of the Divine action.
2. The appearance like fire symbolising warming, quickening, cleansing.
III. The gift itself. The Spirits influence was--
1. In its nature adapted to affect mens minds and hearts.
2. In its measure as vast as human capacities could receive.
3. In its extent universal, being designed for Christs whole Church.
IV. The immediate consequences.
1. The apostles were empowered to speak with other tongues, which was a sign of Divine energy.
2. Preaching was made powerful to the conversion of many; enemies of Christ became friends.
3. The Church was established upon a sure and lasting foundation. (Family Churchman.)
The gift of Pentecost the best gift of God
In virtue of--
I. Its root--the merits of Christ, His humiliation and exaltation.
II. Its nature--the union of the Spirit of God with man.
III. Its operations--the new creation of the heart and of the world. (Gerok.)
Pentecost; or, the first Christian day
Next to the day of Christs death, Pentecost was the greatest day that ever dawned. It was the birth-day of the Church, the first day of the new creation, in which chaos began to be fashioned and arranged by the plastic power of the Spirit, the day of the grand and solemn opening of the kingdom of heaven, after the completion of the Christs preparatory work, the day on which the fountain was unsealed, whose waters should flow forth for the healing and purifying of the nations. And as it was the first of Christian days, so was it a type of Christian days. Note--
I. The history.
1. The season was the Pentecost, a Jewish festival.
2. The hour, the hour of prayer.
3. The place was one of the apartments of the temple. If we put these things together, we shall have two results.
(1) They secured a large and fitting audience. Great numbers of Jews and proselytes visited Jerusalem; and the temple was just the place where they could most easily become parties to the introduction of the new dispensation.
(2) It was strikingly taught that the old state of things was giving place to another, which should change its form but perfect its spirit. The shell was being broken to yield a new life; the beautiful fly was being developed from the worm. Judaism was to be displaced by that which should spiritualise and ennoble its truths and principles. The temple was to become a church, and Pentecost to witness a new celebration of harvest, the ingathering of souls.
4. The antecedents. The apostles continued with one accord, etc.
II. The occurrences as strikingly suggestive of important truths in relation to the dispensation thus introduced. There was--
1. A new Spirit. Whatever spiritual influences had been shed forth in former periods, the Holy Ghost, in the New Testament sense, was to be the gift of the glorified Saviour, the characteristic blessing of His kingdom. We must beware of restricting this fact to miraculous endowments. The gift of tongues, etc., were but signs and seals of the spiritual power intended to draw attention to the inward gift, only as the thunder and lightning of the new spiritual world, occasional and impressive incidents of powers and processes whose constant, silent operation is the very life of men.
(1) The world needed the Spirit. It was not a case merely for new religious opinions, habits, or institutions; the need was of life from above; the nature required to be restored and quickened. Sin had cut off the supplies of Divine grace, had converted the temple into a tomb. It was the grand design of the gospel to engraft humanity upon Deity, to breathe into our dead souls the breath of life.
(2) The apostles needed the Spirit. Much as they had been with Jesus, they were still strangers to His inner being, the deeper meaning of His acts and words, the glory of His Cross; they were like the skeletons in the valley of vision, very dry, till at the prophets bidding they became living men.
2. A new truth. We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God, the same as composed the subject of Peters discourse; the history of Christ. True, they knew that He had died, and risen again, and ascended: but all this, though familiar as history, was new as truth. And just as a man who has travelled in the dark, looks back at break of day and admires the objects that he passed, aware only of their existence, or deeming them objects of fear, so the disciples recalled the events of their Masters life, and rejoiced in much which had perplexed and grieved them. The death and departure of Christ were to His followers like the fabled statue of Memnon, which sent forth sounds, mournful in the night, but melodious at the rising of the sun: when Gods morning light arose, how sweet the notes those facts, once only sad, emitted! Christianity is essentially historical. It does not set men on arduous inquiries, nor answer them by logical expositions; but it points us to the incarnate Son of God; tells us how He lived and suffered and arose to glory; tells us that He was, that He is: He is the object of its faith, its love, its obedience and its joy. Such was evidently Peters thought when he used the keys of the kingdom of heaven to open it to the Jewish world on the day of Pentecost. Such was also Pauls (1Co_15:3-4). This was the truth which they propounded to men of every class and in every condition--to Greek (1Co_2:2); to Jew (Gal_6:14); to Roman (Rom_8:3-4); and it proved, in the case of all, the power of God unto every one that believeth. The declaration of this truth on the day of Pentecost was therefore not an exceptional thing; it was a specimen of the kind of moral instrumentality which should be characteristic of Christianity.
3. A new vehicle. They began to speak with other tongues.
(1) Had a Jew been told that God was about to introduce a new and transcendent dispensation in a style worthy of its superior excellence, he would probably have expected a grand ceremonial. But he was here taught that Christianity would be a system, not of ceremonialism, but of moral agency, and that its chief means would be uttered thought and feeling, man coming into contact with man, reason with reason, heart with heart. No system of religion has made such use of the voice as Christianity, and its purest forms have always been connected with the largest use of the voice.
(2) The manner as well as the fact of the use of the tongue was instructive. In the publicity and indiscriminateness of Pentecostal preaching there was something different from all that had appeared in the best types of heathen wisdom. The philosophers universally disregarded the poor; their discoveries were confined to those who sought and could purchase them. But the gift of tongues declared not only that speech would be the most appropriate organ of the gospel, but that it would speak to the people without exception, all the words of this life.
4. A new world. No power on earth could have brought together, at that time, so typical a congregation. And herein was there an expression of the catholicity of the gospel. It not only declared that the world might enjoy the privileges of the true religion, but it spoke to the world in its own language; it destroyed every middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, and made the common possession of every race the rich inheritance of the gospel of the grace of God. The confusion of tongues (Gen_11:7) was reversed, and it was proclaimed that the effect of the gospel would be the destruction of all that divided and alienated men; that its purpose was to form a new body, into which all should be baptized by one Spirit, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free, so creating a new man, in which there should be neither Greek nor Jew, etc.
5. A new impression (verses 37, 41-42).
(1) There had been mighty religious movements among Jews and Gentiles, but there had been no seasons similar to Pentecost. Not that we are to dissociate that time from times preceding. Other men had laboured, and the disciples entered into their labours. Christ had no Pentecost; but He was always doing that without which no Pentecost could have been. He was breaking up the fallow-ground, and sowing seed; the ingathering was to come. It is a far greater thing to make a gospel than to preach a gospel. And when Peter with quickening energy spake to the people, and thousands confessed the sovereignty of truth, he was only the instrument of bringing to bear the virtue and power of Christs redemption. The corn of wheat had fallen into the ground and died, but, having died, it now brought forth much fruit.
(2) But however men had been moved or changed before, they had never been moved or changed thus. The sense of guilt was not strange, but penitence had never possessed the depth and the tenderness which belonged to theirs who looked on Him whom they had pierced, and mourned for Him, Moral and religious reformation had often rewarded the labours of the wise and good, but never had it taken so Divine a type as in those who now gladly received the Word. Men had often associated themselves together at the bidding of outward law or inward love, but organisation and fellowship had never known their truest life and strongest bonds till the thousands of Pentecost joined the Church at Jerusalem.
III. Application:
1. Let us recognise the fact that this is the dispensation of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is now given because Jesus is glorified. It is the time of spiritual life, the day of Christs power.
2. The means whereby the power from on high may be obtained for ourselves and others. These are prayer and truth. It was the supplicating Church that was filled with the Spirit; it was the speaking Church that received the addition of three thousand souls. This is & union that evermore prevails, and without which there can be no realisation of Pentecostal times.
3. The pouring forth of the Spirit of Christ is the present, the universal, the urgent necessity of men. The main misery of the world is its carnal life, its separation from God: it will never be whole and happy till it be possessed and regenerated by the Spirit of the living God. (A. J. Morris.)
The day of Pentecost
The occurrences of the day exhibit--
1. Evidence of a special Divine influence.
2. The Divine mission of Jesus and the truth of Christianity.
3. The folly of opposition to Christs kingdom.
4. The grand means of advancing Christs cause and saving sinners.
5. The Christian ministers great source of encouragement.
6. The reality and importance of revivals of religion. (B. Dickinson, M. A.)
The day of Pentecost
The disciples--
I. Began to speak. Hitherto they had kept silence. They were learners and asked questions. True, they were sent by Christ to try their prentice hands; but their discourses could not have been much to boast of, or they would have been recorded. But no sooner were they filled with the Spirit than they began to speak out. A man may have a little of the Spirit and be able to observe silence; but if he is filled he cannot hold his peace. Necessity is laid upon me. From their irrepressible desire to speak, many concluded they were full of new wine. And herein there is a superficial likeness between being filled with wine and being filled with the Spirit; in either case there is a powerful desire to speak. A few chapters further on in reply to the magistrates, they said, We cannot but speak. The Holy Spirit was fermenting within them and bursting through all restraints (see Job_32:17-20, and Marg.).
II. With other tongues.
1. This is a power inherent in all men. Men speak with new tongues every year. Some can converse in many languages. Here the Spirit quickened this power. The first miracle of Christ was the turning of water into wine. There is nothing unnatural in that. Do we not see it every year in the vintages of Europe? The supernatural consisted in its instantaneousness. And so the first miracle of the Holy Ghost consisted in the rapidity with which the knowledge of other tongues was acquired.
2. Some acquire knowledge with much greater rapidity than others. Who can tell how quickly the human intellect may acquire it when inspired by the Holy Ghost? Sir William Hamilton tells us of a servant girl who, under the excitement of fever, repeated long and intricate passages from Latin, Greek, and Hebrew authors, which she had occasionally overheard her old master read as he was walking up and down in his house. If that be the ease under the excitement of fever, is it incredible that the disciples spoke with foreign tongues under the influences of the Holy Spirit? Man is only a degenerate specimen of what he once was. Adam could learn more in five minutes than we can in five years. He could instinctively make language, a much more formidable task than to learn it. Let the wound which sin has inflicted on the mind be healed up, and man will learn a new language with as much facility as Adam made one.
3. The Holy Spirit, it is admitted, ennobles other faculties; then why not this? He made Bezaleel and Aholiab skilful workmen, and still endows men with the knowledge necessary to the successful prosecution of art. When Christianity appeared, the arts and sciences were at a very low ebb. But before long the new religion poured a new spirit into society, and began to ennoble the intellect of the race. Just as you have seen a tree, after being well manured, budding out in early spring with fresh vitality, so Christianity enriched the human mind. Poetry revived under it--the best poetry of the world is Christian. Painting grew under the shadow of its wing--the grand pictures are nearly all representations of scenes in the life of the Saviour. Music and architecture also have chiefly flourished on Christian soil and in immediate connection with Christian worship. And so with the sciences. The revival of learning was coincident with the revival of Christianity. Science did not make the discovery that the sun is the centre of our system until Luther discovered that Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, is the centre of religion. Stephenson was once asked, What was the power that pulled the train along the rails? He answered, The sun. The sun was not the immediate power--that was the fire under the boiler; but he knew that science could trace back the fire of the coal to the fire of the sun. And the power that is now working in the heart of civilization, that is pushing upward and forward all that is good and true is the power of the Spirit of Christ.
4. As sin, which lies like an incubus on the heart of humanity, hindering free movement, will be expunged, we may expect corresponding celerity in our acquisition of knowledge. Possibly the lofty mental state of the apostles is the normal state of man. Daniel was thrown to the lions den, and the lions hurt him not. That we call supernatural: yet it is perhaps the true natural--the state in which man was placed in Paradise, and in which he will find himself again by and by. The three young men in Babylon were cast into the fiery furnace, and the flame did not singe a hair of their heads. That we call supernatural, yet it may be the true natural. Man was not subject to death either natural or accidental before the entrance of sin into the world; and man redeemed will go through the fire and not be burnt. Christ walked the sea, that we call supernatural: yet I am not sure but it is the true natural--the state in which man found himself in the Paradise of old, and in Paradise regained he will walk through rivers and they will not overflow him. Paul took hold of serpents, and they did not bite him, nor did they bite man in Eden, and they will not bite him in the future. And the disciples on the day of Pentecost spoke with other tongues. The family of man once spoke the same language; and who knows but the partition walls between nations as the result of the confusion of languages will be totally removed by a vast display of intellectual power on the part of the race baptized with the Holy Ghost? The miracle of Pentecost will gradually neutralise the miracle of Babel. Men travel now with greater speed than of old; they correspond with greater rapidity; and who can tell but that learning will move with greater ease, relieved to a certain extent from the present drudgery? There is a royal road to learning. Let sin be purged out, and man will learn by intuition.
III. The wonderful works of God.
1. His ordinary works are the Creation in its various ramifications. He makes the sun to rise and to set; His wonderful works are as Peters sermon shows, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The only subjects worthy of the pulpit are not the arts and sciences, but the gospel--a thing specially lacking in the sermons of some leading preachers.
2. It is truly remarkable that the wonderful works of God are easily translatable. Science is not suitable for every language; it cannot speak Welsh, e.g.; but the gospel can. A minister insisted on the importance of knowing Greek to understand the New Testament. I do not, remarked an old lady, perceive the necessity, for my Saviour knows Welsh as well as I do. It is in Welsh that I always speak to Him, and that He always speaks to me. He knew Welsh when I was a little girl, and we have talked Welsh together ever since.
3. But the words intimate that the disciples spoke in foreign languages with a thorough command of their peculiar idiom and accent. Not only in their languages but in their tongues they had the very twang of natives. Native tongue has very great influence over man. The same truths uttered in another language, though well understood, exercise not the same charm. Can an Ethiopian change his skin? Yes, as soon as he can change his tongue. When St. Paul addressed the enraged multitude in Jerusalem in Hebrew, they grew calm and attentive. Latin and Greek would only excite them.
4. Seeing that language is the only weapon in the propagation of the gospel, it is of great importance that its ministers should know how to use it deftly and well. The sword of Cromwell was mighty; all Europe feared the flash of it. But the tongue and pen of Milton did more to ensure liberty of conscience. The pen is stronger than the sword--the tongue can drown the roar of cannon.
5. And the Church leads the van in the study of languages. Commerce and love of learning have done a little in that direction; but they generally follow in the wake of the gospel. Who are the first to learn the languages of distant nations, to write their grammars, to compile their dictionaries? Missionaries of the gospel. What book is the first to speak in the barbarous tongues of the earth? The Bible; but the moment the Bible speaks in those tongues they forthwith cease to be barbarous. Sin has left its deep, black marks upon language. Open your English dictionary and you will find in the first page that three-fourths of the words owe their existence and significance to sin. But these words must gradually grow obsolete, and language be refashioned--the gospel will leave its mark upon the dictionary. The Church of the present day is richly endued with the gift of tongues, every fresh effusion of the Spirit being followed by the certain acquisition of a new language. Go to the Bible Society House, where the Church speaks in no fewer than two hundred and fifty languages. The disciples only began; the Church continues and will continue till all nations shall have heard in their own tongues the wonderful works of God.
6. But we are not taught languages miraculously now. True; and for valid reasons--
(1) One is the printing press. What the gift of tongues did for the Church of Pentecost, the printing press has done for the Church of the Reformation.
(2) Another is the abundance of the labourers. In the primitive Church there were only a few, whereas there was a whole world to evangelise. So Goal gave them their tools ready made--sickles sharpened for work. But the need for this no longer exists. There are Christians enough in England alone to learn all the languages of the earth, and to preach the gospel to every creature in less than ten years, without in the least disturbing the ordinary course of business at home. God, therefore, has withdrawn the miracle. To continue it would be to patronise indolence, and do for believers what they can easily do for themselves.
7. The miracle has ceased, but the blessing enveloped in the miracle remains.
(1) The necessity for miracles arises out of the want and not of the wealth of the age. Hence Jesus turned water into wine, multiplied loaves and fishes and healed the sick, because there were no other means of supply and effectual medicine. It is different now.
(2) The miraculous ages are always the most spiritually impoverished. The deliverance of Israel from Egypt is marked by miracles. But the necessity for them arose out of the moral dearth of the times. As the consciousness of God grew, the miraculous continued to wax smaller, till in the reigns of David and Solomon--the richest period materially, intellectually, and spiritually--it ceased altogether. But in subsequent reigns spiritual religion rapidly declined; therefore the gift of miracles was again revived in the persons of Elijah and Elisha. When the Saviour appeared the epoch was the most degraded in the annals of the race. The gift of miracles was therefore granted once more. Miraculous is always in inverse proportion to spiritual power; where the latter grows the former declines. Will miracles be again revived in the Christian Church? Not unless spiritual religion be threatened with speedy extinction.
IV. To men of other nations.
1. Increased life always demands increased scope for its exercise. There was no power to spread itself in religion under the Old Testament. The Spirit was given in very scanty measures, just enough to preserve, but not to multiply life and replenish the earth. That Judaism should cover only a small portion of the globe was an absolute necessity, for it could maintain its life only by concentration. If the fire be small, it can only be kept burning by being heaped close together. Let the coals be scattered, and the fire will die out. And under the Old Testament only a few sparks came down from heaven to earth; hence it was necessary to gather them together within the narrow confines of Palestine. And in the days of the Saviour the fire was nearly extinguished. Fire was the great need of the age. I indeed baptize you with water, exclaims the Baptist; but water can only cleanse the surface, but He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. And on the day of Pentecost the prediction is fulfilled. The fire first burns into the hearts of the disciples, then it begins to extend its area, and now it threatens to burn up all the stubble of the world.
2. This increased life reveals itself instinctively in a desire to enlarge its circumference. Whenever the presence of the Spirit is powerfully felt in the Church, it is invariably followed by a renewed effort to evangelise the world. Let the spring impart new life to the roots of the trees, and the life will at once be transmitted to the branches, covering them with abundant foliage. Let the warm, genial months come round, reviving the drooping nature of the bird after the long dreary winter cold, and the bird shows it immediately in his song. He does not sing because he thinks he ought; he sings because he must. And it is a poor way of promoting the evangelistic zeal of the Church to demonstrate constantly what she ought to do. It is useless to lay down rules for the guidance of the Churches unless we supply them with motive power.
(1) I do not cry down organisations; they are very valuable in their proper place. But they are only cisterns, and cisterns, though of the most approved pattern, are not of much use to quench thirst. The Pentecostal Church had few organisations; but she had the water of life to give freely to all who were in need. The modern Church can boast of multitudinous organisations; and so far she can claim superiority to the early Church, for cisterns after all are serviceable. What glorious cisterns are missionary societies! They have silver pipes connecting them with every country under heaven; the waterworks are laid to convey the water of life to every thirsty soul. But the results are seldom proportionate to the expenditure. The cisterns too often run dry. How few the triumphs of Christianity at home and abroad! How tardy its onward march! Why? Lack of funds, answer our secretaries. Nay, lack of life, piety, the Holy Spirit of God. Had the apostles funds to back their efforts?
(2) Reflection on the part of the Church is not to be discouraged. But stock-taking will not clothe the naked. We spend too much time in surveying our property, and meanwhile our enthusiasm considerably abates. The Greek Church took stock of all the Christian doctrines and reduced them into carefully worded articles. But in reflection she lost her ardour, in speculation evaporated all her life. The most orthodox church became practically a dead church. I have not heard of her sending out missionaries to evangelise the heathen. What then is required to awaken within her the old life and incite her to new adventures? What is wanting to make Roman and Protestant Churches more powerful for good in the world? Another outpouring of the Holy Ghost. We have cisterns enough, pray for the living water; machinery enough, pray the Spirit of the living creature to enter the wheels, and then it will do more work and make less noise.
V. That they also might be filled with the Holy Ghost. Repent and be baptized, etc.
1. Truth, though it be Christian truth, cannot fill and satisfy our nature. God alone can do that. This, of course, implies that human nature is capacious enough to take in the Spirit. God is too great for our powers, but not for our wants; too vast for our reason, but not for our hearts. Our abilities are limited enough, but our necessities are verily boundless. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and He made him in the similitude even of His infinitude. I have infinite wants within me, and through the Infinite within I can know the Infinite without, and receive Him in the ample plenitude of His power and grace into my soul. How does the infant know his mother? By his wants. He knows not whether she is rich or poor, accomplished or unlearned, beautiful or plain; but he thoroughly knows her when he is hungry, for she feeds him; when he is cold, for she warms him; when he is in pain, for she soothes him. We know God just in the same way.
2. We may be filled with Him so as to convince unbelievers, not only that we have been with God, but that He dwells in us of a truth. There is a curious invention to fill the human body with electricity. If you only approach the body so filled, it will shoot forth sparks of wild lightning. But all connection between the body and the earth must be severed; the man must stand on a non-conducting material, else the electric fluid will flow out as fast as it flows in. In like manner we me y be recipients of the Divine fire. And sometimes we feel as if we were getting full, we emit Divine sparks at the approach of others they are convinced that God is in us of a truth. But ere many days pass, the hallowed influences have all flowed out. Worldliness is the great sin of the Church; it robs us of the Divine in Christian experience. Oh for another Pentecostal baptism! We need the Spirit now as much as ever to convert unbelievers, and to stir up the dormant energies of the Church. Why is it that Christian workers see so little fruit to their labours? That the success is not commensurate with the organisations? Some answer, The poverty of your sermons. But that cannot be the reason for every preaching qualification met in Christ, and yet He made but comparatively few converts. He could not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief. A cold church, an unbelieving church robs itself of the choicest blessings of heaven. Let it not blame its ministers for its non-success--roses will not grow in Greenland, trees will not blossom at the North Pole. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.)
The day of Pentecost
I. The religious history of the world has been marked by great steps or periods, separated by striking events or epochs, and constituting dispensations or eras.
1. Thus the creation of man inaugurated an era which continued until the Flood; the covenant with Noah inaugurated another, which continued until the Exodus; the delivery of the law another, which continued until Christs ascension; and the day of Pentecost another, in the course of which our own generation finds its place. This, too, will be superseded by the Second Advent. And it is well for us to connect the little day of our life with this magnificent progression. As an independent thing our life is utterly insignificant; as a contributing item, it becomes almost sublime.
2. Up to the day of Pentecost every dispensation was preparatory. Christianity is final; and therefore surpasses in importance every other that preceded it. All the constituent elements of Christianity were now provided; the life of Christ had demonstrated the practicability and holiness of Gods law; His death had constituted an atonement for transgressors; His resurrection had attested it; His ascension had consummated His incarnate life; and then, after seven or eight days, as if to mark by a solemn pause the broad boundary line of Judaism and Christianity, the Holy Spirit was palpably bestowed; and the spiritual religion of Christ inaugurated.
3. Amongst the anniversaries of the Church, therefore, the day of Pentecost must ever occupy an august position. Christianity was a completed system stereotyped for all men to the end of the world in a historical form.
II. The dispensational change which the day of Pentecost marked and consummated. The dispensation of the Spirit stands in natural and logical order amongst the Divine dispensations looked at.
1. As manifestations of God. Of these there have been three successively presented, and corresponding with the triune distinction of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. First, the revelation of the Father--the manifestation of those ideas of the Divine nature which we associate with the Father--such as power, wisdom, holiness, and law. Secondly, the revelation of the Son--the manifestation of those ideas of the Divine nature which we associate with the Son--such as teaching, mediation, sacrifice, love. Lastly, the revelation of the Spirit--as the Source of life, the Enlightener, the Sanctifier, the Comforter. And these correspond in their order to the spiritual education of men. In their ignorance and guilt they need first to be taught the idea of God. Convinced of sin, they then need to be taught a way of reconciliation; and under the dispensation of the Son, they have the great saving plan revealed. Under the dispensation of the Spirit, a provision is made for the efficiency of the plan; spiritual life is quickened; they are not only forgiven, but sanctified. So with their education in worship. Under the dispensation of the Father, they learn the first rudiments of worship, through material symbols and pictures; under the dispensation of the Son they worship the spiritual God, but m connection with the living body of the Incarnate One; under the dispensation of the Spirit, they worship without any material medium in spirit and in truth. The dispensation of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost assumed two distinct forms, and produced two distinct effects.
(1) As miraculous endowment it was peculiar to the apostles. This was indicated by material symbols. But such endowment was incidental and subordinate. Just as the miracles of Christ are not to be confounded with His moral mission, so the miraculous endowments of the Spirit are not to be confounded with His moral or sanctifying influences. The miraculous element in both cases is simply the credential or attestation of the moral. It soon, therefore, ceased. As moral evidence for Christianity accumulated, and the written records of the New Testament were completed, miraculous testimony was withdrawn.
(2) But the deeper and abiding manifestation was that moral and regenerating influence of it of which Christ discoursed to Nicodemus, and is known, therefore, only by its effects. The former was an endowment of the preacher; this is an endowment of the hearer, qualifying and disposing him to receive it in the saving love and power of it.
2. As a saving provision for man.
(1) This dispensation of the Spirit abides with the Church for ever, and is bestowed upon all believers. And this is the grand and transcendent characteristic of Christianity, whereby it provides for the efficacy of its own religious teaching. Other religions give laws, and leave men unaided with the stern requirement; but Christianity gives dispositions as well as laws. It puts a new spirit into those whom it calls to its discipleship.
(2) We cannot, therefore, exaggerate the importance of this provision. Without it, all that Christ has taught or done would have been in vain; we should for lack of spiritual discernment have failed to discern spiritual things, and for lack of spiritual affection failed to have embraced them.
(3) Of course spiritual influence of this kind must have been in operation before. No holy man ever became such save through the influences of the Holy Spirit, allusions to which are very numerous in the Old Testament. But just as the work of Christ was in efficacious operation before Christ Himself was historically manifested, so was the work of the Spirit. Just as the first pardoned man was justified by faith in Christ, so the first holy man was renewed by the operation of the Holy Ghost, and just as the Nativity was the manifestation of the atoning Christ, so the day of Pentecost was the manifestation of the renewing spirit. As much of the character and work of the Son were revealed as the world could receive; and as much of the influence of the Spirit was exerted as the moral condition of the world would admit of. Hence we may understand how there should be a greater amount of spiritual influence operating in the Christian Church than in the Jewish Church. (H. Allon, D. D.)
The fitness of the day of Pentecost
It is natural to assume a purpose in the Divine choice of the day on which the disciples were thus to receive the promise of the Father. That choice may have been determined, if one may so speak, either in view of the circumstances of the feast, or of its history and symbolic fitness.
1. Of all the feasts of the Jewish year it was that which attracted the largest number of pilgrims from distant lands. The dangers of travel by sea or land in the early spring or late autumn (cf. Act_27:9)
prevented their coming in any large numbers to the Passover. At no other feast would there have been representatives of so many nations. It was Pentecost that St. Paul went up to keep once and again, during his mission-work in Greece and Asia (Act_18:21; Act_20:16). So there was no time on which the gift of the Spirit was likely to produce such direct and immediate results.
2. Each aspect of the old Feast of Weeks, now known as Pentecost, or the Fiftieth-day Feast, presented a symbolic meaning which made it typical of the work now about to be accomplished.
(1) It was the feast of harvest, the feast of the first-fruits; and so it was meet that it should witness the first great gathering of the fields that were white to harvest (Exo_23:16).
(2) It was one on which, more than on any other, the Israelite was to remember that her had been a bondman in the land of Egypt, and had been led forth to freedom (Deu_16:12), and on it, accordingly, they were to do no servile work (Lev_23:31); and it was, therefore, a fit time for the gift of the Spirit, of whom it was emphatically true that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2Co_3:17), and who was to guide the Church into the truth which should make men free indeed (Joh_8:32).
(3) It was a day on which sacrifices of every kind were offered--burnt-offerings, and sin-offerings, and meat-offerings, and peace-offerings--and so represented the consecration of body, soul, and spirit as a spiritual sacrifice (Lev_23:17-20).
(4) As on the Passover the first ripe sheaf of corn was waved before Jehovah as the type of the sacrifice of Christ, of the corn of wheat which is not quickened except it die (Lev_23:10; Joh_12:24), so on Pentecost two wave-loaves of fine flour were to be offered, the type, it may be, under the light now thrown on them, of the Jewish and the Gentile Churches (Lev_23:17). And these loaves were to be leavened, as a witness that the process of the contact of mind with mind, which--as the prohibition of leaven in the Passover ritual bore witness--is naturally so fruitful in evil, might yet, under a higher influence, become one of unspeakable good: the new life working through the three measures of meal until the whole was leavened (Mat_13:33).
3. The Feast of Pentecost had--traditionally, at least--also a commemorative character. On that day--so it was computed by the later Rabbis, though the Book of Exodus (Exo_19:1) seems to leave the matter in some uncertainty--the Israelites had encamped round Sinai, and there had been thunders, and darkness, and voices, and the great Laws had been proclaimed. It was, that is, an epoch-making day in the religious history of Israel. It was fit that it should be chosen for another great epoch-making day, which, seeming at first to be meant for Israel only, was intended ultimately for mankind. (Dean Plumptre.)
The feast of harvest
I. The consecrated harvest of the field. It may seem somewhat singular that we should be talking of harvest on the first of June, but in Palestine the harvest is much earlier than where the climate is more severe. At the beginning of the barley harvest the first ripe ears were presented to the Lord in due order, but at the fuller festival they brought into Gods house, not the ears of wheat, but two large loaves--the fruit of the earth actually prepared for human food. What did that mean?
1. That all came from God. We regard our bread as the fruit of our own labour; but who gives us strength to labour,, and gives the earth the power to bring forth her harvest? I fear in many houses bread is eaten and the Giver is forgotten. Let us by grateful offerings to the Lord express our thankfulness for all the comforts we enjoy.
2. That all our possessions need Gods blessing upon them. Without a blessing from God His gifts become temptations, and bring with them care rather than refreshment. It was a joyous sight to see the loaves and the fishes multiplied; but the best part of it was that the Master looked up to heaven and blessed them. If thou hast little, yet if God has blessed thy little there is a flavour in it which the ungodly cannot know when they fill themselves with stalled oxen. If thou hast ample, yet if thou hast more blessing, thy riches shall not be a snare to thee.
3. That all we have we hold under God as His stewards. These two loaves were a kind of peppercorn rent acknowledging the superior landlord who was the true owner of the Holy Land. We farm our portions and gather the fruit as stewards for the Most High, and bring a part thereof to His altar in token that we would use the rest to His glory. Have we all done this with our substance? Where is that one talent of thine, O slothful servant? Where are those five talents, O thou man of influence and of wealth?
4. That they were afraid they might commit sin in the using of what God had given. The first thank-offering was of barley, fresh plucked from the field; but this second offering of the first-fruits was not wheat as God made it. Why was it ordained that they should present leaven to God? To show us that common life, with all its imperfections, may yet be used for Gods glory. We may, through our Lord Jesus, be accepted in shop-life as well as in sanctuary-life, in market-dealing as well as in sacramental meditation. Yet do not fail to notice that they brought also a burnt-offering: so the precious blood of Christs sacrifice must fall upon our leavened loaves, or they will be sour before the Lord. He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. Nay, that was not all. In consideration of the loaf being leavened, they brought with it a sin-offering as well (Lev_23:19). Confessing, as each one of us must do, that however hearty our dedication to God, there is still a faultiness in our lives, we are glad to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus.
5. All this was done as an act of joy. A new meat-offering was offered unto the Lord with peace-offerings, which two always signify, among other things, a quiet, happy communion with God. In addition to all this they presented a drink-offering of wine, which expresses the joy of the offerer. Pentecost was not a fast, but a festival. When thou givest anything to God, give it not as though it were a tax, but freely; or it cannot be accepted. God loveth a cheerful giver. His service is perfect freedom; to give to Him is rapture; to live to Him is heaven.
II. The consecrated harvest of our Lord Jesus Christ, as taught by the events of the great Christian Pentecost. Our Lord is the greatest of all sowers, for He sowed Himself. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground, etc. Had He not said, The fields are white already to harvest? and now, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, the fruit was seen of them, and joyfully gathered. Learn--
1. That the first harvest of our Lord Jesus Christ was through the Holy Ghost. There were no three thousand converts till first of all was heard the rushing of mighty wind. Till the cloven tongues had rested on the disciples there were no broken hearts among the crowd. Until the believers were all filled with the Holy Ghost the minds of their hearers were not filled with conviction. If you desire to save your class you must yourselves be endowed with the power of the Holy Ghost. You cannot burn a way for the truth into the heart of another unless the tongue of fire is given to you from on high.
2. That day may be considered to be the ordering of the Christian dispensation. It was exactly fifty days after the original Passover that the law was given on Mount Sinai. At the commencement of the New Testament dispensation the Lord gives the Spirit. Under the old covenant the command was given; but under the new the will and the power to obey are bestowed by the Holy Ghost. Moses on the mount can only tell us what to do, but Jesus ascended on high pours out the power to do it. Now we are not under the law, but under grace, and the Spirit is our guiding force.
3. This Pentecost was also the beginning of a great harvest of Jews and Gentiles. Were there not two loaves? Not only shall Israel be saved, but the multitude of the Gentiles shall be turned unto the Lord. If the first-fruits were so great, what will the ultimate harvest be?
(1) The filling of the apostles with the Holy Ghost was a part of the first-fruits. A man full of the Holy Ghost rejoices the heart of Christ.
(2) Still, the major part of the Pentecostal first-fruits will be found in the great number that were that day converted.
4. The Christian Pentecost is to us full of instruction.
(1) The disciples had to wait for it. The husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth. Sow on: Pentecost will yet yield its loaves unto the Lord.
(2) They obtained nothing until they began preaching the gospel, and then in one day the Church was multiplied by twenty-five.
(3) Of all those people saved it was acknowledged that they belonged unto the Lord alone.
(4) Even if we should see three thousand converted in a day we must not reckon that such first-fruits would be absolutely perfect. In all our successes and additions there will sure to be a leaven. Do not wonder if some converts go back. It will always be so; tares grow with the wheat, and bad fish are taken in the same net with the good.
III. The consecrated harvest from each particular person. In Deu_26:1-19. you will find there a form of service which I pray may serve your turn to-day. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A Whitsunday meditation
There is a Christian as well as a Jewish year; we ought not to be unmindful of the changes which illustrate Gods holy counsel and tender conduct. The Author of natural and spiritual life is one, and He gives many a hint of His gracious purpose in the changes of the year. Christ has taught us to see in seed-sowing a symbol of the Cross, and a call to Christian sacrifice. The harvest, the solemn fruitful autumn-time, reminds us of the end of the world, and has its strangely blended influences of mournfulness and hope. Spring is a type of the resurrection; life bursting out of the grave. Of all symbols of the Christian life, this early summer-time is the most blessed. Calm as these warm and not yet sultry days; peaceful as early June mornings; fresh as the dews and showers; rich as the verdure of our landscape, it is given us to know that our Christian life is under the silent energy of the Spirit.
I. The Passover and Pentecost were intimately connected.
1. The injunction to keep the feast of first-fruits concludes, and thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt; the rejoicing followed the commemoration of the deliverance. The Jews call the day of Pentecost the concluding festival i.e., the festival that concludes the Paschal celebration. The association is not difficult to trace. The national life of Israel was the sequel to their deliverance from Egypt. It was not enough for them to be set free and to be led into the desert. God had prepared a land for them needing greater labour and more careful cultivation than Egypt, but yielding better fruits. The feast of Pentecost was their memorial that God had fulfilled His promise. They brought the fruits of the land which He had given them, and remembered year by year that He blessed their toil, and was nourishing the men He had redeemed,
2. Spiritual life is the sequel of Christian redemption; the gift of the Holy Ghost was Gods purposed supplement of Calvary. Spiritual history begins with the Cross, but it does not end there. It sometimes happens that the first gladness and gratitude of a forgiven soul are followed by a strange restlessness and dissatisfaction, as was the deliverance of Israel. But the Paschal time, of haste and scarce-quelled anxiety, of girded loins and unleavened bread and bitter herbs, are followed by the Pentecost of life, love, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. It is not till this Divine life is formed within us by Gods Spirit, strong as the forces that clothe the earth with summer beauty, that we can fully commemorate the death of Christ which is our redemption. The Holy Ghost was needed by the men who were to be preachers of the Cross. He not only unfolded to them its meaning; He dwelt in them an energy tender, earnest, and strong, like that of Christ the Redeemer. They had life in them; and nothing could suppress their faith, their gladness, or their labours; and by all the genial force of life, men were constrained by their influence, and drawn into their communion. And so now, if Christian teaching is ineffective, it is because it lacks the force of Christian life. Our teaching may be scrupulously orthodox, yet very repellent and cold. Our efforts may be unnumbered, and our plans most wisely organised; yet, without the love, the earnestness that only life can give, they will be all in vain. There is something for us besides praying for the Divine life; it is to live it. Christians sometimes ask that the Spirit may be poured out. He has been poured out.
II. Pentecost was a memorial of Gods constant presence and power. The feast was ordained to remind the Jews who it was who gave them their corn and wine and oil. They were not permitted to eat of the years harvest till the first sheaves had been waved before the Lord, and the two loaves offered to Him; lest they should think that the earth brought forth fruit of itself, lest they should be undevout, and gluttonous, and drunken in their feasts. This was the consecration of the first-fruits which would hallow the whole lump of which they were daily partaking. The Jews, like Englishmen, were prone to practical atheism; they, like Englishmen, only recognised God in signal events of their history, unmindful of the care that was daily mindful of them, and the bounty which daily made them glad. All piety decays when we forget that the Father is ever working. Body and soul, as well as spirit, have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. Food and raiment, house-room and friends, have been given us by the same Father who gave us His Son. The power that quickened the world from the Cross is ruling over it still; the love that shines in the Cross gives summer flowers and autumn fruits. Men who see nothing more than forces of nature in the power that yearly clothes the hill-sides, and makes the valleys fruitful, see too in the Christian life nothing more than human nature under new developments. The day of Pentecost is the witness of a Divine person abiding near us, and working in us all the energies and influences of a Christian life. It prevents our falling into that despondency which must be our lot if we have none to trust in but ourselves. Where we are powerless, He imparts life; and then truth becomes plain, and motives are felt that we could not awaken. Earnest Christian people need the teaching of the day of Pentecost. There are many who connect the Holy Ghost only with their conversion, and with periods of high-wrought emotion; but in the whole range of Christian life, however varied to our feeling, the Spirit, the source of life, is working. Yes, and in hearts that have not yet yielded themselves to Jesus; in children born into godly households, and abandoned ones listening wonderingly to new words of hope and love; in providential circumstances; by words of kindness and deeds that flow from a heart of love; in everything that has a Christian tendency, in every influence that comes from Christ and moves towards Him, worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will. A few weeks ago, and though ,we knew, we did not feel that summer was nigh. The trees were bare, and the earth was hard, and we shivered beneath the chilling blast. But God was working; the spirit of life was moving in the sluggish sap, the sun was gathering force, and the western winds were on their way to us with refreshing showers. And lo! the summer is hero. Let us work according to Gods will, and we shall one day see the glad and genial life that the Divine Spirit is accomplishing; for He is near us and is in us still. I have planted, Apollos watered, and God gave the increase. (A. Mackennal, D. D.)
The White Sunday (childrens sermon)
1. Two reasons for the name.
(1) On Whitsunday people used to come to be baptized, dressed all in white. Why? Because they wanted to feel that they were going to be made clean. And so it came to be called White Sunday, or, shortened, Whit Sunday.
(2) If you count Easter Sunday one, and then count on to this Sunday, you will find that this is the eighth. Now the French word for eight is halt. You know a great many French words came into English, but people did not know how to spell some of them, so they spelt this word bait as if it were white.
2. What happened on Whitsunday? The Holy Ghost came down. I cannot explain to you all about the Holy Ghost. It is very deep and mysterious. Perhaps you have heard about the monk who was trying to explain all about God. He went down to the seaside, and found a man with a little shell in his hand scooping up the sea. He said to the man, What are you doing? He replied, I am going to put the sea into this shell. You cannot do it, said the monk. Then the man replied, My task is easier than yours. You are trying to put the great God into your little mind.
3. What does Holy Ghost mean? Holy Spirit. Sometimes, when we cannot look at the sun, we look at a sunbeam; or we look at the reflection of the sun in a looking-glass. We cannot see the sun in his full lustre. Now I want to speak about the Holy Ghost by emblems.
I. What is that you can feel, but cannot see? The Wind. You can feel the Holy Ghost, but you cannot see Him. The wind bloweth where it listeth, etc. The Saviour likened Him to that, and said, Except a man be born, etc. Now--
1. Nobody can go to heaven unless they are born again. A man was once asked, Where were you born? He said, In London, and in Salisbury. What! born in two places? he was asked. He explained, My body was born in London, and my soul was born in Salisbury. Now what does it mean? Did you ever see a new-born baby? What a new, strange world it has come into. When you become a real Christian, you enter a new world, and all will be so new to you. Poor little baby! Somebody must feed it, clothe it, carry it. So when you become a Christian you must feel, Jesus must carry me, clothe me, feed me. When you are born again you will have new thoughts, new feelings.
2. Does everybody know when they are born again? Some do; but very few. There is a great palm-tree called the Palm Azaleum, and when the blossom comes out of the shield, the flower breaks the shield with a noise as loud as a cannon. Everybody can know when that flower comes out. Some conversions are like that, but most are as quiet as when the little grain comes out of the grass, or when the flower comes out in the bud; you can hardly tell when it happens. One day there was a wicked man driving his cart along a road, and suddenly the wind blew a tract to his feet. Where that tract came from he never knew. He took it up and read it, and a word there changed the man, made him a Christian. The Holy Ghost, like the wind, turned his heart.
3. Did you ever see an AEolian harp? It is a very wonderful thing, a little harp with a few strings. No human fingers play upon it. If you keep it in your room it wont play; but if you put it just outside the window, on a windy day, it will play such sweet music. A great writer has said, The human heart is a harp of a thousand strings. All the thoughts and feelings in your heart are all strings. If the Holy Spirit comes they will play very sweet music. But your heart wont play without the Holy Spirit.
II. The Holy Ghost is like water When you were baptized some water was poured over your head to tell you that the Holy Ghost can make the heart clean. There was a good man who, when he wanted to think about holy things, put before himself three words, black, red, and white. He looked at the word black, and he thought, That is my heart, which is very black. Then he looked at the word red, and thought, The blood of Jesus can make the black thing white. And then he looked at the word white, and thought, I hope my heart has been washed, and made white through the Holy Ghost.
III. When the Holy Ghost came down upon the Lord Jesus He appeared as a dove. And a dove is considered an emblem of something very gentle. The Holy Ghost comes very gently, and He makes us gentle. I knew two little girls who were going out of a church, and one little girl pushed by the other, and she made way for her to pass, saying, Blessed are the peacemakers. That was gentle, like a dove. As a boy was once going to throw a stone at a little bird, the bird sang so sweetly that the boy could not throw. Another, passing, said, Why dont you throw? You will hit it. I cannot, he said; the little bird is singing so sweetly. If you know anybody who is unkind to you, you sing like the little bird, and then see if anybody will hurt you.
IV. The Holy Spirit is like dew. Dew is to be seen in the morning and evening. It is very pretty and makes everything so fresh where it comes. Now, if you wish to be good and please God, take care that every morning and evening yon get a little of the dew of the Holy Spirit upon you; it will make everything fresh and nice. You are in the morning of life. Now is the time to have dew, and may it always abide in and upon you, not like the natural dew, that soon passes away.
V. The Holy Spirit is like fire. Supposing I were to give you a piece of iron, and ask you to make an image out of it, what would you do? If you got a hammer and chisel, and worked ever so hard, it would not make it into an image. What, then, would you do? Put it into the fire, then it would get soft; then you could make it into almost any shape you like four hearts are like iron. You have tried to make them good, but you cannot do so; but put them into the fire, the Holy Spirit will make them soft and make them into right shapes. Supposing I saw two girls quarrelling, and I wanted to make them at one, how can I do it? Supposing I gave you two bits of iron, and asked you to make them one, how would you do it? You must weld them together. You could not do it till you put them into the fire. So if I find two persons quarrelling, and I want to make them one, I should try to do it by the Holy Spirit.
VI. The Holy Spirit is a seal now, supposing a person had got some very precious jewels, and was going abroad, and he wanted to be quite sure that they would be safe when he came back again. He would lock them up, and put a seal upon the lock, that nobody might be able to break the lock. You are Christs jewels, and He has gone abroad. By and by He will come back again. He has sealed you with the Holy Spirit. If you take care not to break that seal, then you are quite safe; but if you trifle with it, i.e., if you grieve the Holy Spirit, the seal will be broken; then what will become of the jewels? But keep the Holy Spirit in your heart, then you will be safe when Christ comes back. In the time of the Emperor Tiberius, there was a law in Rome that anybody who carried a particular ring on his finger must never go into any dirty or wrong place. You have got the seal; keep it holy! (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Holy Spirit: The method of His bestowment unrevealed
It is the doctrine of the interworking of the Spirit of God upon the souls of men. I have no philosophy about it. All I say is this: that God knows what is the secret way in which mind reaches mind. I do not--you do not. I do not know why words on my tongue wake up thoughts corresponding to those words in you. I do not know why the soul of man, like a complex instrument of wondrous scope, is played upon by my words, so that there are waked up in it notes along the whole scale of being. I do not understand why things are so, but unquestionably they are so. I do not know how the mother pours her affection on the childs heart, but she does. Two stars never shone into each other as two loving souls shine into each other. I know it is so, but I do not know why it is so. I do not know how soul touches soul, how thought touches thought, or how feeling touches feeling, but I know it does. Now that which we see in the lower departments of life--that which exists between you and your friends, and me and my friends--that I take, and by my imagination I lift it up into the Divine nature, and give it depth and scope and universality; and then I have some conception of the doctrine of Gods Spirit poured upon the human soul. (H. W. Beecher.)
The Holy Spirit needed
It is as if you saw a locomotive engine upon a railway, and it would not go; and they put up a driver, and they said, Now, that driver will just do. They try another and another. One proposes that such and such a wheel should be altered; but still it will not go. Some one then bursts in amongst those who are conversing, and says, No, friends; but the reason why it will not go is because there is no steam. You have no fire; you have no water in the boiler: thats why it will not go. There may be some faults about it: it may want a bit of paint here and there: but it will go well enough with all those faults if you do but get the steam up. But now people are saying, This must be altered, and that must be altered. But it would go he better unless God the Spirit should come to bless us. That is the Churchs great want; and, until that want be supplied, we may reform and reform, and stiff be lust the same. We want the Holy Spirit; and then, whatever faults there may be in our organisation, they can never materially impede the progress of Christianity when once the Spirit of the Lord God is in our midst. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Holy Spirit indispensable
Here is a noble ship … The forests have masted her; in many a broad yard of canvas a hundred looms have given her wings. Her anchor has been weighed to the rude sea-chant; the needle trembles on her deck: with his eye on that friend, unlike worldly friends, true in storm as in calm, the helmsman stands impatient by the wheel. And when, as men bound to a distant shore, the crew have said farewell to wives and children, why, then, lies she there over the self-same ground, rising with the flowing and falling with the ebbing tide? The cause is plain. They want a wind to raise that drooping pennon and fill these empty sails. They look to heaven; and so they may; out of the skies their help must come. At length their prayer is heard.… And now, like a steed touched by the riders spur, she starts, bounds forward, plunges through the waves, and, heavens wind her moving power, is off and away, amid blessings and prayers, to the land she is chartered for. Even so, though heaven-born, heaven-called, heaven-bound, though endowed with a new heart and new mind, we stand in the same need of celestial influences. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
Revivals--occasional things
Revivals are not constant, but occasional things; they are like the showers that water the earth. (T. H. Skinner.)
The sending of the Holy Ghost
We are this day to celebrate the yearly memory of the sending down of a benefit, so great and so wonderful, as there were not tongues enough upon earth to celebrate it, but there were fain to be more sent from heaven to help to sound it out thoroughly.
I. The time. The day of Pentecost. Why that day? Pentecost was a great feast under the law; and meet it was this coming should be at some great feast. The first dedication of Christs Catholic Church on earth, the first publishing the gospel, the first proclaiming the apostles commission, were so great matters, as it was not meet they should be done in a corner.
II. Manner.
1. On their parts on whom the Holy Ghost came. It is truly said by the philosopher, that if the patient be prepared aright, the agent will have his work both the sooner and the better. And so, consequently, the Spirit in His coming, if the parties to whom He cometh be made ready. And this is threefold:
(1) Unity. Can any spirit animate or give life to members dismembered? A fair example we have in Ezekiel (Eze_37:7-9). Now the Holy Ghost is the very essential unity, love, and love-knot, of the two Persons, the Father and the Son, even of God with God. And He is sent to be the union, love, and loveknot of the two Natures united in Christ, even of God with man. And can we imagine that He will enter (essential unity) but where there is unity? There is no greater bar to His entry than discord and disunited minds.
(2) Not only of one mind, that is, unanimity, but also in one place too, that is, uniformity; both in the unity of the Spirit, that is inward, and in the bond of peace too, that is, outward. Gods will is, we should be as upon one foundation, so under one roof (Psa_68:6). Therefore it is expressly noted of this company where they prayed, they prayed all together (Act_4:24). When they heard, they heard all together (Act_8:6). When they brake bread, they did it all together (verse 46). Division of places will not long be without division of minds.
(3) A disposition in them, whereby they held out, and stirred not, even till the fifty days were fulfilled. That ,former, unanimity; this latter, longanimity. There is in us a hot, hasty spirit, impatient of any delay.
2. On His part. He came sensibly, a rare coming, since the Holy Ghost, an invisible Spirit, cometh, for the most part, invisibly. Yet here it was meet--first, that no less honour done to this law of Zion than to that of Sinai, which was public and full of majesty; and secondly, it pleased Him to vouchsafe to grace the Church, His queen, with like solemn inauguration to that of His own, when the Holy Ghost descended on Him in likeness of a Dove. This coming, then, of His thus in state, is such as it was both to be heard and seen. To the ear, which is the sense of faith; to the eye, which is the sense of love. The ear, that is the ground of the word, which is audible; the eye, which is the ground of the sacraments, which are visible. To the ear in a noise; to the eye in a show. The noise, serving as a trumpet, to awake the world, and give them warning He was come. The fiery tongues, as so many lights, to show them and let them see the day of that their visitation.
(1) There comes a sound. Which is to show that the spirit is no dumb spirit but vocal. The sound thereof is gone into all lands, and hath been heard in all ages.
(2) It was the sound of a wind. For first, of all bodily things it is the least bodily, and cometh nearest to the nature of a spirit, invisible as it is; and secondly, quick and active, as the spirit is. Now, this wind that came and made this sound is here described with four properties:
(a) It fell suddenly, so doth the wind. It riseth often in the midst of a calm, giveth no warning; and even so doth the Spirit, for that cometh not by observation, neither can you make set rules of it: you must wait for it as well when it cometh not as when it comes. Many times it is found of them that seek it not. It creeps not like motions that come from the serpent. And therefore sudden, saith Gregory, because things, if they be not sudden, awake us not, affect us not. And therefore sudden, saith he again, that men may learn not to despise present motions of grace, though suddenly rising in them, and though they can give no certain reason of them, but take the wind while it bloweth as not knowing when it will or whether ever it will blow again.
(b) It was a mighty, or vehement, wind. Although the wind is nothing else but a puff of air, the thinnest, the poorest, and to our seeming, of the least force of all creatures, yet groweth it to that violence which pulls up trees, blows down huge piles of building, hath most strange and wonderful effects, and all this but a little thin air. And surely no less observable or admirable, nay, much more, have been and are the operations of the Spirit. Even presently after this, this Spirit, in a few poor weak and simple instruments, waxed so full and forcible as it cast down strongholds, brought into captivity many an exalting thought, made a conquest of the whole world, even then, when it was bent fully in main opposition against it.
(c) It came from heaven. Winds naturally come not from thence, but move laterally from one coast or climate to another. To come directly down from heaven, that is supernatural, and points us plainly to Him that is ascended up into heaven, and now sendeth it down from thence that it may fill us with the breath of heaven. To distinguish this wind from others is no hard matter. If our motions come from above it is this wind, which came thence to make us heavenly-minded.
(d) It filled that place where they sat. That place, not the places about. The common wind fills all places within his circuit alike. And this is a property very well fitting the Spirit. To blow in certain places where itself will; and upon certain persons and they shall plainly feel it, and others about them not a whir.
(2) This wind brought down with it tongues to be seen. Here is not only sent a wind which serveth for their own inspiration, but tongues which serve for elocution, that is, to impart the benefit to more than themselves. It showeth that the Holy Ghost cometh and is given rather to do others good than to benefit themselves. Charity poured into their hearts would serve them; grace poured into their lips was needful to make others partakers of the benefit. This also standeth of four parts, as did the former.
(a) There were tongues, and God can send from heaven no better thing, nor the devil from hell no worse. The best member we have (Psa_108:1). The worst member we have (Jam_3:6). Both, as it is employed.
(b) Cloven tongues--and that very cleaving of right necessary use to the business intended, viz., that the knowledge of the gospel might be dispersed to every nation under heaven. If there must be a calling of the Gentiles, they must have the tongues of the Gentiles wherewith to call them. But with their many tongues they spake one thing.
(c) They were tongues as of fire to show that they were not of our elementary fire. As the wind, so the fire from heaven, of the nature of that which made the bush burn and yet consumed it not. The tongues were as of fire to teach that the force of fire should show forth itself in their words, both in the splendour, which is the light of knowledge to clear the mist of their darkened understanding, and in the fervour, which is the force of spiritual efficacy, to quicken the dulness of their cold and dead affections. With such a tongue spake Christ Himself, when they said of Him, Did not our hearts burn within us while He spake unto us by the way? With such a tongue St. Peter, here in this chapter; for sure there fell from Him something like fire on their hearts, when they were pricked with it and cried, Men and brethren, what shall we do? But this is not always, nor in all with us; no more was it with them, but in those of their hearers which had some of the anointing, and that will easily take the fire, in them good will be done; or at least, where there was some smoking flax, some remainder of the Spirit, which without any great ado will be kindled anew.
(d) These sat upon each of them. In which sitting is set down unto us their last quality--of continuance and constancy. They did not light and touch and away, after the manner of butterflies. (Bp. Andrewes.)
The advent of the Spirit
I. That the promise of the Holy Spirit to the Church will certainly be fulfilled.
1. The Holy Spirit is promised to the Church (Joh_15:26; Joh_16:7; Joe_2:28-29).
2. The promise is not always understood in its full meaning as it ought to be. The disciples did not understand it, nor does the Church of our own age. It would not rest a day without its fulfilment (Joh_4:10).
3. The promise will certainly be fulfilled. This is seen in the history of the Church at Pentecost. There was delay, but not denial. Then as now the Holy Spirit is given to the Church at the best and most appropriate time. We must wait, for it is determined by infinite wisdom.
II. That the Church must put itself into a proper moral attitude in order to receive the Holy Spirit. The Church must be--
1. Frequent in its meetings.
2. United in its spirit.
3. Prayerful in disposition (Act_1:14).
4. Patient in temper.
5. Catholic in sentiment.
Not merely the disciples were present, but many strangers. They had come to the feast, and got a better feast than they expected. Some Churches are so narrow and sectarian in their spirit, that the Holy Spirit is shut out from them.
III. That the advent of the Holy Spirit to the Church is accompanied by wondrous phenomena and sublime moral results. The advent of the Holy Spirit--
1. Is set forth under appropriate emblems.
2. Affects the speaking of the Word. When men receive the Holy Spirit it is always evident in their conversation, which is aglow with heavenly fire and feeling. True eloquence is a spiritual gift.
3. Is designed to fill the human soul with Divine and ennobling influences. As the wind filled the house, so the Spirit filled the men, every crevice of their being. The heart of man must be filled with something; if God does not fill it the world will. The Divine filling is the most ennobling and blessed. (The Study and the Pulpit.)
The coming of the Holy Spirit
I am sitting, on a summers day, in the shadow of a great New England elm. Its long branches hang motionless; there is not breeze enough to move them. All at once there comes a faint murmur; around my head the leaves are moved by a gentle current of air; then the branches begin to sway to and fro, the leaves are all in motion, and a soft, rushing sound fills my ear. So with every one that is born of the Spirit. I am in a state of spiritual lethargy, and scarcely know how to think any good thought. I am heart-empty, and there comes, I know not where or whence, a sound of the Divine presence. I am inwardly moved with new comfort and hope, the day seems to dawn in my heart, sunshine comes around my path, and I am able to go to my duties with patience. I am walking in the Spirit, I am helped by the help of God, and comforted with the comfort of God. And yet this is all in accordance with law. There is no violation of law when the breezes come, stirring the tops of the trees; and there is no violation of law when God moves in the depths of our souls, and rouses us to the love and desire of holiness. (James Freeman Clarke.)
The descending Spirit
Notice--
I. Some features of the event here related.
1. It is interesting that the Holy Spirit should have been conferred at Jerusalem, the capital of the old faith. It is not Gods way to inaugurate the new by any harsh abandonments of the old. The Christian is only the Jewish Church led forth into a new stage of development. As the two lay in Christs mind there was no break between them. I came not to destroy, but to fulfil. It was suitable, then, that where the old Church had matured, the new Church should germinate.
2. It is impossible to say with exactness where in Jerusalem the disciples were gathered. It is barely possible that it was in some portion of the temple edifice. If that were the case it would only be in the line of what has just been said.
3. This first giving of the Spirit was at Pentecost. Still another proof of this is that God would like to have us consider Christianity as a graft upon an old stock.
4. As to the nature of the miracle. Was it a gift of tongues, or a gift of ears? The most casual perusal is sufficient to convince that it was the disciples that were inspired to speak. The hearers were not in a mood to be inspired. The Holy Ghost works inspiringly upon those who are in sympathy with Him; and this these foreign residents at Jerusalem were not.
II. The lessons connected with the event.
1. The Christian Church was born at Pentecost. The materials were already present, but standing out of organic relation with each ether. It was the brooding of the Spirit that produced the formless elements of things into a shapely and prolific world. It was the inbreathing of God into the being of our first parent that developed him into a living soul. It was the influx similarly of the Divine Spirit that composed the disciples of Christ into an organised and living Church.
2. This was the first Christian revival of religion. The Church was born in a revival, and the survival of the Church has been along a continuous line of revival. There is nothing in the whole New Testament narrative more startling than the transformation which the Twelve suddenly underwent on the fiftieth day after Calvary. A cultivated ministry and well-appointed churches are well enough in their way; they are suitable for the conveyance of power, but are not themselves power. They are to positive spiritual efficacy only what riverbeds are to the floods that are set to roll in them. The early Church, as compared with the modern, was poor in appliances; but one sermon then converted three thousand men, and now it takes three thousand sermons to convert one man. The difference between the times is largely difference of power.
3. The Spirit descended upon the disciples when they were together. The full meaning of Christianity is not exhausted in any relation in which it sets us individually to Christ. There are blessings that accrue to Christians only by their standing in fellowship with each ether. The first Christian revival was inaugurated in a prayer-meeting. It is easy, and rather common, to treat prayer-meetings with disparagement. But it is generally found that when a revival comes it begins in Gods revelation of Himself to saints that draw near to one another in prayer.
4. This first revival of religion began with the spiritual replenishment of those already Christian. It is time wasted, and runs counter to the Divine order of things, for a Church that is not itself revived to attempt revivalistic operations among the unconverted. Christianity, to the degree in which it extends itself, does so as a kind of contagion. The result of gotten-up revivals is only man-made Christians; and man-made Christians stand in the way of their own conversion and add to the inertia of the Church.
6. After the Ascension the disciples simply waited for Pentecost. There was no further work that needed to be wrought in them before its bestowment. And we shall always receive the Divine baptism just as soon as there is nothing on our part that hinders it. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, and prove Me now herewith, etc.
6. The Holy Spirit descended upon all the disciples. So far as we are Holy Ghost Christians, all substantial distinctions in this respect between the laity and the clergy are erased.
7. The Holy Spirit revealed Himself outwardly in the shape of tongues. This was prophetic of the way in which revealed truth was to be disseminated. It does not suffice that men should simply live lives of Christian constancy. Christ not only lived, He preached. The first revival, then, opened mens mouths and set men talking. There is no place for silent Christians under the administration of the Holy Ghost. The pressure of God upon the heart inevitably finds escape at the lip. (G. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)
Its no bilin
The late Dr. William Arnot, of Edinburgh, used to tell of his being at a railway station, where he grew weary of waiting for the train to move. He inquired if the trouble was want of water. Plenty of water, was the quick reply, but its no bilin. We have no lack of religious machinery in Church and Sabbath-schools and benevolent societies. The engines are on the track, and the trainmen are in their places. If there is little or no progress, may it not be that the water is no bilin?
Sudden revivals explained
I looked recently at a very remarkabIe sight, the burning of a huge floorcloth manufactury. I was just about returning home from my Masters work when I saw a little blaze, and in an incredibly short space a volume of fire rolled up in great masses to the skies. Why blazed it so suddenly? Why, because for months before many men had been busily employed in hanging up the floorcloth and in saturating the building with combustible materials; I do not mean with the intention of making a blaze, but in the ordinary course of their manufacture; so that when at last the spark came it grew into a great sheet of flame all at once. So sometimes when the gospel is faithfully preached a sinner gets present peace and pardon, and he is so full of joy his friends cannot make him out, his progress is so rapid. But be it remembered that God has been mysteriously at work months before in that mans heart, preparing his soul to catch the heavenly flame, so that there was only a spark needed, and then up rolled the flame to heaven. Oh that I could be that spark to some heart in whom God has been working this morning, but He alone can make me so! (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Spiritual influence from another world
The Gulf Stream in its beneficent and hidden influence may be taken as a sort of parable of spiritual influence. This England of ours should be naturally and properly a land of almost eternal winter. For some eight months of the year our very seas ought to be frozen over, so that no ship could approach our shores. Our islands should be a rough rude tract of country, where only the hardiest forms of life could survive--a land of forests where wild beasts should roam, whose furs should give to the place almost its only value, and where the deep snows should make agriculture almost impossible. This should be Great Britain--a proud name for so desolate a tract. What mystery is this which delivers us? Away in the distant southern world, in the fierce heat of the tropics, starts the Gulf Stream. It gathers the warmth of the sun, and sends it for thousands of miles across the seas to lave our shores. And thus the arctic winter is driven from us; and our ports are open all the year round; over us stretch the kindlier skies; about us blow the gentler winds; our fields are covered with grass, the valleys are thick with corn; the pastures are covered with flocks and herds, and this favoured land is shut off from extremes, and has the summer of the North with the winter of the South. Now think of some shivering native of Labrador, who has heard of this Gulf Stream, and scornfully shakes his head--I do not believe it, says he; it is impossible and absurd. Well, I would not argue the subject. I would only invite him to come and see. But where is this Gulf Stream which does such wonders? Can you see it? No, we cannot see it, but it is there--hidden, noiseless, mingling with our waters and transforming our climate. The parable is a many-sided illustration of the truth. Of nature, of ourselves, we do dwell in a land of winter--frozen and well-nigh dead, without the energy to put forth any life of God. But, lo, about us do flow gracious influences from another world. We know not how, but by the Holy Spirit of God, there is breathed about us and within us the love of God, softening, transforming, bringing to us a new heaven and a new earth. And now do grow and flourish blessed things which before we knew not. (M. G. Pearse.)
The outpouring of the Spirit
(first sermon):--
I. Mark the very critical care of the Divine Head of the Church, in fixing special times for the communication of special blessings. Here we have the largest possible opportunity which God Himself could have secured for the communication of His supreme gift. Pentecost was a harvest festival; about that time people could come with the least degree of danger from various outlying countries and districts. There are opportunities even in Divine providence. The days are not all alike to God. We bind Him down to one day, whereas is there in reality a single day in our life that He has not a lien upon? Does He not come in upon birthdays, days of deliverance, of surprise, of unusual sorrow and joy? God is not the God of one day only; He takes up the one day and specially holds it before us, but only symbolically. What He does with that He wants to do with all the others.
II. On this occasion we have the largest possible union--
1. Of nationalities.
2. Of desire. Note the word accord. The instruments were all in tune together, without mental distraction or moral discord. God has promised nothing to disunion; the man that creates disunion in the Church must instantly be put away--he is worse than an infidel.
3. They were also gathered in one place: that is the transient word. The place is nothing, the accord is everything. Neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem will men worship the Father, but the accord, the rhythmic fellowship--this is the eternal quantity, and he who meddles with it is a violator within the very shadow of the altar. Yet who thinks of this? If a poor moral cripple should be caught suddenly in some moral fault, then is the imperfect and blind Church enraged with him, but the man who is speaking ungracious words, making unlovely statements, breathing a spirit of dissension in the Church--who takes note of him?
III. Then we have the largest possible bestowment of the Divine gift. The word all includes the followers of Christ of every name and degree. We are not to suppose that popes, prelates, preachers, ministers, leaders, alone have this gift of the Holy Spirit. We must not imagine that a minister merely as such has greater spiritual privileges than a mechanic. We are all equally priests before God, our priesthood has no standing but in our holiness. As to the Church all meeting in one place, do not believe in a place-church. Gods Church is everywhere. Many of you belong to Gods Church and may not know it. What is your heart, what is your hearts desire, what is the sovereign purpose of your life? If you can say it is to know Gods will and do it, then you are in the Church, whatever particular place you may occupy. Jesus Christ made a great promise to His disciples when they asked Him whether at that time He would restore the kingdom unto Israel. The very great-nero of the promise necessitates that the fulfilment of it shall be upon a scale proportioned to itself. Now how will He fulfil the promise of enduement with power from on high? That would be no commonplace realisation of that promise, nor was there one (verses 1-4). Imagination says, It is enough. God always takes care to satisfy the moral nature, and to call upon conscience to say, It is right.
IV. We see from this revelation how helpless we are in the matter of spiritual revivals. What did the apostles do towards this demonstration of Divine power? They did nothing but wait, pray, hope, expect--what the world, so fond of action, would call nothing. That is all we can do. Have nothing to do with those persons who organise revivals, with any mechanised resurrection of spiritual life. We need to know the power of waiting. There are those who tell us we ought to be doing something practical, and they degrade that word into a kind of mechanical exercise. Is he doing nothing who continues steadfast in prayer? or he who speaks great words of wisdom, and who calms the heart in the midst of its searching trouble? To be practical is not to be demonstrative, to be building wood, hay, stone, and metal, it may be to give thought, to offer suggestion, to stimulate the mind, to check the ambition, to elevate the purpose of life. The disciples and apostles, previous to Pentecost, did everything by doing nothing.
V. We see how unmistakable fire is. The difference between one man and another is a difference of heat. The difference between one reader and another is a difference of fire; the difference between one musician and another is that one man is all fire, and the other man all ice. The difference between one preacher and another is a difference of fire. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The outpouring of the Spirit
(second sermon):--
I. It is in the presence of the Holy Ghost that we find the true union of the Church. There are diversities of operation, and must always be, but such diversity does not impair the unity of the Spirit. There is one faith, though there be many creeds, one baptism, though there be many forms of it, one Lord, though He shine in a thousand different lights. We have been vainly looking for union in uniformity. Consider how irrational this is. Is the human race one or many? is there any difficulty in identifying a man whatever his colour, form, stature, language?--yet are there any two men exactly alike? Man has, say, some seven features, forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, form or contour, colour or complexion, yet out of those seven notes what music of facial expression has God wrought? It is so in the Christian Church. That is split up into a score of sects, but the Church itself is one. To those who look upon things from the outside merely, it would seem impossible that the Arminian and the Calvinist can both be readers of the same Bible, and worshippers of the same God. But their unity is not found in formality, in creedal expression, in propositional theology, in ecclesiastical arrangement; down in the centre of the heart lies the common organic nerve that unites Christendom in its worship and in its hope; and when the Cross is touched, the defence never comes from any one section, the whole Church with unanimous love and loyalty rushes to the vindication. This has been illustrated by the diversities which occur in the expressions of sorrow, worship, and loyalty. The Eastern sufferer lies prostrate, crying piteously and vehemently. The Western is silent and self-controlled. The difference is not in the sorrow, but in the manifestation of the sorrow. So the Oriental before his king falls fiat on the ground, and the Briton before his God only kneels. Is there, then, a difference in the spirit of worship?
II. Have we received the Holy Ghost? The question does not admit of hesitation as to its answer.
1. No man can mistake the summer sun when he sees it; he will not come home with a half tale of having seen some kind of light, but is not quite sure whether it was a gas jet, or the shining of an electric light, or a new star. The sun needs no introduction, has no signature but its own glory, and needs take no oath in proof of its identity. The shadows know it, and flee away; the flowers, and open their little hearts to its blessing; all the hills and valleys know it and quiver with a new joy.
2. We may have the form, and not the spirit. People say the great thing after all for a man to do is to do good. That is correct. But what would you think of me if I said the great thing after all is for a train to go, when the train has not been attached to the engine? You are perfectly right in saying that the train is useless if it does not go, and if the train is going it is all right. But you must bring within your argument the fact that the engine could not go without the fire, that the tram cannot go unless attached to the engine, that the engine and the train move, vibrate, fly, under the power of light--the light that was sealed up in the bins of the earth ten thousand ages ago is driving your great locomotives to-day I When, therefore, you tell me that a man must do good, and that is enough, you omit from your statement the vital consideration that we can only do these things as we are inspired by the indwelling Spirit of God. I see before me at this moment certain pieces of cord. What is wanted is but to connect these cords with a motive power, but until the connection is established they are but dead useless things. Connect them, set the engine going, let it cause the necessary rotations to fly, and presently an arrangement may be made by which from these cords we shall receive a dazzling glory. They are nothing in themselves, and yet without them the engine might go for a thousand ages and we should get no light. It is even so with us. We are here, men educated, intelligent, well-appointed, and what is it that we need but connection with the heavens, direct communication with the source of light and fire.
III. When the Holy Spirit is communicated to the Church, we must not imagine that we shall be other than ourselves, enlarged, ennobled, and developed. The Spirit will not merge our individuality in a common monotony. Whatever your power is now, the incoming of the Holy Ghost will magnify and illuminate, so that your identity Will be carried up to its highest expression and significance. And more than that, there will be a development of latent faculties, slumbering powers, the existence of which has never been suspected by our dearest friends. Look for surprises in the Church when the Holy Ghost falls upon it: dumb men will speak, ineloquent men will attract and fascinate by the sublimity of their new discourse, timid men will put on the lion, and those who had hidden themselves away in the obscurity of conscious feebleness will come out and offer themselves at the Lords altar to help in the Lords service. The resources of the Church will be multiplied in proportion as the Church enjoys the presence and power of the Holy Ghost. How the old earth has continued to keep pace with all our civilisation and science. The electric light was, as to its possibilities, in Eden, as certainly as it is in the metropolis of England to-day. The locomotive has not created anything but a new combination and a new application and use. It is even so in the Bible. The Church knows nothing yet about the possibilities of revelation. No new Bible will be written, but new readers will come. We have learning and ability and industry enough; what we want is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The baptism of the Spirit experienced
As I turned, and was about to take a seat by the fire, I received a mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost. Without any expectation of it, without ever having the thought in my mind that there was any such thing for me, without any recollection that I had ever heard the thing mentioned by any person in the world, the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul. I could feel the impression like a wave of electricity, going through and through me. Indeed, it seemed to come in waves and waves of liquid love, for I could not express it in any other way. It seemed like the very breath of God. I can recollect distinctly that it seemed to fan me like immense wings. No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love These waves came over me and over me and over me, one after the other, until I recollect I cried out: I shall die if these waves continue to pass over me. I said, Lord, I cannot bear any more; yet I had no fear of death. (C. G. Finney, D. D.)
The baptism of the Spirit: its effects
It was that baptism which made the might of weakness irresistible; it was that which sent a few poor fishermen and publicans to conquer and regenerate the resisting world. In the might of that Spirit Peter broke down the old wall of partition, and admitted the Gentiles into the Church of God. By the earthquake of that Spirit the veil of the temple was rent, and free access was given to all in the holiest place. Convicted by the might of that Spirit the Rabbi of Tarsus sent the gospel flashing like a beacon fire from Jerusalem to Antioch, from Antioch to Ephesus, from Ephesus to Rome. The might of that Spirit, working among the Roman legionaries subdued their fierce and stubborn hearts; the might of that Spirit dilated the humble intellects of the apologists of Christianity, made ridiculous the wit of Lucian, the taunts of Celsus, the logic of Porphyry, the satire of Julian. That Spirit leapt with Telemachus into the Coliseum, and put an end for ever to the hideous butchery of the gladiators in the arena; it emancipated the wretched millions of ancient slaves; it made childhood sacred with the seal of baptism, and gave to trembling womanhood the rose of chastity and honour. The might of the Spirit again dissipated the radiant glamour of Pagan fancy, broke the wand of the enchantress, hushed the song of the Syren, branded with shame the flushed face of Bacchus, and the harlot brow of Aphrodite. The might of that Spirit, abasing the Roman eagles, wove its cross, the symbol which heathenism loathed as the gibbet of the malefactor, in gold on the banners of armies, and in gems on the diadems of kings. Touched with that Spirit, the rude northern barbarians bowed their heads before the meek white Christ. Clothed in that Spirit, the missionaries went forth from St. Thomas to Ulphilas, from Ulphilas to Boniface, from Boniface to Henry Martin and Coleridge Pattison, until the great Angel stood with one foot upon the land and one upon the sea, with an everlasting gospel in His hands. In the might of that Spirit the Crusaders gave up their lives for their fair Captain, Christ. It was the love which that Spirit kindled, like a pure flame on the altar of their hearts, which made the philanthropists, from Fabula to St. Francis, from St. Francis to St. Vincent de Paul and John Howard and David Livingstone and Lord Shaftesbury, strong to confront the menacing monopolies, and to smite the hoary head of inveterate abuse. So the descending flame, the rushing mighty wind of the Holy Ghost, is the secret of all that Christianity has done for the love of Christ its Lord. Look forward for three poor centuries from the first Pentecost, and on Whitsunday a.d. 337 died, in the white robe of baptism which he had just received, Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor of Rome. Look forward for six centuries, and it was on Whitsunday of a.d. 597 that the conversion of Saxon England began with the baptism of King Ethelbert. Look forward for seven centuries and a half, and it was on Whitsunday a.d. 755 that St. Boniface was martyred, the great apostle of the Germans. Look forward nearly nineteen centuries, and to-day, in tens of thousands of Christian Churches, from the snows of Greenland to the rocky Falkland Isles, from dawn to sunset, and again from sunset to dawn, in every single spot where there are gathered the representatives of any portion of civilised peoples, there is being preached that very same gospel in every essential particular which was preached nearly two millenniums ago in Nazareth and Bethlehem. (Archdeacon Farrar.)
A new manifestation of the Divine Spirit
1. Though we cannot regard Pentecost as the birthday of the Church, since the Church was born centuries before, we are bound to regard it as the grand crowning period in the development of the plan of redemption. Periods in the working out of this plan mark the history of four thousand years, one leading to another. From Adam to Abraham, from Abraham to Moses, and from Moses to Christ, and now from Christs Advent to Pentecost. To this all the others pointed, and in it they were all crowned with glory.
2. But we are not to suppose that this was the first time the Divine Spirit visited this world. He strove with the antediluvians, inspired old prophets, and dwelt in old saints. But He never came in such a demonstration and plenitude of power before. Before He had distilled as the dew, now He comes down as a shower; before He had gleamed as the first rays of morning, now He appears as the brightness of noon. Note His action--
I. Upon the disciples.
1. Upon their ear. Wind, an emblem of the Spirit.
(1) Invisible.
(2) Mysterious.
(3) Powerful.
(4) Refreshing.
Great ,epochs are usually marked by extraordinary phenomena--e.g., the giving of the Law; the Advent; the Crucifixion, and now Pentecost.
2. Upon their eye. Fire is
(1) Purifying.
(2) Consuming.
(3) Transmuting.
(4) Diffusive.
Perhaps these supernatural appeals to the senses were intended to express the relation of the Divine Spirit.
(a) To life--wind or air is vital, the breath of life.
(b) To speech--tongues would intimate that the Spirit had given men new utterances.
(c) To purity--fire would indicate that the Spirit had to consume all the corruptions of the soul.
II. In the disciples. They were filled with the Holy Ghost. He took possession of their--
1. Minds, and made them the organs of Divine thought.
2. Hearts, and filled them with Divine emotions.
3. Bodies, and made them His living temples.
4. Wills, and made them the organs of Divine resolutions. Nothing but the Divine will fill the soul Without God there will be a boundless vacuum within.
III. through the disciples. Your things are observable concerning their speech.
1. It followed their Divine inspiration. It was not until the Spirit had given them the right thoughts and feelings that utterance came. Better be dumb than express the sentiments of the unrenewed soul. It is when the Spirit comes that we want speech, and shall have it. A Divinely filled soul must break forth in Divine language.
2. It was miraculous. The coming at once into the possession of a new language is as great a miracle as the possession of a new limb.
3. It was unspeakably useful. It served to impress the multitude with the Divinity of Christianity, and enabled the disciples to proclaim without preparation the gospel to every man. Without it the first age of the Church would have had a different history.
4. It was profoundly religious. This wonderful gift was employed to speak of Gods wonderful works. May the day soon come when God-given language, instead of being the vehicle of erroneous thought, impure feeling, depraved purpose, shall convey to men nothing but holiness, goodness, and truth. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The time of the Spirits outpouring proves the unity of the two dispensations
The time when the Spirit was poured out on the body of Christians, and the Churchs foundations laid deep and strong, revealed profound reverence for the old dispensation, raising by anticipation a protest against the heretical teaching which become current among the Gentiles in the second century, and has often since reappeared, as amongst the Anabaptists of Germany and the Antinomians at the Reformation. This view taught that there was an essential opposition between the Old and the New Testament, some holding that the Old Testament was the production of a spiritual being inferior and hostile to the eternal God. The Divine Spirit guided St. Luke, however, to teach the opposite view, and is careful to honour the eider dispensation and the old covenant, showing that Christianity was simply the perfection and completion of Judaism, and was developed therefrom as naturally as the bud of spring bursts forth into the splendid blossom and flower of summer. We trace these evidences of the Divine foreknowledge, as well as the Divine wisdom, in these Pentecostal revelations, providing for and forecasting future dangers with which, even in its earlier days, the bark of Christs Church had desperately to struggle. (G. T. Stokes, D. D.)
Effect of the Holy Spirit
Tell me, said a father to his son, what difference you can detect between two needles--one of which has received an electric shock, whilst the other has not. And yet the one has hidden virtues, which occasion will show, of which the other has none. The electric shock has rendered the one needle a magnet, which, duly balanced, will enable man to find his way across the trackless ocean. As this needle, so may that soul be which has received the electric shock of the Holy Ghost: on the ocean of a sinful world, it shall point wanderers to the heaven of everlasting rest.
Revivals of religion
I. Their nature. Religion in the soul is sometimes in a lower, sometimes in a higher state. The passage from the one to the other is more or less rapid. So in a community or church. There were periods of decline and refreshing under the Old Testament, in the time of Christ, in the time of the Reformation, in the time of Edwards and since. The phrase has now acquired the meaning of a sudden change from inattention to attention in regard to religions--to those seasons when Christian zeal is manifestly increased, and converts multiplied.
II. Their reality,
1. This has been denied--
(1) By rationalists, and all who deny the supernatural operations of the Holy Spirit.
(2) By those who deny that the converting influences of the Spirit are ever exerted except in connection with the sacraments.
(3) By those whose theory of religion does not admit of instantaneous or rapid conversions; who hold that the germ of piety implanted in baptism is, by an educational process, to be nurtured unto conversion.
(4) By those who, while admitting the facts of She Bible on the subject, seem disposed to regard them as belonging rather to the miraculous than to the normal state of the Church.
2. But granting the fact of supernatural influence, there is no objection to the theory of revivals. There is nothing in them inconsistent with the nature of religion, or with the modes of Divine operation. It is a question of fact, and both Scripture and history are decisive on the point.
3. In regard to the question whether any religious excitement is a revival or not, note--
(1) It is, of course, not to be taken for granted that every such excitement is a work of God. It may be nothing but the product of human acts and eloquence, and consist in the excitement of mere natural feelings. Much, no doubt, which passes for revival is more or less of that character.
(2) The criteria for the decision between true and false revivals, and true and false religion is the same.
(a) Their origin. Are they due to the preaching of the truth?
(b) Their character. Is the excitement humble, reverential, peaceful, benevolent: holy; or is it proud, censorious, schismatical, irreverent?
(c) Their permanent fruits. This is the only certain test.
(3) Perfection is not to be expected in revivals any more than in the religion of individuals, and they are not to be condemned because of some evils.
III. Their importance.
1. This may be estimated, proximately, in two ways--
(1) By the importance of the end which they are assumed to answer--the salvation of many souls and the elevation of the piety of the Church.
(2) Historically, i.e., by a reference to the effects they have produced. Pentecost, the Reformation, the Mission of Wesley, etc. Estimated by these standards their importance is incalculable.
2. But there are false views of their importance, viz.,
(1) That they are the only ways in which religion can be promoted. Many expect nothing except during a revival, and consequently do nothing.
(2) That they are the best way. They are great mercies, but there are greater. When there have been years of famine a superabundant harvest is a great blessing. But it had been better had each harvest been good. General permanent health is better than exuberant joyousness alternating with depression.
IV. Their dangers. These may be learned--
1. From their nature. Excitement in proportion to its intensity in an individual or a community calls into vigorous exercise both the good and bad elements which may be extant. It makes the self-righteous, the censorious, the vain, more so. It sets men on new, unauthorised or improper means of promoting religion; and the evil elements often mingle with the good, so as to be far more apparent than the good. The desolations of storm or flood are often more apparent than their benefits.
2. From experience we find the following evils are apt to attend revivals.
(1) False teachers, doctrines, measures, as in the apostolic age.
(2) False views of religion, fanaticism.
(3) Contempt of the ordinary means of grace, and neglect of them.
(4) Disparagement of religion in the eyes of serious, reflecting men.
(5) Denunciation and schisms.
(6) False views of the proper kind of preaching, and neglect of the instruction of the young. (C. Hodge, D. D.)
Revival preceded by prayer
In the winter of 1875, we were worshipping in the Brooklyn Academy of Music in the interregnum of churches. We had the usual great audiences, but I was oppressed beyond measure by the fact that conversions were not more numerous. One Tuesday I invited to my house five old, consecrated Christian men--all of them gone now, except Father Pearson, and he, in blindness and old age, is waiting for the Masters call to come up higher. These old men came, not knowing why I had invited them. I took them to the top room of my house. I said to them: I have called you here for special prayer. I am in an agony for a great turning to God of the people. We have vast multitudes in attendance and they are attentive and respectful, but I cannot see that they are saved. Let us kneel down and each one pray, and not leave this room until we are all assured that the blessing will come and has come. It was a most intense crying unto God. I said, Brethren, let this meeting be a secret, and they said it would be. That Tuesday night special service ended. On the following Friday night occurred the usual prayer-meeting. No one knew of what had occurred on Tuesday night, but the meeting was unusually thronged. Men accustomed to pray in public in great composure broke down under emotion. The people were in tears. There were sobs and silences and solemnities of such unusual power that the worshippers looked into each others faces as much as to say, What does all this mean? And, when the following Sabbath came, although we were in a secular place, over four hundred arose for prayers, and a religious awakening took place that made that winter memorable for time and for eternity. There may be in this building many who were brought to God during that great ingathering, but few of them know that the upper room in my house in Quincy Street, where those five old Christian men poured out their souls before God, was the secret place of thunder. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Belief in the Holy Ghost
I believe in the Holy Ghost, is not with us a mere formal expression; but the utterance of our heartfelt conviction. I have heard of a Church school in which the children were taught the Apostles Creed, and each child had to say a sentence. One day the clergyman came in, and asked them to repeat it to him. They managed all right for a time, but all of a sudden there was an awkward silence. The clergyman said, Why dont you go on? One trembling little voice replied, Please, sir, the boy that believes in the Holy Ghost isnt here to-day. I fear that is true of many churches, and many pulpits; those who believe in the Holy Ghost are not there! His very name is scarcely heard in some places of worship; and all ascription of glory and honour to Him is lost in the mention of an influence. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Waiting where the Spirit is likely to come
That ship does not seem to stir; theres not a breath of wind to move her sails; said one of our little company. No, replied another, but she is where she will get the wind as soon as it begins to blow. And so it proved; for presently her canvas began to fill, and ere long she was speeding towards her desired haven. It is a good thing to be in the way of any blessing that may be coming. Perhaps you are not yet a Christian; but you say that you long to be one. Then seek to get where the sacred wind is likely to blow. The Spirit, like the wind, bloweth where it listeth; but there are special times and places in which His gracious influences are usually manifested. See that you are where you may expect the heavenly breeze. Prayer-meetings, Bible-classes, special services, and places of worship where the gospel of the grace of God is preached in all its fulness, are the spots where the Spirit delights to work; go there, and may the Divine afflatus fill thee, and speed thee on thy heavenward voyage! (J. W. Harrald.)
Are we ready for spiritual power
This power is what we want; but the question is, are we ready for it? Are we fit to be used, willing to be used, to be used anywhere, to be apparently unused, to be nothing, that Christ may be all? The possession of power is a great responsibility; perhaps the self-will and self-esteem of some of us would make the possession of such power a very deadly thing. Andrew Murray says, We want to get possession of the power, and use it; God wants the power to get possession of us, and use us. If we give ourselves to the power to rule in us, the power will give itself to us to rule through us. We are waiting here this morning to be filled with power. Perhaps we had better wait first to be emptied. (T. J. Longhurst.)
Awaking to truth
The Holy Spirit comes like a rushing wind upon the disciples, and in an hour they are new men. The jailer hears and believes in a night. Luther, while toiling up the holy stairs of the Lateran, holding to salvation by works, drops that scheme on the way, and lays hold of the higher one of salvation by faith. Ignatius Loyola, in a dream, has sight of the Mother of Christ, and awakes a soldier of Jesus. It is often so. We do not so much grow into the possession of new spiritual truths as we awake to them. Their coming is not like ,the sunrise, that slowly discloses the shapes and relations of things, but is like the lightning, that illuminates earth and sky in one quick flash, and so imprints them for ever on the vision. (Theodore T. Munger.)
The gift of the Spirit dependent upon conditions
How to realise the immanence, or possess ourselves of the indwelling of this Holy Spirit, is purely a question of conditions. Let me illustrate my meaning. To a man in perfect health an atmosphere impregnated with disease-germs is comparatively harmless; but should he approach a typhus-stricken patient with a body exhausted by exercise, or faint from want of food, the probabilities are that he will fall a prey to the disease. Again, as a man brings himself into harmony with all the laws of his being, life assumes a bright and joyous aspect. Forms, tints, sounds, the shouldering hill, the roseate hues of dawn, the sweet-voiced song of birds, rouse in him the spirit of devotion, and appeal to him as revelations of a hand and mind Divine. But if his eye be jaundiced, his liver torpid, his pulse irregular, his brain congested, then creation becomes a blank, the world a wilderness, and life a weariness and a woe. Or, once more, take mental conditions. Have you never, in reading a book, marked with pencil some passage that suddenly flashed its meaning in upon your mind; and then, some six months later, in re-reading the same passage, wondered how it was you failed to re-experience the inspiration of the former time? There was no change in the book; the change was in your mental condition. Have you never, in hearing some strain of music, felt that it led you into a world of fancy, a realm of strange unutterable delight, and yet, forsooth, when on a later day the same chords have been touched by the same hands, to your astonishment they languidly and meaninglessly floated past your ear without rousing the imagery of your soul? There was no change in the music, the change was in the mental conditions of your life; at one time you were responsive; at the other, dull and inert. In all spheres of our existence, joy, truth, love, are proportioned to conditions. And so in the realm of the Spirit. Fulfil the Divine conditions and you are en rapport with the Divine life. Permit those conditions to go unfulfilled, and the Divine life will be to you as though it were not. And oh! how simple these conditions are! They do not consist in lashing yourself into a frenzy, nor in shouting yourself into hoarseness, nor in mutilating yourself. No. The conditions are prayer and supplication from hearts one in accord. It is prayer, and prayer only, that fits us for Divine indwelling; it is prayer, and prayer only, that puts us in touch with God. A prayerless life can no more draw to itself the Holy Spirit than glass can draw the electric fire; nor can a prayerless Church bring forth the fruits of holiness any more than the frigid zone can call forth and perfect a tropical growth. Ye have not because ye ask not; and ye have not because ye ask amiss. Live in the atmosphere of prayer; for therein, and therein only, will you fit yourself for the Divine indwelling; therein, and therein only, will you be vigorous with the life of God. (J. Marshall Mather.)
All with one accord in one place.--
The outward unity of the Pentecostal Church
There was unity of spirit and unity in open manifestation to the world at large. Christs disciples, when they received the gifts of heavens choicest blessings, were not split up into dozens of different organisations, each of them hostile to the others, and each striving to aggrandise itself at the expense of kindred brotherhoods. They had keenly in remembrance the teaching of our Lords great Eucharistic supplication (Joh_17:21). There was visible unity among the followers of Christ; there was interior love and charity, finding expression in external union which qualified the disciples for the fuller reception of the spirit of love, and rendered them powerful in doing Gods work amongst men. What a contrast the Christian Church presents to this now! There are some persons who rejoice in the vast divisions in the Church; but they are shortsighted and inexperienced in the dangers and scandals which have flowed, and are flowing, from them. It is indeed in the mission field that the schisms among Christians are most evidently injurious. When the heathen see the soldiers of the Cross split up among themselves into hostile organisations, they very naturally say that it will be time enough when their own divergencies and difficulties have been reconciled to come and convert persons who at least possess internal union and concord. Then, again, these divisions lead to a wondrous waste of power both at home and abroad. If men believe that the preaching of the Cross of Christ is the power of God unto salvation, and that millions are perishing from want of that blessed story, can they feel contentment when the great work of competing sects consists, not in spreading that salvation, but in building up their own cause by proselytising from the neighbours, and gathering unto their own organisation persons who have already been made partakers of Christ Jesus? And if this competition of sects be injurious and wasteful within the bounds of Christendom, surely it is infinitely more so when various contending bodies concentrate all their forces, as they so often do, on the same locality in some unconverted land, and seem as eagerly desirous of gaining proselytes from one another as from the mass of paganism. Then, too, to take it from another point of view, what a loss in generalship, in Christian strategy, in power of concentration, results from our unhappy divisions! The united efforts made by Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Greeks, are indeed all too small for the vast work of converting the heathen world if they were made with the greatest skill and wisdom. How much more insufficient they must be when a vast proportion of the power employed is wasted, so far as the work of conversion is concerned, because it is used simply in counteracting and withstanding the efforts of other Christian bodies. How different it was in the primitive Church! Within one hundred and fifty years, or little more, of the ascension of Christ, and the outpouring of the Divine Spirit, a Christian writer could boast that the Christian Church had permeated the whole Roman empire to such an extent that if the Christians abandoned the cities they would be turned into howling deserts. This triumphant march was simply in accordance with the Saviours promise. The world saw that Christians loved one another, and the world was consequently converted. (G. T. Stokes, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 14 Chapter 5
Chapter 5
THE PENTECOSTAL BLESSING.
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Act_2:1-4
IN these words we find the record of the event which completed the Church, and endowed it with that mysterious power which then was, and ever since has been, the source of its true life and of its highest success.
The time when the gift of the Spirit was vouchsafed is marked for us as "when the day of Pentecost was now come." Here again, as in the fact of the ascension and the waiting of the Church, we trace the outline of Christianity in Judaism, and see in the typical ceremonial of the old dispensation the outline and shadow of heavenly realities.
What was the history of the Pentecostal feast? That feast fulfilled in the Jewish system a twofold place. It was one of the great natural festivals whereby God taught His ancient people to sanctify the different portions of the year. The Passover was the feast of the first ripe corn, celebrating the beginning of the barley harvest, as again the Pentecostal loaves set forth, solemnised, and sanctified the close of the wheat harvest. No one was permitted, according to the twenty-third of Leviticus, to partake of the fruits of the earth till the harvest had been sanctified by the presentation to God of the first ripe sheaf, just as at the greatest paschal festival ever celebrated, Christ, the first ripe sheaf of that vast harvest of humanity which is maturing for its Lord, was taken out of the grave Where the rest of the harvest still lies, and presented in the inner temple of the universe as the first-fruits of humanity unto God. At Pentecost, on the other hand, it was not a sheaf but a loaf that was offered to signify the completion of the work begun at the Passover. At Pentecost the law is thus laid down: "Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth parts of an ephah: they shall be of fine flour, they shall be baken with leaven, for first-fruits unto the Lord". {Lev_23:17} Pentecost, therefore, was the harvest festival, the feast of ingathering for the Jews; and when the type found its completion in Christ, Pentecost became the feast of ingathering for the nations, when the Church, the mystical body of Christ, was presented unto God to be an instrument of His glory and a blessing to the world at large. This feast, as we have already intimated, was a fitting season for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and that for another reason. Pentecost was considered by the Jews as a festival commemorative of the giving of the law at Mount Sinai in the third month after they had been delivered from the bondage of Egypt. It was a fitting season, therefore, for the bestowal of the Spirit, whereby the words of ancient prophecy were fulfilled, "I will put My law in their inward parts, and in their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." {Jer_31:33}
The time when the Spirit was poured out on the assembled body of Christians, and the Churchs foundations laid deep and strong, revealed profound reverence for the old dispensation, raising by anticipation a protest against the heretical teaching which became current among the Gnostics in the second century, and has often since found place in Christian circles, as amongst the Anabaptists of Germany and the Antinomians at the time of the Reformation. This view taught that there was an essential opposition between the Old and the New Testament, some maintainers of it, like the ancient Gnostics, holding that the Old Testament was the production of a spiritual being inferior and hostile to the Eternal God. The Divine Spirit guided St. Luke, however, to teach the opposite view, and is careful to honour the elder dispensation and the old covenant, showing that
Christianity was simply the perfection and completion of Judaism, and was developed therefrom as naturally as the bud of spring bursts forth into the splendid blossom and flower of summer. We trace these evidences of the Divine foreknowledge, as well as of the Divine wisdom, in these Pentecostal revelations, providing for and forecasting future dangers with which, even in its earlier days, the bark of Christs Church had desperately to struggle.
I. Now let us take the circumstances of the Pentecostal blessing as they are stated, for every separate detail bears with it an important message. The place and the other circumstances of the outpouring of the Spirit are full of instruction. The first disciples were all with one accord in one place. There was unity of spirit and unity in open manifestation to the world at large. Christs disciples, when they received the gifts of heavens choicest blessings, were not split up into dozens of different organisations, each of them hostile to the others, and each striving to aggrandise itself at the expense of kindred brotherhoods. They had keenly in remembrance the teaching of our Lords great Eucharistic supplication when He prayed to His Father for His people that "they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me." There was visible unity among the followers of Christ; there was interior love and charity, finding expression in external union which qualified the disciples for the fuller reception of the spirit of love, and rendered them powerful in doing Gods work amongst men. The state of the Apostles and the blessing then received have an important message for the Christianity of our own and of every age. What a contrast the Christian Church-taking the word in its broadest sense as comprising all those who profess and call themselves Christians-presents at the close of the nineteenth when compared with the opening years of the first century! May not many of the problems and difficulties which the Church of to-day experiences be traced up to this woeful contrast? Behold England nowadays, with its two hundred sects, all calling themselves by the name of Christ; take the Christian world, with its Churches mutually hostile, spending far more time and trouble on winning proselytes one from the other than upon winning souls from the darkness of heathenism; - surely this one fact alone, the natural result of our departure from the Pentecostal condition of unity and peace, is a sufficient evidence of our evil plight. We do not purpose now to go into any discussion of the causes whence have sprung the divisions of Christendom. "An enemy hath done this" is a quite sufficient explanation, for assuredly the great enemy of souls and of Christ has counter-worked and traversed the work of the Church and the conversion of the world most effectually thereby. There are some persons who rejoice in the vast variety of divisions in the Church; but they are shortsighted and inexperienced in the danger and scandals which have flowed, and are flowing, from them. It is indeed in the mission field that the schisms among Christians are most evidently injurious. When the heathen see the soldiers of the Cross split up among themselves into hostile organisations, they very naturally say that it will be time enough when their own divergences and difficulties have been reconciled to come and convert persons who at least possess internal union and concord. The visible unity of the Church was from the earliest days a strong argument, breaking down pagan prejudice. Then, again, not only do the divisions of Christians place a stumbling-block in the way of the conversion of the heathen, but they lead to a wondrous waste of power both at home and abroad. Surely one cannot look at the religious state of a town or village in England without realising at a glance the evil results of our divisions from this point of view. If men believe that the preaching of the Cross of Christ is the power of God unto salvation, and that millions are perishing from want of that blessed story, can they feel contentment when the great work of competing sects consists, not in spreading that salvation, but in building up their own cause by proselytising from their neighbours, and gathering into their own organisation persons who already have been made partakers of Christ Jesus? And if this competition of sects be injurious and wasteful within the bounds of Christendom, surely it is infinitely more so when various contending bodies concentrate all their forces, as they so often do, on the same locality in some unconverted land, and seem as eagerly desirous of gaining proselytes from one another as from the mass of paganism.
Then, too, to take it from another point of view, what a loss in generalship, in Christian strategy, in power of concentration, results from our unhappy divisions? The united efforts made by Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Greeks, are indeed all too small for the vast work of converting the heathen world if they were made with the greatest skill and wisdom. How much more insufficient they must be-when a vast proportion of the power employed is wasted, as far as the work of conversion is concerned, because it is used simply in counteracting and withstanding the efforts of other Christian bodies. I say nothing as to the causes of dissensions. In many cases they may have been absolutely necessary, though in too many cases I fear they have resulted merely from views far too narrow and restrained; I merely point out the evil of division in itself as being, not a help, as some would consider it, but a terrible hindrance in the way of the Church of Christ. How different it was m the primitive Church! Within one hundred and fifty years, or little more, of the ascension of Jesus Christ and the outpouring of the Divine Spirit, a Christian writer could boast that the Christian Church had permeated the whole Roman empire to such an extent that if the Christians abandoned the cities they would be turned into howling deserts. This triumphant march of Christianity was simply in accordance with the Saviours promise. The world saw that Christians loved one another, and the world was consequently converted. But when primitive love cooled down, and divisions and sects in abundance sprang up after the conversion of Constantine the Great, then the progress of Gods work gradually ceased, till at last Mahometanism arose to roll back the tide of triumphant success which had followed the preaching of the Cross, and to reduce beneath Satans sway many a fair region, like North Africa; Egypt, and Asia Minor, which once had been strongholds of Christianity. Surely when one thinks of the manifold evils at home and abroad which the lack of the Pentecostal visible union and concord has caused, as well as of the myriads who still remain in darkness while nominal Christians bite and devour one another, we may well join in the glowing language of Jeremy Taylors splendid prayer for the whole Catholic Church, as he cries, "O Holy Jesus, King of the saints and Prince of the Catholic Church, preserve Thy spouse whom Thou hast purchased with Thy right hand, and redeemed and cleansed with Thy blood. O preserve her safe from schism, heresy, and sacrilege. Unite all her members with the bands of faith, hope, and charity, and an external communion when it shall seem good in Thine eyes. Let the daily sacrifice of prayer and sacramental thanksgiving never cease, but be for ever presented to Thee, and for ever united to the intercession of her dearest Lord, and for ever prevail for the obtaining for each of its members grace and blessing, pardon and salvation."
II. Furthermore, we have brought before us the external manifestations or evidences of the interior gift of the Spirit really bestowed upon the Apostles at Pentecost. There was a sound as of a rushing mighty wind; there were tongues like as of fire, a separate and distinct tongue resting upon each disciple; and lastly there was the miraculous manifestation of speech in divers languages. Let us take these spiritual phenomena in order. First, then, "there came from heaven a sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting"; a sign which was repeated in the scene narrated in the fourth chapter and the thirty-first verse, where we are told that "when they had prayed, the place was shaken wherein they were gathered together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." The appearances of things that were seen responded to the movements and powers that were unseen. It was a supernatural moment. The powers of a new life, the forces of a new kingdom were coming into operation, and, as the result, manifestations that never since have been experienced found place among men. We can find a parallel to what then happened in scientific investigations. Geologists and astronomers push back the beginning of the world and of the universe, at large to a vast distance, but they all acknowledge that there must have been a period when phenomena were manifested, powers and forces called into operation, of which men have now no experience. The beginning, or the repeated beginnings, of the various epochs must have been times of marvels, which men can now only dream about. Pentecost was for the Christian with a sense of the awful importance of life and of time and of the individual soul a far greater beginning and a grander epoch than any mere material one. It was the beginning of the spiritual life, the inauguration of the spiritual kingdom of the Messiah, the Lord and Ruler of the material universe; and therefore we ought to expect, or at least not to be surprised, that marvellous phenomena, signs and wonders even of a physical type, should accompany and celebrate the scene. The marvels of the story told in the first of Genesis find a parallel in the marvels told in the second of Acts. The one passage sets forth the foundation of the material universe, the other proclaims the nobler foundations of the spiritual universe. Let us take it again from another point of view. Pentecost was, in fact, Moses on Sinai or Elijah on Horeb over again, but in less terrific form. Moses and Elijah may be styled the founder and the re-founder of the old dispensation, just as St. Peter and the Apostles may be called the founders of the new dispensation. But what a difference in the inaugural scene! No longer with thunder and earthquake, and mountains rent, but in keeping with a new and more peaceful economy, there came from heaven the sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind. It is not, too, the only occasion where the idea of wind is connected with that of the Divine Spirit and its mysterious operations. How very similar, as the devout mind will trace, are the words and description of St. Luke when narrating this first outpouring of the Spirit, to the words of the Divine Master repeated by St. John, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."
There appeared, too, tongues, separate and distinct, sitting upon each of them. The outward and visible sign manifested on this occasion was plainly typical of the new dispensation and of the chief means of its propagation. The personality of the Holy Ghost is essentially a doctrine of the new dispensation. The power and influence of Gods Spirit are indeed often recognised in the Old Testament. Aholiab and Bezaleel are said to have been guided by the Spirit of God as they cunningly devised the fabric of the first tabernacle. The Spirit of Jehovah began to move Samson at times in the camp of Dan; and, on a later occasion, the same Spirit is described as descending upon him with such amazing force that he went down and slew thirty men of Ashkelon. These and many other similar passages present to us the Jewish conception of the Spirit of God and His work. He was a force, a power, quickening the human mind, illuminating with genius and equipping with physical strength those whom God chose to be champions of His people against the surrounding heathen. Aholiabs skill in mechanical operations, and Samsons strength, and Sauls prophesying, and Davids musical art, were all of them the gifts of God. What a noble, what a grand, inspiring view of life and lifes gifts and work, is there set before us. It is the old lesson taught by St. James, though so often forgotten by men when they draw a distinction between things sacred and things secular, "Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above, coming down from the Father of light." A deeper view, indeed, of the Divine Spirit and His work on the soul can be traced in the prophets, but then they were watchers upon the mountains, who discerned from afar the approach of a nobler and a brighter day. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor." That was Isaiahs statement of his work as adopted by our Lord; and now, at the very foundation of the Church, this deeper and nobler tone of thought concerning the Spirit is proclaimed, when there appeared tongues like as of fire sitting upon each of them.
The sign of the Holy Spirits presence was a tongue of fire. It was a most suitable emblem, pregnant with meaning, and indicative of the large place which the human voice was to play in the work of the new dispensation, while the supernatural fire declared that the mere unaided human voice would avail nothing. The voice needs to be quickened and supported by that Divine fire, that superhuman energy and power, which the Holy Ghost alone can confer. The tongue of fire pointed on the Pentecostal morn to the important part in the Churchs life, and in the propagation of the gospel, which prayer, and praise, and preaching would hereafter occupy. It would have been well, indeed, had the Church ever remembered what the Holy Ghost thus taught, specially concerning the propagation of the gospel, for it would have been thereby saved many a disgraceful page of history. The human tongue, illuminated and sanctified by fire from the inner sanctuary, was about to be the instrument of the gospels advancement, -not penal laws, not the sword and fire of persecution; and so long as the divinely-appointed means were adhered to, so long the course of our holy religion was one long-continued triumph. But when the world and the devil were able to place in the hands of Christs spouse their own weapons of violence and force, when the Church forgot the words of her Master, "My kingdom is not of this world," and the teachings embodied in the symbol of the tongue of fire, then spiritual paralysis fell upon religious effort; and even where human law and power have compelled an external conformity to the Christian system, as they undoubtedly have done in some cases, yet all vital energy, all true godliness, have been there utterly lacking in the religion established by means so contrary to the mind of Christ. Very good men have made sad mistakes in this matter. Archbishop Ussher was a man whose deep piety equalled his prodigious learning, yet he maintained that the civil sword ought to be used to repress false doctrine; the divines of the Westminster Assembly have left their opinion on record, that it is the duty of the magistrate to use the sword on behalf of Christs kingdom; Richard Baxter taught that the toleration of doctrines which he considered false was sinful; and all of them forgot the lesson of the day of Pentecost, that the tongue of fire was to be the only weapon permissible in the warfare of the kingdom whose rule is over spirits, not over bodies. The history of religion in England amply proves this. The Church of England enjoyed, about the middle of the last century, the greatest temporal prosperity. Her prelates held high estate, and her security was fenced round by a perfect bulwark of stringent laws. Yet her life-blood was fast ebbing away, and her true hold upon the nation was speedily relaxing. The very highest ranks of society, whom worldly policy attached nominally to her communion, had lost all faith in her supernatural work and commission. A modern historian has shown this right well in his description of the death-scene of Queen Caroline, a woman of eminent intellectual qualities, who had played no small part in the religious life of this nation during the reign of her husband George II Queen Caroline came to die, and was passing away surrounded by a crowd of attendants and courtiers. The whole Court, permeated by the spirit of earthliness which then prevailed, was disturbed by the death of the Queens body, but no one seems to have thought of the Queens soul, till some one mildly suggested that, for decencys sake, the Archbishop of Canterbury should be sent for that he might offer up prayer with the dying woman. Writing here in Ireland, I cannot forget that it was just the same with us at that very period. Religion was here upheld by Worldly power; the Church, which should have been viewed as simply a spiritual power, was regarded and treated as a mere branch of the civil service, and true religion sank to its lowest depths. And we reaped in ourselves the due reward of our deeds. The very men whose voices were loudest in public for the repression of Romanism were privately living in grossest neglect of the offices and laws of religion and morality, because they in their hearts despised an institution which had forgotten the Pentecostal gift, and sought victory with the weapons of the flesh, and not with those of the spirit. May God for evermore protect His Church from such miserable mistakes, and lead her to depend more and more upon the power of the blessed and ever-present Pentecostal gift!
A separate and distinct tongue, too, sat upon each individual assembled in the upper room, -significant of the individual character of our holy religion. Christianity has a twofold aspect, neither of which can with impunity be neglected. Christianity has a corporate aspect. Our Lord Jesus Christ came not so much to teach a new doctrine as to establish a new society, based on newer and higher principles, and working towards a higher and nobler end than any society ever previously founded. This side of Christianity was exaggerated in the Middle Ages. The Church, its unity, its interests, its welfare as a corporation, then dominated every other consideration. Since the Reformation, however, men have run to the other extreme. They have forgotten the social and corporate view of Christianity, and only thought of it as it deals with individuals. Men have looked at Christianity as it deals with the individual alone and have forgotten and ignored the corporate side of its existence. Truth is many-sided indeed, and no side of truth can with impunity be neglected. Some have erred in dwelling too much on the corporate aspect of Christianity; others have erred in dwelling too much on its individual aspect. The New Testament alone combines both in due proportion, and teaches the importance and necessity of a Church, as against the extreme Protestant, on the one hand, who will reduce religion to a mere individual matter; and of a personal religion, an individual interest in the Spirits presence, as here indicated by the tongues which sat upon each of them, as against the extreme Romanist, on the other hand, who looks upon the Church as everything, to the neglect of the life and progress of the individual. This passage does not at the same time lend any assistance to those who would thence conclude that there was no distinction between clergy and laity, and that no ministerial office was intended to exist under the dispensation of the kingdom of heaven. The Spirit, doubtless, was poured out upon all the disciples, and not upon the Twelve alone, upon the day of Pentecost, as also upon the occasion of the conversion of Cornelius and his household. Yet this fact did not lead the Apostles and early Christians to conclude that an appointed and ordained ministry might be dispensed with. The Lord miraculously bestowed His graces and gifts at Pentecost and in the centurions house at Caesarea, because the gospel dispensation was opened on these occasions first of all to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. But when, subsequently to the formal opening, we read of the gifts of the Spirit, we find that their bestowal is connected with the ministry of the Apostles, of St. Peter and St. John at Samaria, or of St. Paul at Ephesus. The Holy Ghost was poured out upon all the company assembled in the upper room, or in the centurions house; yet the Apostles saw nothing in this fact inconsistent with a ministerial organisation, else they would not have set apart the seven men full of faith and of the Holy Ghost to minister to the widows at Jerusalem, nor would they have laid hands upon elders in every church which they founded, nor would St. Paul have written, "He that seeketh the office of a bishop desireth a good work," nor would St. Peter have exhorted the elders to a diligent oversight of the flock of God after the model of the Good Shepherd Himself. St. Peter clearly thought that the Pentecostal gifts did not obliterate the distinction which existed between the shepherds and the sheep, between a fixed and appointed ministry and the flock to whom they should minister, though in the very initial stages of the miraculous movement the Spirit was bestowed without any human agency upon men and women alike.
III. Lastly, in this passage we find another external proof of the Spirits presence in the miraculous gift of tongues. That gift indicated to the Apostles and to all ages the tongue as the instrument by which the gospel was to be propagated, as the symbol fire indicated the cleansing and purifying effects of the Spirit. The gift of tongues is one that has ever excited much speculation, and specially so during the present century, when, as some will remember, an extraordinary attempt to revive them was made, some sixty years ago, by the followers of the celebrated Edward Irving. Devout students of Scripture have loved to trace in this incident at Pentecost, at the very foundation of the new dispensation, a reversal of that confusion of tongues which happened at Babel, and have seen in it the removal of "the covering cast over all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations." The precise character of the gift of tongues has of late years exercised many minds, and different explanations have been offered of the phenomena. Some have viewed it as a miracle of hearing, not of speaking, and maintained that the Apostles did not speak different languages at all, but that they all spake the one Hebrew tongue, while the Jews of the various nationalities then assembled miraculously heard the gospel in their own language.
The miracle is in that case intensified one hundredfold; while not one single difficulty which men feel is thereby alleviated. Meyer and a large number of German critics explain the speaking with tongues as mere ecstatic or rapturous utterances in the ordinary language of the disciples. Meyer thinks too that some foreign Jews had found their way into the band of the earliest disciples. They naturally delivered their ecstatic utterances, not in Aramaic, but in the foreign tongues to which they were accustomed, and legend then exaggerated this natural fact into the form which the Acts of the Apostles and the tradition of the Christian Church have ever since maintained. It is, indeed, rather difficult to understand the estimate formed by such critics of the gift of tongues, whether bestowed on the day of Pentecost or during the subsequent ministrations of St. Paul at Corinth and Ephesus. Meyer is obliged to confess that there were some marvellous phenomena in Corinth and other places to which St. Paul bears witness. He describes himself as surpassing the whole Corinthian Church in this particular gift, {1Co_14:18} so that if St. Pauls testimony is to be relied upon, -and Meyer lays a great deal of weight upon it, -we must accept it as conclusively proving that there existed a power of speaking in various languages among the first Christians. But the explanation offered by many critics of the gift of tongues as undoubtedly exercised at Corinth reduces it to something very like those fanatical exhibitions, witnessed among the earliest followers of the Irvingite movement, or, to put it plainly, to a mere uttering of gibberish, unworthy of apostolic notice save in the language of sternest censure, as being a disorderly and foolish proceeding disgraceful to the Christian community.
Meyers theory and that of many modern expositors seems, then, to me very unsatisfactory, raising up more difficulties than it solves. But it may be asked, what explanation do you offer of the Pentecostal miracle? and I can find no one more satisfactory than the old-fashioned one, that there was a real bestowal of tongues, a real gift of speaking in foreign languages, granted to the Apostles, to be used as occasion required when preaching the gospel in heathen lands. Dean Stanley, in his commentary on Corinthians, gives, as was his wont, a clear and attractive statement of the newer theory, putting in a vigorous shape the objections to the view here maintained. I know there are difficulties connected with this view, but many of these difficulties arise from our ignorance of the state and condition of the early Church, while others may spring from our very imperfect knowledge of the relations between mind and body. But whatever difficulties attend the explanation I offer, they are as nothing compared with the difficulties which attend the modern explanations to which I have referred. What, then, is our theory, which we call the old-fashioned one? It is simply this, that on the day of Pentecost Christ bestowed upon His Apostles the power of speaking in foreign languages, according to His promise reported by St. Mark, {Mar_16:17} "They shall speak with new tongues." This was the theory of the ancient Church. Irenaeus speaks of the tongues as given "that all nations might be enabled to enter into life"; while Origen explains that "St. Paul was made a debtor to different nations, because, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, he had received the gift of speaking in the languages of all nations." This has been the continuous theory of the Church as expressed in one of the most ancient portions of the Liturgy, the proper prefaces in the Communion orifice. The preface for Whir Sunday sets forth the facts commemorated on that day, as the other proper prefaces state the facts of the Incarnation, the Resurrection, and Ascension. The fact which Whit Sunday celebrates, and for which special thanks are then offered, is this, that then "the Holy Ghost came down from heaven in the likeness of fiery tongues, lighting upon the Apostles, to teach them, and to lead them to all truth; giving them both the gift of divers languages, and also boldness with fervent zeal constantly to preach the gospel unto all nations."
Now this traditional interpretation has not only the authority of the past on its side; we can also see many advantages which must have accrued from a gift of this character. The preface we have just cited states that the tongues were bestowed for the preaching of the gospel among all nations. And surely not merely as a striking sign to unbelievers, but also as a great practical help in missionary labours, such a gift of tongues would have been invaluable to the Church at its very birth. There was then neither time, nor money, nor organisation to prepare men as missionaries of the Cross. A universal commission and work were given to twelve men, chiefly Galilean peasants, to go forth and found the Church. How could they have been fitted for this work unless God had bestowed upon them some such gift of speech? The vast diversity of tongues throughout the world is now one of the chief hindrances with which missionary effort has to contend. Years have often to elapse before any effective steps can be taken in the work of evangelisation, simply because the question of the language bars the way. It would have been only in accordance with Gods action in nature, where great epochs have been ever signalised by extraordinary phenomena, if such a great era-making epoch as the birth of the Church of Christ had been marked with extraordinary spiritual powers and developments, which supplied the want of that learning and those organisations which the Lord now leaves to the spiritual energies of the Church itself. But it is sometimes said, we never hear of this power as used by the Apostles for missionary purposes. Nothing, however, is a surer rule in historical investigations than this, "Never trust to mere silence," specially when the records are but few, scanty, fragmentary. We know but very little of the ways, worship, actions of the Apostles. Silence is no evidence either as to what they did or did not do. Some of them went into barbarous and distant lands, as history states. Eusebius (3:1) tells us that St. Thomas received Parthia as his allotted region, while St. Andrew taught in Scythia. Eusebius is an author on whom great reliance is justly placed. He is one, too, whose accuracy and research have been again and again confirmed in our own day by discoveries of every kind. I see, then, no reason why we should not depend upon him upon this point as well as upon others. Now if the Apostles taught in Scythia and Parthia, what an enormous advantage it must have given them in their work among a strange and barbarous people if, by means of the Pente costal blessing, they could at once proclaim a crucified Saviour. It is sometimes said, how ever, the gift of speaking with foreign languages was not required by the Apostles for missionary purposes, as Greek alone would carry a man all through the world, and Greek the Apostles evidently knew. But people in saying so forget that there is a great difference between possessing enough of a language to travel over the world, and speaking with such facility as enables one to preach. English will now carry a man over the world, but English will not enable him to preach to the people of India or of China. Greek might carry Apostles all over the Roman Empire, and might enable St. Thomas to be understood by the courtiers of the great kings of Parthia, where traces of the ancient Greek language and civilisation, derived from Alexanders time, long prevailed. But Greek would not enable a primitive Christian teacher to preach fluently among the Celts of Galatia, or of Britain, or among the natives of Spain or of Phrygia, or the barbarians of Scythia. We see from St. Pauls case how powerful was the hold which the Aramaic language had over the people of Jerusalem. When the excited mob heard St. Paul speak in the Hebrew tongue they listened patiently, because their national feelings, the sentiments which sprang up in childhood and were allied with their noblest hopes, were touched. So must it have been all the world over. The Pentecostal gift of tongues was a powerful help in preaching the gospel, because, like the Masters promise to assist their minds and their tongues in the hour of need, it freed the Apostles from care, anxiety, and difficulties, which would have sorely hindered their great work. But while I offer this explanation, I acknowledge that it has its own difficulties; but then every theory has its difficulties, and we can only balance difficulties against difficulties, selecting that theory which seems to have the fewest. The conduct, for instance, of the Corinthians, who seem to have used the gift of tongues simply to minister to the spirit of display, not to edification or to missionary work, seems to some a great difficulty. But after all is not their conduct simply an instance of human sin, perverting and misusing a divine gift, such as we often see still? God still bestows His gifts, the real outcome and work of the Spirit. Man takes them, treats them as his own, and misuses them for his own purposes of sin and selfishness. What else did the Corinthians do, save that the gift which they abused was an exceptional one; but then their circumstances, times, opportunities, punishments, all were exceptional and peculiar. The one thing that was not peculiar was this, the abiding tendency of human nature to degrade Divine gifts and blessings. There must, we again repeat, be difficulties and mystery connected with this subject, no matter what view we take. Perhaps, too, we are no fitting judges of the gifts be stowed on the primitive Church, or the phenomena manifested under such extraordinary circumstances, when everything, every power, every force, every organisation, was arrayed against the company of the twelve Apostles. Surely miracles and miraculous powers seem absolutely necessary and natural in such a case. We are not now sufficient or capable judges of events as they then existed. Perhaps, too, we are not sufficient judges because we do not possess that spirit which would make us to sympathise with and understand the state of the Church at that time. "They were all together in one place." The Church was then visibly united, and internally united too. A nineteenth-century Christian, with the endless divisions of Christendom, is scarcely the most fitting judge of the Church and the Churchs blessings when the Spirit of the Master pervaded it and the prayer of the Master for visible unity was fulfilled in it. Christendom is weak now from its manifold divisions. Even in a mere natural way, and from a mere human point of view, we can see how its divisions destroy its power and efficacy as Christs witness in the world. But when we take the matter from a spiritual point of view, we cannot even guess what marvellous gifts and endowments, needful for the edification of His people and the conversion of the world, we now lack from want of the Divine charity and peace which ruled the hearts of the twelve as they assembled in the upper room that Pentecostal morn. We shall better understand primitive gifts when we get back primitive union.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 1. When the day of Pentecost was fully come.…
1. When the day of Pentecost was fully come. The entire period between it and the passover, the waiting period of the disciples, was filled full. Pentecost, one of the three great annual festivals of the Jews, lasted only one day, was on the fiftieth day from the morrow after the passover Sabbath (Lev. 23:15–22). The Savior, crucified on Friday, was in the tomb on the passover Sabbath, and rose on Sunday, the day from whence the count began. The Sunday following would be the eighth day, and the fiftieth day would fall on Sunday, the first day of the eighth week. Hence, the ancient church observed Pentecost on the first day of the week. For fuller discussion, see Meyer, Howson and Milligan on this passage. All agree that Pentecost came on Sunday. Pentecost was the feast of the grain harvest (Exod. 23:16; 34:22, 23), and was also held by the Jews to be the anniversary of the giving of the law. They were all … in one place. Not only the apostles, but the hundred and twenty disciples. They probably had an intimation that the promised day had come.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 14 Act_2:1. Pentecost.—So called from the date of its occurrence,…
CRITICAL REMARKS
Act_2:1. Pentecost.—So called from the date of its occurrence, the fiftieth from the second day of the Passover. Fully come.—Lit. was being fulfilled, referring to the completion of the interval between the two feasts. If the 16th Nisan was a Friday, the fiftieth day forward would fall upon a Saturday, or the Jewish Sabbath. With one accord.—ὁμοθυμαδὸν = ὁμοψύχως, with one mind. The Revised Text reads ὁμοῦ, together, which seems superfluous when followed by ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό, in one or the same place. (Compare Act_1:15.)
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Act_2:2. A sound as of shows that the noise was not occasioned by the wind, but by a mighty blowing which resembled the vehement rushing of air. In the Old Testament (2Sa_5:24), Josephus (Ant., VII. iv. 1), and Homer (Od., I. 98), the noise of wind was a sign of the Divine Presence. According to Josephus (Wars, VI. Act_2:3), earthquakes and supernatural sounds were heard in the Temple at the feast of Pentecost before the destruction of Jerusalem.
Act_2:3. Cloven tongues as of fire.—These, which consisted not of, but merely resembled material flame, and certainly were not electrical or light manifestations (Renan), real or pretended, appeared to part themselves asunder, διαμεριζόμεναι, which may signify either that each tongue divided itself (Alford) or that the flame divided itself so that the tongues were distributed amongst the company (Zöckler, Hackett).
Act_2:4. Other tongues.—In this case foreign languages, not previously learnt by the speakers, which required no interpreter (Act_2:8), but were understood by the hearers. Act_2:13 shows that they resembled the “tongues” of the later Corinthian church by being accompanied in their possessors with an ecstatic condition of consciousness. (See Homily on Act_2:1-4.)
HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Act_2:1-4
The Baptism of Fire; or, the Descent of the Holy Ghost
I. When it happened.—
1. When the day of Pentecost was fully come.—Literally, when it was being fulfilled; which has led to the idea that the time referred to was the evening with which Pentecost closed, but the notion rather is that the interval which lay between the Passover and the Pentecost was then filled up. Pentecost, as its name implied, was the feast of the fiftieth day, and was celebrated seven weeks after the Passover. The suitability of this feast for the implementing of the Father’s promise lay in three things:
1. Its nearness. The next national festival after the Passover it fitted admirably to the words of the promise—“Ye shall be baptised … not many days hence.” Had the fulfilment of the promise been deferred till Tabernacles in October, the interval would have been long, and the Church’s faith and patience might have been overstrained. But the sending of the Spirit at Pentecost, not more than ten days after the Ascension, averted this danger, and, as it were, caught up the hearts of Christ’s followers, when their enthusiasm stood at its height. The Lord of the Church knows the best times for His movements, and can so order the gifts of His grace as not to overstrain the patience, overtax the faith, or over discourage the zeal of His people, but rather to reward their patience, increase their faith, and fan their zeal into a flame.
2. Its popularity. At no other religious celebration did such numbers flock to Jerusalem as at Pentecost, the early spring (the time of the Passover) and the late autumn (the date of Tabernacles) being less suitable for travellers from distant parts. If, therefore, the high endowment of the Holy Ghost or the miraculous phenomenon by which it was heralded and symbolised were to efficiently impress the world it was needful that the number of those witnessing it should be as large as possible. The Gospel of Christ, doing nothing in a corner, has no need to shun the light. It invites and will bear the closest observation and the keenest scrutiny.
3. Its significance.
(1) As the great harvest festival of the Hebrew Church (Exo_23:16), it was a fitting time for the first ingathering of souls into the Christian Church.
(2) As the feast of the firstfruits in which two wave loaves of fine flour, baked with leaven, were presented to the Lord (Lev_23:17), it supplied a proper season for the presentation to Jehovah of the firstfruits of redeemed souls in the persons of the Jewish disciples and the Gentile converts which were to be gathered in as the result of the Pentecostal effusion.
(3) As a feast at which sacrifices of all kinds were offered (Lev_17:8), it formed a suitable occasion for the dispensation of that Spirit which was to bring about the entire consecration of believers to God.
(4) As a feast in which remembrance was made of the Egyptian bondage (Deu_16:12) and of the Exodus from Egypt, it served as a fit moment for endowing the Church with that spirit which is pre-eminently styled the spirit of liberty (2Co_3:17).
2. When all the disciples were together in one place. That this place was the upper room already referred to in Act_1:3 (which see)—and not, as many excellent expositors prefer, one of the chambers belonging to the temple—is upon the whole the likelier hypothesis; and that on this occasion the entire body of the disciples, one hundred and twenty in number, and not merely the twelve apostles, were convened, is sufficiently apparent from the context. Nor is it without suggestiveness that the Holy Ghost descended on them when all were present in their usual place of assembly. Does this not afford some reason for believing that the heavenly gift would have been withheld or at least delayed had any of the company been absent? If so, how many blessings, it may be asked, what outpourings of the Spirit, what times of revival and refreshing, may Churches and congregations not miss because of the irregularity with which their members come together? It is a signal error to suppose that absence from Church on the part of a professed Christian inflicts no injury or loss on his fellow-Christians who repair thither. May not the absence of the one seriously diminish, if not effectually hinder, the blessing of the many? Then quite as inaccurate is the reasoning that one may derive as large benefit at home from private meditation as in the Church from social devotion. The blessing of the Holy Ghost, it should be observed, was dispensed in the public assembly and not in the private chamber—was given to the disciples when together and not when isolated one from another.
3. When all the brethren were of one mind. The words “with one accord,” though omitted in the R.V., are better than the adverb “together,” which is substituted in their stead, but which is almost synonymous with “in one place,” and therefore superfluous. In any case “with one accord” expresses the inward disposition of the disciples on that eventful morning when the Holy Ghost for the first time fell upon them. Had they been otherwise—disunited in heart and mind, torn with jealousies and rivalries, broken up into hostile factions or unfriendly cliques—does any one believe the Spirit would have fallen on them—that Spirit, who, if anything, is a Spirit of concord and unity (Eph_4:3)? What a rebuke to the Church of to-day, which is not only marred by divisions and separations, but too often also actuated by mutual antipathies, cut up into sects and animated by a spirit of proselytism rather than of co-operation, a spirit of reciprocal opposition rather than of mutual affection! And what an explanation of the comparatively slow progress of the Church in past ages, as well as of its spiritual deadness at the present time! If the Church is to awake from her lethargy and clothe herself with energy, if she is to shake herself from the dust and put on her beautiful garments, she must receive a fresh baptism of the Holy Ghost; and before that can take place there must be a laying aside of hostilities and a cessation of animosities on the part of rival denominations and congregations, there must be a healing of broaches in the walls of God’s Spiritual Zion, there must be a gathering into one of the tribes of the New Testament Israel.
II. How it was accompanied.—
1. By a mysterious sound.
(1) Sudden. At a moment when it was not expected there was heard from heaven a noise. Divine movements are mostly of this character. It is not possible for us to discern beforehand the noise of Jehovah’s footsteps (Psa_77:19), though it is by no means impossible for Him to detect ours (Psa_139:1-5). God’s interpositions in the original work of creation partook of this character (Gen_1:3; Gen_1:9; Gen_1:11; Gen_1:14; Gen_1:20; Gen_1:24). So did they in His providential judgments, as, e.g., the Deluge and the destruction of Sodom (Mat_24:39; Luk_17:26; Luk_17:28). So were they of this sort when Christ came in the flesh (Luk_2:3-14). So will they be when He returns in glory (Mar_13:35-36).
(2) Violent. Strong and impetuous, like a current of air rushing vehemently in upon and roaring through the chamber, like the trumpet sound which was heard at Sinai (Exo_19:19; Heb_12:19), or like the “great and strong wind” that rent the mountains of Horeb (1Ki_19:11).
(3) All pervading. Filling the chamber in which the disciples sat, it left no part untouched by its mysterious breath. All within the room could hear the strange, weird sound.
(4) Supernatural. This must have been apparent to all. The sound was not produced by ordinary physical causes. All attempts to explain it as a natural phenomenon, whether as thunder or as an earthquake, signally fail. It came from heaven, caused directly by the Holy Ghost, whose breathing it was (Joh_20:22).
2. By an unusual sight. There appeared unto the disciples “cloven tongues” or “tongues parted asunder like as of fire.” Like the wind these tongues were also:
(1) Supernatural. “Electrical phenomena, such as the gleaming lights sometimes seen on the highest points of steeples or on the masts of vessels, and which have been known even to alight on men, bear a very faint resemblance, if any, to those wondrous tongues of fire” (Spence). Besides, “this phenomenon took place not in the open air, but in the inside of a house” (Lechler). Then, if possible, even less admissible is the notion of a flash of lightning which sat simultaneously on one hundred and twenty heads without doing injury to one of them, which would have been a miracle as great as that for which it is proposed to be substituted. “But indeed the expression “tongues as of fire” demands that the words be taken in their literal signification” (Zeller). Whether the tongues were also
(2) cloven—i.e., divided, or parting asunder, as a flame occasionally does, is doubtful. Though the word admit of this interpretation, it is better taken to mean dividing themselves, so that the tongues were
(3) distributed—i.e., parted amongst the company, one resting upon the head of each. In this way they became
(4) visible to all within the chamber, each seeing the tongues resting on his neighbours’ heads, but not that sitting on own. A happy hint that each Christian should be quick to discern the gifts of his fellow-Christians—which is charity, and slow to recognise those belonging to himself—which is humility. Finally, the tongues, again resembling the wind, were
(5) symbolic. Of the effect which should result from the baptism about to be experienced; of the exalted and consecrated speech which would thereby be set in motion; and of the illumination which thereby would come to others.
3. By a peculiar touch. The distributed fiery tongues sat one upon each man’s head. As the tongues only resembled fire, so their contact with the heads of the disciples differed from that of ordinary flame, which would have scorched the disciples’ heads, whereas they were quite unconscious of burning. The touch of the tongues was like the touch of Christ when He healed men’s bodies; it was the touch by which He influenced souls.
III. By what it was followed.—
1. The disciples were all filled with the Holy Ghost.
(1) The Holy Ghost now came upon them in the fulness of His saving operations as He had not done before (Joh_7:39). Prior to the Ascension Christ had breathed on them, and said “Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (Joh_20:22); not until now had the Holy Ghost been imparted to them in the plenitude of His gracious influences.
(2) They were taken possession of by the new endowment in all departments of their being, so that they were filled with it.
(3) This inhabitation of their hearts by the Holy Ghost was to be permanent. Under the Old Testament the Spirit had descended upon men at special times and for special purposes, as upon Bezaleel (Exo_31:3) and Joshua (Deu_34:9), to impart to them wisdom. Now He entered the disciples’ hearts to abide with them for ever (Joh_14:16). And this stupendous endowment was not conferred on the apostles only but upon the brethren as well, and not upon the leaders of the Church merely but upon the followers likewise; nor upon the eminent personages alone but also upon the humble and obscure individuals.
2. They all began to speak with tongues. That those tongues were something higher than and beyond those conferred on the churches at Corinth (1Co_14:2-33), may be inferred from the circumstance mentioned in Act_2:6; Act_2:8, that the multitude who listened to the inspired utterances of the apostles and brethren “were confounded because that every man heard them speaking in his own language.” The Corinthian tongues were unintelligible to those who heard them, and to be of service for public edification required interpretation; at Pentecost the tongues needed no exposition by a third party. The listeners “heard every man in his own language wherein he was born.” Yet, like the tongues at Corinth, those of Pentecost were not required for edification, which was principally secured by Peter’s sermon; and were accompanied by a kind of ecstatic utterance which led some at least of the auditors to think and say the speakers were intoxicated, as Paul afterwards suggested some hearing the Corinthians talk with tongues might allege they were mad (1Co_14:23). As to what these Jerusalem “tongues” were, the traditional opinion which sees in them foreign languages which the apostles and their company were enabled to speak, though not without difficulty, is probably correct. Nor does it militate against this idea that such foreign languages were not necessary to qualify the apostles for preaching to the multitudes at Pentecost, since the majority, if not all, of these would be able to understand either Greek or Aramaic, or both, and that the apostles do not appear afterwards to have used these new dialects (compare Paul at Lycaonia, Act_14:14) in addressing themselves to foreigners. The answer to both objections is, that the Pentecostal tongues may not have been intended to be permanent but only temporary, as a sign to arrest the attention of the multitude and accredit the apostles as heaven-sent ambassadors. All attempts to discover other explanations of the tongues than the natural one lie open to as great, if not greater, difficulties than those they are devised to surmount. The fancy that the apostles spoke an original elementary “tongue of the Spirit,” which every listener in the crowd heard as if it were his own mother tongue (Erasmus, Meyer, Delitzsch, etc.), only adds a miracle of hearing to the existing one of speaking. That the tongues were merely ecstatic utterances which acted on the hearers in such a way as to make them think they were being addressed in their native languages (Beyschlag) is to put a construction on the narrative which it will not bear. The hearers did not think, but knew they were listening to their mother tongues. Besides, the tongues were spoken before the multitudes were present to hear. Then the notion that the assembly of believers was composed of Jews of various nations who spoke as the Spirit moved them, but in their ordinary speech (Paulus, Kuinoel, etc.), is expressly contradicted by the narrative which affirms that the one hundred and twenty were all, or at least mostly, Galilæans. The solution which detects in the narrative only a legendary or mythical reproduction of the Rabbinical fable, that the law was given from Sinai in a tongue which was intelligible to the seventy different peoples of the Table of Nations (Overbeck, Hausrath, etc.) is completely to destroy the credibility of the historian.
IV. What it signified.—
1. It attested the reality of Christ’s ascension (see Act_2:33). Before His death Christ had promised on returning to His Father to send forth the Spirit (Joh_16:7). Forty days after His resurrection they had seen Him ascend through the opened heavens (Act_1:10). The descent of the Holy Ghost after ten days’ waiting was the intimation to them that Christ had been exalted to the Father’s right hand.
2. It gave the signal for commencing the work of witness bearing, for which they had been selected and appointed, while it was natural for the apostles and their company to suppose that immediately on Christ’s departure they should begin the glorious business of publishing the good news of a crucified, risen and exalted Saviour. Christ Himself commanded them not to start upon their mission until they got the signal from the Father, who alone understood the times and seasons (Act_1:7). That signal they recognised when the Holy Ghost descended on them.
3. It equipped the apostles and first believers for their service. The task committed to them was one that immeasurably transcended their native ability. Power from on high was absolutely indispensable for its efficient discharge. That power was to be supplied by a special baptism of the Holy Ghost (Act_1:8); and now that the Holy Ghost had come they were prepared (1Co_2:4; 2Co_3:5).
Learn.—
1. The faithfulness of the Father in implementing His promise (Tit_1:2; Heb_6:18).
2. The blessedness of those who humbly and prayerfully wait on God (Isa_40:31; Heb_6:15).
3. The reality of superterrestrial things (2Co_4:18).
4. The power of the Holy Ghost as shown in the gift of tongues (2Pe_1:21).
5. The mission of the Christian Church—to utter what the Holy Ghost teaches (1Co_2:13).
6. The diversities of gift and service in the Christian Church; all had not the same tongue, but each as the Spirit gave him utterance (1Co_12:4).
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Act_2:1. The Feast of the Fulfilment.—On this day (Pentecost) was fulfilled:—
I. The most beautiful anticipation of antiquity.—The hope that not only an atonement would be made to Jehovah for the sins of the people, but also a new heart and a right spirit should be given them.
II. The deepest want of humanity.—Fellowship with God now for the first time rendered possible by the reconciliation effected through the sacrifice of Christ, and the renovation accomplished by the baptism of the Spirit.
III. The highest manifestation of Divinity.—All that went before, even the gift of the Son, being designed as a preparation for the dispensation of the Spirit.—Oosterzee.
Act_2:3. Tongues of Fire.
I. Whence they come.—From heaven, from the Father, from the glorified Christ—i.e., they are gifts of grace bestowed in fulfilment of God’s promise, and on account of the merit of Christ.
II. On whom they are bestowed.—On praying, waiting, and united believers; on souls possessed of faith, hope, love, and longing.
III. How they are fed.—By the Holy Ghost, whose creation they are, for whose manifestation they serve, and under whose control they perpetually remain.
IV. What they speak.—Not the wisdom of this world, but words which the Holy Ghost teacheth.
V. The Effects they produce.—Always amazement, sometimes unbelief and mockery, frequently conviction and conversion.
Act_2:4. A Sermon on the Holy Ghost.
I. His personality.—Though not here specially emphasised, yet involved in the scriptural representations given of Him generally (see Act_5:3; Act_5:32, Act_7:51; Eph_4:30).
II. His Divinity.—Implied in His co-ordination with the Father and the Son (Mat_28:19; 2Co_13:14).
III. His agency.—Symbolised by the Sound, the Fire, and the Tongues.
The Personality and Divinity of the Holy Spirit. The customary objections to this doctrine are thus summarised by Bornemann (Unterricht im Christentum, p. 151):
I. The Trinitarian formula proves nothing.—This, however, is only Bornemann’s opinion. Others hold it inconceivable that unless the Son and the Holy Ghost had been co-equal with the Father they would have been thus associated with the Father by either Christ or God.
II. The phrase “The Spirit Speaks” (Act_21:11; Rev_14:13) no more establishes the personality of the Holy Ghost than the similar phrase “The Scripture speaks” (Gal_4:30) demonstrates the personality of the Bible. But other personal attributes are ascribed to the Holy Spirit which are not and cannot be assigned to Scripture, such as grieving (Eph_4:30), comforting (Act_9:31), interceding (Rom_8:26), etc.
III. Nowhere in the New Testament is the Holy Ghost represented as the object of worship.—Yet all true worship is in the New Testament distinctly declared to be the inspiration of the Spirit (Joh_4:24; Rom_8:26; Gal_4:6; Eph_2:18).
IV. The word person as applied to the Holy Spirit is not the same thing as Moderns mean by this term.—Granted. Yet whatever the vocable “person” signifies as applied to the Father and the Son, that same it imports as applied to the Holy Ghost.
Filled with the Holy Spirit.
I. A transcendent mystery.—That the soul of a creature should be inhabited by the Spirit of its Creator.
II. A demonstrable fact.—Proved in Pentecostal and early Christian times by the gift of tongues, evinced now by the production of the fruits of the Spirit.
III. A gracious privilege.—Bestowed upon believers not of merit on their part, but of spontaneous kindness on God’s part.
IV. A comforting experience.—Being the seal of acceptance with the Father, and an earnest of the heavenly inheritance.
V. A valuable talent.—Such as are its recipients are thereby endowed for service, and will eventually be held answerable for its employment.
Act_2:1-4. The Ideal of Christian Unity.—Believers united.
I. In Worship.—“Together in one place.”
II. In Heart.—“With one accord.”
III. In Privilege.—All witnessing and sharing alike.
IV. In Endowment.—“All filled with the Holy Ghost.”
V. In Service.—All speaking with tongues.
The Pentecostal Blessing.
I. The conditioning circumstances.
1. The Time. “When the day of Pentecost was now come.” “Here again, as in the fact of the Ascension and the waiting of the Church, we trace the outline of Christianity in Judaism, and see in the typical ceremonial of the Old Dispensation the outline and shadow of heavenly realities.”
2. The Place. An upper chamber. “Round this upper room at Jerusalem has gathered many a story dating from very early ages indeed. This upper room has been identified with the chamber in which the Last Supper was celebrated.”
3. The Spirit. With one accord. “There was unity of spirit and unity in open manifestation to the world at large. Christ’s disciples, when they received the gifts of Heaven’s choicest blessings, were not split up into dozens of different organisations, each of them hostile to the others, and each striving to aggrandise itself at the expense of kindred brotherhood.”
II. The external manifestations.—Three.
1. A Sound as of a Rushing Mighty Wind. “The marvels of the story told in the first of Genesis find a parallel in the marvels told in the second of Acts. The one passage sets forth the foundation of the material universe, the other proclaims the nobler foundations of the Spiritual universe.”
2. Tongues as of Fire, separate and distinct, sitting upon each of the Disciples. “The sign of the Holy Spirit’s presence was a tongue of fire. It was a most suitable emblem, pregnant with meaning, and indicative of the large place which the human voice was to play in the work of the new dispensation, while its supernatural character declared that the mere unaided human voice would avail nothing.” The separateness of the tongues also was “significant of the individual character of our holy religion.”
3. A Miraculous Gift of Tongues. “That gift indicated to the Apostles and to all ages the tongue as the instrument by which the gospel was to be propagated.” The gift itself was “the power of speaking in foreign languages, according to Christ’s, promise, ‘They shall speak with new tongues’ ” (Mar_16:17). G. T. Stokes, D.D.
The Pentecostal Wonder.
I. The rushing sound.—“The Divine power which descended on the waiting company of disciples revealed itself first according to its new creative energy or as heavenly life” (Leben, πνοή, Odem, Windshauch, Act_2:2).
II. The fiery tongues.—“The Divine power revealed itself secondly according to its critically separating force as heavenly light or fire” (Act_2:3).
III. The foreign tongues.—“The Divine power revealed itself thirdly according to its salvation-revealing might as heavenly discourse and speech, λαλεῖν γλώσσαις ἑτέραις” (Act_2:4).—Dr. Otto Zöckler.
The Phenomena at Pentecost.
I. The praying congregation.
II. The sound from heaven.
III. The holy flames.
IV. The new tongues.—Lisco.
Three Marvels.
I. In the realm of Nature.—The sound, the tongues, the speech.
II. In the sphere of mind.—Men speaking languages they never learnt.
III. In the domain of grace.—Sinful men endowed with the Holy Ghost.
The Descending Spirit.—Among the thoughts and lessons that readily connect themselves with the event of our chapter are the following:
1. The Christian Church was born at Pentecost. There is no Christian Church history before that point. The materials of the Church were already present, but standing out of organic relation with each other. It was the brooding of the Spirit that, as we are told in the first of Genesis, produced the formless elements of things into a shapely and prolific world. It was the inbreathing of God into the being of our first parent that developed him into a living soul. It was the influx similarly of the divine Spirit that composed the disciples of Christ into an organised and living Church. A Church is Christianity organised.
2. This was the first Christian revival of religion. The Church was born in a revival, and the survival of the Church has been along a continuous line of revival. A revival is substantially a fresh appropriation of divine power. The dynamic element enters Christianity not at the cross, not at the Easter sepulchre, but at Pentecost. Pentecost is as much a fact of Christianity as is the crucifixion. The Acts of the Apostles is the Gospel of the Holy Ghost and the Gospel of power. It is the scope of a revival to work in men Christian sinew. There is nothing in the whole New Testament narrative more startling than the transformation which the Twelve suddenly underwent on the fiftieth day after Calvary. An apostle is a disciple plus the Holy Ghost. Appliances are valuable, but only as vehicles for the conveyance of energy that is from God. Christianity would have stopped at Olivet had it not been for the event of our chapter or its equivalent.
3. The Spirit descended upon the disciples when they were together. The full meaning of Christianity is not exhausted in any relation in which it sets us individually to Christ. It comprises a relation between men mutually as well as a relation to God personally and separately. There are blessings and enrichments that accrue to Christians only by their standing in fellowship with each other. That first Sunday evening, the evening of Resurrectionday, Christ showed Himself unto His disciples while they were together. The week after, the second Sunday evening, He again appeared to them while they were together. And similarly, as we learn from the first verse of our chapter, the Holy Spirit descended upon them while “they were all with one accord in one place.” And this gathering together of theirs was not for the purpose of instruction, but in order that they might remain together in the fellowship of concerted prayer and holy waiting. The Church was born thus in a prayer-meeting. The first Christian revival was inaugurated in a prayer-meeting. In spiritual matters two are considerably more than twice as many as one.
4. This first revival of religion began with the spiritual replenishment of those already Christian. It is time wasted, and runs counter to the divine order of things, for a Church that is not itself revived to attempt revivalistic operations among the unconverted. Christianity, to the degree in which it extends itself, does so as a kind of contagion.
5. After the ascension of their Lord the disciples simply waited for Pentecost. They prayed together, as it would seem, but exactly what was the subject of their prayers it would be very hard to tell. They probably did not pray for a baptism of the Holy Spirit. They had not been instructed to pray for it, but to “tarry” till it came. There was no further work that needed to be wrought in them before its bestowment. They were ready to be blessed. The outpouring of the Spirit was deferred till Pentecost, only because that day would give to the event greater publicity. Our prayers would often seem to imply that the gift of the Holy Ghost is something that has got to be wrestled from God by hard struggling. His Spirit is with us. He has already entered into the world. He is among us like a subtle atmosphere that crowds itself with a gentle intrusion into every space of our hearts and lives that is left open to its occupancy. He is like the sunshine, that fills with brightness and touches with colour every object of ground, sea, and sky that is bared to its silent impact. When we are not illumined, it is not because we have neglected to pray for the sun’s rise upon us, but because we have neglected to stand out in the sunshine.
6. The Holy Spirit descended upon all the disciples—not only upon the Twelve, but upon the whole hundred and twenty. So far as we are, then, Holy Ghost Christians, all substantial distinctions in this respect between the laity and the clergy are erased.
7. The Holy Spirit revealed Himself outwardly in the shape of tongues. This was prophetic of the way in which revealed truth was to be disseminated. It does not suffice that men should simply live lives of Christian consistency, and that they should think that conduct fills to the full their measure of obligation. Christ not only lived, He preached. “It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” And the word “preaching” must not be construed too narrowly. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh”; “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. The first revival, then, opened men’s mouths and set men talking. It was a gift of tongues. There is no place for silent Christians under the administration of the Holy Ghost. Inspiration and utterance are inseparable.—C. H. Parkhurst, D.D.
I. Distinguish the permanent from the transient manifestations of this descending Spirit.—The miraculous displays were designed to attract attention, and to teach by symbols His nature and power. Air is necessary to life. The Spirit, of whom no one can tell whence He comes, or whither He goes, is symbolised by the air we breathe. Air in motion represents power. Fire is purifying. In great crises of the ancient Church God had revealed Himself by fire. The tongues of fire were tokens of the living, conquering, purifying energy by which the Spirit spreads truth through the world. They sat on each of the disciples, showing that each Christian has a special commission and a special power given him from heaven. The disciples, thus supernaturally excited, spoke of the wonderful works of God in dialects which men from all lands heard and understood. Here was displayed the sign that the obstacles to the spread of the gospel were removed. The transient symbol has departed, but the Word of God has leaped the barriers of strange tongues and spread through all the world. The miracle of that hour, emphasised by the miracle of centuries, says to us: “The gospel from heaven has been committed to you. The power of God is promised to you. Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” We see, then, what abides in the Church from the descending Spirit. A great change had already, within a few days, taken place in the apostles. But the task before them required supernatural power in them. They were to undertake a new kind of work. When, then, the Spirit descended to dwell in them, He changed their thoughts. He gave them confidence in the place of timidity. He led them to perceive the grandeur and spirituality of their mission, and their own position in it. They not only recognised that they were divinely commissioned, but they were divinely illuminated. The effects of their preaching were what we should expect from such changes in themselves. The Spirit gave them utterance. Their word was with power. Men were moved to acknowledge the truths they proclaimed. Paul the Apostle set against the power of Rome, the greatest nation on earth, the power of God unto salvation. Rome yielded. The gospel triumphed. It is the most impressive truth which God has revealed, that each of His disciples can, by his daily thoughts and acts, bring down upon the Church the power which has achieved the mightiest triumphs of history.
II. We see that the power imparted by the Holy Spirit is unique and supernatural.—He created the Christian Church, and now sustains and extends it. Without Him, it is without Christ; and apart from Christ it can do nothing. This gift, then, is not eloquence, nor logic, nor rhetoric, nor any acquired power. The Spirit can employ all these things, all that there is of a man, for His great ends. But His presence is the breath of Him who created all worlds. And His presence distinguishes the Church from all other institutions. Without that, with all its splendid history, it would be only a Samson shorn. There are diversities of gifts; but it is the same Spirit that divides them to every man severally as He will.
III. We see the purposes for which the Holy Spirit descended and abides with Christians—to perpetuate the presence of Christ with His disciples, and to enable them to proclaim His gospel. This gift was and is a fruit of the continued operation of the earthly life of Jesus. These truths realised will help us to feel more deeply the immense responsibility that rests on each disciple of Christ. “There is offered to you, as a gift, that which wrought all these wonders. Take it, and greater works than these shall you do.” Then think of the misery that sin is still working, of lives blasted by passion, of homes ruined and actions ruled by selfishness, of the millions that sit in darkness, of immortal souls disappearing from these scenes to wake to shame and everlasting contempt. Only one power can change these things—the Holy Spirit in the disciples of Christ. God has placed this measure of opportunity in our hands. Is it possible that Christians will allow anything to hinder the descent of this Spirit on them in His fulness? But evidently whatever wastes this power brings on us fearful loss; and we know the things that waste it. It is not merely the open breaking of the Decalogue which appears inexcusable in Christians, but that any of them can waste in trifling pleasures and selfish pursuits the abilities given from God to save our fellow-men from eternal death, and plead in excuse that they do not transgress any definite command. What do we need so much as the baptism of fire for spiritual life, and the tongue of fire to tell that life to the world? One thing more. This gift is offered to the unconverted. Do any who have not received the Holy Spirit wonder at and criticise the want of power and zeal in Christians? You may yourselves receive that which you think wanting in them. “Repent ye,” said Peter to the wondering audience, “and be baptised every one of you for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost.” Yes, you whose ambitions are unsatisfied, whose affections are unstirred by heavenly things—this promise is to you.—Monday Club Sermons.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 13, 15 1. The Kairites (so named from the Greek word…
PENTECOST
1. The Kairites (so named from the Greek word which means time and occurs in the phrase “times and seasons”) are scholarly critics who make times and seasons a specialty of investigation. These tell us the day of Pentecost was Sunday. Our Savior was crucified on Friday, April 14th. This would make Pentecost the first Sunday in June, and the notable epoch on which the dispensation of the Holy Ghost was inaugurated. The celebrated Dr. Gordon denominated Pentecost “the birth of the Holy Ghost.” Though this strikes us as strange phraseology, yet it is not without a degree of plausibility. Of course, such a statement does not ignore the pre- existence of the Holy Ghost, as He is none other than the very and eternal God, co-existent with the Almighty from all eternity. The same is equally true of the Son; yet He was born in Bethlehem. The Son of God was as real in the old dispensation as in the new, excarnate in the former and incarnate in the latter; but just as truly a Savior of the antediluvian as of the present generation. Before Pentecost the Holy Ghost was in the world in all ages; but it may be said that He operated on human hearts extrinsically, i. e., from without. E. g., while the minstrel played, the Holy Ghost came on the Jewish prophet. When Samson arose and shook himself the Spirit of God came mightily on him. As the Son of God when born in Bethlehem came into a human body, so the Holy Ghost in the day of Pentecost came into the bodies of the disciples, thus incarnating Himself in human bodies and inaugurating His own dispensation, whose crowning glory is the incarnation of the Holy Ghost. When the Holy Ghost radically purifies a human spirit and moves into it, thus incarnating Himself in a human being, a new order of administration and operation at once supervenes, in which the incarnated Holy Spirit operates intrinsically, i. e., from within upon the external world, using the person thus occupied as a medium, spiritual, intellectual and physical, to transmit His omnipotent heavenly influences to all with whom He comes in contact. Hence you see that the incarnation was an indispensable prerequisite to make the church truly aggressive in the conquest of the world to Christ. Hence our Savior told His disciples that they would do greater works after He had gone to His Father; because He must go up and receive the Father’s approval of His expiation of a guilty world before the divine administration can be magnified by the incarnation of the Holy Ghost in the people of this world. This is really the glorious earnest of the grand restitution. When the Holy Ghost thus incarnates Himself in a human being, He brings in the “age to come” (Heb 6:5), i. e., the millennium, a prelibation of the glorious millennial reign of our descended Lord. The grand ultimatum of the gospel dispensation is this incarnation of the Holy Ghost, in which we are actually married to Him (because He is none other than the Spirit of Jesus), and this spiritual wedlock verifies the Bridehood of Christ, anticipatory of the glorious celebration of the heavenly nuptials in the presence of the Father and multiplied millions of unfallen angels at the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven, which shall immediately follow the rapture of the bride, for which we are this day in constant outlook. Our Lord ascended into heaven on Thursday. Flooded with the thrilling anticipations of His glorious prophetical fulfillments in the descension and incarnation of the Holy Ghost, they go away to their mission hall on Mount Zion, thrilled with jubilant expectations. Some think the Lord will honor His ascension day and send the Comforter before the sun goes down. In this they are mistaken, and a night of prayer brings deep illuminations into their hearts. Friday, ever memorable for the crucifixion of our Lord and the redemption of the world, brings a new inspiration to the rising tide of faith, intensified by Peter’s fervent exhortation: “Surely this is the glorious day when our Lord will baptize us with the Holy Ghost and fire!” Friday is fled and gone, and Saturday, the good old Jewish Sabbath, ushers in. James and John are eloquent, thrilling all with their inspiring exhortations: “Surely our Lord will honor the good old Sabbath of Moses and the prophets, and augment the hallowed memories of this glorious day by sending down the promised enduement.” Another night of prayer conduces to grander spiritual illuminations. Sunday ushers in. Mary’s eyes sparkle while eloquent inspiration leaps from her lips: “Surely our Lord will honor the glorious day of most hallowed memory when He broke the fetters of the tomb and arose triumphant over sin, death and hell!” These wonderful days, clustered about with the ineffaceable memories of stupendous miracles, unspeakably sacred to every loving disciple, have all flown away, and “hope deferred maketh the heart sad.” Monday ushers in, fraught with no inspiring memories. Now prostrate on the floor they cry to God. The Holy Ghost, with the effulgent lamp of His infallible scrutiny, goes down into the profound subterranean regions of their fallen spirits, revealing to Peter his cowardice, to Thomas his doubts, to James and John their ambition, and to all the dark dens of hissing serpents, the dismal lairs of roaring lions, the filthy kennels of snapping dogs and the loathsome bogs of croaking frogs, swelling toads and poisonous scorpions, constituting the dismal debris of inbred sin, the Satanic heredity of Adam the first. Tuesday follows, redeemed by no hallowed memories. So they sink deeper into the dismal subterranean regions of original sin, contemplating with unspeakable mortification the gorgon horrors of hereditary depravity revealed to the quickened spiritual eye by the infallible Heart-Searcher. Wednesday is commemorated by a deeper sinking out of self and still profounder illuminations revealing the horrors of inbred sin. That day is commemorated in the experience of many reaching bottom-rock. Thursday ushers in like a sun-burst from a world of clouds. Many exclaim, “Glory to God, for the triumphant ascension of our Lord on this hallowed day one week ago!” Mary in advance of her dispensation had known the sweet experience of entire sanctification, sitting at the feet of Jesus, felicitously oblivious of all the world; as had Nathanael, an “Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.” Fortunately, these two disciples stand on the high plane of cloudless sunshine beneath the clear sky of Beulah land, roaring inspiring shouts to their brothers and sisters amid the swellings of Jordan’s terrifying floods. Old Peter is one of the first to heed the inspiring appeals of Mary and Nathanael, and dares to walk out in naked faith and trust the cleansing blood radically and thoroughly to purify his heart from all the vacillations and cowardice which had flooded him with intolerable disgrace (Act 15:9). John, with brilliant countenance, swings clear by faith alone. Now they follow in platoons. Finally, doubting Thomas, with faltering tread, dares to set down his foot on Jordan’s stormy billow. Friday floods them all with the ineffaceable memories of Calvary, when the Lord redeemed the world by His flowing blood. Hence, the blood has honored that memorable day from dewy morn till dusky eve. It is significantly a day of victory. Saturday, the good old Jewish Sabbath, literally signifying the perfect rest of the soul in Jesus, is truly a crowning day on the battlefield of faith so memorable the last nine days. Wonderful and glorious is the soul rest into which they sink away. The second Sunday morning of those memorable ten days now gilds the Oriental skies, while the fair-fingered Aurora, the daughter of the dawn, is moving on tip-toe over great Mount Olivet. This is our Lord’s glorious resurrection day. The battle has been fought on the bloody fields of consecration and faith and a ten days’ prayer-meeting without intermission. They have gone down to the bottom-rock of Consecration and prayed up to the triumphant altitudes of Faith. The battle is fought, the victory won and Hope has spread her eagle pinions ready for her celestial flight. They have spent the ten days on their knees and prostrate on the floor. But they are done praying. They have prayed up to the highlands, where heavenly visions, in seraphic splendor, roll in floods of unearthly glory, inundating that memorable mission-room with an electrical panorama of the long-anticipated descending Comforter. Hark! the roar of a cyclone fills the firmament. Behold! forked-tongues of flaming fire sit on every brow and flood the room with an unearthly illumination. That mission-room can no longer hold the fire-baptized one hundred and twenty. What a stampede down stairs! all mouths wide open, stentorian voices roaring like lions, arouse the city, and one hundred thousand people rush from all directions to see what is the matter. I visited a great convocation of scholarly clergymen and high-steeple officials with long plug hats, sleek coats, tooth-pick shoes and golden-headed canes, with long faces and lugubrious countenances and deep sighs, consulting either with other, “How to reach the masses.” Here the problem is solved once for all. Get the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire and they will reach you.
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You need no advertisement but the stentorian shout of new-born souls and Spirit-filled pilgrims. Peter’s seniority is recognized in his leadership, complimented with the first gospel sermon on that wonderful occasion. O, that sermon! of which Luke gives us but a brief epitome. It was a clap of thunder from beginning to end, sheet-lightning flooded with dynamite.
Modesty and cowardice have been burnt up with the fire of the Holy Ghost. So the illiterate fisherman faces kings and potentates, the combined authorities of church and state, panoplied by all the persecutionary power of earth and hell, and without a flicker looks them squarely in the face and arraigns them at the judgment bar of God Almighty, charged with the murder of His Son, the Savior of the world. The countless multitude stands appalled, as if the archangel of doom had come down and was blowing his mighty trumpet, waking the dead and gathering the world to the judgment- bar. Amid the forked lightnings of this first gospel sermon, preached without preparation, grammar or logic, thousands fall prostrate, as if a battery of a hundred cannons had been simultaneously turned on them.
They make Jerusalem roar and reverberate, “What must we do?” Now that the lightning of conviction has sent panic to listening myriads, immediately the hundred and twenty-five baptized men and women disperse in all directions, preaching with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Do you see Mary Magdalene mounted on David’s tomb preaching to the thunder- riven multitude falling round her and crying for mercy? Look at Thomas the doubter, his doubts all burned up with Holy Ghost fire, standing on the wall of Jerusalem, with a voice like a lion, preaching to the appalled multitude! O, that wonderful day! never to be forgotten, memorialized by the incarnation of the Holy Ghost. The world had never seen such a day since from Sinai’s melting summit, amid lightning bolts, deafening thunder and heaving earthquakes, Jehovah God came down and launched the Mosaic dispensation. Again He is come in the culminating miracles of fiery Pentecost to inaugurate the last dispensation, destined to prepare the world for the glorious theocracy, never to go into eclipse.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Act 2:1-13
Act 2:1-13
Pentecost
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I. The congregation in that upper room was the representative, or, as it were, the seed-germ, of the whole Catholic Church of all the centuries and of every land. For a symbol of this, its world-wide significance, the little Church rehearsed the praises of redemption in all the tongues of all the lands over which God had scattered the tribes of Israel. This polyglot praise was the consecration of heathen speech to the service of Israel’s Jehovah. It foreshadowed the catholic grace of God which has turned common and unclean tongues to holy use. It meant, though they knew it not, the gathering in of the Gentile races to the God of Jacob. Let us, then, not be fond of uniformity that is false Catholicism. Let us seek the higher unity which rests on freedom and variety. In the true Catholic Church which stands in our creed, and is dear to our heart, there are many tongues and forms of utterance—tongues so diverse that, alas! we often fail to recognise one another; yet is there only one Spirit, who inspires, and having inspired, interprets; who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
II. We are the heirs of Pentecost. Then first the waiting Church below was linked tight in uttermost unity of life to its reigning Lord above. One Spirit embraces the throne in heaven, and the upper room on earth. To each Christian man in every Christian age, there has stood, and still stands open, the unrevoked grant of the fulness of the Spirit; such fulness as will fill him, if he be willing to take it in, up to his capacity. To each of us it is, and has been, according to our faith. If we are carnal, cold, timid, desponding, servile-hearted, fearful, it is not because we live under the law, not because God has set bounds to His grace, nor because the Holy Ghost is not yet, as if Christ were not yet glorified. It is because we have either no heart to desire, or no faith to expect. We have not now, because we ask not. "Ask and ye shall receive."
J. Oswald Dykes, From Jerusalem to Antioch, p. 43.
I. It is said in the text that the disciples began to speak. The first effect of the outpouring of the Spirit on the disciples was to prompt them to speak. A man may have a little of the Holy Spirit and observe silence, but if he is filled with the Spirit he cannot hold his peace.
II. The disciples began to speak with other tongues. The Lord descended to Babel and confused the tongues—He there and then set a train of circumstances in motion which necessarily resulted in diversity of languages. The Lord descended to Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost—unified the tongues again—He there and then set a train of circumstances in motion which inevitably led to a better understanding between the nations, and a more thorough knowledge of each other’s languages. The miracle of the Pentecost will gradually neutralise the miracle of Babel.
III. The disciples began to speak with other tongues the wonderful works of God. The wonderful works of God are, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These formed the grand topics which the disciples construed into other tongues; not nature, but the gospel; not creation, but redemption.
IV. They spoke to men of other nations. Increased life always demands increased scope for its exercise. The fire first burns into the heart of the disciples, then it begins to extend its area, and now it threatens to burn up all the stubble of the world.
V. The disciples spoke to other nations, that they also might be filled with the Holy Ghost. "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
J. Cynddylan Jones, Studies in the Acts, p. 20.
References: Act 2:1-13.—J. Oswald Dykes, Preacher’s Lantern, vol. iv., p. 124. Act 2:1-21.—Parker, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 316. Act 2:2, Act 2:3.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iv., p. 255.
Act 2:2-4
The Christian’s Interest in the Day of Pentecost
I. At the day of Pentecost a new era did manifestly break upon the world; not an era during which human reason was to be more vast than it had been, but one during which there was to be a supernatural ascendancy, such as had not been vouchsafed under the former dispensation. The Spirit of God descended in greater measure, and in a new office, and the Gospel seemed irradiated, and mind sprang into comparative energy. Let the Spirit be withdrawn from the Church, and we thoroughly believe that men might become like the Jews, idolaters, with the truths of the Old Testament in their hands, and, like the Apostles, ignorant of redemption, and the facts of the New. While long before this visible descent the Holy Ghost had renewed our depraved nature in the elect people of God, yet at Pentecost He came in such measure, such fulness of purpose, such largeness of justice, and with such developments to unfold the mystery of the Gospel, as to put into the shade every previous communication, when, according to the description in our text, with the sound as of a rushing mighty wind, He became the instructor of the Church.
II. Note the connection of the gift of the Spirit with the exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ. The great event which Whitsuntide commemorates was but the act of a victor celebrating His triumphs and distributing His gifts among the people. He gives, not gold and not silver, but something incalculably more precious; He sends His own Spirit to renew the sons of the earth, and to transform the heirs of death into the heirs of immortality. Nay, He scatters pardon, peace, acceptance and happiness—whatever He had taken flesh to procure for mankind, seeing that the result of His mediation cannot be appropriated to us except through the Spirit; so that to send the Spirit was to make available the merits of His obedience unto death. For the men of every clime, in every age of the world, did the Spirit of the living God enter with the sound of the storm, and the flame of fire; and we ought to rejoice at this witness of Christ’s resurrection, and give thanks that we have not been left to the uncertainties of oral tradition; but that we are as thoroughly informed of the doctrine of our Lord, as though with our own eyes we had seen, and with our own ears we had heard the author.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1520 (see also Voices of the Year, vol. i., p. 514).
References: Act 2:2-4.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii., No. 1619. Act 2:3, Act 2:4.—W. B. Pope, Sermons, p. 270.
Act 2:4
The Birthday of the Church
I. In histories of this kind we are always under a temptation to seize upon the most extraordinary feature of the story—to take that as the essence of the whole. Thus the popular idea of Whit-Sunday is that it commemorates the gift of languages to the Apostles, by which, though uneducated men, they were qualified in a moment of time to preach the Gospel in every nation under heaven. But, indeed, this gift of tongues is but a small part of the matter. The true idea of Pentecost, that which makes it a festival for all time, is that it was the birthday of the Christian Church. What Sinai was to Israel, the making them into a people, that Pentecost was to Christ’s disciples, the gathering them into a Church.
II. But a second point presses on us. If the fact of the Holy Ghost being shed upon the Apostles, on the very day when the giving of their law constituted the Jews to be God’s people, leads us to fix this day as the beginning of the Christian Church, so does the conduct of the disciples, when the fiery tongues lighted on them, bring out a great principle of Christian life. The first use of speech under the prompting of the Holy Ghost was the praise of God. Was there, then, no preaching to the mingled multitude around? Doubtless, but the preaching was not by many mouths, but by one. There was no confusion in that first assembly of the saints. It was not a discordant sound of many voices speaking at once to the wondering throng. What the multitude heard, as they streamed together down the streets of Jerusalem to the chamber where the Apostles were, was one harmonious outburst of praise. And then, when the first terror began to subside, and the startled mind of the bystanders recovered its balance, then it was that St. Peter stood forth from amidst the Spirit-bound assembly and calmly and rationally argued with the people. First comes the deep sense of God’s presence and goodness, the lifting up of the soul unto Him, then the going forth to preach unto others; first the realisation of truth to ourselves, then the making it known by our lives, by our words, to our brethren; first the soul’s speech in praise to God, then its speech for God; first the thought of heaven, then the pleading to heaven to earth.
Bishop Woodford, Sermons on Subjects from the New Testament, p. 67.
References: Act 2:4.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 171; J. Keble, Sermons from Ascension Day to Trinity, p. 269; H. Maclaren, Sermons in Union Chapel, p. 249.
Act 2:7-8
I. There are but two postulates necessary to the faith of Pentecost, or Whitsuntide: the first, God is Almighty; and the second, Christianity is of God. Given these two principles, all is intelligible. The new Gospel was a word, was a message, was a testimony, was a proclamation; these were its names for itself. Therefore it must find a voice and it must get a hearing. It was a failure if it did not. There must be a miracle. Men’s eyes and ears must be made cognisant of God’s intervention, must be appealed to, as St. Peter appeals to them on this occasion, "He hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear." I know not how else the Gospel could ever have got out of little Palestine; how else the Gospel could ever have gained, in the first instance, the attention of mankind.
II. These Galilæans speak still. Each one of them, being dead, yet speaketh. No philosopher, no poet, no orator, ever spake as they speak. To have written a page in the Bible is to have an immortality of speech. There is no book like it, its enemies themselves being judges. Men feel that the Bible is something to them which none other book is. It has words of eternal life, which must be heard in their integrity, and heard in the birth-tongue. How is this and why? The Spirit of God touched their lips and therefore it is life or death to listen.
III. The Spirit of God is not dead but living. The miracle of Pentecost was a token, was a symbol, was a proclamation—of what? Of the advent of the Holy Ghost, in all His fulness, to abide with us for ever. We want still God’s Holy Spirit; and still, as in times of old, He lives and works in Christ’s Church. Not in the Church as an establishment, as an institution, as an aggregate of humanity or a centre of worship. It is by making the separate stones temples that the Spirit builds into one the great temple. It is by opening to the praying soul the secrets of Scripture, that the Spirit causes these long dead Galilæans to speak and preach to us. By bringing a spiritual ear to the spiritual utterance, so that spiritual things may be interpreted to the spiritual in that which is the common, the unchangeable language of hearts and souls.
C. J. Vaughan, Temple Sermons, p. 35.
Act 2:2, Act 2:17
(with Joh 2:20)
The Fourfold Symbols of the Spirit
I. A rushing mighty wind. In this symbol we have set forth the highest work of the Spirit—the communication of a new and supernatural life. In this sign lies the thought of a life (1) derived, (2) kindred with the life bestowed, (3) free like the life which is given, (4) a life of power.
II. The fire of the Spirit. The emblem of fire is selected to express the work of the Spirit of God, by reason of its leaping, triumphant, transforming energy. The metaphor of fire suggests also purifying. Get the love of God into your hearts, and the fire of His Divine Spirit into your spirits to melt you down, as it were, and then the scum and the dross will come to the top, and you can skim them off. Two things conquer my sin; the one is the blood of Jesus Christ, which washes me from all the guilt of the past; the other is the fiery influence of that Divine Spirit which makes me pure and clean for all the time to come.
III. The symbol of water. The Spirit is (1) cleansing, (2) refreshing and satisfying. Our thirst can be slaked by the deep draught of the river of the Water of Life, which proceeds from the throne of God and the Lamb. (3) Productive and fertilising. In Eastern lands a well of water is all that is needed to make the wilderness rejoice. The one means of lofty and fruitful Christian living is a deep, inward possession of the Spirit of God.
IV. The oil of the Spirit. The reason for the use of such a symbol, I presume, would be in the invigorating and in the supposed, and possibly real, health-giving effect of the use of oil in Eastern climates. Whatever may have been the reason for the use of oil in official anointings, the meaning of the act was plain. It was a preparation for a specific and distinct service. And so when we read of the oil of the Spirit, we are to think that it is that which fits us for becoming priests, prophets, and kings, and which calls us because it fits us for these functions.
A. Maclaren, A Year’s Ministry, 2nd series, p. 99.
References: Act 2:12-37.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. vi., p. 279. Act 2:14-16.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 165. Act 2:14-26.—J. Oswald Dykes, Preacher’s Lantern, vol. iv., p. 193.
Act 2:14-36
The first Gospel Sermon
There are four links in St. Peter’s chain of evidence. The first two, lying within the knowledge of his hearers, are briefly handled; the last two, being facts lying outside their observation, are confirmed at length by Scripture and living testimony.
I. God’s hand first appeared in the public ministry of Jesus by the miracles which He had wrought. On these proofs the preacher had no need to dwell. They were known to all.
II. But now came the stumbling block with the audience. This Man of Nazareth, the fame of whose words had filled Palestine, had been by the national rulers solemnly adjudged a cheat and a blasphemer; and the people in a fickle hour had turned upon their former favourite, and demanded His blood. Nakedly Peter recalls the harsh and horrid deeds of seven weeks before, and bluntly charges them on the crowd before him, so that each man’s share in that Friday’s work might rise up out of memory before his soul and tear his conscience with remorse and shame. Only his proof of the Messiahship of the Crucified is still far too incomplete to justify his dwelling on so irritating a theme, and therefore, without giving time for pause, or even breaking off his sentence, he goes on to announce—
III. That novel and astounding fact of resurrection, by which God had set His seal for ever beyond all cavil to the innocence and the claims and sonship of the Lord Jesus, "whom God raised up." What any devout and thoughtful Jew ought to have been looking for, as the chief mark of Messiah when He came, as God’s crowning attestation to David’s Son, could not be a thing incredible when at last affirmed of a Man who declared to the death that He was Messiah. If Jesus should be after all what He said He was, God must have raised Him up; but God had raised Him up, "whereof," adds the preacher, "we all are witnesses."
IV. One more proof, and only one, remained. David had not ascended into heaven to sit there in the seat of supreme, celestial monarchy and thence subdue all earthly foes; but Peter was prepared to say that Jesus had. In the change which the anointing Holy Ghost had wrought, the disciples were living proofs that their Master, though refused, baffled, slain on earth, had been exalted and enthroned in heaven, and had received of the Father—what He had now sent down to them—the promise of the Holy Ghost. Pentecost itself is the supreme demonstration of Peter’s thesis that Jesus is the Christ; for on Jesus’ friends, and. on none else, has come what prophets promised and the just have waited for.
J. Oswald Dykes, From Jerusalem to Antioch, p. 63.
References: Act 2:14-17.—Homilist, 3rd series, vol. iii., p. 126. Act 2:16.—C. Molyneux, Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 353. Act 2:16-18.—W. Ince, Church of England Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 243. Act 2:17.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiv., No. 816; Sermons for Boys and Girls, p. 31; E. Conder, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvi., p. 241. Act 2:17-21.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 167. Act 2:22.—W. M. Taylor, The Gospel Miracles, p. 3.
Act 2:20-24, Act 2:32-33
The first Christian Apology
I. The audience which St. Peter addressed were familiar with the main outlines of Jesus’ life as recent and notorious events. We assume them also. For the truth of the theory that Christ was God the Church offers one test-proof—the resurrection. Virtually, St. Peter does so in these early sermons of his. If God Almighty did raise the Lord Jesus from the dead into glorified and unchangeable life, as no other man ever was raised, then Jesus was the Son of God as He claimed to be, His life as Divine as it professed to be, His miracles genuine, His teaching true, His pretensions valid, His death innocent, His passion propitiatory and atoning. But if, which is the only other alternative, the alternative of unbelief, if God did not raise this Man, the Christian advocate throws up his case, our faith is false, our fancied Saviour an impostor, and we are in our sins like other men.
II. Even a Christ who became alive again is not enough, if He has so withdrawn Himself that in His absence He cannot help us. A Christ removed out of reach of men were as good as no Christ at all. Our Christ is not out of reach; withdrawn as He is from sensible contact with matter, into that spiritual world which on every side encompasses and perhaps touches this earthly life of ours, Christian faith feels herself more really near to Him now than when He was present to sight. It is because the Spirit of power, and purity, and peace flows into her, from her no longer accessible Head, that the Church exists, and possesses the unity of a spiritual organism, and does effective work as the bearer of a regenerating Gospel. Her word, her work, her very being, hinge on the fact that the Holy Ghost inhabits her. We have here an advantage over an apologist so early as St. Peter. In proof that his newly-departed Master had sent down the Holy Ghost, Peter had nothing to appeal to but one unique and startling phenomenon just happening in his hearers’ presence. He had the rushing noise, the flames of fire, the foreign tongues. We have the gathered spiritual experience of eighteen centuries. Christianity is not so small or so new a thing that it should be hard for any man who tries to track its working in detail on innumerable men, and gather up even its secret fruits. The Gospel is not a dead history, but a living power. It is not far off, but nigh us. God’s breath is in it, and moral miracles attest the perennial contact with our sunken race of a strong Divine hand—a hand more strong than sin’s—always at work to uplift and to heal.
J. Oswald Dykes, Sermons, p. 1.
References: Act 2:21.—Outline Sermons to Children, p. 214. Act 2:22.—G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 83. Act 2:22-24.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 321. Act 2:23.—C. J. Vaughan, The Church of the First Days, vol. ii., p. 95.
Act 2:24
St. Peter says Christ was raised from the dead because it was not possible that He should be holden of death. Let us consider what were the reasons for this Divine impossibility.
I. First, we find the reason which lay nearest to his conclusion, and which was intended to convince his hearers. It was not possible, because David had spoken concerning Him, that He should rise from the dead. It was their Jewish prophecy which forbade Christ to remain in the grave, and made His resurrection a Divine necessity.
II. But the second reason which would have shaped St. Peter’s language lay in the character of Jesus Christ. His character, not less than His miracles, drew hearts to Him, and led men to give up all for Him. Of our Lord’s character the leading feature, if we may reverently use such an expression, was His simple truthfulness. It was morally impossible for Him to hold out a prospect which could not be realised, or to use words which did not mean what they appeared to mean. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ had again and again said that He would be put to a violent death, and that afterwards He would rise again. If He had not risen, He would not have kept His engagement with the world. This was the feeling of those who loved Him best, and especially of St. Peter. All was staked on His rising from the dead; and when He did rise, He was proved to be the Son of God. Thus it was the character of Christ, more than the force of prophecy, which made the idea that He should not rise impossible to His disciples.
III. But we have not yet exhausted St. Peter’s reasons for his statement. In the sermon which he preached after the healing of the man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, he told his hearers that they had crucified the Prince of Life. In the truth of our Lord’s jurisdiction over life, based on His Divine nature, he traces the third reason why it was impossible that He should not rise again. The buried Christ could not remain in the grave. He was raised by virtue of a Divine necessity, and this necessity while originally and strictly proper to Him, points also to a necessity which affects His Church. We see in it (1) the impossibility for Christians to be buried for ever in the tomb; (2) the principle which is applied to the Church itself as well as to our bodies. It is not possible that the body of Christ, instinct with His force and spirit, should be holden down in death. (3) The principle applies to individual lives. If we are any of us in the tomb of sin, it ought to be impossible for us to lie there.
H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 257 (see also Easter Sermons, vol. i., p. 83).
References: Act 2:24.—Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Gospels and Acts, p. 175; Three Hundred Outlines on the New Testament, p. 107. Act 2:25-28.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 323. Act 2:25-26.—G. E. L. Cotton, Sermons in Marlborough College, p. 428. Act 2:29-32.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 324. Act 2:32.—T. Claughton, Church of England Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 129.
Act 2:32-33
The Church’s witness for Christ:—
I. Christ hid in heaven needs a body as well as a spirit by which to manifest His living rule. He needs a body through which He may make Himself intelligible to men, and even to unbelieving men; make Himself felt, certified, effective, enduring. This body He must have, and that body He has with pain secured Himself. And now into that prepared body His Spirit issues from Him, to gather it up into organised life, to inhabit it, to unify its capacities, to regulate its aims, to quicken its impulses, to fix its offices, to direct its gifts, to build up its intercourse, to feed and govern its entire frame. The Church is the witnessing body: it proves Christ’s case, it testifies to His victory: and this it does first before God the Father. It manifests His glory by justifying His method of redemption; it bears witness before God that He has not sent His Son in vain; and secondly, it has to witness in the face of men, to prove, to convict, to convince, that even an unbelieving world may believe that the Father did send the Son.
II. And in accomplishing this conversion of the world it has two points—this Church—to prove and testify—first, that Christ is alive and at work now today on earth, and that He can be found of them that believe, and manifest Himself to those who love Him; and secondly, that He is so by virtue of the deed done once for all at Calvary, by which the Prince of this world was judged and the world was overcome, and man given access to God. What proofs can the Church offer for these two points? It has three proofs to give. (1) Its own actual life. This is its primary witness that Christ is now alive at the right hand of God the Father. Its one prevailing and unanswerable proof is, "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Christ is alive, otherwise I should not be alive as you see me this day. (2) This personal life of Christ in His Church verifies and certifies to the world the reality of that old life on earth, of that death on Calvary, of that resurrection on Olivet. The living Church bears a book about with it, the Gospel book, the Apostolic witness, the witness of those who so beheld, tasted, handled the Word of Life. (3) Again, the body carries with it a third witness, not only the Apostolic record, but the Apostolic rite, the act commanded by the dying Christ to be done for ever as a memorial and a witness until His coming again. The present life, the unshaken record, the memorial act—these are the three prevailing witnesses by which the body testifies to the resurrection of the Lord.
H. Scott Holland, Family Churchman, June 30th, 1886.
References: Act 2:32, Act 2:33.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. i., p 189. Act 2:33.—Bishop Barry, First Words in Australia, p. 195. Act 2:33-36.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 480.
Act 2:36
I. The name of Jesus is the name of the Man, which tells us of a Brother.
II. The second name, Christ, is the name of office, and brings to us a Redeemer.
III. The Lord is the name of dignity, and brings before us the King.
A. Maclaren, A Year’s Ministry, 1st series, p. 275.
References: Act 2:37.—Parker, City Temple, vol. iii., p. 205; Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Gospels and Acts, p. 175; W. Thomson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 152; C. J. Vaughan, Church of First Days, vol. i., p. 55. Act 2:37-40.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 452.
Act 2:37-41
The First Christian Baptism
I. The double condition of baptism is repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. (1) Repentance, or the resolute turning and changing of the life, to face right round, away from old sin towards new holiness, was the one demand of John, the first baptizer. Yet even the change of mind, as he preached it, and as the people performed it at his bidding, was a much less thorough thing than the repentance which Peter preached. It was more like a reformation of manners than a renewal of the heart. No mere sweeping of the life as clean as might be (such as John’s brief ministry had effected) could turn into saints men whose hands were red with the blood of Christ, whose hearts were filled with hatred to Christ. They must be born again, and the repentance which goes with that means nothing less than a reversal of the innermost springs and sources of moral action; the slaying of one nature, or one set of ruling tendencies, that another may come to life. (2) A second condition Peter asked which John had not asked—faith in Jesus as the Messiah. In this one fact, the identification of the man of Nazareth whom Pilate crucified, with the promised anointed Son of God, lies the centre of gravity of the whole Apostolic testimony; and though the word faith is not once named, yet such a cordial acceptance of this fact, as implies reliance upon Jesus Christ for salvation, is plainly the chief differentia distinguishing Apostolic from Johannine baptism.
II. The difference is not less wide in that which the new baptism expressed and sealed to the faithful. Two blessings are named by St. Peter—remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. There are Christians, indeed, who live today as if the Holy Ghost were not yet given. They believe, as men used to believe, who only hoped for mercy to come. They have no more than half thrown off the shackles of a legal spirit, and are as joyless as if Christ had not risen. But this is their own fault—not the fault of their time. We are Gospel saints; baptized not into John’s, but Christ’s own baptism. Let us arise and claim our heritage. Let us invoke the Spirit who came at Pentecost to come to us; for "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," there is life, there is joy in the Lord.
J. Oswald Dykes, From Jerusalem to Antioch, p. 81 (see also Preacher’s Lantern, vol. iv., p. 257).
Act 2:39
The Meaning of the Gift of Tongues
I. What is the truth to which this gift was the index, of which it was the pledge? Consider the narrative in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and see whether it does not tell us. On a set of poor men, trained to a mechanical calling, despised by their countrymen, but sharing their contempt for other nations, noted for an uncouth dialect—there light cloven tongues as of fire. They have new powers of utterance, men from the province of the Parthian as well as the Roman world hear them proclaiming the wonderful works of God in the language of the lands where they have grown up. Is it a drunken inspiration? Have the orgies of a Dionysiac feast been brought into the Jerusalem worship? No, say the Galilæans, we are the disciples and witnesses of One whom your rulers crucified, whom God has raised from the dead. A great and terrible day of the Lord is at hand. To prepare for such a day, to signify that He whom you rejected as your King is both Lord and Christ, that is poured forth which you see and hear. Repent, therefore, and acknowledge your true King and Lord; be baptized in His name, and you shall receive that gift of the Holy Ghost which we have received.
II. The Spirit of God, teaching of the Father and the Son, leading men out of their narrow notions, can alone guide them into all truth. The missionary, if he is seeking to do his work faithfully, will be brought to confess that God’s words are not deceitful words, but words proved in the fire; not words for one age, but words that will last if heaven and earth pass away. But he will come to that discovery because it is the human discovery—the Divine discovery—which each of us will make for himself if we each seek to be honest in our vocations. We, too, must own that that Spirit is not given to any one of us for any faith or virtues of his own; that it is God’s gift to Christ, the Head and Corner-stone of a society which we enter when we abandon our separate selfish pretensions and are content to be heirs of a common blessing.
F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. iv., p. 17.
References: Act 2:39.—Contemporary Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 1; J. N. Norton, Golden Truths, p. 264; J. Vaughan, Sermons, 14th series, p. 69; Church of England Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 266.
Act 2:40
It can scarcely be denied that our age is distinguished by peculiar advantages. If I am asked to name the most prominent feature of our days, I at once single out the enjoyment by every one of so much personal freedom.
I. The outcome of this freedom is the unprecedented activity which characterises the religious and philanthropic enterprises of our day. There is, however, no exception to the law which prevails in God’s world, and which links together opportunity with danger. Multitudes in our day stand aloof, and take no share either in the labour or in the munificence by which great movements are sustained and made to succeed. Beware of the condemnation of the son who said, "I go sir, and went not."
II. What is the effect of personal freedom upon obedience to authority. It may be observed that we are made to feel in many ways, and often in unexpected quarters, that authority must now rest its claims to obedience upon reason, and not primarily on prescription. Is this a gain to us or a loss? Is it an advantage or a peril? Amidst much which good men deplore, there is more that they may welcome with hope. It is no inconsiderable advantage that in our times free discussion can precede change. For although discussion does not always prevent mischief, it is always useful, because it informs and educates men’s minds and prepares them for changes which are inevitable. When the dust of strife has settled down, and the noise of disputation has ceased, it is always found that the Almighty is still sitting upon His throne, and that He is the Ruler over all. In His own way He has been accomplishing His own designs, all the time that we, in our weakness and our fear, were trembling lest wrong judgment should prevail, and lest the firmament itself should fall down.
III. We must, however, work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. We must not hope to be taken out of the world. We may not suppose that the whole tenor of modern thought will be changed, so as to become accommodated to our weakness or to our fears. On the contrary, we must gird up the loins of our mind and be sober. Whilst we recognise and guard ourselves from the manifold dangers which lurk even in the very forms of our liberty, we shall endeavour to prize and to hold fast the unspeakable advantages which, by means of this very freedom, God has placed within our reach. We have our own duty to do, our own talents to improve, our own devil to resist, our own crown to win. We must do this in the strength of the Lord, and in the power of His grace.
W. B. Hopkins, Oxford and Cambridge Journal, April 27th, 1882.
Act 2:41-42
St. Peter’s Pentecostal Sermon
Consider the several points noted in the text, as showing the result of St. Peter’s sermon.
I. In the first place, the persons who had been baptized, and so added to the Church, remained in the Apostles’ doctrine and fellowship; that is, they joined themselves to their company, listened to their teaching, and acted accordingly; they were not ashamed to confess that they belonged to the new society who owned a crucified Master, and they did not wish merely to adopt a new name, and not withal to show by their conduct that their Christian name was a reality. As a general rule, it is clear that the effect of the conversion which was produced by St. Peter’s sermon was true and vital; though there were some who disgraced their profession, yet as a general rule, the profession which was made under the influence of St. Peter’s words was fully borne out by the lives of the converts.
II. Another point mentioned concerning the converts is, that they remained steadfast in the breaking of bread; this phrase has in the New Testament a peculiar signification, and generally means that which undoubtedly it does mean in this case, namely, the celebration of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. And the converts remained steadfast in the partaking of the Holy Communion. In our own days, it is nothing remarkable for a Christian to listen to a sermon, and yet hold back from the breaking of bread; people think that listening to a sermon commits them to nothing, that the breaking of bread does; that the one is amusing, and the other certainly awful. What does this prove but that the heart is wrapped up in impenetrable folds of worldliness, or self-satisfaction, or carnal security.
III. Lastly, those who were converted by St. Peter’s address remained steadfast in prayer. This was the proper fruit of a sermon. The sermon is rightly appreciated, it is manifestly blessed by the Holy Ghost, when it leads persons to value and join heartily in the Church’s prayers. The prayers are not the mere introduction to preaching, but preaching is intended to make people pray.
Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons, 3rd series, p. 242.
References: Act 2:41-43.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 454; R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons, 3rd series, p. 166. Act 2:41-47.—C. Stanford, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. v., p. 180. Act 2:42.—W. M. Arthur, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 91; S. Pearson, Ibid., p. 210; E. Johnson, Ibid., vol. xxix., p. 387; C. J. Vaughan, Church of the First Days, vol. i., p. 73; J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. xiii., p. 41. Act 2:42, Act 2:43.—Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. i., p. 295. Act 2:44, Act 2:45.—J. Dawson, The Authentic Gospel, p. 114; Church of England Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 69.
Act 2:46-47
The Daily Service a Law in God’s Kingdom
We have here the very remarkable fact that the Apostles and the whole Church of Christ still continued, after the day of Pentecost, to attend the daily services of the temple. There was nothing contrariant between God’s elder and later dispensation. They both worshipped Him in His temple, and offered the eucharistical sacrifice in their upper chambers. The time was not yet come when the daily sacrifice should be taken from the elder and given to the Catholic Church. Until this time came, the Church of Christ daily served God in the courts of the sanctuary on Mount Zion. When the time came that Jerusalem should be overthrown and the Divine Presence forsake His temple, the daily service passed to the altars of the Catholic Church. Consider some of the objections to the daily service which weigh with serious people.
I. As, for instance, it is often said that the daily service is unnecessary now, because of the prevalence of family prayer. We painfully overstate the extent to which family worship has been restored. At the most, it is to be found in the houses of the educated, and of some others among the more unlettered, but more devout of our people. But in the homes of the millions of our population family worship is still unknown. The Church must open a shelter for the desolate, and dress an altar for those whose lot is cast in households where God is unknown.
II. Another common objection is, that the daily service of the Church is unprofitable, because so few are able to attend it. But why should any be defrauded of a blessing because others deprive themselves of it. Why should Simeon and Anna be thrust back from the gate that is called Beautiful, because others see no comeliness in it that they should desire it.
III. It is said that the habits of life are so changed as to make daily service impossible. They are changed—but for the worse. Once the world waited upon the Church, and took its hours and seasons from the hours and seasons of God’s worship; but now all is reversed. When once the Church has restored the solemn days of fast and festival and the stated hours of daily prayer, there will be an order marked out for all men of goodwill to follow. No sun should then go down on sins unconfessed, or blessings unacknowledged; and if any be truly hindered, still in their own home, or by the wayside, or in crowded marts, or in busy cities, or in the fields—when the bell is heard afar off, or the known hour of prayer is come—they may say with us the Confession and the Lord’s Prayer, and though far from us on earth, may meet us in the court of heaven.
H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. i., p. 186.
References: Act 2:46, Act 2:47.—T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. vi., p. 180; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 269. Act 2:47.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xx., No. 1167; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ix., p. 52; New Outlines on the New Testament, p. 81.
Act 2:47 (R.V.)
A pure Church an Increasing Church
Notice here:—
I. The profound conception which the writer had of the present action of the ascended Christ. He adds to the Church, not we—not our preaching, not our eloquence, our fervour, our efforts; these may be the weapons in His hands, but the hand that wields the weapon gives it all its power to wound and to heal, and it is Christ Himself, who by His present energy, is here represented as being the Agent of all the good that is done by any Christian community, and the builder up of those Churches of His, in numbers and in power.
II. Notice how emphatically there is brought out here the attractive power of an earnest and pure Church. Wherever there is a little knot of men obviously held together by a living Christ, and obviously manifesting in their lives and characters the features of that Christ transforming and glorifying them, there will be drawn to them—by the gravitation which is natural in the spiritual realm—souls that have been touched by the grace of the Lord, and souls to whom that grace has been brought the nearer by looking upon them. Wheresoever there is inward vigour of life there will be outward growth; and the Church which is pure, earnest, living, will be a Church which spreads and increases.
III. Observe the definition given here of the class of persons gathered into the community, "Those that were being saved." Through all life the deliverance goes on, the deliverance from sin, the deliverance from wrath. The Christian salvation, then, according to the teaching of this emphatic phrase, is a process begun at conversion, carried on progressively through the life, and reaching its climax in another state. Day by day, through the spring and the early summer, the sun is longer in the sky and rises higher in the heavens. And the path of the Christian is as the shining light. Last year’s greenwood is this year’s hardwood; and the Christian, in like manner, has to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord and Saviour. So these progressively, and as yet imperfectly saved people, were gathered into the Church.
A. Maclaren, Christ in the Heart, p. 183.
References: Act 2:47.—C. J. Vaughan, Church of the First Days, vol. i., p. 92. Act 3:1-10.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xix., p. 376. Act 3:2.—Ibid., vol. xvi., p. 361; W. Scott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 244; H. W. Beecher, Ibid., p. 381; Ibid., Forty-eight Sermons, vol. i., p. 105.
Acts 2
We have here the history of the first Christian revival. Let us trace it through, and mark at once its origin and its characteristics.
I. It was ushered in by prayer. Like true children of God, these first disciples waited and prayed, asking evermore, that they might receive the Holy Ghost according to His word. And herein they rebuke us dreadfully, for in our petitions we far too largely neglect the Holy Ghost.
II. The revival began in the Church in the quickening and enlightening of those who were already disciples. To have the world converted, we must have the Church purified and ennobled, through the enjoyment of a rich effusion of the Holy Ghost.
III. The revival was characterised by the preaching of the truth. Peter’s discourse was (1) Biblical, (2) experimental, (3) pointed and courageous.
IV. This revival was characterised by many conversions.
W. M. Taylor, Peter the Apostle, p. 170.
References: Acts 2—Parker, City Temple, 1871, p. 333. Act 3:1-10.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 457; Homilist, 3rd series, vol. iii., p. 247.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 Subdivision 3. (Act 2:1-47.)
Subdivision 3. (Act 2:1-47.)
The Promise of the Spirit fulfilled.
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The fulfilment of the promise is not long delayed, and we come now to the real commencement of the Church of God on earth. In saying this it must be remembered we are simply using the familiar word, which has so long retained its place that it would be now almost affectation to change it. Every one knows that the strictly accurate term is the "assembly," and that this also needs to be further defined as the assembly which is Christ’s Body, or we shall fall into confusion. And this is the good of adhering to the common phraseology, negative enough in character to receive meaning from Scripture, but which, under. stood in this way, may become as definite as we can desire. The word "Church" in itself means only something belonging to the Lord, and so may apply to an assembly or a building, as in fact, people apply it. The Scripture-word "assembly" cannot be confounded in this fashion, but yet in itself would not distinguish the Jewish "assembly in the wilderness" from the Christian one so widely different, or even that heathen assembly which the town-clerk at Ephesus dismissed (Act 19:41). The word "Church" has the advantage that it does not really occur in Scripture; so that in using it invariably for the Christian assembly we can make it definite without any confusing with a scriptural word. Thus it will be easily understood if we use it here.
As already said, for the doctrine of the Church we need not look in the Acts. We have to go further now, and say, that for the doctrine of the Spirit we must not look in the Acts. It is important to recognize this, that we may retain the truth of the doctrine. In the Acts we shall not find "sealing," "anointing," or the "earnest" of the Spirit, or any terms equivalent with these. Of the baptism with the Spirit we do hear, but without the help of Corinthians should not be able to understand it. On the other hand, of the Spirit being poured out, coming and falling upon men we hear in the Old Testament, as well as in the book before us. These things have been urged in various interests, and we must not ignore them: Scripture is as perfect in its form as in its matter, and it is only by strict attention to such things as these that we honor its perfection and obtain its deepest secrets. The Spirit is also spoken of as given and received; we have the "gift" of the Spirit, as elsewhere the gifts."
Now the absence of certain terms which speak of the Spirit’s inward operation is not to be wondered at in what is an historical account. As the public Witness to Christ, it is natural that the outward manifestations should be dwelt upon, rather than the inward, more really important though these last might be. Thus also the gift of tongues is specially noticed. When the Spirit fell or came upon men in the Old Testament times, it was seen similarly in works of power put forth; and the coming upon men speaks naturally of enduement with power. Of the work in the heart no spectator could be witness, save as this showed itself in fruit in the life in due season. And this does not lack in what is before us now, as is most evident; but it does not give us insight into the character of the Spirit’s outpouring seen at Pentecost.
It is to the Gospel of John that we must turn, in fact, to know the real significance of the Pentecostal gift; although, as we have seen in going through this, even John does not speak of the Church. That it is the Spirit Himself who comes, the Lord there makes very plain to us; but the effect as declared is the perfecting of the truth and of the individual life; the circle into which you are brought by it is that of the acknowledged family, or, as Paul would say, the sons. The Spirit is the "Spirit of adoption"; the "gift" of the Spirit is to individuals; and, while producing necessary oneness of mind and heart, does not in any other way seem to imply the formation of a "body."
Yet that it was the baptism of the Spirit that was received at Pentecost, does not admit of question; and "by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." Thus the Church, the Body of Christ, came into being, -a body such as never had existed before. It was not proclaimed at its birth, however, nor for a good while afterwards. It was Christ that was proclaimed, -Christ come into the world, crucified by men, raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, ascended up to God, and now Lord and Christ, a Prince and Saviour, to give remission of sins. The present revelation opens gradually, developing out of Old Testament Scripture fulfilled, and as a message also to the people of the Old Testament; and only as it is seen that Israel will still refuse the grace of God, is there a widening of the sphere of the proclamation, and new characters begin to be assumed by the assembly. The present division does not go beyond the first form of the message.
1. Pentecost is named from its connection with the Sheaf of Firstfruits, being the fiftieth day from this which speaks of the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Upon this day two loaves of firstfruits, the beginning of the harvest, were offered to God. Their typical application is shown very clearly by the fact that they are baken with leaven, and therefore can represent nothing but men in that condition to which the fall has brought them, although the action of the leaven has been stopped by the fire, -that is, the holiness of God which has its effect in self-judgment. They are a "new meal-offering to the Lord," the fruit of, and in character akin to that "corn of wheat" which, that it might not abide alone, fell into the ground and died (Joh 12:24); the presence of the leaven being met by a sin-offering, which is followed by two lambs for a peace-offering, with seven lambs, a bullock, and two rams, for a burnt-offering. There is adequate witness to peace accomplished, with a full realization of acceptance with God, -the work of Christ in its completeness for the soul. This, of course, does not give the Church in its unique character as that, but rather in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel which began with it; consequently, all the more in the character in which, in fact, we see it in the Acts. The "feast of weeks," as they called it, fulfils its typical significance, as Passover and the sheaf of firstfruits had fulfilled theirs.
Pentecost finds the disciples gathered once more together. In those days of expectancy, it seems to have been habitual with them, and not as if any premonition of what was to take place had brought them at this time. But suddenly there comes from heaven a sound rousing them all to instant attention. It is like that of a powerful sustained breathing: so I think the words should be understood; it is confessedly "blowing" or "breathing" rather than "wind" as in the ordinary versions; and the latter of these two words should have the preference. It is not a storm that can furnish us with the symbols here; and in consistency with this, "rushing" is better replaced with "sustained." The simple force is "carried on"; it is not intermittent, as breathing might otherwise be taken to be. The idea suggested is that of inspiring, animating agency, though beyond human, -a heavenly power; not fitful or (as we say) impulsive, but lifting and bearing on with divine energy. It is the "power from on high," which the Lord promised, that has manifested itself; and, as the savor of the ointment once poured upon Him at that time filled the house, so now the house is filled with that which is poured out upon those whom divine grace has identified with Christ risen and gone up to God. Upon Him when in the world the Spirit had come to abide, the testimony to Him who was not of the world; so now upon those not of the world, because chosen by Him out of it, yet sent into it as His representatives, the Spirit comes to abide. Upon Him it was the seal of His perfection; upon them it is the seal of their perfection in Him.
The sound is not alone; a light as of fire appears in the form of tongues parting themselves, which rest upon each one there; and they all, filled with the Spirit, begin to speak in the diverse languages into which sin has divided the tongues of men. Grace is pursuing man with its testimony wherever his sin has carried him; as a consuming lire to his sin, but as light for his darkness, and in love which testifies by those who, themselves once the servants of sin, now speak with tongues enfranchised and given utterance by the Holy Spirit.
For the Spirit in man, not occasionally merely, nor, as one may say, officially, but characteristically and abidingly, so that it may be pressed as a part of one’s responsibility to "be filled with the Spirit," (Eph 5:18,) is indeed the perfect witnesss of how grace has come in for us, and therefore of the value before God of Christ’s precious work. This is what we have insisted on in the Acts, rather than the doctrine -any doctrine -of the Church of God. This is the key to the missionary activity which so pervades it, as the coming into the realization of it from out of legal shadow makes it the New Testament Exodus. The height of Christian position we must wait for in Paul; for to him is the administration of the mystery committed.
2. The great word, as we see now, is testimony. The gift of tongues is prominent from the first; and this it is that attracts the multitude. It was indeed a new thing in Israel, and its significance is at once manifest. Tongues were not needed for Jews in Palestine. The gift said at once, "Here is something to go forth." The scattering of the Jews, the privileged possessors of a revelation from God, was in His providence a preparation for the evangelization of the nations, and had, as we find abundantly in the Acts itself, been the scattering of seed widely among them. The Hellenistic Jews, with whom we shall soon be brought in contact, had taken up with some earnestness, if with less intelligence, the questions arising from their necessary relations with the paganism around. But, although there were thus many proselytes, yet there could not be said to exist any true missionary spirit, and the temper of the stricter Jews towards those who turned to them from the idolatry on all sides was not encouraging. Now had come the breath of change; and a new message must come with the new spirit. God was claiming His creatures, far as they might have wandered from Him; the miraculous gift was at once a trumpet to call the mass together, and a means of reaching personally all who should come.
There is no need for noticing the strange and differing versions that have been given by interpreters of what, though a miracle, is so simple a fact. It is plain that this crowd of people of many languages heard these men who were evidently Galileans speaking in these tongues. The miracle, as one of old remarked, was with those that spoke, not with those that heard; and therefore they were real languages the speakers used. Not even the "great things of God" that they heard them utter seem to have made such an impression upon the multitude, as this wonder of their use of unfamiliar speech. The Jews, unacquainted with these dialects, mocked the disciples as men who were drunken with new wine; but the rest marvelled.
3. It is specially to these uncomprehending ones, men of Judea and inhabitants of Jerusalem, that Peter, standing up with the eleven, addresses himself in explanation. They were, in fact, the guilty ones to whom yet, first of all, the gospel was to be preached. He gravely remonstrates against their groundless thought, of men being drunk so early in the day. The third hour of the day was that of the daily sacrifice, the custom prevailing being to abstain from food and drink, specially upon the feast-days, until this was offered. This is only a means, however, of gaining the hearing that he seeks: for explanation of what was taking place he refers them to their own scriptures. Joel had spoken of an outpouring of the Spirit in the last days which would affect young and old, men and women, after this manner. The apostle cannot mean indeed that this is the proper fulfilment of this prophecy, which speaks definitely of what shall take place after Israel’s deliverance, when Jehovah should be openly dwelling in the midst of her, as now too surely He was not. But what if already these things which they were witness of were the premonitory signs of the incoming of those last days? We have only to remember that the time of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel had been a matter of enquiry on the part of the disciples with their risen Lord, and that He had definitely refused them satisfaction. Peter could not then say that the days of Joel were upon them. Yet he could warn them that such times were coming, which, with all their blessing, involved antecedently the "great and glorious day of the Lord," which for man’s sin would not be light for all, but might be darkness (Amo 5:18). And he reminds them of the darkening of sun and moon that would precede it: what if already the things they witnessed might be signs of this great day? By and by we shall find a definite promise given that, if there were nationally repentance and the reception of Him whom they had crucified, He would return, and bring in that time. Plainly, then, as far as Peter knew, it might not be far away; and it was in the mind of God that Israel should thus have the offer of all that He had promised, without any drawback to the mercy so declared.
But Joel had added the necessary condition of salvation in the trial of those days: -a condition which could hardly be called one indeed, so naturally would it be the resource in trial to "call upon the Name of the Lord," (that is, "of Jehovah.") Yet even here, alas, might the unbelief of man make this a stumbling-block over which to fall and perish: for, in fact, Jehovah had come to them already, and they had rejected Him!
From this point, then, Peter begins to preach to them Jesus. He does not shun the title of Nazarene which was such an offence to them. Had not God borne witness to Him by mighty works and signs, which He wrought by Him in their very midst? Could they deny it? -an unbribed witness, surely.
What then had been the issue? They, the men of law, had used the hands of lawless men -of the Gentiles, to crucify and slay Him. That might seem, at least, the effectual disproof of His claims; nay, nothing had been accomplished but what had its place in the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God by which He had been delivered up; all man’s attempts would indeed have been futile, apart from this!
Spite of the Cross, God had shown His estimate of Him by resurrection from the dead. The Firstfruits from the dead, He had broken bands which yet had released no one besides after this manner. Others had been indeed raised up, but at last to return again and moulder in the dust to which man is sentenced. Not so with Him: it was not possible for Him to be held by it.
Peter cites their scriptures in proof of this; and as sufficient witness, David, of whose line Messiah was to come: in the sixteenth psalm, David, though speaking in the first person, speaks evidently of Another than himself, who, perfect in a perfect pathway, Jehovah always before Him, always therefore for Him, gave unwavering steadfastness to all His steps. It was a pathway of life, therefore, even though it led through death; in which His flesh dwelt in confident hope, that He would not abandon His soul to hales, nor suffer piety such as His to see corruption. Beyond, the face of God was the brightness before Him. Of David himself certainly, all this could not be said. Not to him could this perfection be ascribed; and his monument amongst them showed him to have seen corruption, like all others. Not of himself, then, did he speak; and there was but One of whom it could be spoken. As a prophet he looked forward to Him whom God had sworn, as the fruit of his loins, to set upon his throne, King of the final Kingdom; final, because perfect, as necessary in the perfection which He manifests here.
But David’s throne, would the Jew have argued, where is David’s throne today? Did He take it? Is He filling it, -the Nazarene? And Peter could never have replied, as so many since have done for him, that the throne of heaven was, as the greater, inclusive of the less! No, his argument is a very different one. He has been in death, as this perfect One was to be; He has come up out of it, His flesh even not having seen corruption. That God has raised Him up, all the disciples there were witnesses. But more, the Spirit with its tongues of fire was His witness. "Being by the right hand of God exalted," says the apostle, "and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this which ye now see and hear."
But that is not the argument: he is coming to it; and again he draws from David’s arsenal. The weapon is one with which the Lord has before met and silenced the scribes; now it is to do the happier work of bringing the unbelieving to the faith of the gospel. David has shown, he would let them know, that there was to be for that Son whom he owns to be his Lord, a time of waiting for the Kingdom, with enemies opposing. He shows also that this waiting time would be while He was personally exalted at the right hand of God. "Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, until I make Thy foes the footstool for Thy feet." Thus the pause before the taking of David’s throne is itself a proof of the Messiahship of Jesus, instead of being an argument against it; and David himself it is who testifies to this.
Thus His enemies are to be put down, and those who call upon Jehovah’s Name and find salvation in the last days must accept as Saviour Him whom Israel has rejected: for, "let all the house of Israel know assuredly," concludes the apostle, "that God has made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ."
4. The proof is conclusive, and the arrow of conviction is winged by the Spirit to the hearts of the listeners there. "Brethren," they cry out in alarm, "what shall we do?" And the grace that meets them is full and immediate. Let them in true repentance give up their sinful opposition to the Christ of God, and be baptized, each one, in dependence on the name of Jesus, for the remission of sins, and they should themselves receive the gift of the Holy Spirit; for the promise was to them and to their children, and to those afar off, even as many as the Lord (Jehovah) their God should call. But we must look at this more particularly.
In the Lord’s commission to His disciples, as we have it in Luke’s Gospel, repentance and remission of sins are to be preached in the Name of the risen Christ to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. This is accordingly what we find here, -repentance and remission of sins; though with an addition which has to be taken into account.
The Name of Jesus Christ has been proclaimed by the apostle to the sinners of Jerusalem; faith in that Name, if real, will of necessity produce repentance in the hearts of His rejectors hitherto. What a discovery of the state of man is the cross which he has given to the Christ of God! "Pricked in the heart" they may well be; but the apostle declares the mercy of God as pledging itself to those who, undoing their former rejection, take their place now as loyal subjects of the Crucified One. As the open sign of this, they must be "baptized in dependence on the Name of Jesus Christ:" baptism being the authoritative way of discipling (Mat 28:19), and His Kingdom being a Kingdom of truth (Joh 18:37). Peter is using thus the two keys of the Kingdom (Mat 16:19; see the notes).
The connection of baptism with the remission of sins is a difficulty with many. It has been so much abused in the interests of sacramentalism, that it is no wonder if the very allowance of any connection should be abhorrent to those who, rightly refusing the mediatorship of sinful men between the soul and God, identify such a thought with any connection of the kind. But it is not faith to be afraid of Scripture; and, in some sense, Scripture does make baptism, not a prerequisite to the washing away of sins, but the actual doing of this. If Peter here bids his hearers be baptized for the remission of sins, Ananias clinches the two things together in his words to Saul of Tarsus: "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the Name of the Lord." It is not the place yet to examine this particularly, but it cannot fairly be denied that the washing away of sins of which he speaks is put as the effect of baptism. If we are to meet Romanism effectually, we must frankly own the truth that is in it. It is not possible to maintain the ground that here a remission of sins by men is not intended. Did not the Lord, in fact, say to His disciples, "Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them"? He certainly did. To be able to illustrate this by the example of baptism cannot surely endanger the gospel with those who know it. Nor can any limiting the power to remit sins to the apostles avail to alter the conditions of the case. We can only affirm that the question of the Jews, in the sense in which they made it, is simply unanswerable: "Who can forgive sin, but God alone?" We must answer: As before God, none! He does not give His glory to another.
On the other hand, to apply a text like this to the preaching of the gospel, as if this were the power of the keys, as is so often done among Protestants, is to weaken the cause which it is intended to defend. Whose sins do I remit, when I preach the gospel? Clearly, none! And it is just here, where the question is of sins being put away from before God, that it is utterly impossible for men to do anything. Neither baptism nor anything else that can be done by man, can cleanse a soul for heaven; nor has it to do with admission there at all, but with discipleship, and therefore with the earth, and not with the heaven. It does not even admit into the Church; for there another baptism, that of the Spirit, perfectly distinct from it, takes its place, as we have seen. He who as Creator has given everything its place from the beginning does not override this, and confound all our thoughts by making matter do the work of Spirit, any more than He puts man into His own place. We must keep these lines clear, or everything falls into confusion. But there is a sphere of things on earth, which is in a peculiar way that of His interests, in which He has put man in responsibility to have things after His own mind, and where therefore a certain authority is necessarily committed to him. Here things are to be kept clean for Him; and therefore he must be able to pronounce within fixed limits between clean and unclean; therefore to cleanse for that sphere. Admission to fellowship or re, admission after the suspension of this, these are examples with which we are all familiar. Baptism for the remission of sins is not difficult to understand in this way, -an authoritative, governmental remission, which testified on God’s part to a soul His disposition towards it, if, on its side, there were no dishonesty of heart, but truthful response to the divine approach to it.
The Gift of the Holy Spirit is promised to every one who turns to God after this manner in true subjection to Jesus Christ as Lord. We must, of course, distinguish this one Gift common to all from the various "gifts" (charismata, -a different word) which were imparted variously. These will come to be considered in another place. Where the Spirit is, the gifts of the Spirit will, more or less, be found. The one is the Source; the other the stream; and, amid the changing forms of the latter, the fundamental Gift, without which is no Christianity, abides the same.
The apostle closes with assuring them of Israel’s interest in the blessing, even though it had a wider range, as Joel had declared as to the day of which he spoke. The promise, he tells them, is for you and for your children; but beyond these, for all that are afar off, -the Gentiles; yet not as claim; even Israel could have no claim; it depended for all entirely upon the call of God’s grace: "to as many," he adds, "as the Lord (that is, Jehovah) our God shall call."
We shall have to notice in its place that, when we come to the reception of the Spirit on the part of the Gentiles, the insistence upon baptism as a condition drops. God takes things into His own hands, as one may say, and the Spirit falls upon Cornelius and those with him while they are yet listening to Peter’s address, and before ever a hint of baptism has been given. Saul of Tarsus, again, is baptized first, and so are the disciples of John at Ephesus. In the case of the Samaritans, again, even when they have been baptized there is still delay; and they have to receive the Spirit from the apostles’ hands. Thus the order of reception is conditioned upon the persons: for the Jews who had openly rejected the Lord, baptism is always a pre-requisite; they must openly own Him whom they had disowned. The varying order, but above all, the entire setting aside of ordinances in the case of the Gentiles (which is our own case, for the most part now,) at once destroys the ritualistic teaching as to baptism. According to this, Cornelius must have received the Spirit while in an unregenerate condition! for he had not yet received the "sacrament of regeneration." Thus do the simple facts of history of themselves refute the whole system of error. Scripture is in all its parts prophetic; and the wisdom of God has given ample warning against the inroads of evil, for those who have hearts open to receive instruction. We shall see this more and more, as we go on with the inspired writer.
"With many other words," he adds, "did (Peter) testify, and exhort them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation."
5. God is at work, and the harvest is large and immediate: three thousand souls in one day! Nor was this temporary emotion; but the effects were permanent as they were deep. "They persevered in the apostles, teaching and fellowship, -in the breaking of bread and prayers." In this enumeration, that to which they owed all -the teaching -comes necessarily first, as the root of all the rest. Here was what gave them their fellowship; it was in the truth: participation in that drew them together. They had nothing of the poet’s liberalism, -"for forms of faith let graceless zealots fight;" -grace had come to them in inseparable companionship with truth, which they found not in the world, but which had exposed the world and set them apart from it to Him whom the world had crucified and by whose cross they were crucified to it. Of the Church they knew little yet; but they had found Christ; and the force of that irresistible attraction which drew them as to a common centre, drew them to one another. The Church began as the spiritual creation of that Spirit which had come to bear witness of Christ; and it knew Him before as yet it had learned to know itself.
These things find illustration in that which follows next, -"the breaking of bread," -which from its first application to a common meal, we see here set apart to its sacred use in reference to that which the Lord had instituted for a remembrance of Himself. It is strange that any should dispute this application in the place before us, where certainly we are not meant to understand that the disciples "persevered" in partaking of food, nor in coming together tor this, (which they never did,) nor in the "love-feasts," of which we read in Jude, but which were not an institution of Christ at all, and probably a later practice. The preliminary meal, of which the disciples had partaken with their Lord before the Last Supper, was the passover, which could not be thought of in this connection. And if as is very probable, it was at the end of a common meal that they remembered the Lord’s death, there could be no reason for so unlikely a thing, and so repulsive to the warm Christian hearts of those who are here spoken of, as naming the meal with which the Supper was associated, while forgetting that which alone made it worthy of mention.
The breaking of bread, in the mention thus made of it, shows the Lord as the Centre of His people, the Object before them, the Sustenance of their true life, the Effecter of their communion with one another: this realized in that precious Death, passed for ever, yet ever abiding in that which it has wrought and that which it has displayed. Lastly, prayer manifests the sense of constant need which the nearer we are to God is always the more realized.
The effect upon the outside multitude was that of fear; signs and wonders being continually wrought by the apostles as the special witnesses to the Risen Saviour. The people in the mass seemed with them, as in His early life with the Lord Himself. They were, in fact, at present in that border land, so hopeful, yet so unsafe, which will presently empty itself either into the fixed abodes of conviction and faith, or with more likelihood, into the seats of alienation and rejection.
Among those who believed was manifested a unity of heart and interest, in which the natural selfishness of the fallen condition was swallowed up in the fulness of a love which the sense of divine love had begotten. They were together in such sort that all they had was held in common; not by any law or outward constraint, which would have spoiled it all, but in the consciousness of what they were all to Christ, and what Christ was to each and all of them. Enriched by Him with a blessing which nothing could diminish, but the more they ministered it, the more they had it, "they sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, as any one had need." So by more than miracles was the power of the Spirit displayed among them. As for the rest, they were in their own consciousness but a remnant of Israel who had received Messiah. And though by the indwelling of the Spirit the House of God after a new manner had begun upon earth, yet their daily resort was still to the temple; and this was in the love that still waited upon His ancient people, permitted and used of God for testimony to the nation. But the temple after all was not where they could enjoy what was peculiar to themselves. The bread in which they remembered what had made all new to them was broken at home. In spite of the ambiguity of the expression, and the reference to the ordinary meal which follows it here, this is the most natural application of the breaking of bread in this place also. There seems scarcely need to tell us that they ate their meals at home! and to refer it, as has been done, to their having no longer part in the peace-offering or other sacrifices, has everything against it, at so early a date as this. Long afterwards we hear that the many thousands of the Jews who believed were all zealous of the law; and Paul even is persuaded to enter purified into the temple with men who were distinctly to have an offering offered for every one of them (Act 21:20; Act 21:26). It is vain, therefore, to seek to transfer these new-made Christians to a later time than that to which we have, in fact, arrived. God bore long with the continuance of that which had been His own institution, and it would be many years before the epistle to the Hebrews would be written. The statement here seems certainly to have its only proper application to the Lord’s Supper, while it would be not unsuited in such connection to speak of how even the common meals were taken with the gladness which the Christian feast had communicated to them.
Thus the happy days went on; and day by day the Lord added together those that were being saved. Israel would not yet turn to the light vouchsafed her; but a remnant were being marked off, in which would be found the nucleus of a new testimony: to the principalities and powers in heavenly places was to be made known in the Church the manifold wisdom of God.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 17 Act 2:1 - Act 2:13.
Acts
THE ABIDING GIFT AND ITS TRANSITORY ACCOMPANIMENTS
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Act 2:1 - Act 2:13.
Only ten days elapsed between the Ascension and Pentecost. The attitude of the Church during that time should be carefully noted. They obeyed implicitly Christ’s command to wait for the ‘power from on high.’ The only act recorded is the election of Matthias to fill Judas’s place, and it is at least questionable whether that was not a mistake, and shown to be such by Christ’s subsequent choice of Paul as an Apostle. But, with the exception of that one flash of doubtful activity, prayer, supplication, patient waiting, and clinging together in harmonious expectancy, characterised the hundred and twenty brethren.
They must have been wrought to an intense pitch of anticipation, for they knew that their waiting was to be short, and they knew, at least partially, what they were to receive, namely, ‘power from on high,’ or ‘the promise of the Father.’ Probably, too, the great Feast, so near at hand, would appear to them a likely time for the fulfilment of the promise.
So, very early on that day of Pentecost, they betook themselves to their usual place of assembling, probably the ‘large upper room,’ already hallowed to their memories; and in each heart the eager question would spring, ‘Will it be to-day?’ It is as true now as it was then, that the spirits into whom the Holy Spirit breathes His power must keep themselves still, expectant, prayerful. Perpetual occupation may be more loss of time than devout waiting, with hands folded, because the heart is wide open to receive the power which will fit the hands for better work.
It was but ‘the third hour of the day’ when Peter stood up to speak; it must have been little after dawn when the brethren came together. How long they had been assembled we do not know, but we cannot doubt how they had been occupied. Many a prayer had gone up through the morning air, and, no doubt, some voice was breathing the united desires, when a deep, strange sound was heard at a distance, and rapidly gained volume, and was heard to draw near. Like the roaring of a tempest hurrying towards them, it hushed human voices, and each man would feel, ‘Surely now the Gift comes!’ Nearer and nearer it approached, and at last burst into the chamber where they sat silent and unmoving.
But if we look carefully at Luke’s words, we see that what filled the house was not agitated air, or wind, but ‘a sound as of wind.’ The language implies that there was no rush of atmosphere that lifted a hair on any cheek, or blew on any face, but only such a sound as is made by tempest. It suggested wind, but it was not wind. By that first symbolic preparation for the communication of the promised gift, the old symbolism which lies in the very word ‘Spirit,’ and had been brought anew to the disciples’ remembrance by Christ’s words to Nicodemus, and by His breathing on them when He gave them an anticipatory and partial bestowment of the Spirit, is brought to view, with its associations of life-giving power and liberty. ‘Thou hearest the sound thereof,’ could scarcely fail to be remembered by some in that chamber.
But it is not to be supposed that the audible symbol continued when the second preparatory one, addressed to the eye, appeared. As the former had been not wind, but like it, the latter was not fire, but ‘as of fire.’ The language does not answer the question whether what was seen was a mass from which the tongues detached themselves, or whether only the separate tongues were visible as they moved overhead. But the final result was that ‘it sat on each.’ The verb has no expressed subject, and ‘fire’ cannot be the subject, for it is only introduced as a comparison. Probably, therefore, we are to understand ‘a tongue’ as the unexpressed subject of the verb.
Clearly, the point of the symbol is the same as that presented in the Baptist’s promise of a baptism ‘with the Holy Ghost and fire.’ The Spirit was to be in them as a Spirit of burning, thawing natural coldness and melting hearts with a genial warmth, which should beget flaming enthusiasm, fervent love, burning zeal, and should work transformation into its own fiery substance. The rejoicing power, the quick energy, the consuming force, the assimilating action of fire, are all included in the symbol, and should all be possessed by Christ’s disciples.
But were the tongue-like shapes of the flames significant too? It is doubtful, for, natural as is the supposition that they were, it is to be remembered that ‘tongues of fire’ is a usual expression, and may mean nothing more than the flickering shoots of flame into which a fire necessarily parts.
But these two symbols are only symbols. The true fulfilment of the great promise follows. Mark the brief simplicity of the quiet words in which the greatest bestowment ever made on humanity, the beginning of an altogether new era, the equipment of the Church for her age-long conflict, is told. There was an actual impartation to men of a divine life, to dwell in them and actuate them; to bring all good to victory in them; to illuminate, sustain, direct, and elevate; to cleanse and quicken. The gift was complete. They were ‘filled.’ No doubt they had much more to receive, and they received it, as their natures became, by faithful obedience to the indwelling Spirit, capable of more. But up to the measure of their then capacities they were filled; and, since their spirits were expansible, and the gift was infinite, they were in a position to grow steadily in possession of it, till they were ‘filled with all the fulness of God.’
Further, ‘they were all filled,’-not the Apostles only, but the whole hundred and twenty. Peter’s quotation from Joel distinctly implies the universality of the gift, which the ‘servants and handmaidens,’ the brethren and the women, now received. Herein is the true democracy of Christianity. There are still diversities of operations and degrees of possession, but all Christians have the Spirit. All ‘they that believe on Him,’ and only they, have received it. Of old the light shone only on the highest peaks,-prophets, and kings, and psalmists; now the lowest depths of the valleys are flooded with it. Would that Christians generally believed more fully in, and set more store by, that great gift!
As symbols preceded, tokens followed. The essential fact of Pentecost is neither the sound and fire, nor the speaking with other tongues, but the communication of the Holy Spirit. The sign and result of that was the gift of utterance in various languages, not their own, nor learned by ordinary ways. No twisting of the narrative can weaken the plain meaning of it, that these unlearned Galileans spake in tongues which their users recognised to be their own. The significance of the fact will appear presently, but first note the attestation of it by the multitude.
Of course, the foreign-born Jews, who, from motives of piety, however mistaken, had come to dwell in Jerusalem, are said to have been ‘from every nation under heaven,’ by an obvious and ordinary license. It is enough that, as the subsequent catalogue shows, they came from all corners of the then known world, though the extremes of territory mentioned cover but a small space on a terrestrial globe.
The ‘sound’ of the rushing wind had been heard hurtling through the city in the early morning hours, and had served as guide to the spot. A curious crowd came hurrying to ascertain what this noise of tempest in a calm meant, and they were met by something more extraordinary still. Try to imagine the spectacle. As would appear from Act 2:33, the tongues of fire remained lambently glowing on each head {‘which ye see’}, and the whole hundred and twenty, thus strangely crowned, were pouring out rapturous praises, each in some strange tongue. When the astonished ears had become accustomed to the apparent tumult, every man in the crowd heard some one or more speaking in his own tongue, language, or dialect, and all were declaring the mighty works of God; that is, probably, the story of the crucified, ascended Jesus.
We need not dwell on subordinate questions, as to the number of languages represented there, or as to the catalogue in Act 2:9 - Act 2:10. But we would emphasise two thoughts. First, the natural result of being filled with God’s Spirit is utterance of the great truths of Christ’s Gospel. As surely as light radiates, as surely as any deep emotion demands expression, so certainly will a soul filled with the Spirit be forced to break into speech. If professing Christians have never known the impulse to tell of the Christ whom they have found, their religion must be very shallow and imperfect. If their spirits are full, they will overflow in speech.
Second, Pentecost is a prophecy of the universal proclamation of the Gospel, and of the universal praise which shall one day rise to Him that was slain. ‘This company of brethren praising God in the tongues of the whole world represented the whole world which shall one day praise God in its various tongues’ {Bengel}. Pentecost reversed Babel, not by bringing about a featureless monopoly, but by consecrating diversity, and showing that each language could be hallowed, and that each lent some new strain of music to the chorus.
It prophesied of the time when ‘men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation’ should lift up their voices to Him who has purchased them unto God with His blood. It began a communication of the Spirit to all believers which is never to cease while the world stands. The mighty rushing sound has died into silence, the fiery tongues rest on no heads now, the miraculous results of the gifts of the Spirit have passed away also, but the gift remains, and the Spirit of God abides for ever with the Church of Christ.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Day of Pentecost
The Day of Pentecost
1-13. Pentecost. On this day the risen Lord fulfilled His promise to send another Comforter (or Advocate) 'that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive; for it be-holdeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him; for He abideth with you, and shall be in you' (Joh_14:17). Primarily, Pentecost is to be regarded as the Consecration of the Church for its work of evangelising the world. The fiery tongues which lighted upon the Apostles symbolised the gift of 'boldness with fervent zeal constantly to preach the gospel unto all nations; whereby we have been brought out of darkness and error unto the clear light and true knowledge of Thee, and of Thy Son Jesus Christ.' To assist in the work of evangelising the world, the gift of prophecy (i.e. of inspired preaching) was given, nor was this gift confined to the Apostles, for 'I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.' The books of the NT. remain to testify that this gift of prophecy was. a real one. We must also believe (although St. Luke does not allude to the fact) that on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was given as a principle of inward spiritual life. The Lord Jesus had definitely promised this at the Last Supper. He said that the Holy Spirit would come to dwell with them and within them for ever, and that He Himself would return with the coming of the Spirit to dwell in their hearts by faith. This Spirit was to be their Advocate with the Father, to teach them all things, to bring to their remembrance all things that Jesus had told them, and to guide them into all the truth. The Spirit was also to have a mission to those without. Through the earnest utterances of believers, He would 'convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment,' and a beginning of this process was seen, when the hearers of St. Peter's first sermon 'were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles, Brethren, what shall we do?' At Pentecost a new spirit entered the world, and began to transform it. That spirit is still at work, and the most sceptical cannot deny its presence or its power. Men may attempt to account for it by natural causes, but it is there, and history teaches us that it comes to us from Jesus of Nazareth, who, as Dr. Lecky says, 'has not only been the highest pattern of virtue, but the highest incentive to its practice, and has exerted so deep an influence that it may be truly said that the simple record of three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and to soften mankind, than all the disquisitions of philosophers, and than all the exhortations of moralists.'
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1. Pentecost] so called because it was the fiftieth day from the first day of the Passover. It was also called 'the Feast of Weeks,' because it occurred a week of weeks (i.e. seven weeks) after the Passover. It marked the completion of the corn harvest, and according to the later Jews it commemorated the giving of the Law on Sinai. The characteristic ritual of this feast was the offering and waving of two leavened loaves of wheaten flour, together with a sin offering, burnt offerings, and peace offerings (Lev_23:15-20). Appropriately, therefore, on this day the gospel harvest began; and the old Law of ordinances was superseded by the new Law of love.
2. A sound] The miraculous accompaniments of the outpouring of the Spirit were intended partly to strengthen the faith of the Apostles in the reality of the gift, and partly to arrest the attention of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
3. Cloven tongues] RV 'tongues parting asunder, like as of fire.' St. Luke means that the tongues or flames of fire appeared first in one mass over the assembled Church, and then divided, one flame or tongue settling upon the head of each disciple. The mighty wind symbolised the power and energy of the Spirit, and the tongues of fire the fervour with which the disciples were empowered to proclaim the gospel.
4. To speak with other tongues] We should not gather from the references to the gift of tongues in St. Paul (1 Corinthians 12-14) and in the appendix to St. Mark (Mar_16:17), that the gift in question was the power of speaking foreign languages. Nor do foreign languages appear to have been spoken when Cornelius and his companions spoke with tongues and magnified God (Act_10:46), nor when the twelve men at Ephesus, upon whom St. Paul had laid hands, 'spake with tongues and prophesied' (Act_19:6). Many, therefore, are of opinion—especially since St. Peter compares the case of Cornelius and his companions with the event at Pentecost (Act_11:15)—that in this passage also the speaking with tongues is not to be understood as a speaking in foreign languages, but as some kind of ecstatic utterance of praise, not fully under the control of the speaker. This view is plausible, but difficult to reconcile with the primd facie meaning of the present passage. In Act_2:6 it is said that the multitude were confounded, 'because that every man heard them speak in his own language.' Again in Act_2:7 the multitude ask, 'Behold, are not all these which speak Galikeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?' (see also Act_2:11). The meaning surely must be that the disciples either spoke, or that they seemed to their hearers to speak, foreign languages. This being so, we are constrained to believe, either that St. Luke has misunderstood the nature of the event, or that this Pentecostal miracle was of a higher and more extraordinary character than the later 'speaking with tongues.' Among modern parallels the most suggestive is the case of St. Vincent Ferrer, who, when preaching in Spanish, is said to have been understood by English, Flemish, French, and Italian hearers (see further on 1 Corinthians 12-14). We may see in this event, which seemed to obliterate the barriers of nationality and language, a reversal of the separation and confusion of tongues (Genesis 11).
5. Were dwelling] i.e. were dwelling permanently. Their love of Jerusalem and the Temple had attracted them from all lands to take up their abode in the Holy City.
6. The multitude] comprising not only these 'dwellers' in Jerusalem, but those who had come to keep the feast. Pentecost was one of the three festivals at which every Israelite was expected to appear before the Lord.
9. Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites] are nations beyond the empire and influence of Rome. Here were settled the Ten Tribes of the first captivity (2Ki_17:6). Mesopotamia] The chief Jewish centre here was Babylon, which, ever since the captivity of Judah, was famed for its rabbinical schools, and was for that reason regarded as part of the Holy Land.
Judæa] Judaea, as distinguished from Galilee, to which the Apostles belonged. Cappadocia.. Pamphylia] Jews were scattered throughout Asia Minor as far as Pontus, and even crossed the Euxine to the Crimea. They enjoyed everywhere full civic rights.
10. Egypt] According to Philo there were a million Jews in Egypt. They formed a large part of the population of Alexandria, where Judaism allied itself with the Platonic philosophy, and attempted to appropriate the best elements of Hellenic culture. Cyrene] A Greek city in N. Africa, founded 631 b.c. A quarter of its great population consisted of Jews, who possessed full rights of citizenship. See Mat_27:32; Act_6:9; Act_11:20; Act_13:1.
Strangers of Rome] RV 'sojourners from Rome.' They probably possessed the Roman citizenship, like St. Paul. Jewish prisoners were brought to Rome by Pompey, but they soon regained their freedom, and settled, with full civic rights, in a district beyond the Tiber. In 19 a.d. they were banished, but, after the fall of Sejanus, were allowed to return.
14-41. St. Peter's sermon and its effects. Peter's sermon falls into four divisions:
(1) Act_2:14-21. Explanation of the phenomenon of speaking with tongues as a manifestation of the outpouring of the Spirit foretold by the prophet Joel, Joe_2:28. (2) Act_2:22-28. St. Peter shows that the outpouring of the Spirit is connected with the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth, whom, after His crucifixion by lawless men, God raised from the dead, according to the prophecy of David in the Psalms (Psa_16:8-11). (3) Act_2:29-36. St. Peter proves that Psa_16:8-11 refers to the Resurrection not of David but of Jesus, and adds the personal testimony of the Apostles that Jesus had really been raised. He then affirms the Ascension of Jesus, and declares that it is He who has sent down from heaven the gift of the Holy Spirit. From the Ascension which he illustrates by Psa_110:1, he further concludes that Jesus is the Messianic King so long expected by the Jews. (4) Act_2:37-40. St. Peter concludes with a practical exhortation to his hearers to repent and be baptised, that they and their children may receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
The genuineness of this speech is vouched for by the simplicity of its theology, and by its resemblances to 1 Peter (e.g. 'foreknowledge,' 1Pe_1:2; 'to call upon' (God), 1Pe_1:17; 'rejoicing,' 1Pe_1:6, 1Pe_1:8; 1Pe_4:13; 'the right hand of God,' 1Pe_3:22; 'exalt,' 1Pe_5:6; 'the house' (= Israel), 1Pe_2:5; 1Pe_4:17, etc.).
15. But the third hour] On festival days the Jews tasted nothing until the morning synagogue service, held at the third hour (9 a.m.), was finished.
16. Joel] see Joe_2:28-32. The only important variation is that Peter changes Joel's 'afterward' into the more definite 'in the last days.' The 'last days' are the Christian'dispensation.
19. Wonders in heaven, etc.] A metaphorical description of the calamities which will happen on earth before Christ's Second Coming, which St. Peter probably regarded as near: cp. Mat_24:29.
20. That great and notable day] i.e. either the destruction of Jerusalem, or Christ's Second Advent.
23. By wicked hands] lit. 'by the hand of lawless men' (i.e. the Romans).
24. The pains of death] lit. 'the birthpangs of death.' Death being personified as a woman in travail, and receiving relief when the dead are 'born again' by resurrection. But it is more probable that St. Peter really spoke of the 'snares' of death, the word for 'snare' (hìbel) and that for 'birth-pang' (hçbel) being practically identical.
25. See Psa_16:8.
26. Rest in hope] lit. 'pitch its tent upon hope.'
27. Hell] i.e. Hades, the abode of disembodied spirits waiting for the resurrection (Heb. Sheol). A proof text of the reality of Christ's descent into 'hell' (i.e. Hades).
33. By the right hand] or, 'to the right hand.' The promise of] i.e. the promised Holy Ghost.
37. Were pricked in their heart] (1) because they had crucified Jesus; (2) because they had not acknowledged Him as the Messiah, and had thus deprived themselves of the hope of salvation.
38. In the name of Jesus Christ] see on Mat_28:19. The remission of sins] one of the principal benefits of Holy Baptism, when the ordinance is rightly received (Act_22:16 cp. Act_10:43, Act_10:47; Act_13:38; Heb_10:22 also 1Co_6:11; Eph_5:25-26). The gift of the Holy Ghost] It is to be inferred from Mat_19:6, cp. Heb_6:2, that the Holy Ghost was given by the laying on of the Apostles' hands.
42-47. The life and worship of the first converts. The converts were still earnest Jews, attending the services in the Temple daily (Act_2:46), but they already formed a Church within a Church: for (1) they continued stedfastly in the Apostles' doctrine (Act_2:42), i.e. they no longer regarded the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees as their accredited teachers, but rather the Apostles. Thus the breach with Judaism had already begun in principle. (2) They continued stedfastly in the Apostles' fellowship. (3) They continued stedfastly in the breaking of bread, i.e. in celebrating the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion. At first the Lord's Supper was celebrated daily (Act_2:46), but afterwards every Lord's Day at least (Act_20:7). (4) They continued stedfastly in the prayers, i.e. in the prayers offered at the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and at the other services of the Church (so the RV). The AV, however, translates 'in prayers,' which would include private prayers also.
42. In prayers] lit. 'in the prayers,' i.e. the public prayers of the Church. These would probably be partly liturgical, after the example of the Temple and the Synagogue (cp. the liturgical addition to the Lord's Prayer, Mat_6:13; AV), and partly extempore. Extempore prayer was allowed to be offered at the celebration of the Lord's Supper by the Christian prophets (see the 'Didache'), and was apparently still in use in the age of Justin Martyr (150 a.d.), but shortly after this the public prayers of the Church became exclusively liturgical.
44. Were together] probably they had common meals. Had all things common] This arrangement was not exactly what we call communism, for, (1) the sale of property was voluntary, the result of a spontaneous outflowing of Christian love (Act_5:4); and (2) even when property had been sold, the money usually remained in the hands of the vendor, to be distributed to the poorer saints from time to time 'as every man had need' (Act_2:45). The cases of Barnabas and of Ananias and Sapphira, who not only sold property, but even laid the money at the Apostles' feet, were exceptional, and because exceptional are specially noted by the evangelist.
46. Breaking bread from house to house] RV 'breaking bread at home,' probably in the 'upper room' where the Sacrament had been instituted, and the Holy Ghost had descended. The reference is probably to the Lord's Supper, and not to an ordinary meal; but it must be remembered that at this period the Lord's Supper was usually celebrated at the close of a sacred meal, called the agape or love-feast: see below.
47. And the Lord] RV 'And the Lord added to them' (RM 'together') 'day by day those that were being saved,' i.e. conscious of sin and seeking salvation.
The Love-Feast
It is clear from Act_2:46, and 1Co_11:20. that Holy Communion was at first celebrated in connexion with a common meal called agapé, i.e. 'love-feast,' or 'feast of charity' (Jdg_1:12). Our Lord had instituted the Sacrament at the close of a sacred banquet, and the Apostolic Church at first naturally followed His example. The feast was an afternoon or evening meal, at which rich and poor met together in the church, the food and drink being provided mainly by the rich. Prayers and benedictions, similar to those of the Jews, were said over each dish or course, and 'the kiss of charity' (1Pe_5:14) probably concluded the meal. Then hands were washed, and there followed prayer and sacred psalmody under the leadership of a prophet or other minister. 'The breaking of bread,' or Holy Communion, seems to have followed (not preceded) the agapé (1Co_11:21, 1Co_11:25) and the agapé and the Holy Communion were regarded as forming one service, called 'the Lord's Supper' (1Co_11:20). The abuses to which this arrangement gave rise (see 1 Corinthians 11), led, somewhat late in the apostolic age, to the gradual separation of the two rites. Already in the time of Pliny (115 a.d.) the Holy Communion was celebrated in the morning, and the agapé' in the evening; and Justin Martyr (150 a.d.), in describing the Holy Communion, makes no allusion to the agapé, which was by that time an entirely separate ordinance.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv1–18 II: 1. Thus far our author has been engaged…
II: 1. Thus far our author has been engaged in preliminary statements, which were necessary to the proper introduction of his main theme. He has furnished us a list of the eleven apostles, and the appointment of the twelfth; rehearsed briefly their qualifications as witnesses of the resurrection; informed us that they were in Jerusalem, dwelling in an upper room, but spending the most of their time in the temple, and waiting for the promised power to inaugurate on earth the kingdom of Christ. He now proceeds to give an account of the descent of the Holy Spirit, and enters upon the main theme of the narrative, (1) " When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. "
The day of Pentecost was the fiftieth day after the Passover. It was celebrated, according to the law of Moses, by offering the first fruits of the wheat harvest, in the form of two loaves made of fine flour. On account of the seven weeks intervening between it and the Passover, it is styled, in the Old Testament, "the feast of weeks." But the fact that it occurred on the fiftieth day, gave it, in later ages, under the prevalence of the Greek language, the name of Pentecost, which is a Greek adjective meaning fiftieth.
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This is one of the three annual festivals at which the law required every male Jew of the whole nation to be present. The condemnation and death of Jesus had occurred during one of these feasts, and now, the next universal gathering of the devout Jews is most wisely chosen as the occasion for the vindication of his character and the beginning of his kingdom. It is the day on which the law was given on Mount Sinai, and henceforth it is to commemorate the giving of a better law, founded on better promises. It is remarkable that the day of giving the law was celebrated throughout the Jewish ages, without one word in the Old Testament to indicate that it was designed to commemorate that event. In like manner, the day of the week on which the Holy Spirit descended has been celebrated from that time till this, though no formal reason is given in the New Testament for its observance. The absence of inspired explanations, however, has not left the world in doubt upon the latter subject; for the two grand events which occurred on that day-the resurrection of Jesus and the descent of the Holy Spirit, are of such transcendent importance, that all minds at once agree in attributing to them, and especially to the former, the celebration of the day.
That we are right in assuming that this Pentecost occurred on the first day of the week, there is no room for doubt, though Dr. Hackett advocates a different hypothesis. After stating that the Lord was crucified on Friday, he says, "The fiftieth day, or Pentecost (beginning, of course, with the evening of Friday, the second day of the Passover) would occur on the Jewish Sabbath." He seems to have forgotten, for the moment, that Friday was "preparation day," and that Saturday was, therefore, the first day of unleavened bread. According to the law, the count began on "the morrow after" this day, which was Sunday. Counting seven full weeks and one day from that time, would throw the fiftieth day, or Pentecost on Sunday, beginning at six o'clock Saturday evening, and closing at the same hour Sunday evening. As certainly as Jesus arose on Sunday, he died on Friday; and as certainly as this Friday was the preparation day of the Passover, so certainly did the Pentecost occur on Sunday.
Why Luke uses the expression, "When the day of Pentecost was fully come," is best explained in this way. The day began with sunset, and the first part of it was night, which was unsuited for the purpose of these events. The day was not fully come until daylight.
It is important to determine who are the parties declared by Luke to be "all with one accord in one place;" for upon this depends the question whether the whole hundred and twenty disciples, or only the twelve apostles, were filled with the Holy Spirit. The words are almost uniformly referred, by commentators, to the hundred and twenty. Any who will read the first four verses of this chapter , noticing the connection of the pronoun "they," which occurs in each of them, will see, at a glance, that it has, throughout, the same antecedent, and, therefore, all the parties said in the first verse to be together in one place, are said in the fourth to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and to speak in other tongues. The question, then, Who were filled with the Holy Spirit? depends upon the reference of the pronoun in the statement, " They were all together in one place." Those who suppose that the whole hundred and twenty are referred to, have to go back to the fifteenth verse of the preceding chapter to find the antecedent. But, if we obliterate the unfortunate separation between the first and second chapters, and take the last verse of the former into its connection with the latter , we will find the true and obvious antecedent much nearer at hand. It would read thus: "The lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered together with the eleven apostles. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." It is indisputable that the antecedent to they is the term apostles; and it is merely the division of the text into chapters, severing the close grammatical connection of the words, which has hid this most obvious fact from commentators and readers. The apostles alone, therefore, are said to have been filled with the Holy Spirit. This conclusion is not only evident from the context, but it is required by the very terms of the promise concerning the Holy Spirit. It was to the apostles alone, on the night of the betrayal, that Jesus had promised the miraculous aid of the Spirit, and to them alone he had said, on the day of ascension, "You shall be immersed in the Holy Spirit." It involves both a perversion of the text, and a misconception of the design of the event, to suppose that the immersion in the Holy Spirit was shared by the whole hundred and twenty.
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 8, 11, 14, 17 cloven tongues tongues, as of fire, parting and sitting…
cloven tongues tongues, as of fire, parting and sitting upon each of them.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Act 2:1-4).
CHAPTER 2
1. The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Act 2:1-4).
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2. The Immediate Effect of His Presence (Act 2:5-13).
3. Peter’s Address (Act 2:14-36).
4. The Result of the Witness (Act 2:37-41).
5. The Gathered Company in Fellowship (Act 2:42-47).
This is an important chapter. The Promise of the Father was fulfilled, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity came down to earth, to be the other Comforter. He came on that blessed day.
Two things are at once apparent. He came upon the assembled believers individually, and also did a work in a corporate way. Each believer on that day was filled with the Holy Spirit. He came as the indweller to each. But He also was present as the mighty rushing wind which filled all the house. He did not only come upon each, but all were baptized with the Holy Spirit, and united into a body. In 1Co 12:13 the more complete revelation is given concerning this fact. “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” The One Spirit is the Holy Spirit as He came on the day of Pentecost, the One Body is the church. All believers were on that day united by the Spirit into the one body, and since then, whenever and wherever a sinner believes in the finished work of Christ, he shares in that baptism and is joined by the same Spirit to that one body. A believer may be in dense ignorance about all this, as indeed a great many are; but this does not alter the gracious fact of what God has done. The believing company was then formed on the day of Pentecost into one body. It was the birthday of the church.
There is an interesting correspondence between the second chapter of Luke and the second chapter of Acts which we cannot pass by. In the first chapter of Luke we have the announcement of the birth of the Saviour. In the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke we read of the accomplishment of that Promise given to the Virgin. And so the second chapter of Acts contains the fulfillment of a similar promise. The Holy Spirit came and the church, the mystical body of Christ, began.
But the truth concerning the church was not revealed on the day of Pentecost. The twelve apostles were ignorant of what had taken place, and that the church formed would be composed of believing Gentiles as well as believing Jews; nor did they know anything of the different relationships of the church. Through the Apostle Paul the full truth concerning the church was made known.
The Coming of the Holy Spirit was accompanied with visible signs. A new dispensation was inaugurated with outward signs, just as the giving of the law for that dispensation was accompanied with similar signs. (Heb 12:18-19.) The rushing mighty wind filled the house, “and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sat upon each of them.” The filling of the house indicated the fact that His abode would be the house; the church and the parted tongues upon each head testified to the fact that each had received Him. The Person, not a power or influence given by measure, had filled each believer. He came as the gift of God.
Then they spoke in different languages. The speaking in other languages was a miracle produced by the Holy Spirit, who had come upon them in mighty power. These Galileans spoke in different tongues, sixteen at least, if not more. “By a sudden and powerful inspiration of the Holy Spirit, these disciples uttered, not of their own minds, but as mouthpieces of the Holy Spirit, the praises of God in various languages hitherto, and possibly at the time itself, unknown to them” (Dean Alford in Greek Testament).
The significance of this miracle speaking in other tongues is not hard to discover. It was the oral manifestation of the parted tongues of fire, which had come upon each. Besides this it proclaimed the great fact that the Holy Spirit had come to make known the blessed Gospel to all nations under heaven, and though no Gentiles were present when this took place, the languages of the Gentiles were heard, and that from Jewish lips, showing that the Gospel should go forth unto the uttermost part of the earth. But did they utter all an orderly discourse, preaching the truth concerning Christ, or was their speech of an ecstatic nature, in the form of praising God? We believe the latter was the case. We look in vain through this book for the evidences that these believers continued speaking these different languages.
Now, while it is true that there was such a gift as speaking in an unknown tongue in the apostolic age, and no Christian believer would doubt the power of God to impart to a person the gift to preach the Gospel in a foreign tongue, we do not believe that this gift of speaking in an unknown tongue was to abide in the church. Repeatedly claims were made in years gone by that it had been restored (for instance during the Irvingite delusion in England), but in every case it was found to be spurious or emanating from the enemy. The present day “apostolic or pentecostal movement” with its high pretensions and false doctrines, lacking true scriptural knowledge and wisdom, creating new schisms in the body, with its women leaders and teachers, has all the marks of the same great counterfeiter upon it. (For a closer examination of the speaking in tongues see our larger work on Acts.)
Then Peter stood up with the eleven and gave his great testimony. What boldness he manifested! What a change from the Peter before Pentecost! It was the result of the Holy Spirit he had received. His address dealt with the great historical facts of the Gospel, bearing witness to the resurrection and exaltation of the Lord Jesus. In its scope and pointedness it is a remarkable production. It has three parts. 1. He reputes the charge of drunkenness and quotes from Joel, avoiding, however, the statement that Joel’s prophecy was fulfilled (Act 2:14-22). (Joel’s Prophecy will be fulfilled in connection with the second Coming of Christ. Then the Holy Spirit, after the predicted judgments are passed, will be poured out upon all flesh. To put the fulfillment in our day is erroneous. See our Exposition of Joel.)
2. Next he gives a brief testimony of the life and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He quotes from the sixteenth Psalm (Act 2:23-28). 3. The last part of his address shows that the Holy Spirit had come as the result of the resurrection and exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. The briefest but deepest Messianic Psalm is quoted in this section (Psa 110:1-7). The address as reported closes with the significant word: “Let the whole house of Israel, therefore, assuredly know that God has made Him, this Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Act 2:29-36). Notice how the Holy Spirit uses through Peter the Word of God. The Holy Spirit testifies in and through the written Word. The aim of Peter’s address was to prove to the house of Israel that the crucified One is raised from the dead and that God made Him Lord and Christ, witnessed to by the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Person of Christ and His work is still the great theme. Whenever He is preached the power of God will accompany the message.
Wonderful results followed. The Word had been preached and the power of the Holy Spirit brought the great truths to the hearts and consciences of the hearers. Their guilt in having crucified Jesus had been fully demonstrated, and now they asked, “Now, brethren, what shall we do?” Peter gives the needed answer. Repentance and baptism are the conditions. If these are fulfilled remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit are promised to follow. Peter’s words wrongly interpreted have led to much confusion. Upon these words doctrines, especially concerning water baptism, have been built, which are not alone nowhere else taught in the Bible, but which are opposed to the Gospel. The words of Peter to his Jewish brethren have been used to make water baptism a saving ordinance, that only by submission to water baptism, with repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus, can remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit be obtained. We do not enlarge upon these unscriptural conceptions nor answer the utterly false doctrine of “baptismal regeneration”, but rather point out briefly what these words of Peter mean. We must bear in mind that Peter addressed those who had openly rejected Jesus. They had, therefore, also openly to acknowledge their wrong and thus openly own Him as Messiah, whom they had disowned by delivering Him into the hands of lawless men. Repentance meant for them to own their guilt in having opposed and rejected Jesus. Baptism in the name of Jesus Christ (in which it differs from the baptism of John) was the outward expression of that repentance. It was for these Jews, therefore, a preliminary necessity. And here we must not forget that Peter’s preaching on the day of Pentecost had it still to do with the kingdom, as we shall more fully learn from his second address in the third chapter. Another offer of the kingdom was made to the nation. The great fact that the Holy Spirit had begun to form the body of Christ, the church, as stated before, was not revealed then. In this national testimony the word “repent” stands in the foreground, and their baptism in the name of Him whom they had crucified was a witness that they owned Him now and believed on Him.
About three thousand souls were added, who repented and were baptized. Then we behold them in blessed fellowship. Doctrine stands first. It is the prominent thing. They continued steadfastly in the Apostle’s doctrine. In the doctrine of the Apostles they were in fellowship together, and that fellowship was expressed in “the breaking of bread.” It was not a common meal, but the carrying out of the request the Lord had made in the night He was betrayed, when He instituted what we call “the Lord’s supper.” Prayer is also mentioned. They had all things in common. They were like a great family, which in reality they were through the Grace of God.
And how happy they were! They had Christ, and that was enough. No system of theology, creeds, set of forms or any such thing, with which historical Christianity abounds--”Nothing but Christ.” They received their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. Joy and singleness of heart are two great characteristics of the true believer.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 14 The Pentecost Miracle.
The Pentecost Miracle.
The apostles filled with the Holy Spirit:
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v. 1. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
v. 2. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
v. 3. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
v. 4. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance
In the complete fulfilling of the day of Pentecost, when the day was altogether filled up, according to Hebrew manner of speaking, when it had altogether come. As Luke used the word, it indicates that this day, at this time, brought the fulfillment of the earnest and eager expectation of the disciples, and that its importance should therefore be remembered forever. It was the day of Pentecost, the fiftieth day after Easter, the second great festival of the Jewish church-year, celebrated on the day after the completion of seven full weeks after the second day of the Passover week, when the firstlings of the barley harvest were waved before the Lord. On this day, which in that year just happened to be a Sunday, they all were assembled together. This has been understood of the twelve apostles alone, who were spoken of in the last verse of Chapter one. But the fact that the Pentecostal gifts, though exercised by the apostles first, were not confined to them, but were used by other disciples as well, makes it more plausible to assume that the entire congregation of Jerusalem, the hundred and twenty disciples, chap. 1:15, and even others that had come to Jerusalem for the festival, were assembled together. In one place they were gathered together, and although the Temple is not specified as in other places, chap. 3:2-11; 5:21, the fact that there was such a large assembly, and that afterwards thousands of people became witnesses of the miracle, indicates that an upper room in the city would have been inadequate, and that the miracle probably occurred in one of the Temple-halls adjoining the spacious courts. And there happened suddenly out of heaven a sound as of a mighty wind, that bore along with great power. The sound came without warning or visible cause, no storm-clouds having gathered and the serenity of the sky being unmarred by any indication of a disturbance. Out of the sky the sound proceeded with a volume of noise which immediately attracted attention to its rushing sibilance, since it was directed to that one house or hall where the disciples were assembled. The supernatural manifestation continued even inside the hall, making both walls and ceiling resound with its violence. Incidentally, a second phenomenon was made manifest. Forked tongues appeared above the disciples, like fire in their appearance and brightness. The text makes it seem as though there was originally a great flame as of fire which accompanied the rushing sound, from which now the smaller flames divided or parted themselves off. And so the semblance of fires at upon every one of them. The fire and the flames were symbols of the audible tongues in which the apostles were presently to speak. For while the phenomenon was visible to all those present, the real and most important miracle of Pentecost took place. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost. All the preceding manifestations were but the heralds of the Spirit, who now came down to take possession of the hearts and minds of the disciples with His miraculous gifts. Not as though the apostles had not had the Spirit before. They had received Him both when they believed in Christ as their Savior and especially on Easter evening, with the commission of the Lord, Joh 20:22-23. But the apostles had shown only a very small measure of understanding in spiritual things, and as for power to work and courage to confess their Lord, all these had been strangely and lamentably absent. But here they received the Spirit in special measure; not only was the faith of their hearts confirmed as never before, but they were also given an unusual amount of strength, both to labor and to endure. And the strongest feature of this imparting Of the Spirit consisted in the gift of miracles, which was immediately manifested in them. For they now began to speak, in connected discourse, in other, strange tongues, in languages and dialects of which, for the most part, they had probably never heard. The Holy Ghost not merely taught them the various languages for their own understanding, but actually gave them the ability to express themselves correctly in these tongues. It was a wonderful manifestation and transference of miraculous powers. The account is so clear that there can be no question in the unprejudiced mind as to the miracle set before us in this narrative, namely, that the foreign languages became to the unlearned fishermen of Galilee as their own, that they had a perfect command of the various languages and could express themselves freely, as occasion offered. And all this was wrought by the Spirit, who gave them utterance and enabled them to speak the oracles of God. "The Holy Spirit thus penetrated their hearts that in one moment they had the right understanding of God and of His Son Jesus Christ, and understood the whole Scriptures, and had such courage that they do not keep this understanding for themselves, but dare to confess it freely and openly. He comes down and fills the hearts of the disciples, who formerly sat there in grief and fear, and gives them fiery tongues that they become courageous, and preach freely of Christ, and fear nothing."
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 5, 8, 12, 14, 16, 18 General Information:
General Information:
This is a new event; it is now the Day of Pentecost, 50 days after Passover.
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General Information:
Here the word "they" refers to the apostles and the other 120 believers that Luke mentions in Acts 1:15.
Suddenly
This word refers to an event that happens unexpectedly.
there came from heaven a sound
Possible meanings are 1) "heaven" refers to the place where God lives. AT: "a sound came from heaven" or 2) "heaven" refers to the sky. AT: "a sound came from the sky"
a sound like the rush of a violent wind
"a noise that sounded like a very strong wind blowing"
the whole house
This may have been a house or a larger building.
There appeared to them tongues like fire
These might not be actual tongues or fire, but something that looked like them. Possible meanings are 1) tongues that looked like they were made of fire or 2) small flames of fire that looked like tongues. When fire burns in a small space, such as on a lamp, the flame can be shaped like a tongue. (See: Simile)
that were distributed, and they sat upon each one of them
This means that the "tongues like fire" spread out so that there was one on each person.
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and
This can be stated in active form. AT: "The Holy Spirit filled all of those who were there and they" (See: Active or Passive)
speak with other languages
These are languages that they did not already know.
translationWords
Pentecost
heaven
tongue
fire
filled with the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 4, 5, 9, 10, 14, 17 2:1-4 Jews observed three great annual pilgrimage festivals, when…
2:1-4 Jews observed three great annual pilgrimage festivals, when many would go to the Temple in Jerusalem—Unleavened Bread (which includes Passover), Pentecost (Harvest), and Shelters (see Lev 23:1-44). On Pentecost, when the Jewish people were gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the harvest of God’s blessings, and when the disciples were united and expectant as they gathered for prayer, the Holy Spirit came and filled the gathered believers.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.