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The Holy Spirit Comes on the Apostles

 Acts 2 describes the day the Holy Spirit first came upon believers. It happened about a week after Jesus’ ascension to heaven, on the Jewish festival of Pentecost (celebrating first fruits and the giving of the 10 commandments). We all know this story; we’ve probably heard more sermons preached on this than on any other topic except Jesus’ birth and resurrection.

That’s one reason I want to put a slightly different spin on it . . . and to do so, I’m going to go back to Luke 24:44-47—which recounts the events following Jesus’ resurrection:

Jesus is talking about prophesy of the Messiah—the Christ. Messianic prophesy is found throughout much of the Old Testament, including not only the writings of the prophets, but also the 5 books of the law of Moses and the Psalms.

Why is this a big deal? Why do we care whether or not Jesus the Messiah was foretold before He was conceived? It comes down to what kind of God we have. Our God is a God of consistency . . . a God with a plan, which he is carrying out inexorably. We see this in the building of the universe . . . according to rigorous and immutable laws of physics—including the predictable movement of the planets. Our God is not a God who changes his mind (Num 23:19, 1 Sam 15:29) . . . even though we as mere humans are unable to know His mind precisely (Isa 40:13).

But again . . . why do we care? For the same reason this was important to the Jews 2000 years ago: because our knowledge of God’s word in the bible is our "gold standard," which protects us from the false doctrines of people like Jim Jones and James Bakker . . . because Jesus of Nazareth is recognized as the one true Messiah—son of God—not thru a revelation we have received, but thru prophesy in the Bible . . . prophesy which protects us from pretenders like Judas of Gamla . . . or David Koresh.

That, really, is Peter’s point in his speech to the Jewish pilgrims on Pentecost. Let’s review the story in that context.

As Acts 1 came to an end, Jesus ascended to heaven, leaving only 120 believers behind. These believers chose a replacement for Judas the traitor, but otherwise just stayed in Jerusalem . . . and prayed . . . and waited for the Holy Spirit.

It didn’t take long—just a few days. The bible says there was a sound like "a violent wind from heaven." We saw Hurricane Isidore hit Cuba last week, and today Hurricane Lili seems to be heading for New Orleans; I imagine the sound as something like a hurricane. Jerusalem is wall-to-wall with visitors: devout Jews from all over the world celebrating the festival of Pentecost . . . bringing gifts to God from the first fruits of their harvest and praising God for His gift of the law. When they hear this sound, they pour out into the streets to see what’s happening. But there’s no wind . . . just the sound. But they see tongues of fire! This is like special effects in a modern horror movie. Tongues of fire are coming down the streets, with the sound of a hurricane!

The 120 followers of Jesus are gathered together . . . traditionally in the Upper Room on Mount Zion, near the nice homes and estates in the Upper City of Jerusalem. That’s where these tongues of fire are going. The onlookers watch as the tongues of fire separate, and land on the 120 believers, filling them with the Holy Spirit. The believers "speak in other tongues."

Let’s excruciatingly correct. The believers aren’t doing what we today call "speaking in tongues." Tammy Faye Bakker could jabber on cue on TV, but it wasn’t like that. The believers were talking foreign languages they couldn’t normally speak. People from Rome could hear them speaking in Latin . . . people from Egypt could hear them speaking Egyptian . . . and people from Iran could hear them speaking Farsi (or whatever they spoke 2000 years ago).

But to most of the onlookers—who don’t speak Latin or Egyptian or Farsi—it sounds like nonsense. They accuse the disciples of being drunk!

Peter stands up—empowered by the Holy Spirit—and speaks to the crowd. I laugh at the way he starts: "These guys aren’t drunk; it’s only 9 am!" Perhaps we know people who show up for work drunk at 9 am . . . like the highly publicized recent case of two America West pilots who were in a bar all night. But devout Jews celebrating Pentecost would not be drunk at 9 am; my study bible says they wouldn’t break fast until at least 10!

Having established their sobriety, Peter attributes his friends’ strange behavior to fulfillment of the prophesy of Joel. Perhaps this is one of the prophesies Jesus discussed with the apostles after his resurrection . . . maybe not. It doesn’t matter; Peter is schooled in the scriptures like most Jewish men. The prophet Joel is not one of the "big names" of prophesy. Little is known about him . . . even his time. But the Jews understand this prophesy as relating to the coming Messiah. They believe that the Holy Spirit will be poured out in the "last days" of the Messiah, before that great "Day of the Lord" of judgement. These onlookers—devout Jews—have seen the tongues of fire and heard the sound of the wind. It’s hard for them to argue with Peter. They get the message!

Peter presses home his point. Reading Acts 2:22:

What’s he saying? Essentially this: "You people, devout Jews, know that Jesus of Nazareth had all the attributes of the Messiah. And now you have witnessed the fulfillment of the messianic prophesy of Joel. Doesn’t this convince you Jesus is the Messiah?"

It’s like in Matt 11 and Luke 7: when John the Baptist asked Jesus if He is the Messiah, Jesus answers: "Hey, cousin, don’t you see that I fulfill messianic prophesy . . . ?"

Peter continues—and I paraphrase: "You people know very well that Jesus’ death—including the form of His death and the suffering He went through—was all part of God’s plan from the beginning; it was predicted by prophesy. And so was His resurrection."

Peter supports the resurrection of the Messiah with messianic prophesy from a psalm of King David, Psalm 16. Then he goes on to say: "Look, the Tomb of King David is nearby. You know King David was not resurrected; Psalm 16 is talking about David’s descendant, the Messiah. The Messiah will be resurrected."

Indeed, the traditional tomb of King David is quite near where Peter is giving this speech; the picture is on the web site.

Peter continues: "All of you—devout Jews—know what I’m saying is true. You don’t really believe that the Roman guards went to sleep, and we disciples stole Jesus’ body. If the Roman guards had gone to sleep, they would have been crucified! And if you think we disciples overwhelmed Roman guards and stole Jesus’ body . . . we would have been crucified, just like Jesus. No, there is only one answer, Jesus really was the Messiah, and He rose from the dead, and He now sits in heaven as King of Kings." And Peter supports this by quoting another messianic psalm of David, Psalm 110.

Peter’s irrefutable logic convinces them. They believe. Three thousand devout Jews become Christians that day.

And how about "the rest of the story." Three thousand Jewish Christians go home . . . to Turkey and Rome and Egypt and Iraq and Iran and Libya. And what do they talk about in their synagogues: about Jesus the Messiah and the coming of the Holy Spirit. And some years later a Jew named Paul comes through their town . . . or another missionary we don’t know about . . . and the rest is history.

And verse 40 really speaks to me:

Among the Jews, a generation is 40 years; that’s why the Israelites who escaped slavery in Egypt wandered 40 years in the desert: until a generation of leaders with a slave mentality died. About 40 years after Jesus’ resurrection, in AD 70, the Romans totally destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. I see something prophetic in Peter’s words about this "corrupt generation."

The reading for next week’s session is a bit long . . . but it seemed better to do that and cover the entire story, rather than split it. It shows further effects of the Holy Spirit on believers—beyond speaking in other tongues and Peter’s Pentecost speech. In Acts 3 Peter heals a cripple who is over 40 years old . . . something thought to be impossible because of the man’s age. This miracle allows Peter to witness about Jesus to local Jews in the temple, proclaiming it came about because of the power of the resurrected Jesus. This brings the apostles into conflict with the Sanhedrin—who have the responsibility to review and verify claims of miraculous healings like this. Peter and John are arrested. The Sanhedrin can’t affirm this miracle in the name of Jesus, so they forbid the apostles to preach about it. But the apostles—filled with the Holy Spirit—stand up to the Sanhedrin and testify about Jesus . . . and hold their own with the learned scholars, even though their only schooling is from ordinary synagogues in faraway, insignificant Galilee. Furthermore, they make the outrageous claim that they must obey God rather than the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:19-20). It’s like a Catholic telling the Pope he doesn’t speak for God. This is something we ought to think about carefully as we study lesson 3: Jesus and Paul both teach us to obey temporal and spiritual authorities on earth . . . so when should we claim we are following a "higher authority," as the apostles do here.