ACTS 2:1-11
COMMENTARY
About10 days after our Lord Jesus ascended to
Heaven, the Feast of Weeks arrived, on the fiftieth day from the Passover
(Leviticus 23:16), and the 12 Apostles together with other believers, obeyed
the indication of Lord Jesus to remain in Jerusalem and await the coming of the
Holy Spirit upon them in this manner, for the first time in history (Acts
1:4-5).
Traditionally it has been assumed that only 120
people were present that day (Acts 1:15), and that they were on a second level
building, most probably the cenacle where our Lord celebrated his last Passover
(Acts 1:13). All this is most probable; however, the Bible does not specify
exactly how many disciples were on that day at that place, or whether they were
still on an ‘upper place’.
We know by Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians
that Lord Jesus appeared to ‘more than 500 people at once’ (1Corinthians 15:6),
which indicated that He had several more disciples, which most probably did not
include the 120 already mentioned plus others to whom He already had appeared
to, even though this cannot be affirmed for certain.
Most of these people were probably from Galilee, so
we cannot easily suppose that every single disciple of the Lord was in
Jerusalem at that moment, but only the12 Apostles, and the immediate family of
the Lord and the Jerusalem disciples.
We do not know if those not present in Jerusalem
that day also received the Holy Spirit that day, wherever they were, or if they
later received by the imposition of hands from the Apostles (Acts 8:15-17), but
certainly they did receive the Spirit at some point since the promise was for
every believer (Acts 2:39).
While the present were there, at about 9am (Acts
2:15), a strong wind came from Heaven, and the Holy Spirit, dividing Himself,
settled in the form of a flame of fire, over every one of them (Acts 2:3), and
they all were filled with the Holy Spirit of God, in fulfilment to the promise
of Jesus and prophet Joel (John 14:16-17; Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17).
Here we see God’s power, able to be in several times
at the same moment. We know the Father is one, the Son is one, and we know that
the Holy Spirit is also one (John 14:16); and here we see how one person of the
divine Trinity can also be at several times into each individual, because the
Scripture say they all were ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:4). We know
that that was not just energy or some faculty of the Spirit that entered them,
because the Scripture is clear that it was the Spirit Himself who entered them,
and not one of his faculties.
But on this day, also the Holy Spirit gave them the power
to be understood in different languages, reverting the curse of Babel, when God
divided the nations by confusing their languages, and the exclusivism of Israel
as a chosen nation.
This day, by speaking in different current
languages, a phenomenon that must not be confused with the ‘Gift of Tongues’,
since this was a unique occurrence and was not a gift, God invited all
humanity, of all races, sexes, ages, classes and nationalities, to come to
repentance and to accept our Lord Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. Thus, they
were understood by people from all nations, who marvelled that these simple
Galileans could speak in multiple languages to be understood by all.
For this reason we must strongly reject the evil
practice of some ‘Christians’ who pretend to worship God, from anywhere on the
planet and from every nation, in a fixed ‘liturgical language’, may that be
Latin, Slavonic or any other not understood by the worshippers, as if God was
incapable to understand every human in their own language, or willing to
receive worship that way. From that day, we can speak to God directly, and
worship Him in spirit and in truth, from our own understanding and form of
speech.
That day of Pentecost, the Church was born as such,
totally equipped to carry on the message of conversion that our Lord Jesus
commended us, until his return.
Omar Flores.
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