Have you felt the wind?  Acts 2.1-13

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.  It is true – what happened to and in the believers that day changed everything for Christ followers from that day forward.  "Lord, open our hearts and minds to understand your Word this day. Amen"   Luke writes, “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphilia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism) Cretans and Arabs--we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!"¹

Welcome, Holy Spirit, and thank you, God, for keeping your promise of sending the Holy Spirit to inhabit the people of God! What an amazing picture that Luke paints of this historic event, describing the wind, and what looked like tongues of fire resting on each individual's head. Bizarre, yet imaginable.

Luke pinpoints this day on the church calendar:  forty days after Jesus rose from the grave, he ascended into Heaven; and 10 days after that, the Holy Spirit came to the believers gathered together as Jesus had instructed them.

So the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost, (Pentecost comes from the Greek word meaning fiftieth--so, 50 days after Passover), one of three annual Jewish festivals.  Pentecost required Jews to travel to Jerusalem with gifts and offerings to present to God. The timing is remarkable because the feast is what brought Jews from "the ends of the earth" together in Jerusalem, to be present at the same time, and hear the gospel in their own native tongue.

Luke says that 'sound like the blowing of a violent wind filled the house'--how do you describe what that sounds like? Things moving... particles vibrating in the air, wind has a lot of energy--a lot of power. Wind was a symbol the people understood as the activity of the Spirit and also symbolized the coming of new life.

As tongues of fire rested on each person, he or she was filled with the Holy Spirit, and began speaking in tongues. Please note - this is not the same thing referred to in our day as 'speaking in tongues.'  Luke uses the Greek word xenoglossia² here, meaning 'speaking in an unlearned language;' whereas the word glossolalia³ is used for 'speaking in tongues' by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12, when discussing the various gifts the Spirit imparts to believers, including tongues. Can you imagine this electrically-charged scene?  (You might need to reread that paragraph as its understand is critical.)

When the people started speaking in other languages, a crowd of Jewish pilgrims, formed outside as they heard their native tongues spoken. Remember, they had traveled from near and far to observe the Feast of Pentecost. It was God's way of drawing them to himself, as they heard the people telling the great things God had done in their own languages! Somehow they knew that the speakers were Galileans, though they were shocked by the clarity with which their languages and dialects were uttered. (Galileans were looked at as less-refined, backward, and even peculiar because of their dialect) Yet, these were the messengers of God's goodness to all of these travelers who would hear the Gospel and then take it back to the towns from which they had come. Incredible. Yes, in short order, missionaries would go out from Jerusalem--men like Paul, Barnabas, John Mark, and Silas--but for now, from one central place, the Holy Spirit infused the faithful with the unique, simultaneous message that would change her listeners forever.

While many of the Jews heard, believed, and began figuring out what it meant to them, there were some who scoffed and accused them of being drunk.⁴ It seems that what folks don't understand, they often dismiss.

Two thousand years later, what are we to take from that momentous day?

~God keeps his promises.

~God’s timing is perfect.  While you and I may grow tired of waiting for an answer or to see a change, our perspective is totally different than that of our infinite, all-knowing, all-powerful, holy God.

~As the Holy Spirit came to each believer that day, so he comes to each believer today.

~Believers need never be without God's presence again . . .

Just one thing I’m wondering – have you felt the power of the Holy Spirit in your life?

1 – Acts 2.1-11

2 - also called the "Feast of Weeks" because it was seven weeks after Passover

2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenoglossy

3 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossolalia

4 – Acts 2.13