Pentecost: Christ Promised Fulfilled

2:1–12 Pentecost (also called the Festival of Weeks, Lv 23:15–16) commemorated the giving of the law on Mount Sinai and occurred fifty days after Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. Jews either made pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Pentecost or remained there after Passover. The events of Pentecost, which mark the formal and public beginning of the church, involved a number of supernatural phenomena.

Question

Why do they need to know it?

The Lord’s promise is about to come to fruition.

Text

Acts 1:4–8 (CSB)

4 While he was with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “Which,” he said, “you have heard me speak about; (John 14:15-17)

The Father’s promise refers to the gift of the Holy Spirit, which would soon come (chap. 2).

Acts 1:5 CSB

for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days.”

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

the greek word for power here is where we get our word for dynamite from.

CSB Study Bible: Notes (Chapter 1)

1:8 The major focus of the book of Acts is stated in this verse. Jesus said believers would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them, empowering them to be his witnesses in Jerusalem first and then spreading to the end of the earth. Note three things about how this unfolds. First, the empowering presence is to be the Holy Spirit, not Jesus himself. Jesus prepared his disciples for the transition when the Holy Spirit would come to be a constant presence in his bodily absence (see Jn 14:16–17). Second, the growth of the church would come about through the witness of the disciples. From the beginning, the church is depicted as a community that actively witnesses to their faith in Jesus Christ. Third, the result of this witness will be measurable, geographical growth. This growth will begin in Jerusalem and then spread through ever-widening concentric circles to other Jewish areas (e.g., Judea), to areas on the edges of Judaism (e.g., Samaria), and eventually to “the end of the earth,” which may refer to the known world of that time, likely coextensive with the reach of the Roman Empire. As new lands and peoples were discovered in coming centuries, the church understood that it must keep expanding its witness to reach the newfound “end of the earth.”

Acts 2:1–8 (CSB)

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

2 Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying.

3 They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them.

2:3 Fire is often used to describe God’s holy presence and His ability to purify

4 Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them.

5 Now there were Jews staying in Jerusalem, devout people from every nation under heaven.

6 When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language.

7 They were astounded and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?

8 How is it that each of us can hear them in our own native language?

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 2

2:4 other languages These languages were not heavenly utterances, but human speech understood by a wide variety of people groups present in Jerusalem for the feast (v. 5).

Acts 2:11–13 (CSB)

11 ...we hear them declaring the magnificent acts of God in our own tongues.”

God seperated at Bable but is bringing together here with the official begining of the Church

12 They were all astounded and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

13 But some sneered and said, “They’re drunk on new wine.”

Application

What do they need to do it?

Challenge

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