Text: Acts 2:1-4, 12 LSB
And when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3And there appeared to them tongues like fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance… 12And they all continued in astonishment and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
Introduction: Pentecost was a joyous festival held on the fiftieth day after Passover. It was called the feast of weeks, a celebration of the first fruits. In fact, there were three Pentecost celebrations: a Pentecost of new grain, a Pentecost of new oil, and a Pentecost of new wine. Pentecost is associated with the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai – the day God descended upon the mountain: “thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled… Sinai was all in smoke because Yahweh descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently” (Exodus 19:16, 18 LSB). Pentecost is an important day in salvation history, just as important as Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, and should be celebrated with singing, shouting, and dancing!
Pentecost means the Day of the Lord has come and is coming (v. 20).
“In the last days… I will pour out my Spirit” (v. 17). The Day of the Lord signifies the coming of God, a day when God intervenes in the history of this present age. The future becomes present. The Spirit is pulling us into God’s future. Each “day of the Lord” anticipates that final day.
The Spirit filled the house, filled the disciples, and will fill the earth. God’s presence overflows heaven and fills all creation.
Pentecost comes with wonders and signs (v. 19).
Rushing wind signifies the moving of the Spirit over all creation, and upon God’s people. The Spirit is not a breeze, but a storm! The Spirit moves!
Fire signifies God’s consuming and sanctifying presence.
Tongues signify inspired speech, bold speech, wise speech and universal salvation – all tribes and tongues glorifying God. Flames descend and distribute – Pentecost is a corporate and individual event.
Pentecost is God’s pledge of a coming new heavens and new earth. What God began at Pentecost; God will complete when Christ appears again. The glory of heaven will fill the cosmos! The fire of the Spirit will regenerate the fallen cosmos. “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be found out. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens burning will be destroyed, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:10-13 LSB).
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (v. 21). Salvation is becoming “a chosen family, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God…” (1 Peter 2:9-10 LSB).
Pentecost reveals the workings of a Trinitarian God.
“Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He [Christ] has poured out this which you both see and hear” (Acts 2:33). God is one divine substance, one divine will, three interrelated divine persons. The Father embraces the world with the right had of his Son and the left hand of his Spirit. God is Anointer, Anointed One, and the Anointing; the Lover, the Beloved, and the Flame of Love.
Jesus was attested with miracles, wonders, and signs (v. 22). In Christ, the Creator heals the diseased, dying, and demonized creation. God does not watch from a distance; God walks among us. “
You nailed him to a cross” (v. 23). Just as the first humans rejected God in the Garden, humans rejected God in the flesh. The cross reveals the violence of the human heart, and universal human complicity. The cross reveals the depth of God’s love. In Christ, God shares in human suffering and death.
“God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death” (v. 24). Through the resurrection of Christ, God overcomes sin and defeats death. In Christ, human share in God’s glory and eternal life.
The exalted Christ mediates the Holy Spirit. God is encountered physically – visibly and audibly. The Spirit is neither invisible, nor silent!
The Holy Spirit transforms our affections. “…the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5 LSB).
The Holy Spirit empowers our vocation. “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit… But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for what is profitable. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to someone else faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the workings of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to someone else various kinds of tongues, and to another the translation of tongues” (Corinthians 12:4-10 LSB).
Paul declared, “Pursue love, yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts” (1 Corinthians 14:1 LSB).
Pentecost means that you can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit!
“Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins” (v. 38). Water baptism is both seal and pledge that anticipates the fullness of God. “…you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge” (Eph 1:13–14).
Paul prays that we will “be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:16,19).
The promise is for you and your children (v. 39). Pentecost is ongoing – the Spirit continues to be poured out generation after generation until the last generation.
Conclusion: Pentecost provokes fear and gladness, wonders and signs, unity and sincerity, generosity and favor, worship and celebration (Acts 2:43-47). Be filled with the Spirit… speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord (Eph 5:18–19).
