Acts 2:1-12
Background
Acts 1:4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, said he, you have heard of me. 5 For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. 6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in his own power. 8 But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
The Day of Pentecost – Pent means Five and Pentecost means fifty days. This day was the fiftieth day since the waving of the sheaf of the first fruits.
Leviticus 23:15 And you shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete: 16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall you number fifty days; and you shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.
This was the fiftieth day since Jesus the sheaf of the first of fruits. He was waved, or rather held up to God, hanging on the cross. He was the paschal lamb. Thus, this was the fiftieth day since his Crucifixion and Resurrection.
There were about 120 disciples of Christ who were of one mind, earnest in faith and prayer.
Acts 1:15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)
Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
They were in the temple court were they met regularly for prayer.
Acts 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Suddenly the Holy Spirit filled the house and moved upon them flowing out of their innermost beings like rivers of living water.
John 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38 He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spoke he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Now that Jesus had been glorified, the Holy Spirit was released into their individual lives and the Holy Spirit from within them rushed upon all of them which were on one accord in one place.
They were sitting, which indicates that they were patiently waiting on the promise of the Spirit.
Acts 2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
Along with the mighty sound of the Holy Spirit coming upon them, they saw the flash of sound like forked tongs of fire sitting upon each of them.
In Physics, the kinetic energy of an object is the form of energy that it possesses due to its motion. It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. The Holy Spirit is like a kinetic energy within us, given to us by God from Christ.
The power of the Holy Spirit within us coming together with each other is like Static Energy. Static electricity occurs when two or more bodies come into contact. This is a phenomenon between surfaces that results in the transfer of electrons from one atom to another.
Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
They were Baptized with the Holy Spirit as promised by Christ.
Once the Holy Spirit filled them, it release power for them to do the work of given to them by God to do. Thus, the began to speak in other tongues to spread the Gospel.
Isaiah 28:10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: 11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
Mark 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
Acts 2:5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
Zechariah 7:13 Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, said the Lord of hosts: 14 But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.
These were Jews who had be scattered to various nations who had returned to live in Jerusalem with the expectations of the Messiah as they had heard of Jesus.
They were devout and godly mean who earnestly sought Christ.
Devout explained in scripture: Luke 2:25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
Acts 2:6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
When they heard the mighty rushing winds of the Holy Spirit coming and resting on the 120 disciples of Christ, they came to the temple to see what was happening.
Acts 2:7 And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
When the multitude got to the temple they heard their native tongues from the various nations from which they had returned. So they asked the question, How could these unlearned of Galilee speak our tongues?
Acts 2:9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, 10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the
parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
The Parthians were originally a nomadic tribe of Eastern Iranians known as the Parni who conquered the region of northeastern Persia known as Parthia.
The Medes were an ancient Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran.
Elamites was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now Khuzestan and Ilam Province as well as a small part of southern Iraq.
Mesopotamia is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent.
Judaea was a Roman province that incorporated the regions of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea from 6 CE, extending over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Judea.
Cappadocia, is a semi-arid region in central Turkey.
Pontus was a Hellenistic kingdom centered in the historical region of Pontus and ruled by the Mithridatic dynasty, which possibly may have been directly related to Darius the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty.
The province of Asia originally consisted of the territories of Mysia, the Troad, Aeolis, Lydia, Ionia, Caria, and the land corridor through Pisidia to Pamphylia. The Aegean islands, with the exception of
Crete, was part of the province of Asia.
Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River
Pamphylia was a region in the south of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean to Mount Taurus. It was bounded on the north by Pisidia, and was therefore a country of a small extent, having a small coastline.
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world, and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and Corsica.
The Arabians are people from a peninsula in Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate
Acts 2:11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. 12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What means this?
They heard the Gospel, filled with marvelous acts and thinking that was not what they understood of the Old Testament.
Acts 2:13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
Some, not understanding, thought that the disciples speaking were drunk and babbling. They could not understand how could unlearned Galileans speak in languages not previously known to them.
Acts 2:14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, You men of Judaea, and all you that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
There were 120 disciples and 12 apostles. Peter was among the twelve. They had replaced Judas with Matthias.
The speaking in tongues had now ceased and Peter stood and began to preach [the Word]. Peter preached in his own tongue (Hebrew or Aramaic) and those listening – by the power of the Holy Spirit – heard him in their own language, all 16 languages present.
Acts 2:15 For these are not drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
The Holy Spirit had control of those speaking in tongues and they moved about with the power and appeared to be staggering as drunk men, but they were not drunk with the wine of the world.
Peter said it was only 9 am in the morning. No one drinks that early in the day.
Acts 2:16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Peter preached that what you are hearing, you know, for it is what the Prophet Joel told your fathers.
Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
The fullness of the Holy Spirit is for the purpose of proclaiming the Gospel of Christ by whatever means necessary. Be it by miracles, healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues (man or spiritual), preaching, teaching, and or witnessing (evangelism). This is the purpose of the power of the Holy Spirit in the Christian.
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