The Day of Pentecost (Based on Acts 2)

Ten days after the ascension was the feast of Pentecost. We have read of this feast before. God commanded the Israelites to keep it when He gave them the land of Canaan so many years ago. It was kept in remembrance of the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, fifty days after the children of Israel came out of Egypt. Another name was “The Feast of Weeks” because this feast was held seven weeks after the Passover. After Jesus’ ascension, many Jews were gathered together at Jerusalem to keep the feast of Pentecost. There were also many people of other nations, too. These were Gentiles who had learned to believe in the God of Israel and to obey His laws. They were called proselytes.

At this time, the apostles and those who believed in Jesus were all together in one place. As they were sitting together, they suddenly heard a sound from heaven, like a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house in which they were. There appeared to them tongues of fire, which came and rested upon every one of them; they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and were enabled, by His power, to speak with “other tongues,” in new languages which they had never heard before.

How very wonderful this was! Jesus was now fulfilling His promise. He was sending to them that Spirit whom He had promised He would send. We know how hard it is to learn a new language. We study it, perhaps, many months or years before we understand it and can speak it, but the disciples at the feast of Pentecost had no need to learn the different languages which they then began to speak. In one moment they knew them perfectly. Why was this? Why did God give such wonderful power to His disciples at that time? Because God wished His gospel to be preached in many parts of the world and to nations who had never heard it before. Many people from those nations were at Jerusalem at this very time, but they all spoke languages quite different from the language which the disciples spoke. God sent the Holy Ghost to give the disciples this miraculous power of speaking different languages so that they might be able to make known to all the strangers in Jerusalem “the wonderful works of God.”

All those people who came from other countries and heard the disciples speak in their own languages were very much surprised. They said, “How is this? Are not these men Galileans? How is it they can speak to us in our own tongues?” The Jews, however, who did not understand the different languages spoken by the apostles, mocked and said, “These men are full of new wine.”

Then Peter stood up in the midst and said, “Ye men of Judah, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, these wonderful things which you now hear and see are only the fulfillment of what God’s prophet Joel foretold many years ago. He said that God would, in the last days, pour out His spirit upon His servants and teach them to prophesy, and so it is. Now hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth came among you and worked miracles, as you know. He was taken by wicked men, crucified, and slain, but God raised Him up. We are witnesses of His resurrection and say to you that He is the Son of God, the true Messiah. Now He has ascended up to heaven, and it is He who has sent the Holy Ghost upon us and given us this wonderful power of speaking which you have heard today.”

Were the people willing to listen to Peter and to believe what he said? Yes, they were so struck with his words that they cried out, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

Peter answered, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Then those who believed, about three thousand people, were baptized, as Christ had commanded.

In our days God does not give His people that wonderful power of speaking different tongues and of working miracles which He gave to the disciples at the day of Pentecost. Those gifts were very useful and necessary at that time to enable the disciples to preach the gospel to many nations at once and to make the people believe that what they preached was really true. This is not so necessary now. The Bible is printed in almost every language in the world; people may read it for themselves, and many missionaries go out to teach it. God does still give the Holy Spirit to all who ask Him, to renew and sanctify their hearts, to teach and comfort them, and to make them meet for heaven. Let us pray, then, for this good gift, and say, “Lord, give us the Holy Spirit for Christ’s sake.”

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