Acts 2:1-11 + John 14:23-31
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
In Acts 1, St. Luke records that Jesus commanded His apostles not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:4-5). After Christ ascends, the apostles go back to the city to wait. And how did they wait? Luke writes, that the apostles all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers (Acts 1:14). This is how the Christian waits on God to fulfill His promises: prayer and supplication, that is, patiently asking for what God has promised. Being moved by the Holy Spirit, they also choose Matthias to fill the apostolic office that Judas had vacated. Matthias is one of the many that had accompanied Jesus from the baptism of John, witnessed Jesus’ resurrection by seeing Him alive, and seeing Him ascend into heaven. He is the one whom God chose to complete the apostolic number, so that as God had His twelve tribes in the Old Testament, now He once again has His twelve apostles.
These men and others are waiting for the promise of the Father, and the Father fulfills His promise on the day of Pentecost. Pentecost was a harvest festival for the Jews. Moses had commanded Israel to count seven weeks from the time they put the sickle to the barley (Deut 16:9). After the seven weeks are complete, they celebrated the Feast of Weeks, Pentecost. This is why there were Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs in Jerusalem. These were Jews from all over the known world, come to Jerusalem to celebrate the harvest festival. And not only Jews, but proselytes, people who were not Abraham’s descendants by blood, but by faith, having converted to the religion of Abraham. It is on this day, this festival, with Jerusalem packed with people, that the Father baptizes these men with the Holy Spirit, pouring our His Spirit upon them so that they might do precisely what Jesus had said they would do: be witnesses to Christ in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8).
What does it look like when the Holy Spirit is poured out on them? There came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now, it’s vitally important to remember that the apostles and those with them already had the Holy Spirit. They believed in Christ and confessed Christ, and Paul tells the Corinthians that no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3). That these men and those with them believed in Christ for their salvation was the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. This baptism of the Holy Spirit, this outpouring, is a bit different. It isn’t a supplement, as if they had part of the Holy Spirit, but needed the rest of Him. God doesn’t give partial or incomplete gifts. No, this was a special gift of the Holy Spirit given to them specifically for this moment in time, so that they might, at the Festival of Harvest, plant the church.
They each speak in other tongues, other languages, the languages of the Jews and proselytes gathered in Jerusalem, so that they all heard—in their own native languages—the wonderful works of God. The purpose of the new tongues was that these people might hear of Christ Jesus: His suffering, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, and His future return in glory to judge the quick and the dead. This is precisely what Peter preaches to them, the Holy Spirit working to cut these men to the heart, that they are the ones who, fifty-some days before, had called for the crucifixion of the Son of God. The solution? “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spiri (Act 2:38).
Luke tells us that those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. About three thousand people received Peter’s word gladly. But it wasn’t Peter’s word they received. It was the Holy Spirit’s word, which was Jesus’ word, which was the Father who send Him’s word. About three thousand were baptized and received the Holy Spirit through baptism. They all received this gift. None, we are told, spoke in other languages as a result. The tongues had served their purpose. Even later in the book of Acts when the Spirit gives this special gift again, it is for the purpose of planting the church among the gentiles, and once the church was planted and the gift of the Holy Spirit given to men so that they, too, believed Christ’s word, the gift ceased. The tongues of fire, and the other tongues in their mouths, was not the point of Pentecost. The point is the Spirit, implanting Christ’s word in men’s hearts, so that they believe Christ, and believing Christ, love Christ and keep His word.
This is a far greater miracle than miraculously speaking in another language. Other languages can be learned with great effort, but no one can make themselves believe the gospel, or make someone else believe it. That is the chief miracle of Pentecost: that the Spirit creates faith in about three thousand men through the preaching of Christ’s word and baptism. The miracle is that sinners, who are by nature spiritually dead and cannot raise themselves, are raised to new life by the Holy Spirit. The miracle is that sinners, whose natural minds are enmity toward to God and cannot change their minds, are given new minds by the Holy Spirit. These, who had previously crucified Christ, now, by the power of the Holy Spirit, love Christ and His word, for Christ and His word forgives their sin and has made them new creatures. And what does Jesus say about the one who loves Him? From today’s gospel: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” As lovers of Christ, they keep His Word by believing it, treasuring it, and by avoiding everything contrary to it. As lovers of Christ and keepers of His word, they become temples of God, where God the Holy Trinity dwells in grace and mercy.
The miracle of Pentecost is one that continues to happen, even to this very day. Not the tongues. They’re unnecessary. If the Holy Spirit wanted us to have them, we would have them. No, the miracle of faith in our hearts, that the Holy Spirit implants faith in us through the preached word. The Holy Spirit works through Christ’s word to create new hearts within us, new minds, and new wills. It is the Holy Spirit’s work in baptism which gave us faith in Christ and rebirthed us as sons of God. It is the Holy Spirit’s work through Christ’s word that has preserved the faith He worked in us and strengthened it. We cannot do this of our own powers, minds, or wills. It is the Holy Spirit’s work, which He accomplishes through the word of God, that you believe Christ’s word, take Christ’s words to heart, and apply them to yourselves, because by the Holy Spirit’s work you truly love Christ.
There are many who say they love Christ, but don’t keep His words, treasure them, and avoid everything contrary to them. They imagine they can love Christ and love the world at the same time. They imagine that Christ can live in them even as they live as the unbelievers live. But Jesus says very plainly, “He who does not love Me does not keep My words.” The one who does not keep His word does not truly love Him. Jesus tells us this to warn us to remain in His word, keep it, and treasure it, so that we do not extinguish the fire of love which the Holy Spirit has kindled in our hearts. He tells us this to encourage us to continually hear His word, so that hearing the wonderful works of God that He has done for us in Christ, the Holy Spirit may preserve our faith in Christ and increase our love for Him. This is the miracle of Pentecost—then and now—that the Holy Spirit works through Christ’s word to make us Christians, new creatures of God who love Christ and keep His word, whose hearts are home to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.
May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
