Acts 2 — The Spirit Poured Out

Today’s Passage: Acts 2

Fifty days after Passover, on the feast of Pentecost, the little company that had been waiting in Jerusalem is filled with the Holy Spirit. There is a sound like a rushing wind, and what look like tongues of fire come to rest on them, and they begin to speak in languages they had never learned. A crowd gathers from every nation, and each one hears the wonders of God in his own tongue. Then Peter stands up and explains what has happened out of the prophet Joel, and he preaches Jesus, the One they crucified and God raised, until about three thousand people are added in a single day. Read it as one climb and not as three separate sermons stacked on each other, for the pouring out and the preaching belong together. The Spirit is given so that Jesus would be named.

These things really happened, and we do not empty them of their wonder or turn them into a technique to be copied. The same Spirit who came that day still lives in and strengthens everyone who belongs to Christ, so no believer waits for a second Pentecost to have Him. The signs that marked the apostles bore witness to a foundation laid once for all.

As you read, hold this: The Spirit is poured out, and Peter proclaims the crucified and risen Lord.

Acts 2:1–4 (BSB)

¹ When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

The feast arrives, and with it the promise arrives. The sound is like wind and the tongues (γλῶσσαι) glōssai, pronounced GLOCE-sigh. Strong's G1100, tongue, language; speech. In Acts 2 these are recognizable human languages, for the visitors hear the wonders of God spoken in the very tongues they grew up with. Pentecost does not erase the nations but announces one gospel in many languages, so that the sign of the day is communication and not confusion. There are real questions that Christians have long asked about other uses of the word “tongues” elsewhere in the New Testament, but they are not the burden of this day. Here the text itself is plain, and the nations heard real, understandable speech. are like fire, real signs and not a piece of theater, and that little word “like” matters, for these are heavenly things borrowing familiar shapes so that we can see them. Every believer in the room is touched, all of them are filled, and the speech that follows is enabled by the Spirit Himself. One house, and many flames coming quietly to rest.

Acts 2:5–13 (BSB)

⁵ Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶ And when this sound rang out, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking his own language. ⁷ Astounded and amazed, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ How is it then that each of us hears them in his own native language? ⁹ Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome, ¹¹ both Jews and converts to Judaism; Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” ¹² Astounded and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³ But others mocked them and said, “They are drunk on new wine!”

The list of nations reads like a map of the scattered people of Israel, gathered now into one city. What astonishes them is that plain Galileans are speaking languages known all across that map, and what those Galileans are declaring is not nonsense at all but the wonders of God, pure praise pouring out. So the crowd divides between amazement and mockery, as it so often does, for every genuine work of God meets both the hungry heart and the ready sneer.

Acts 2:14–21 (BSB)

¹⁴ Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, lifted up his voice, and addressed the crowd: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen carefully to my words. ¹⁵ These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It is only the third hour of the day! ¹⁶ No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ¹⁷ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. ¹⁸ Even on My menservants and maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. ¹⁹ I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. ²⁰ The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the coming of the great and glorious Day of the Lord. ²¹ And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

Peter, the same man who not long before had denied that he even knew Jesus, now stands up with the Eleven and lifts his voice. He lets Scripture interpret the experience, reaching for Joel to say that the last days the prophet spoke of have dawned. The Spirit is being poured out on a wide people, on sons and daughters, on the young and the old alike, and the invitation is just as wide, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. The great signs in the heavens frame the coming day of the Lord, a day already begun and not yet finished, and there is no need to force a fixed timetable onto it here.

Acts 2:22–28 (BSB)

²² Men of Israel, listen to this message: Jesus of Nazareth was a man certified by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know. ²³ He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. ²⁴ But God raised Him from the dead, releasing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep Him in its grip. ²⁵ David says about Him: ‘I saw the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. ²⁶ Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will dwell in hope, ²⁷ because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay. ²⁸ You have made known to me the paths of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence.’

Peter declares that Jesus was publicly certified by God through the mighty works God did among them. He was handed over according to God’s own set plan and foreknowledge, and at the very same time He was put to death by the hands of guilty men, and both of those truths stand together without cancelling each other. Then God raised Him, because death simply could not hold Him. When David wrote in Psalm 16 that God would not let His Holy One see decay, he was not claiming that his own body would be spared the grave, for these were words of messianic hope reaching past David to Jesus.

Acts 2:29–36 (BSB)

²⁹ Brothers, I can tell you with confidence that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. ³⁰ But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that He would place one of his descendants on his throne. ³¹ Foreseeing this, David spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His body see decay. ³² God has raised this Jesus to life, to which we are all witnesses. ³³ Exalted, then, to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. ³⁴ For David did not ascend into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand ³⁵ until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”’ ³⁶ Therefore let all Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ!”

David’s tomb was a fact anyone in Jerusalem could go and see, still sealed and occupied to that very day. Jesus’ tomb was empty, and the apostles stood as witnesses to it. His exaltation to the right hand of God is what explains the whole of Pentecost, for the Spirit is poured out from the Father through the exalted Son. So the verdict Peter announces is a public one, that God has made this Jesus both Lord and Christ, the very One they crucified.

Acts 2:37–41 (BSB)

³⁷ When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” ³⁸ Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ This promise belongs to you and your children and to all who are far off—to all whom the Lord our God will call to Himself.” ⁴⁰ With many other words he testified, and he urged them, “Be saved from this corrupt generation.” ⁴¹ Those who embraced his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to the believers that day.

The crowd is cut to the heart and asks what they must do, for conviction always looks for a path forward. Peter answers with the words just as they stand: repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus, and receive both the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. We do well to teach the verse as he spoke it, without turning it into a second gospel, for a sinner is justified by faith in Christ. Baptism is the public mark of those who have already embraced the word, and not a rival ground standing beside Christ. The promise reaches to their children and to all who are far off, to everyone the Lord will call to Himself. About three thousand embrace the word that day, and it is the Lord who adds them.

Acts 2:42–47 (BSB)

⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³ A sense of awe came over everyone, and the apostles performed many wonders and signs. ⁴⁴ All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵ Selling their possessions and goods, they shared with anyone who was in need. ⁴⁶ With one accord they continued to meet daily in the temple courts and to break bread from house to house, sharing their meals with gladness and sincerity of heart, ⁴⁷ praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Pentecost produces a people, and not merely a single unforgettable morning. The new believers give themselves to four things that belong together: the apostles’ teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer. Awe settles over them, signs are done among them, and their generosity rises to meet real need. The temple courts and their own homes both become places of worship, and gladness marks even their ordinary days. And it is the Lord, not some clever campaign, who keeps adding to their number day by day those who are being saved.