Day 33 - Acts 2

I wanted to give a quick shout-out before I begin to my pastor, Tim Skinner, at Church in Motion (check us out at churchinmotion.com) for his encouragement to me today. It gave me a major shot in the arm that is always appreciated!

Acts 2 (Read it here)

Because of what happens here in Acts 2, Pentecost would forevermore have 2 separate meanings.
Let me explain.

The Jewish Pentecost was a yearly celebration that took place 50 days after Passover (roughly seven weeks). The Jewish Pentecost celebrated two events.  The first was to commemorate God's giving of the Torah (the law), including the 10 Commandments, at Mount Sinai (from Exodus 20-24). At the conclusion of hearing the law from God, the Israelites vowed to follow the law the LORD had set out, making them God's people; literally one nation under God.

The Jewish Pentecost (or as it reads in the New Living Translation, The Festival of Harvest; See Deuteronomy 16:9-10) is also connected to the annual grain harvest (the end of the fruit harvest had its own festival). The harvest season lasted, you guessed it, seven weeks and its ending was marked by a celebration in which many Jews would travel from all over the world to Jerusalem to offer a grain sacrifice and to, well, celebrate!

The new meaning of Pentecost, within Christian's terms, would come to signify the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles. This would set off a chain reaction that would change the course of history.  The days of being pupils were over, the apostles were to be entrenched in ministry.

While the apostles were in the upper room the Holy Spirit comes upon them with a mighty roar. (v. 2)  Like the story of Moses and the burning bush, flames settled on each of the apostles without actually burning them. (v. 3) What a cool way of getting filled with the Spirit!

As a result of this, each of the apostles began speaking in other languages that were foreign to them. As verse 5 suggests, Jews from all over the world were visiting Jerusalem for the festival. It was a sight (or sound) to behold; hearing all these foreign languages coming from uneducated Galileans.

People couldn't believe it, how could these men be speaking in languages of places they've never been?  The languages that were heard originated from peoples and lands that extended over 2,300 miles!

The farthest point west that was represented was Rome and the further east was Asia Minor, or modern-day Turkey. For an idea of where all the places mentioned in verses 9-11 are, check out this map.

The people from all over the world didn't just hear babbling or random conversation but about the "wonderful things God [had] done!" (v. 11) Most were perplexed, some thought they were drunk.

This was probably the best icebreaker/attention-getter in history as everyone instantly became tuned into Peter as he addressed the crowd (without a microphone I may add and in who knows what language, maybe everyone heard their own native language?).

Peter says that what they have witnessed today was predicted by the prophet Joel. (v. 16)

Just so you know, the word 'days' in verse 17 does not denote a particular amount of time, as in a set number of days left. The Greek word hmerais is best defined as an indefinite but not a particularly long amount of time.


They have seen the Spirit being poured out.  From here on both genders will prophecy (deliver messages from God), men will see visions, old men will dream dreams. (vs. 17-18)

There will be miracles and unexplainable occurrences (signs, the sun becoming dark, moon being blood red, etc) before God returns. (vs. 19-20)  Yet no matter what happens, "everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved!" (v. 21)

That was Peter's introduction, not bad.  He doesn't waste any time stepping on people's toes.  My kinda guy, just give it to 'em straight!

God proved Jesus was the real deal when Jesus showed the power of God through his miracles. (v. 22)

Peter blames Jesus' death on the crowd when he says, "you nailed him to a cross and killed him." (v. 23)

But the grave couldn't hold Jesus because God is more powerful than death! Even those who die as believers have that hope (that God is stronger than death, eternal life is guaranteed)! That is why we shouldn't fear death but embrace it! God will not leave your soul "among the dead."



By what we read in verse 27, Joel had prophesied that the Messiah would go to Hades (the same place referred to in the story of the rich man & Lazarus) or "among the dead."  Luke 16 would suggest that unbelievers would suffer there. So a great question would be, "What was Jesus doing there?"  This is mentioned in the Apostles Creed with the line, "he descended into hell" (or modern translations say "to the dead" as we see in the New Living Translation). Jesus may have been ministering to those who died as unbelievers (not exactly the same as Christ-follower, since Jesus was not revealed in Old Testament times) but the text simply does not elaborate. But we do know for sure that the grave couldn't hold Jesus, therefore, God resurrected him. (v. 32)

Peter is blunt again in saying "this Jesus, whom you crucified, [is] both Lord and Messiah!" (v. 36)

Peter's preaching cut them to the core, they were convicted and asked, "what should we do?” (v. 37)

Let's pause.

Peter had the crowd in the palm of his hand. At this point right here, Peter could've made a list a mile long of things these people should do in order to be right with God (abide by the law, don't lie, don't lust after women, don't drink alcohol, don't smoke, you catch my drift).

What Peter actually commanded them to do was quite simple.


Press play.

This is what Peter urged them to do: Ask for God's forgiveness and be baptized. That's it! Trust God and receive His Spirit.  Simple enough for you?

More than 3,000 responded and were baptized that day alone! (v. 41)

When people began to trust God and be led by His Spirit, this is what became common:

• They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, in other words, learning God's word (v. 42)
• They hung out, shared meals and practiced communion (as instituted by Jesus during the last Supper) with each other constantly (v. 42)
• They prayed often (v. 42)
• They shared all their possessions with everyone (v. 44)
• They gave money to the poor (v. 45)
• They worshiped God everyday (v. 46)
• They enjoyed the company of all people (v. 46)

More people were getting saved and God was sending them their way. Who wouldn't want to live in a community like that, anyway?

All in all, if you accept Christ's sacrifice by asking for forgiveness and being baptized then naturally a Christ-follower should start to exhibit the practices of the bullet points above.

(Hear me right, now. I'm not saying that you have to do these things in order to be saved, they are just the fruit that comes from being saved. Make sense?)

So, if you ever hear someone say, "we're an Acts 2 church," that means they practice those things from verses 42-46.



Questions

1.) A fun question. Which would you rather experience: a bush on fire that doesn't burn up (which also contains the voice of God) or have fire land on you causing you to speak in foreign languages effortlessly? How come?

2.) Can you remember a specific time when you read something in the Bible or heard a message that really convicted you, cut you to the heart or to the core?  How did you respond?

3.) Are you surprised at the simple answer that Peter gave to the crowd? If people knew it was that simple, do you think more would become Christ-followers? Do you believe that people think that the list of bullet points are actually the requirements when they are not? How do they get that idea?