Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Many large cities in our world have 100 or more languages spoken as people from around the world now call those cities home. I believe Toronto, Canada is one of the most diverse of all cities in the world with more than 130 languages spoken in that very multicultural city! With global migration and social media, most children in our world are very comfortable hearing multiple languages and having children from many different cultures in their schools.
A very large percentage of our world’s population are now at least bilingual! So how about you? How often do you hear languages being spoken in your town which you do not recognize or are not your ‘mother tongue’? And when you do, what is your reaction?
Come with me again to Jerusalem about 2000 years ago. Normally, in those days, a few different languages could be heard in the streets of this international city as merchants from many parts of the Roman empire would pass through Jerusalem doing business. But especially at the time of the great Jewish festivals Passover, Shavuot (Pentecost) and Sukkot (feast of Tabernacles) many thousands of Jews, perhaps hundreds of thousands, would come from all over the Roman empire and even beyond the Empire.
Thus many languages flooded the streets of Jerusalem. Greek was the common language spoken all across the Roman empire so when people were confused by hearing a language they did not know at least they had a common language they could use to communicate.
Yesterday we witnessed the first two miracles the followers of Jesus experienced in the Pentecost arrival of the Holy Spirit of God. The sound of a great wind which filled the house where they were meeting, and fire, lighting on all their heads but not harming them. (Acts 2:1-3) Suddenly the third evidence of the miraculous arrival and anointing of the Holy Spirit happened, as unannounced as the other two. No one could have imagined it or prepared themselves for it. Luke reports: “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them.“ (Acts 2:4)
It’s very clear isn’t it my friends? These friends of Jesus all probably knew both Greek and the Galilean dialect Aramaic, and some may have known Hebrew, but suddenly they began to speak in languages they did not know! The Scripture explains this was a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. Being bilingual myself, I think I can explain it practically in this way: I think in my mother tongue English, but I can translate my thoughts in my mind, into the other language I know and then speak my thoughts in that language. I believe these friends of Jesus were doing the same.
They thought the words in their mother tongue, but out of their mouths the words came forth in other languages, but languages they did not themselves know! It was a linguistic miracle!
Now of course the obvious question is WHY would God manifest the anointing of His Holy Spirit with this linguistic miracle? Luke gives us the answer: “Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each person heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?” (Acts 2:5-8)
Now we’ve all had the experience of being in a crowded place like an airport and hearing many languages we do not understand, but others obviously do as they are speaking with each other. So it should be easy for us to imagine this miraculous scene in Jerusalem during Pentecost about 2000 years ago, right? Luke goes on in the next few verses to give us a list of some of those very diverse languages which were being spoken, by the Holy Spirit anointed, followers of Jesus, that Pentecost festival day in Jerusalem.
Now my friends, as amazing as this linguistic miracle is, the even more remarkable miracle is WHAT these followers of Jesus were saying in languages they did not know, and what the Holy Spirit DID in the minds and hearts of those who heard and understood those foreign languages! Luke reports the people said: “…we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own languages! Amazed and perplexed they asked each other, ‘what does this mean’? (Acts 2:11,12)
Remember Jerusalem was filled with ‘God-fearing Jews’ (Acts 2:5) who had come to Jerusalem for the great worship festival of Pentecost. Their hearts were already focused on God and engaged in reaching to God in their worship around the Temple, but what they heard from these foreign language speaking, Galilean, followers of Jesus was the GOSPEL of Jesus the Christ (Messiah)!
Do you see the strategicness of this Pentecost miracle? God had assembled a huge crowd of His people, from all around the known world, and now they were hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ from fellow Jews who had known Jesus personally, spoken to them in the linguistic miracle of their own mother tongues!
There could be no misunderstanding of what was being spoken, for those speaking were anointed by and being directed by the Holy Spirit; and those hearing were hearing in their own mother tongues! But because Jesus was being proclaimed as the long awaited Jewish Messiah, while the words were clearly understood the meaning of the Gospel and how to respond to this miraculous Gospel presentation needed further explanation.
That’s why the Holy Spirit was doing a double work. Speaking through Galileans in languages they did not know, and helping Jews from every nation in that part of the world hear and understand the Gospel declaring Jesus to be God the Son, incarnate, and the long awaited Jewish Messiah!! Nothing could have been more dramatic, more shocking, more stunning, more impactful on these thousands of Jewish pilgrims in Jerusalem for Pentecost! But oh they had so many questions about what it all meant and how God wanted them to respond, and how it might change their lives.
Let’s pause right here and simply delight in this city wide miracle, placing ourselves right in the middle of it, and let’s rejoin them tomorrow for the completion of how God concluded this remarkable, miraculous day. As we reflect, let’s ask ourselves how God has shown us His mighty, miraculous power and how we have reacted?
Here’s a song to help us think about the miraculous…
Today’s Scripture: Acts 2:4-12.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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