Good Monday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Do you live in a city where you often hear many different languages spoken? Languages have always fascinated me, perhaps because I grew up in an English-speaking home but we lived in a foreign country and as a boy soon I became fluent in that language too.
Did you know that Jerusalem is one of the most visited cities in the world, and especially at the Jewish festival times dozens of different languages can be heard in the streets of Jerusalem. And did you know that was even true in first century Jerusalem?
Acts 2:5-12 describes an unforgettable scene in about the year 25ad at the Shavuot/Pentecost Festival. Remember, Jesus Christ had been crucified 50 days before at the Passover Festival but then was resurrected 3 days later and seen by many people over the next 40 days. Once again Jerusalem was filled to overflowing with visitors from many places.
The record says: “Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven!” These people, all who had come to Jerusalem for the Pentecost festival, were able to communicate with each other in one common language which was probably Greek, the language spoken and written across the entire Roman empire at that time. But most all of them had their own language or dialect spoken in the far away regions from which they had come.
Yesterday, we looked at the phenomenon described in Acts 2:1-3. A strong wind heard, but no damage done, caused quite a stir and drew a huge, multicultural crowd together in Jerusalem trying to figure out what caused the wind and why no damage?
As they gathered, coming out of one particularly large house were the disciples and friends of Jesus and shockingly they were NOT speaking Aramaic but languages they DID NOT KNOW! The record says: “…a crowd came together in bewilderment because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed they asked: ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans” Then how is it each of us hears them in our own native language?… We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues. Amazed and perplexed they asked, ‘What does this mean?'” (Acts 2:6-12)
So, I ask you, my friends: what does this mean? How did these normal men and women from Galilee speak the languages of places they had never visited? They didn’t even know anything about the people from those places.
This miracle is what Jesus had predicted when He told His disciples that they would be baptized by the Holy Spirit and the power of God would come upon them! (Acts 1:4) You’ll remember we looked at the power of the wind and fire yesterday, right? (Acts 2:1-3) But Jesus had also said “You will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) Naturally, the disciples imagined walking or riding animals from Galilee to faraway places. Places they could only imagine since they had never been far from home. But do you see what a strategic thing God did in this Jerusalem miracle?
God brought the world TO Jerusalem, and then God miraculously gave Galilean fishermen the Holy Spirit anointed gift of languages, and they enthusiastically declared the wonderful message of Jesus the Messiah, to thousands of Jews who had come from the farthest corners of the Roman empire!
But how did it happen, I know you are asking? I believe the Holy Spirit filled their minds and hearts with exciting, truthful words to say about the Jesus they knew. But as they spoke the words they were thinking, what came out of their mouths were words that meant exactly what they were thinking but words in languages they did not know, languages foreign to them, but languages well known by the visitors to Jerusalem!
If you happen to be bilingual, as I am, you understand how this can happen. A thought comes into your mind that you want to communicate and as you begin to speak, you choose which of the languages you know that you want to speak in. But these Galileans did NOT know the languages they spoke and that’s nothing short of the powerful, miraculous evidence of the Holy Spirit of God anointing them.
Our friend Peter jumped to his feet, led and empowered by the Holy Spirit, to explain what was happening. Peter said “this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people…” (Acts 2:14-17) Now the truth is for most of us in 2026, the little Bible 3 chapter book of Joel is probably one you have not read in a very long time, maybe never.
But for these devout Jews, who had come to Jerusalem for Shavuot/Pentecost, they knew their Old Testament prophets very well and so as Peter quoted Joel, they would have probably cheered! They were seeing God’s prophecy written about 500 years before, fulfilled right before their eyes and ears! How would you have reacted if you were in that crowd that day?
It’s one thing to experience a miracle, it’s another thing to understand what God is communicating through the miracle, right? So that’s what Peter explained next, and I see shocking, staggering declarations Peter made to the crowd that day.
First, that Jesus Christ was accredited by God through the miracles He had done.
None of them could deny the miracles they had witnessed or at least heard about. They all believed miracles were either done BY God or by someone empowered by God.
Second, that in that very place, Jerusalem, some of those people standing before Peter that day had been part of the mob which had called for Jesus’ death by crucifixion!
They were guilty of killing a God sent, God anointed, God affirmed man!
Third, that the horrible crucifixion of Jesus was no accident, nor was it because of an angry mob, but Peter said: “This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death. But God raised Him from the dead…” (Acts 2:22-24)
Do you hear the double declaration here? It was all part of God’s larger plan for humanity, and it required BOTH Jesus’ death and His resurrection!
Fourth, that God not only raised Jesus back to life again but brought Him back to heaven and “Exalted Him to the right hand of God. He has received from God the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.” (Acts 2:32,33)
What? This miracle of wind, fire and languages is another miracle done by Jesus Christ, but this time not done with Jesus present, but done by Jesus FROM His throne of honor at God’s right hand in heaven?
Four powerful, stunning, radical statements made by the Holy Spirit anointed Peter in explanation and response to the miracle of languages in Jerusalem at Pentecost!
Oh my, I think we need to stop and I urge you to deeply ponder each statement and consider how each statement applies to your life. The “lessons learned” notes at the “Grand Narrative” link below will be VERY helpful to you and the worship song will draw your heart to Jesus and prayer. And of course, I’ll be waiting here for you tomorrow.
Today’s Scripture: Acts 2:1-33.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
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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