PENTECOST FOLLOWED THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD JESUS.

ACTS2. The day of Pentecost followed 50 days after our Lord Jesus had risen from the dead. The intervening seven weeks had been the most powerful for the 11 disciples. Now this special day had come. God had waited in heaven for the glorious fulfilment of the coming of the Holy Spirit. ’A sound from heaven as a mighty, rushing wind filled the whole house where they, ( the disciples ) were sitting.’ Soon they would be stirred into action, as ’tongues of fire sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak with other languages, as the same Spirit gave them utterance.’ (v4)

‘Devout Jews from every nation under heaven filled Jerusalem.’ ‘This sound brought them together from every nation.’ Amazingly, ‘ they said, ‘Look, are not all these Galileans? For ‘everyone heard them speak in their own language.’ It was stunning for them to hear their ‘mother tongue’ in the religious capital of the world, Jerusalem.’ The Holy Spirit spoke ‘the wonderful works of God.’

The disciples were mistakenly accused of being under the influence of sweet wine, but Peter defended them claiming that they could not be intoxicated at 9 a.m. However, they were influenced by the mighty Spirit of the eternal God, who had produced glorious changes during the 50 days since the miracle of the risen Christ. He longs to bring the same control into our lives, helping us to declare ‘ The wondrous works of God.’

Unrecognisable from the cowardly man, who denied knowing or being associated with his Lord, Peter ‘stood up with the eleven, raising his voice,’ and launched into this powerful address, such as the world had never heard. Actually, Peter had been converted; and filled with the Spirit of the eternal Lord. A new man; new purpose; new direction; to make Christ known. The supreme work of the Spirit of God.

Peter said, ‘ Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you.’ ( v14) In doing this, Peter referred to the prophecy in Joel, showing how the Holy Spirit drew truth from the Scriptures, relating to our Lord Jesus. Only the Spirit of God can help us explore the glories of the Word. Our intellect alone cannot!

’ It shall come to pass in the last days’ , said God, ‘that I will pour out of my spirit on all flesh,’ so fulfilling this amazing prophecy. And through the 2000 years of dispensation of grace. The preacher continued, ‘ Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy ( no distinction of gender ) ; Your young men shall see visions ( the privilege of young men of faith). Your old men shall dream dreams.’ Alex and Nadia, had a vision 30 years ago to supply a powerful short-wave gospel station for Russia and Russian-speaking countries, now expanded to reach China, Korea, Japan, Philippines, Indonesia; which will shortly be realised. I have prayed for that fulfilment every morning. God’s Spirit has nurtured it, fanning the flames.

Joel’s foretelling continued, ‘They shall prophesy.’ Exactly what Peter was doing, in opening the word of God. ’I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; Blood and fire and vapours of smoke; the sun shall be turned into darkness’ ( Peter had seen the sun in total eclipse, darkness covering the whole earth when our Lord Jesus was our sacrifice on the cross;) and the moon into blood, indicating suffering and bloodshed of the christian church. In our day millions will die for His precious Name. Joel gives the time-span, ’ Before the coming of the great and notable day of the Lord. ’ He concluded his quotation of the prophecy with, ‘It shall come to pass that whosever calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.’ ( v21)

The new preacher spoke to the people of Israel further, ‘ Men of Israel, hear these words,’ Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you, by miracles, wonders and signs,‘ which God did through Him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know. ‘ Then the powerful statement, ‘ Him, being delivered by the carefully-planned intention and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by lawless hands, have crucified and slain.’

My interpreter stopped his explanation, weeping, sobbing. I did not understand why. I slipped my hand over his shoulder and prayed. Of course, no interpretation of my prayer followed , so I prayed that God would give strength and courage to preach the whole counsel of God. All was quiet and still, waiting to see whether the message would continue- as it did. Later I learned that my beloved brother belonged to the Jewish nation, a Messianic Jew. His heart almost broke when we preached the dreadful rejection and mindless slaughter of God’s anointed Son.

So Peter preached the most powerful message the world had ever heard when he spoke of the death of Christ. Your faith began at this point, as ‘The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, takes away the sin of the world.’ And your’s.

The vicarious sacrifice of the Lord was followed by the glorious resurrection of God’s Son, ‘whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that HE should be held by it.’ God stated truth, never apologising for it. The heart of man, cultured or primitive, is designed for the hearing of the death of our Saviour and His rising again ( for every nation knows death’s curse so well ).

Joel knew it hundreds of years before, and stated it by the same Holy Spirit who had descended on Peter and the 11 disciples, transforming them.

Then Peter quoted from the writings of King David, as the Spirit of God drew from the Old Testament treasures to make Messiah Jesus known. ‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face, For He is at my right hand that I should not be moved. Therefore, my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad. Moreover my flesh shall rest in hope. ‘ Why? ‘ You will not leave My soul in hades ( the place of departed spirits ), nor will You allow your holy One to see corruption. (Psalm 16:8-11)

This study will be resumed. Please continue with these great truths.