Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20080608.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Acts: The Continuing Earthly Ministry Of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Part IV: The Empowering Of The Church For Ministry, Acts 2:1-47
A. The Empowering Of The Church By Christ's Sending The Holy Spirit
(Acts 2:1-11)
  1. Introduction
    1. Numerous sermons and books have been produced on the events of Acts 2 with a wide variety of views as to what the "gift of tongues speaking" actually entailed, why it came, and if it could or should occur again.
    2. Accordingly, we review this important event in light of its wide Biblical context to discern what it involved, why, and what if any relationship it has to us Christian believers today (as follows):
  2. The Empowering Of The Church By Christ's Sending The Holy Spirit, Acts 2:1-11.
    1. Acts 2:1 reveals the coming of the Holy Spirit occurred on the Day of Pentecost, one of the key feast days in Israel's calendar, and so it fulfilled the typological prophecy of that day as noted in Leviticus 23:15-22:
      1. The Day of Pentecost was celebrated fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits, Leviticus 23:15.
      2. That feast predicted the resurrection of Christ from the dead, our Firstfruits, 1 Corinthians 15:20-23.
      3. In connection to Christ's resurrection, on the Day of Pentecost, two loaves of leavened bread were to be offered to the Lord, Lev. 23:17-20, signifying the presence of two groups, Jews and Gentiles, who, though positionally perfect, would be experientially imperfect as seen in the leaven, Eph. 2:11-22.
    2. Thus, the events of Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost is a special, one-time event that fulfills Scripture and Christ's predicting the arrival of the Holy Spirit to baptize believers fifty days after His resurrection:
      1. God by way of Leviticus 23:15-22 and then by way of Christ in Acts 1:4-5 predicted the baptism of believers with the Holy Spirit fifty days after Christ's ascension. Since Christ ascended 40 days after His resurrection from the dead according to Acts 1:3, Pentecost occurred ten days after His ascension!
      2. This Day of Pentecost was thus a one-time fulfillment of prophecy to signify that the Church was a valid institution of Israel's God as based in Moses' Old Testament prophecy and Christ's prediction!
      3. As such, this event baptized believers into the Body of Christ, the Church, 1 Corinthians 12:13!
      4. [Later events of people speaking in tongues by the Spirit occur in Acts 8, 10 and 19, but we will see in future lessons that each such event did not signal the start of a new institution, but only proved that groups of believers not initially considered a part of the Acts 2 Church are proven to belong to it!]
    3. Thus, Acts 2:1-11 reveals the Holy Spirit's arrival from Christ to establish and empower the Church:
      1. When the Holy Spirit arrived on Pentecost, He came with the sound of a wind to signal His arrival as the "Spirit" and the appearance of flames of fire on the heads of all the believers present to signify that, in accord with prophecy, they were being baptized by the Spirit and "fire", Acts 2:2-3; Matthew 3:11.
      2. These believers then began to speak in other "tongues," or glossa, the Greek New Testament word that is figuratively used here of a "language," Arndt & Ging., A Greek-Eng. Lex. of the N. T. , 1967, p. 161.
      3. Accordingly, claims that these believers spoke in ecstatic or angelic speech that many suggest they duplicate today in their Charismatic Movement are not valid claims for the following reasons:
        1. The languages believers used in Acts 2 were human languages, for they are named in Acts 2:8-11.
        2. The content onlookers claimed they heard spoken was the "wonderful works of God", Acts 2:11b!
        3. Some Charismatics suggest the gift of tongues in 1 Corinthians is ecstatic speech, a different kind of gift from the Acts 2 gift. However, viewing the text shows otherwise: (1) The " unknown tongue" in 1 Corinthians 14:2, 4, 13, 14, 19 KJV can not mean ecstatic speech, for it is translated from the same Greek word, glossa used of tongues in Acts 2, and (2) Paul elsewhere always uses the figurative use of this word to mean human languages. ( Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 537-538)
      4. Accordingly, the gift of tongues was a gift to speak supernaturally in human languages not before known to the speaker as given by the Holy Spirit to signal to onlookers, especially Israel that the Church was a valid institution created by Israel's God! (1 Cor. 14:21-22; Deuteronomy 28:47-49)
Lesson: The Acts 2:1-11 event was a unique event that signaled the fulfillment of prophecy with the arrival of the Holy Spirit to baptize believers into Christ's body and to equip them for life and service.

Application: May we not try to repeat the Acts 2 event, but live by the Holy Spirit's power, 1 Cor. 12:13!