Acts 2:1–13

The wording here has an unusual note of fullness, one we hear nowhere else. This feast alone has seven sabbaths in between to mark it out. It is the feast of weeks. Among Greek-speaking Jews, the number fifty gave this feast its name, so it is called "Pentecost." What then was fulfilled when the day of Pentecost was fully come? The Father made good His promise. It was that matchless promise about which the Lord Himself had said, "It is to your advantage that I go away." What could outweigh the blessedness of His presence with His disciples on earth? The gift was another Advocate — not just gifts, but Himself baptising them. This was no longer a hope but an accomplished fact.

Here we have the day of Pentecost in picture, and what began then. There was a new grain offering of two wave loaves baked with leaven. In Acts 2 we have the fulfilment. The Holy Spirit gathers God's people together and presents them before Him, joined to all the preciousness of Christ in life, death, and resurrection. The Passover is His death. The wave sheaf is His resurrection. The two wave loaves baked on the fiftieth day are the Holy Spirit forming the Church of God. But why two loaves? There are not two Churches of God on earth, one Jewish and one Gentile. When God asks for witness, His usual way is two witnesses. Christ was risen — the wave sheaf. Christians — the two wave loaves — are able witnesses to the power of His resurrection.

In the second occurrence, Acts 2:1, I see no reason to doubt that the disciples were assembled in the same place together. But here we also find the word homou, the corrected reading in place of homothumadon, "with one accord." Homou properly refers to place: "at the same place." It can also mean simply "together," even where the sense of place is lost. So the believers were waiting for the promise of the Father, as the Lord had instructed. All the facts point to their being gathered in one place at this time, when the Spirit baptised them in the wondrous grace of God.

Those on whom the Spirit came were a praying people, in this resembling their Lord. They were also people of one accord, and as a result in one place. The one place is not named: it may have been the upper room of Acts 1, but more probably, in view of the crowds that heard the Spirit-given utterances, some court of the temple, such as Solomon's porch. At any rate the thing was real and powerful and could not be hidden.

Acts 2 relates the fulfilment of this promise, in answer to the spirit of dependence shown in their united prayers.

The start of the Church is deeply interesting, because it shows how the saints were drawn together. The Church's first group was small indeed, but from that day a deeper and larger work would go on. The Spirit of God came down, and that formed His Assembly. So I say it again: the day of Pentecost was the birthday of the Church of God, because it had never existed before. From Abel onwards individual saints and servants of God had existed, but they were not in the Church. John the Baptist and the thief on the cross died too early. The Lord Jesus had not yet risen to be the Head of the Church, and no one could yet be united to Him.

The Holy Spirit of God is the real uniting force that has bound the church together as a living organism. He came down from heaven with this in view. The Spirit did not come from any earthly religious centre, but "from heaven." Heaven then is the point of control for the Church of God. Can we doubt that if the Spirit came from heaven, it was with a view to attaching us to Christ who is in heaven?

This sound comes from heaven because Christ was there. It did not come from the temple but from heaven, stamping the mark of what is heavenly on this company.

It is like the sound of a powerful sustained breathing: that is how I think the words should be understood. Everyone agrees the word means "blowing" or "breathing" rather than "wind," which is what the ordinary versions have. A storm cannot supply the symbols here. To stay consistent, "sustained" is a better word than "rushing"... The idea it suggests is a power that inspires and gives life, though it is more than human — a heavenly power. It is not fitful or, as we say, impulsive. It lifts and carries on with divine energy.

The sound heard here was like "a rushing mighty wind," and another translation says it was "a violent impetuous blowing." That word "blowing" suggests "it kept on blowing." This would teach us that the Spirit was beginning something here that was to continue. "Violent" would suggest irresistible power. Again, the word "blowing" means a breathing, though it is not the word translated "breathed" in John 20:22. There it was the inbreathing of life; here it is the inbreathing of power.

The coming of the Holy Spirit of God is likened to "a rushing mighty wind." This would show that the Spirit's power is irresistible. We have heard of winds reaching such high speed that they tear up giant trees by the roots as if they were rows of bowling pins. The word for wind and the word for spirit are the same in Greek. The wind cannot be seen, but its power is felt; so the influence of the Holy Spirit can be felt, and yet not seen in bodily form.

This was a wholly new thing, so signs came with it. They were of two kinds: the violent blowing that filled all the house, and the divided tongues as of fire that sat on each one. So the Spirit showed His presence in a general way for the whole house, and in a special way as power of testimony for each.

But when the day of Pentecost had fully come, this earth became once more a dwelling place for God in the person of the Holy Spirit. That sound like a rushing mighty wind filled all the house where the disciples of Christ were sitting in Jerusalem. From that moment the Spirit has never been absent from the earth for a single moment. God had come to earth to dwell on it for the third time in the world's history. How favoured is this earth! A globe so small, yet God's habitation is found on it!

The one place is not named. It may have been the upper room of Acts 1. But crowds heard the Spirit-given words, so more likely it was some court of the temple, such as Solomon's porch.

The temple, so magnificent, was left desolate (Matt. 23:38). Though the priests were very busy, all was hollow; the substance was gone. But in the upper room the Spirit was the glory. A poor place by comparison, yet the scene of the divine presence.

This was an entirely new thing, so signs came with it. These signs had a twofold character. There was the violent blowing which filled the whole house. There were also the divided tongues as of fire which sat on each one. So these signs showed the Spirit's presence in a general way for the whole house, and in a special way as power for testimony for each.

The way the Spirit came was quite different in the two cases. On the Lord He came like a dove. With the disciples the form was "divided tongues as of fire." Why the difference? He came upon the Lord Jesus in a form suited to the character of that blessed One whom He was sealing. Christ was the meek and lowly One. What better picture of meekness than a dove? As for the disciples, they were to be witnesses, as the Lord had told them. So the sign for them was tongues.

The divided tongues meant testimony — the power of God in testimony, the word in testimony. Such testimony carries everything before it, just like fire, which destroys and judges all that comes in its way. And it was not merely one tongue, but each one divided into many, which sat on each disciple. The idea was this. The Spirit of God was there. The testimony of God in grace was no longer for the Jew alone. It was to go out to the ends of the earth.

The judgment of God had inflicted these various languages on them. It had broken up their ambitious project at the tower of Babel, where they joined together to build a unity of their own. But the grace of God went out exactly where His judgment had placed them. If a crushing blow laid their pride in ever so many separate ditches, the grace of God went out to those ditches. It blessed them where they lay, and raised them out of their fallen state.

These tongues were seen on that occasion, and we never read of them being seen again... And "as of fire" may foreshadow the effect of the word of God. The word discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb. 4:12)... Fire is an emblem of judgment. The three thousand bore witness to the power of the word to act on consciences before night closed on that eventful day. Cut to the heart, they cried out in agony of soul, "Brothers, what shall we do?" The word reaches the conscience now, and it acts as judge within. Light shines in, and shows a person what he has never seen and judged before.

We find also that they were "as of fire." What does this imply? Simply that grace reigned through righteousness. There was that in man which called for judgment; and the cross had fully met it; there sin had been judged. This testimony was to be founded on the cross, and therefore the divided tongues "as of fire."

There were not many spirits present. There was only One, for the word says "it sat upon each of them"... So they received power from the Spirit to speak a variety of languages. They spoke in many different ways, but one Power directed them all.

Let us look first at the different groups brought before us. There are the one hundred and twenty formed this day into the Church — God's assembly. There are the Jews standing around them — the "Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven" (v. 5), those to whom Peter afterwards preached. Finally, there are those Peter refers to in his address — "all who are far off," a well-known Bible term for Gentiles. So we have the threefold division the Spirit of God makes elsewhere — the Church, the Jews, and the Gentiles (1 Cor. 10:32). Together they represent the whole world.

What a remarkable event! What a striking coincidence! In His infinite wisdom and perfect grace, God arranged for people from every nation on the face of the whole earth to be in the city of Jerusalem at that exact moment. So even if the twelve apostles failed to carry out their commission, all could still hear the precious news of God's salvation. And each would hear it in the very dialect their mothers used when they first whispered the words of a mother's love into their infant ears.

The tongues were certainly used to catch the attention of the Jews from other countries, who flocked to Jerusalem for this feast, or were otherwise staying there. What confounded these strangers from so many lands was that each one heard the disciples speaking in his own language. The residents and visitors in Jerusalem, whose piety gave them weight, were the last people to welcome religious innovation. Yet they judged the languages to be real. To them the evidence was overwhelming. It would have been impossible if the variety of languages had not been a plain and certain reality, and of that they were competent judges.

Devout men at Jerusalem gave unsolicited testimony about what came from the lips of the disciples. These devout Jews, from every nation under heaven, heard and testified that the words of the Galilean company were in the language each of them was born into. Whatever language each disciple spoke, it was as grammatically correct and as clear in meaning as those devout Jews could have spoken themselves. It was no meaningless jargon, no babbling, no gibberish, but intelligent language, which some in that crowd could confirm to others was their own native speech.

So God overcame the confusion brought in at Babel (Gen. 11), though the time had not come to remove it altogether. He intended the gospel for every creature. God gave the law in one language, and to only one people. But the gospel of God's grace, God's precious testimony about His Son, could not be limited that way. Gentiles and Jews were equally needy, and all should have the offer of the Saviour.

This reminds us again of that far greater announcement of grace. It sends a message of repentance and forgiveness, to be preached in the name of Christ among all nations. But that message is to begin "at Jerusalem." It is to all nations, for all are guilty, but it begins at the blackest spot in all the world. There is no mention of the terrible guilt of the city, and no mention of the bold and blasphemous hatred of its leaders. In sovereign, unconditional grace, God proclaims forgiveness in the Name of Jesus to the very city that nailed Him to the Cross.

The sound drew them to the spot. There they heard the disciples speaking in the tones and accents that belonged to each one. Many of them were far from home. In that country Aramaic was the language of the common people, and Greek was fairly well understood as the language of trade in that day. Yet they heard voices that spoke to them in their own mother tongue, and told of the mighty works of God.

News of what had happened spread, and the crowd came together. They were bewildered, because each one heard the disciples speaking in his own language. This completely reversed what happened at the tower of Babel (Gen. 11). There the Lord confused the language of the people so that they would not understand one another's speech. And it was not only that each heard in his own tongue, but in his own dialect.

Some have tried to find in the account the same kind of senseless jargon... others argue for a highly excited or ecstatic style of speech, suited to telling out the marvels of grace... The older rationalists supposed it was no other than their native tongue. Others, from Gregory of Nyssa and Cyprian to Erasmus and men of our own day, added to this the strange idea that the Spirit caused the crowd of foreigners to hear, each in his own tongue! But Gregory of Nazianzus rejects that notion. It makes the marvel lie with the hearers rather than the speakers, and that is contrary to the clear statement of Scripture.

God's judgment had inflicted these various tongues on them. It had completely broken up their ambitious plan to join together and build a unity of their own through the tower of Babel. But the grace of God went out exactly where His judgment had placed them. If a crushing blow laid their pride in many separate ditches, then the grace of God went out to those ditches. It blessed them where they lay, and raised them out of their fallen state.

But the languages were as real as they were different from their mother tongue, or from any language learned in the ordinary way... God had given His law to Israel, and that law was in itself the expression of man's moral duty. What could testify more clearly that He was now about to make known His grace in the gospel to every race and tongue? ...This was not the wiping out of difference in language. Nor was it the power that will one day make the whole earth of one lip and the same speech. It was grace lifting its objects and instruments above the effects of that judgment at Babel.

By an exercise of His power He had made dealings between nations difficult, in some measure. By power joined with grace He made provision that different nations, and those speaking different tongues, should hear about His Son and about salvation in their own language, with nothing to hinder them. Bewildered, amazed, and in doubt (or, perplexed) — this is how Luke describes the crowd. Bewildered, when each man heard his own language. Amazed, as they remembered that those addressing them were Galileans. Perplexed, since they could not understand what it meant. Something new, something strange, had undoubtedly happened.

Confounded, amazed, and in doubt (or, perplexed) — this is how Luke describes the crowd. Confounded, when they heard each man his own language. Amazed, as they remembered that those who addressed them were Galileans. Perplexed, since they could not understand what it meant.

It is likely that the Galileans pronounced words differently, or that the language spoken in Galilee was not as refined as the language spoken at Jerusalem. That is what gave Peter away when he spoke. But the voice of that same Peter, under the power of God, was mighty on the day of Pentecost. Even so, the hearers said, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?" They were surprised to hear such men speak in foreign tongues. They were all the more surprised because no prophet was ever expected from there, nor any good thing from Nazareth.

God will have a wonderful witness going out from His House. But He will have that witness carried out by His own witnesses. And His witnesses are for the most part the poor and feeble of this world. So in Acts 2 we read, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?" Galileans, of course, were the simple country folk — the peasantry. And Peter, "an unlearned and ignorant man," was their leader.

But there is an awkward difficulty in the way of calling them imaginary tongues. All the different nations whose languages these were understood them. "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?" And then Peter speaks to the Jews in theirs. Now this fact is the substantial point of the whole affair. It was what struck the multitude. It converted three thousand people. The Church begins its existence, and it was formed because this multitude understood what was said.

Gregory of Nazianzus rejects that idea. It places the marvel with the hearers rather than the speakers, and that goes against the clear statement of Scripture. So do all these empty theories.

There had been a Man on earth who never thought of Himself, but only of God and His glory. He "humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." As a result, God has put Him in the place that man in Genesis 11 could not reach. And the Holy Spirit comes down and reverses the judgment of Genesis 11 for a time. The difference of language did not disappear. But the divine grace and power that will one day make the whole world speak one language lifted the disciples above the effects of Babel's judgment. They had never learned those languages, yet they could speak in as many languages as their hearers had.

This happened because the word spoken and received was the incorruptible seed. It did not happen because the preacher spoke it in a language new to him, one he had never learned in the ordinary way. The living and energetic word of God awakened sleeping consciences. The speeches in other tongues only awakened surprise and wonder in the hearers. That wonder converted no one, and it left the great mass in Jerusalem more hardened than ever.

The two words dialektos and glossai are by no means synonymous. When the Spirit wished to express the language of each individual, the first was the right word. When the point was the sum total of many different languages, the second was the fitting expression.

It was not only that each heard in his own tongue, but in his own dialect.

Interpreters have given strange and conflicting explanations of this. There is no need to notice them. Though it was a miracle, the fact is simple. It is plain that this crowd of people of many languages heard these men, who were obviously Galileans, speaking in these tongues. The miracle, as someone long ago remarked, was with those who spoke, not with those who heard; and therefore the speakers used real languages.

But treating them as imaginary tongues runs into an awkward difficulty. All the different nations whose languages these were understood them. Now this fact is the substantial point of the whole affair. It was what struck the crowd. Three thousand people were converted by it. The Church begins its existence; it took form because this crowd understood what was said.

The Galileans probably had a different way of pronouncing words. Or the language spoken in Galilee was not as refined as the language spoken in Jerusalem. That is why people detected Peter by his speech. Matt. 26:69, 73; Mark 14:70. But the voice of that same Peter was mighty on the day of Pentecost, under the power of God. The hearers still said, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?" Acts 2:7.

The judgment of God had inflicted these various languages on them. It had shattered their ambitious plan to join together and set up a unity of their own through the tower of Babel. But the grace of God went out exactly where His judgment had placed them. If a crushing blow had laid their pride in ever so many separate ditches, then the grace of God went out to those ditches. It blessed them where they lay, and raised them out of their fallen state.

The Holy Spirit enabled the messengers of grace to deliver their message in the very tongue in which each was born. What precious proof that God wanted to reach man's heart with the sweet story of grace! The law from the fiery mountain was not published like that. When God was telling what man ought to be, He spoke in one tongue; but when He was telling what He Himself was, He spoke in many.

The God of all grace would have each one hear of full salvation. And hear of it in those very words in which his infant ears had listened to the earliest whispers of a mother's love — in "his own native language." It did not matter whether the language was soft or harsh, refined or rough. The Holy Spirit would use it to carry the precious message of salvation right home to the poor heart.

In the time of the apostles, so many different languages in the earth were a serious obstacle. They made it hard to carry out their commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel quickly and easily. But at the very start these servants of the Lord saw that this difficulty was nothing when met by the energy of the Spirit of God. In a moment He was able to give the disciples power to speak to men in their own dialect about "the mighty works of God."

These strangers came from many lands, and each one heard the disciples speaking in his own language. That is what confounded them. Aramaic, or Greek and Latin, may have spread widely across the then known world. Even so, this list is careful and varied. It runs from the north-east to the west and south, which seems to be why Judea comes between Mesopotamia and Cappadocia. So it is pointless to tell anyone who believes such a list that the inspired writer means no more than a few distinct languages.

In the New Testament this word does not mean the part of the earth now called Asia. It does not cover the whole of Asia Minor either. It means only the western part of Asia Minor. Attalus III Philometor, king of Pergamos, left that region to Rome in 133 B.C. The province, with Ephesus as its capital, included Caria, Lydia, and Mysia. In Acts 2:9-10 "Asia" does not include Cappadocia, Pontus, Phrygia, or Pamphylia. All of those belong to Asia Minor.

Cappadocia: a district in the east of Asia Minor. Visitors from there were at Jerusalem at the feast of Pentecost. Peter includes this district when he addresses his first letter to the scattered Jews. Acts 2:9; 1 Peter 1:1. The district extended as far east as the Euphrates.

The Medes are first mentioned when Shalmaneser took Samaria and carried away the Israelites. He placed some of them "in the cities of the Medes." 2 Kings 17:6; 18:11... There were some bearing the name of Medes present at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

On the great day of Pentecost we find "devout men" in the audience who came from the very regions to which the ten tribes were deported.

But one awkward fact stands in the way of calling these imaginary languages. All the different nations whose languages they were understood them... Now this fact is the substantial point of the whole affair. It was what struck the crowd. Three thousand people were converted by it. The Church begins its existence, formed because this crowd understood what was said.

In Acts 2 we see the blessed One coming down in infinite grace. He meets man in the very circumstances where his sin had placed him. The Holy Spirit enabled the messengers of grace to give their message in each hearer's own native language. This is precious proof that God wanted to reach man's heart with the sweet story of grace! The law from the fiery mountain was not announced like this. When God was telling what man ought to be, He spoke in one language. When He was telling what He Himself was, He spoke in many.

"But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, says Jehovah." Here mercy triumphs at last over judgment... God will show His goodness towards Elam when the kingdom comes. Calvin and others refer its fulfilment to Acts 2:9. That only shows how little such men enter into either the old or the new.

A Greek city, the capital of the classic Cyrenaica, in the north of Africa, and the people of the same place. Some from there were present on the day of Pentecost, and they had a synagogue in Jerusalem. Simon, who carried the cross of the Lord, was a Cyrenian.

What confounded these strangers from so many lands was that each one heard the disciples speaking in his own language. Aramaic, Greek and Latin may have spread widely over the world of that day. Even so, this list is careful and varied. It runs from the north-east to the west and south. (That seems to be why Judea comes between Mesopotamia and Cappadocia.) It is pointless to tell anyone who believes such a list that the inspired writer means only a few distinct tongues.

God caused those who received the Holy Spirit to speak in the different tongues spread over the Gentile world. He did not cause all the converts to speak the Jewish language. Instead, He caused the Jews, gathered from their dispersion among all nations, to speak the tongues of the Gentiles. It was a magnificent witness of the grace that was going out to the Gentiles to meet them where they were. The judgment of God had inflicted these various tongues upon them. It had completely broken up their ambitious project at the tower of Babel — joining together to build a unity of their own. But the grace of God went out exactly where His judgment had placed them.

In Genesis 11 divided tongues were sent in judgment. In Acts 2 divided tongues were sent in grace. The blessed God of all grace would cause each one to hear of full salvation. Each would hear it in the very words in which his infant ears had listened to the earliest whispers of a mother's love — in his own native language. It did not matter whether the language was soft or harsh, refined or rough. The Holy Spirit would use it to carry the precious message of salvation right home to the poor heart. Divided tongues had once been given to scatter in judgment. Now they were given again to gather in grace — not around an earthly tower, but around a heavenly Christ.

The name given to anyone from among the nations who embraced Judaism. The name may be said to be a Greek word, formed from a verb meaning "to come to." The Greek Old Testament uses it where the Hebrew has "the stranger" who lives among you. If all the males in the family were circumcised, such people could eat the Passover and offer a burnt offering or sacrifice.

Still, those who heard and believed the gospel that day were Jews and proselytes only. The Lord had stretched out His hands in vain to a disobedient and contrary people. Those hands were already pointing to all the nations, who also would hear.

There were "strangers" from Rome at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. No doubt they heard the gospel there. Some may have been converted and carried the gospel back with them.

God in His wisdom ordered that no apostle should plant the gospel in the imperial city. Rome cannot truly boast of a church that began with an apostle, as Jerusalem, Philippi, Corinth, Ephesus and many smaller places can. We know that on the day of Pentecost, when God first gave the Holy Spirit, there were Roman Jews staying in Jerusalem who heard the gospel there.

The mercy of God was now about to reach great numbers of people, in the very languages that men of old had been condemned to, in His just displeasure. People were present from every quarter. Most of them were Jews, or Jewish proselytes. What do you think the Lord's servants spoke about? About Jesus, and not about themselves. That day "the wonderful works of God" was their glorious theme. In many languages they opened up the truth of His love, the wonderful death of His Son, and the way God was glorified by that death.

The Holy Spirit enabled the messengers of grace to deliver their message in the very tongue in which each was born. This is precious proof that God wanted to reach man's heart with the sweet story of grace! The law from the fiery mountain was not given this way. When God was telling what man ought to be, He spoke in one tongue; but when He was telling what He Himself was, He spoke in many. Man's pride and folly had built a barrier. Grace broke through it, so that every man could hear and understand the good news of salvation — the wonderful works of God.

These strangers came from many lands. What confused them was that each one heard the disciples speaking in his own language. Aramaic, Greek and Latin may have spread widely over the known world. Even so, the list here is careful and varied, running from the north-east to the west and south. It is pointless to tell anyone who believes that list that the inspired writer means no more than a few distinct languages. The residents and visitors in Jerusalem did not judge so. They were devout men, so their judgment carried weight, and they were the last people to accept anything new in religion. To them the evidence was irresistible.

They were bearing witness to Christ and His death and resurrection. Of course they knew exactly what they were saying. But by a miracle they could say it in a language they did not normally know. Their hearers too understood what they were saying. Expect these two things wherever the true gift of tongues is in use. In effect this would reverse, in a wonderful way, what God did at the tower of Babel, when He confused men's languages (Genesis 11:5-9). In the church there would now be understanding and fellowship between nations that had long been far apart.

The gift of speaking in a tongue (in 1 Corinthians) was an entirely different thing. Those who heard it did not, like those in Acts 2:11, hear in their own language. They could not understand what was said unless it was interpreted.

Neither Paul nor Titus is said to have planted the gospel in Crete. From Acts 2:11 it seems very likely that the good news reached the island almost from the great day of Pentecost. It was a question therefore for Titus to follow up that setting of things in order which the apostle began.

Confounded, amazed, and in doubt (or, perplexed) — this is how Luke describes the crowd. Confounded, when each man heard his own language. Amazed, as they remembered that those speaking to them were Galileans. Perplexed, since they could not understand what it meant. Something new and strange had clearly happened. What did it mean? That was the impression made on many who were there… No one denied that something unusual had happened. Yet no one could give a good explanation.

God was now speaking to them through people, through vessels guided by the Holy Spirit. When God speaks, He wants souls to hear and understand… He had once used His power to make communication between nations difficult, at least in some measure. Now, by power joined with grace, He made sure that people of different nations and different languages would hear about His Son, and about salvation, in their own language, with nothing in the way.

So we see this great crowd gathered together in Jerusalem. They were full of amazement at what they were hearing about the wonderful works of God, each in his own language. They ask, "What does this mean?" And the answer is, "Jesus Christ is exalted and glorified." Peter makes this fact known to them in his powerful speech.

No wonder these strangers in Jerusalem were amazed and perplexed at such an event. No natural man can understand the origin or the working of such divine power. In honesty, he can only express perplexity; in mockery, he can only make some absurd suggestion such as "they are full of new wine."

But others — most likely Jews born in the land, who did not understand the different languages — mocked…

Those who hear are amazed — as well they might be — and say, "What does this mean?" Some ask honestly, What does this mean? — and it is a most blessed thing to ask honestly what God means — yet, sadly, others mocked. How sad, my friend, to be counted among the mockers, either then or now. Do not forget that if you mock in the day of His grace, God can do the same in the day of your calamity. (See Prov. 1:20-33.)

As usual, men arrange themselves into more than one class — some astonished, others hostile and scornful. Peter takes the lead in explaining with seriousness and clarity. He plainly denies the unworthy charge of drunkenness. The early hour alone should have silenced it. It was really what Joel spoke of — not the fulfilment as it will be in the last days, but an outpouring of that kind.

Confounded, amazed, and in doubt (or, perplexed) — that is how Luke describes the crowd. Confounded, when they heard each man his own language. Amazed, as they remembered that those who addressed them were Galileans. Perplexed, since they could not understand what it meant. Something new, something strange, had undoubtedly happened. What did it mean? That was the impression made on many who were present. But others mocked, saying, "They are filled with new wine." These were very probably native-born Jews, who did not understand the different languages. No one disputed that something unusual had happened. Yet no one could give a satisfying explanation.

In classic Greek this word normally means the sweet unfermented juice of the grape. Even so, it is certain, from Acts 2:13 compared with verse 16, that this is not its New Testament sense... The context shows that the wine meant here was well known to make people drunk. Mere irony! some object. But if the sneer of the Jewish scoffers had been ironical, would an apostle have replied so seriously, "These people are not drunk, AS YOU SUPPOSE" — not merely as you say?

"Full of new wine," the mockers had said — an easy solution, as they thought, of that strange and startling sight which they witnessed. But the charge was easy to refute, and its folly was plain. The time of day should have made the accusers keep silent — it was only the third hour. Men were not in the habit of getting drunk by nine o'clock in the morning. The disciples were not drunk with wine. They were filled with the Spirit.

Peter declared that the exaltation of Christ explained everything: "Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God... He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing." The Lord Jesus was above; that is why there was power below. But it never entered their minds that the marvels of the tongues came from the One who had been crucified so recently. He was now in supreme power at the right hand of God.

On the day of Pentecost the crowd mistook the Spirit's action in the apostles for the effects of wine. This shows that the action of wine on the natural man imitates or counterfeits the action of the Spirit of God in the believer. In fact, when any of the early Christians were filled with the Spirit, they were lifted out of themselves. They became vessels for the expression of the Spirit's power, whether in testimony or in praise.

If we are set on being Spirit-filled, we should guard against anything that would imitate it without being it. We should never mistake excitement for the Spirit's anointing... Do not confuse the natural excitement of wine with the Spirit's power, which takes a man outside of himself.

The disciples were so full of joy and power that some mocked and said, "They are filled with new wine." They were indeed full of new wine, but it did not come from this earth. It was the new wine of heaven.

Some ask honestly, "What does this mean?" It is a most blessed thing to ask honestly what God means. But others mocked. How sad, my friend, to be counted among the mockers, either then or now. Do not forget that if you mock in the day of His grace, God can do the same in the day of your calamity.