- Acts 2:1-6
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- Acts 2:1 (KJB)
- And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one
accord in one place.
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- The day of the Feast of Pentecost had now arrived. It was ten days after
the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ into Heaven. The Feast of Pentecost
came fifty days after the waving of the sheaf of the first fruits.
(Lev 23:15-16 KJV) And ye shall count unto you
from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of
the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: {16} Even unto
the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye
shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
Pentecost literally means “fiftieth.” It was also called the Feast of Weeks
because it was celebrated seven weeks after the Passover. It was also a day
of a holy convocation. (Lev 23:21 KJV)
And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy
convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be
a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
From the way Lev. 23:15 is worded, it looks like the
first Pentecost was on a Sunday. It was the day after the Sabbath where they
began counting the seven weeks. At this time the 120 disciples were still
together in one place and still in one accord which means in unity. They
were still probably at John’s house continuing to wait for the promise of
the Holy Spirit as they were commanded to.
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- Acts 2:2 (KJB)
- And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty
wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
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- Mighty - Violent
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- As they were still gathered, suddenly, without warning, a sound came
from Heaven which as like a mighty or violent wind and it filled the entire
house. Since they knew about mighty winds such as found in Exodus 14:21,
they knew that upon hearing that wind that God was about to manifest Himself
in some way.
(Exo 14:21 KJV) And Moses
stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go
back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land,
and the waters were divided. When Israel went
through the Red Sea on dry land, God initiated the parting of the waters by
a strong east wind. In the case of Job, God had answered him out of the
whirlwind. (Job 38:1 KJV) Then the LORD
answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, In
Acts 2:2, we must always remember that what these disciples experienced was
the sound of a mighty wind and not the wind itself or else it could have
torn the house apart.
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- Acts 2:3 (KJB)
- And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and
it sat upon each of them.
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- Cloven - Distributed, divided, or separated into parts
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- There seems to have been one appearance of fire and then when it came
into the house, it divided and sat upon each of the heads of the disciples.
In the same manner which Moses received his commission to lead the children
of Israel out of bondage, here the disciples are also receiving a visible
commission.
(Exo 3:3 KJV) And Moses
said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not
burnt. God appeared to Moses in the burning bush
and now God was manifesting His presence in the same manner, with light and
fire on the heads of the disciples. (Exo
19:18 KJV) And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD
descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a
furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. As
the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai in fire and smoke, He was descending
upon the disciples with the appearance of fire. This event was the precursor
of their commission.
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- Acts 2:4 (KJB)
- And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
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- Utterance - Speak out or speak forth
- Tongues - Legitimate existing languages
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- The outer manifestation of fire on their heads showed that their hearts
had been cleaned by the sacrifice of Christ and was now ready for the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Once they had become filled with the Holy
Spirit, they began to speak with other tongues, that is, languages that they
did not previously learn. Now this gift of tongues was a gift which the Holy
Spirit controlled. As we read they spoke in tongues as the Spirit gave them
utterance. They spoke at the times the Holy Spirit was speaking through
them, which means it was not their words they were speaking. Now this means
that the gift of tongues was not an out of control phenomenon. The tongues
in Acts were legitimate, established languages and not the gibberish of
today. The gibberish tongues of today are not of any established language
but is just a satanic counterfeit. In the early church, tongues was
controlled and used when needed. Today the counterfeit is out of control and
anyone who claims they have the gift of tongues just needs to start speaking
in gibberish and the listeners will call that person anointed, which is
bogus. If you watch the counterfeits on TV, you will see them inject the
gibberish into their English, supposing that doing that adds some type of
divine approval to their speech. They themselves are deceived and are
deceiving others.
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- Acts 2:5 (KJB)
- And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of
every nation under heaven.
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- Devout - Godly, religious, pious, or reverent
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- With the Feast of Pentecost going on, Jerusalem would have been teeming
with many Jews from all over the known world. There probably was more than
what would have been present at the Passover because travel on the
Mediterranean Sea would have been less dangerous at this time of the year.
(Exo 23:17 KJV) Three times in the year
all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.
The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost was one of those times all the males were to
appear before the Lord in Jerusalem. This is why there would have been many
men from different countries because they were obeying the command from
Exodus. This also tells us that these men from different nations would have
also spoke different languages. It was a precursor of the Great Commission
to go into all the world with the Gospel and that was just ready to get
started.
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- Acts 2:6 (KJB)
- Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and
were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own
language.
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- Noised - Sound, tone, call, voice
- Confounded - Confused or stirred up
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- The 120 disciples must have become very loud as they began to speak in
the languages of those who were visiting in Jerusalem. Remember, the Holy
Spirit was speaking the Gospel through the disciples and it was He that was
giving them the words to say because they did not know the languages in
which they were speaking. The crowds began to gather and there was much
confusion among them because they were hearing the Gospel spoken in their
native tongue or language. This event was being talked about in Jerusalem
and that kept drawing everyone who heard of it. This is why the Scripture
uses the term “multitude” because it means a large crowd. These men were
probably confused about hearing their own language because they all probably
spoke Hebrew at the festival for unity but now they were hearing the Gospel
in the language of their country.
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