#DailyDevotion Pentecost Is The Fulfillment Of God’s Promises

Acts 2:1-21 The day of Pentecost came, and they were all together in one place. ²Suddenly a sound like a violent blast of wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³They saw tongues like flames that separated, and one rested on each of them. ⁴They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and started to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak. ⁵Jews who feared God had come from every nation under heaven to live in Jerusalem. ⁶When that sound came, the crowd gathered and was dumbfounded because each one heard the disciples speak his own language. ⁷Amazed and wondering, they asked, “Don’t all these who are speaking come from Galilee? ⁸And how does every one of us hear his own language he was born in — ⁹Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people living in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and the province of Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphilia, Egypt and the country near Cyrene in Libya, the visitors from Rome, Jews and those who have accepted the Jewish religion, ¹¹people from Crete and Arabia? In our own languages we hear them tell about God’s wonderful things.” ¹²They were all amazed and puzzled. “What can this mean?” they asked one another. ¹³0thers sneered: “They’re full of new wine.”

I kind of wonder if there was a violent blast of wind when the languages were confused at the tower of Babel. Well there was one on the Day of Pentecost when the Apostles got the gift of tongues. Tongues like flames rested on each of them and they started to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak. Now, it isn’t exactly clear if they spoke one language at a time or rather as they spoke each person heard their own language, kind of like Star Trek communication devices. Nevertheless, this was not a lot of babbling where no one understood but the opposite, everyone understood what the disciples were saying. This gift does not seem to make it past the apostolic age, where the Apostles would be going into foreign countries and preaching the good news of Jesus Christ as witnesses of his resurrection and their salvation. In Paul’s writings, there seems to be a different “speaking in the tongues of angels” which needs an interpreter.

Speaking of going into foreign lands, look where all these Jews were from who heard the Good News of Jesus Christ from the Apostles on this day. Not only are they from all over the Roman Empire, but they are from beyond it as well. Through the message of the Apostles, these new believers in Jesus would be bringing the message of Jesus Christ back to their synagogues where they were from. Those who heard the Good News of Jesus from the visitors to Jerusalem would then spread it to the surrounding areas. Eventually, it seems, the Apostles would make trips to these areas to shore up and increase the faith of these new disciples. We can see even converts to Judaism from Rome were there, no doubt, the seedling congregation Paul and Peter would later visit.

This seems to be a fulfillment of Isaiah11, “¹⁰At that time Jesse’s Descendant will stand as a flag signaling the people. The nations will come to Him for help; His resting place will be glorious. ¹¹At that time the Lord will again reach with power to get back those who are left of His people from Assyria, northern and southern Egypt, Ethiopia, Elam, Babylonia, Hamath, and the lands near the sea. ¹²He will raise a flag for the nations and gather the outcast people of Israel and bring together the scattered people of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”

Heavenly Father, continue to send your Spirit and your Word so you may gather your people from the nations and we may glorify your son Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.