Tongues of Fire

 Acts 2:1-13

Of all the feasts of the Jewish year, none attracted larger numbers of pilgrims from the distant lands like the feast of Pentecost. The dangers of travel by sea and land in early spring and late autumn prevented them from coming in large numbers to the Passover or the Feast of Tabernacles.  At no other feast would there have been representatives of so many nations.  It was the Feast of the Pentecost that the Apostle Paul kept more than once during his missionary work in Greece and Asia.  As John said in his message a couple of weeks ago, Pentecost gets its name for being 50 days after the Passover. 

Luke says in Acts 1:3-5:

After His suffering, He showed Himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”—Acts 1:3-5

Only ten days elapsed between the Ascension and Pentecost.  The disciples obeyed Jesus’ command to wait, although they did not know how long the wait would be.  The only act recorded by them in the meantime was the election of Matthias to fill Judas’ place.  That one event, the drawing lots to see who would replace Judas Iscariot, was an exception.  The rest of their time, the 120 disciples mainly busied themselves with prayer, supplication and patient waiting, by staying together in Jerusalem as Jesus had commanded them.

Jesus compared the Holy Spirit to the wind in John 3:8.  He said:

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. – John 3:8

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. – Acts 2:1

They were probably in the upper room described in Acts 1:13

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. – Acts 2:2

Note: Luke does not say the wind filled the house but the sound like the blowing of a violent wind filled the whole house where they were staying. Much like the sound of my stereo amplifier fills my whole house when the volume is turned way up. 

Then:

They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. – Acts 2:3

Remember in Exodus 3:1-3:

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” – Exodus 3:1-3

Note: Here on Pentecost, like there on mount Horeb, it was not a literal fire, but in both cases it looked enough like fire that this was the best description that authors could give their readers.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” – Acts 2:4-11

I always wondered how they knew that everyone was hearing them in their own language. 

Then it occurred to me that because there were so many different nations represented that they must have had interpreters to communicate with each other. 

So the interpreters would repeat what was being said, but the people they were interpreting for would probably tell them, You don’t have to keep repeating that because they are speaking in my native tongue.”  The interpreters would say, “No, they are speaking in my native tongue.”  Of course this made them all bewildered as to how they all heard things being said, and they all understood them in their native tongue without the assistance of the interpreters.

This would be like Roberto translating for me what someone speaking in Italian was saying, and I would say “Roberto, why are you telling me that again? They are speaking in English so I understood them the first time.” and Roberto would say, “No they are speaking in Italian.”  You kind of get the idea.

Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” – Acts 2:12

We could have asked a similar question about the tongues that appeared as flames of fire on the 120 believers, “When people get the Holy Spirit now after getting saved, why don’t we see a tongue of fire over their head?”  It sure would make it a lot easier to know if they truly got saved or not, both for them and the people that were involved in the process of leading them to the Lord. 

Well the tongues that appeared like fire that day on the 120 disciples were never recorded happening again in the Bible.  Those people on whom the tongues like a flame of fire appeared that day were probably already saved because they had already believed in Jesus and were obeying Him.

But what about the Holy Spirit enabling them to speak in languages other than their native language.  What did that mean?

Well the answer is that this display of the Holy Spirit enabling them to speak in a language other than their native tongue was a sign.  That is, it was a sign for the Jews so that they may believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins.  We will see later, it was also a sign for the Jews, not the Gentiles, when the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentile Cornelius and his relatives at Caesarea in Acts 10. 

It was not a sign for the Gentiles in Jerusalem that Pentecost day nor was it a sign for the Gentiles that day at Caesarea, but it was a sign for the Jews that accompanied Peter from Joppa.  This later sign at Caesarea was to show the Jews that salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit was not only going to be given to the Jews, but that it was going to be given to the uncircumcised Gentiles also.

The Jews were constantly asking for signs:

Circumcision was a sign. 

Blood on the doorpost was a sign.

Tassels hanging down from their clothing with the Scriptures written on them was a sign.

Observing the Sabbath was a sign.

Aaron’s staff was a sign.

Curses were signs, and blessings were signs.

Gideon asked for a sign to be sure it was God talking to him.

The death of Eli’s sons on the same day (Hophni and Phinehas) was a sign.

The virgin Mary giving birth to a Son and naming Him Jesus, which means God is Salvation, and Immanuel, which means God with us, was a sign.

The Pharisees and the Sadducees demanded a sign from Jesus.

The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested Him by asking Him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away. – Matthew 1:1-4

Speaking in tongues is someone speaking in a language other than their native tongue without taking any lessons in the language that they are speaking.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 14:22:

Tongues then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers. – 1 Corinthians 14:22

Paul is referring here to the speaking in the tongues of a different language, not the Holy Spirit appearing like tongues as of fire as He did on the 120 disciples at Pentecost.  The tongues as of fire was most certainly a sign to the 120 believing disciples in the upper room, and to them only, that the promised gift had come.  But the speaking in different languages was a sign to the Jewish unbelievers outside that room who were not demanding a sign at the time.  It was given to them so that they may transition from being unbelievers to being believers in Jesus.  As we will see in Carl’s message next week, about 3000 of the Jews end up making that transition on that Pentecost day.

Acts 2:13 says:

Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.” – Acts 2:13

There are two lessons to be learned from this last verse. First, there will always be some who make fun of the believers. Second, we like the disciples, must not let the fact that someone is making fun of us deter us from obeying the command to be witnesses of the hope of our calling, the Good News of the Gospel.

Let’s pray.