Acts 2:1-4\u00a0<\/b>\u2013\u00a0When the day of Pentecost\u00a0came, they were all together\u00a0in one place. 2\u00a0Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.\u00a03\u00a0They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.\u00a04\u00a0All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit\u00a0and began to speak in other tongues\u00a0as the Spirit enabled them.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cThey saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 They saw what appeared to be \u201ctongues of fire.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 It is interesting that what is seen is described as tongues of fire, and it seems appropriate.\u00a0 After all they would, after they were immersed in the power of the Holy Spirit, begin to speak in the languages, or tongues of other people.\u00a0 Family, this incident is listed in the Bible and so we consider this section, and all sections about speaking in tongues and about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as powerful and as true as any other section of the Bible.\u00a0 We know that we either accept and have the whole of scripture, or we have none it.\u00a0 The Bible is not a buffet that we can pick and choose what we want.\u00a0 The whole of it is from God and either it is all the divine Word given to us, or none of it is.\u00a0 No exceptions.\u00a0 Now some things sound strange to people.\u00a0 And certainly to the unsaved, they don\u2019t understand it (1 Corinthians 2:14<\/b>).\u00a0 They see the Words but without having the Holy Spirit within, they cannot fully grasp it.\u00a0 So let\u2019s proceed knowing that this is as much the Word of God as any other part of the Word of God.<\/p>\n
What is described as \u201ctongues of fire\u201d<\/i>\u00a0could have been described as lightning bolts from heaven.\u00a0 This was no limitation or fancy of words that described it as appearing like tongues.\u00a0 Lightening had previously been seen and so if it had looked like lightening, then it would have been described in that way.\u00a0 However, it looked like tongues and so that was how it was described.<\/p>\n
Fire seems apt.\u00a0 This was the grand entrance of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples.\u00a0 It is consistent with the Bible that fire is indicative of the presence of God.\u00a0\u00a0Exodus 3:1-6<\/b>\u00a0speaks of God appearing as a flame that engulfed a bush but did not consume it.\u00a0 This is what is referred to as the Shekinah Glory of God.\u00a0 This Shekinah Glory also appeared to and led the Israelites when they were leaving Israel.\u00a0 Also the Shekinah Glory is the presence of God above the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:22, Leviticus 16:13<\/b>).\u00a0 So the Shekinah Glory, that watched over the Israelites and protected them, the same Shekinah Glory that was in their temple, then came to the Jesus\u2019s disciples to lead and guide them.\u00a0 The Israelites were led by God who appeared in the form of fire.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit came as the Lord appeared to the Israelites, as fire.\u00a0 The fire representing the presence of God led the Israelites from bondage to freedom.\u00a0 This presence of God was with them and could be seen by them both during the day and at night.\u00a0 The power of the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus\u2019s disciples and sat down, or began to dwell upon them.\u00a0 This was not for show, but to enable them to lead people to Jesus.\u00a0 The disciples of Jesus, all of them even until today and beyond, are called to lead people to Jesus.\u00a0 We will see that is exactly happened when the Shekinah Glory of God empowered these disciples.<\/p>\n
It is easy to overlook the end of\u00a0V3, \u201c<\/b>on each of them<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0 This power of the Holy Spirit came to rest upon, to dwell upon, each of them, all of them. Not one was left out!<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of them were filled with the Holy Spirit\u00a0and began to speak in other tongues\u00a0as the Spirit enabled them.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 The beginning of\u00a0V4<\/b>\u00a0begins with again pointing out that all of the disciples were recipients of the power of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n
They, all the disciples, began to speak in tongues.\u00a0 They did not speak in a tongue they had studied and learned, they spoke in tongues \u201cas the Spirit enabled them<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0 As we will see these disciples spoke in the tongue (language\/dialect) of the many different countries and cultures that were gathered there to celebrate the Holy Days.\u00a0 As we will see them speaking in the many languages it is notable that the word for used for tongue is plural.<\/p>\n
They also did not speak in an unknown language as described in\u00a01 Corinthians 14:2<\/b>.<\/p>\n
We may note that no-one spoke in tongues before this arrival of the power of the Holy Spirit upon them.\u00a0 This was in no way something learned through natural process, this was the supernatural power of God upon them.\u00a0V4<\/b>\u00a0ends by stating \u201cas the Spirit enabled them.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n
Something else is that the Word states that they \u201cbegan to speak in other tongues.\u201d The term being expressed here is not expressing a one-time event.\u00a0 It was something that began and then continued.\u00a0 It is a term that we might use when stating that a baby began to walk.\u00a0 It is something the baby did and will continue to do, and get better at it.\u00a0 The disciples received an original sign of the gifts of the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit would continue to express supernatural power through the disciples of Christ as He decides.\u00a0 It is to lead the unsaved to Christ, as was done here.\u00a0 Also, the gifts will be used to encourage and edify all the saints of God, as expressed in\u00a01 Corinthians 14:3-5, 12, 16, 26, 31<\/b>.\u00a0 The gifts of the Spirit, including tongues, are never meant to lift up the person, but rather to lift up Jesus and to point lost souls to Him, and also to build up and encourage the body of Christ.<\/p>\n
Family, just as the Spirit came upon all the disciples at Pentecost, the Spirit comes to empower all of saints living today.\u00a0 God desires all of us to spread the Word (Matthew 28:18-20<\/b>) and He empowers us all to do that.\u00a0 Let us be aware of the gifts of God to His church. The Spirit of God empowers people to be used of God.\u00a0 The gifts come with a purpose.\u00a0 As we are actively living out the divine command to spread the Gospel and to minister to each other, that is who is empowered by the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 However, we are all gifted differently, the point is to serve Jesus with all our hearts and He will bless us as we carry on His mission.\u00a0 Jesus is always with us, and empowering us.\u00a0 Praise God!\u00a0 Oh what comfort is the love of God!\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.<\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Acts 2:1-4\u00a0\u2013\u00a0When the day of Pentecost\u00a0came, they were all together\u00a0in one place. 2\u00a0Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.\u00a03\u00a0They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.\u00a04\u00a0All of them were…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,129,2257,2454,101,94,17],"class_list":["post-1254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-corinthians","tag-exodus","tag-leviticus","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1254"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1255,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254\/revisions\/1255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}