Acts 2:1-4

CRITICAL REMARKS

Acts 2:1. Pentecost.—So called from the date of its occurrence, the fiftieth from the second day of the Passover. Fully come.—Lit. was being fulfilled, referring to the completion of the interval between the two feasts. If the 16th Nisan was a Friday, the fiftieth day forward would fall upon a Saturday, or the Jewish Sabbath. With one accord.—ὁμοθυμαδὸν = ὁμοψύχως, with one mind. The Revised Text reads ὁμοῦ, together, which seems superfluous when followed by ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό, in one or the same place. (Compare Acts 1:15.)

Acts 2:2. A sound as of shows that the noise was not occasioned by the wind, but by a mighty blowing which resembled the vehement rushing of air. In the Old Testament (2 Samuel 5:24), Josephus (Ant., VII. iv. 1), and Homer (Od., I. 98), the noise of wind was a sign of the Divine Presence. According to Josephus (Wars, VI. Acts 2:3), earthquakes and supernatural sounds were heard in the Temple at the feast of Pentecost before the destruction of Jerusalem.

Acts 2:3. Cloven tongues as of fire.—These, which consisted not of, but merely resembled material flame, and certainly were not electrical or light manifestations (Renan), real or pretended, appeared to part themselves asunder, διαμεριζόμεναι, which may signify either that each tongue divided itself (Alford) or that the flame divided itself so that the tongues were distributed amongst the company (Zöckler, Hackett).

Acts 2:4. Other tongues.—In this case foreign languages, not previously learnt by the speakers, which required no interpreter (Acts 2:8), but were understood by the hearers. Acts 2:13 shows that they resembled the “tongues” of the later Corinthian church by being accompanied in their possessors with an ecstatic condition of consciousness. (See Homily on Acts 2:1.)

HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Acts 2:1

The Baptism of Fire; or, the Descent of the Holy Ghost

I. When it happened.—

1. When the day of Pentecost was fully come.—Literally, when it was being fulfilled; which has led to the idea that the time referred to was the evening with which Pentecost closed, but the notion rather is that the interval which lay between the Passover and the Pentecost was then filled up. Pentecost, as its name implied, was the feast of the fiftieth day, and was celebrated seven weeks after the Passover. The suitability of this feast for the implementing of the Father’s promise lay in three things:

1. Its nearness. The next national festival after the Passover it fitted admirably to the words of the promise—“Ye shall be baptised … not many days hence.” Had the fulfilment of the promise been deferred till Tabernacles in October, the interval would have been long, and the Church’s faith and patience might have been overstrained. But the sending of the Spirit at Pentecost, not more than ten days after the Ascension, averted this danger, and, as it were, caught up the hearts of Christ’s followers, when their enthusiasm stood at its height. The Lord of the Church knows the best times for His movements, and can so order the gifts of His grace as not to overstrain the patience, overtax the faith, or over discourage the zeal of His people, but rather to reward their patience, increase their faith, and fan their zeal into a flame.
2. Its popularity. At no other religious celebration did such numbers flock to Jerusalem as at Pentecost, the early spring (the time of the Passover) and the late autumn (the date of Tabernacles) being less suitable for travellers from distant parts. If, therefore, the high endowment of the Holy Ghost or the miraculous phenomenon by which it was heralded and symbolised were to efficiently impress the world it was needful that the number of those witnessing it should be as large as possible. The Gospel of Christ, doing nothing in a corner, has no need to shun the light. It invites and will bear the closest observation and the keenest scrutiny.
3. Its significance.

(1) As the great harvest festival of the Hebrew Church (Exodus 23:16), it was a fitting time for the first ingathering of souls into the Christian Church.

(2) As the feast of the firstfruits in which two wave loaves of fine flour, baked with leaven, were presented to the Lord (Leviticus 23:17), it supplied a proper season for the presentation to Jehovah of the firstfruits of redeemed souls in the persons of the Jewish disciples and the Gentile converts which were to be gathered in as the result of the Pentecostal effusion.

(3) As a feast at which sacrifices of all kinds were offered (Leviticus 17:8), it formed a suitable occasion for the dispensation of that Spirit which was to bring about the entire consecration of believers to God.

(4) As a feast in which remembrance was made of the Egyptian bondage (Deuteronomy 16:12) and of the Exodus from Egypt, it served as a fit moment for endowing the Church with that spirit which is pre-eminently styled the spirit of liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17).

2. When all the disciples were together in one place. That this place was the upper room already referred to in Acts 1:3 (which see)—and not, as many excellent expositors prefer, one of the chambers belonging to the temple—is upon the whole the likelier hypothesis; and that on this occasion the entire body of the disciples, one hundred and twenty in number, and not merely the twelve apostles, were convened, is sufficiently apparent from the context. Nor is it without suggestiveness that the Holy Ghost descended on them when all were present in their usual place of assembly. Does this not afford some reason for believing that the heavenly gift would have been withheld or at least delayed had any of the company been absent? If so, how many blessings, it may be asked, what outpourings of the Spirit, what times of revival and refreshing, may Churches and congregations not miss because of the irregularity with which their members come together? It is a signal error to suppose that absence from Church on the part of a professed Christian inflicts no injury or loss on his fellow-Christians who repair thither. May not the absence of the one seriously diminish, if not effectually hinder, the blessing of the many? Then quite as inaccurate is the reasoning that one may derive as large benefit at home from private meditation as in the Church from social devotion. The blessing of the Holy Ghost, it should be observed, was dispensed in the public assembly and not in the private chamber—was given to the disciples when together and not when isolated one from another.

3. When all the brethren were of one mind. The words “with one accord,” though omitted in the R.V., are better than the adverb “together,” which is substituted in their stead, but which is almost synonymous with “in one place,” and therefore superfluous. In any case “with one accord” expresses the inward disposition of the disciples on that eventful morning when the Holy Ghost for the first time fell upon them. Had they been otherwise—disunited in heart and mind, torn with jealousies and rivalries, broken up into hostile factions or unfriendly cliques—does any one believe the Spirit would have fallen on them—that Spirit, who, if anything, is a Spirit of concord and unity (Ephesians 4:3)? What a rebuke to the Church of to-day, which is not only marred by divisions and separations, but too often also actuated by mutual antipathies, cut up into sects and animated by a spirit of proselytism rather than of co-operation, a spirit of reciprocal opposition rather than of mutual affection! And what an explanation of the comparatively slow progress of the Church in past ages, as well as of its spiritual deadness at the present time! If the Church is to awake from her lethargy and clothe herself with energy, if she is to shake herself from the dust and put on her beautiful garments, she must receive a fresh baptism of the Holy Ghost; and before that can take place there must be a laying aside of hostilities and a cessation of animosities on the part of rival denominations and congregations, there must be a healing of broaches in the walls of God’s Spiritual Zion, there must be a gathering into one of the tribes of the New Testament Israel.

II. How it was accompanied.—

1. By a mysterious sound.

(1) Sudden. At a moment when it was not expected there was heard from heaven a noise. Divine movements are mostly of this character. It is not possible for us to discern beforehand the noise of Jehovah’s footsteps (Psalms 77:19), though it is by no means impossible for Him to detect ours (Psalms 139:1). God’s interpositions in the original work of creation partook of this character (Genesis 1:3; Genesis 1:9; Genesis 1:11; Genesis 1:14; Genesis 1:20; Genesis 1:24). So did they in His providential judgments, as, e.g., the Deluge and the destruction of Sodom (Matthew 24:39; Luke 17:26; Luke 17:28). So were they of this sort when Christ came in the flesh (Luke 2:3). So will they be when He returns in glory (Mark 13:35).

(2) Violent. Strong and impetuous, like a current of air rushing vehemently in upon and roaring through the chamber, like the trumpet sound which was heard at Sinai (Exodus 19:19; Hebrews 12:19), or like the “great and strong wind” that rent the mountains of Horeb (1 Kings 19:11).

(3) All pervading. Filling the chamber in which the disciples sat, it left no part untouched by its mysterious breath. All within the room could hear the strange, weird sound.

(4) Supernatural. This must have been apparent to all. The sound was not produced by ordinary physical causes. All attempts to explain it as a natural phenomenon, whether as thunder or as an earthquake, signally fail. It came from heaven, caused directly by the Holy Ghost, whose breathing it was (John 20:22).

2. By an unusual sight. There appeared unto the disciples “cloven tongues” or “tongues parted asunder like as of fire.” Like the wind these tongues were also:

(1) Supernatural. “Electrical phenomena, such as the gleaming lights sometimes seen on the highest points of steeples or on the masts of vessels, and which have been known even to alight on men, bear a very faint resemblance, if any, to those wondrous tongues of fire” (Spence). Besides, “this phenomenon took place not in the open air, but in the inside of a house” (Lechler). Then, if possible, even less admissible is the notion of a flash of lightning which sat simultaneously on one hundred and twenty heads without doing injury to one of them, which would have been a miracle as great as that for which it is proposed to be substituted. “But indeed the expression “tongues as of fire” demands that the words be taken in their literal signification” (Zeller). Whether the tongues were also
(2) cloven—i.e., divided, or parting asunder, as a flame occasionally does, is doubtful. Though the word admit of this interpretation, it is better taken to mean dividing themselves, so that the tongues were

(3) distributed—i.e., parted amongst the company, one resting upon the head of each. In this way they became

(4) visible to all within the chamber, each seeing the tongues resting on his neighbours’ heads, but not that sitting on own. A happy hint that each Christian should be quick to discern the gifts of his fellow-Christians—which is charity, and slow to recognise those belonging to himself—which is humility. Finally, the tongues, again resembling the wind, were
(5) symbolic. Of the effect which should result from the baptism about to be experienced; of the exalted and consecrated speech which would thereby be set in motion; and of the illumination which thereby would come to others.
3. By a peculiar touch. The distributed fiery tongues sat one upon each man’s head. As the tongues only resembled fire, so their contact with the heads of the disciples differed from that of ordinary flame, which would have scorched the disciples’ heads, whereas they were quite unconscious of burning. The touch of the tongues was like the touch of Christ when He healed men’s bodies; it was the touch by which He influenced souls.

III. By what it was followed.—

1. The disciples were all filled with the Holy Ghost.

(1) The Holy Ghost now came upon them in the fulness of His saving operations as He had not done before (John 7:39). Prior to the Ascension Christ had breathed on them, and said “Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (John 20:22); not until now had the Holy Ghost been imparted to them in the plenitude of His gracious influences.

(2) They were taken possession of by the new endowment in all departments of their being, so that they were filled with it.

(3) This inhabitation of their hearts by the Holy Ghost was to be permanent. Under the Old Testament the Spirit had descended upon men at special times and for special purposes, as upon Bezaleel (Exodus 31:3) and Joshua (Deuteronomy 34:9), to impart to them wisdom. Now He entered the disciples’ hearts to abide with them for ever (John 14:16). And this stupendous endowment was not conferred on the apostles only but upon the brethren as well, and not upon the leaders of the Church merely but upon the followers likewise; nor upon the eminent personages alone but also upon the humble and obscure individuals.

2. They all began to speak with tongues. That those tongues were something higher than and beyond those conferred on the churches at Corinth (1 Corinthians 14:2), may be inferred from the circumstance mentioned in Acts 2:6; Acts 2:8, that the multitude who listened to the inspired utterances of the apostles and brethren “were confounded because that every man heard them speaking in his own language.” The Corinthian tongues were unintelligible to those who heard them, and to be of service for public edification required interpretation; at Pentecost the tongues needed no exposition by a third party. The listeners “heard every man in his own language wherein he was born.” Yet, like the tongues at Corinth, those of Pentecost were not required for edification, which was principally secured by Peter’s sermon; and were accompanied by a kind of ecstatic utterance which led some at least of the auditors to think and say the speakers were intoxicated, as Paul afterwards suggested some hearing the Corinthians talk with tongues might allege they were mad (1 Corinthians 14:23). As to what these Jerusalem “tongues” were, the traditional opinion which sees in them foreign languages which the apostles and their company were enabled to speak, though not without difficulty, is probably correct. Nor does it militate against this idea that such foreign languages were not necessary to qualify the apostles for preaching to the multitudes at Pentecost, since the majority, if not all, of these would be able to understand either Greek or Aramaic, or both, and that the apostles do not appear afterwards to have used these new dialects (compare Paul at Lycaonia, Acts 14:14) in addressing themselves to foreigners. The answer to both objections is, that the Pentecostal tongues may not have been intended to be permanent but only temporary, as a sign to arrest the attention of the multitude and accredit the apostles as heaven-sent ambassadors. All attempts to discover other explanations of the tongues than the natural one lie open to as great, if not greater, difficulties than those they are devised to surmount. The fancy that the apostles spoke an original elementary “tongue of the Spirit,” which every listener in the crowd heard as if it were his own mother tongue (Erasmus, Meyer, Delitzsch, etc.), only adds a miracle of hearing to the existing one of speaking. That the tongues were merely ecstatic utterances which acted on the hearers in such a way as to make them think they were being addressed in their native languages (Beyschlag) is to put a construction on the narrative which it will not bear. The hearers did not think, but knew they were listening to their mother tongues. Besides, the tongues were spoken before the multitudes were present to hear. Then the notion that the assembly of believers was composed of Jews of various nations who spoke as the Spirit moved them, but in their ordinary speech (Paulus, Kuinoel, etc.), is expressly contradicted by the narrative which affirms that the one hundred and twenty were all, or at least mostly, Galilæans. The solution which detects in the narrative only a legendary or mythical reproduction of the Rabbinical fable, that the law was given from Sinai in a tongue which was intelligible to the seventy different peoples of the Table of Nations (Overbeck, Hausrath, etc.) is completely to destroy the credibility of the historian.

IV. What it signified.—

1. It attested the reality of Christ’s ascension (see Acts 2:33). Before His death Christ had promised on returning to His Father to send forth the Spirit (John 16:7). Forty days after His resurrection they had seen Him ascend through the opened heavens (Acts 1:10). The descent of the Holy Ghost after ten days’ waiting was the intimation to them that Christ had been exalted to the Father’s right hand.

2. It gave the signal for commencing the work of witness bearing, for which they had been selected and appointed, while it was natural for the apostles and their company to suppose that immediately on Christ’s departure they should begin the glorious business of publishing the good news of a crucified, risen and exalted Saviour. Christ Himself commanded them not to start upon their mission until they got the signal from the Father, who alone understood the times and seasons (Acts 1:7). That signal they recognised when the Holy Ghost descended on them.

3. It equipped the apostles and first believers for their service. The task committed to them was one that immeasurably transcended their native ability. Power from on high was absolutely indispensable for its efficient discharge. That power was to be supplied by a special baptism of the Holy Ghost (Acts 1:8); and now that the Holy Ghost had come they were prepared (1 Corinthians 2:4; 2 Corinthians 3:5).

Learn.—

1. The faithfulness of the Father in implementing His promise (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18).

2. The blessedness of those who humbly and prayerfully wait on God (Isaiah 40:31; Hebrews 6:15).

3. The reality of superterrestrial things (2 Corinthians 4:18).

4. The power of the Holy Ghost as shown in the gift of tongues (2 Peter 1:21).

5. The mission of the Christian Church—to utter what the Holy Ghost teaches (1 Corinthians 2:13).

6. The diversities of gift and service in the Christian Church; all had not the same tongue, but each as the Spirit gave him utterance (1 Corinthians 12:4).

HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS

Acts 2:1. The Feast of the Fulfilment.—On this day (Pentecost) was fulfilled:—

I. The most beautiful anticipation of antiquity.—The hope that not only an atonement would be made to Jehovah for the sins of the people, but also a new heart and a right spirit should be given them.

II. The deepest want of humanity.—Fellowship with God now for the first time rendered possible by the reconciliation effected through the sacrifice of Christ, and the renovation accomplished by the baptism of the Spirit.

III. The highest manifestation of Divinity.—All that went before, even the gift of the Son, being designed as a preparation for the dispensation of the Spirit.—Oosterzee.

Acts 2:3. Tongues of Fire.

I. Whence they come.—From heaven, from the Father, from the glorified Christ—i.e., they are gifts of grace bestowed in fulfilment of God’s promise, and on account of the merit of Christ.

II. On whom they are bestowed.—On praying, waiting, and united believers; on souls possessed of faith, hope, love, and longing.

III. How they are fed.—By the Holy Ghost, whose creation they are, for whose manifestation they serve, and under whose control they perpetually remain.

IV. What they speak.—Not the wisdom of this world, but words which the Holy Ghost teacheth.

V. The Effects they produce.—Always amazement, sometimes unbelief and mockery, frequently conviction and conversion.

Acts 2:4. A Sermon on the Holy Ghost.

I. His personality.—Though not here specially emphasised, yet involved in the scriptural representations given of Him generally (see Acts 5:3; Acts 5:32, Acts 7:51; Ephesians 4:30).

II. His Divinity.—Implied in His co-ordination with the Father and the Son (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14).

III. His agency.—Symbolised by the Sound, the Fire, and the Tongues.

The Personality and Divinity of the Holy Spirit. The customary objections to this doctrine are thus summarised by Bornemann (Unterricht im Christentum, p. 151):

I. The Trinitarian formula proves nothing.—This, however, is only Bornemann’s opinion. Others hold it inconceivable that unless the Son and the Holy Ghost had been co-equal with the Father they would have been thus associated with the Father by either Christ or God.

II. The phrase “The Spirit Speaks” (Acts 21:11; Revelation 14:13) no more establishes the personality of the Holy Ghost than the similar phrase “The Scripture speaks” (Galatians 4:30) demonstrates the personality of the Bible. But other personal attributes are ascribed to the Holy Spirit which are not and cannot be assigned to Scripture, such as grieving (Ephesians 4:30), comforting (Acts 9:31), interceding (Romans 8:26), etc.

III. Nowhere in the New Testament is the Holy Ghost represented as the object of worship.—Yet all true worship is in the New Testament distinctly declared to be the inspiration of the Spirit (John 4:24; Romans 8:26; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 2:18).

IV. The word person as applied to the Holy Spirit is not the same thing as Moderns mean by this term.—Granted. Yet whatever the vocable “person” signifies as applied to the Father and the Son, that same it imports as applied to the Holy Ghost.

Filled with the Holy Spirit.

I. A transcendent mystery.—That the soul of a creature should be inhabited by the Spirit of its Creator.

II. A demonstrable fact.—Proved in Pentecostal and early Christian times by the gift of tongues, evinced now by the production of the fruits of the Spirit.

III. A gracious privilege.—Bestowed upon believers not of merit on their part, but of spontaneous kindness on God’s part.

IV. A comforting experience.—Being the seal of acceptance with the Father, and an earnest of the heavenly inheritance.

V. A valuable talent.—Such as are its recipients are thereby endowed for service, and will eventually be held answerable for its employment.

Acts 2:1. The Ideal of Christian Unity.—Believers united.

I. In Worship.—“Together in one place.”

II. In Heart.—“With one accord.”

III. In Privilege.—All witnessing and sharing alike.

IV. In Endowment.—“All filled with the Holy Ghost.”

V. In Service.—All speaking with tongues.

The Pentecostal Blessing.

I. The conditioning circumstances.

1. The Time. “When the day of Pentecost was now come.” “Here again, as in the fact of the Ascension and the waiting of the Church, we trace the outline of Christianity in Judaism, and see in the typical ceremonial of the Old Dispensation the outline and shadow of heavenly realities.”

2. The Place. An upper chamber. “Round this upper room at Jerusalem has gathered many a story dating from very early ages indeed. This upper room has been identified with the chamber in which the Last Supper was celebrated.”

3. The Spirit. With one accord. “There was unity of spirit and unity in open manifestation to the world at large. Christ’s disciples, when they received the gifts of Heaven’s choicest blessings, were not split up into dozens of different organisations, each of them hostile to the others, and each striving to aggrandise itself at the expense of kindred brotherhood.”

II. The external manifestations.—Three.

1. A Sound as of a Rushing Mighty Wind. “The marvels of the story told in the first of Genesis find a parallel in the marvels told in the second of Acts. The one passage sets forth the foundation of the material universe, the other proclaims the nobler foundations of the Spiritual universe.”

2. Tongues as of Fire, separate and distinct, sitting upon each of the Disciples. “The sign of the Holy Spirit’s presence was a tongue of fire. It was a most suitable emblem, pregnant with meaning, and indicative of the large place which the human voice was to play in the work of the new dispensation, while its supernatural character declared that the mere unaided human voice would avail nothing.” The separateness of the tongues also was “significant of the individual character of our holy religion.”

3. A Miraculous Gift of Tongues. “That gift indicated to the Apostles and to all ages the tongue as the instrument by which the gospel was to be propagated.” The gift itself was “the power of speaking in foreign languages, according to Christ’s, promise, ‘They shall speak with new tongues’ ” (Mark 16:17). G. T. Stokes, D.D.

The Pentecostal Wonder.

I. The rushing sound.—“The Divine power which descended on the waiting company of disciples revealed itself first according to its new creative energy or as heavenly life” (Leben, πνοή, Odem, Windshauch, Acts 2:2).

II. The fiery tongues.—“The Divine power revealed itself secondly according to its critically separating force as heavenly light or fire” (Acts 2:3).

III. The foreign tongues.—“The Divine power revealed itself thirdly according to its salvation-revealing might as heavenly discourse and speech, λαλεῖν γλώσσαις ἑτέραις” (Acts 2:4).—Dr. Otto Zöckler.

The Phenomena at Pentecost.

I. The praying congregation.
II. The sound from heaven.
III. The holy flames.
IV. The new tongues.—Lisco.

Three Marvels.

I. In the realm of Nature.—The sound, the tongues, the speech.

II. In the sphere of mind.—Men speaking languages they never learnt.

III. In the domain of grace.—Sinful men endowed with the Holy Ghost.

The Descending Spirit.—Among the thoughts and lessons that readily connect themselves with the event of our chapter are the following:

1. The Christian Church was born at Pentecost. There is no Christian Church history before that point. The materials of the Church were already present, but standing out of organic relation with each other. It was the brooding of the Spirit that, as we are told in the first of Genesis, produced the formless elements of things into a shapely and prolific world. It was the inbreathing of God into the being of our first parent that developed him into a living soul. It was the influx similarly of the divine Spirit that composed the disciples of Christ into an organised and living Church. A Church is Christianity organised.

2. This was the first Christian revival of religion. The Church was born in a revival, and the survival of the Church has been along a continuous line of revival. A revival is substantially a fresh appropriation of divine power. The dynamic element enters Christianity not at the cross, not at the Easter sepulchre, but at Pentecost. Pentecost is as much a fact of Christianity as is the crucifixion. The Acts of the Apostles is the Gospel of the Holy Ghost and the Gospel of power. It is the scope of a revival to work in men Christian sinew. There is nothing in the whole New Testament narrative more startling than the transformation which the Twelve suddenly underwent on the fiftieth day after Calvary. An apostle is a disciple plus the Holy Ghost. Appliances are valuable, but only as vehicles for the conveyance of energy that is from God. Christianity would have stopped at Olivet had it not been for the event of our chapter or its equivalent.

3. The Spirit descended upon the disciples when they were together. The full meaning of Christianity is not exhausted in any relation in which it sets us individually to Christ. It comprises a relation between men mutually as well as a relation to God personally and separately. There are blessings and enrichments that accrue to Christians only by their standing in fellowship with each other. That first Sunday evening, the evening of Resurrectionday, Christ showed Himself unto His disciples while they were together. The week after, the second Sunday evening, He again appeared to them while they were together. And similarly, as we learn from the first verse of our chapter, the Holy Spirit descended upon them while “they were all with one accord in one place.” And this gathering together of theirs was not for the purpose of instruction, but in order that they might remain together in the fellowship of concerted prayer and holy waiting. The Church was born thus in a prayer-meeting. The first Christian revival was inaugurated in a prayer-meeting. In spiritual matters two are considerably more than twice as many as one.

4. This first revival of religion began with the spiritual replenishment of those already Christian. It is time wasted, and runs counter to the divine order of things, for a Church that is not itself revived to attempt revivalistic operations among the unconverted. Christianity, to the degree in which it extends itself, does so as a kind of contagion.
5. After the ascension of their Lord the disciples simply waited for Pentecost. They prayed together, as it would seem, but exactly what was the subject of their prayers it would be very hard to tell. They probably did not pray for a baptism of the Holy Spirit. They had not been instructed to pray for it, but to “tarry” till it came. There was no further work that needed to be wrought in them before its bestowment. They were ready to be blessed. The outpouring of the Spirit was deferred till Pentecost, only because that day would give to the event greater publicity. Our prayers would often seem to imply that the gift of the Holy Ghost is something that has got to be wrestled from God by hard struggling. His Spirit is with us. He has already entered into the world. He is among us like a subtle atmosphere that crowds itself with a gentle intrusion into every space of our hearts and lives that is left open to its occupancy. He is like the sunshine, that fills with brightness and touches with colour every object of ground, sea, and sky that is bared to its silent impact. When we are not illumined, it is not because we have neglected to pray for the sun’s rise upon us, but because we have neglected to stand out in the sunshine.
6. The Holy Spirit descended upon all the disciples—not only upon the Twelve, but upon the whole hundred and twenty. So far as we are, then, Holy Ghost Christians, all substantial distinctions in this respect between the laity and the clergy are erased.
7. The Holy Spirit revealed Himself outwardly in the shape of tongues. This was prophetic of the way in which revealed truth was to be disseminated. It does not suffice that men should simply live lives of Christian consistency, and that they should think that conduct fills to the full their measure of obligation. Christ not only lived, He preached. “It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” And the word “preaching” must not be construed too narrowly. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh”; “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. The first revival, then, opened men’s mouths and set men talking. It was a gift of tongues. There is no place for silent Christians under the administration of the Holy Ghost. Inspiration and utterance are inseparable.—C. H. Parkhurst, D.D.

I. Distinguish the permanent from the transient manifestations of this descending Spirit.—The miraculous displays were designed to attract attention, and to teach by symbols His nature and power. Air is necessary to life. The Spirit, of whom no one can tell whence He comes, or whither He goes, is symbolised by the air we breathe. Air in motion represents power. Fire is purifying. In great crises of the ancient Church God had revealed Himself by fire. The tongues of fire were tokens of the living, conquering, purifying energy by which the Spirit spreads truth through the world. They sat on each of the disciples, showing that each Christian has a special commission and a special power given him from heaven. The disciples, thus supernaturally excited, spoke of the wonderful works of God in dialects which men from all lands heard and understood. Here was displayed the sign that the obstacles to the spread of the gospel were removed. The transient symbol has departed, but the Word of God has leaped the barriers of strange tongues and spread through all the world. The miracle of that hour, emphasised by the miracle of centuries, says to us: “The gospel from heaven has been committed to you. The power of God is promised to you. Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” We see, then, what abides in the Church from the descending Spirit. A great change had already, within a few days, taken place in the apostles. But the task before them required supernatural power in them. They were to undertake a new kind of work. When, then, the Spirit descended to dwell in them, He changed their thoughts. He gave them confidence in the place of timidity. He led them to perceive the grandeur and spirituality of their mission, and their own position in it. They not only recognised that they were divinely commissioned, but they were divinely illuminated. The effects of their preaching were what we should expect from such changes in themselves. The Spirit gave them utterance. Their word was with power. Men were moved to acknowledge the truths they proclaimed. Paul the Apostle set against the power of Rome, the greatest nation on earth, the power of God unto salvation. Rome yielded. The gospel triumphed. It is the most impressive truth which God has revealed, that each of His disciples can, by his daily thoughts and acts, bring down upon the Church the power which has achieved the mightiest triumphs of history.

II. We see that the power imparted by the Holy Spirit is unique and supernatural.—He created the Christian Church, and now sustains and extends it. Without Him, it is without Christ; and apart from Christ it can do nothing. This gift, then, is not eloquence, nor logic, nor rhetoric, nor any acquired power. The Spirit can employ all these things, all that there is of a man, for His great ends. But His presence is the breath of Him who created all worlds. And His presence distinguishes the Church from all other institutions. Without that, with all its splendid history, it would be only a Samson shorn. There are diversities of gifts; but it is the same Spirit that divides them to every man severally as He will.

III. We see the purposes for which the Holy Spirit descended and abides with Christians—to perpetuate the presence of Christ with His disciples, and to enable them to proclaim His gospel. This gift was and is a fruit of the continued operation of the earthly life of Jesus. These truths realised will help us to feel more deeply the immense responsibility that rests on each disciple of Christ. “There is offered to you, as a gift, that which wrought all these wonders. Take it, and greater works than these shall you do.” Then think of the misery that sin is still working, of lives blasted by passion, of homes ruined and actions ruled by selfishness, of the millions that sit in darkness, of immortal souls disappearing from these scenes to wake to shame and everlasting contempt. Only one power can change these things—the Holy Spirit in the disciples of Christ. God has placed this measure of opportunity in our hands. Is it possible that Christians will allow anything to hinder the descent of this Spirit on them in His fulness? But evidently whatever wastes this power brings on us fearful loss; and we know the things that waste it. It is not merely the open breaking of the Decalogue which appears inexcusable in Christians, but that any of them can waste in trifling pleasures and selfish pursuits the abilities given from God to save our fellow-men from eternal death, and plead in excuse that they do not transgress any definite command. What do we need so much as the baptism of fire for spiritual life, and the tongue of fire to tell that life to the world? One thing more. This gift is offered to the unconverted. Do any who have not received the Holy Spirit wonder at and criticise the want of power and zeal in Christians? You may yourselves receive that which you think wanting in them. “Repent ye,” said Peter to the wondering audience, “and be baptised every one of you for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost.” Yes, you whose ambitions are unsatisfied, whose affections are unstirred by heavenly things—this promise is to you.—Monday Club Sermons.