Acts 2:2-4 Bible Teaching

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And when we come back we will continue with Acts chapter 2.

Okay, let’s read the first verses of chapter 2 again.

Acts 2.4
August 23rd 2015
(FROM LAST WEEK) Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting).

3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

There is A LOT here to talk about but before getting into the specifics I want to address something that plays directly into what we are reading.

Critics of God (that’s an amazing title to apply to oneself, huh) but these people often complain that God created a system – a universe, a world, animals, humans – that is faulty and that if He was God He would have known the faults and He would have either prevented them or fixed them.

Some go so far as to question why there would be faults in the system God created in the first place – “I mean, He is God after all, right?”

On this last point we have to admit that He is NOT just God but He is a Good God and being such He has allowed those of us made in His image to make choices.

But to the complaint that He has created a system that He knew would fail I would suggest strongly that being a Good God he fixes and repairs EVERYTHING we have corrupted or destroyed.

I won’t go into all of the examples but will wrap our study today with an interesting one – so keep that in mind.

Alright, so there was a mighty sound like a wind and the sound filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Now remember, this is happening to at least 12 men called apostles and to the most 120 people in total (which I believe is the case).

Verse 3

3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

It seems that these cloven tongues of fire appeared as it were above them first, and they could see them, and then it sat or rested upon the heads of each of them.

The word used to describe the fires is
“glossa” where we can obviously see a tie to language as in glossary.

Of course the tongue is used in scripture to describe the member which is an instrument of taste and speech and it also is used to describe language or speech in general.

And then the word is used to actually describe the shape of a tongue – as in the tongue of a shoe.

In this sense Joshua 7:21 & 24 speaks of “a tongue of gold,” and Isaiah speaks of a tongue of sea and or a tongue of land.

The phrase “tongue of fire” occurs once, and once only in the Old Testament:

Isaiah 5:24, “Therefore as the tongue of fire devoureth the stubble and the flame consumeth.”

And from this we can see that the word tongue is used to depict the pointed flames as they look like the human tongue – so something wider at the base and leading to a point.

But not only were they tongue like but they were (with accent) “cloven.”

(it seems like that word has to said that way in my mind – cloven). The word translated CLOVEN is “diamerizomenai,” and comes from the verb to divide, or distribute into parts and this is the common opinion on why it is used here – the flames of what appeared to be as fire were split, or forked, or ? (that’s right, “cloven.”)

But I tend to think of Luke saying that the flames overhead were divided from each other and what rested above them was not one giant flame but divided segments.

I come to this conclusion because the Syriac version of the Bible reads like this:

“And there appeared unto them tongues which divided themselves, like fire, and sat upon each of them.” And the old Ethiopic version reads it, “And fire, as it were, appeared to them, and sat on them.”

Now, I want to step into a moment of conjecture. Prior to the shed blood of Jesus reconciling the world to God, when God sent fire from heaven or when God mingled Himself with man the fire was destructive to fallen man.

The exception might have been Moses on the Mount with the burning bush, which seemed to burn but was not consumed. But Moses did not seem to mingle with this fire and so He was protected.

But in other cases when God either sent fire or God Himself appeared He, as a consuming fire, wiped people out. His Shikinah Glory was too much for sinful man.

The high priest on the day of atonement was in His presence but it seems he was subject to all sorts of washings and rituals of blood letting before He was able to abide.

But since the finished work of Christ the Holy Spirit was able to descend from God in the form that God is – fire – and they were not consumed – protected as it were, by the blood of Christ.

I believe this “fire” this glory and this light was God bringing the Holy Spirit, His breath, the mighty wind, into the hearts and lives of these first believers.

The imagery of wind, and fire, and tongues can be taken literally or as figurative and we will never be sure.

But I would suggest that whatever was happening there was spiritual and is only expressed here in physical terms for our comprehension.

In fact, everything God does, who is spirit, and a consuming fire, through the actual shed blood of His only begotten Son is Spiritual.

These things certainly have effect on the physical world in which we live but our appeal to them is through the Spirit and NOT the flesh.

Let me give you an example of this and also explain what I opened with when talking about God fixing everything for us that we have gotten wrong.

Here we have a spiritual power coming down from heaven and resting upon the first believers in the New Church.

And what will be the immediate result of this spiritual event?

Act 2:4-8 tells us, saying:

“And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?”

Now think – when do we read of another place in scripture where men are gathered together, and language is confounded? That’s right – tower of Babel.

You know the story. The people were united and one and believed they could accomplish anything. Man was created in God’s image and with the powers and creative abilities He endowed us with we decided we could unite and even build a tower to reach where He dwelled.

By our own efforts and ingenuity! And especially through their flesh!

So what did God do?

Genesis 11:6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off (or quite) to build the city.

Then we read in verse Genesis 11:9:
“Therefore is the name of it called Babel (BAWBEL – which means confusion, and is the root word for Babylon); because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”

From this word Babel, meaning confusing, we have another term that we even use today: “babbleing” as in he’s not making ANY sense. He’s a babblying idiot.”

We can see this word used in Acts chapter 17 when the King James writers put it in the mouths of critics of the apostles calling them babblers.

But the point is God, seeing that humanity was thinking it could reach heaven by the flesh COUNFOUNDED their language.

So much so that they were split up – which I believe was the beginning of languages and races.

But here, at Pentecost what does God do? He reunites people from many different lands and locations using a spiritual language – which touched the hearts of those present even though they spoke different physical languages.

And we have an evidence of God fixing, through the things of the Spirit that occurred because of the flesh of human beings.

This is a radical, radical evidence of God working and redeeming ALL things messed up in the flesh BY THE SPIRIT.

So these tongues of fire “sat upon each of them.” It rested upon the head of each one.

To these devout Jews this would be the greatest evidence of God being involved in what was happening as the appearance of fire, or flame, has always been regarded as a most striking emblem of the Divinity (burning bush, lightnings, and smoke, and fire on Sinai) God being described in Deuteronomy as “a consuming fire,” etc.

We have to also remember that John the Baptist said that while he came to baptize with water the Son of Man came to baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.”

This was that baptism as predicted by John the Baptist and as Promised by Jesus Himself – the baptism of the Holy Spirit and of fire.

We note that the tongues of fire started above them, descended upon each of them – listen – and then entered into them.

These phases are VERY VERY important to our understanding of how the Holy Spirit engages with human beings.

Let me appeal to a visual example. In the Greek there are four words that play a very important role in describing how the Holy Spirit works among humans.

Para(which means around or along side of) Epi (which means on or upon) en (which means in or inside) and pletho (which means overflowing).

So to the example:

Old Testament the Holy Spirit never lived in a person – their hearts had not been cleansed by the blood of Jesus. And so the Holy Spirit of God was

(USE GLASS OF WATER)

“PARA” (along side them) and in the case of the prophets and others it would sometimes “EPI” them (fall upon them).

This was the case all the way up to the finished work of Christ. Now the Holy Spirit was gifted to the world. It started PARA, it then fell upon them EPI and then what does verse four say?

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost (which means that the Holy Spirit went into their hearts) but it did not stop there as the rest of the verse says, “and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

The word used here? PLETHO – overflowing.

And when the Holy Spirit overflowed to these first Saints it manifested itself as them speaking in tongues.

A topic we will enter into now.

Speaking in tongues – like all spiritual gifts – all spiritual gifts, always, always, always, always has a purpose. God does NOT give gifts for them to not be used and if the gifts He gives are to be used they are to be used purposefully.

Remember this general rule when we consider the topic of Spiritual gifts – in this case speaking in tongues.

Now, was there a purpose here in this setting? A tremendous purpose or purposes:

To spiritually reconcile the division God allowed at Babel.
To cause unbelievers to marvel at the works of God to reach them.
To communicate to people of many different languages the work of God.

We must take note that the speaking of tongues was not self-centered or self generated, it was not for presentation alone, and it literally functioned to accomplish the things we mentioned.

Because it is associated with the Holy Spirit falling here in the Book of Acts there are some sects of Christianity who demand that tongues be spoken as proof that a person has been born from above.

The act is called Glossolalia and is very popular among what are known as charismatic denominations like Pentecostalism (hence the tie to the day of Pentecost)

Now, what we are reading about was promised by Jesus to the apostles.

In Mark 16:17 He said:

“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

This passage and those like them have caused no small amount of . . . debate in the body and so let’s talk about it.

First of all we read about most of these things mentioned by Jesus happening in the New Testament.

Casting out devils
Speaking with new tongues
Taking up serpents
Hands laid on sick

The only one I do not find a record for is His promise that if those who believed drank any deadly thing it would not hurt them.”

But we do see most of these things fulfilled. Does this mean they are over?

There are Christians who are called Cessessionists (as opposed to Continuationists) who believe that all the gifts of the Spirit have ceased today.

The Cessationists believe that the miracles and spiritual gifts Jesus promised to those who believe was primarily for those in the Apostolic Church and once that “period” of Church History ended with the death of the last apostle so did the manifestation of the Spiritual gifts.

I am not personally a Cessasionist in the strictest sense of the word – I believe God can, will, and will continue to express Himself through believers by the Spiritual Gifts.

I believe this because I believe God cannot be boxed in and nobody is in a position in the Body to claim that ALL spiritual gifts have ceased.

So on the one far extreme is the Total Cessasionist. On the other extreme are believers who read of these things in the Bible (like what Jesus said in Mark 16:17-18 and are (even today) holding services where they are handling poisonous snakes, and speaking in tongues in church, and rolling on the floors, and laughing in the Spirit, and laying hands to heal people with disease.

In my estimation – and you may differ – I have thoughts on Spiritual gifts today:

First, God can and will use people today whom He has blessed with Spiritual gifts.

Second, the gifts are used in harmony with the age in which they are being used.

For instance, in an age where medical doctors and medicine was at a minimum healings were more rampant and miraculous. And maybe the opposite too.

In other words I believe that God keeps up with the times. I say that tongue in cheek but what I mean by it is that in a day or in places where help is not available to people He will step in and assist through the spiritual gifts of others.

But if the times have certain things covered He allows modern science to do the work. He’s glorified in all of it whether we recognize Him or not.

Third, I think that all Spiritual Gifts are expressed reasonably, and within the context of God and His will and work being promoted.

I do not believe in healing for healings sake, tongue speaking for the sake of proving anything, or snake handling to fulfill scripture.

Fourth, I do not think a failure or lack of spiritual gifts are indicative of a lack of faith among the people.

When we allow ourselves to think otherwise we may find ourselves being critical of others when their loved ones die, saying things like:

“Well if you would have had the faith your child would have lived.”

God heals who He will heal and save whom He will save from sickness and death.

In this light I am of the opinion that the miracles and gifts of the Spirit were probably far more prevalent in the early church as a means to exert His presence among a people who needed the miraculous to recognize God in the mix.

Often I have people who come to me and say that when they were of another faith they gave or received a blessing and it worked! How could that be explained?

I think that God heals who He will heal – whether those involved with the healing are Baptists, Catholic priests, LDS priesthood holders or Charismatic tongue speaking faith healers.

And I also think He refuses to heal or save many in the presence of these appeals.

In the end, all of it is God.

Finally, I am also (unfortunately) of the opinion that in this area of Spiritual Gifts there are a lot of abuses and cons and hopeful thinking involved.

This is the direct result of people taking the Word of God written to the people of that day and assigning it to this day and age without considering context in the least.

I also think that the false manifestation of these gifts (in presumed healings, tongue speakings and other expressions) are encouraged by a type of believer who thrives on the outwardly miraculous rather than upon inward spiritual confidences.

When this is the case there is a constant search for miraculous things, and if they do not present themselves for inspection the person is let down.

So, let’s talk about this spiritual gift of glossolalia – with “Glossa” meaning tongue and “lalia” meaning talk or speech – by reading verse 4:

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Linguists today refer to the ability to speak an actual language without any former exposure to it as Xeno (meaning foreigner) lalia (talk).

So what these people were experiencing was actually Xenolalia since glossolalia is uttering a completely otherworldly language (of sorts).

Therefore, for clarities sake, when scripture talks about speaking in tongues I would suggest there are two primary applications – glossolalia (the otherworldly talk which scripture may refer to as the tongue of angels) and Xenolalia (which is when someone speaks a real earthly language they have never learned before).

This example in Acts was NOT glossolalia – the tongue of angels talk. It had a purpose and promoted the work of God – it had those whom the Holy Spirit fell speaking in the languages of those who were in attendance from all over the place so they could comprehend what was going on.

Before we talk about Xenolalia let me be clear about Glossolalia. There is one place where it seems to be appropriate – when we are in prayer.

Some believers call it their secret prayer language and it works due to the following:

As humans when we speak, we think a thought, the thought is then transferred into words, which we take, string them together with others, form sentences and express ourselves.

So I am on the phone and the person on the other end says:

“Shawn, tell me what you see?” and immediately my mind captures all that I am observing and I say, in a string of words:

“I see a room of people sitting in chairs.”

While I am saying this, my mind can only focus on this line and this bit of information and my words are limiting my expressions. In other words, the terms I choose to describe what I see are limiting all that I see – they are actually limiting what I am actually thinking.

Glossolalia – or secret prayer language – works off the premise that breaks these limitations down and allows the Holy Spirit to speak to us through our minds and hearts because we are not letting recognizable boxes confine our thoughts.

So, in my experience, we invite the Holy Spirit to speak through us by relaxing and allowing it to utter.

Now the best way I can explain this to you if you have never experienced it is to liken it to a time where you may have been extremely upset . . . so upset that you cannot even articulate words – all you do is make noises and your mouth gives them sounds like words but they are not recogizeable by any means.

However in your head, each sound represents entire paragraphs or sentences.

So you are thinking of someone you loved so dearly who has passed away. You are broken hearted and you have been weeping and in the midst of your despair you find that you can’t even speak.

But every time you moan or mutter a sound it is representative of a whole series of thoughts.

This is what it is like to communicate with God with the tongue of angels. If you have never allowed it to happen understand that this is the first step – you have to allow it.

The Holy Spirit is gentle and does not force any of us to do anything. But if you are looking to heighten your inward communications with God the first step is to invite God to help you speak to Him from the heart.

The second thing might be to relax and just let yourself go – at first in thought.

Let your mind and heart communicate to God freely. And then when you are ready associate those free flowing thoughts with the air in your lungs being exhaled over your tongue and lips which form them into what I call “word sounds” – not a words you recognize or know, but just a word sound that has articulation of some sort.

With each thought however big or small freely allow these word sounds to connect with them as your reflect.

For some reason, by allowing these word sounds out in connection to our free flowing thoughts, we are able to deconstruct the walls that typically come with the process of thought and speech and before you know it you will be uttering strings of word-sounds that will audibly represent hundreds of disconnected thoughts, worries, ideas and concerns.

When I pray audible I think of my family, then I mention each one – Mary and I think of her needs, then Mallor, and I think of hers, the Cassidy and then Delaney – first the thought, then the spoken name, then the concern.

When a person appeals to God through Glossalalia, I would describe it as a flowing river of thoughts that are not limited or defined nor are they trapped by our use of language. They are all there and expressed deeply and richly and quickly and openly, with our whole family present, all of our friends, the church, the health needs of Dawn, the family needed of Roger, concerns over the man on the street I saw last week . . . and all of that is tied to one word sound.

Get it?

As radical as this is it is NOT experienced by everyone and I have explained it to you the best of my ability.

It is the closest example of the gibberish babbling we might here in a Church that is (here in the present day) practicing the speaking of tongues.

Gibberish and babbling in church has NOTHING to do with the New Testament construct of speaking in tongues.

Anytime tongues (Xenolalia) are spoken in church or in public it is for the benefit of unbelievers, and there has to be an interpreter present to validate what was said in the language that was spoken.

It is not to be done in the church but has a very pragmatic purpose – to communicate with people who speak languages other than the languages that the person speaking has known.

Seeing such a display will wow an unbeliever and this is its purpose.

So let’s say that we are downtown and sharing the Good News with people on the street and a man comes up and only understands German.

Suddenly, Jed sits up and starts spouting off in the native German tongue – and Jed has NEVER spoken or learned German before.

The German would understand what Jed said (so he would interpret the words Jed spoke) and God would be glorified when it is revealed that a miracle has occurred – because Jed does not speak German.

This is what is happening here in Acts chapter two.

And it brings us to the final point today about spiritual gifts and speaking in tongues (Xenolalia) or any other Spiritual gift expressed today.

The Holy Spirit was in total charge of the expression of this gift. Did you notice this?

I have some friends who will say, I can speak in tongues and they will go off to the races with gibberish babble talk.

This is not biblically consistent. I’ll just say it – it’s a farce.

God’s gifts of the Spirit are purposeful, reasonable, and are in the control of the Holy Spirit that brings them.

Go with me back to our example of the four Greek terms that address the work of the Holy Spirit among us.

First there was the Para (the Holy Spirit around us)

Then there was the Epi (the Holy Spirit upon us)

Then there was the En (the Holy Spirit IN us) and finally there is the Pletho – do you remember what that is?

The overflowing. This is what we are experiencing when we either pray in tongues (glossolalia) or speak in tongues a real language we’ve never known (Xenolalia).

It is the overflowing of the Holy Spirit out from the person and onto others.

The Pletho of the Holy Spirit continues today but we have to be mindful of what is needful, what is reasonable, what is going to help build the Kingdom when the Holy Spirit works and include these parameters when we are observing the overflowing of the Holy Spirit from a believers.

We certainly will see it in the overflowing of preaching and teaching. We will see it in other areas as well but I would guess that the greatest way the Holy Spirit overflows out of beleivers today and into the lives of others is through unconditional, longsuffering, patient love – the true fruit of the Spirit.

We’ll stop here.

Questions / Comments