Receiving New Power

KEY VERSE: “Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’.” —Acts 2:38, New International Version

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Acts 2:1-4, 14, 29-33, 37-39, 44, 45

BEFORE JESUS LEFT his disciples on the fortieth day of his resurrection he had instructed them to wait in Jerusalem for a gift from God. (Acts 1:4) They waited obediently, and when the fiftieth day—Pentecost—came, the ransom merit of Christ was made available to them. Jesus presented the merit of his sacrifice on their behalf before God (Heb. 9:24), and divine justice had accepted it. It was fitting that such an important event should be well marked. And it was—by three distinct signs. First, the sound of a mighty rushing wind was heard. God’s great invisible power of the Holy Spirit was now made available as a gift to the disciples.—Acts 2:1,2

The second sign was that of tongues of fire, which came to rest over the heads of the apostles. (vs. 3) This indicated that the apostles were to be God’s chosen mouthpieces in the witnessing work that was about to start.

The third sign was that the apostles began to speak the languages of the home countries of many who had come to Jerusalem to observe the Passover. (vss. 4-12) “Devout men [Jews], out of every nation under heaven” were “dwelling at Jerusalem.” Every nation in the civilized world had a representative in Jerusalem. These did not hear gibberish, or incomprehensible sounds. Rather, they heard in the language of their own countries, “the wonderful works of God.” (vs. 11) This third sign indicated that the language barrier between disciples had been removed by God. Now they could all learn to speak God’s language of righteousness.

Nations represented on that day are listed in Acts 2:9-11. Some, because they could not understand languages other than their own, accused the apostles of being “full of new wine.” (vs. 13) This led Peter to speak for the other apostles by delivering a powerful discourse, in which he explained the prophecies of Joel 2:28,29; Psalm 16; and Psalm 110:1.

Peter’s discourse was so compelling that those who heard him were “pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37) Peter replied, in the words of our Key Verse. The Lord called three thousand on that day. These were immersed into the body of Christ, and were added to the one hundred and twenty disciples who faithfully had waited for this event to occur.

The Holy Spirit was received by these brethren so that they all could understand the meaning of the Old Testament Scriptures. Since many of them had come from distant lands to worship at Jerusalem, they were reluctant to leave inasmuch as the apostles were teaching new insights into God’s plan. So “they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrines and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”—vs. 42

Life was not easy for the new brethren; there was great persecution by the Jews. But they survived by pooling their resources. “All that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.” (vss. 44,45) And “the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”—vs. 47

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