Acts 2:1 "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place."
Jesus appeared to them on the fortieth day, and told them to wait in Jerusalem.
Pentecost is simply the word in the Greek meaning "
fifty". So this is what happened ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, and the two angels appeared to them. Pentecost or fifty, is the numerical value given in biblical numerics for first fruits.
So we would call Pentecost the grace of the firstfruits.
The first fruits are God's election, and in this final generation it will be those firstfruits that this event shall come upon. The speaking of the Holy Spirit, in the manner that we will see that it happened in
Acts 2, shall not happen until the final generation, our generation, and we shall document it in this chapter. There will be examples of it, as we saw the the Holy Spirit was even with David.
Acts 2:2 "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting."
This mighty rushing wind was the Spirit of God, the "Pneuma" in the Greek. Strong's Greek dictionary records the # 4151. There was no wondering and guessing whether the Spirit of God was there, it filled the house, and all of the hundred and fifty that were in that house.
It is written in
Revelation 7:1, "
And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor the sea, nor any tree."
The four winds of the earth are concentrated on that one spot, and Holy Spirit of the God approached, and now we will see what it will do.
It is important that you know what happened on Pentecost day, and what the Holy Spirit said to the apostles, and to those those that were with them. You hear many different ideas of what the sound of the Holy Spirit is like, and it could become confusing; and that is why it is important that we take our information direct from the Word. Much is made of how the Holy Spirit spoke, but there is not much about what was said. This is the most important part.
Acts 2:3 "And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them."
"
Cloven" in the Strong's Greek dictionary, # 1266, "
Diamerizo, to partition thoroughly (lit. in distribution), cloven, divide, part." Cloven is going out in every direction, just like a uncontrolled fire that consumes everything in it's path. We are told in
Hebrews 12:29 that;
"For our God is a consuming fire." God's spirit and glory is this fire of His Holy Spirit.
Think a moment; God has no lost motion. Everything that is written by His scribes, the prophets and apostles have a very special meaning. What was given by the Holy Spirit was distributed in every direction, or language?
Acts 2:4 "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."
What those apostles spoke was not from their mind, but from what the Spirit gave them utterance. What we are to see in this chapter is not to talk down on anyone's beliefs or intelligence, we are studying to understand what is written in God's holy Word. Friend, it is not important what men might think, but what is important is what God's Word actually states. That is the only thing that we will give value to in this study, for it is important what God has stated in His Word. What God states shall come to pass. We are not out to mock, but to correct any misunderstandings that one might have about "
tongues".
The word
"tongues" simply means "l
anguages". In Strong's Greek dictionary # 1100 the word; "Glossa,
gloce-sah', by impl. a language (spec. one naturally unacquired): - tongue."
It stated here that the Holy Spirit fell upon the apostles and all of the people that were present with them. Then who actually spoke? They didn't. The Holy Spirit spoke through all of them. It was the Holy Spirit that formed the words and made those words to be distributed in every direction. There are some people that will tell you that if you do not speak in these tongues, you are not even saved. Friend, you can speak in whatever noise you desire to make, and call it from the Holy Spirit, but as long as utterance is formed in your mind by you, and you are the doing it, the Holy Spirit is not connected with it.
It is the Holy Spirit that gives the utterance. "
Utterance" in the Greek as defined by Strong's Greek dictionary # 669 is;
"Apophtheggomai,
ap-of-theng'-om-ahee, to enunciate plainly, i.e. declare; say, speak forth."
It is very sad, but it is done because of peer pressure, and when a person is in the middle of a congregation, and all those around this soul will help them along a little bit. They try to help him demonstrate his ability to speak in their so-called tongues. This is done by the chanting "hallelujah, hallelujah,.."over and over, either in word or song. This is not the Holy Spirit that is speaking after such pressure, but they are instructing the individual to speak.
Chants are very unbiblical. It is called repetition prayer, something that is done over and over, and pretty soon the flesh takes over, and this becomes the flesh speaking. Satan and the flesh really likes to get into the act of Christian's prayers. Jesus instructs how to pray in
Matthew 6:6,7:
Matthew 6:6 "
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father Which is in secret; and thy Father Which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
Matthew 6:7 "
But when ye pray, use not vain repetions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
For those that do not know what the word "
Hallelujah" means, or what language it is in; "
Hallelujah" is a Greek form [Alleluia] of a Hebrew Word, and it means "
Praise (ye) the Jah". "Jah" comes from the name of the Father "
YHVH". When you are using the word Hallelujah, you are using the sacred name "
YHVH", so when you are saying the name Jah, or "
YHVH" over and over in a chant, you playing with the Father's sacred name. God is not the author of confusion, or any confusion that may come out of man's traditions.
So what did they say, and what was this cloven tongue? Be careful and let God's Word speak.
Acts 2:5 "And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven."
There were people in Jerusalem, Jews that came from all the languages of the world. from the oriential, to the Greek, from the Hebrew to the tongues of Africa. The people that were about to hear what was spoken by these apostles and those that were with them that were fill with the Holy Spirit, were all devout men from every nation on the face of this earth.
Acts 2:6 "Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language."
This was on the feast day, Pentecost, and when all the people came together to hear what these people were saying that were filled with the Holy Spirit, they were stunned, [
sunchuno, in the Greek]. They were shocked, but what shocked them? This is the reason they were shocked and stunned. "
Because that every man heard them speak in his own language."
There was no turkey calling nor confusion that needed translation from the mind of a man. There was no interpretation needed because every man heard them speak in the tongue or language that they spoke back home. They knew who these people were that were speaking in tongues, that they were Galilaeans, but how could they speak and everyone understand at the same time what was spoken? Friend, that is how the Holy Spirit of God shall speak in our generation. There will be no confusion, nor need of any interpreter. This is the evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit, it is not the spirit of some man's making.
What ever language that ear hears with in its home neighborhood, that is exactly how the Holy Spirit of God will sound to them when it comes from God's Spirit. If you are Mexican, then you would hear in the Spanish tongue, with all the dialect words of your neighborhood. The Holy Spirit unctions, and speaks in all the languages of the world, and man can not copy that.
If you hear one speaking in such a manner, where all those listening can hear and understand in a clear manner, then you are witnessing the evidence of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, if you are witnessing something that sounds like a strange turkey call, and nobody around understand any part of what is said, then you are witnessing confusion. Confusion is not of God, but of Satan. These are the words from the Living Word, Jesus Christ. I would rather hear something that I understood directly, then something that needed interpretation from man traditions.
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