We can never understand how this happened until we grasp the great truth at the heart of the Pentecost story. They did what they did because they were what they were; and what they were was people who had been filled by the Holy Spirit. Far from being people who were trying desperately to do the right thing for God, they were ordinary folk in whose lives God had come to dwell, and through whom He was fulfilling His mission to save the world.

We’re not quite sure how many people were present. It may have been just the twelve or it may have been ‘about a hundred and twenty’ (Acts 1:15) but we do know that they were all together. They were united as they waited for the fulfilment of the promise Jesus had made. That was one of the keys that opened a door through which God was able to work. We must never underestimate the potential which is released when believers share a common vision and desire, nor the way disunity stays the hand of God.

Many Christians find the phenomena which accompanied the outpouring of the Spirit confusing. One gets the impression that Luke himself is struggling for words which will adequately describe the event. He makes it clear that it was not a wind they heard, but it sounded like it. They did not see ordinary fire resting on one another, but it ‘seemed like’ it. What happened could not be adequately described in purely material ways.

Of course all these people were Jews and steeped in Old Testament story and promise. One wonders what the sound like a wind evoked in their spiritual memory. Did they think of Ezekiel’s vision of a valley full of dry bones (Ezek 37) where the wind brought life to the dead? Did they remember Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus? Did the presence of what appeared to be fire remind them of Moses and the burning bush? Or perhaps Elijah, knowing God answered prayer through fire on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:38)? One cannot tell, but there is little doubt that both wind and fire were powerful symbols for the presence of God in the spiritual memory of their nation.

Luke, as he records the story, wants us to understand that these people were meeting with God. Everything which follows in the Acts of the Apostles depends on this. This was not a committee meeting where people decided to adopt a new strategy for mission. It was a gathering of believers, maybe confused and frightened, but convinced that God would fulfil His promise and longing for the ‘power from on high’ (Luke 24:49) which Jesus had promised.

This poses some very serious questions for the church today. It is all too easy for the church to degenerate into an organisation doing good things, but never knowing the dynamic encounter with God. Even in worship we may find ourselves going through the motions, hoping that God will turn up. Our primary calling as preachers and worship leaders is to enable people to encounter Him. We must not be surprised if the world does not beat a path to the door of the church if all we do in worship is share in some esoteric activity which they do not understand. But if what happens when we gather for worship gives people an awareness of the world of the Spirit, imparts a sense of transcendence, enables them to really encounter God and know His direction and power in their lives, we ought not to be surprised if our congregations grow. We are meeting the deepest longing of every human heart, the longing to touch eternity.

Many Christians remain confused about the ‘tongues’ mentioned here and elsewhere in the New Testament. Some claim to have received the gift today, whilst others find it alarming and beyond their experience. What we sometimes fail to notice is the difference between the way the gift is manifest here in Acts 2, and elsewhere, say in 1Corinthians 12 and14. In the Corinthian passages the gift is used primarily for either devotion or edification. Here it is used for mission and evangelism. The whole point of the Acts 2 instance is that those who had gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost heard the good news of Jesus in their own native language. The disciples had not learned these languages. God had enabled them to communicate the gospel in a language which the hearers could identify and understand.

It’s a shame if we get so lost in debates about the gift of tongues that we loose this central point. God enabled His people to speak in a way which others could understand and to communicate a message which they could grasp. We all need that every time we stand to preach.

It was the fact that a whole variety of different nationalities heard the gospel in their own native languages which created a stir and aroused their curiosity. ‘What does this mean?’ they asked. They were witnessing something which could not easily be explained and their curiosity drew them. We ought to ponder that for a moment because the same thing is still happening. It may not be tongues, but in countless places throughout the world the followers of Jesus are living in a way which is so contrary to the world’s way of living that it defies natural explanation. Sometimes it is in selfless service to others over many years without any apparent reward. Sometimes it is in forgiveness offered by those who have been deeply hurt to the one who has hurt them. Sometimes it is in an individual’s life which has been changed dramatically by the grace of God. In the moments when the world searches for an adequate explanation but is unable to find it we ought to be ready to point people to the One who makes people whole again and is able to transform every human life that yields to Him.

On the Feast of Pentecost, Peter is not going to miss this God-given opportunity. He stands and preaches the gospel. In our study of the New Testament this is of crucial importance because it is the first occasion when we hear the essential Christian message being presented to unbelievers. To compare the content of Peter’s sermon here with other records of New Testament preaching is a very worthwhile exercise. It reveals a surprising uniformity in the core message of all New Testament preaching. Here we have the ‘core’ gospel message which needs to fashion and shape all our preaching if we are to be gospel preachers in the truest sense of that word.

For one thing it concerns God’s sovereign control of history. That’s why he quotes the prophet Joel. What they had witnessed was the fulfilment of what God had promised. Somehow, in ways which were only just becoming clear, God had been in control all along. Human history, often seen as the product of blind chance or dynamic forces by some, is really, at a far deeper level, about God unfolding His loving, saving purposes. Maybe Peter’s insight is helpful as we consider the history of our own lives or the lives of the churches to which we belong. To trust in a Sovereign Lord is to deal with much of the anxiety we face day by day.
Peter’s message concentrates on Jesus. Here again God is in control. He was at work in Jesus’ life (verse 22), His passion and death (verse 23) and God raised Him from the dead (verse 24). The works of Jesus indicate who He really was. He died on a cross. He was raised from death in victory. He reigns over all things. He has poured out his Spirit, and this is the explanation of what the crowds are hearing and seeing.
Just as important as the content of Peter’s sermon is the understanding of all New Testament preaching which it reveals. Peter does not begin with the needs of the crowd and tell them that if they come to Jesus all their needs will be met. Rather he begins with what God has done in Christ and presents these great truths in such a way that the crowd are left wondering ‘Well, if this is what God has done, what ought I to do?’

That reaction ought not to surprise us, but it does, especially when we remember that when people crucified Jesus they thought that they were serving God’s purposes. Now their reaction is different. As Peter hammers the point home in verse 36 ‘God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.’ They were challenged at the deepest level of their being and asked ‘What shall we do?’

What brought about the change in these people? It was the Holy Spirit. Jesus had promised that the Holy Spirit would convince the world of sin, righteousness and judgement. No sooner had the Holy Spirit been poured out at Pentecost than we see it happening. The very people who had thought that they were serving God by crucifying Jesus were now gripped by the conviction of sin. The Holy Spirit was at work in the lives of both preacher and hearers.

If we are to follow the pattern of New Testament preaching we need to keep Jesus central. If we present the gospel as the answer to all people’s ills we ought not to be surprised if we finish up with self-centred Christians. But if, on the other hand, we begin by affirming that God has spoken and acted decisively, once and for all, in Jesus we are more likely to be left with hearers who, like those in Acts 2, ask, ‘What shall we do? What is our fitting response to what God has already done?’

Peter was not left fumbling for an answer. It concerns a turning from the past in repentance, a public witness in baptism and the promise that they too will receive the Spirit. Once again a pattern is emerging. Turning to Christ from all that the past has been, public witness and the gift of the Holy Spirit belong together. They lie at the heart of the gospel. If we or those whom we seek to serve lack the Spirit’s power, maybe we ought to ask whether God is calling us back to this. For, like those to whom Peter preached, we can be assured that the promise is to us, to our children and to those as yet far away. In fact it is to everyone whom God calls. What happened to them can happen to us, too, and to those to whom we preach. What a privilege to offer so great a salvation!

Rev Paul Smith is Superintendent of the Plymouth Circuit