The Initial Baptism with the Holy Ghost
The second chapter of Acts records the initial baptism with the Holy Spirit upon the 120 who were gathered in the upper room. The description in Acts 2:1-3 was different than any other baptism in the Holy Spirit that has been recorded since. When the baptism occurred, there was a sound like a might rushing wind that filled the house. Where I live, I am very acquainted with the sound of rushing wind. It's rarely calm, but the winters have sustained blasts of wind and higher gusts that we have to deal with. Those who live in tornado alley in the United States or who have dealt with hurricanes can also relate directly to the sound. It gets people's attention, and was very likely the impetus for the crowd of people to gather outside. They wanted to know what that sound was.
After or along with the sound of the wind cloven tongues like burning fire appeared upon each believer. I stress these two points to make it clear that when this happened, there was no doubt in the gathered disciples that whatever it was Jesus had referred to about the baptism in the Holy Ghost was happening right then. The timing was right, and the supernatural was definitely at work.
The Gift of Tongues in Use
Acts 2:4-12 records what happened next. Many or perhaps all of the 120 began to speak in other tongues as the Holy Spirit gave them the words to say. People had come from all around the known Jewish world for the Passover celebration, and most stayed until the feast of Pentecost, 50 days later. They represented many nationalities, and had many native tongues that they would have used, although they all spoke Hebrew, and perhaps a smattering of Greek and Latin as well.
When they heard the sound of the wind, they sought out its source. It's unclear whether or not they would have been able to see the tongues of fire, although my guess would be no since none of them mentioned it. But what they did hear was these 120 disciples telling the wonderful works of God in their own native tongue. This amazed them because they understood that the people who were speaking were all from Galilee and the probability that the 120 would have picked up their native tongues and done so with the ability to speak the works of God just like a native speaker was essentially 0.
They were confounded and amazed. The thing is, God knows all the languages of this earth, and probably a host of languages of other planets as well. He is perfectly capable, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to place the correct words in our mind to speak to communicate with a foreigner and to translate their response to us to our own language. That's what the gift of tongues and interpretation is all about. It did get everyone's attention, but the reason it is a gift is to witness to people you otherwise couldn't communicate with.
I'll be interested to get to heaven and hear exact details about what transpired here. My denomination (Assemblies of God) uses this passage as a primary reason for saying speaking in tongues is a first sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The thing is, the sign here was a rushing mighty wind and cloven tongues of fire. It wasn't speaking a heavenly prayer language which indeed nobody on earth can translate. It was instead the gift of tongues, and it was doing what it was meant to do in spreading the gospel to people who needed to hear. The Bible doesn't record if the conversations ended up being two way with the gift of interpretation being used as well. But it is clear that the gift of tongues was in dramatic use. Since all the foreigners understood them, it couldn't have been a heavenly prayer language.
I don't dispute that the speaking of a heavenly prayer language is a good indication of the baptism of the Spirit. But I'd be equally convinced by the operation of any of the gifts of the Spirit (prophecy, tongues, interpretation, healing, miracles, wisdom, knowledge, faith, or discerning of spirits [1 Corinthians 12:7-11]). Likewise, a dramatic change in a person's personality due to the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance [Galatians 5:22-23]) can be a good indicator, especially when they turn away from the poor attributes of the flesh.
I will also stipulate that Satan can mimic, for his own purposes, many things that we would call miracles. Think of Pharaoh's magicians for example. In the last days it is said that the antichrist will try to deceive everyone with his own miracles. That's where the discerning of spirits is a useful gift to seek.
Regardless, it made the assembled people curious and they wanted to know more. God's purpose had been achieved. Their hearts were tuned to something miraculous going on that could only have come from God in their minds.
Satan's Attack and Peter's Rebuttal
In Acts 2:13-15 we see that, as always, Satan is hard at work trying to tear down anything that God is doing. He could see that the gift of tongues was going to be a huge problem in his fight against God because God was effectively eliminating the divisions of language between people that He had imposed at the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:9. Satan had probably made good use of that for many centuries to keep the Jewish people isolated from the rest of the world. He'd been fighting a losing battle all along as each world empire that came along provided an individual unifying language over wide groups of people. In this time, it was the Latin language of Rome. But now, God introduced a new gift that let even unlearned men speak fluently in a language they had never known.
His advantages were being used up. So Satan did what he always does. He tried to discredit the newly forming church before it even had a chance to get started by claiming that these newly baptized believers were drunkards and could be safely ignored or mocked.
I've always wondered at Peter's response. In our culture, as we read this verse saying it isn't possible for these people to be drunk as it is early in the day, we might immediately think -- now if it was late in the day, that might be true, but really it's very early so they couldn't be smashed yet. That's a sad statement on certain portions of our society today.
There are a few possible reasons why Peter may have said what he did. First, that could have been a reality. There could have been some early Christians who had been so dispirited by the death of Christ and who might have been given to drunkenness who were inebriated early in the day. Their reputation might have been well known to this group of people in the street.
We must remember that people are always watching us and that getting drunk is never wise. We also must acknowledge that although Christ is perfectly capable of setting someone free from an addiction, the person has to want to make that change for it to have a chance at success. If they don't want to change or they haven't been convicted of the problems of alcohol, they can paint a poor picture of Christians. Hard times are frequently triggers for all sorts of addictions to rise back to the surface. If you're going through a hard time, pray. If you haven't been filled with the Holy Spirit, seek the baptism. Both will help you as you fight your addictions.
Secondly, it is possible that God gave Peter a word of wisdom, another gift of the Holy Spirit, that Satan was trying to discredit their ministry and Peter was told how to make the words being said against them of no effect. If this was the case, then the effect was to redirect the people back to what they had experienced -- the perfectly translated praises in their native tongues -- that no drunk would ever be able to pull off even if they tried.
I'm not given to getting drunk, but I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't be speaking fluently in another language if I was drunk, even if it was a language that I had learned in the past. There was a utility worker working to prepare for a fiber roll out and I needed to tell him where to route the fiber. The problem was that he claimed to speak no English, just Spanish. So I had to pull out high school Spanish that I haven't had much occasion to use for decades. While we were able to communicate enough to get the information passed, it was clear to that man that I wasn't a native speaker. Remember that these foreigners in the street around the upper room were hearing their language at a quality level where they were amazed, so it was obviously correct in diction, inflection, grammar, and content. No drunk person is going to pull that off in their native language, much less a second or third language.
The third possibility was that Peter received a gift of knowledge, another gift of the Holy Spirit, to be used specifically against the group of people that were calling them drunks. It is completely possible that they were inclined to drink to excess as the day went on, and God was calling them out saying that these people aren't like you. That would have also been likely to immediately prick their hearts and make them stop calling the newly baptized believers drunks as they pondered how Peter knew that about them. It also might have made them pay better attention to the sermon that Peter was about to give.
Whatever you choose to believe about this passage, know that if you are trying to make a difference for Christ and the Holy Spirit is using you, Satan is going to try to tear down everything you are doing. He's going to try to discredit you. He's going to paint you as the worst of the people around you. If you're trying to make a difference for Christ without the Holy Spirit, God may choose to give you direction just as He did in the Old Testament, when the Holy Spirit came on particular individuals for a season. But you will be far better prepared to respond to an attack of Satan if you are baptized in the Holy Spirit and working in the gifts of the Spirit as you go about your ministry.
Peter's Sermon
Peter is led by the Holy Spirit in what to preach to the multitude in Acts 2:14-36. It's a pretty long speech, I'll grant, but it did its job. Before getting into the text of the speech I'd like to talk a bit about what was probably common in the crowd.
You'd expect that in the normal lull between Passover and Pentecost, most conversations would be about family and friends, and catching up. There would probably be some political grumbling about the occupation and taxes. Some would be talking about business. And I suspect that in the past few years, there had been increasing questions about the expected coming Messiah and perhaps discussions about Jesus in the last three years wondering if He was the one.
But this year, I suspect the conversations were much more about Jesus than usual. This at least prophet in the Jewish eyes had just spent three years healing and doing miracles, teaching concepts that blew people away, and escaping out of the hands of the Pharisees and Sadducees at every turn.
Yet, at this moment in history it had just been a few weeks since He was crucified. When He was crucified, there was a great earthquake. The temple veil between the Holy of Holies and the rest of the temple was rent from top to bottom. Christ had been resurrected from the tomb and had been seen by many. Other Old Testament saints had evidently also been resurrected and were seen around Jerusalem. You can be sure that the conversations going on weren't just limited to the same old things. Exciting stuff was happening.
Peter started, as mentioned above, defending the disciples and telling the crowd they hadn't been drinking. Then he goes on to inform the gathered people that what they were experiencing was what was prophesied in Joel 2:28. He goes on to quote some more of that passage, although that is primarily a prophesy that is yet to be fulfilled.
After clearing up any confusion that Satan was trying to spread about the gift of tongues, he goes into a history lesson, reminding the people of all the miracles, wonders, and signs that God did through Jesus when He was with the Jewish people. He then says that after this, he was delivered up to be tried under false charges with false witnesses and crucified. God then resurrected Him as He was destined to conquer death.
He goes on to speak of other passages in the Old Testament concerning David, and how David's body was dead and buried in a sepulchre that everyone then knew the location of, but that Jesus was no longer in his burial tomb, but was exalted on the right hand of God. Jesus had sent forth the Holy Spirit to satisfy the promises God made in Joel. He is now Lord and Christ.
I'm not sure what Peter would have said if he hadn't been baptized in the Holy Spirit. I'll bet it wouldn't have been as good a sermon. I would even go so far as to say it would be entirely possible that Peter would have still been hiding in the upper room without the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
It seems from the wording of the text that perhaps some of the leaders who were directly responsible for taking Jesus and trying him were among the multitude. At the very least, a great many who had just a few weeks ago been crying out to crucify Jesus and give them Barabbas were present. They had seen all the things that happened after that as I mentioned before, and their hearts probably weren't in the same place, but Peter probably wouldn't have known that. Considering how he lied and cowered when accused of being a follower, I suspect he wouldn't have been preaching at all. What a difference the baptism in the Holy Spirit makes.
The Effect
In Acts 2:37-41, we read the results of Peter's sermon. The Holy Spirit had prepared many hearts to hear the sermon. The contents pricked their hearts and showed them their guilt and sin. Peter asked the rhetorical question about what should be done about their circumstances, and then immediately follows with the answer. Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and his promise was that the baptism of the Holy Spirit would follow.
Verse thirty-nine is very important. The promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit wasn't going to just be limited to those few people in the upper room. The Holy Spirit was meant to be poured out on all Christians through the remainder of time. A few denominations flat out refuse to accept the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They think that it was either limited to the early church era or that there is just a general presence of the Holy Spirit that you receive when saved and nothing more.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is still a gift from God. And God still gives it for exactly the same reasons. He wants His church to be a church of power, and specifically His power under His control. And He knows that the Holy Spirit will help people to be more effective witnesses, both by the gifts and the fruit, and simply helping people to remember scripture and knowing what to say when needed.
Remember, when thinking of the gifts of the Spirit, that Jesus' prayers were always answered, and all of the things that He did were done via the gifts of the Spirit just like it is when He works through us. But Jesus was 100% successful and had His prayers answered because He was 100% in tune with God. He did what He saw the Father doing. We need to have that same focus on what God wants and then let the Spirit do His work through us. The fruit of the Spirit is always good to have in abundance.
While this portion of Peter's sermon is provided, Luke goes on to say that Peter spoke a lot longer both testifying and exhorting the listeners, and encouraging them to save themselves from the adherents to Judaism.
The Christian Church Begins
Acts 2:41-47 says that around 3,000 people were saved due to that sermon. I don't know what sort of a percentage of the people present that was, but I'd have to think it was a pretty high percentage. The new adherents were baptized and they continued learning and stayed in contact with each other long past the feast of Pentecost, eating and praying together.
The apostles works were not limited to just the voice gifts and possibly words of knowledge and wisdom. They also did many wonders and signs that put the fear of God on everyone who was even remotely connected with that 3,000 people who gave their lives to Christ.
They continued with daily interaction, sold goods and possessions as needed to help pay for staying in Jerusalem much longer than anticipated. Day in and day out, they freely associated, praised God, had favour with those around them, and watched the church grow and grow.
When you read this chapter, remember that Jesus said that we would end up doing greater things than He had done on earth. That in no means implies that we are greater than Jesus, even when He was on the earth and certainly not since He has taken back on his divinity.
But God did expect that as time went on, and as God kept on working through gifts of the Spirit that greater things would be accomplished for the kingdom of God. The multiplication of the disciples allowed more things to happen in more places at once, all giving the glory to God and the name of Jesus.
Right after the crucifixion of Christ, the core believers were probably down to less than a score in the private room. In just a few weeks post resurrection, the number had swelled to 120 - possibly a six to ten times increase. After the pouring out of the Spirit, the numbers went up by another 25 to 26 times. The growth was explosive.
There is no reason that we can't see numbers like that today. Christian churches need to band together in each city to pray for God's will and then to work together to implement His will. Then, those who aren't baptized in the Holy Spirit need to seek the baptism. With a host of Spirit filled believers in every city, you can be sure that great things will be done to lift up the name of Christ. We only need to ensure that we give God the glory. We haven't done anything under our own power. It's all God.