The Purpose of Pentecost

Tony Cooke

Pentecost—that wonderful day recorded in the

second chapter of Acts—is associated with various ideas in the minds of different people.
Some will say it is about a personal experience with the Holy Spirit, some will identify it
with joy and spiritual elation, others will describe it as an infilling of God’s presence. Yet
others will talk about empowerment, and others will be mindful of the “speaking in
tongues” that took place on that day. Every one of these is a valid association, but there
is a profound purpose, a primary purpose I believe, that is not really captured in any of
those words or phrases.

If a Spirit-filled believer can only quote one verse from that wonderful chapter, it is
probably verse four, which reads: “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began
to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” As wonderful as that
passage is, is what is described in that verse really the main purpose of Pentecost? We
could also ask, “Was their speaking in tongues—in this particular situation—an end in
itself, or was it a means to an end? I believe we have strong scriptural indication that
their speaking in tongues was a means to an end, and not an end in itself. If we continue
reading, I think we begin to see the “end,” or what we might call the purpose of
Pentecost.

At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they
heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own
languages being spoken by the believers. They were completely amazed. “How can this be?”
they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own
native languages! Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia,
Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the
areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism),
Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the
wonderful things God has done!” (Acts 2:5-11, NLT).
Certainly something very supernatural occurred and those who had been filled with the
Holy Spirit spoke in other tongues. What I think we’ve sometimes missed, however, is
that this was not something being done for the benefit or the “spiritual exhilaration” of
those doing the speaking, but for the benefit of those who were hearing! Three times we
read, and this is certainly Luke’s emphasis, that these unreached people were being
reached because the gospel message was being presented in their own language.
There is another dimension of tongues that Paul referred to in 1 Corinthians 14—an
expression that is for the benefit of the private individidual. Consider these thoughts
about the private or personal dimension of tongues:

 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in
the spirit he speaks mysteries (14:2).
 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself (14:4).
 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the conclusion then? I
will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also
sing with the understanding (14:14-15).
 I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all; yet in the church I would rather speak five words
with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue (14:18-19).

What happened on the day of Pentecost was from the same Holy Spirit, but it was
different than what Paul referred to in those verses in 1 Corinthians 14. What happened
on Pentecost was a supernatural, spontaneous, instantaneous, hyper-condensed,
industrial strength version—a microcosm, if you will—of God’s master plan that was to
be carried out all throughout the church age. What is that master plan? Jesus had just
laid it out to the disciples before His ascension: “But you shall receive power when the
Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all
Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8, NKJV). Jesus had also told
His followers to “make disciples of all the nations” (Matt 28:19, NKJV), but we find out
that heaven will be comprised of people from “every tribe and language and people and
nation” (Rev 5:9, NLT). This was the purpose of Pentecost! Yes, believers were endued
with power from on high and were supernaturally equipped for ministry (Luke 24:49;
Acts 1:8). But that purpose of Pentecost was to launch a movement of world-wide
missions that would endure throughout the entire age of the church!

In Acts 2 in Jerusalem, the disciples didn’t go to the world, but in a sense, the world
came to them—at least Jews who had scattered from the nations had come back home
to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. Do you remember the list Luke gave (Acts 2:9-
11) that includes Parthians, Medes, Elamites, etc.? Here’s what the Holman New
Testament Commentary says regarding those various people groups:

Luke’s list of fifteen geographical locations was a group of nations or areas in which
known Jewish populations existed and would likely have sent representative groups to
the Feast of Pentecost. Everyone there who spoke a language other than Greek or
Aramaic heard the message of the Christians in that language—maybe fifteen languages,
maybe fifty, maybe more. The languages differed; the message remained the same: the
wonders of God.

The IVP New Testament Commentary says of this same passage:

This multilingual witness coheres with the universal offer of salvation in the church’s
message and its consequent worldwide mission. It also highlights the church’s
multicultural character. God affirms people as cultural beings. As many a Bible translator
knows, our native language and culture is natural, necessary and welcome to us as the
air we breathe. No wonder that when persons receive a Scripture portion in their own
language, they rejoice: “God speaks my language!”

In 1917, was William Cameron Townsend was passing out Spanish Bibles and speaking
about God in a Guatemalan village. A Cakchiquel Indian (they had their own dialect)
came up to Townsend and said, “If your God is so smart, why doesn’t he speak
Cakchiquel?” It is said that was a life-defining moment for Townsend. Townsend decided
to do something about that, and he started a linguistics school (known today as SIL)
that trained people to do Bible translation. The work continued to grow, and in 1942
Cameron officially founded Wycliffe Bible Translators. On their website, they say of their
work, “Today, up to 1,800 languages are still waiting for a Bible translation to begin, and
Wycliffe is working faster than ever to reach those languages as soon as possible.”

When you stop and consider the work of the Holy Spirit—and that’s what Pentecost is all
about—there are three direct dimensions:
 First, the Holy Spirit does an INWARD work in us. He is the One who administers justification,
regeneration, and the new birth in our lives. He is the One who cleanses us within, who comforts us, and
bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

 Second, the Holy Spirit does an UPWARD work in us. Jesus says of the Holy Spirit, “He will glorify Me,
for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you” (John 16:14). The Holy Spirit is ever pointing us
heavenward, to glorify Jesus and the Father.

 Third, the Holy Spirit does an OUTWARD work in us. The empowerment that took place on the day of
Pentecost resulted in a powerful gospel witness and 3,000 people from a variety of background were
radically saved!

As you may know, I’m currently working on a Master’s Degree in Church History, and
one of my textbooks (not Pentecostal, per se, in its orientation) states:

One of the most momentous developments in the recent history of Christianity must
certainly be the emergence of Pentecostalism as a dynamic force around the world. In
1900 there were, at most, a bare handful of Christians who were experiencing special
gifts of the Holy Spirit similar to those recorded in the New Testament. By the year
2010, as many as 600 million (or more than a quarter of the worldwide population of
Christian adherents) could be identified as Pentecostal or Charismatic.

Pentecostal and charismatic currents have been central in the rapid expansion of
Christianity outside the West, with most of the rapidly growing churches in Brazil,
Nigeria, Korea, Russia, China, and many other nations. In these situations, Pentecostal
and charismatic forms of Christian faith flourish by directly confronting pagan gods and
animistic spirits as well as by imparting the direct immediacy of God’s presence.

Should recent trends continue with Pentecostal and charismatic forces continuing to
expand, especially in the Majority World, events around 1900 that precipitated
identifiable Christian movements defined by belief in the special work of the Holy Spirit
will continue to loom as one of the most decisive turning points in the recent history of
Christianity.[i]
Our response to this should not be to pat ourselves on the back and to be self-
congratulatory, but to be amazed at what God has done and continues to do, and to
pledge ourselves afresh and anew to taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the
world. That is the purpose of Pentecost.

It may come as surprise to some Christians that the main purpose of the Day of
Pentecost was not to make speaking in tongues available to believers. The
experience was certainly part of the package, as is clearly seen in Acts chapter
2, but when Jesus taught his disciples about what was about to happen, only
once did he mention speaking in a “new tongue”(Mark 16:17) and that was on
the day of his Ascension. I speak in tongues, as do millions of Christians, and I
encourage others to do so. But this experience is not the “be all and end all” of
the Christian life.

et’s look again at what Jesus said about the coming Day of Pentecost
and see if he reveals its purpose. “For John baptized with water, but you
will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:5
ESV). The word “baptized” means to be covered wholly with a fluid, to be
totally immersed in the subject, here with John it is water, and with spirit
“not many days from now.” In Luke’s gospel he speaks of being “clothed
with power from on high” (Luke 24:49 ESV), completely covered with
power. This is therefore stronger, more comprehensive than having the
spirit for just a period of time for a particular task, as in the Old
Testament. In John’s gospel we learn that “the Spirit of truth… dwells with
you and will be in you,” that is, within the believer (John 14:17).

“Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater
works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father” (John
14:12). It is difficult to believe this means greater in quality but certainly
can mean greater in quantity. Instead of just a few people, thousands
times thousands would be doing the same works as Jesus did.

Acts 10:38 sums up the ministry of Jesus: “God anointed Jesus of

Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good
and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with
him.” And at Pentecost God anointed the believers with the same spirit
and power (Luke 24:49), so they could go about doing good and healing
the sick, for they know God is with them.

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with
you forever, even the Spirit of truth…” (John 14:16-17). “Another” here
means another of the same kind, not different but similar. KJV uses the
word “Comforter” and the Amplified Bible adds “Counselor, Helper,
Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby.” Is there an “Amen”
anywhere? Whatever Jesus was to his disciples, the spirit is to us. “But
the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he
will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have
said to you” (John 14:26). So we can add Teacher to the list!

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness
about me“ (John 15:26). So the spirit within will help us to know Jesus
more intimately — his attitudes, will, desires for our lives. The spirit helps
us to be what Annie Johnson Flint wrote: “Christ has no hands but our
hands to do His work today; He has no feet but our feet to lead men in
His way; He has no tongue but our tongues to tell men how He died; He
has no help but our help to bring them to His side.”

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he
will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak,
and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me,
for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has
is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to
you” (John 16:13-15). The spirit is again our teacher, guiding us into all
truth. In web terms, the spirit provides the answers to our questions like
a FAQ page does. The spirit is like a GPS device, showing us the road to
follow.
“But you will receive power when [not after] the Holy Spirit has come
upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea
and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The believers
started to fulfill this statement on the Day of Pentecost, when the
multitude of Jews from other nations heard “them telling in our own
tongues the mighty works of God” (Acts 2:11b). The Lord added 3,000
believers to the family of God in Acts chapter 2 and another 5,000 in Acts
chapter 4, and millions since.

There are more verses I haven’t quoted, but you have enough to see the
magnificence of God’s plan in sending the spirit on the Day of Pentecost
to all believers. Let us rejoice together on the Day of Pentecost for this
gift from our loving Father.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row]
[/fusion_builder_container]

When the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and the other believers on the Day of
Pentecost, those who heard them speaking in tongues were perplexed and asked,
“What does this mean?” (2:12). The question persists in our day. Many claim that the
meaning of Pentecost is that we should have the same experience as the disciples,
namely, that we are to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit and to speak in tongues.
You have probably had other Christians ask you, as I have, “Have you received the
baptism of the Holy Spirit?” If you have not spoken in tongues, they are eager to help
you have this experience for yourself. We all need to answer biblically, in light of the
context, What is the meaning of Pentecost?

Acts 2 must be interpreted in light of Acts 1:4-8, where the risen Lord Jesus instructed
the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit. Jesus
explained that they would “be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from
now” (1:5) and they would receive power to be Christ’s “witnesses both in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (1:8). Just
as the ministry of Jesus depended on the Holy Spirit descending on Him at His
baptism, so the ministry of the disciples depended on them receiving the Holy Spirit
and relying on His power. While they had experienced a measure of the Spirit’s
power before (John 20:22), now He would come to dwell in them permanently (John
7:37-39; 14:17).
Thus Acts 2 must be interpreted as a special historical event, signifying a new period
in God’s dealings with His people. Pentecost signals the dawning of the age of the
Holy Spirit. And the fulness of the Spirit in God’s people is to empower them for
witness to all the nations. Thus,
The meaning of Pentecost is God’s equipping His church with the power
of His Spirit so that He will be glorified among the nations.
The point of Pentecost is mission, and the goal of mission is that “the earth will be
filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab.
2:14). If we properly understand this great historic event, our hearts will be enflamed
with cause of seeing some from every tribe and tongue and nation bowing before the
exalted Lord Jesus Christ. Note four things:
1. God’s plan for being glorified among the nations was to form the church.

To understand this event, we must understand the Jewish Feast of Pentecost. It was
not by coincidence that God poured out His Spirit on the disciples on that day. There
were three great Jewish feasts each year: Passover (in the spring), celebrating Israel’s
deliverance from Egypt, followed immediately by the Feast of Unleavened Bread;
Pentecost, also called the Feast of Weeks, which occurred 50 days (seven weeks) after
Passover; and, Tabernacles (in the fall). Pentecost was an initial harvest feast, where
the Jews were to offer to the Lord the first fruits of the new grain. Among other
rituals, they were to wave before the Lord two loaves of wheat bread, made with
leaven (Lev. 23:15-21).
This picture came to fulfillment in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of
Pentecost. Until this time, the Lord’s people consisted of Israel, along with a few
Gentile proselytes. Not all in Israel were believers, but it was through that nation
exclusively that God worked through His covenant promises to form a people for
Himself. But now the Lord formed the body of Christ, the church, made up of Jews
and Gentiles on equal footing. Paul calls this inclusion of the Gentiles in the church a
mystery, meaning that it had not been formerly revealed (Eph. 3:4-7), although it was
typified in this Jewish feast with two loaves. That these two loaves were made up of
leavened bread pictures the fact that although we are redeemed in Christ, we are still
sinners who must learn to get along with those who, in the flesh, are very different
than we are.
You will recall that the Lord had told Peter that He would build His church and the
gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18). Thus the church, founded on
the apostolic confession and witness of Christ, is God’s means of taking the gospel to
the nations, resulting in His being glorified in all the earth.
We need to remember that our purpose as the Lord’s church is not to focus on
ourselves and our own happiness. Our purpose is to spread the knowledge of God to
all the nations, beginning here in our own “Jerusalem.” If we lose our outward focus,
with the overall purpose of God’s glory, we have lost our reason for existence.
2. The scope of God’s plan is all the nations.

As I studied this portion of Acts, I wondered at first why Luke goes through this long,
somewhat tedious list of nations (2:9-11). He starts east of Israel and ends up
encircling the land. While most of the men mentioned were Jews (a few were Gentile
proselytes), they are representative of the nations that the Lord wants to reach. The
key to the list is in verse 5, that it represents “men from every nation under heaven.”
They were devout men, meaning God-fearing, as is obvious from the fact that they
had made this pilgrimage to Jerusalem for this feast. But they did not yet know that
their Messiah had come and had been sacrificed. Peter will shortly explain all of that
in his sermon.

This list of the nations reminds us of the list of nations in Genesis 10, which led to the
building of the tower of Babel. God judged those proud men by confusing their
languages. Here, by His grace, God turned this confusion of tongues into a miracle of
miraculous speech, resulting in great blessing. The gift of speaking in tongues was a
special miracle to demonstrate God’s purpose in taking the gospel to all the nations.
It enabled the church to be launched in all of these places when these men returned
to their homes. But since then, missionaries (even Pentecostal missionaries!) must
struggle to learn the foreign languages in the places they go. Later in Acts (14:11-14),
even Paul and Barnabas did not understand the Lycaonian dialect. They could only
preach to the people in Greek, which almost everyone understood.
But the point is, God’s plan is no longer to be bottled up with the Jews. His good
news is for all the nations. As John proclaims in Revelation 5:9, Jesus purchased for
God with His blood “men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” We
cannot rest until all the nations have heard the good news about Christ. But how can
we possibly fulfill God’s plan?
3. The necessary power for fulfilling God’s plan is His Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is not just a force. He is the third person of the Trinity, God is every
way. We know that He is a personal being in that He can be grieved (Eph. 4:30); you
cannot grieve an impersonal force. Jesus calls Him the Paraclete, or Comforter. The
word means, “one called alongside to help.” We know that He is God in that He
performs deeds, such as creation, which only God can do. In Acts 5:3, Peter accuses
Ananias of lying to the Holy Spirit and then adds, “You have not lied to men but to
God” (5:5).
Before the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit regenerated men and empowered them
for serving God. But He did not permanently indwell all believers (Ps. 51:11; Luke
11:13). In the Upper Room, Jesus had told the disciples that He would send the Holy
Spirit to be with them forever. He added, “You know Him because He abides with
you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17). Thus on the Day of Pentecost, the disciples
were baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5), in fulfillment of Jesus’ promise. In Acts
8, the Spirit was poured out on the Samaritans through the apostles, so that both
they and the apostles would realize that they were now members of the same body of
Christ. The same thing happened with the Gentiles in Acts 10 and with the followers
of John’s baptism in Ephesus (Acts 19). These transitional outpourings of the Holy
Spirit follow the pattern of Acts 1:8.
Once the transition was completed, all that believe in Christ receive the Holy Spirit at
the moment of salvation (Gal. 3:2-5). Paul states, “You are not in the flesh but in the
Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit
of Christ, he does not belong to him” (Rom. 8:9).
We need to be careful to distinguish several terms that are often confused. In Acts
1:5, Jesus said that the apostles would be baptized by the Holy Spirit, which occurred
on the Day of Pentecost. Baptism refers to being totally identified with the Spirit and
to the initial reception of the Spirit. Paul tells the Corinthians, “For by one Spirit we
were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and
we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13). If the baptism of the Spirit
were a special experience for the spiritually elite, Paul would not have said such a
thing to the Corinthians, who were not noted for their spiritual maturity! The New
Testament nowhere commands believers to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, since it
is not an experience we are to seek, but God’s action performed on the believer at the
moment of salvation.
We are, however, commanded to be filled with the Spirit, which means to be
controlled by the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). The disciples on the Day of Pentecost were not
only baptized with the Spirit. Also they all were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4).
While the baptism of the Spirit is a one-time event, being filled with the Spirit
happens repeatedly (see Acts 4:8, 31; 6:5; 7:55; 9:17; 13:9). To be filled with the Spirit,
we must empty ourselves by confessing all known sin and by dying to self. We must
yield ourselves fully to the Lord and depend on Him step by step (“walking in the
Spirit,” Gal. 5:16). Being filled with the Spirit is also called (in a parallel passage)
letting the word of Christ richly dwell in you (Col. 3:16; see Eph. 5:18 and context).
Thus the filling of the Spirit cannot be divorced from God’s Word being at home in
your heart. The results of a consistent daily walk in the Spirit will be the fruit of the
Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) manifested in our lives and relationships (Eph. 5:19-6:9; Col.
selves fully to the Lord and depend on Him step by step (“walking in the Spirit,” Gal.
5:16). Being filled with the Spirit is also called (in a parallel passage) letting the word
of Christ richly dwell in you (Col. 3:16; see Eph. 5:18 and context). Thus the filling of
the Spirit cannot be divorced from God’s Word being at home in your heart. The
results of a consistent daily walk in the Spirit will be the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-
23) manifested in our lives and relationships (Eph. 5:19-6:9; Col. 3:16-4:1).
This initial outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost was marked by three symbolic
phenomena. First, there was the sound of a violent rushing wind that filled the
house. Then, there was the visible sign of tongues of fire resting on each person.
Finally, there was the miraculous speaking in foreign languages which none had
previously learned.

The sound of the violent rushing wind was primarily a picture of invisible power. As
you know, the wind, which you cannot see, exerts incredible power in a tornado or
hurricane. In this case, the disciples heard the noise, but there is no indication that
they felt it blowing. It was rather a miraculous sound that came from heaven. The
noise was loud enough that it gathered the crowd to find out what was happening
(1:6).

Both the Hebrew and Greek words for wind and spirit are the same. In Ezekiel 37,
God commanded the prophet to prophesy to the winds to breathe on a valley of dry
bones. When he did so, the breath of life came into them. God explains that He will
put His Spirit within His people and they would come to life (Ezek. 37:9-14). In John
3, Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about the need to be born of the Spirit. He explained,
“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where
it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (3:8).
The Holy Spirit, like the wind, is a mighty power, but we cannot see Him. We can
only see His effects. One of His most powerful effects is when He imparts spiritual
life to those who were dead in their sins.
The second phenomenon was the appearance of tongues of fire resting on each
person in the room. Throughout the Bible, fire symbolizes God’s holy presence.
Moses in the wilderness saw the bush that was burning and yet not consumed. God
Himself was in the bush. Later, Israel in the wilderness was guided and protected by
the pillar of fire. John the Baptist predicted that Jesus would baptize with the Holy
Spirit and with fire. Jesus said that He had come to cast fire upon the earth (Luke
12:49). The final place of judgment is the lake that burns with fire forever and
ever. Hebrews 12:29 says that our God is a consuming fire.
Fire brings both heat and light. The heat of fire consumes the dross, purifying those
who come in contact with it or destroying those who have no gold in them. The heat
of fire also pictures the zeal that should mark believers, who are to be hot, not
lukewarm, in their devotion to Christ (Rev. 3:15-16). The light pictures the
illumination that God brings to those in spiritual darkness.
The fire on the Day of Pentecost appeared in the form of tongues to symbolize God’s
holy power through the proclamation of His Word, burning into people in a way that
purifies them. As Paul later stated, the gospel is the power of God for salvation to
everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16). That gospel must be verbally proclaimed for the
power to come through.
Down through church history, the sovereign Spirit has moved unseen as the wind,
where He wills, to bring revival. Invariably, it starts with the church, purifying God’s
people, igniting their cold hearts with a renewed passion for knowing God and
burning off the dross of the world that had contaminated them. Through them, it
spreads as the gospel is proclaimed and the Spirit imparts new life in Christ to dead
sinners. Through His mighty Holy Spirit, God does what no humanly orchestrated
“revival” could ever do. He brings lasting change by regenerating and purifying dead
sinners so that He is glorified as people recognize His mighty deeds. Such revival is
clearly a sovereign act of God, not the result of any human effort or planning. We
should be praying that God would graciously send such a revival on our land!

Before we leave the subject of the power of the Holy Spirit, let me briefly deal with
the question, “Should we seek to speak in tongues?” Some argue that the sign of
being baptized with the Spirit is speaking in tongues and that if you have not done
that, you are lacking a vital spiritual experience. This is a controversial subject; if you
disagree with me, please try to set aside your emotions and reason with me from
Scripture. As I said, there is no command to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit,
although we are commanded to be filled with the Spirit. The main evidence of being
filled with the Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit, which is godly character (Gal. 5:16-
23; Col. 1:9-12).
First, we need to be clear that the genuine gift of tongues is the ability to speak a
foreign language that you have not studied. It is not, either in Acts or in 1
Corinthians, to speak “ecstatic utterances,” which is a nice term for gibberish. In Acts
the disciples were speaking languages which the native speakers could understand,
but which the disciples had never learned. In 1 Corinthians, the tongues needed
interpretation because native speakers were not present. But you cannot interpret
nonsense syllables; you can only interpret language that has fixed, objective meaning
behind the sounds that are uttered. This criterion alone invalidates 99 percent of
what is called speaking in tongues in our day.

Secondly, we are never commanded or encouraged to seek the gift of tongues.

Rather, the Holy Spirit sovereignly distributes gifts as He wills (1 Cor. 12:11). When
Paul says to earnestly desire the greater gifts (1 Cor. 12:31), he is talking to the church
as a body, not to individuals. He means that the church should seek gifts that build
up the body, not those, such as tongues, that may edify the individual.
Also, the miraculous gifts were given to the church during the early period to confirm
the apostolic witness, but they faded as time went on. The author of Hebrews wrote
to a second generation of Jewish Christians. He tells them how the word of the Lord
was confirmed by the apostles through various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit
according to His own will (Heb. 2:3-4). If these gifts were present in the churches at
the time he was writing, he would not have needed to refer to them as a thing of the
past. Their purpose had been to confirm the apostolic message. After that purpose
was fulfilled, they passed off the scene.
Finally, as I hope you can see from the context of Acts 2, the meaning of Pentecost
was not to encourage believers to have an ecstatic experience for their own
edification. The meaning of Pentecost was that God gave the Holy Spirit to His
church so that they would bear witness to the nations for His glory.
4. The goal of God’s plan is that He will be glorified among the nations.

These Jews from all of these nations heard the disciples “speaking of the mighty
deeds of God” (2:11). Peter will shortly preach the gospel, leading to the conversion of
3,000 souls. But the goal of the gospel is the glory of God. As John Piper has put it,
“The reason missions exists is because worship does not.” In Revelation 5, John has a
vision of the nations worshiping before God’s throne. That should be our vision as
well.
Note that not all responded positively, even though this was a “Class A” miracle. Even
miracles will not convince mockers, who do not want to submit their lives to the
Sovereign God. The Book of Acts is a record not only of might conversions, but also
of fierce opposition to the preaching of the gospel. We should expect the same
response. But we know that our God will triumph, that every knee will someday bow
to Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:9-11).
Conclusion

Last Sunday, Marla and I listened to a powerful sermon by John Piper, which he gave
to 50,000 college students. He began by telling of two elderly women who had given
their “retirement” years to go to Cameroon for the sake of the gospel. They had been
killed when their brakes gave out and their car plunged over a cliff. He asked, “Was
that a tragedy?” He answered, “No, that wasn’t a tragedy. Let me tell you about a
tragedy.” He cited a Reader’s Digest article about how many Americans are taking
early retirement so that they can pursue their own pleasure. One couple had bought a
yacht and spent their time sailing off the coast of Florida, collecting seashells. Piper
said, “Now, that’s a tragedy!” Can you imagine this couple standing before God at the
judgment and saying, “Here’s our seashell collection, Lord”?
God’s purpose at Pentecost was to equip His church with the mighty power of the
Holy Spirit so that we would be His witnesses to all the nations, resulting in His
eternal glory. I want you to ask yourself these questions as you think about this
purpose:

(1) *Is my focus on God’s glory in all things? Did I even think about that as I went
through my week? Did it determine how I resisted temptation or how I spoke to
others?
(2) *Is my passion that the nations would glorify God through the gospel? If my heart is not
on world missions, it is not in tune with God’s heart.
(3) *Is my daily life consciously dependent on the Holy Spirit? Would I have missed Him if
He had withdrawn from me this past week? Do I lean on Him for purity of life and
power to obey God?
(4) *Is my daily desire to bear witness of Christ to those who are lost and perishing? The
power of the Spirit isn’t given just to make me happy. It is given to make me holy so
that my life and my words bring glory to God as I bear witness to His saving grace.
That should be the meaning of Pentecost for you and me.

HE PERSON AND WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

by Francis Dixon
(Scripture Portion: Acts 2:1-21)
No study of the Person of the Holy Spirit would be complete without considering the events in the
opening verses of Acts chapter 2. This is a great chapter: great as history, for it describes the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit; great in inspiration –- read it through a dozen times until the wonder
of it grips you; and great from the point of view of instruction. The Gospels end with the
ascending of God the Son, and Acts chapter 2 opens with the descending of God the Holy Spirit.
We have already seen that the Holy Spirit was very active before Pentecost, and that He indwelt,
filled and empowered the Lord Jesus for His earthly ministry; but up until then He had never
come to dwell within believers and to be within them for ever. Now, on the Day of Pentecost, He
came to do just that –- in fulfilment of the promise of the Lord Jesus! Look up John 14:16.

1. THE DAY OF PENTECOST DID NOT COME BECAUSE OF

ANY HUMAN CONDITIONS THAT WERE MET ON THE PART
OF THE DISCIPLES.
Read Acts 2:1. Pentecost was a pre-determined time in the mind of God. In His sovereign will,
the date of the coming of the Holy Spirit had been fixed to take place fifty days after the
Passover. Look up Leviticus 23:11-16. He could not have come before the fiftieth day, no matter
what preparations of heart might have taken place in those who waited for His coming. He came
in accordance with Israel’’s ecclesiastical calendar. It is true in experience that there are
conditions to be met if we would know the conscious presence and power of the Holy Spirit within
us for life and service, but it is also true that the Day of Pentecost had to ‘fully come’ (Acts 2:1
KJV).
2. AS THE GREAT DAY ON GOD’’S CALENDAR CAME, THE
DISCIPLES ‘WERE ALL TOGETHER IN ONE PLACE’.
Verse 1 tells us this, and Acts 1:15 tells us that there were about 120 of them. It is particularly
interesting for us to remember the variety of men, women and young people who were present.
Look up Luke 24:52-53, and notice that in Acts 2:2 we are told that as they worshipped the Lord,
praised Him and prayed together, they were ‘’sitting’’. It is not the position of the body that counts
most, but the attitude of the heart and soul. There must be sincerity and reality first of all, and
since there must also be reverence, frequently we feel that it is right to kneel before the Lord,
though it is certainly not wrong to sit or stand.

3. THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WAS ACCOMPLISHED

BY STRIKING MANIFESTATIONS OF HIS PRESENCE AND
POWER.
Read verses 2 and 3, and notice that this momentous event happened:-

1. Suddenly. Have you ever searched the Scriptures to note the things God has done
suddenly? For example: The Flood; the destruction of Sodom; the Incarnation; and look up
2 Chronicles 29:36. Conversion takes place suddenly, as it did with Zacchaeus (Luke
19:1-10); Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:1-18); and the jailer (Acts 16:30-34) –- but in contrast,
God forms the characters of His people slowly. Look up Malachi 3:3 and compare
Philippians 1:6.
2. Audibly, for we are told that “a “sound……came from Heaven and filled the whole
house.”” How often, on the other hand, does God work silently, almost imperceptibly! Look
up and compare John 3:8.
3. Visibly. “”They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire…”…” Just as the Holy Spirit was
seen by John the Baptist to come on the Lord Jesus ‘like a dove’ (Matthew 3:16), so He
came upon these believers, not like a dove, the symbol of purity, but like a flame of fire,
the symbol of cleansing and purification. Notice the word ‘’rest’’ in verse 3.
The wind and the fire were symbols of the work He had come to do in and through them. ‘‘When
Pentecost comes, there is a breeze and a blaze.’’

4. THE IMPORTANT THING THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED,

HOWEVER, IS THAT ‘‘THEY WERE ALL FILLED WITH THE
HOLY SPIRIT’’.
They would not understand it, nor could they explain the philosophy of it, but they knew He had
come! Let us always remember that it is not intellectual knowledge that counts, but spiritual
experience; not knowing about Him, but knowing Him; and here we see a company of 120
different men and women, and we are told that ‘’they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.’’
We should be careful in case the language used of the Holy Spirit in verse 4 leads us to think of
Him as a mere power or influence. The word ‘’filled’’ brings before us a mental picture of fluid,
energy, breath, force, but (as we have seen in previous studies), the Holy Spirit is the third
Person of the Godhead, and to be filled with Him means to be possessed, controlled, dominated
by Him. It is possible to be filled with Satan –- look up Acts 5:3. But God’’s plan is that His people
should be Spirit-filled so that their hearts and minds and wills are under the mastery of the Holy
Spirit. To be filled with the Spirit does not rob us of our true personality; Peter is still Peter, Paul
is still Paul, yet the Holy Spirit is the One who is dominant in the lives of Peter and Paul.
5. ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST THE HOLY SPIRIT CAME TO
APPLY IN THE LIVES OF BELIEVERS ALL THAT THE LORD
JESUS DIED, ROSE AGAIN AND ASCENDED TO HEAVEN TO
MAKE POSSIBLE.
The Lord Jesus gave the ethics, the example and the pattern of the Christian life, but the Holy
Spirit came to give the dynamic, the empowering and the energy for that life. Thus, we see that
Pentecost was the complement of Calvary, ‘for ‘Pentecost made actual in the lives of men and
women all that Calvary made possible. Without Pentecost, Calvary would never have been
effective to redeem a lost world.’’
Can Pentecost be repeated? Historically –- NO! experimentally –- YES! As Dr Alexander
Maclaren says: ‘‘Wherever Christian churches do as they did, they will receive what they
received’’; and as we may say, ‘‘Wherever Christians do as they did, they will receive what they
received.’’

Study 8 THE NECESSITY OF

THE SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE
THE PERSON AND WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
by Francis Dixon
(Scripture Portion: Galatians 5:1-26)
The title of this study might well be called, ‘‘Every Christian’’s Greatest Need’’, for there is no
greater need today than that every real Christian should be obedient to the command found in
Ephesians 5:18, which indicates the necessityof a Spirit-filled life; it is not optional, for it is God’’s
command. Notice that:-
1. To be filled with the Holy Spirit is the CHRISTIAN’’s greatest need. The subject has no
reference to the person who is not a Christian.
2. To be filled with the Holy Spirit is EVERY Christian’’s need. It is the privilege and
responsibility of every believer to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
3. To be filled with the Holy Spirit is every Christian ’’s NEED. It is not a luxury but a
necessity for all.
4. To be filled with the Holy Spirit is every Christian’’s GREATEST need. Just as the
greatest need of the lost is to be saved, so the greatest need of the saved person is to be
filled with the Holy Spirit.
It will save us from very much confusion in connection with this subject if we lay hold of
the simple but fundamental fact that: WHILE EVERY CHRISTIAN POSSESSES THE HOLY
SPIRIT, THE HOLY SPIRIT DOES NOT POSSESS EVERY CHRISTIAN.
It is one thing to have the Holy Spirit indwelling the life; it is quite another thing to have Him filling
and controlling the life. Every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit –- look up Romans 8:9; 1
Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; 1 Corinthians 12:13; every Christian is sealed with the Holy Spirit –- look
up Ephesians 1:13; 4:30. But every Christian should be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians
5:18).
Consider the following reasons why it is necessary not only to be indwelt but filled with the Holy
Spirit:-
1. ‘‘BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT’’, so that you can live in
OBEDIENCE TO THE WILL OF GOD.
The point is that Ephesians 5:18 contains a two-fold command –- and the positive command is
as binding as the negative command. We are horrified at the thought of being drunk with wine.
Are we horrified also at the thought of not being filled with the Spirit? What is our response to
God’’s command to us to be filled with the Spirit?

2. ‘’BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT’’, so that you can experience an

ABUNDANT LIFE.
Look up John 10:10. There is a great difference between ‘‘life’’ and ‘‘abundant life’’ (KJV). The
Lord Jesus offers us His own life –- His life of abundant joy (John 15:11); abundant peace (John
14:27); abundant love (John 13:1); abundant power (Matthew 28:18); abundant victory (John
16:33) –- and the only way we can experience His abundant life is by the infilling of the Holy
Spirit.

3. ‘‘BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT’’, so that you can engage in

EFFECTIVE SERVICE.
Before the Day of Pentecost, the disciples were ineffective, failing servants of the Lord Jesus, but
after the Day of Pentecost the disciples were ‘all filled with the Holy Spirit’ and they began to
serve the Lord effectively (Acts 2:1-4). It is only when we work in the power of His anointing that
anything is accomplished for His glory. All work rendered in the energy of the flesh or in the
wisdom of man is bound to fail. Look up Zechariah 4:6; and compare Acts 1:8.

4. ‘‘BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT’’, so that you can be KEPT

FROM BACKSLIDING.
Here is God’’s remedy for that all-too-common up-and-down experience of the Christian life. Are
you living a switchback life –- rejoicing in the things of God one day, and down in the valley of
defeat and humiliation the next day? God’’s remedy for this is the filling of the Holy Spirit. While
we remain Spirit-filled we shall not, cannot, backslide. The way to experience 1 Corinthians 15:58
is by Ephesians 5:18!

5. ‘‘BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT’’, so that you can know THE
BLESSING OF A GUIDED LIFE.
Look up Romans 8:14. It is when the Holy Spirit fills us that we are led in the way of God ’’s
choosing for us. It is when we are filled with the Spirit that we are able to acknowledge Him, and
this is the one essential condition for a God-guided life. Look up Proverbs 3:6. When we are filled
with the Holy Spirit we can say –- look up Genesis 24:27!

6. ‘‘BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT’’, so that your life can be one of
FRUITFULNESS.
God’’s will for each one of His children is that they should bring forth ‘fruit’ (John 15:2); ‘more
fruit’ (John 15:2); ‘much fruit’ (John 15:5,8); and the nine-fold cluster of fruit that they are to bring
forth is given in Galatians 5:22-23. We are all bringing forth either the fruit of the Spirit or the
works of the flesh –- look up Galatians 5:19-21. How necessary it is to be filled with the Holy
Spirit if we are to be fruitful Christians to the glory of God! –- look up Colossians 1:10.
7. ‘‘BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT’’, so that the DIVINE LIFE
CAN BE FULLY REPRODUCED IN US.
As Christians, our great desire should be to be like our Lord. How can we be like Him? –- only as
the Holy Spirit reproduces His life within us. We can never be like Him by striving, straining and
struggling. The Christian life is not imitation; it is the giving of His life to us, and the reproduction
of His life within us, by the Holy Spirit; thus, the measure in which the Holy Spirit fills and floods
our lives determines the measure in which we become truly Christ-like.