Did You Hear What I Said? Acts 2:1-13

We have been reading from the book of Acts this week, discovering how the church started. We first looked at Jesus final instructions to the apostles to wait in Jerusalem until the Father sends the Holy Spirit, which will be their way to reach the lost.

In today’s passage the Holy Spirit makes his dramatic entry. I have been in several church services on Pentecost Sunday where the church attempts to duplicate this amazing event. I have seen a church line a few dozen people across the front of the church, with each person reading a verse from Acts 2. The fun part for the congregation is listening as each reader speaks in a different language.

I have also seen a church have people stand up sporadically within the congregations and, in unison, read from Acts 2 each also speaking in a different language. While both of the demonstrations are fun to watch and powerful to imagine how the Holy Spirit affected the apostles, they are both incorrect examples.

You see, when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles that day and they started to speak, the hearer did not hear different languages, they heard their own language. That is the miracle! The disciples were not speaking different languages, but the crowd, filled with people of different tongues all heard the message that was being spoken. There was no confusion.

What I love about this event is how it is impossible for us to give an accurate reenactment without the aid of the Holy Spirit. God is huge. He is powerful. And only He can communicate the message of the gospel, tearing down all communication barriers. Praise God.

Read today's passage at Biblegateway Acts 2:1-13