Tongues of Fire

Acts 2:1-13

Key Verse 2:3

1. Verses 1-4 describe the time, the place, the way in which the Spirit came, and the effect of His coming. What do the following expressions indicate about the Holy Spirit? 

1) A sound like the blowing of a violent wind; 

2) came from heaven; 

3) filled the whole house; 

4) They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire; 

5) That separated and came to rest on each of them; 

6) All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit; and

7) And began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 

2. Verses 5-13 describe people's response to the events of that day. What do the following teach us about God's will in sending the Holy Spirit upon Jesus' disciples? 

1) Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven; 

2) Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galilean?; and

3) We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!

  Tongues of Fire

Acts 2:1-13

Key Verse 2:3

They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

In this passage we can learn two things: the way the Holy Spirit works; and the purpose for which God sent the Holy Spirit to the body of believers.

1. Verses 1-4 describe the time, the place, the way in which the Spirit came, and the effect of His coming. What do the following expressions indicate about the Holy Spirit? 

1) a sound like the blowing of a violent wind; 

2) came from heaven; 

3) filled the whole house; 

4) they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire; 

5) that separated and came to rest on each of them; 

6) all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit; and

7) and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 

** This reminds us that the way the Holy Spirit works is just as the way wind works. Jesus already talked about it in John 3:8 saying, "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

Take a note of the word "violent". Sometimes wind blows in a very gentle way, which is almost not noticeable, but on another occasion it can be very "violent" like tornadoes in the Caribbean areas. Remember then the wind blowing all because of the movement of air which again is affected by a number of factors such as temperature, density, height, moisture level, etc. and so forth. One thing which is noteworthy is that its movement/work is felt most visibly and audibly in its initial stage, particularly as it moves from one domain to another. Remember the space shuttle making lots of noise due to frictions/conflicts as it penetrates from the outer space with zero-gravity to aerial space which is subject to gravity. The way the Spirit works can also be compared to a man blowing air to make glass wares such as a light bulb. With a tube, you blow air into the liquid, shaping up the glassware to become round like a light bulb. Initially as the air travels from your mouth into the light bulb, noise comes out. But once the light bulb is finished, the air is locked up inside, and there is no more movement felt. So is the case with the Spirit working. As it initially travels from God (the blower of the air into a light bulb) to you (a light bulb), there is sound coming out. But once the Spirit rests inside of you, the Spirit inside of you stays quiet, so the movement or even his existence/presence is not felt. But this does not mean He is not there. He is there working in and through you. 

** Came from heaven - here heaven is an idiom for God's abode. So the Holy Spirit is from God. He is of God in nature. Just as God is holy, so also the Spirit which comes from God is holy. Remember that the Spirit represents the essence of God. As God in essence Holy Spirit can cause all things to come into being. At the same time he is capable to make himself not present or present outside, upon, and inside of all of his creation. 

** Filled the whole house - here the "house" refers to the room where the early believers were staying. But symbolically it also can mean the body of Jesus Christ, i.e., those who believe in Jesus. While he is greater than the whole universe, still He can make his presence to be full in one location/environment/vessel (such as you, body of believers) or another. And he can do that without making the area crowded. 

** They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire. By definition, God and of course the Holy Spirit as well is not visible. He totally transcends the physical dimension. Yet, he can make himself manifest in the physical realm, so that our physical eyes can "perceive" his presence/operation. Examples - pillar of fire in Ex 13:21,22; or the burning bush in Ex 3:2. 

Now, the Holy Spirit made himself visible in the form of "tongues of fire" suggesting two things: the purpose of his coming, and the power with which He came. The purpose is "to enable people to speak in "different languages" (tongues). Here the word "tongues" means not just the flickering ends of the flames, but languages, for it is through the tongue that you utter sounds and make speech. "Fire" has to do with the spiritual power/energy/zeal/enthusiasm. The expression "tongues of fire" then refers to the ability (gift if you will) to speak foreign languages without fear. Consider also how the Lord God confused the language in Gen 11:7 and why, that is to stop people rebelling further. Now that the time came for the Lord to bring people back to obedience, the need arose for the Lord God to enable them to communicate to one another better. Remember also the gospel is what makes men to "understand" each other and communicate better. 

** that separated and came to rest on each of them. Here separated means got himself (the Holy Spirit) divided up, so each person would share him to the extent necessary. This already indicates that the Holy Spirit is to be shared individually and collectively. 

The expression "came to rest" on each of them (especially the word "rest") indicates that unlike the days prior to the day of Pentecost (on which the Holy Spirit came), when the Holy Spirit worked among the selected few on a "temporary" basis, after the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came to permanently dwell (this is what the word rest means) inside of the believers. Again he came to "stay" for good, until he takes you to be at home with Jesus. 

** all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit - this expression indicates that being God himself, the Holy Spirit can divide himself, still filling each person "fully", so that no one would be "short" of what is needed to get the job (world mission) done properly and effectively.

** and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them - this expression describes the very purpose for which He came, that is to enable men to speak in foreign tongues freely. At this time, they were able to speak without "learning". The evidences are that the enabling took place only for a while (to the extent necessary at that particular juncture of God's redemptive history), so that upon causing the initial impact (that is, empowering the much frightened flock - 120 believers - and drawing people to hear their messages with undivided attention), the Holy Spirit removed from the recipients of His Spirit this ability, so apostles such as Peter and John had to learn foreign languages such as Greek or Italian languages, still with the Holy Spirit assisting. 

2. Verses 5-13 describe people's response to the events of that day. What do the following teach us about God's will in sending the Holy Spirit upon Jesus' disciples? 

1) Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven; 

2) Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galilean?; and

3) we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!

** The expression "from every nation under heaven" denotes God's will (and plan as well as work) to get the gospel message across to all peoples on earth. Remember that the Lord God confused the languages and kept people scattered all over the world, but at God's right time he orchestrated the events in such a way that literally all peoples (by way of representation) on earth would be present at that particular moment at that particular place all through God's divine appointments, so that the long awaited gospel would spread to all four corners of the world as quickly as possible. 

** What they said is reminiscent of and in fulfillment of (without them knowing) what the Lord God had said in advance through the Prophet Isaiah 9:1-7. Also remember what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:27, "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." The Galilean were looked at as low class citizens. But the Lord God used them to save the wise. 

** Wonders of God - this is a collective term describing the gospel itself and the wonderful works the Lord God is going to fulfill in the lives of those who believe in the gospel of Jesus.

The end

Tongues of Fire

Acts 2:1-13

Key Verse 2:3

They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

Today is the last day of the European Bible Conference taking place in Germany with the theme title, “The truth will set you free.” (John 8:31, 32) Msn. Isaac Kim is there together with Msn. Mary Yoon and Sh. Lynette Attwood.   In prayer for God’s work through this conference, and for the CIS conference that will take place in Moscow next week, we are studying today one of the most important events in the history of the Church: the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.  Before ascending into heaven, the Risen Jesus promised his disciples that he would empower them through the Holy Spirit to carry out his world mission command, as we see in Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  In today’s passage, we see the beginning of the fulfillment of this promise.  May God bless us to accept His word as we study this passage.  

Part I. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit (1-4)

Look at verse 1: “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.”  After Jesus ascended into heaven, the disciples did not know when the Holy Spirit would come upon them, but they kept themselves prepared by constantly meeting together to pray.  They did this all the way up to the day of Pentecost.  What happened on that day?  Look at verses 2-4.  In these verses, we see how the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Church.  This event came with three powerful signs that reveal the work of the Holy Spirit.  First, the Holy Spirit came with the sound of a violent wind.  Second, the Holy Spirit appeared as tongues of fire.  Third, the Holy Spirit enabled them to speak foreign languages.  Let’s think about what each of these signs reveal about the Holy Spirit’s work.    

Look at verse 2: “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.”  The Holy Spirit announced His coming with a sound like the blowing of a violent wind.  One moment, the disciples were all praying quietly together, and the next there it sounded like there was a mighty hurricane inside the house.  Yet, strangely, when they looked around, nothing was blowing inside the house—there was no furniture flying around the room; no swirling papers; no one’s hair was even messed up.  It was not the sound of a physical hurricane, but of the powerful coming of the Holy Spirit.  Usually the Holy Spirit comes and goes silently, but this time God allowed the disciples to hear the spiritual power of the Holy Spirit’s coming from heaven.  Through this, God revealed to the disciples that the Holy Spirit is a powerful force. It has been said that the force of a hurricane is equivalent a hundred atomic bombs.  Also, when tornados rip through a town, they easily uproot everything in their path—trees, cars, and buildings.  Yet, the Holy Spirit is far more powerful than even a hurricane or tornado.  Indeed, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God.  It is through the Holy Spirit that God created the heavens and the earth as we see in Genesis 1:2.  By sending the Holy Spirit with the sound of a violent wind, God revealed that the power he was giving to his disciples was nothing less than the power of God, and in this passage we see what happened when the disciples were filled with this power.  

Look at verse 3: “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.”  The Holy Spirit is usually invisible, but God provided the disciples with a special visual presentation of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.  The fact that the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them reveals the basic way that the Holy Spirit works through us.  First, let’s think about fire. Fire is hot, active, and consuming.  When the Holy Spirit is working powerfully inside a child of God, that person becomes like a flame of fire, burning with passion for God’s kingdom and glory.  That is why the Apostle Paul encouraged Timothy, “fan into flame the gift of God which is in you.”  

Second, and most importantly, the “tongues of fire” reveal that the main way the Holy Spirit works is through what we say.  As we see in this passage, when the Holy Spirit filled the believers, they began to both speak in foreign languages and to proclaim the wonders of God.  Outwardly, they did not look different when the Holy Spirit came on them, but inwardly they had tongues of fire, which means the Holy Spirit was in control of what they were saying and how they said it.  This fits perfectly with the mission they had from Jesus—they were to be Jesus’ witnesses in all the earth, which especially means that they were to tell all people the good news of Jesus Christ.  Before the coming of the Holy Spirit, the disciples were very quiet, not wanting to attract much attention to themselves.  But when the Holy Spirit came upon them in the form of tongues of fire, suddenly their tongues were empowered and they began to powerfully proclaim the wonders of God.  Next week we will study the following passage, where we see that Peter stood up and delivered a message that was so powerful and convicting that on that very day three thousand people became believers!  

In the same way, when we speak by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can be effective witnesses for Jesus Christ.  Then whenever we speak we are a source of encouragement and blessing to others around us.  Even in our normal day-to-day conversations, when the Holy Spirit is leading what we say, people get a good impression of who Jesus is and how he works inside his children.  We become the fragrance of Christ to the world.  In addition, when God is in control of what we say and how we say it as we teach the word of God, then our words are not just human words, but they come with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction.  

In the next verse, we can see one of the practical results of “tongues of fire” resting upon each of the disciples.  Look at verse 4: “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”  The first thing that happened when they were filled with the Holy Spirit was that they began to speak in other tongues.  This means that, suddenly, all of them became missionary-candidates who could go to any country in the world and speak the language perfectly without any accent!  One disciple began speaking fluent French, another German, another Swahili, another Arabic, another Spanish, and still another Chinese.  Through this, God revealed that the language problem is no problem for Him.  How could a bunch of Galilean country boys with a heavy Hebrew accent ever hope to teach the Bible in fluent French?  Humanly, there was no way.  For them, world mission looked impossible.  But, suddenly, when they had tongues of fire, there was no barrier to stop them from being Jesus’ witnesses in all the world.  

In Downey UBF, we have many missionaries who are struggling hard to overcome the language barrier as they serve God in America.  This work is really not easy.  I think that many missionaries here today wish in their hearts that God would send tongues of fire upon them so that they could speak fluent English and not have to struggle with the language problem anymore.  Yet this is not the point of today’s passage. The real point is that, for the Holy Spirit, there is no such thing as a language problem.  Whenever the Holy Spirit wants to use you to say something, there is no limitation in communication.  Even though your English is poor, God’s Spirit can still speak powerfully through you. This is my own personal experience. When I was a freshman, one missionary invited me to one-to-one Bible study, but the problem was that her English was really broken.  Not only so, but because she lacked confidence, she developed a habit of saying “hu?” after almost everything she said because she wanted to make sure I understood  her.  So, during Bible study she would say “hu?” about 2,000 times.  Sometimes it was hard to bear. Yet, strangely, I was deeply blessed through Bible studies and so thankful to God for sending me a Bible teacher, and through that Bible study the Holy Spirit worked powerfully in my heart.  

Not only so, but this passage also shows that, through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we can conquer language problems.  These days, Msn. Sarah Jeung is studying hard every day to pass the IELTS English exam. This exam is very difficult, and the studying is so much work that Msn. Sarah often gets headaches.  But through all of this, I believe the Holy Spirit is working in her to make her into a powerful English Bible teacher, and already I can hear her English getting much better.  I pray that the Holy Spirit may rest on her as a tongue of fire when she takes her English test on September 3 and as she teaches the Bible at Citrus college.    

Part 2.  Declaring the wonders of God (5-12)

In the first part of the passage, we saw how the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and empowered them with tongues of fire to speak many foreign languages.  Now let’s see what happened as a result.  Look at verses 5-6: “Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.  When they heard the sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.”  Apparently, as soon as the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, they went outside the house where they were staying and began to speak loudly in many different languages.  This already shows a big change.  The disciples used to be so afraid to reveal themselves to their neighbors.  But now they came out into public and made a big scene, attracting a crowd.  The crowd that came was totally bewildered, because even though they were from every known nation under heaven, and they spoke many different languages, each one of them heard the disciples speaking in his own tongue.  

Look at verses 7-8: “Utterly amazed, they asked: ‘Are not these men who are speaking Galileans?  Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?’”  The first thing that the crown recognized was that the disciples were not foreigners—they were native to the Bible land. In addition, they came from Galilee, which was considered the countryside.  It was shocking that a group of country boys from Galilee were speaking in foreign languages so fluently.  Where was this bewildered crowd from?  Look at verses 9-11a: “Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Capadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs.”  These people were representatives from the entire known world at that time.  They came from many different cultures, from far-away lands, and spoke different languages.  Yet they all had one thing in common—as either God-fearing Jews or converts to Judaism, they all worshiped the God of the Bible.  Yet they did not know Jesus Christ.  The first and immediate work of the Holy Spirit was to send the disciples out to testify to these people from all nations on earth. This clearly shows that the number one purpose of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit is to be Jesus’ witnesses to all people on earth.  

What is it that the disciples were saying in all those different language?  Look at verse 11b: “we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”  The first thing that the Holy Spirit moved the disciples to speak was the wonders of God. What are the wonders of God?  The wonders of God are too numerous to count. When we look at this universe in which we live and see the stars and the earth and all that is in it, we must confess, as one hymn says, “O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the works thy hands have made.  I see the stars; I hear the rolling thunder; their power throughout the universe displayed—then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, How great thou art.”  But there is something even more wonderful than the wonders of God’s physical creation—it is the wonder of his love revealed through sending His Son to die for the sins of the world.  Maybe this is what the disciples were proclaiming. Whatever it was, this shows us another thing about the empowerment of the Holy Spirit—when we are empowered through the Holy Spirit, out hearts and lips overflow with praise and glory to God.  

Today’s passage suggests that the more our tongues are moved by the fire of the Holy Spirit, the more our words will be filled with the praises of God.  The Holy Spirit inspires us to tell others of how good God is.  One shepherd said to me that we often tend to focus on people too much, thinking and talking about what we should do, and yet we miss the point of the Bible—which is God.  Because of this, studying and teaching the Bible sometimes even seems burdensome.  Rather than inspiring us to love God, we end up focusing only on ourselves and our problems or other people and their problems.  I think that what this shepherd said is very true.  The key point of the word of God is not about people—but it is about God: who He is, what He does, and why He is worthy of all our praise and worship.  When our hearts are open to the beauty of God through the Holy Spirit, then we cannot help but proclaim his wonderful works and give glory to His name.  

Personally, as I prepared this message, I realized that I needed to repent because what I was saying was not coming from God.  I focused on people, not God, because I wanted to receive honor and recognition from people as I serve the word of God.  Yet this only resulted in a message that was empty of power.  Through this passage, I realized that I need to repent of all false motives in serving God and in speaking His word and I need to pray so that my heart may get lined-up with the desire of the Holy Spirit.  My prayer is that, more and more, whenever I speak, and especially when I serve the word of God, what I say may not come from myself, but from the Holy Spirit within me.  I pray, especially, that I may be filled with the praises of God in my day-to-day life and proclaim His wonders to everyone around me as much as possible.  

Look at verse 12: “Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”  Here we see the effect of the Holy Spirit speaking through the disciples.  Many of the people were now very curious about what was going on. They had never seen anything like it.  This set the stage for Peter to stand up together with the Eleven and proclaim a powerful message, which we will study next week.  Yet, not every one believed.  Look at verse 13: “Some, however, made fun of them and said, ‘They have had too much wine.’”  This shows that, no matter how powerful God’s work is, there are still people who will close their hearts tightly against it.  

In conclusion, in today’s passage we learn that the main work of the Holy Spirit inside of us is to empower us with tongues of fire to overcome every communication barrier and to powerfully proclaim the wonders of God to all nations on earth.  As the fall semester begins, there is a great opportunity to powerfully advance the kingdom of God, and our main practical tool in carrying out this work is our tongues.  May God help us to get in tune with the Holy Spirit so that the Spirit may flare up within us and control what we say and how we say it for the glory of God.  

One word: Tongues of fire!