Acts 2:1-17 “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. (2) And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. (3) Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. (4) And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (5) And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. (6) And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. (7) Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? (8) And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? (9) Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, (10) Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, (11) Cretans and Arabs--we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God." (12) So, they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "Whatever could this mean?" (13) Others mocking said, "They are full of new wine." (14) But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. (15) For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. (16) But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: (17) ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.”
There are several examples given in the New Testament of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and in this section, we will examine each one so that we can get a better understanding of just what this baptism is all about. The first account we will look at is the initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. As we can see from the above-quoted passage of scripture, the Lord Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit on those disciples who were gathered in Jerusalem during that feast. God had appointed several feasts under the Old Covenant that the Jews were required to observe, and each feast pointed to an event that would take place in the future. For example, our Lord Jesus was crucified at the feast of Passover, and God poured out His Holy Spirit at the feast of Pentecost. We learn several things about the baptism with the Holy Spirit in this account. Firstly, we can see that what our Lord Jesus referred to as being baptized with the Holy Spirit is the same as being filled with the Holy Spirit, for they are just different terms for the same event. For us to clearly understand what transpired on this day we need to correct a common misconception of this account, which is that the saints were gathered together in an upper room in someone's house in the city when they were filled with the Holy Spirit. That is not correct however, because the saints were gathered together in the temple when this event happened. In verse two of the above account, the scripture describes the sound of the wind filling the whole "house" where they were sitting. The word translated house in this passage is the same word that is also translated as temple or sanctuary (Luke 11:51). And so, it would also be correct for the passage to say that the sound filled the whole “temple” where they were sitting. But notice that the verse does not say that the sound filled the whole temple per se, but rather the "whole temple where they were sitting". The temple area of the book of Acts was a vast complex that covered thirty-six acres, and so the disciples would have been seated in a very small section of the temple area, and it was only in that area where the sound of the rushing mighty wind occurred and not in the whole temple complex. We know that the disciples were in the temple on this occasion because this was the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and the Lord required all Jewish males to present themselves before Him at this feast, which was a one-day event. And so, because the early disciples were all Jews and were zealous for the law (Acts 21:20), they would definitely have been in the temple, especially at nine in the morning (referring to Peter's comment above), at the exact time that the priests were offering the sacrifice on the altar. The disciples were more than likely in the section of the temple called Solomon's Porch, which was located outside the main temple area, because the scripture tells us that they were all together, both men and women in one accord, whereas if they had been inside the inner court of the temple, the men and women would have been in separate sections. Also, the disciples knew Solomon's Porch very well because Jesus often taught there (John 10:23), and we see that from this point onwards the church would meet at Solomon's Porch daily (Acts 5:12). The fact that the disciples were in the temple on this occasion, also explains how it was possible that so many Jews could gather to hear Peter and the other apostles preach; for over three thousand were saved on that day, indicating that there must have been at least four times that number who heard them preach, i.e. those who were near where the disciples were sitting (Acts 2:41). All the Jews in Jerusalem and from around the world, would have been at the temple at that time, which some historians estimate would have been more than one hundred thousand people, for the temple mount area could easily accommodate that size crowd of worshippers. And so, no house in the city of Jerusalem other than the temple, could have accounted for such a large crowd gathering around the disciples on that day. Also, because all the Jews (including the disciples) would have been in the temple on that morning, the disciples present on that occasion, would also have been at least five hundred in number (1 Corinthians 15:6), and not only the one hundred and twenty that were in the upper room when they chose Matthias to replace Judas, which had occurred a few days before Pentecost (Acts 1:15).
And so, because the disciples were in the temple at the time, we see that all the Jews near the disciples on that day, would have witnessed the whole incident of the saints being filled with the Holy Spirit as it unfolded. We can see from this account that the saints were filled with the Holy Spirit directly from heaven, for no one laid hands on them in this instance. On this occasion there were several physical manifestations that people could see and hear that accompanied this baptism. The first manifestation was the sound of a rushing mighty wind. This particular manifestation was audible not only to the disciples but also to the Jews that were around them in the temple, for if you read the account in context, it was this sound that drew thousands of people to their location to find out what was the cause. When the sound of the rushing wind stopped, the second manifestation then occurred, which was the tongues of fire that appeared on each one of the saints. This particular manifestation was only visible to the saints however, and was not seen by the Jews that had gathered around them. We know this to be the case, because the scripture says, "Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire", the "them" in this passage refers to the saints only. Further evidence that point to the fact that the Jews did not see this manifestation, is the fact that they did not comment on this particular phenomenon, even though it was extremely spectacular. That is consistent with scripture because there are numerous accounts in scripture where God allowed His saints to see in the spirit realm, while at the same time unbelievers that were with them saw nothing, e.g. Daniel and his colleagues (Daniel 10:7) and Saul and his companions (Acts 9:7). There can be no doubt however, that the saints themselves would have shouted out in the natural what they were seeing taking place in the spirit, even as Stephen did when the Lord opened his eyes to see into the spirit realm when he was standing before the Jewish council on the day he was martyred (Acts 7:55-56). It would have been at this point that the saints would have begun to feel the tangible power of the Holy Spirit coming upon them, as each of them was filled with the Holy Spirit. This infilling produced the third manifestation which everyone heard, which were the tongues that each one of the saints began to speak with, as they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in a language that they had never spoken before. We know that everyone heard this manifestation because the Jewish onlookers remarked that they were speaking in a multitude of languages (sixteen were listed) that various members of the crowd could understand. Not all of the languages spoken on that day would have been understood however because scripture teaches us that there are tongues spoken by those filled with the Holy Spirit, which no man understands (1 Corinthians 14:2). There is one further manifestation however that is alluded to in this account, which is the physical behaviour that the saints were displaying at the time. Some in the crowd began to mock the saints, stating that they were drunk with wine, and it was at this point that Peter then stood up with the other apostles, and explained to the Jews that the disciples were not drunk, but rather that they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter confirmed to us that the disciples were displaying some sort of behaviour that was both visible and audible when he made the following comment, "He poured out this which you now see and hear” (Acts 2:33). So what made some onlookers believe that the disciples must have been drunk? It could not have been purely their speaking out the wonderful works of God in different languages, even though they must have done so with exuberance. And so, the key to understanding why some Jews accused them of being drunk, is in understanding the effects that the tangible power of God has on the human body and emotions. When the saints felt the tangible power of God coming on them for the first time, some of them would have begun to tremble under that power, some would have wept and still others would have laughed, while most probably some women among them, being more emotional, would have cried out in surprise and joy. None would have fallen on this occasion, for the scripture tells us that they were all seated (Acts 2:2), which is why the scripture speaks of Peter and the other apostles standing up to address the crowd (Acts 2:14). And so, these are the types of manifestations that would have led some Jews to mock the saints as being drunk. Something else that we need to note from this account, is that the scripture says that they were all filled, meaning that none of the saints were left out because they all spoke with tongues. And so clearly, tongues is the common spiritual gift given to all who are filled with the Holy Spirit, but some saints would have also received other spiritual gifts on this occasion, some even multiple gifts, depending on their calling. No mention however is made of other gifts being manifested on this occasion except tongues, nevertheless, all other spiritual gifts received would have been manifested from that time onwards, through those who had received them.
Michael E.B. Maher
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