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 in 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”. 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.
Michael E.B. Maher
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