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. We will discuss the following manifestations in detail later in this series, but I will list some of them here to describe what the Jews were most probably seeing on that occasion. 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 down on this occasion, for the scripture tells us that they were all seated (Acts 2:2), which is why the 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. The manifestations that the Jews would not have seen however, would be the saints screaming, rolling about on the floor, shaking violently, convulsing and behaving like animals, for that would have led the Jews to believe that they were demonized rather than drunk. At the end of Peter’s sermon, he invited the Jews to receive salvation through Jesus, and they too would then receive the gift of the Holy Spirit that they had just witnessed the saints receiving. And so, three thousand souls responded to his message and were added to the kingdom of God on that day. 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 nevertheless 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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