Holy Spirit outpouring

Outpouring of the Holy Spirit




In a previous chapter we read that Jesus had instructed His disciples to wait in Jerusalem to receive supernatural power.  They had to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Thereby, they would receive spiritual power for the tremendous task of making disciples of all nations. For this they waited on God in prayer.

You will also remember that at Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit came on Him in the form of a dove, which was a symbol of peace. Now, in the upper room, the Holy Spirit came on each one of those that were gathered in the form of a tongue of fire. His coming was also accompanied by the sound of a roaring wind, heard inside and outside the building.

Human beings find it very hard to flee before wind or fire. By these two symbols, God was saying that when His disciples would go to the nations, testifying of Him, their words would have an almost irresistable impact on the listeners.

The message of salvation taken to the crowds




The minds of the people that had received the Holy Spirit were now filled with languages they had never heard before and their tongues were touched to formulate those languages into words. This was for a good reason: it was for sharing the Gospel with other people.

Multitudes of people from nations all over the world that had gathered in Jerusalem for the Jewish religious feast called the Passover, had rushed to the building from which the sound of wind came to determine the cause.

The Spirit filled people who were now no longer afraid of the Jewish leaders, rushed down the stairs to the surrounding streets, met with these crowds and started sharing with them the good message of Jesus that had been crucified for their sins but had risen, proving that He was the Son of God and that the Father had accepted His sacrifice.

Groups of people each gathered around the speaker speaking their own language, so they could clearly understand what was said. Everybody was astounded by the miracle of the multiplication of languages and were thereby convinced that the message they heard was the truth.

Peter’s sermon





When the commotion and excitement somewhat subsided, Peter, as leader, knew that the moment had come to address the crowd collectively. He stepped forward and explained that what happened was expected, because the prophet Joel had prophesied long ago of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the signs that would follow. He then related the history of how it came that Jesus died for man’s sins. In closing, he assured them that everyone who would pray to God and ask forgiveness, would be saved.

The first penitents






Just as Jesus had promised, the Holy Spirit used Peter and the other speakers and many people were touched deep in their hearts. They were greatly concerned about their sins and enquired what they had to do to be forgiven.

Peter replied that they had to repent of their sins and be baptized in water (as an open testimony of their repentance and acceptance of Jesus). God the Father would forgive them and give the gift of the Holy Spirit into their hearts so that they would be changed into children of God.

This He would do freely, without them having to pay for it, or sacrifice an animal, or first try to live right for a while. That was what God promised.

Many of them were vry pleased to hear this message that came from God. They did what Peter told them to do and just the men that got saved and baptized that day, numbered 3000.



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