Pentecost
The outpouring of the holy spirit on the
day of Pentecost is the archetype for similar events later
in Acts. It also kicks off the rest of the Acts narrative
generally. So it's little surprise that the numbers in the
story point at the book of Acts.
Acts 2:1-41
1When the days of Pentecost were fulfilled, when they were all assembled as 1,
2suddenly a sound came from the skies like a mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3There appeared to them tongues which were divided like flames of fire and they rested on each of them.
4They were all filled with the Holy Spirit S Genesis 2:7 and they began to speak in a different tongue according to what the Spirit gave them to speak.
Acts 2:1-45There lived at Jerusalem devout men and Jews from every people under the skies.
6As the sound took place all the people gathered together and they were confused because every man heard them speak in his own tongue.
7They were all amazed and stunned, saying to each other, Are not all these who speak Galileans?
8How is it that we hear every man in our own native tongue?
1|13 9Parthians, 2|13 and Medes, 3|13 and Elamites, 4|13 and those who live in Beth-Naharaim, Jews and Cappadocians, 5|13 and those from the regions of Pontus, 6|13 and of Asia,
7|13 10and those from the regions of Phrygia, 8|13 and of Pamphylia, 9|13 and of Mizraim, 10|13 and of the regions of Libya near Cyrene, 11|13 and those who have come from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
12|13 11and who were from Crete, 13|13 and Arabians, we hear them speak in our own tongues of the wonderful works of God.
12They were all stunned and amazed, saying to each other, What does this mean?
Acts 2:5-12 13Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
Acts 2:1314After this Simeon Peter stood up with the 11 apostles and lifted up his voice and said to them, Men, Jews, and all that live at Jerusalem, let this be known to you and listen to my words.
15For these men are not drunk as you suppose, for it is but the 3rd hour of the day.
16This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17.1It will come to pass in the latter days, said God,
17.2I will pour my Spirit on all flesh.
17.3Your sons and your daughters will prophesy
17.4and your young men will see visions
17.5and your old men will dream dreams.
18.1On my male servants and on my female servants
18.2I will pour out my Spirit in those days
18.3and they will prophesy.
19.1I will show wonders in the skies
19.2and signs on the land,
19.3blood and fire and plumes of smoke.
20.1The sun will be changed into darkness
20.2and the moon into blood
20.3before that great and fearful day of the Master will come.
21.1It will come to pass that whoever will call
21.2on the name of the Master will receive life. Q Joel 2:28-32
Acts 2:14-2122Men, children of Israel, hear these words. Joshua of Nazareth , a man who is from God, appeared among you with miracles and signs and mighty works , which God did among you by his hand, as you yourselves know.
23This one who was chosen for this purpose from the very beginning by the knowledge and will of God you delivered into the hands of wicked men and you crucified and you killed,
24but God raised him, having destroyed the cords of the grave, because it was not possible for him to be held in the grave.
25.1For David said concerning him before:
25.2I foresaw my master always,
25.3for he is on my right hand
25.4so that I should not be shaken.
26.1Therefore, my heart is comforted and my glory is exalted;
26.2even my body will rest in hope
27.1because you will not leave my soul in the grave,
27.2nor will you permit your holy one to see corruption.
28.1You have revealed to me the way of life;
28.2you will fill me with joy with your presence. Q Psalms 16:8-11
Acts 2:22-2829Men and brothers, permit me to speak to you openly concerning the patriarch David who is dead and buried and whose sepulcher is with us to this day.
30For he was a prophet and he knew that God had sworn to him by an oath that from the fruit of his loins he would sit on his throne.
31He foresaw and spoke concerning the raising of the Messiah that his soul was not left in the grave nor did his body see corruption.
32This Joshua God has raised up and we are all his witnesses.
33It is he who is exalted by the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promise that is on the Holy Spirit and has poured out this gift which you now see and hear.
34.1For David did not ascend into the skies, because he himself said:
34.2Said the Master to my master:
34.3Sit on my right hand
35.1until I make your foes
35.2your footstool. Q Psalms 110:1
Acts 2:29-3536Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that the Master and the Messiah God has made this Joshua whom you have crucified.
Acts 2:3637When they heard these things their hearts were touched and they said to Simeon and the rest of the apostles, Our brothers what will we do?
Acts 2:3738Simeon said to them, Repent and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of the Master Joshua, for the forgiveness of sins, so that you may receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,
39for the promise was made to you and to your sons and to all of those who are far off, whom God will call.
Acts 2:38-3940He testified to them with many other words and begged them, saying, Save yourselves from this perverse generation.
41Those men among them who readily accepted his word and believed were baptized and about 3,000 souls were added in that day. Acts 2:40-41 (Acts 2:1-41 BRB) Count
11+3+3000 = 3014 = Acts
Acts
The day of Pentecost sits like an inflection point in
the narrative of Acts. Prior to the Pentecost story Jesus
spoke of it to his disciples.
4When he ate bread with them he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to continue toward the promise of the Father, that which you have heard from me,
5for John baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit Q Acts 11:16 not many days from now.
Acts 1:4-56When they were assembled they asked him, saying, Our Master, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?
Acts 1:67He said to them, It is not for you to know the time nor times which the Father has set by his own authority.
8When the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will receive power, and you will be witnesses to me 1|4 in Jerusalem, 2|4 and in all Judah, 3|4 and also in the house of Samaria, 4|4 and to the ends of the land. Acts 1:7-8 (Acts 1:4-8 BRB) After the events of Pentecost the miraculous acts of the
apostles begin to unfold because the spirit is on them, and
they look back at Pentecost to understand what Jesus was
doing at later dates, like when the spirit was poured out on
Gentiles for the first time.
44While Simeon spoke these words the Holy Spirit rested on all who heard the word.
45The circumcised brothers who had come with him were seized with amazement, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was also poured out on the peoples,
46for they heard them speak in a different tongue and magnify God.
Acts 10:44-4647Simeon said to them, Can any man refuse water, that these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have should not be baptized?
48He commanded them to be baptized in the name of our Master Joshua the Messiah, and they urged him to remain with them a few days. Acts 10:47-48 (Acts 10:44-48 BRB)
Peter uses his personal experience of the way the spirit
was given to himself and the other apostles on the day of
Pentecost to determine that Jesus' program extended even to
the Gentiles, because the same spirit was given to Gentiles
in the same way it was given to Jews. So the highly important
transition in Acts from a scope that was really only Jewish
to one that truly embraced the whole world is staked in the
events on the day of Pentecost.
That the larger Acts narrative is anchored in the events
of the day of Pentecost is fairly clear from a careful study
of Acts, but the numbers in the Pentecost story make this
relationship abundantly clear. By pointing the reader to the
book as a whole, the Pentecost story reveals it's importance
to the book as a whole.
Ryan Eaton 2012-09-18