11: The Baptism in the Holy Spirit (Part Three)

The baptism in the Holy Spirit that Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for occurred on the Day of Pentecost, a harvest festival for Israel that brought Jews from around the world back to Jerusalem to celebrate. It was the perfect opportunity for God to make Israel aware of how He was fulfilling the coming of Messiah and the need for individual repentance to be saved.

^{Acts 2:1} When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

⁵ Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶ When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. ⁷ Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? ⁹ Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome ¹¹ (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” ¹² Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

There were several evidences of the Spirit baptizing the disciples:

• There was the sound of a violent wind (the word spirit in Hebrew and Greek can also mean wind)
• The appearance of fiery tongues rested above each disciple’s head
• Filled with the Spirit, they all began to prophesy in a language they didn’t know, languages that Jews from around the world understood as the languages of their country of habitation.

These stunning auditory and visual experiences drew a crowd. And they asked the right question – “What does this mean?” Peter takes the opportunity to explain what it means, that it is what the prophet Joel foretold:

^{Acts 2:17} “In the last days,” God says, “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. ¹⁸ Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. ¹⁹ I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. ²⁰ The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. ²¹ And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

What did not happen that day, however, was the wonders in the heavens above that actually signaled the coming of the Day of Yahweh, the day of judgment followed by the establishment of the kingdom on earth. There is this lag in the “last days” that extends them before the actual coming of the kingdom. The “last days” have begun, but their final point in time is indefinite. What is not indefinite is Joel’s assertion that whoever calls on the name of Yahweh in this time will be saved, and that is what Peter challenges each listener to do.

^{Acts 2:38} Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Is receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit the same as being baptized in the Spirit? I believe it is, and it seems all 3,000 who believed that day received the Holy Spirit. We don’t have a record of them speaking in tongues, or having flaming tongues appear over their heads, or another sound like a violent wind, but they received the Spirit. This is the first of four accounts in the book of Acts of people receiving/being baptized in the Spirit. We’ll see that there is a good reason for this.