Daily Thoughts from Acts: Babel Revisited (Acts 2:5-13)

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”  (Acts 2:5-13 ESV)

God uses the sound of the rushing wind and the disciples speaking of His greatness to draw a crowd of Jews who have come to Jerusalem for the Passover and Pentecost and are temporarily dwelling there.  They come from all the countries listed because Yahweh commands certain festivals to be attended by males.  Their native tongues are varied but they can find one or two or more speaking in their native language rather than Aramaic, their common tongue.

As with any miracle it points to something pertinent that God wants to make known.  In this case it points to His desire to make known the gospel to every nation, tribe and tongue.  The devout among these Jews are perplexed because they don’t know what the signification is.  Peter will soon explain.  

But the mockers among them suppose the disciples have gotten drunk.  This is pure silliness, since being drunk slurs speech, it does not grant ability to speak in a language you don’t know.  The listeners have discerned that the speakers are all Galileans, perhaps by their accents.  There is no way they could speak all the dialects represented unless a miracle has occurred.

Pentecost (the Jews called it Shavuot) was the spring harvest festival occurring 50 days after Passover, hence the Greek pentecoste (fiftieth).  Though it is a Jewish religious festival it was God’s choice to pore out the Holy Spirit upon Jews from every nation as a picture of how He loves every nation and wants the message of forgiveness and His kingdom to reach all peoples.  The language of the human race was confused at the tower of Babel and led to the dispersion of people into different people groups as a restraint against sin.  But in the kingdom there will be no need for such restraint, so the message of the kingdom is signaled by a reversal of Babel as the disciples are enabled to speak many languages and make the gospel intelligible to all.  And a harvest occurred, a harvest of souls.

This is still God’s desire, to reach the world.  He made Abraham a great nation in order to bless all nations.  Israel must still fulfill this purpose, and the church, which is now a part of this great purpose, must not fail to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, learning whatever language necessary to make it intelligible to all.  We will be misunderstood and mocked, no doubt, but we will also see a great harvest.  Spirit of God, fill us again and again.

“I have but one passion—it is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ.”—Count Zinzindorf

“The greatest missionary is the Bible in the mother tongue. It needs no furlough and is never considered a foreigner.”—William Townsend