Acts 2

Acts 2

The second chapter of Acts is a pivotal moment in church and biblical history. It is a chapter that fulfills ancient prophecy while at the same time, launching a new movement and confirming a new covenant between God and his people. This second chapter consists of three parts: the Holy Spirit coming upon the apostles, the gospel being preached by Peter and the evidence of the indwelling of the Spirit in community. These three parts come together to create a unified narrative that fulfills hopes and inspires dreams. 

The first part, consisting only of a few verses, tells of the apostles’ experience receiving the Holy Spirit. As Peter would say later in his sermon, this moment would fulfill prophecies like the prophet Joel described in Joel 2:28-29). It was a day when God’s Spirit would come to dwell in God’s people. His people would no longer have to be High Priest and enter the Most Holy Place to be in God’s presence. God’s presence would not only be available to all believers but dwell in them. 

The Spirit came with a wind and they saw what looked like “tongues of fire”. This is a grand connection to Mt. Sinai and the Moses narrative. The wind surrounded Mt. Sinai as Moses received instruction and God calling Moses from the burning bush are all narratives that lay behind this story. 

This event also happened at Pentecost. Pentecost was a festival dedicated to celebrating the wheat harvest but it was also a time dedicated to remembering the Torah being given to Moses at Mt. Sinai. At Pentecost, thousands would gather from different cultures and tongues to celebrate the festival. This can be seen as a reversal of Babel in Genesis 11. At Babel, languages were confused and tongues were scattered. Now here in Acts, thousands are united and everyone hears the gospel in their language. This moment combines all these narratives together to say that the church has begun and restoration can begin right now. 

Peter then preaches the gospel to a mixed crowd of ethnicity and language. They all hear the message in their language- this is the miracle happening here! Peter preaches boldly that Jesus was put to death by the people that were in the crowd but he is no longer dead. He resurrected and he now reigns as the true king of Israel and the world. They respond to this message, repent and are baptized in response. 

The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to breaking bread, and to prayer. They live in unity, share possessions, care for the needy, and truly experience heaven on earth. This is what happens when God’s transforming Spirit enters his people. People are not just changed but transformed from the inside out and their actions show it. We see here that the church age started off with a bang and would continue to have impact everywhere Jesus was preached. Acts 2 is vital to the story of Scripture and the kingdom of God. The church begins here and God’s transformative Spirit is poured out, prophecies fulfilled, and it reveals a community of believers working to build God’s kingdom.