Pentecost
I. The congregation in that upper room was the representative, or, as it were, the seed-germ, of the whole Catholic Church of all the centuries and of every land. For a symbol of this, its world-wide significance, the little Church rehearsed the praises of redemption in all the tongues of all the lands over which God had scattered the tribes of Israel. This polyglot praise was the consecration of heathen speech to the service of Israel's Jehovah. It foreshadowed the catholic grace of God which has turned common and unclean tongues to holy use. It meant, though they knew it not, the gathering in of the Gentile races to the God of Jacob. Let us, then, not be fond of uniformity that is false Catholicism. Let us seek the higher unity which rests on freedom and variety. In the true Catholic Church which stands in our creed, and is dear to our heart, there are many tongues and forms of utterance tongues so diverse that, alas! we often fail to recognise one another; yet is there only one Spirit, who inspires, and having inspired, interprets; who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
II. We are the heirs of Pentecost. Then first the waiting Church below was linked tight in uttermost unity of life to its reigning Lord above. One Spirit embraces the throne in heaven, and the upper room on earth. To each Christian man in every Christian age, there has stood, and still stands open, the unrevoked grant of the fulness of the Spirit; such fulness as will fill him, if he be willing to take it in, up to his capacity. To each of us it is, and has been, according to our faith. If we are carnal, cold, timid, desponding, servile-hearted, fearful, it is not because we live under the law, not because God has set bounds to His grace, nor because the Holy Ghost is not yet, as if Christ were not yet glorified. It is because we have either no heart to desire, or no faith to expect. We have not now, because we ask not. "Ask and ye shall receive."
J. Oswald Dykes, From Jerusalem to Antioch,p. 43.
I. It is said in the text that the disciples began to speak.The first effect of the outpouring of the Spirit on the disciples was to prompt them to speak. A man may have a little of the Holy Spirit and observe silence, but if he is filled with the Spirit he cannot hold his peace.
II. The disciples began to speak with other tongues. The Lord descended to Babel and confused the tongues He there and then set a train of circumstances in motion which necessarily resulted in diversity of languages. The Lord descended to Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost unified the tongues again He there and then set a train of circumstances in motion which inevitably led to a better understanding between the nations, and a more thorough knowledge of each other's languages. The miracle of the Pentecost will gradually neutralise the miracle of Babel.
III. The disciples began to speak with other tongues the wonderful works of God. The wonderful works of God are, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These formed the grand topics which the disciples construed into other tongues; not nature, but the gospel; not creation, but redemption.
IV. They spoke to men of other nations. Increased life always demands increased scope for its exercise. The fire first burns into the heart of the disciples, then it begins to extend its area, and now it threatens to burn up all the stubble of the world.
V. The disciples spoke to other nations, that they also might be filled with the Holy Ghost. "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
J. Cynddylan Jones, Studies in the Acts,p. 20.
References: Acts 2:1-13. J. Oswald Dykes, Preacher's Lantern,vol. iv., p. 124.Acts 2:1-21. Parker, Contemporary Pulpit,vol. iii., p. 316. Acts 2:2; Acts 2:3. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iv., p. 255.