Title: The Great Thing God Has Done
Contents
The great things God has done (Acts 2:5-13)
When the people from all over the world gathered in Jerusalem were amazed by the filling of the Holy Spirit that came on the Day of Pentecost, people from all over the world gathered in Jerusalem and began to speak in other languages as the Holy Spirit gave them the ability to speak. The Jews were scattered in various places (Diaspora). When they came to Jewish festivals (Passover, Weeks of Weeks, and Tabernacles), men over the age of 20 had to come to Jerusalem three times a year to observe the feasts. In particular, the Feast of Weeks brought many people to Jerusalem. They were amazed to hear the voices of those who were filled with the Holy Spirit. They think that the disciples who believe and follow Jesus are Galileans, how do they speak their own language? When the disciples came to pray and speak in tongues, people from 16 countries gathered there, saying, ‘What is this? What did the disciples really say in their tongues? What is God's intention through tongues?
1. Why people find it strange
When the Holy Spirit-filled disciples began to speak in the tongues the Spirit gave them, the devout Jews who came to Jerusalem from all parts of the world wondered because they were being heard in their hometown and local language. Because Jesus' disciples were from Galilee. That is, I thought they were the culprits, because they suddenly spoke the foreign language of each country fluently. People gathered here are from 16 different regions. However, because each of them spoke their own language, they made fun of Jesus' disciples as drunkards. The Holy Spirit of God works beyond human limitations. The power of the Almighty is also manifested among believers. God shows what God is doing through these wonderful ways. It is a metaphor for being filled with the Holy Spirit by getting drunk with new wine, and it also shows the state of being filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).
2. Contents of the Disciples' Tongues
When the disciples, who were filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke in tongues, they were “speaking of the great things of God.” The Bible shows that humans originally spoke one language. However, the development of human wisdom, after the flood of Noah, when people attempted to build the Tower of Babel in heaven by their power, God confuses their language, and they dispersed (Genesis 11:1-9). ). After these events, the human language became different in each region, and it was difficult to use it as a language barrier. However, through the presence of the Holy Spirit, an amazing event that can be understood in one language has occurred. The disciples spoke in tongues, but everyone who heard them heard them in their own language, so that “the great deeds of God” became known to everyone. The great work of God is about Jesus Christ, the Savior of mankind, which the angels testified through through the birth event of Jesus (Luke 2:10), and it is the testimony of the events of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection on the cross.
3. God's work through tongues
To meditate on the Word and share
1. What did the people say when they heard what the disciples were saying?
2. What does God's great work mean?
3. What meaning do tongues give to God's work?