Dr. Manny Arango (5:45)
Here's an interesting thing about that word witnesses. I love using Logos Bible Bible study software. And when you click on the word witnesses, the word that pops up in Greek is mark to race. Mark to race, which is where we get the English word for martyr. Okay, so to be a witness doesn't just mean that I saw something with my eyes or that I'm testifying on a witness stand. No, it means that I'm willing to die for what I saw, that I'm willing to be persecuted for what I saw. And a massive theme for the Book of Acts is going to be the persecution of the Church. Now, Jesus was clear. He said, wait, all right? Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift. My Father's promise. They don't necessarily wait. They go ahead and they replace Judas with a guy named Matthias. And we hear nothing else about Matthias for the rest of the dang on book of Acts or the Bible because God had a replacement for Judas. And that man's name is Saul. His Latin name is Paul. His Hebrew name is Saul. His Latin name is Paul. His Hebrew name is Saul. He does not convert from Saul to Paul. He. This, this is not like an Abram Abraham situation or like a Sarai Sarah situation, or like a Jacob Israel situation. There's no changing of names. That happens. His Hebrew name is Saul. His Latin name is Paul. And so, in wanting to be all things to all men, Saul is going to choose to go by his Latin name because he's going to be ministering to the Gentiles. All right, let's get into chapter two, because this is where the Holy Spirit comes. Okay? It says this in Acts, chapter 2, verse 1. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. A signifier of unity. Suddenly a sound like a blowing of a violent wind. Okay, so you need to remember, wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire. So now hold fire. So you got wind and we got fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. I want you to think wind and fire. Now, there's a couple of places in the Old Testament where we have seen wind and fire together. And it is the when the tabernacle gets filled with the glory of God in Exodus, chapter 40, and when the temple gets filled with the glory, the Shekinah glory of God in 2nd Chronicles, chapter 7. And what happens when the glory of God fills the tabernacle and fills the temple? Well, the glory of God comes as a cloud, and he comes with fire. And what is wind? I mean, wind and cloud is the same imagery and fire. So Acts chapter two is actually telling us that the New Testament church is now the place where the glory of God resides, where the glory of Yahweh, the locust for the glory of Yahweh is going to be the church of Jesus Christ. And why did the glory of God come and fill the tabernacle in the temple? Well, because God was pleased with the tabernacle in the temple. It was built according to the instructions that God had given. And a reward for that obedience is that God, the Divine Presence, is pleased to dwell within that space. What the Holy Spirit is saying here in the New Testament is that the church has been built and established by Jesus. And the reward for that is that the Holy Spirit is now going to dwell on the earth through the local church, through the church of Jesus Christ. That also means that there's going to be an individual indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So not only does the Holy Spirit dwell in the church, but the Holy Spirit dwells in the individuals that comprise that church. Peter is going to say it this way in First Peter, that God is building up his church and that we are all living stones. So the church is a collection of those stones, but that each stone is alive. Okay, so there is a collective infilling of the, of the presence of God and an individual infilling of the Spirit of the Lord. Now, there's another thing like lurking right beneath the surface right here in Acts chapter two. And it's actually a reversal of Babel. If you remember, in the Tower of Babel, all the people at Babel decided this. Let's build a tower that reaches the heavens. Okay, so let's get up to an upper room. Let's build a tower that reaches the heavens. Well, in Acts chapter two, they are in an elevated space. They're in the upper room. And instead of them getting to God, this is actually God's way. God says, no, instead of you coming to me, I'm going to come to you. And in the, in the Tower of Babel, God says this. If they have come together, knowing one language, in. In unity, and have decided to do this thing, nothing will be impossible for them. I have to now divide their language. And now we get an Acts chapter 2. Not a division of language, but a reunification of language. That in the tower of Babel they didn't understand one another and they were confused and they were dispersed. In Acts chapter two, those dispersed people groups are all brought back. They all hear the apostles in their own native language. Let me read it to you. Acts chapter two. Now there were staying in Jerusalem, God fearing Jews from every nation under heaven when they heard this sound. A crowd came together in bewilderment because each one heard their own language being spoken. So this is the miracle of supernatural unity. Which means what good is it if you can speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but you don't have love? What good is it if you use the gift of the Holy Spirit to speak in tongues, but you don't actually use the gift of the Holy Spirit for what it was intended to do, which was reverse Babel and bring supernatural unity. Not the kind of unity that we would gather together and do something that's displeasing to God, but the kind of unity that we would come together to do something that God has ordained, which is build his kingdom, will build his church and expand his kingdom. They get a, the reward of a new temple and a new tabernacle, the individual indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the collective indwelling of the Holy Spirit and a reversal of Babel. And then starting in verse nine, we're going to get like a list of like where all these people are from, all of these God fearing Jews. It says Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontius, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, Cyrene. Like, I mean it's just going to give us a long list of places that all these people are from. And if we compare that to the table of nations that we get in Genesis, we're actually going to see that the Bible here in Acts wants us to compare these lists and wants us to see what's happening here in Acts chapter two as a reversal of Babel. Let's just think about Babel really quick. Like why did God's solution work? Because there's nothing in the text that guarantees us that God's solution is going to work, right? If, if I'm speaking French and you're speaking Spanish and somebody else is speaking English, all we have to do is wait a couple of years, learn each other's languages and continue building the tower. But their language, the beauty of their language is more important to them than the thing that they were working on. And so God's plan actually worked. And what we're saying here is the pride that would allow me to not want to work with you because you speak a different language. God is overcoming that barrier because again, there's not just an ethnocentric point to the Gospel, but God wants to bless all the nations of the earth. We get to Acts chapter three. Peter and John heal a man that's being laid at the gate called Beautiful. And we see this as a continuation of the ministry of Jesus. There are tons of parallels between Peter and John going to the temple at the time of prayer and seeing a man who's lame from birth at the gate called Beautiful and healing him. Tons of parallels between the healings of Jesus and Peter and John healing this man. In Acts chapter three, Peter then preaches the first sermon on the day of Pentecost. And the Bible says that people accept the Gospel and people get saved. And this is the beginning of the church, that everything that Jesus began to do in the book of Luke is being continued by the Holy Spirit and by the apostles. I've got a timeless truth for you today as we wrap up this overview of Acts, chapter one, two and three. And here's a timeless truth. It's way back in Acts 1:8 is the fact that the word for witness is martyr. And simply look with your eyes, but not suffer for what you believe is not what it means to be a witness. A biblical witness is to see that Jesus has risen from the dead to then proclaim what you have seen and then accept those consequences. The reason there's persecution is because their message is not simply that Jesus has died for the remission of your sins. That message doesn't bring persecution. But guess what message does bring persecution? The actual gospel brings persecution. And the Gospel is that Jesus is king and that God has vindicated him by raising him from the dead. That message attracts a lot of hate and vitriol from the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. And eventually it's going to attract a lot of hate and persecution from the Roman world that Paul and Barnabas are going to minister to as they go on missionary journeys. All right, that is the beginning of the book of Acts. I will see you right here tomorrow as we continue our daily trek through the entire Bible. I'm so excited that you decided that this year would be the year that you finally read through the entire Bible. I'm proud of you. I'LL see you tomorrow. Peace. Thank you so much for joining me on the Bible Department podcast. If this episode was helpful, it would mean the world to me if you'd give us a follow rate and review the show. And don't forget to share. You can learn more about the show@thebibledepartment.com and find us on Instagram hebible department if you want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.
