The Amazed & the Mockers

Acts 2:1-13

When God shows up in the affairs of men, it is commonplace to find two groups of people, the amazed and the mockers.  And this is the case in the account of the Holy Spirit coming into the lives of the followers of Jesus Christ.  You must remember that when the Lord showed Himself to the disciples, they were hiding behind locked doors in fear of the Jews, and Jesus came and stood among them.  And do you recall what Jesus did after showing them His hands and His side; “And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”  (John 20:22-23)

That very day those in that room, behind locked doors, received the Holy Spirit, but much like you and me they did not understand the fullness of what Jesus had done.  It is eight days later and Jesus comes back to address Thomas who was not there on the earlier visit, and guess what the doors are still locked, they are not living as men with authority, in fact, they have little understanding of the power and authority that is living in them; much like you and me.

So it is time for Pentecost and if you were a Jew you called it (Hag) Shavuot, and it was the 50th day after the Passover offering of a sheaf of wheat. Pentecost was originally a harvest festival that came to be associated with Moses' law giving at Mt. Sinai.  It means "fifty" and designates the fiftieth day after Passover.  Pentecost relates to the Old Testament Feast of Weeks found in Deuteronomy 16:9-10.  But it is on that day that the Church came into being and this was the fulfillment of what Jesus promised in John 14:16-18, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever — the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”   I sure hope you reread the account of this in Acts 2:1-13, for it is there that you will discover the two groups of people, the amazed and the mockers. 

Why were some amazed and others mocked?  Because the Holy Spirit came into the room where this group of people were celebrating Shavuot or (Passover) and it sounded like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house were they were sitting.  And this is the account from Acts 2:3-4, “And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.  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?

           

It mattered not what language you spoke, when Peter and the others spoke you understood it without a translator other than the Holy Spirit of God.  Now we are living 2000 plus years later and God has reveal some cool technology that allows us to do something close to this with software technology, “Researchers at Microsoft have made software that can learn the sound of your voice, and then use it to speak a language that you don't. The system could be used to make language-tutoring software more personal, or to make tools for travelers.”  Now lets go back, these are people all from one area of the world, they were Galileans, and most were not considered educated and yet they had the software of the Holy Spirit speaking to all who would listen.

So what can we learn from this; first and most important is that all who are in Christ, not Baptist, not Catholic, nor any other group or denomination, but all who by faith in the finished work of Christ and have received the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus in John 14:16-18, have all the Holy Spirit you will ever receive.  But you may be like the disciples all locked up in a room, with no understanding of what Jesus has given you.  The other thing is to understand that when Jesus shows up in your life, some will be amazed and others will mock your actions, but it only matters that you give all praise and glory to the Father and the Son.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice