14 Jun Turunnya Roh Kudus

KISAH RASUL 2:1-13:

1. Ketika tiba hari Pentakosta, semua orang percaya berkumpul di satu tempat.
2. Tiba-tiba turunlah dari langit suatu bunyi seperti tiupan angin keras yang memenuhi seluruh rumah, di mana mereka duduk;
3. dan tampaklah kepada mereka lidah-lidah seperti nyala api yang bertebaran dan hinggap pada mereka masing-masing.
4. Maka penuhlah mereka dengan Roh Kudus, lalu mereka mulai berkata-kata dalam bahasa-bahasa lain, seperti yang diberikan oleh Roh itu kepada mereka untuk mengatakannya.
5. Waktu itu di Yerusalem diam orang-orang Yahudi yang saleh dari segala bangsa di bawah kolong langit.
6. Ketika turun bunyi itu, berkerumunlah orang banyak. Mereka bingung karena mereka masing-masing mendengar rasul-rasul itu berkata-kata dalam bahasa mereka sendiri.
7. Mereka semua tercengang-cengang dan heran, lalu berkata: “Bukankah mereka semua yang berkata-kata itu orang Galilea?
8. Bagaimana mungkin kita masing-masing mendengar mereka berkata-kata dalam bahasa kita sendiri, yaitu bahasa yang kita pakai di negeri asal kita:
9. kita orang Partia, Media, Elam, penduduk Mesopotamia, Yudea dan Kapadokia, Pontus dan Asia,
10. Frigia dan Pamfilia, Mesir dan daerah-daerah Libia yang berdekatan dengan Kirene, pendatang-pendatang dari Roma,
11. baik orang Yahudi maupun penganut agama Yahudi, orang Kreta dan orang Arab, kita mendengar mereka berkata-kata dalam bahasa kita sendiri tentang perbuatan-perbuatan besar yang dilakukan Allah.”
12. Mereka semuanya tercengang-cengang dan sangat termangu-mangu sambil berkata seorang kepada yang lain: “Apakah artinya ini?”
13. Tetapi orang lain menyindir: “Mereka sedang mabuk oleh anggur manis.”

Banyak orang berpendapat bahwa hari Pentakosta adalah hari lahirnya GEREJA. 

Pendapat ini tidaklah terlalu tepat, karena asal kata dari GEREJA baik dalam bahasa Ibrani dan Yunani adalah “YANG DIPANGGIL KELUAR”.

Tuhan sudah mulai memberikan panggilan dan anugerah Nya kepada manusia untuk melakukan kehidupan yang sesuai dengan keinginan Nya jauh sebelum hari Pentakosta, bahkan sejak Tuhan memanggil Abram keluar dari Urkasdim dan merbah namanya menjadi Abraham diberikan tempat kediaman yang baru yang kita kenal dengan tanah perjanjian. 

What makes this unique, though, is the descent of the Holy Spirit. There’s a sense in which the Old Testament people of God became the New Testament people of God because down came the Holy Spirit with a transforming power that had never been known heretofore. 

In a certain sense, the people of God are getting rebooted, relaunched, here on Pentecost. 

It’s the fullness of the Spirit.

Dipenuhi dengan Roh Kudus berarti:

1. KITA MENERIMA KUASA DARI LUAR KITA 
2. KITA MENERIMA MUJIZAT DARI DALAM 
3. KITA MENERIMA PESAN YANG UNIVERSAL 
4. KITA MENERIMA SEORANG YANG BERADA DIATAS GUNUNG 

Ada tiga keajaiban yang terjadi pada hari Pentakosta:

 

1. KITA MENERIMA KUASA DARI TEMPAT TINGGI

KISAH RASUL 2:1:

Tiba-tiba turunlah dari langit suatu bunyi seperti tiupan angin keras yang memenuhi seluruh rumah, di mana mereka duduk

Keajaiban pertama: “TIUPAN ANGIN KERAS”

Perhatikan: MEREKA MENDENGAR DAN MERASAKAN SESUATU SEPERTI TIUPAN ANGIN KERAS.

Bukan tiupan angin keras yang sebenarnya tetapi SEPERTI TIUPAN ANGIN KERAS. 

Point penting nya adalah, MEREKALAH MENGALAMI ADA SESUATU KUASA YANG DARI ATAS TURUN KEPADA MEREKA.

Hal ini bukankah pengaruh kuasa secara internal dari kejiwaan mereka bangkit dari dalam dan bergerak keluar. 

Yang mereka alami adalah, SUATU KUASA YANG MEREKA DENGAR DAN MEREKA RASAKAN DARI LUAR DIRI MEREKA, dan bukan sekadar dari luar tapi dari ATAS ATAU SORGA.

“JADI, DIPENUHI DENGAN ROH KUDUS ADALAH KITA DIPENGARUHI OLEH KUASA TUHAN YANG BERASAL DARI SORGA YANG MASUK KEDALAMAN HIDUP KITA, DAN BUKAN CUMA SEKEDAR PENGALAMAN EMOSI DAN KEJIWAAN YANG BARASAL DARI DALAM DIRI KITA SENDIRI!”

That immediately puts us on a collision course with our culture and what the culture tells you and me about our problems and the solution.

Budaya dunia berkata bahwa semua masalah kita berasal dari luar kita, dan kita punya semua penyelesaian nya didalam diri kita.

Alkitab berkata, “SEMUA PERSOALAN YANG KITA ALAMIN BERASAL DARI DALAM DIRI KITA YANG SUDAH BERDOA, DAN DARI ATAS, DARI TUHAN KITA MENERIMA KUASA YANG DAPAT MENYELESAIKAN SEMUA PERMASALAHAN YANG TERJADI DIDALAM HIDUP KITA.

The world said, “Whatever you aspire to be and do, you have all the power within you to make it happen.”

That’s what the world tells you. 

If you have problems, they’re out there: social prejudice or dysfunctional family or political and economic corruption. 

The problems are out there, and you have inside you everything you need in order to solve your problems. 

The Bible says the opposite. 

Our fundamental nature is to be self-centered, is to feel like we are the centre of the universe, and we are blind to how self-centered we are. We can’t admit how self-centered we are. 

This is the reason the world is a miserable place. 

You have a whole bunch of little centres of the universe running around, and only one person can be the centre of the universe, so we’re constantly clashing with each other.

“The world says the problem is out there and the solution is in here. 

Christianity says the problem is in here and the power of God is the solution from out there”

What they say is years ago people came in saying, “I need to understand myself and change.” Now people feel like, “My problems are because there are people out there who need to change.”

That means, “I see fewer and fewer people today saying, ‘I want to change.’ What I see is more and more people saying they come in because they want someone or something else to change.” 

In modern education they of bombarding kids with self-esteem means we are an entire culture of people who say, “If I have a problem it’s not me; it’s you.” 

KALAU SEMUA MASALAH KITA BERASAL DARI ORANG LAIN DAN DARI LINGKUNGAN YANG KITA TIDAK BISA KENDALIKAN, MAKA KITA AKAN MENJALANI KEHIDUPAN YANG SANGAT FRUSTRASI DAN KEHANCURAN.

TETAPI KALAU SUMBER PERMASALAHANYA ADA DIDALAM KITA; MAKA KITA PUNYA PENGHARAPAN BESAR, KARENA TUHAN PUNYA KUASA YANG AKAN DIMASUKKAN KEDALAM KEHIDUPAN KITA DAN MAMPU MENJADIKAN KITA CIPTAKAN BARU. 

 

2. KITA MENERIMA MUJIZAT ROH DARI DALAM 

Keajaiban ke dua:

KISAH RASUL 2:3:

dan tampaklah kepada mereka lidah-lidah seperti nyala api yang bertebaran dan hinggap pada mereka masing-masing.

ACTS 2:3:

[3] And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 

In the Old Testament, when God’s glory presence, his special presence, shows up, it shows up as fire.

When he’s making a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15, he appears as a blazing torch. 

When he appears to Moses the very first time in the wilderness, he appears as a burning bush. 

When he comes down on Mount Sinai to appear to the people of Israel (we’ll get back to this later), he comes down in fire and smoke. 

When he’s leading the children of Israel through the wilderness, at night he’s a pillar of fire. 

Whenever the fire of God, the presence of God, in the Old Testament showed up, it was overwhelming. It was intolerable. It was fatal sometimes. 

“DIDALAM PERJANJIAN LAMA, KEHADIRAN TUHAN YANG SPESIAL, KEMULIAAN TUHAN YANG KELIHATAN, DAN SEMUA YANG BERHUBUNGAN DENGAN KEPRIBADIAN TUHAN AKAN SELALU DINYATAKAN DENGAN API”

What’s happening on the day of Pentecost? 

SETIAP ORANG PERCAYA ADALAH SEMAK BELUKAR YANG MENYALA. HADIRAT TUHAN, KEMULIAAN TUHAN SEKARANG TURUN KEATAS SEMUA ORANG-ORANG PERCAYA.

KEHADIRAN TUHAN YANG DAHULU BISA MEMATIKAN TETAPI SEKARANG BERADA DIDALAM SEMUA ORANG PERCAYA.

KARENA DIKATAKAN HINGGAP PADA MEREKA MASING-MASING 

Notice it says it came to rest on each of them.

In that room were the apostles, and the apostles were the most ordained people in history. 

Ordained means you’re trained, you’re a leader in the church, you’re set apart, and you have authority.

But in the history of the church, there have never been officers like the apostles, because they were chosen directly by Jesus Christ, recruited and trained by him and set in their place, so they were really ordained. They were really installed. They were really authorities. 

But they’re not the only ones who got the Holy Spirit.

The tongues of flame rested on each one of them, the humblest Christian, male and female, clergy and lay, everybody. 

Whenever I read in the Bible about the fullness of the Spirit, it’s expressed in many ways,

PADA WAKTU ROH KUDUS TURUN KEATAS YESUS SETELAH DIBAPTIS, YESUS MENDENGAR SUARA DARI SORGA YANG BERKATA:”INIKAH ANAK KU YANG KUKASIHI, KEPADA NYA AKU BERKENAN”

You say, “Well, that’s Jesus,” but in Romans 8:16 we’re told for all Christians the Spirit comes into our hearts and bears witness with our spirits that we are children of God. 

Roh itu bersaksi bersama-sama dengan roh kita, bahwa kita adalah anak-anak Allah. – Romans 8:16

GALATIA 4:6:

Dan karena kamu adalah anak, maka Allah telah menyuruh Roh Anak-Nya ke dalam hati kita, yang berseru: “ya Abba, ya Bapa!“

“PEKERJAAN ROH KUDUS ADALAH UNTUK MASUK KEDALAMAN HIDUP KITA DAN MEYAKINKAN BAHWA DIA SANGAT MENGASIHI KITA, DIA BERGAIRAH ATAS HIDUP KITA, DAN MEMBUKTIKAN BAHWA KITA ADALAH ANAK NYA”

YOHANES 14:26:

tetapi Penghibur, yaitu Roh Kudus, yang akan diutus oleh Bapa dalam nama-Ku, Dialah yang akan mengajarkan segala sesuatu kepadamu dan akan mengingatkan kamu akan semua yang telah Kukatakan kepadamu.

“ITU BEARTI BAHWA FIRMAN TUHAN YANG KITA TAHU SECARA PIKIRAN, ROH KUDUS AKAN MENJADIKAN KEYAKINAN DIDALAM HATI KITA SAMPAI SEMUA ITU MENJADI SUATU KEBENARAN DAN KENYATAAN DALAM HIDUP KITA”

Thomas Goodwin, He says one day he was watching a father and a little son walking along the street, and they were talking, but at one point they turned to each other, and the father swept the son up into his arms and hugged him. His little boy put his arms around his father’s neck, and they hugged and kissed and said they loved each other. 

Then after that was done, he put the boy down, and they kept on walking.

Thomas Goodwin asks was the little boy more a son in his father’s arms than he was down on the street? 

Legally, no. He was as much a son in the arms as on the street, as much a son on the street as in the arms. 

Objectively, no difference. Subjectively, experientially, and existentially, Yes! And all the difference.

Inti cerita ini:

DALAM DEKAPAN PELUKAN SANG BAPAK, SANG ANAK MENGALAMI DAN MENIKMATI KASIH SAYANG BAPAK NYA LEBIH DARI BIASANYA. 

SANG ANAK SEDANG MENIKMATI KEBERADAAN NYA SEBAGAI ANAK YANG SANGAT DIKASIHI BAPAK NYA. 

“PADA WAKTU ROH KUDUS MEMENUHI SELURUH KEHIDUPAN KITA, MAKA KITA MENGALAMI DEKAPAN DAN PELUKAN KASIH SAYANG SANG BAPA SORGAWI, SEBAGAI SUATU JAMINAN JATI DIRI KITA DIHADAPAN NYA. DAN ROH KUDUS AKAN MENJADIKAN APA YANG KITA KETAHUI TENTANG FIRMAN TUHAN MENJADIKAN NYA PENGALAMAN YANG NYATA DAN AJAIB”

Holy Spirit will makes you sense:

“ROH KUDUS SANGAT MENGASIHI KITA. UNTUK MENYELAMATKAN KITA ROH KUDUS SUDAH MELAKUKAN PENGORBANAN YANG TIDAK TERNILAI DAN TIDAK TERBATAS TINGGI DAN DALAM NYA. ROH KUDUS TIDAK AKAN MELEPASKAN KITA DARI KASIH NYA DAN TIDAK AKAN PERNAH ADA SUATU KUASA APAPUN BAIK YANG SEKARANG, YANG AKAN DATANG, BAIK YANG DI BUMI, DI BAWAH BUMI DAN DI LANGIT YANG BISA NEMISAHKAN KITA DARI DEKAPAN NYA.

ROH KUDUS AKAN SELALU MEMELUK KITA DENGAN ERAT, DAN DIA AKAN MENGAMBIL APA YANG BURUK DARI KITA SEHINGGA MENJADIKAN KITA LAYAK DIHADAPAN TUHAN UNTUK DIPERMULIAKAN BERSAMA DENGAN TUHAN YESUS”

If that’s all true, why am I worried? Why am I upset about money? 

Why do I care if that person snubbed me? 

Why do I ever get down?” 

That’s the voice of the fullness of the Spirit. When you can talk to yourself like that, you have it.

What does it look like on the outside when we filled with the Holy Spirit ? 

It looks like you’re drunk. 

Look at verse 13. Some said, “They’re drunk.” 

Later on, Paul picks up on that in Ephesians 5:18 and says, “Don’t be drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit.” 

What it means is being filled with the Spirit must be like being drunk but it’s also unlike being drunk. 

“Don’t be drunk with wine; be filled with the Spirit.” It means it’s like being drunk and it’s not like being drunk.

The reason they thought they were drunk was because of the joyful fearlessness. 

They were speaking the gospel without inhibition out in public. They were too happy to care what people thought. 

They were too happy to be afraid of anything.

Now when you see this joyful fearlessness, this lack of inhibition, it can remind you of being drunk, because alcohol does that. 

It takes away your inhibitions, and you’re fearless because you’re so happy. 

“DIPENUHI DENGAN ROH KUDUS ADALAH SEPERTI SEORANG MABUK, KARENA KITA SEDANG MERASAKAN DEKAPAN KASIH SANG BAPA YANG MELINGKUPI KITA. KARENA KASIH SANG BAPA YANG DINYATAKAN KEPADA KITA SECARA AJAIB, MAKA HAL ITU MEMBUAT KITA SANGAT BERSUKACITA DAN JUGA MEMBUAT KITA TIDAK MEMILIKI PERASAAN TAKUT PADA APAPUN”

But what Paul means when he says, “Don’t be drunk with wine; be filled with the Spirit.” 

Well, those of you with a medical background know alcohol is a depressant. 

I know when people get drunk they get pretty happy.

It doesn’t mean it makes you depressed; it means it depresses part of your brain functions.

The reason you’re happy when you’re drunk is because you’re stupid. It’s because you are less aware of reality. 

In other words, reality is hidden from me. 

What’s really wrong is hidden from me. I’m happy through stupidity, because alcohol is a depressant.

“KUASA ROH KUDUS MEMBAWA SUKACITA YANG MELIMPAH MELALUI NALAR DAN PEMIKIRAN KITA, DIA TIDAK BEKERJA MELALUI KEBODOHAN KARENA ROH KUDUS MEMBAWA KITA KE PENGALAMAN YANG NYATA”

“The only person whose opinion and power matters loves you to the stars, will do anything for you, has done anything for you, has given up everything for you, and will never let you go.”

That means the Holy Spirit makes you more aware of reality. 

As a result, the things that were bothering you become small. 

“ADA KESUKAAN KARENA KEBODOHAN DAN ADA SUKA CITA KARENA PEKERJAAN ROH KUDUS YANG MEMBUAT KITA MENJADI ORANG YANG MENYADARI AKAN KASIH SAYANG TUHAN YANG BEGITU BESAR DAN MELIMPAH DALAM HIDUP KITA SEHINGGA KITA TIDAK PERDULI LAGI AKAN YANG LAINNYA”

 

3. KITA MENERIMA PESAN YANG UNIVERSAL

Keajaiban ke tiga adalah:“PENUHLAH MEREKA DENGAN ROH KUDUS”

KISAH RASUL 2:4:

Maka penuhlah mereka dengan Roh Kudus, lalu mereka mulai berkata-kata dalam bahasa-bahasa lain, seperti yang diberikan oleh Roh itu kepada mereka untuk mengatakannya.

KISAH RASUL 2:11

baik orang Yahudi maupun penganut agama Yahudi, orang Kreta dan orang Arab, kita mendengar mereka berkata-kata dalam bahasa kita sendiri tentang perbuatan-perbuatan besar yang dilakukan Allah.

When you read it say “They began to speak in other tongues,” right away you say, “Ah, that’s Pentecostalism, right? 

The answer is yes and no. 

The reason no is because the tongues that happen on the day of Pentecost are not like the tongues we see even in the rest of the Bible.

In 1 Corinthians 12–14 Paul talks about tongue speaking, and when he does he says, “Now if you pray in tongues in a worship service, nobody can understand you, so you need to interpret it or have somebody interpret it.” 

WAKTU PAULUS BERBICARA TENTANG 1 KORINTUS 12-14, ITU ADALAH WAKTU KITA MENERIMA KUASA URAPAN ROH KUDUS DAN BERBICARA DENGAN BAHASA ROH YANG ORANG LAIN TIDAK MENGERTI, TETAPI DIDALAM KISAH RASUL 2, BAHASA ROH YANG MEREKA UCAPKAN BISA DIMENGERTI OLEH SEMUA YANG HADIR DISITU, MEREKA MENGERTI KARENA ITU BAHASA MEREKA SETIAP HARI. 

INI SEBUAH KEJADIAN MUJIZAT DIMANA ORANG-ORANG YANG BERBICARA DENGAN BAHASA BARU ADALAH ORANG-ORANG YANG TADINYA TIDAK BISA BERKATA DALAM BAHASA MEREKA. 

They were talking about the wonders of God. 

The word wonders translates the Greek word megaleios, which means the mighty works of God, the mighty actions of God, and it’s a word that means the miraculous acts of salvation by God in history.

In the Old Testament, it refers to the parting of the Red Sea, in which God delivered the children of Israel from oppression in Egypt through a miraculous act in history, 

but in the New Testament, it means the miraculous way God has saved us through Jesus, through the incarnation (God becoming human), through the resurrection (God breaking the bands of death), through the cross. They were talking about the gospel.

KEAJAIBAN KE TIGA WAKTU MEREKA DIPENUHI DENGAN ROH KUDUS ADALAH MEREKA SANGAT BERSUKACITA YANG DIKARENAKAN OLEH KUASA FIRMAN ATAU INJIL TUHAN YESUS KRISTUS.

If you’re really Spirit filled, you’re not thinking about how happy you are, though you are. 

You’re thinking about the gospel. You’re thinking about the mighty acts of God. 

You’re obsessed with the gospel. You’re obsessed with talking to people about the gospel. 

You have new facility in speaking to people about the gospel. 

You want to do it, because your joy is grounded in the gospel of what Jesus Christ has done for you, of course.

This was Pentecost, 50 days after the Passover. 

Jews came from all over the world. They lived all over the known world, and they came back for the great feasts, and, of course, most of them did not speak Hebrew as their first language. 

They spoke something else. Therefore, you had all of these various languages present.

When the gospel was first preached to the world, it was preached in every language at once. 

DALAM PENGERTIAN IMAN KRISTIANI, MELALUI HARI PENTAKOSTA TERJADI MUJIZAT YANG SANGAT NYATA, TUHAN MEMPERLIHATKAN KEPADA SEMUA ORANG BAHWA TIDAK ADA SATU BUDAYA DAN JUGA SATU BAHASA (KARENA BAHASA ADALAH PEMBAWA BUDAYA) YANG MELEBIHI SATU DARI YANG LAIN, SEMUANYA SAMA DAN BISA DIGUNAKAN TUHAN. 

In the book Translating the Message, Lamin Sanneh points out something that is pretty well known, that Muslims will tell you the Qur’an cannot be translated. 

Surely you can get the Qur’an in English.” Yes, but usually even on the cover page it’ll tell you that’s not really the Qur’an; that’s the English explanation of the Qur’an.

Lamin Sanneh points out (he used to be a Muslim; he understands this pretty well) that as far as Muslims are concerned God speaks Arabic. All original revelation was in Arabic. All the original communication of Islam to the world was in Arabic. Therefore, if you want to hear God’s Word, you must hear it or read it in Arabic. All other translations are not really translations. That’s not really God’s Word. It’s just a kind of derivative or explanation.

Lamin Sanneh says Christianity, because of Pentecost, is totally different. 

We do believe the Word of God can be translated. 

If you have it in Bahasa or if you have it in English, that is the Word of God in English; that is the Word of God in Bahasa. 

Christianity is the most culturally diverse religion on the face of the earth. It takes radically different forms, because in Christianity, because of Pentecost, there is no one language. There is no one culture that is the right culture.

Therefore, Christianity comes into every culture and renews every culture but, at the same time, honours every culture. 

Therefore, if you’re Indonesian and you become a Christian, you’re lifted out of your culture to a degree. 

But if you’re Indonesian and you become a Christian, you don’t become European. You are an Indonesian Christian. 

You’re a Chinese Christian. You’re a Korean Christian. You’re still in your culture. 

Christianity leaves you there. 

It does not steamroller every culture but allows for this incredible diversity. 

“MELALUI MUJIZAT PENTAKOSTA, TUHAN MENUNJUKKAN KEPADA KITA SEMUA BAHWA TIDAK ADA BUDAYA DAN BAHASA YANG LEBIH TUHAN SUKA ATAU TUHAN TIDAK SUKA DALAM BERHUBUNGAN DENGAN DIA YANG SESUAI DENGAN IMAN KRISTIANI”

Don’t you know that on Pentecost God didn’t let the gospel go out just through one language and one culture? 

We hear them declaring the gospel of God in our own tongues. Everybody in their own tongues.

I want you to know that in this world today, the churches that lift up the power of the Spirit and the Spirit is a big part of their theology, those churches are the most interracial and multicultural human institutions in the world. It works.

 

4. KITA MENERIMA MANUSIA BARU DI ATAS GUNUNG

Why does God send the Holy Spirit down on Pentecost? 

KISAH RASUL 2:1:

Ketika tiba hari Pentakosta, semua orang percaya berkumpul di satu tempat.

He could have sent it down the day before or after. 

APA ITU PANTEKOSTA?

Pantekosta adalah hari ke 50 setelah Paskah, dan dalam perjanjian lama peristiwa itu terjadi pada waktu bangsa Israel berkumpul di gunung Sinai dan Tuhan membuat covenant dengan mereka.

Now if you compare Pentecost with Mount Sinai, you see it’s like and unlike. 

In both cases God came down. 

In both cases there was fire and quake and wind. 

In both cases there was a message. 

On Mount Sinai, God gave the Ten Commandments. 

At Pentecost, out comes the gospel. 

On Mount Sinai, 

Everybody was scared. See, the fire came down on the top of the mountain, and when he spoke, he spoke from the top of the mountain, and the people couldn’t stand it. 

They went to Moses and said, “Moses, you go up. We can’t stand to hear God speaking to us. You go up, and you tell us what God is saying.” He became the mediator. He became the man on the mountain, the man in the middle, the bridge.

That’s why God could enter into a covenant relationship with the children of Israel. 

Moses was the mediator. 

He went up and got the Word of God and brought it down, and when they sinned, he interceded for them. When God was ready to have nothing to do with the children of Israel, whenever they sinned, he went up and prayed for them. 

He was the mediator.

In the day of Pentacost things are better here. 

The fire doesn’t just come down at the top of the mountain; it comes down on every single Christian. 

The word that’s going out is not the word of the Law; it’s the word of the gospel. 

Back then, when they heard the Word of God, they said, “We can’t bear it,” but as we’re going to see, as we go through chapter 2, when the people around heard the Word of God, they wanted to hear more. Why? 

We have a better man on the mountain.

Moses was great, but Jesus Christ was greater. 

He’s the ultimate mediator. 

He wasn’t just man, he was God and man, so he was the perfect mediator, the perfect man in the middle. 

When we sinned, he didn’t just pray for us; he died for us. 

Matthew tells us the moment he died on the cross, the veil in the temple was ripped from top to bottom, and that fire, that glory that was back in the Holy of Holies that was fatal before comes into your life now that you are in Christ.

If you really want to understand what happened at Pentecost, you don’t just go back to Exodus 19. You should go all the way back to Genesis 11. 

If you go back to Genesis 10–11, Genesis 10 also gives us a long list of the different nations, and in Genesis 11 it tells us the people got together to try to build a tower called the Tower of Babel. 

They tried to create a tower, a temple, a new religion without God. They were arrogant. They were proud. 

They were in defiance of God, and God judged them.

Do you know how he judged them? Though they had one language, they couldn’t understand each other.

They got confused, so they had to give up the project. 

They had one language, but they couldn’t understand each other.

The parable is it’s because of human pride and human arrogance that the human race is divided into all of its warring factions and cultures and races. 

See, in Genesis 11, there was one language but they couldn’t understand each other. 

But on Pentecost …

In Acts 2, through the miracle of Pentecost, they had all of these different languages but they could understand each other. Why? 

Because the curse of Babel is being reversed and people who once were at each other’s throats, people who couldn’t understand each other, are understanding each other. 

They’re being brought back together. Why? 

Because the judgment came down on Jesus. The fire of God’s wrath came down on Jesus so we could have the fire of warmth and love. 

The judgment came down on Jesus so we could see that all of the various curses that are bothering the human race are being reversed now.