From Prophecy to Reality | Acts 2:1–21 | The Gospel in Every Language
Watch This Sermon on Pentecost
At Pentecost, the Spirit came with power—but more importantly, with clarity. In this sermon from Acts 2:1–21, Pastor Mark Groen shows how the outpouring of the Holy Spirit fulfilled the promises of both Joel and Jesus, bringing the gospel to every tribe, tongue, and nation. Far from being chaotic, the miracle of Pentecost revealed God's deliberate plan: a global, unified Church proclaiming one message in many languages.
The signs were real, but the deeper miracle was that God spoke—and people understood. This sermon reminds us that the same gospel that was heard in Jerusalem that day is still being heard today, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Frequently Asked Questions About Pentecost
Was Pentecost a chaotic spiritual experience or a clear proclamation?
Pentecost was not spiritual chaos—it was a clear, miraculous proclamation. The disciples spoke in real, known languages that could be understood by people from every corner of the Roman Empire. The miracle wasn’t confusion, but clarity: God was speaking to people in their own languages, calling them to salvation through Jesus Christ.
What’s the connection between Pentecost and the Tower of Babel?
The confusion of languages at Babel was God's judgment on rebellious humanity. At Pentecost, that curse begins to be undone. God unites people from every tribe and tongue not by giving them one language, but by proclaiming the one gospel in many languages through the power of the Spirit. Pentecost reverses Babel’s division by forming one people of God in Christ.
Why is it important that the disciples spoke real languages at Pentecost?
The disciples didn’t speak in ecstatic utterances—they spoke in the native dialects of their hearers. This was essential because it showed that the gospel was for all people. It wasn't a show or a spectacle; it was God's deliberate communication of truth to the nations. The miracle validated the message: Jesus is Lord, and salvation is for all who believe.
What does “in the last days” really mean in Acts 2?
“In the last days” doesn’t mean the end of time is right around the corner. It refers to the new era that began with Christ’s resurrection and the outpouring of the Spirit. In Hebrew thought, it simply meant “afterward” or “in the time to come.” Pentecost marks the beginning of that promised time when salvation goes out to all nations through the Church.
Want to reflect more deeply on the meaning of Pentecost?
📖 Click to Show the Transcript of this Sermon
Thank you for joining us for this week's sermon from First Reformed Church in Edgerton, Minnesota. Each week, we dig into God's word, trusting that the Holy Spirit will continue the good work of sanctification in us.
I'm guessing that most of us have been in a situation where language barriers have made communication rather difficult for us. Travel is very easy, where moving around is pretty simple, so you get to be around these things. Chances are, you've maybe been in an environment where you were the only one who spoke the language that you spoke, and you didn't understand what was being said or maybe even what was going on. Perhaps you were in another country with a group of people who are from that country.
This past January when I went to Ethiopia, there were several times where I was the only person who didn't speak the native language. Now, nearly everyone around me could speak English, so I never had times where I felt like I couldn't communicate with people. But when I was with the group of people, it was much easier for them to communicate in their native language about something that was important to them and didn't pertain to me than it was for them to stumble over their English. It didn't matter to me, right? So there were many times where we would be in vehicles traveling together, and I would be sitting there for long periods of time where I didn't hear a word that I understood.
I didn't know if they were talking about how wonderful the scenery was, something pertaining to the ministry, or how funny looking I was. I had no idea. I was completely lost. But then suddenly, words that were familiar to me would be spoken, and I was very quickly aware that they were addressing me. They didn't even have to speak my name, right? As soon as words that I understood came into that vehicle, I knew that my input was requested or I needed to have some information about what was going on because they switched to speaking words that I could understand.
Well, this Sunday, we are fifty days after Easter, so it's time for us to remember the event that took place on Pentecost. On that day, the people in the crowds took notice of what the apostles were saying because it was in their own language, which should have been impossible for them to understand quickly. Because of the work of the Holy Spirit on that day, it got their attention because they could understand. So as we draw to this passage from the Book of Acts, we're going to see that this was a miraculous event, the fulfillment of God’s promise, and a way in which God was taking the message of Jesus—crucified, resurrected, and ascended—out into the entire world.
Let’s take a look at three points for us as we look through these 21 verses, and then we'll dig into the text a little bit this morning. The first point I want us to see and focus on is how this is the fulfillment of the promise of God. Last week, when we were considering the Ascension, I mentioned that this wasn't the backup plan. The Ascension was plan A. In the same way, this coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost is not a reaction to what happened to Jesus, but instead, it was the way in which God ordained and had planned to make a people for His own possession.
We need to understand the unity that this event creates. At the Tower of Babel, not only were languages confused, but people groups were created and scattered. From there, God used the Hebrew people to bring about His Messiah. But the end goal was to end that separation caused by the event and bring people from every tribe, every tongue, and nation to Himself. Finally, we're reminded that the gospel is a message of urgency.
These opening verses here from Acts Chapter Two show that our first point for today is that this is a fulfillment of the promise of God. We will get into what Peter says in his sermon about this, but I want to remember that this is also the fulfillment of a more recent promise, not just the promises of the Old Testament. Prior to the Ascension, Jesus had told his disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait, and that the Spirit would come upon them there. We see here that the disciples were being obedient to the command that Jesus had given them. On the day of Pentecost, it comes to pass, just as Jesus had said. The promise, the short-term one here, is fulfilled.
It’s important that we remember that Pentecost was a special occasion before any of this happened. Pentecost was also known as the Feast of Weeks, and it was another one of the Jewish feasts that the people would travel to Jerusalem to observe. My initial reaction to this feast being just a few weeks after Passover is to wonder, why did God put all these so close together? Why do they have to travel all the way to Jerusalem and then fifty days later go back again? Well, then my brain kicked in. Feasts very close together, less than fifty days. We'll travel a long way for Thanksgiving, right? And then we get right back in the car again to feast one more time on Christmas. They would make their way to Jerusalem for both feasts, and it was a lot more difficult for them. They didn't just pack another suitcase and fuel up the Suburban.
We’ll get to the significance of this event being on the Feast of Pentecost as we get further down into the text, but before we move on, it is a necessity that we see what happens here. A mighty rushing wind and divided tongues as of fire appeared, and they rested on each of them, and they began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. I’m sure, much like me, you've tried to imagine what this looked like. For me, I’m just never happy with how my brain tries to put this story together. As many times as I've imagined it, I'm not happy with any of the ways in which I've formulated it in my head. It would be amazing to have witnessed this.
But in all of this, the most astounding thing here isn't actually the imagery that we try to imagine. Rushing wind and tongues of fire are amazing visuals, hard for us to imagine. But isn't the greatest miracle here that they're speaking in these other languages? It’s important that we remember that this was them speaking in actual languages. This was not them babbling. It was these disciples of Jesus able to communicate with words that they shouldn't know otherwise. That is the real miracle because you can't fake this. You cannot fake speaking another language. Even with something like Google Translate nowadays, I can't fake actually knowing the language for very long or communicate with meaning for very long at all.
It’s important that we remember why this event is needed. Why did God fulfill the promises of bringing His people together in this way? Think back to the Tower of Babel. There was one language, and so there was one people group. The rebellion of humanity against the clear command of God to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth after the flood caused God to judge them and confuse their languages. This created these different people groups all over the world.
Now think back even further in Genesis to help us out here, to the promise of God after our first parents rebelled against God and all of humanity fell into sin. A promise was made in Genesis 3:15 that one would come who would crush the head of the serpent. Remember, that promise was made to one people group because there was only one people group. The people who were the posterity of Adam and Eve were all the ones affected by sin, and they all needed a Savior. The promise of a Savior was to everyone who would come after Adam.
But after the Tower of Babel, we actually see the story of Scripture narrow, right? It focuses on one particular people group, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Hebrews, the Jews. They were the ones whose line was going to lead to the promised Messiah. But we have to remember, the work of the Messiah from the beginning is promised for all people. It’s a promise for everyone. So after the Lord Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, He ascended to the right hand of the Father, and He is now King over all the people of the earth. Here at Pentecost, we see that Babel is undone, and salvation by grace through faith is to go to all people everywhere because our ascended King is Lord over all.
So that is why it’s important that we understand that this isn't nonsense babbling happening here at Pentecost. This is a theme throughout the Old Testament. Yes, the Hebrews are God's people, but nations will be considered part of the people of God. We have seen that this was the plan all along. This isn't plan B of how to spread out the message. This is the fulfillment of the promises of God.
As we move on to the next section of this passage, we're going to see our second point of unity and why this event on this day was so important. This is happening on this day instead of a random Tuesday for a specific reason. And that reason isn't because this day has some sort of significant number code embedded in it or something like that. Look at verse five here. There were devout Jews from every nation under heaven in the city. People had come to Jerusalem for the Feast of Weeks. They were devout Jews, and so they would travel great distances to observe these rituals and rites that God had commanded.
Throughout the history of the Old Testament, we can see different times when the people of God were taken into exile for their disobedience. Due to this, there were Jewish folk all over the place, and they would have been generation upon generation deep, embedded in those communities and those nations. To do so, you know the language. It’s probably the only language you really can speak, the local dialect of where you or your ancestors were sent into exile. They would probably travel a really great distance to get to Jerusalem, and they may not speak to someone who spoke the same dialect as them at all on all their travels going to Jerusalem.
Now, here they are, standing in the middle of Jerusalem, and they are hearing this rare dialect from their region. This is why Luke tells us that they were amazed and astonished. Nobody around them probably knew this dialect, and here it is coming from Galileans of all people. Legitimately, this is amazing. This is astonishing. But again, we have to make sure we get why this is happening. The message of the gospel is going out here. It will advance the message of joy so people from every tribe, tongue, and nation can believe.
This would have caused this to happen at a spectacular rate. There are historical indications that this is exactly what happened. Before the temple was destroyed in the year 70, so roughly forty years after Pentecost, with no text messaging, no YouTube, no satellites, no airline travel, no cars, no railroads, and believe it or not, kids, they didn't even have landline telephones, yet the message of the gospel had gone out into every corner of the Roman Empire within a generation, just as Jesus said it would in Matthew 24.
The significance of this event is not only in the miraculous but in that it accomplishes the purpose of bringing unity where there was once separation. Though they were spread by distance, by language, by ethnicity, those who came to faith by the proclamation of the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives, they now became a people unified by their union to Christ.
As Peter responds regarding the urgency of this message of salvation, what happens here confuses people. It would confuse you too, as well. This is such a strange event that people are actually accusing these people of being drunk. This causes Peter to get up and speak to the truth of what is actually happening, the truth of this being prophetic and the truth that this is uniting people. There's an urgency here to this message because Peter is letting them know that the time that has been promised to unify the people of God is here, and it’s been spoken of, and now the time is here.
They haven't been drinking at all. This comment is so interesting to me because my response would have been, look, inebriated people don't speak in other languages. That's not what they do, right? But Peter has actually a better statement to make because he says it’s early in the day. Now, you might be thinking, why is that a better statement? People can drink early in the day. But faithful Jewish people were fasting. They hadn't had anything to eat or drink. They weren't allowed to eat or drink until the fourth hour of the day, and Peter says it’s just the third hour. So they're still an hour shy of having consumed anything at all, much less alcohol.
But this statement and Peter's defense of these people have given him the opportunity to speak. He had been given a word from God that told them about what they were experiencing. He says that in the last days, it shall be that the Spirit of God will be poured out on all flesh. It’s important that we understand how the words "last days" are used here. In Hebrew, they don't really have words that we would translate as the phrase "in the future." So the phrase "in the last days" here is understood to be the prophet saying, this is going to happen in the time that is promised, in the time that is to come. In fact, in the English Standard Version of the translation of Joel, this phrase actually says, "it will come to pass afterwards." That's a good translation of the idea.
The idea here is not that this is a sign that shows that the final few days of history are upon you, but instead, it’s the idea that in the future, these things will take place, signaling to you that a new time of God's pouring out of the Spirit has come. Once again, this idea of this pouring out of the Spirit says that it comes to all. We’ve heard this language so many times before in our journey through Scripture together. The idea is, instead of just one people group, just the Hebrews, just the Jews, being the people who are brought into the kingdom, it is now all people. This is not something distant or far off. Instead, it is here now: salvation in Jesus Christ.
There are signs and wonders, and the day of the Lord is coming. We read this in Joel. We read that it will be a great and magnificent day. What drives home the urgency for us is this final statement that it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This is a significant event, and it’s been on the horizon, right? There’s something significant coming up. People will tell us to put it on our calendars because it seems to be so far off. Well, then suddenly, the time is here, right? And we understand that it’s something that we have to do now because the event is here, and it brings salvation to people everywhere.
That message went out to the ends of the earth from this day, and that's the reason that message comes to you here today, right? Because these people heard and believed. When you're with people and you can't understand them, hearing someone speak in your own language is a joy that gets your attention. It wakes you up, right? As we sojourn in this world, there is so much noise around us. This noise can cause us to be distracted, to lose our focus and our attention. It can lead us astray. Much of it, while enticing to our flesh, there is something within us that knows that the noise of the world leads us to death.
In the midst of that noise, the clear word of the gospel comes to us because the Spirit that was awake and active at Pentecost is active in us through the work of God. We hear that word of the gospel through faith. It wakes us up, and we understand. In the midst of that noise, the gospel gets our attention. It wakes us up. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we understand that we have been united to Christ. We have been united to one another. We know that this was the promise of God for His people, and now we are His people.
Because we understand this, may we feel the urgency of the message of the gospel, that our children, our family, our friends might hear and believe, that they might be built up in faith by this reminder of the promise and understand. May we be daily called to turn from our sin in repentance because we understand the urgency of the truth that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. They not only heard and believed, but they told the truth and took the message out into the world.
As I just said, that's why we're here. Because people heard and believed, and throughout the generations, they have brought the language of the gospel into a world filled with noise and gobbledygook that we don't understand. That's why we are here today. So may we continue that legacy of speaking the truth. May we, as the people of God gathered here, do the same thing that they did on Pentecost, proclaim repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, the pure truth from Pentecost. May we leave here today with that truth of the gospel in our hearts, on our minds, and in our lives. Amen.
Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, we thank you for the gift of your word, but we thank you most of all that we have the same gift of the Spirit that they had that day, that the word of your truth came to us and you helped us to understand. You gave us this gift of faith, and you regenerated us. You gave us new life. And so, like the people on Pentecost, empower us to depart from here today, proclaiming that good news that others might hear and believe the truth of your salvation. For we know that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.
Thank you for joining us for this week's sermon. For more information about First Reformed Church, head to our Facebook page or website, edgertonfrc.org.
One gospel, many languages—so all could believe.
If you want to see more of how Pentecost fulfills God's plan, watch our other message on Acts 2:
👉 Wonders & Signs – Acts 2:1–21
To step back even further in the story, visit our Ascension page and consider how Christ’s enthronement sets the stage for the Spirit’s work:
🌿 Explore the Ascension of Christ
