Acts 2,1-13. Pentecost

Acts 2,1-13          3620 

Pfingstsonntag 043  

Petronella, Virgin, disciple of the apostles 

31. Mai 2020

1. O Spirit of Grace, who from a eternity proceeds from the Father and the Son; You were visibly poured out on the apostles after the triumph and ascension of Jesus; we pray that You would also enter into our souls, so that they may become a temple of the Living God, prepared by You and fit to obtain that eternal life for which we were created and purchased by our Redeemer.  Amen. (Starck 100 ¶ 2) 

2. »When the day of Pentecost arrived, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly there descended from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were seated. 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 languages as the Spirit gave them utterance.« 

3. Last week we heard Jesus’ promise to send us the Holy Spirit from the Father. Today we hear the fulfillment of that promise with the Holy Spirit’s arrival on Pentecost. 

4. Fifty days after Passover/Easter is Pentecost (πενήντα : 50), and that’s an important covenantal number: 7 weeks of weeks; Pentecost is a harvest feast celebrated with a grain offering to Yahweh (Numbers 28,26). The harvest and grain offering in Acts 2 are the 3000 Jews who hear the gospel and believe on Jesus (Acts 2,41). The Holy Spirit is responsible for this harvest of souls, for at His sending upon the apostles He converted thousands through the preached Word.

5. The physical manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s presence is similar to what occurred when Yahweh descended upon Mount Sinai. »Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mt. Sinai was wrapped in smoke because Yahweh had descended on it in fire. And the sound of the trumpet from Mt. Sinai grew louder and louder. Yahweh descended on Mt. Sinai« (Exodus 19,17-20). At both Sinai and Pentecost, the Lord manifests His presence with a loud sound and fire. Why this coincidence? Over time, Pentecost also came to be celebrated as the anniversary of the giving of the covenant at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 12,2.6; 19,1; 2. Chronicles 15,10-15; Jubilees (a 1. century bc Jewish writing) and the Babylonian Talmud). The arrival of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost in Acts 2 shows that Yahweh has indeed instituted a new covenant through Jesus, just as Jesus had said in the Gospels. 

6. The sending of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost is a reversal of a punishment inflicted upon humans. Genesis 6-9 tells us the story of the Flood and the reason for it: Yahweh saw that every intention of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6,5), and Yahweh decided to blot out man from the face of the earth (Genesis 6,7). This was not a decision taken lightly by Yahweh but He regretted that He had made man, and it grieved Him to His heart (Genesis 6,6). But Yahweh spared Noah and his family so that 8 human being survived the Flood, began rebuilding society and were stewards again of Yahweh’s Earth.

  7. The of Babel happens 4 generations after the Flood, between 340-411 years to more precise. We know this because Genesis tells us Peleg the 4x great-grandson of Noah was alive when it happened and he lived 239 years. During Peleg’s lifetime: »Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another: „Let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly, ... and let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.“ And Yahweh descended to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And He said: „Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.“ So Yahweh dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. And from there Yahweh dispersed them over the face of all the earth.« (Genesis 11,1-9).  

8. Pentecost in Acts 2 is the reversal of Genesis 11. In Jerusalem 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection, Yahweh has gathered dispersed Jews and they hear the gospel of Christ crucified; they heard the gospel in their own native languages, so that it came to pass that everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh will be saved. The Holy Spirit continues to do this saving work 2000 years after that Pentecost in Acts 2.

9. The Holy Spirit desires that the preached Word lead people to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. The gospel and Holy Baptism gift us the Holy Spirit; He creates and sustains our faith. We learned the meaning of this from Luther’s Small Catechism on the 3. part of the Creed: „I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlighten me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps her with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the last day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true (LSB 323). We have what Yahweh has promised and we received by faith – which is a gift and preservation of the Holy Spirit. 

  10. Today we heard the fulfillment by Jesus to send the Holy Spirit and that it was fulfilled 2000 years ago on this Sunday. Next week we will hear those born of water and the Spirit enter the reign of God. We have this rebirth through our Baptismal faith in Jesus Christ.  Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Holy Spirit, Thou sent to us by Jesus and proceeding from the Father; fill the hearts of Your faithful and ignite in them the fire of Your Divine Love, so that we are certain that our sin is forgiven through Christ alone and that we ensure that this gospel will be proclaimed.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2019 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2020 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

Starck, Johann. Starck’s Prayer Book. Copyright © 2009 Concordia Publishing House.