The Tongues of Pentecost

Tom Shrader walks through Acts 2:5–21, explaining that the tongues spoken at Pentecost were real, known human languages in which the 120 declared the wonderful works of God to a multinational crowd in Jerusalem. He contrasts this biblical picture with contemporary charismatic expressions, laying out three criteria—known language, God-glorifying content, and a sign function for unbelievers—against which any claimed gift of tongues should be measured. Drawing on John 11 and the raising of Lazarus, Shrader also reminds listeners that the spiritual resurrection available through calling on the name of the Lord is the deeper reality to which Pentecost points.

“You can stand before your friends and say, you want to see a miracle? Look at me. Once I was dead, now I'm alive.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: Acts

Recorded: 1999 at East Valley Bible Church

Duration: 36 min

Themes: holy spirit, tongues, pentecost, spiritual gifts, salvation, witnessing, signs and wonders, resurrection, charismatic background, questioning spiritual gifts, new believer, seeking the holy spirit, skeptic, evangelism minded, searching for truth, church member evaluating doctrine

Scripture: Acts 1:8, Acts 2:1-4, Acts 2:5-21, Genesis 1, John 7:50-52, John 11:1-45, Joel 2:28-32, Exodus 15:11, Isaiah 25:1, Psalm 40:5, Ephesians 5:18, Romans 10:9, 1 Corinthians 13, 1 Corinthians 14, 1 Corinthians 15

Theological Themes: pneumatology, gift of tongues, cessationism, charismatic gifts, soteriology, calling on the name of the lord, sign gifts, biblical languages

Full Transcript

Introduction and Context

Open your Bibles and turn to the book of Acts. This is our study in the book written by Luke, and it is a treat every week. Acts chapter 2 is where we are.

The first chapter of the book of Acts sets the tone for the whole book. We see in it the key verse, we are introduced to the key character, and we see some instruction given to the disciples — unusual instruction. They are told to wait, to stay where they are in Jerusalem. They are not supposed to wait idly; there is a specific point in time at which they will understand the waiting is over. That will be, as verse 8 tells us, when the Holy Spirit comes. That was the promise they had: that the Holy Spirit would come, and that He would come in power.

It is really important to get this. The disciples were prepared to go, willing to go, and apparently ready to go — but Jesus said no, not quite yet. If they went then, even attempting to do His work, they would be doing it under their own power. What Jesus wanted was for them to do His work, His way, with His power — the power of the Holy Spirit. He wanted them to wait until the Holy Spirit came. And the Holy Spirit would come in a way that would be clear to everyone. When that happened, Jesus told them, "You will be My witnesses." It is both a command and a prophecy: witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and all over the world. So the instruction was: go and wait.

The Arrival of the Holy Spirit

We then saw the Holy Spirit come, and that is what we encounter as we move into Acts chapter 2 — a very important chapter. James Boyce tells us that it reminds us that all that takes place in the book of Acts is an unfolding of what God intended to do, and that God is in control. Dr. MacArthur reminds us that this second chapter of Acts is literally a turning point in the history of God's kingdom. This is a significant moment.

In the first four verses of Acts chapter 2, we saw the arrival — the coming — of the Holy Spirit. We are told that the Holy Spirit came suddenly, just as Jesus will return again in the twinkling of an eye. There were three signs that accompanied His coming: first, the sound of wind; then tongues of fire; and then they spoke in tongues.

The word for wind is significant. In Greek, in Hebrew, and in Latin, the words for wind and spirit are literally the same word. When the Spirit in Genesis 1 hovered over the darkness, it was a Spirit about to create. It was the breath blown into Adam that gave him life. The Holy Spirit comes to give us life, to give us life-changing power, and to create in us a new creature.

Fire represented two key functions to this audience. First was the function of warmth and heat. John Wesley said of his conversion that at that moment his heart was set ablaze. Fire also provides light. The Holy Spirit comes in this life-giving, life-changing, life-creating power. He comes to stir us up afresh, to set us on fire, and to illuminate us — to allow us to see things as they really are, to see the world around us as it really is, and to look into Scripture and see what God has to say.

The Spirit Illuminates the Word

That illuminating work of the Spirit is one of the great signs that someone is truly one of His children. When somebody comes to Christ in repentance and faith, a whole series of things begin to happen. But one of them is this: they open up this Book, and all of a sudden they say it makes sense to them. It never did before. They read it and read it and never understood it. But now they begin to see it. The Spirit of God opens the eyes, the heart, and the mind of a man or woman of God and applies the Word of God to that heart. Something truly significant and truly powerful takes place.

These people were filled with the Spirit, just as you and I can be today. This is distinct from the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which we discussed last week. That is a one-time occurrence that takes place at the moment of conversion — the moment at which we are baptized, identified with the Holy Spirit, with Christ, with His death and resurrection. But being filled with the Holy Spirit is a continual experience. We are never commanded to go and be baptized in the Holy Spirit. We are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Speaking in Tongues

Then in verse 4, they began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave utterance. The idea of tongues — in our time, our day, our age, and our culture — is a subject surrounded by a great deal of confusion when we look at it through the lens of Scripture. I am confident that we can clear up much of that confusion today.

There is not a week that goes by, in watching Christian television, that you do not see someone speak about a second Pentecost, claiming that Pentecost is happening again, and you begin to see them speak in tongues. And you begin to wonder —

The Question Before Us

Is this phenomenon that we see truly the same as the tongues we see in Acts chapter 2? When we talk about tongues, we see them mentioned three times in the book of Acts, and also in Paul's writing in 1 Corinthians 13, 14, and 15. Outside of that, there is no mention of tongues anywhere in Scripture. What we are going to do is something unusual in our day and age: we are going to look at the Scripture and interpret the tongues in light of what we see in front of us. Not somebody's experience, not what they feel, not what they think. The question is whether these are biblical tongues as we see in Acts chapter 2.

The Setting: Jerusalem at Pentecost

Here is the text before us today. Acts chapter 2, beginning in verse 5: "And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven." Remember, this is at the end of the time of festival. It began fifty days ago with the Passover, and the pilgrims have filled the city of Jerusalem. Historians tell us that under normal conditions the city of Jerusalem would house a population of about 150,000 people, but during these festivals the population could swell to anywhere between one and two million people. There are people there from all over the earth.

Verse 6: "When this sound occurred..." What sound? The sound described back in verse 2—the sound of the violent rushing wind. It was as though it were a siren, a wake-up call, an alarm that went off. When that sound occurred, the multitudes came together. Now the people from all of these different lands are gathered, forming a gigantic crowd, and they are confused. Why? Because everyone heard them speak in his own language.

The Nature of the Tongues

When we talk about the gift of tongues as we see in Acts chapter 2, it is important to understand that this is not people hearing gibberish. It is not someone hearing an unknown language or something unfamiliar. The crowd is hearing this group of 120 speak in tongues, and the tongue was their own language.

When they hear this, look at what happens. Verse 7: "They were amazed and they marveled and said to one another, 'Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?'" The word "amazed" literally means to be pushed out of your senses. This was a mind-blower to them. They were not only amazed—they marveled. Another translation would say bewildered. It means they were stunned by what they saw.

Let us make sure we have the setting clear. There is this sound. There is this group of people who begin to speak in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. The multitude comes rushing to see what the commotion is about. They hear these people speaking in their own language. Understand, there are as many as sixteen different languages represented at this moment in this group.

The Contempt for Galilee

They look at each other—amazed, stunned, bewildered—and what really perplexes them is that they recognize this group of people as Galileans. Those from the region of Galilee were not particularly highly thought of in that world. When Philip comes to Christ and is introduced to Him, he races to tell Nathanael about it. He said, "I found the Messiah, I found the one that Moses wrote about, I found the one the prophets told about—He is Jesus of Nazareth." And Nathanael said, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"

As Jesus begins to minister, it causes a great commotion among the people. The Pharisees and chief priests feel they need to deal with Him, and they are ready to prosecute Jesus, when Nicodemus stands up in John chapter 7, verse 50, and says, "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and before it knows what he is doing?" They replied, "Are you a Galilean?" They were not merely asking whether he was one of them—they were dismissing the entire region. "Search and look," they said in John chapter 7, verse 52, "for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee."

Nothing good can come from Galilee. To put it in terms we might recognize, it would be like saying nothing good can come from a particular town or a rival school—that kind of dismissive presentation. They were saying that the people of Galilee are uneducated and unsophisticated.

How Can Galileans Speak Our Languages?

And so the question in verse 8 is this: "How is it that we hear them in our own language, the language in which we were born?" We are city people. We are sophisticated. These are rural people. They cannot be educated. They cannot be trained. There was no place where they gathered to exchange languages. How can this possibly be?

Luke then gives us valuable information by laying out the regions represented in this group: Parthians, Medes, Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia—he moves geographically to the east, to the north and south, and to the west, all the way over to Rome and down into North Africa. All these people are gathered together, and they say, "We hear these people from Galilee speaking to us in our own tongue."

The Content of the Tongues

What were they saying? Look at verse 11: they were speaking of the wonderful works of God. During the time of festival it would not at all be uncommon—in fact, it would be expected—for the Jews to be quoting from Exodus 15:11: "Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious and..."

The Wonder of God Declared at Pentecost

"Holy, fearful in praise, doing wonders?" Or to quote from Isaiah 25, verse 1, "O Lord, you are my God, I will exalt you, I'll praise your name, for you have done wonderful things. Your counsels of old are faithful and true." To quote from Psalm 40, verse 5, "Many, O Lord, my God, are your wonderful works, which you've done, and your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to you in order. For if we would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered."

That is what they are hearing. They are not hearing a gospel presentation. What they are hearing are these people, these 120, speak in a known language, their native tongues, to declare the wonder and the glory and the power of God. That is what is happening right there.

Two Reactions to the Miraculous

Now in the midst of this scene, the people begin to react. Verse 12: "So they were all amazed and they were perplexed." They were troubled. They were concerned. That trouble led to one of two responses. One said, "What could this mean?" And the others mocked them, saying, "They're full of new wine."

One response produced legitimate, honest questions. What is this thing we see? What does this mean? What is the purpose of this? What is going on here? The other was simply a group of people who said they are drunk out of their minds. Peter is going to address that in just a moment, but I do not want you to miss this, because what you see here is what you will experience in your own life as you talk about the wonders of God.

The Raising of Lazarus

Leave your finger there in Acts, and turn to the Gospel of John, one book to the left. John chapter 11 is the story of Lazarus. Verse 1 tells us that Lazarus was a man who was sick. He had sisters, Mary and Martha. Jesus hears that he is sick.

Look at verse 4. Jesus said, "This is not a sickness unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through that." That means that through all of our peril, God should get honor and glory in the midst of it. Verse 7: "Then after this, he said to the disciples, let us go to Judea." And they said, watch out — we left there because they want to kill you. Let's not go back unless we need to. Verse 17 tells us they arrive and Lazarus has already been in the tomb for four days.

You pick up the story in John chapter 11, verse 34. "And Jesus said, where have you laid him? And they said to him, Lord, come and see." And there, in the shortest verse in the Bible, verse 35: "Jesus wept." Verse 36: "Then the Jews said, see how He loved him. And some said, could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying?"

The Human Response to God's Power

Is that not an interesting human reaction? Making a blind man see was not enough. If God really loved me, why would He allow this to happen at all? Can you hear how this goes? Oh God, if you really did something, if you really cared — that was great, that was fine, but that was yesterday. What about now? And the skeptics say, if He was really such a big God, why would He not have kept this man from dying?

Verse 38: "Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone laid against it, and Jesus said, take the stone away." And Martha, the sister of Lazarus who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there's a stench, for he has been dead four days." One of the translations says, "Surely he stinketh." He has been dead. And what do dead bodies do? They decay and they smell. Do not roll that stone away — there is a dead body in there, and it has begun to decay. It will stink.

And Jesus said, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?" Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying, and Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me, and I know that you always hear me, but because of the people who are standing by, I said this, that they may believe that you sent me." Verse 43: "Now when He had said these things, He cried out in a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth, and Jesus said, loose him and let him go."

Many, Not All

What an incredible and magnificent true story. But to me, the most amazing part of this whole story is the very next verse: "Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary and had seen the things Jesus did believed in Him."

Here is why that verse is so striking. Doesn't a word in there strike you as odd? That word is "many." Who could see this and not believe? Why does that verse not say "then all who saw this believed"? What more would you need to see? You have heard people say something like that — oh, if God did a great thing, I would believe. I had a friend tell me that if Jesus did something great right now, if God stopped the sun in the sky right now, he would believe. And I said, no, you would not. You are just like these people.

The Same Pattern in Our Own Lives

Now, why stop there? In the midst of the people in the book of Acts, these 120 are declaring these magnificent, wonderful works that God has done. And this points out the very same thing for you and me. You can stand before your friends and talk about the wonderful things God has done — the way God has put a marriage together, the way God has restored you, the way God has spared your business.

Peter Stands Up

Just yesterday, watching Chuck Holmes at the men's breakfast, and knowing his background, knowing all of the stuff that goes with the armed robbery and the prison — what a treat. We were talking about him driving home last night and Susan said, "What a terrific guy. What a magnificent story." You can stand before your friends and say, "You want to see a miracle? Look at me. Once I was dead, now I'm alive." What happened to Lazarus physically is what happened to you spiritually at conversion. You were dead in your sins and trespasses, and now you're alive.

Your heart was cold and you didn't care about the things of God, and God causes you to be born again. He gives you a new heart and He says, "Tom, come forth," and here you come. That's what's going on. I go through this because I want you to see that just like these people at Pentecost, just like Jesus Himself, in your life you're going to give testimony of the wonderful works of God.

Not always are people going to beat a path to your door and say, "Yeah, that's really terrific, sign me up for that." They're perplexed and they're amazed. There's a group that says, "Let's ask some more questions." There's another group that says, "They're drunk." And in the midst of this, Peter stands up.

Peter's Bold Stand

Verse 14, Acts 2: "But Peter, standing up with the eleven" — there are now twelve apostles again. Peter plus eleven. Judas has been replaced. Matthias has been chosen. The twelve are intact again. Peter raises his voice and says, "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words."

We have to spend just a second here, because here is Peter speaking with such boldness and confidence. This is amazing to me, and frankly amazing to many of you who have never really thought about it much. If I do word association with most Christians and I say "Peter," here is what I hear: big, dumb fisherman. I say "Peter," and here is what I hear: he's got his foot in his mouth. I say "Peter," and they go right back to the time that he denied Christ — not once, not twice, but three times.

Let's understand those things are true. That night before He died, Jesus called His disciples together. Peter stood right up and said, "It's not me. It may be him, it may be him, it may be him, but it isn't me. You can take this to the bank, Jesus. I don't care what forces, what powers they bring against me — there is no way I will deny You." Yet that evening: "Aren't you one of His?" No. "Weren't you with Him?" No. Then a little servant girl at the fire says, "You're certainly one of them — I think I saw you with Him." And Peter swears at her and says, "I don't even know Him." The rooster crows. And then the Scripture says their eyes met.

Don't Leave Peter in the Gospels

So many of you want to take Peter and leave him right there in the gospel. Don't do it. Let him come to the book of Acts. And this gives you a little insight into your own lives and your own views. You want to do that with each other. You want to pick out that one time where that person hurt you, and that person was a jerk, and no matter what they do, you never let them get out of it. You always go back to the worst possible moment.

That's human nature, it seems. I say "Peter," you say "dumb fisherman." Rarely — almost never — does anybody say "the power of Pentecost." But now we can. This is a great story of redemption. This is a new creature and new beginnings. It can happen in your life, and let me beg you to allow it in your mind to happen in the lives of the men and women around you. No matter how they've hurt you, no matter what the sin — let it go. It's a new day. It's a new beginning. Move on. Give them a chance.

Sometimes somebody hurts you and they begin to change, and you put them in a lose-lose situation where there is nothing they can do to win. Now, if you were perfect, maybe that would be an acceptable position to take. You aren't.

It Is Only the Third Hour

Peter says, "Guys, listen up." Verse 15: "For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day." On the Jewish clock, that would be about nine o'clock in the morning. People are not going to be drunk at nine o'clock in the morning. Ephesians 5:18 says, "Do not be drunk with wine" — be filled with the Holy Spirit. That is what is happening here.

The Prophecy of Joel

Then Peter quotes from the book of Joel, chapter two, verses 28 to 32. He introduces it by saying, "But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel." That is a very important introduction. What Peter does not say is that the prophecy has been fulfilled. We are going to look at this prophecy, and it is a prophecy broad in scope.

Verse 17: "It shall come to pass in the last days, God says, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. Even on My male servants and on My female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy."

What are the last days? They are the time from when Jesus came upon this earth to the time that He comes again, and even things that happen after that. This singular act that Peter is pointing to at Pentecost is not the entire fulfillment of what Joel is talking about in chapter two, verses 28 to 32 — but it is part of that. Maybe even a precursor to some of it.

Interestingly, there is no mention of tongues here. When Joel speaks of a gift, he speaks of the gift of prophecy.

The Last Days and the Call to Salvation

Peter continues quoting from the book of Joel: "I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs on the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapor, and smoke, and the sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord." He is talking about the end of the world. Nearly 2,000 years have passed since Peter said this, and that is precisely why Peter does not say this portion is fulfilled. He is saying: this is part of what you are seeing. You are seeing the beginning, the first fruits in a sense, of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, and it ought to be a warning that the last days are near.

Verse 21 then declares: "And it came to pass that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved." Peter is dealing with two things at once. First, here is the explanation for what you are witnessing — the Holy Spirit has been poured out, and these people are beginning to work in power. It is something new. Not only that, they are declaring the works of God and the majesty of God to a lost and unholy people.

Saved from what, exactly? Saved from the coming catastrophe — not just the end-of-the-world catastrophe, but your own catastrophe. If you die in a condition separated from God, you spend eternity in a place called hell. We looked a few weeks ago at the lessons from Littleton, and there are many things from what happened there that ought to make us sad, but this ought to make us very sad: some of those young men and women who were killed that day are in hell today. That is the reality. That is the real world. That is the path you are on unless you repent and call upon the name of the Lord.

What It Means to Be Saved

The word "saved" can sound distant or religious. When Campus Crusade launched their "I Found It" campaign right around 1975 or 1976, they had these yellow bumper stickers with big white bold letters — "I Found It." One day at a convenience store, pulling up next to an old beat-up Volkswagen bus, the driver climbed out and was asked what the "I Found It" thing was about. He said, "I don't know, it's my brother's van, man." That was the extent of it. But the thought was: apparently something was lost — I don't know what it is, but apparently it has been found.

You could be sitting here today hearing this and thinking: saved? Saved from what? I don't feel like I'm in any danger. Here is the danger you are in. You come into the world separated from God by your sin, and you are in rebellion to God. Every person in this room — every one of you — has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That is what the Bible says. And the wage of that sin is death.

When you say to God, "All I want is what I've earned," He says, "Fine — here is death." That is the wage of what you have earned. Not merely physical death, though that is part of the package, but eternal death — eternal separation from Him. Jesus Christ came and died on the cross so that His people could be saved from that eternal damnation.

What must you do? Here is what Paul says in Romans 10, verse 9: "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved." It means believing that Jesus is who He said He was — that when He died, He did not stay in the grave, because He was God. Lazarus went and died again; Lazarus's bones are somewhere right now. There are no bones from Jesus anywhere. He is in heaven. If you confess that, if you agree with that, if you believe it with your heart and trust that and that alone and call upon Him, you will be saved. He will answer. That is what is at stake. That is serious.

Three Things We Know About the Tongues of Pentecost

We will continue with Peter's message next week. It is a powerful message — one that results in 3,000 converts that very day. But on this first examination of the tongues we see in the book of Acts and at Pentecost, three things stand out.

First, it should be a known language. It may not be known to the one who is speaking it, but someone present can say, "That is Japanese" — or whatever the language may be. Second, what is being spoken in that language is something that praises and worships God. Third, it is a sign for unbelievers. Peter acknowledges that people are asking what this is, and his answer is that God is using this gift to get their attention. A sign points you to something else. It does not become the thing itself that you fixate on — it points you forward. What are they pointing to? The wonderful things of God. And Peter then stands up and says, "Let me tell you what God has done. He has given you a path that leads to life — eternal life — so that you can experience salvation."

The Holy Spirit: The Main Character of Acts

Let me take just one extra minute to point out that this passage is not primarily a discussion about tongues or spiritual gifts. The main character of the book of Acts is the Holy Spirit. And I am afraid that for some of us — and I will include myself — in a very conservative, Bible-believing, fundamentally orthodox church, we can become so alarmed by what we see as non-biblical manifestations of the Holy Spirit that we miss the Holy Spirit Himself.

The Reality of the Holy Spirit

You and I absolutely need to be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to love Him and care for Him and understand who Christ is — to love Him and live a life in word and in deed that is used by God to touch those around us. We desperately need the Holy Spirit. That is our prayer as we close today.

Father, please let us as believers be filled with Your Spirit. Send that Spirit to help us know and understand who Christ is. God, help us understand that our measure for success is our holiness, our heart, not the results. God, make us understand the power that we have and the ability to love and forgive and care for and bear witness to one another.

God, do not let us in any way grieve that Spirit. Let us obediently follow, doing the things that Scripture prescribes for us to do and avoiding the things that Scripture prohibits. God, let us live this way — a way that brings honor and glory to You, for we ask it of You in Jesus' name, amen.