Burunche’s Blog

Acts 2:5-13 The Crowd’s Response

“And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”

Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”

All this time, the followers of Jesus have been praying together but otherwise trying to maintain a low profile. The last thing these folks want is to be arrested by either the religious authorities or the Romans. But God has other ideas. There are devout men from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem, and now these men are rushing into the street as they hear those recently baptized with the Holy Spirit glorifying God in their heart languages. Nobody has ever heard anything like this.

But while these men are ecstatic over these manifestations, there are always nay-sayers ready to criticize. These guys are sure that these people must be drunk! Somebody needs to do something, and Peter steps up and preaches.

We’ll continue the story tomorrow, but look at Peter for a minute. Until now, Peter has always been a man of action, not a preacher or a teacher. There are other disciples with better educations and vocabularies, and Peter has a strong Galilean accent that marks him wherever he goes. Peter is not most people’s first choice for public speaking. And that is what is going to make Peter’s next move so remarkable, for Peter will be the one to preach.

One of the amazing things about the Holy Spirit is that the Holy Spirit empowers those willing to welcome Him. God does not play favorites, and He is interested in our availability, not in our ability. Remember that lesson as we continue to study the events of that thrilling day of Pentecost.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to be willing to be available and to trust that You will give us the strength and the courage to do Your perfect Will. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen. 

Tags: bible, christianity, holy-spirit, jesus, pentecost

This entry was posted on April 27, 2025 at 2:27 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.