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Sermon preached on Acts 2:1-21 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 05/24/2026 in Petaluma, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
What does this mean? That’s the question people were asking in verse 12 when they witnessed the miraculous speaking in tongues on the day of Pentecost. Since this is the time of year when Jews celebrate Pentecost (Shavuot), I wanted us to consider the significance of the historical event recorded here in Acts 2. After Jesus died, and rose again, he had his disciples wait until Pentecost to begin proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. Then, he poured out his Holy Spirit to empower their evangelism. The miracles seen here that happened on Pentecost confirmed the church’s calling as the Holy Spirit is given to them.
As these disciples begin to evangelize the world, it marks the beginning of God reversing the ways humanity had been divided and separated. Let us recognize here the historical background of the Jewish Diaspora alluded to in verse 5. The nation of Israel had been conquered and dispersed in exile by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. The result is there were Jewish people who knew the Lord scattered all over the nations. The prophets prophesied that God would one day gather them back and unite them in the Messiah, Isaiah 11:10-12, for example. Surely, we should also recognize here the historical background of the Tower of Babel. Back in Genesis 11, as the people on the earth started to multiply, they were united, living together, and speaking one language. Sadly, they became arrogant against God. At Babel, they thought they could make a name for themselves by building a grand city and tower that could reach heaven. In judgment, God confused their languages, resulting in their dispersing and dividing up into various nations throughout the world. Despite that judgment, the next chapter held out hope of redemption. In Genesis 12:3, God prophesied how all the nations could find blessing in a coming seed of Abraham. So then, these two historical backgrounds describe how mankind in general, and Israel, in particular, had experienced God’s chastening in ways that scattered and separated them. Yet, God was clear that he never intended that to be a final separation, but his redemptive purposes would bring people together in the Messiah. And yet, let us also note that the one prophesied to bring people together just left this earth to go to heaven! The first of Jesus’ disciples who had been gathered to him, now were separated from him. So then, these three historical references, the Jewish Diaspora, the Tower of Babel, and the ascension of Jesus are forms of people being separated from others. Yet, this Pentecost marks the beginning of reunions. Let’s dig in.
Our first point for today will be to consider these divided tongues that came down from heaven, verses 1-4. We pick up the action with some 120 disciples of Jesus waiting and praying in Jerusalem for the baptism of the Holy Spirit as Jesus had instructed them. They had been there for about 10 days, when as verse 1 says, Pentecost had arrived. That is when the pouring out of the Holy Spirit comes. Three miraculous signs accompany this. First, there was the sound of a rushing wind that came from heaven. Remember how Jesus in John 3 compared the Holy Spirit to wind blowing as it pleases. Here, its heavenly origin is emphasized. If the sin of the Tower of Babel was arrogant people wanting to climb to heaven, here, instead, heaven comes down to humble people waiting in prayer. The second sign is the divided tongues of fire. The language of “divided” refers to how the different fiery tongues spread out and settle on the various disciples. I can’t help but think of this language of divided or dispersed reminds us of how people were so separated and divided at both Babel and the Jewish Diaspora. That these tongues are like fire, reminds us that John the Baptist said Jesus would baptize by the Holy Spirit and fire (Matt 3:11). Surely, the fire reminds us of both the divinity of the Spirit and the power of the Spirit. That these were picturing tongues points to the third sign. In verse 4, we are told that the Holy Spirit fills them and causes them to speak in different languages.
When that speaking in tongues happens, we might again think back to both the Tower of Babel and the Jewish Diaspora. This is what happens with the Tower of Babel, that in judgment God made them all start to speak different languages. That suddenly starts happening here. With regard to the Jewish Diaspora, we need to remember a prophecy in Isaiah 28:11. There, it described how Israel would know they were under God’s judgment when they started hearing the foreign language of invaders, a language they didn’t know. When the invading army breaks down their walls and they hear their foreign language, then Israel knows they have incurred God’s judgment. For a moment here in verse 4, maybe you might wonder if these tongues are for judgment. Again, the question is, “What does this mean?”
That leads us then to our second point to see these tongues were not merely a sign for judgment as before, but now were also a sign of God’s redemptive gathering of the nations. Let’s look at verses 5 to 13 to see this. Verse 5 describes the people that witnessed this miracle as devout Jews who were staying in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven. Verses 9-11 give a list of some of those many nations. There we find that in addition to Jews, there were also proselytes. Proselytes were people that were not ethnically Jewish but had fully converted to Judaism including being circumcised. Thus, this list is largely describing people that had come from the Jewish Diaspora. Whether they were just in Jerusalem for Pentecost, or they had at some point relocated there, they were people that were religiously Jewish but culturally from various nations and cultures. While they may have known Hebrew to some degree, their native language was that of their nation where they came from in the Diaspora. In other words, they had some external differences that would have separated them from the Jews that had been born locally.
But now God was bringing them together. As verse 6 says, the speaking in tongues brought these multitudes together. I love the trajectory here. The Jewish Diaspora resulted in the Jews being separated by language, geography, and culture. Now, when the speaking in tongues brings them together it first says they were bewildered, which can also be translated as confused. It’s the same Greek word used in the LXX to translate “confused” in Genesis 11 that described what happened to the people when God confused their languages. So, again, there is something that at first glance reminds you of the Tower of Babel scene. But that is when a switch happens. Verse 6 says that what confused them was that they were each hearing them speak in his own language. At the Tower of Babel, people were confused because they couldn’t understand. Here, there is confusion because they weren’t expecting to understand but they did. The explanation is in verse 7. They are amazed and astonished because they see that it is Galileans speaking but they are speaking all these various other languages that no one would expect them to be able to speak. That is how all these Jews from all over the world can understand what they are saying in their own language.
Let me pause and note that this is clearly a miracle. It’s not that Jesus’ disciples here had learned these languages before speaking that day. No, it was the Holy Spirit giving them this utterance, when the Spirit came upon them that day. Let us also note that the Spirit was giving them known human languages to speak. It doesn’t say these were angelic languages or some other ecstatic speaking in a private prayer language. No, the people hear in their own languages from their countries of origin. This fact is important because it shows God’s work in regathering peoples to unite them together in Christ.
So then, in this second point, I’ve wanted us to recognize how this miracle of tongues began to reunite people from the Jewish Diaspora to receive the gospel in their own language. It’s a beginning of the reuniting of Israel that Scripture foretold in passages like Isaiah 11 which I mentioned earlier. This begins to reverse the effect caused by Israel being scattered before. As we study this passage, we can recognize something of the significance and meaning of these tongues. Yet, when this multitude first heard it, they still were perplexed about it, as we find in verse 12. Some, sadly, even accused the disciples of being drunk. So, there still was this question, “What does this mean?”
That leads us to our third point. The confused crowd needs someone to explain to them what is going on. Let us then turn to consider Peter’s sermon that heralds the words, “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” We see this in verses 17-21. The sermon goes on further than that, but we will focus on this section where Peter offers an initial explanation of this wonderful miracle.
First off, Peter denies that the disciples who were speaking in tongues were drunk. Instead, he proclaims that the event that day was a fulfillment of Joel 2:28-32. That’s the rather long quote he gives in verses 17-21. A key takeaway from the quote is that Peter tells them that this was an end times event. That’s how the quote starts out, verse 17, “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.” Peter is saying that the Spirit has now been poured out, which means that we are in the last days prophesied by Joel. Now this quote from Joel goes on to speak about how that pouring out of the Spirit is not discriminating of persons. Male and female, young and old, freemen and servants, all will enjoy this baptism of the Holy Spirit that results in such prophetic utterance! That is what is going on with this miracle of tongues!
Now, what must be understood as we consider the entire quote Peter makes here is that he says they are in the last days but it is not yet the final, last day. Verses 17-18 speak about something that is starting that day on Pentecost. But verses 19-20 speak of more signs to come that it says will happen “before the day of the Lord comes , the great and magnificent day.” So, this quote from Joel shows that there is this period of time known as the last days that will culminate in the day of the Lord when he comes at the end to judge the wicked and save the redeemed.
In light of what we see in the rest of the book of Acts, it is clear that this miracle of speaking in tongues serves to confirm these facts, but does not mean that this will ordinarily accompany whenever people become saved. The speaking in tongues confirms the Spirit has been poured out and that it is the last days. But it doesn’t say that tongue speaking will happen whenever anyone becomes a Christian. In fact, Acts records three, maybe four occurrences of tongue speaking at conversions, and something more around twenty instances of conversions where no reference to tongue speaking happens. On the ones where tongue speaking is mentioned, each appears to be at some unique barrier being breached for the first time. Here with the Jews and the Jewish Diaspora. Then probably the Samaritans’ conversion in chapter 8 is to be understood in this way, though it doesn’t specifically mention tongues. Then with the first Gentile converts in chapter 10. And lastly, a transitional group, those who had been disciples of John the Baptist but had not yet been brought into the new covenant. The phenomenon of tongues confirmed those barriers had been broken down as the gospel was going out to the world. The result is that all these can have confidence that they too have the gift of the Holy Spirit. Let me add an Old Testament example. In Numbers 11, God has Moses appoint 70 elders to help him lead the people. It says that God takes some of the Spirit that was upon Moses and gives it to the elders. At that moment, the seventy elders begin to prophesy, but it says that only happened that one time, Numbers 11:25. This did not mean that they only had the Spirit for that one moment. Rather, the phenomenon of their prophesying was a confirmation that God really had given them such a Spirit to be with them in their work as elders. Something similar is going on here in Acts.
So then, Peter’s sermon in the rest of the chapter goes on to explain the gospel in more detail. But the end of the quote from Joel gives it in summary fashion. Verse 21, “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” At the Tower of Babel, mankind’s arrogance wanted to make a name for themselves to exalt themselves. It ended them under God’s curse and judgment. But as Peter preaches the gospel from Joel, he says there is yet a way for them to be saved. Instead of trying to make a name for ourselves, sinful humanity needs to receive a name for ourselves. As Peter concludes this sermon down in verse 38, he says, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” As Acts 4:12 will confirm, “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved,” but the name of Jesus. Rebellious humanity tried to make a name for themselves to exalt themselves over God. But we humbled humans are offered to receive a name that will save us from the wrath of God.
So then, what does this all mean? It means God is forgiving us of our sin in Christ. God’s chastening of our sin included his dividing of humanity, even among lines of language. That resulted in different cultures and nations and peoples. But, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, he is bringing healing and redemption to scattered humanity. He is uniting us together in the name that is above all names. And so, the miracle at Pentecost signals the beginning of the reversal. Not just bringing back scattered Israelites together, but bringing scattered peoples from all the families on the earth. This is the picture we see finished at the end. In Revelation 7:9, we see in heaven a “great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’”. Likewise, Revelation 21 describes the New Jerusalem as where the nations will walk by the light of the Lamb and bring the glory of the nations into the holy city. This will all be fully realized when Jesus returns, coming down from heaven, gathering all the saints unto himself. In that grand reunion, God’s people will finally be fully united, made up of peoples from all the world and from every language, praising God and communing together with him, in blessedness, forever.
So then, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the new covenant church on Pentecost, God was announcing this future. It’s a future the saints in heaven have already begun to taste. It’s a future that all Christians will enjoy together at the end. And it’s a future that God has called us to embrace, even now. While human sinfulness and pride has held bigotry toward other peoples, we are to love all peoples. The greatest way to love others is to share the gospel with them. As we do, we are participating in the grand regathering of humanity into a single holy nation. Not one founded on human arrogance to exalt our name, but one founded in the humility that embraces Christ and his name above all names.
Trinity Presbyterian Church, one final application of this text is to counter the sinful racism that yet exists today. Sadly, racist voices can still be heard too frequently in our day, sometimes even claiming the name of Christianity. Next month’s General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church even has two overtures to consider how to deal with ongoing issues associated with racism. Any attempt to use Scripture to justify racial or ethnic prejudice or partiality is false doctrine. Such teaching is not in step with the truth of the gospel and what we’ve seen today in Acts 2. Scripture shows a goal to restore all peoples unto God through the Lord Jesus Christ, and to unite us together as one redeemed church. Acts 2 has signaled that this has begun at Pentecost.
So then, let us in love for neighbor and as those whom the Holy Spirit indwells, speak the gospel to all. May all the world join together in naming Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
Amen.
Copyright © 2025 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
All Rights Reserved.
