Pentecost Part 9

Pentecost Part 9

God’s timing is always perfect.

The day that Jesus chose to pour out His Spirit in Jerusalem was one of the three holy days that God commanded every Jewish male to present himself in Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice in the temple. 

"Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:" - Deuteronomy 16:16 KJV  

The feast of weeks (also called Pentecost and Shavuot) is celebrated 7 weeks after Passover, thus "feast of weeks."

"And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven." - Acts 2:5 KJV

These devout Jews would have spoken Hebrew as well as the language of the nation they were from.

"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. ... 

"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. ... 

"Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. 

"And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? ... we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God." - Acts 2:1, 4, 6-8, 11 KJV

God's perfect timing placed men of every nation (and language) in Jerusalem to witness  the outpouring of His Spirit, hearing them speak in their languages the wonderful works of God. 

Otherwise, witnesses to the Spirit outpouring would have thought the 120 were all drunk. (Acts 2:13).

Notice they were not hearing the gospel when the 120 disciples were speaking in tongues. 

They heard the Gospel from Peter, (whom Jesus gave the keys to the kingdom), when they asked, What meaneth this? (Matthew 16:19, Acts 2:14-40).

When the men asked, What meaneth this? Then Peter began preaching, most likely in the Hebrew tongue, which they all understood as devout Jews.