And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. 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 Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Acts, Chapter 2, verses 1-8.
The gift of the Holy Spirit makes a Grand entrance! God didn’t want this to go unnoticed or He would have just given this gift subtly to the disciples. He wanted people to know that this is a gift from God so He had witnesses to this special occasion!
It tells about how the Holy Spirit came down and gave the disciples and other followers the ability to talk to different nationalities and cultures of people in their native tongue. Otherwise the disciples and followers of God would not be able to minister to anyone other than those who could understand the disciple’s language.
Whether people still talk in tongues or whether it was just during the time of the disciples isn’t exactly clear to me, at this point. I just know that the disciples and followers did then in order to be able to preach to everyone. God didn’t want anyone excluded from the opportunity to hear His Word.
There is a lot of controversy about talking in tongues, but I don’t have to get involved in disputes on that topic. It doesn’t say in the Bible that a requirement for Salvation is to believe in Jesus and to talk in tongues. It just says that we are supposed to believe in Jesus as our Savior and to try to lead our lives as an example for Him. So, I don’t have to know all the answers in order to have Salvation. If God wants me to know this, He’ll show me what He wants me to know, when He wants me to know it. You can read more about this in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 12, Chapter 13 and Chapter 14 to make up your own mind on this matter which is definitely preferable to someone else telling you what to believe. God does have suggestions for these gifts so that they don’t alienate visitors.
Because this is an example of how I’ve applied this Bible passage to my life, it doesn’t necessarily reflect the whole meaning of the passage.
This is a connection I've made from this Bible passage. Please
share your connections.