An Amazing Occurrence Part 3 – the promise of repentance

Act 2:5-13
 “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 Galilaeans?  And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?     Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.  And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.”

 “And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.Now when this was noised abroad,”    It wouldn’t be like texting round, to your friends, and then you couldn’t even take videos, which would probably would have loads of views!  No, the people around there first would run from street to street, or to a public house, like the Palaestram, ( where the bath and Gym was) 

“the multitude came together,” Here we will think about the “Wh” questions, who, what, where & when. First we’ll, think about the “who”. Who was in the multitude?

Who

Luke tells us in verse 5, they were “devout men,” In that they were dedicated in the Jewish faith (like we should be in our Faith) and because of their faith (in which they were devoted). They were dependable to be there in Jerusalem at this time, Pentecost, because it was their devotion to come every year, for it was “a day to come unto the Lord!“But even if you were keeping every feast and every law trying to get to get to God’s standard because of sin it is of no use! “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”. 

What

what did they have? And what do they not have?

Well, in verse 6, we have the answer,“the multitude came together,and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.”

So here are two things:

1. they didn’t have peace

2. they didn’t have a firm place

In their place, they were all together, and of their peace, it was the opposite, they were confounded! They were perplexed,(completely baffled; very puzzled.) But what at? Well, right now they were puzzled at what just happened in the house the were standing in front of! This is what their emotions were, “And they were all amazed and marvelled,” and here in this question, we see their confusion, “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?”(verses 7&8) This is amazing that as Jesus sent the Comforter to the disciples it wasn’t only a comfort to the disciples but it was also a miracle, this multitude might not know Jesus’s miracles and didn’t see them take place, but in this at the forefront was Jesus(as Peter would preach unto the crowd we see this) that He is the Place! But also the Holy Spirit was the one who brought them together, He is our Peace! And that is the blessing that we can just come to Him and rest in Him. He still does Miracles and as we come to Him we can have the surety that He is with us and will comfort us! He is the right place! “him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”(John 6:37& Mat 11:28)“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” 

Where

Where were they from?

 “Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians,“

This reminds me of John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life!”

This tells me of the love of the Father! That he sent His beloved son into the world,

“And being found in appearance as a man,He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.”

And we can see His mercy, and grace. And He was giving this multitude, and even though they weren’t from Israel,”The Chosen People” But different parts of the World, God chose them to come to be at this point and this place, to see and eventually hear the power of God!

When

When did they come together?

“seeing it is but the third hour of the day.”

So it was at this time that the multitude came together, and we’ll see in the next article that Peter will stand up and tell this multitude that, we are all sinners, all equal and we need to be saved from our sin!

And we can have the promise of repentance and the surety that when we come to the Lord, he will forgive us!

“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”(Luke 5:32)

And the question I’ll leave you from this article is “Who are you?”, “What are you doing in your life?”, “Where are you in life?”, and “When will you come to the Lord, to repent?”