Why tongues, fire and wind on the day of Pentecost?

We are studying about the Holy Spirit and the book of Acts is the best resource we have on Scripture. Chapter 2, let's go back to that passage that we've been meditating on about the coming of the Holy Spirit, verse 1, chapter 2, Acts.

“…When the day of Pentecost came, a day like today, when the day of Pentecost came, they were all with one accord, together, and suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a mighty rushing wind, which filled the whole house where they were sitting. And distributed tongues like fire appeared to them, settling on each one of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit gave them to speak…”

We have there the formal beginning, so to speak, of the active ministry of the Holy Spirit within the children of God. The Holy Spirit evidently was there at the very foundation of the world, moving on the pages of the Old Testament. But the Lord Jesus Christ had said, wait until you receive power from on high, the promise of the Father.

John said, John the Baptist said, I baptize with water, but one comes after me who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire. And that was the beginning. This was the inauguration of that active ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the children of God, each believer.

Before, the anointing of the Holy Spirit was manifested specifically in chosen and privileged people, exceptional as were the kings who were anointed with oil to receive the wisdom and power and anointing of God to develop their specific ministry. The priests were anointed with oil also as a symbol of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The prophets were anointed with the Holy Spirit to carry out their supernatural function.

But ordinary people had to bandage it as they could to do the will of God. And Christ said, you know what? Now I want all of you, my children, my followers, my believers, to have a resource. The Holy Spirit will live within you. Before it was with you, but now it will be within you.

How many know that the Holy Spirit is within you? You are a child of God, you have the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is the driving force, it is the engine, and it is the gasoline that you must use for all your efforts and all your transactions in the Christian life. And here that day of Pentecost what we saw was like God said, ok, today, a new dispensation begins in the life of my people. I am going to move in them and I want each of them to seek that Pentecostal experience, that experience of receiving power to carry out the tasks of the Christian life.

And last Sunday we saw that when that happens in chapter 2, then a play is unleashed that we see on every page of the book of Acts: in the lives of the early Christians. We see the Holy Spirit baptizing others, empowering Peter to preach with extraordinary anointing, giving Christians courage to testify before the authorities, to endure the persecution that is unleashed. We see him testifying, we see them receiving revelation, like Ananias that the Holy Spirit tells him, see Saul that this man is a chosen instrument, anoint him, lay hands on him because I am going to use him greatly.

We see Philip being instructed to minister to the eunuch. We see Paul and Barnabas receiving revelation from the Holy Spirit about where to go and preach. We see healings that take place, deliverances of demonic spirits that are cast out under the power of the Holy Spirit. We see many things happen because the Holy Spirit is there.

In reality, the Book of Acts should be called the Book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit, not the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, as it is called, or so called. that name was given to him. It is actually the Holy Spirit praying.

And the idea is in that book that just as the Holy Spirit moved at that time, it must and can also move in the life of the church today in the 21st century and must also move in the León de Judá congregation of that manner.

The Bible tells us that the same works that these men and women did we can also do, that is why this book is there and that is why we also have to seek the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Now, there are three elements that appear in this event that we can wonder why God chose these distinctive elements in that very special moment. What meaning do they have? And what purpose did that God have who never does anything without having a reason and without having a purpose. What did God have in those three elements that he wanted to tell us? What message did he want to give us?

Look, here it speaks of a noise like a mighty rushing wind coming from heaven, a mighty rushing wind. Why was this? It's like at the moment it looked like it was a hurricane that had broken loose. I don't know how many have sometimes heard what a wind is when it is blowing like a hurricane. That's terrible. That scares anyone. It was a strong wind, a breath, a roar like a hurricane that suddenly broke loose where they were. A rushing wind was blowing.

Number two, it says that scattered tongues appeared to him. Tongues, were like little flames that rested on the head of each one of the Apostles, or of the people who were in the place where they were. And those scattered tongues were like fire, they were little flames, as I said a moment ago. So, we see here strong wind, wind, we see tongues that seemed like little flames, as well as on fire. That is, the element of fire is actually the most important. Those divided tongues, he says, began to speak in other languages. That is to say, those little flames were also like symbols of some languages that were going to be distributed.

So we see that people spoke in tongues, there was a rushing wind, and there was fire involved. Why those three elements? Tongues, fire and wind. God had a purpose in these three things. Why languages? Let's take that part mainly. Why did these people speak in tongues? I don't have time right now, you know what it's like to speak in tongues. Tongues is a supernatural language, inspired by God. It is speaking in a language that is not yours. Now, that language can be a language not of this earth, an angelic language, a spiritual language, that you do not know and that does not exist in human culture. Or it may be a human language that you don't know either but that God gives you the ability to speak, from another tribe, from another nation.

The Apostle Paul says that if I spoke in human and angelic tongues. So that's the language. These people began to speak in other languages, in this particular case because God had a purpose in it, these people spoke in recognizable languages, human languages, languages that belonged to all those Hebrews who were in Jerusalem at that time celebrating precisely the festival. of Pentecost and that they came from different nations and spoke different languages from the nations from which they came.

And the Lord gave those disciples the ability to speak in that language, those different languages because he had a purpose in it, a symbolic purpose. He wanted to state something about it for the whole story.

Now what did they mean? Those languages, the fact that they spoke many languages of different nations, referred to the universal and worldwide character of the Gospel. The fact that now the Gospel was going to spread throughout the earth and that it was going to reach all the nations, that this proclamation that Christ is the Lord and the savior, was for all humanity and not only for the Hebrews. With that God was saying, this language will be taken to all parts of the world and it is for all nations.

Secondly, I believe that tongues speak of something important and that is that language is the key to communicating the Gospel. Our mouth communicates the truth of God. And it was like a consecration of human language to preach the Gospel and to announce it. God was saying, this language that men use for so many different things, I now consecrate it to announce my Gospel. God was anointing the mouths of his disciples in a supernatural way.

Third, many scholars have said that in a sense God was neutralizing the negative work of Babel. Do you know what happened at the tower of Babel? What happened? Men tried to glorify themselves and God, says, they confused. Before, according to the biblical story, humanity spoke only one language. It is interesting that linguists today who do not believe in electric light, many of them, say that indeed the different languages of humanity come from a single language. And they are always searching, trying to find out what are the words in common that all the languages of the earth have. They know that the languages of the world come from a mother tongue and from there they developed and divided into the Indo-European languages, the Germanic languages, the Romance languages, etc. but they come from a common root. They understand this independently of the Bible.

Now, when Bable says that God confused the languages of man as a punishment so that they would not advance in their idea of glorifying themselves. And from then on there was a Babel, that is, a number of different languages. Now, at this time when God is creating a chosen people, he unifies in a sense the languages allowing all the different languages to be spoken so that the Gospel can be announced and people can communicate with each other.

I mean, it was like God was saying, you know what? Babel divided men but my Son now unites them and allows them to communicate with each other.

Besides that, I believe that tongues are a supernatural way to praise and glorify God with a supernatural language. It is a way of communicating directly with God in a freshly made language, straight out of the oven, a fresh language that does not have the destructive and fallen elements of the human language. With a supernatural tongue inspired by the Holy Spirit you can communicate directly with God. Now, you may not know in your brain what you're saying, but your spirit knows. And it is a direct communication with God.

God wanted to supernaturally communicate a supernatural experience. I believe that when these people spoke that supernatural language, God was saying to the church, you know what? the communication of my word will always have to be something mysterious, spiritual, supernatural, done in the power of the Holy Spirit.

When you communicate the truth of the Gospel, brother, sister, think in your heart and in your mind, I am speaking to people not in my strength, but in the power of the Holy Spirit. I am communicating this language of the Kingdom of God in a different way.

I would also say that God wanted to do something else and that is, if you look, the language is the most fundamental thing, I believe, that there is. The man is distinguished by being able to speak. Chimpanzees and monkeys in general have a very basic ability to communicate and it has been found, for example, that chimpanzees have quite complex language but compared to human language, it is quite primitive. The human being is distinguished by speaking and speaking in an extremely complex way.

Look at all the things that I am communicating right now through the human language. So, as if God wanted to seal that essential element of the human race with the touch of his spirit. And that which is so essential for man, God wanted to seal it with his spirit.

And I think that is why this idea of languages. It was something so special that was happening at that moment that God wanted it to be marked, touching something that was so integral, such an essential part of the human race as language is. And God wanted to touch his people in that sense and for that reason the tongues. Now, later we're going to have more time to talk about tongues and their meaning and their importance.

Second, the wind. He says that it was like a rushing rushing wind, a noise like a rushing rushing wind, which filled the whole house where they were sitting. why wind? The wind has always been a symbol of the spirit of God. The Hebrews speak of 'ruach'. Look at the word breath, the word breath refers to the breath, the air that comes out of our mouth, the air that we breathe, the oxygen. But it also refers to the mood. It left me breathless, many times it doesn't just mean that it left me breathless, but it left me without courage, it left me without strength. Breath is the mark of strength.

In the Old Testament, in the Scriptures, 'ruach' is like that, breath, the wind of God, the air of God, which is also the spirit. I was reading something about it on the internet. It says here, in the Tanach which is the Hebrew Scripture, the word ruach generally means wind, breath, mind, spirit.

In a living creature, ruach is the breath, the breath, whether of animals or of the human race. God is the creator of ruaj, of breath. In the hands of God is the spirit, the breath of all humanity. In humanity, ruaj, in addition to note, indicates the principle of life that possesses reason, will and conscience, what we also call the soul. Ruach imparts the divine image to the man of God. And it constitutes the dynamic element that results in man being a living being.

Remember that when God created Adam from the earth, he breathed into his nostrils and gave him life. But I believe that God also communicated his spirit to him through that. So, the wind has always been associated with the spirit of God and with the spirit of man, the soul, the driving force of man.

And so I think that here the wind was referring to many things. It is the spirit, it is the force of God moving. I also believe that this strong wind alluded to something that the spirit is power, it is dynamic. The wind can break, it can destroy anything, it moves mountains. So, that rushing wind alluded to the dynamic and powerful character of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to baptize us with power from on high.

It also speaks, I think the wind suggests, the unpredictable and uncontrollable character of the Holy Spirit. No one can control the wind. When the wind blows you have to step aside. Christ said that the wind blows where it wants. The Holy Spirit does what he wants. We submit to the Holy Spirit. We do not control the spirit, the Holy Spirit controls us.

As the wind moves where it wants and I also believe that this wind wanted to say, I move as I want, as I want. The sovereign and unpredictable character of the Holy Spirit as well.

Another thing, that like a rushing wind suggested something mysterious, something threatening and supernatural. If you hear a wind blowing it's like something from another world. And I think that strong wind was like, I come from a region that you do not know. It refers to what I would call the otherness of God. That God belongs to another dimension, is something mysterious, is something that is not from this earth. That wind suggested, I come here, I come from another world and I come to do things that you do not understand and cannot control.

So, he talked about the mysterious, supernatural, almost threatening aspect of God. That strong, powerful wind also suggested the endowment of power and capacity to work and transform that the Holy Spirit has through the lives of the children of God. The wind is used for productive things, for example, to move a windmill and then produce energy. And also then the wind means energy to carry out things, to carry out tasks and that is what the Holy Spirit does in our lives, he enables us to carry out the tasks of the Christian life.

And finally the coming of God in the Old Testament, many times the appearance of the Holy Spirit in an environment is associated with the wind. Remember, when Elijah is there that God gives him that vision, he says that a wind was coming that broke the stones. Elijah thought that God was there because God appears in the wind, but at that moment God chose not to appear through the wind, but there is this idea that when God is present there is a wind that breaks and destroys things.

So all that was. I think that rushing wind meant my powerful, empowering, dynamic, mysterious, threatening spirit, from another world, all of this was suggested by that coming wind, it was the breath of God, that breath of God that was going to invade and that it was going to get into us as it got through Adam's nose, the breath of God, from the mouth of God and gave him life to be a living being.

And the last thing, the fire. Tongues of fire appeared above their heads. why fire? Again, the same thing, fire suggests among other things the consuming power of God, fire consumes, fire melts. God is almighty. So God wanted to suggest through his fire also that you step aside because I am coming mightily.

The Bible speaks of God as a consuming fire. The Bible says that at the end of time the elements, the earth will burn. All the elements, everything that makes up the earth will melt, it will be consumed and God will create new heavens and a new earth. So that idea of God as a consuming fire.

Second, fire suggests life, energy, and heat. We don't have to overemphasize that. If there were no fire... he knows that the sun is fire, the sun is a ball of fire and if the sun went out, life could not exist. So fire suggests the life of God, the energy of God, the heat that God imparts when he is present as the Holy Spirit gives us life, gives us energy, gives us heat to carry out the tasks of the Christian life.

Fire also speaks of passion and commitment to witness to the Gospel. When the person has the fire of the Holy Spirit within him or her, they have passion. Many people are indifferent, medium, lukewarm because they do not have the fire of God in their lives. And that's why many people don't care if they go to church or not go to church, sing to the Lord or not sing to the Lord, read the Bible or not read the Bible, pray or not pray.

Now, when a person is filled with that fire of the Holy Spirit, they need to be in the presence of God. He is a person committed to God, they have spirit energy. That is why I say to him, Lord, help us, fill us with the fire of your Holy Spirit because if we have your fire we will be committed people.

So, the fire suggested that life, that energy, that warmth of the spirit that came to the people of God. And that passion, and that commitment to testify of the Gospel. Fire also suggests that conviction that Christ is Lord and Savior and that leads us to testify of him as well. That fire that consumes us, that does not allow us to be silent, that one of the prophets says, I tried to shut up and it was like a fire in my entrails, in my bones, I could not stop announcing the word of God.

Fire is the opposite, obviously, of coldness, formalism, spiritual death. Where is the fire of God that routine, cheap religiosity flees. People can no longer be in the rut of religion, just come and show up there and do some weird stuff and then go home just like they came in. No, already then the life of the people of God becomes something active, dynamic. It is the complete opposite of formalism and coldness and the rigid structure that kills.

I'm finishing. Fire suggests God's judgment as well. One day the judgment of God is going to manifest itself in fire in humanity and the destruction of this world. And I think it's also suggesting that part of God as judgment.

And finally, fire also suggests conflict, persecution and war that would break out against the church of Jesus Christ. That is, he was also suggesting war. Fire suggests war, it suggests conflict, it also suggests persecution.

So as you can see, I just wanted you to see that in this element, that coming of the Holy Spirit through tongues, through fire and through the wind, God was giving a subliminal message about everything that was going to make up the life of the church of Jesus Christ, and what was truly the nature of the Holy Spirit. And that fire, those tongues, that ability to communicate sublime, supernatural, spiritual things and that ability to move dynamically like the powerful wind of God moves, is what God wants in our life. Amen.

That is Pentecost. That very important characteristic, when you read about the fire, the rushing wind and the tongues that appeared, understand what God was saying to you, that God expects of your own life also through the presence of the Holy Spirit in you. Amen.

Brethren, let's stand up and thank the Lord. We've packed a lot today, right? They are tired? Glory to God. If they are tired that is good, because that means that they worked. You have to come to the church of God to work. If you came to sleep, better stay at home. No, we come to work. Next Sunday bring your majones, bring some jeans. Okay? And a work shirt. Let's go to work, if you can bring a hammer, also a sign that we come to work in the house of the Lord.

Let's bow our heads and thank the Lord for all that we have received today. Go home to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. Father, thank you, we have praised you, we have adored your name, we have enjoyed being here in your house and we want you to continue with us the rest of this day. Bless my brothers, both the English-speaking ones and the Hispanic brothers who are here.

Thank you because we are one people. Thank you because the fire of the Holy Spirit melted the barriers that divided humanity. Thank you because languages united us, Lord, to be able to communicate as brothers and sisters in a mysterious language that only you know how to give. Thank you that we have the transforming fire and the transforming wind of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Thank you for Pentecost, Lord. We want this church to be an animated, strengthened and energized church every day by the power of the Holy Spirit. we bless you I dismiss my brothers and declare on each one of them the presence and blessing of the Holy Spirit.

I bless your homes, Lord, your lives, your finances, your bodies, your health, your dreams, your struggles. Strengthen those who are weak in this time, Father, those who are in crisis, Lord, fill them with a new anointing on this day, Father. And we ask for miracles, Lord, in the life of your people. Father, we ask for solutions for those who have serious problems right now. Father, we ask that you open the windows of heaven and perform financial miracles in the lives of your children, Lord.

We unleash prosperity in the lives of your children. Those who need work, Lord, we ask for miracles and doors that open. Those who need their documentation, Lord, we ask for a solution to this problem as well. Those who have marital problems, children who need a touch of your spirit, Father. Health problems in our bodies, oh Lord, send your spirit right now, Father, and lead us out of here with hope and joy in our hearts.

Thank you for having us before your presence today and for the privilege of worshiping you, Lord. Dismiss us now with your blessing in the name of your son Jesus Christ. Amen.