Acts 1:17-20 … For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) “For it is written in the Book of Psalms,Christ’s death and suffering was in your place under the punishment of God but those who participated bear their own guilt. Judas did what Judas wanted to do and he bears the responsibility and the liability for his actions.
“‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’ (Psalm 69:25); and “‘Let another take his office’ (Psalm 109:8).
Psalm 109:1-8 … Be not silent, O God of my praise! For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer. So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love. Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser stand at his right hand. When he is tried, let him come forth guilty; let his prayer be counted as sin! May his days be few; may another take his office!
We really don’t know all the sins that Judas committed during his tenure as treasurer for Jesus and the other disciples. We know he misappropriated funds so he was a thief but we also know that he had his own agenda and Jesus wasn’t fitting into it. Psalm 109 gives some idea (prophetically) of the depth and variety of his sin. In these 8 verses are vivid in their description of the trial of Jesus. Lying witnesses were interviewed. Jesus was hit and beaten without cause. In return for love He was given evil but He was in prayer. Then the Psalm changes from “they” to the singular “he”. Judas had a wicked man who manipulated him and refused his repayment of the blood money. Judas literally had THE accuser (satan) at his right hand, Judas stood guilty before the perfect Judge, and his praying was the sin of remorse without repentance. Judas days were few and, at this point in the Book of Acts, Peter is seeking to see another take the office of Judas.
Acts 1:21-26 … So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
Peter argued that the 11 apostles needed one of the men who had been present with Jesus (from John the Baptist to the Ascension) to move back to a full 12 apostles. I’ve heard sermons preached about how this was wrong and they never should have picked another person to take Judas’ spot. The argument is generally that Paul was picked by God and Matthias by man. I don’t think that really holds water. First, Paul didn’t really occupy the same position that Judas vacated, secondly, the Psalm (Scripture) commands a selection, and thirdly, Paul wasn’t going to be available for years. Casting lots seems pretty “random” to us because we are modern and often lose track of our stated belief in a sovereign God. If you don’t think God controls the toss of the dice then it actually means you don’t believe in God. The actions of the disciples at this point are consistent with Old Testament Scripture and practice.
So does that mean we should all head to Las Vegas and try our hand at gambling? No, God will not bless your greed and has told you what to do. However, you don’t need to believe the universe is fundamentally random in order for statistics to be a useful tool for understanding and learning how things generally work (under God’s sovereign control).
Acts 2:1-4 … When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested 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 utterance.
Remembering the obedience to the command of Jesus, they were doing what they were told. They had 10 days of seeking God after the ascension prior to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This event was a fulfillment of many prophecies, types, and shadows from the Old Testament and even in this book the first chapter is the promise and this second chapter sees the fulfillment.
The promised Holy Spirit comes in Acts chapter 2 with 2 symbols and those symbols are wind and fire.
WindThe use of wind would have made a natural connection for anyone who was speaking Hebrew, Greek , or Latin but we can miss it. In each of those three languages wind and spirit go together. It is the same word and in all three languages it takes a substantial breath to say the word. In Hebrew it is “ruach”, in Greek it is “pneuma”, and in Latin it is “spiritus”. They were each words that if repeated used up all the breath in your lungs. They required exhaling. If you take this concept back into your reading of Scripture you find it helps you read and appreciate other verses. For example, in Genesis 1:2 when Scripture says that “the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” you understand the movement and action of the wind on the waves rather than simply a static hovering.
In Genesis 2:7 when God created man then He “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being” and moved Adam from being dead matter to living matter by His breath. Think about when we studied the Gospel of John and read about Nicodemus. Jesus used language that literally meant that Nicodemus needed to be born again from above just like the first time. When Jesus explained this he said;
John 3:5-8 … Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You (All Y’all - it is plural) must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus who know Scripture very well and would have understood the reference back to Adam and then how that would apply to him (and all mankind) needing to be born again into a new life by the power of the Spirit. When we studied Isaiah we read, “Stop trusting in man who has but a breath in his nostrils” and we understand that to mean that a man is only a one breath being. We are just barely alive. If we stop breathing for just a few minutes then we die. God is eternally alive. The Holy Spirit is the Holy Breath and “being” is in God as part of His divine nature. How could the Holy Breath stop breathing? The Great I AM can’t stop being. We can clearly trust Him for our being.
Here in Acts we need to see the parallel between Genesis 1:2 and Acts 2:2. In Genesis the Wind or Spirit blew across the waters in creation and here in Acts the Wind or Spirit moves in creative power to bring about new birth. At this point in history, God the Holy Spirit (or Wind) began to bring men and women to spiritual life.
We practice water-baptism as the first thing a convert to Christianity does because Spirit-baptism is the first thing a convert to Christianity experiences. It is a necessary part of the conversion process that a Christian is baptized in the Holy Spirit. We have talked fairly extensively about baptism but briefly, water-baptism is your testimony that you were in Christ on the Cross (water being the symbol of God’s wrath) and have been baptized in the Spirit.
Here in Acts we read about being filled with the Holy Spirit. First the room was filled and then the believers were filled. We see a specific manifestation of the Spirit here and that is speaking in tongues. Some Pentecostal believers confuse “Baptized in the Holy Spirit” with “Filled with the Holy Spirit” and they are not the same. We are to keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit. The evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit is further confused with speaking in tongues. That isn’t the “general” evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit. The general evidence is that you are a witness of Christ. Do you testify to Jesus Christ and does God bless that testimony with the conversion of men and women? That is the evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit. You can see why speaking in tongues would be a much easier thing to present as evidence.
FireSo we have tongues of fire distributed so that we can speak out what we have been filled with. We are filled by the Holy Spirit with a purpose. We need to be filled by the Holy Spirit so that we can say what God wants us to say. We see fire in the Old Testament in a number of settings. God made a covenant with Abraham while Abraham slept (Genesis 15:17). God made the covenant unilaterally (it was independent of Abraham who was asleep) and God was represented with a “firepot” and a “flaming torch” in covenant making.
First of all, those of us with light bulbs need to remember that fire brings light and illumination. Peter was able to see things in the Old Testament that he had been unable to see before. We see things we couldn’t see before after the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
Secondly, those of us with heaters living in the South during the summer time need to remember that fire brings warmth. There is nothing like a campfire in the dark for attracting people. John the Baptist said that Jesus would baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11).
Thirdly, fire spreads and Jesus has promised to send fire on the earth (Luke 12:49). As we live we must be filled with the Holy Spirit or we won’t have anything incendiary to speak. We don’t have this in our experience in the way we should have it. This is something for each of us to pray about and see God’s filling to be witnesses as we participate with God in what He is doing.
Ezekiel said;
Ezekiel 34:11-13 … “For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
The day of clouds and thick darkness is over. The atonement has been made and we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit so He can use us to seek, rescue, bring, gather, and feed His sheep. It is our duty but it is also a rich privilege to surrender to the Holy Spirit in this activity.
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