8 - Spiritual Language

As we read this passage we’re watching a new era begin. The relationship between God’s Spirit and His people has changed forever. Never before had the Holy Spirit been able to live inside the sin-contaminated bodies of believers. Never before was such intimacy with God possible to all of God’s people, not just a special few. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead and His ascension into heaven radically changed things. His death actually cleansed our bodies and made them a suitable dwelling place for God. Now He is able to live inside us, and as you might expect when He arrives it produces some remarkable changes.

The first thing that happened on that Day of Pentecost was that each disciple began speaking in a language he or she had never learned. Luke says they spoke words which the Spirit gave them to speak out. Never before had there been such a miracle. There are numerous examples in the Old Testament of the Spirit coming upon people with the result that they spoke out prophetically in their own language, but never in a new, unlearned language. Why would God do such a thing?

Many conflicting answers have been given to this question, but Peter actually gives us his own, inspired, explanation. He says it’s a sign of the last days. He says it’s a fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. Let’s look more closely at this miracle of speaking in other languages.