On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down and indwelt all the believers (about 120) who were gathered together in Jerusalem awaiting the Father’s promise. This wonderful event was marked by miraculous signs so that there would be a complete testimony to the fact this was a work of God.
Now, though the Lord Jesus had ascended to heaven and was there at the right hand of the Father as a perfect Man, the Holy Spirit was on earth and indwelling all the believers, having formed them into one body, the body of Christ. This was the beginning of the time when the Jews, who had enjoyed God’s special blessings on this earth, were temporarily set aside as His special people. Nor were the Gentiles any longer to be hopelessly outside the sphere of God’s blessing because they were not of the stock of Israel.
But now there was the Church, the bride of Christ, made up of every believer in the Lord Jesus. And now it was with this body (not the Jewish nation under the law) that the only testimony to the true God existed in the world and so exists today. It will be good to remind ourselves here, however, that all of the believers in the early Church in Acts 2 were Jewish. The Spirit of God graciously bore with this condition and in His perfect time changed it so that eventually not only Jews but Gentiles, too, were made members of the one body of Christ.
1. The believers were together on the day of Pentecost with “one accord”. It was in this happy state that the Spirit of God descended and formed them into one body of believers united to the Lord Jesus in heaven. What was one of the very first desires that Paul expressed for the Corinthian church when he began to deal with their sad condition of worldliness? 1 Corinthians 1:___
2. Paul not only taught that the body of Christ was one and should act so that there would be no divisions, but he also admonished individual believers in the same way. What advice did he have for Euodias and Syntyche?
Philippians 4:___
3. The Lord Jesus had told the leaders of Israel that their law taught that truth was established by at least two witnesses (see John 8:1717It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. (John 8:17)). In Acts 217And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: (Acts 2:17), three distinct signs are recorded to give witness to the fact that this work was of God. What were they? Acts 217And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: (Acts 2:17):___
4. The result of the miraculous gift of tongues given to the believers at Pentecost was that many people who spoke many different languages heard a wonderful message. What was the purpose of this message? Acts 2:___
5. To whom does Paul say that the Church makes known the “manifold wisdom” of God? Ephesians 3:___