CLOVEN TONGUES LIKE AS OF FIRE

The feast of Pentecost was celebrated in Old Testament times on the fiftieth day after the feast of Firstfruits. In this instance, it was the fiftieth day after the Lord’s resurrection. The Saviour, before He ascended into heaven, had commanded His disciples not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for ‘the promise of the Father’, which He explained as their baptism with the Holy Spirit ‘not many days hence’, Acts 1. 4, 5. Obedient to that com­mand they were all with one accord in one place, v. 1.

In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came upon individuals for a certain purpose and often only temporarily. Now, in this dispensation, the Spirit was coming to indwell the believers permanently. This miraculous out-pouring of the Spirit of God on all flesh was a partial fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel chapter 2, verses 28-32. The mission of the Holy Spirit here is to bear witness to the death and the resurrection of Christ. And, since this message has a universal application so that ‘whoso­ever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved’, it will have to be broadcast in a language understood by the hearer. For faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, Rom. 10. 13, 17.

The arrival of the Spirit was heard first as a sound from heaven, like a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house. Wind is often used to refer to the invisible action of the Holy Spirit, John 3. 8. Next, there appeared unto them cloven tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. The scripture is clear that they were not fire but ‘as of fire’. This, however, was a visible manifestation of the descent of the Spirit on them, much like the bodily form of the dove descending and alighting on the Saviour at the time of His baptism.

The appearance ‘as of fire’ denotes the energy of the Spirit of God; however, this has nothing to do with the baptism of fire, Matt. 3. 11, 12. Being shaped as tongues meant the ability given to the apostles to speak clearly in a language they had never learned. The result was that all those present who spoke differ­ent languages were able to hear and understand the message of the gospel in their own tongues, vv. 4-12.