Acts 2:1-13
The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost
1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"
13Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine.
It seems many of God's miracles are done subtly...I am not sure if God even likes to do miracles (He could always be doing them, if doing miracles really pleased Him)...He seems to do or does miracles that we cannot quickly see, especially at the time of the miracle...He could do a miracle when someone is very sick, or has been injured, had an accident and when we are in trouble -and we may not notice the miracle...The quick miracle could be seen, as it was, as a quick healing, or a helping miracle -but did God do the miracle or do we give the doctor credit, or did that person just heal quickly...I think I could see Him doing a minor miracle, all the time (and maybe He does or maybe He is constantly doing while the major miracles we just cannot see them)....But it seems miracles, and in the sense of our prayers, He does what He sees is right (which of course, is always the right thing)...God's will does get done, after all...He doesn't always answer our prayers in troubled times, and He does not always give us that quick miracle that we want...He knows what is right, even when it comes to our prayers...But years later, we may reflect on a specific prayer, when we are in trouble or our family or friends were in trouble -and then we can see how the miracle turned out...God's will gets done in life...And we may find some comfort or mystique about that prayer, that might hint He was there -but we have to look back in the past and reflect on the changes that are in His miracle... Sometimes it seems prayers and His miracles are easier to see, only years later...And sometimes many years later...And sometimes miracles are gradual and over an extended period of time and years...
We often look to God for miracles and can see a miracle and say definitively, yes that was God and from God ...In the Acts of the Apostles, God does several miracles...Jesus had told His disciples that He would send them the gift His Father had promised... They would be baptized by this gift of the Holy Spirit...The Holy Spirit does comes on the day of the Pentecost...I am wondering, if many even knew that the violent wind was from heaven and God...I wonder how many in the crowd knew His disciples had been actually been touched by God...They had just witnessed a miracle and did they realize it...Sometimes God does things like this, let us say a miracle and answers prayers in a such a way that it may not seem, if He has done anything at all...And in this case, this violent wind is just blowing, maybe a storm is there...That might be what some of the observers thought, at least at first...
I think some of God's miracles are so subtle that they go unnoticed, and we just overlook them and cannot see them...
The people listening to Jesus' disciples were Jews that had been travelers, and and most lived outside their home country...They would be listening to the disciples in their own native language...They, the diaspora Jew, would have and did wonder and were amazed at how the disciples would and did know -so many different dialects and languages...Jesus had told His disciples that they would go and spread His word in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth...These men listening would hear the Twelve and get to know a little, if not a lot (more) about Jesus that day...Some would believe in Him, and add to His number of followers...This group, no doubt would have to depart after the Pentecost celebration and return to their native countries, and to their homes around the world... These people in their travels back home and in their homeland would tell others what they had seen and heard from the disciples about our LORD...The Good News of the gospel would first transferred within these groups of people like this crowd, and then to the ones they talked to about this event...Peter, Paul, and the other Early Apostles would later encourage these early listeners (and the different people they would have shared this with) later when they themselves traveled around the world...Hearing Peter, or John, or Paul, or any of His original disciples would have more than likely greatly strengthened your belief in the story you had heard or heard about our LORD years earlier for another one...Jesus, His teachings, and The Word would spread around the world to all of Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth...A miracle had happened that day and continued to happen with those in the crowd...The miracle might and could have been missed at first, but seems easier now to see two thousand years later...It seems to me, this is how God does most of His miracles...God took Twelve common uneducated men and they made Christianity into a world wide religion over a period of many years...And as we look back, we can say, now that is a miracle...