Acts 2:3 - Forerunner Commentary

Acts 2:3

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Articles, Bible studies, and sermons that contain The Acts of the Apostles 2:3:

Acts 2:3-4
Excerpted from: Let the Saints be Joyful in Glory!

Next, tongues appeared as flames that rested on each of the apostles.

Luke described tongues distributed among them, each disciple sharing in the gift equally with the others. "As of fire," or more exactly as if of fire, indicates the appearance of the tongues, not that they were aflame, but that they prefigured the marvelous gift with which the disciples were now endowed. The fire is often associated in the Old Testament with the presence of God and His holiness. It is similar in the New Testament where fire is associated with the presence of God as in Hebrews 12:29, and in Revelation 3:18, fire relates to the purification He can bring to human life.

So God's presence and holiness are both implied in the tongues as a fire in Acts 2:3, and fire is identified with Christ Himself in Revelation 1:14 and also Revelation 19:12. So this association naturally underlies the gift of the Holy Spirit, which opens to our understanding the things of Christ. The tongues in Acts 2:3 symbolize God's truth proclaimed by preaching. This is the antithesis of Babel's confusion of the tongues and gathering of people under one ambitious will. However, the New Testament is the center of God's spiritual Kingdom of peace and righteousness.

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