20230806 Acts 2:1-13 Pentecost, The Witness Begins
Acts 2:1-13 marks the end of the Old Covenant era. Continuity marks the whole Bible. Since the first sin, forgiveness was only ever through faith. The only way, a dead sinner could believe the promises of God was by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. A difference between the Old Covenant and the New is where the Holy Spirit dwells. In the Old Covenant, God’s Covenantal presence was in the temple. In the New Covenant, he indwells individual Christians (John 7:39). [i] The Holy Spirit empowers the church to bear witness to the resurrected king to spread his kingdom to the ends of the earth. In line with Jesus’ commission of Acts 1:8, the church's witness begins in Jerusalem. It then continues in Judea-Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Acts 2 begins the witness in Jerusalem. It was at the time of the feast of Pentecost. Jews and converts to Judaism were visiting Jerusalem from all over the known world. This means that from the outset, the gospel goes to the nations. We wil...