When the Word Explained the Wonder

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Ghost came exactly as Jesus promised. The apostles spoke in languages they had never learned, and people from many nations heard the wonderful works of God in their own native tongues. Some were amazed, some doubted, and others mocked. As the crowd asked, "What meaneth this?" Peter stood to answer. He did not point them to an experience, a feeling, or a spectacle. He pointed them to the Word of God. This message reminds us that God had already spoken through the Scriptures, and Israel was responsible for how they responded to what they had seen and heard.

Key Points:
• God was speaking where His Word said He would, and Israel was responsible to respond with what they had seen and heard.
• The witness begins when someone stands up with the truth. A witness is not someone who wins every argument. A witness is someone who tells the truth about what God has said and done.
• Peter answers unbelief with the Word of God.
• At Pentecost, the Holy Ghost had truly come, the apostles had truly been filled, and the witness had truly begun.
• Truth heard cannot be treated as though it was never spoken.
• An open Bible places a man under obligation before God. Once truth is made clear, we either receive it or answer for rejecting it.
• Pentecost was mercy, but it was mercy with a warning attached.
• Repeating God’s prophecy through Joel was a wake-up call to an unbelieving nation.
• The sign got their attention, the Word explained the wonder, the warning showed them where rejection would lead, and now Peter points them to the promise of salvation.
• The mercy of God is still available to those who call on the name of the Lord.

Peter's message was more than an explanation of what happened at Pentecost—it was a call to respond to God's revealed truth. The same God who fulfilled His promises then still speaks through His Word today. The question is not whether God has spoken clearly. The question is whether we will receive what He has said. The mercy of God remains available to all who call upon the name of the Lord.

Key Scriptures: Acts 2:14-20, Acts 2:21, Joel 2:28-32
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