HOW THEY WAITED. 1. Steadfastly, persistently. They continued. They were πроσкаρтероùντes, from Kapτepós, strong, and "pós, to, strongly adhering to, persisting steadfastly as against all obstacles and enemies. Some one has said that perseverance is the only

virtue that cannot be counterfeited.

2. With one accord, oμolvμadòv, from ouós, together, and ovuós, ardor, feeling, from łów, to rush along. Not necessarily of one opinion, but of one zeal, feeling, desire, purpose.

"Many as the waves, but one as the sea."

The promise is to those who are of one accord, in their ardor, in pursuit of a common object. When two or three are gathered together in Jesus' name, he is present with them. When they agree together for any object it will be granted. The Greek word for "agree,' in Matt. 18: 19, is that from which comes our word "symphony," a harmony of different tones and notes.

ILLUSTRATION. Continuing, abiding together in prayer is a great power. The edge of the axe does the cutting, but its power to cut depends largely upon the mass back of it. One voice may utter the truth or the prayer, but power comes from the whole body of people behind it.

İLLUSTRATION. Men and women were together. This is one of the silent results of the gospel, the uniting of men and women in the work of saving the world. Witness it in the Women's Boards of Missions, and in a thousand ways.

3. They waited with prayer, waiting on the Lord in expectation of the fulfilment of his promise. They were prepared for receiving the power of the Holy Spirit.

4. While they were praying they were also doing the duties that came to hand, for they took measures to choose another apostle in the place of Judas.

LESSON II. - January 12.

THE PROMISE OF POWER FULFILLED.
Acts 2: I-II.

Study Verses 1-21. Read Acts 2: 1-36; Joel 2: 21-32.

GOLDEN TEXT.

THE SETTING.

The promise is unto you and to your children. SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS. Place in the History. - - Point out how this lesson is related to what went before, and what is to come after. Our Lord being alive, and exalted to power and glory in the heavens, now by a visible expression proves that he is working on earth through his disciples.

Here, too, was the power which transformed common men into apostles, and which made their witness to the Saviour to be effective on the hearts of men. Without this their whole mission would have been a failure. With the duty came the power to accomplish it.

The morning of Saturday or Sunday, May 27 or 28, A. D. 30. The Time. Ten days after the last lesson, Pentecost, Whitsunday.

The Place.

for prayer.

Jerusalem, in the upper room, where the disciples met

LEARN BY HEART.

Vs. 1-4, 17, 18, 21.

See that the scholars learn some or all of these verses. Drill them to repeat the

verses in concert.

THE REFERENCE LIBRARY.

On the gift of tongues, see Professor Knowling's Expositor's Greek Testament, note on pp. 98-100; Rendall's Acts of the

PICTURES.

Reproduced in half-tone, Tomb of David (scene of the upper room); The Descent of the Spirit, from an old Italian painting (artist unknown).

LESSON OUTLINE.

SUBJECT: The Coming of the Holy Spirit, through whom the Commission to the Apostles could be accomplished.

I. THE ASSEMBLY ON PENTECOST (v. 1). How the disciples prepared for the baptism of the Spirit.

II. THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

(vs. 2-4).

Apostles, pp. 175, 176; Bartlett's The Apostolic Age, pp. 11-14; Professor Briggs' The Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 21-23; Schaff's History of the Christian Church, vol. I., pp. 231-242; Farrar's Life of St. Paul, chap. 5; Expositor's Bible on Acts 2; Professor McGiffert's Apostolic Age, pp. 48-53 (an improbable interpretation); Luckock's Footprints of the Apostles, pp. 61-69; Professor Purves' The Apostolic Age, pp. 31-34; Dr. Gordon's How Christ came to Church and his Ministry of the Spirit; A. T. Pierson's The Acts of the Holy Spirit; Thatcher's The Apostolic Church; Arthur's The Tongue of Fire; Hare's Mission of the Comforter.

a

fully was

come, 2 they were all

a Greek, was being fulfilled.

2 Acts 1: 14.

I. The Assembly on Pentecost. V. I. WHEN. 1. The day of Pentecost was fully come. Was being completed. It was at the beginning of the day which was not yet complete. The day had not merely dawned, but was shining in its full glory, showing how bright must have been the flame that appeared. Pentecost was a harvest festival, celebrated fifty days after the Passover. The word means fiftieth.

WHO.

The one hundred and twenty disciples named in the last chapter, including the apostles, the women, and those who believed in the resurrection of Jesus, and in his promise.

WHERE. With one accord in one place. The upper room in Jerusalem, mentioned in the previous chapter.

HOW LONG. During ten days from the ascension.

CHARACTER OF THE MEETING. (1) With one accord, with one spirit, one purpose, one desire, one hope. There was no discordant note. (2) It was a meeting for prayer and supplication, as a preparation for the blessing which was to come. (3) It was a meeting for conference, as we see in Acts 1: 15-22. (4) It was a meeting for the transaction of necessary church business, conducted in a devotional spirit (Acts 1: 23-26). (5) It was a protracted meeting, lasting ten days, from the ascension to Pentecost, Sunday, May 18. (6) They were in expectation of a great blessing, but what or when or how they did not know. Thus they were best led to watch and pray, to open their minds to the truth, to be bound together in love, to purify their hearts for the coming of the great gift.

SPECIAL FITNESS OF THE TIME. 1. It was called the "day of the first-fruits" (Num. 28: 26), or "feast of harvest" (Ex. 23: 16). The wheat-fields were then white with the harvest. It was to be a great harvest ingathering of disciples.

2. It was, according to a probable Jewish tradition, the anniversary of the giving of the law from Sinai, the revelation that ushered in the first dispensation. It was thus specially

a sound from heaven

as of a rushing
the

2. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound wind, and 'it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3. And there appeared unto them it sat upon each of them.

one

eloven tongues tongues parting asunder,

like as of fire; and

I Acts 4: 31.

fitting that the new dispensation begin on the same day, the day of promulgation of the new and better Law, the Law of Faith and Love and Hope.

3. It was the day on which especially the Jew was to remember his deliverance from the bondage of Egypt (Deut. 16: 12) into the freedom of the promised land, and now into the glorious freedom of the sons of God.

4. Because at this feast, being in the summer, greater numbers were present in Jerusalem than at any other season, from all parts of the world. "From a census taken in the time of Nero, more than two million seven hundred thousand were gathered at the Passover, and still greater numbers came to Pentecost." From this center the power would radiate to all parts of the world. Those who came were the Jews of the Dispersion, and proselytes to the Jewish religion, expecting the Messiah.

A TIME OF PREPARATION. All this devotion, this praying, this waiting, was a necessary part of the training of the disciples, and their spiritual preparation for the reception of the Holy Spirit, and his work in them and through them.

II. The Coming of the Holy Spirit. Vs. 2-4. This was one of the greatest, most epochal days in the world's history. 2. And suddenly. As they were praying. So the lightning breaks forth suddenly from the cloud, but the electricity that prepared for it had been gathering silently for hours.

ILLUSTRATION. Mr. Spurgeon says: "I looked recently at a very remarkable sight, the burning of a huge floorcloth manufactory. I was just about returning home from my Master's work when I saw a little blaze, and in an incredibly short space a volume of fire rolled up in great masses to the skies. Why blazed it so suddenly? Why, because for months before many men had been busily employed in hanging up the floorcloth, and in saturating the building with combustible materials. I do not mean with the intention of making a blaze, but in the ordinary course of their manufacture; so that when at last the spark came it grew into a great sheet of flame all at once." So it is with an individual soul; so sometimes with a community. "God had been mysteriously at work months before in that man's heart, preparing his soul to catch the heavenly flame, so that there was only a spark needed and then up rolled the flame to heaven."

A sound as of a rushing mighty wind. R. V., "as of the rushing of a mighty wind," Depoμivîs πrons Blaias, a mighty wind borne along. пvons, wind, is from Tvéw, to breathe, to blow; whence also veûμa, spirit, breath. It is not said that there was any wind, but only a sound as of a wind. No "whirlwind shook the building." The audible sign filling the room announced the power represented by it as doing the same. — Prof. Alvah Hovey, D.D. And it filled all the house. Not merely the upper room of Acts 1: 13. This was a token that the Spirit would fill the whole church, which is the house of God (1 Tim. 3: 15), and that it filled every part and faculty of the soul, which is the temple of the Holy Ghost.

3. And there appeared. The audible sign is followed by a visible. Cloven tongues like as of fire. Not fire, but with the appearance and brightness of fire, as the burning bush which Moses saw. Cloven. Parted as from a central flame. διαμεριζόμεναι γλῶσσαι, tongues distributing themselves throughout, from dia, throughout, and μepigw, to part, to distribute. The idea is not that each tongue of fire was divided or forked, but that the fiery appearance, at first presenting itself as a single body, one mighty flame of fire, soon divided into separate tongues of flame, one for each person in the assembly. "The present participle denotes a process seen in actual operation. Tongues of fire were seen to detach themselves and settle on the several Christians there present.' - Rendall. Plumptre likens it to a shower of fiery tongues. "A lambent flame upon the head was believed by the Rabbins to be a token of divine favor (Schöttgen); as by classic poets, Homer (Iliad 13: 214), Virgil (Æneid 2: 683).". Cook. "See instances in Wetstein. But the thought here is not so much of fire as the token of divine favor, as of the tongue, as of fire, conferring a divine power to utter in speech divine things.' Knowling. And it, the appearance of flame, one tongue, sat upon each of them. Apostles, laymen, and women. Sat denotes that the appearance was not a momentary flash, and that the influence, which

4. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began 2 to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

1

1 Acts 1: 5.

Spirit,

2 Mark 16: 17; Acts 10: 46; 1 Cor. 12: 10, 28, 30; 13: 1.

it symbolized, was to be permanent. The Spirit henceforth was to abide in the church, and "hold his throne and seat there, as the Shekinah in the holy of holies of old," and as the spirit of life abides in our bodies, the organizing, controlling, life-giving power.

The twofold aspect of the church is here represented. (1) Its unity was shown by the original mass of flame, all of one nature; and then (2) the individual aspect, for the flame separated and each person had his own distinct share.

Swiftly and straight each tongue of flame,
Through cloud and breeze, unwavering came,
And darted to its place of rest

On some meek brow of Jesus blest.
Nor fades it yet that living gleam;

And still those lambent lightnings stream;
Where'er the Lord is, there are they ;

In every heart that gives him room
They light his altar every day,
Zeal to inflame and vice consume.

-John Keble.

4. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. "Filled can mean nothing less than that the whole capacity of each man was occupied, and all his being under the influence. The degree of receptivity varied, no doubt, but the lesser and the greater vessels were all full. The whole nature was influenced; for that divine Spirit can enter into every part of a soul, and will prove himself the spirit of truth to the understanding, the spirit of power and of love, and of self-control to the will, and the affections, and the governing reason, the spirit of sound understanding to the practical man; and the whole nature, filled with him, will flame with new brilliance, like a bit of black carbon in a stream of electricity. The Spirit of God has all humanity for its sphere of action." Maclaren.

NOTE 1. That the Holy Spirit was not now for the first time bestowed upon men is plain, from the fact that "the same language here employed is used respecting Elizabeth (Luke 1: 41), Zacharias (Luke 1: 67), and John the Baptist (Luke 1: 15); and the Old Testament repeatedly makes mention of the influence of the Holy Spirit upon the minds of the prophets and others." "That which was peculiar in this event is, that (1) now, for the first time, all were filled with the Holy Ghost, not merely the apostles; and (2) the influence was not occasional and transient, but abiding. Abbott. (3) But the chief difference is the abundance and power with which the Holy Spirit is now given, thus characterizing the gospel times as the dispensation of the Spirit. Formerly the gift was like the dew, now it is like the rain; formerly like the early dawning light, now like the full splendor and power of the day; formerly like the first early fruits, now like an abundant harvest. (4) Says Dr. Alvah Hovey: "It implies a reception from the Spirit of extraordinary powers, in addition to ordinary sanctifying grace." It was enduement for service.

NOTE 2. There could be no mistake about this being a divine power actually bestowed. The effects produced prove this. Nothing less than divine power could have so changed the disciples from common men to men able to "turn the world upside down," and change the whole course of history. Nothing less than divine power could have wrought such changes in the lives and moral character of such great numbers.

NOTE 3. This gift was bestowed not only upon the apostles, but the whole worshiping church.

NOTE 4. The signs that accompanied this power were to reveal the fact, "in letters that could be read from the stars," that the invisible Holy Spirit was actually present, to make the fact clear and unmistakable, to show the source whence the power and its effects came, and to illustrate its nature.

ILLUSTRATIONS. The great forces of the world are invisible, as steam, when powerful enough to do work, as electricity, as chemical forces, the X-rays, gravitation. We recognize them by special manifestations. We know electricity is everywhere, by the lightning. We know it is in the wire by its light, or motor work. There is need of these special manifestations, or we would never have known and realized these unseen powers.

COMPARE the coming of the fire upon the altar and sacrifice upon Mt. Carmel, while Elijah was praying for the fire.

SEE Dwight L. Moody's experience, SELECT NOTES, 1892, p. 200.

THE SYMBOL of the Wind. The Greek word, as the Hebrew word, for "spirit" is the same as that for "wind," which is the natural metaphor to represent the spirit. Jesus himself so uses it in John 3: 8.

1. It is an invisible power of which no one knows "whence it cometh or whither it goeth." You see the results, but you cannot tell the causes, which are beyond our reach. Even to-day, when we have daily reports from the weather bureau, no one knows where and when a storm will arise. They see the storm and its direction, and can tell with great probability to what place it is going and when it will get there. But for beginning and end they know not whence it cometh or whither it goeth.

2. But we recognize it by its effects, in sound, in music, in force, in life.

3. It is very powerful. The air is so powerful that even free dynamite smiting against it on one side crushes the rocks on the other. Compare a great storm at sea.

4. Yet it is very gentle and delicate, breathing around the rose, and gently touching the little child.

5. It comes pure from heaven.

6. The air is all-pervasive. It penetrates the hardest rock.

7. It is the breath of life. No one can live without it.

"We are but organs mute, till a master touches the keys

Verily, vessels of earth into which God poureth the wine;
Harps are we, silent harps that have hung on the willow trees,
Dumb till our heartstrings swell and break with a pulse divine."

THE SYMBOL OF THE FLAME. John the Baptist had said that "Jesus shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Fire is one of the most expressive symbols of the Holy Spirit. Fire, shining in light, is mysterious in nature, ineffably bright and glorious, everywhere present, swift-winged, undefiled, and undefilable.

1. It represents the revealing power of the Holy Spirit, shining into each soul, and illuminating it as a house when the lamps are lighted within; as a twilight scene when the sun rises upon it.

2. It expresses the purifying, cleansing power of the Spirit. Fire and light are the great disease killers. So is the Spirit to moral diseases. He always purifies the soul where he dwells. He is the refining fire that cleanses the dross from the pure gold.

3. It symbolized the comfort, warmth, cheer, fresh life, joy, peace, which the Holy Spirit imparts.

4. The far-reaching power of light expressed the light which the disciples should impart to the world. Light cannot be hidden. If it ceases to shine, it ceases to exist.

5. Light convinces the world of dust, of dirt, of a thousand evil things unknown in the darkness. For example, a ray of light in a dusty room, and Tyndall's ray through the glass tube showing seed germs that no other process could make known. So the Spirit convinces of sin, of the evils in the heart. He does more than this: he causes men to feel as well as to see.

6. Fire is the symbol of intense energy and zeal. The Holy Spirit fills the soul with glowing enthusiasms and unconquerable energy and zeal.

THE SYMBOL OF THE TONGUE. "The human tongue, illuminated and sanctified by fire from the inner sanctuary, was about to be the instrument of the gospel's advancement, — not penal laws, not the sword and fire of persecution; and so long as the divinely appointed means were adhered to, so long the course of our holy religion was one longcontinued triumph."—. -Professor Stokes in Expositor's Bible.

1. The tongues represent the instrument and method to be used for the spread of the gospel.

2. "This miracle was meant to foreshadow the universal progress of the new faith, and its message for all mankind, without distinction of nation, position, or age.” — Pro

fessor Knowling. "Pentecost is the reversal of Babel." The Bible in whole or in part is translated into more than four hundred languages and dialects, all the principal ones of the world. This is the modern Pentecost, whenever the Holy Spirit in Christ's disciples makes these tongues speak the gospel of Jesus Christ.

3, But it must ever be a tongue of fire, a tongue inspired and filled with the Spirit. The best preaching is "logic set on fire." "The fiery sword," said St. Cyril, "barred of old the gates of paradise; the fiery tongue, which brought salvation, restored the gift." 4. It was the symbol of the unity of the church, — one spirit, but many tongues.

5. Those who are filled with the Spirit speak to all hearts, all needs, all characters. Not each disciple to all, but some disciple for each need. They speak with new tongues, new meaning, new power. The tongue is the outlet of the soul. A new spirit always means a new tongue.

THE SYMBOL OF THE DOVE. It is well along with these other symbols of the Holy