They took Him at His word, and if you’ve read Acts 2, you know what happened.
Ten days later, as 120 were praying in the upper room in Jerusalem, they heard a sound from heaven like a mighty wind, saw heavenly tongues of fire engulfing them, and “they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4).
Because it was Pentecost, Jews from every nation were in Jerusalem at the time. They heard what was happening, and the multitude came together and were confounded. “Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?” they said (verse 7). “And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?” (verse 8).
Notice those verses don’t say the disciples were speaking the languages of all those people. It says the people heard in those languages. So, the miracle may have been in the ears of the multitude as well as the mouths of the disciples. But either way, it was undoubtedly a miracle.
Think about that! Speaking in tongues was the first miracle the Holy Spirit empowered those first believers to do. It was their gateway to the supernatural—and the good news for us is that God hasn’t changed His plan since then. Praying in tongues is still the gateway to the supernatural for us, as believers, today.
Ask and You Shall Receive
Why is this good news?
Because speaking in tongues is something every believer can and should do. We don’t have to wait 10 days for God to give us the ability to do it, either. Unlike the first believers who had to wait for Pentecost to come, we can be baptized in the Holy Spirit whenever we’re ready. All we have to do is ask our heavenly Father, believe we receive, and start speaking out of our spirit, trusting the Holy Spirit to give the utterance.
“But Brother Copeland, what if I say something wrong? What if instead of getting words from the Holy Spirit I get words from some evil spirit?”
That’s a biblical impossibility!
In Luke 11:9, Jesus told us it will never happen. “Ask, and it shall be given you,” He said.
“If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (verses 11-13).
6 : BVOV
