Peter explained, with an eloquence he had never before possessed, how the prophecies of David ((Psalms 110:1)) had finally been fulfilled by his Rabbi, Jesus. The songs they sang in their homes had come true in a way no one had expected. Jesus was not only risen but exalted, and from God's right hand he poured out his own spirit on his disciples ((Acts 2:33)). The day's great religious festival ((Acts 2:1)) was forgotten as the crowd of worshipers listened eagerly to this new revelation.

Yet against the backdrop of God's marvelous plan was the evil of the people God has chosen. They had taken their last hope, their rightful Lord, the one chosen by God, and crucified him. ((Acts 2:36)) The listening crowd could not help realizing that perhaps they had destroyed what their nation had waited centuries to see. Were they to be excluded from God's promise? They had to know. Men and women raced forward to find if they still had a place in God's plan ((Acts 2:37)).

Peter was amazed. He had seen the religious throng in the temple as an enemy, but so many were responding to the message of Jesus. His tone changed, no longer telling a hard truth to a disobedient people, but offering comfort to heartbroken sinners.

"It is not too late! Even now you can turn from your headlong flight into oblivion. Instead, be baptized into the name of Jesus, and he will forgive you and you will also have access to his spirit ((Acts 2:38))."

Peter and the disciples continued to teach the crowd for hours, and many began to follow Jesus that day. ((Acts 2:41)) They would not fall under the judgment that hung over their generation. ((Acts 2:40))

While the large Galilean spoke, the morning sacrifice began ((Acts 2:15)). Many of the Jews walked away from this strange spectacle to perform their religious duty. Others, when they heard Peter mention the name Jesus, walked away as well. They could feel the stares of the priests and didn't want to be risk being associated with a convicted heretic ((Mark 14:64)).

Some stayed. They wanted to hear more. The news of Jesus had spread around the Jewish world. His strange ways had captivated many. Could there be more to the story, as this man claimed ((Acts 2:24))?

"You know the scriptures. Our father David said: 'You did not leave my soul in Sheol. You did not let your holy one see corruption.' ((Acts 2:25,27)) I think I can speak freely to you, since we are all the family of Abraham." The crowd leaned closer, curious to hear whether this man would defy their honored ancestor. "David's tomb is here in this very city. You know that he died ((Acts 2:29)), and if we cracked open his tomb I think we all would see that he has indeed decayed."

"Then why would David say such a thing? Could it be that he wasn't talking about himself? We all know he was a prophet, and he knew that God would one day set the Messiah on his throne ((Acts 2:30)). He knew that the Messiah, the son of David, would be resurrected, rather than abandoned to decay in the grave ((Acts 2:31)). I declare to you that I am a witness that God has done this very thing for his servant Jesus! ((Acts 2:32))"

Jesus's death had shaken Peter to his core. He had believed Jesus was the Messiah. ((Luke 9:20)) Never had he believed in anything so strongly. When Jesus had been executed, it shattered his world. Then God had brought Jesus back to life, demolishing Peter's understanding of the long prophesied Messiah. In the forty days that followed, Jesus explained, yet again, the scriptures. ((Luke 24:44-45)) Now, freed from old preconceptions, Jesus's life, ministry, death, and resurrection finally made sense.

God's plan had not gone terribly wrong. It had all been laid out in plain view, for anyone with eyes to see. It was only their twisted souls that had made the scriptures difficult to understand. Yet despite their lack of understanding, God's plan has succeeded even when every human being had failed.

Now Peter did his best to explain these same things to his fellow Jews in the temple courts. ((Acts 2:23)) "My family," he called, "I am offering you nothing except what the prophets have already told us must take place. Yes, he was dead, but what is death to God? It cannot hold back his plans. Death is not his master. ((Acts 2:24)) Death answers to him. You have heard that Jesus is not dead. If you will listen, I will tell you why that must be true."

Now the moment had arrived, the time for Peter to explain to the waiting crowd what the God of their fathers had done. It was something that Peter himself was still struggling to grasp. God had done all that the ancient prophets had foretold, but in a way that no one had imagined. And that fulfillment was summed up in three words: "Jesus of Nazareth". ((Acts 2:22))

News traveled slowly in the ancient world, but there was little chance that those listening would not have known the name. The apostles reminded the crowd of the many miracles God had performed to confirm his selection of Jesus. ((Acts 2:22)) Even those who had only heard the criticisms from the Pharisees would know that strange signs had followed Jesus wherever he went. They also knew that, despite the many wonders he had performed, his split with the Temple had eventually led to his arrest, and no miracle had come to spare his life.

Peter himself could not forget that arrest either. He had been there, wanting to take a stand before the Sanhedrin and tell them that Jesus was a righteous man. ((Mark 14:13)) Instead, he hid in the courtyard and lied about who he was. ((Mark 14:66-72)) The blood of the Messiah hung heavy over all of them. Peter pulled no punches as he screamed into the temple, "You used sinners to carry out the dirty task of executing the one sent from God himself." ((Acts 2:23))

Peter had the crowd's attention, and he wasn't about to let go. "Do not dismiss what you see here. It is the fulfillment of everything God has promised. The prophet Joel ((Acts 2:16,  Joel 2:28-32)) spoke of these 'last days', and gave you a sign that you would see God's spirit poured on everyone, man and woman, young and old, slave and free. That is what you are seeing today!"

The shock reverberated through the crowd. Every man and woman in the crowd knew that the day of the Lord was coming, and with it the Messiah. They knew the prophecies that had been given. They had meditated on these scriptures, prayed for their fulfillment, and yet in some sense they had never really imagined it. It was a great event, beyond what the human mind could grasp. To run into it on an ordinary day, while life went on as normal around them, seemed absurd.

At the same time, they didn't want to miss out on God's rescue ((Acts 2:21)). They had waited in captivity for nearly five hundred years, with eager expectation. If there was the slightest chance that these men and women had information about how they could be freed, they had to hear it.

Ecstatic bursts of speech were a hallmark of ancient pagan religions. In Jewish culture, they had become proverbial ((Matthew 6:7)). However, such outbursts had no place in the first century temple. The Jewish religion was too dignified for such marks of religious mania. For the Judeans in the temple that day, the sudden tumult of voices speaking words they did not know raised suspicions.

Were these people, like the famed Oracle at Delphi, carried away in a drug-induced religious trance? Would they turn dangerous? At least at Delphi there was always a priest standing by to translate the Oracle's mysterious babbling into vaguely useful information about whether you should buy a new field or send your soldiers into battle. Who would explain these strange happenings?

The big Galilean who finally addressed the crowd ((Acts 2:14)) in their local tongue did not have the look of a priest. In fact, he was about as unlike a priest as it was possible to be. Clearly an uneducated laborer, the man was coarse and unkempt. Yet, like John the Baptist before him, Peter made an impression on the crowd. Those who had been mocking only moments later, quieted to hear his explanation.

As the spirit of God poured into the disciples, they proclaimed that Jesus was Lord. The words springing from their lips were in languages they did not know, but their hearts knew it was truth. They watched as some moved farther away, annoyed by their outburst, and others moved closer, eager to hear their message.

Foreign tongues being shouted in the temple had never happened before. Even though they'd waited eagerly all week for the fulfillment of Jesus's promise, they hadn't imagined it like this. Then again, when Jesus was involved, the unexpected was the order of the day. The crowd around them grew, and so did the chance that temple guards would be sent to disperse them.

The eleven apostles gathered together. Peter, as usual, took the lead. He found a place where the crowd of pilgrims could see him and bellowed at the onlookers ((Acts 2:14)) in Aramaic: "Listen, my good Judeans. I have something very important to tell you. You think, because you cannot understand their words, that these people are drunk. Quite the opposite. We haven't even had breakfast yet!" ((Act 2:15))

The language used in the ceremonies of the temple was ancient Hebrew. Many Jews had learned to speak Greek in order to bargain with foreign merchants. Dealing with the Roman soldiers and officials stationed throughout the empire had forced most to pick up Latin. One of those languages would have been understood by the assembled pilgrims.

Yet, to the people gathered that day, those were the languages of government, religion, and money. They hadn't said their first words in Hebrew. Their mothers hadn't sung to them in Latin. They didn't talk to their children in Greek.

A foreigner in Jerusalem had to be careful to avoid his native tongue, which sounded like gibberish to the Aramaic-speaking citizens of Judea. No one in Jerusalem made the effort learn a foreigner's language, and his fellow countrymen were far away. Imagine his surprise to hear the tongue of his home country being shouted in the temple courtyard.

The crowd pressed around the disciples to hear what was being said. ((Acts 2:6)) Pilgrims listened closely to single out the voice that spoke their language. Some, who had spent time around Jerusalem, were shocked to see that the men and women appeared to be Galileans. ((Acts 2:7)) They wondered what this could mean. ((Acts 2:8))

Others also recognized the speakers as Galileans. To them, the many foreign languages were only noise disrupting their religious experience. "Those Galileans are certainly hitting the new wine early, ((Acts 2:13))" they said. It felt good to have someone to mock.

The disciples had seen the pillar of cloud on the mountain ((Acts 1:9)) , and now they saw the other manifestation of God: the pillar of flame ((Genesis 15:17, Exodus 3:2, 13:21, 19:18, 24:17, 2 Samuel 22:13, 2 Kings 6:17, Psalms 50:3, Ezekiel 1:27)). The roaring fire rushed into the upper room, illuminating everything inside. The startled disciples watched as it spread out, marking each of them with a flame ((Acts 2:3)). As the flames over their heads faded, a new flame ignited in their spirits.

They felt a connection with something, someone, more wise, more powerful, more holy than themselves. Though he could easily have consumed them, instead he prompted gently. Down below, in the temple, a multitude of their countrymen had come to offer the first fruits of their harvest. Now they saw it clearly: They were the first fruits of a different kind of harvest, and it was time to offer themselves in the temple.

As one, they rushed from their room and into the waiting crowd, eager to tell those still in darkness about what they had seen: eager to spread the fire of heaven ((Acts 2:4)).

It had been a week since Jesus had entered heaven. His followers still awaited his promise. Jewish pilgrims from around the ancient world ((Acts 2:9-11)) were packed into Jerusalem for the festival of Pentecost; every year they presented the first of their harvest at the temple, to show God their gratefulness, and that they trusted him to provide even more.

Like that fateful Passover almost two months past, the city was on high alert. With so many gathered together, mobs formed quickly. Pilate had his Roman guards on prominent display, but out of easy reach. The crowds seemed to grow more volatile every year. The Jews were growing tired of their overlords.

It was almost time for the morning prayer ((Acts 2:15)). The crowds filled every inch of the temple's massive courtyard. Latecomers fought for any open space they could find. Then, without warning, the thunder of a roaring wind ((Acts 2:2)) echoed through the temple.