Holy Spirit as Revealed in Acts through Revelation: Encyclopedia II - Holy Spirit as Revealed in Acts through Revelation - Prophesy and Fulfillment

Holy Spirit as Revealed in Acts through Revelation - Prophesy and Fulfillment

The gift of the Holy Spirit was promised long ago, being mentioned in the Old Testament prophesies: "This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'In the last days, God says, "I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions; your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both man and woman, I will pour my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy," ' " (Acts 2:16-18); but, he was not finally given until Jesus Christ was resurrected and had ascended into heaven. Peters preaching at Pentecost marked the dramatic outpouring of the Spirit, fulfilling the prophesies of old.

The full manifestation of the Spirit's power occurred at Pentecost (the birthday of the Church). The account of this is found in Acts 2:1-21. Present in this report were eleven disciples; Mary, the mother of Jesus; his brethren; a number of woman who had followed him; and a large group of unnamed believers; totaling about one-hundred-twenty. They were all gathered for prayer and as they were assembled, the Holy Spirit came on them with visible and audible signs. This fused the believers into one group, giving them an unity that they had not previously possessed. Acts describes in the following verses that: "a sound like a blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them," (Acts 2:1-4). The terms "speaking in tongues" means that the people "spoke with new [or unknown] languages so that their hearers were able to understand in their own dialect 'the mighty works of God,' " (The New Testament Survey, Tenney, Merill C., p.240). This was a spiritual gift exercised by some believers in the New Testament Church, and is explained further in I Corinthians 14:2-28, and is witnessed in Acts 10:46 and 19:6.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Prophesy and Fulfillment", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki