3. Like Wind and Fire
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit … (Acts 2:1-4 ESV).
The bestowing of the Spirit of God on the early Christians was, in every sense, the beginning of the early Church. The description in Acts of the Spirit's arrival is a detailed one, and from it we learn several things. Luke mentions that the disciples were together "of one accord in one place" and the sense, although not apparent in some translations, is clearly one of agreement and unity as well as being in the same physical location.
The first sign of the Spirit's arrival was a "sound like a mighty rushing wind," and this seems to indicate that there was a sound "like" a wind rather than an actual movement of air, although a powerful wind is found as a symbol of the manifestation of God throughout the Old Testament (Job 38:1, etc.). Interestingly, the Greek word for the "wind" or "sound like wind" that suddenly filled the house where the disciples were is not the usual word for air movement produced by atmospheric conditions (anemos), but pnoè from the root of the word for the "breath" – as in Acts 17:25 where God is said to give us life and breath.
The effect of this sudden breath of power on the disciples is described literally as one of being "carried by violent blowing" (Acts 2:2). This is the sense of Peter's remark in his epistle written later that the prophets of past times "… spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21); but the "breath" was also the fulfillment of Christ's action and words in one of his appearances to his disciples after his resurrection: "And with that he breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit'" (John 20:22).
The "tongues as of fire" that then appeared above the disciples' heads are also, of course, a symbol of God himself, as we see in numerous theophanies of fire beginning with that of the burning bush (Exodus 3: 2). But the "tongues like fire" are perhaps given additional significance in Luke's mention that the flames were "divided" (Acts 2:3) – apparently divided, yet together in the way that the two separate hands of the apostles were subsequently laid on the heads of new believers for their reception of the Spirit (Acts 8:14-19).
We do not know why there were two manifestations of the Spirit – sounding "as wind" and appearing "as fire." It was, of course, a double witness as something both heard and seen, and many commentators feel that the symbols of wind and fire imply enlivening (as with the "breath of life" and "living flames"). The earlier words of Jesus, spoken to the Pharisee Nicodemus, certainly seem to point to this understanding of the rushing wind as a symbol of spiritual rebirth in God:
"You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit" (John 3:6-8).
Sometimes people question why, if the Spirit is still given today, signs like the rushing wind and burning fire mentioned in Acts 2 are not apparent now. But this is to not understand that these signs were given for a specific reason at that particular time. Nothing is said in Acts that such signs were repeated when the Spirit was received by believers after this event, yet Acts gives us plenty of indication that the Spirit they were given enabled many works and accomplishments once it had been received. Even in Acts 2, the great stress is not on the way in which the Spirit was received (a mere four verses), but on the manner in which it was then manifested in the lives of the apostles and other believers after it had been received (about forty verses). Certainly some of the manifestations of the Spirit were immediate and remarkably visible in the apostles, but the manifestations in most of the individuals receiving the Spirit after the Twelve were not so obvious.
In looking for the Spirit of God in our own lives, we should not be looking for extraordinary manifestations as though these are somehow a necessary proof of spirituality, but for the kinds of qualities Acts shows were exhibited by the early Christians on a daily basis. We will see occasional instances of the miraculous as we continue through Acts, but if we look closely, we will also see continuous instances of smaller, less obvious things that provide many lessons for us in our normal everyday lives and in our individual relationships with God.