Why Tongues, Fire, and Wind on the Day of Pentecost?

We are studying the Holy Spirit, and the book of Acts is the best resource we have in Scripture. Chapter 2—let us return to that passage on which we have been meditating concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit—verse 1, chapter 2 of Acts.

“…When the day of Pentecost came, a day like today, when the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one accord, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like the blowing of a mighty rushing wind, which filled the whole house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them, resting upon each one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them to speak…”

There we have the formal beginning, so to speak, of the Holy Spirit’s active ministry within the children of God. The Holy Spirit was evidently there at the very foundation of the world and moved throughout the pages of the Old Testament. But the Lord Jesus Christ had said, wait until you receive power from on high, the promise of the Father.

John said—John the Baptist said—I baptize with water, but one is coming after me who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire. And that was the beginning. This was the inauguration of that active ministry of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the children of God, of every believer.

Previously, the anointing of the Holy Spirit was manifested specifically in chosen, privileged, exceptional people, such as the kings, who were anointed with oil to receive the wisdom, power, and anointing of God to carry out their specific ministry. The priests were also anointed with oil as a symbol of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The prophets were anointed with the Holy Spirit to perform their supernatural function.

But ordinary people had to manage as best they could to do the will of God. And Christ said, you know what? Now I want all of you—my children, my followers, my believers—to have a resource. The Holy Spirit is going to live inside you. Before, He was with you, but now He is going to be inside you.

How many of you know that the Holy Spirit is inside you? You are a child of God; you have the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is the driving force, the engine, and the gasoline that you must use for all your efforts and all your dealings in the Christian life. And there, on that day of Pentecost, what we saw was as though God said, okay, today a new dispensation begins in the life of My people. I am going to move within them, and I want every one of them to seek that Pentecostal experience, that experience of receiving power to carry out the tasks of the Christian life.

And last Sunday we saw that when this happens in chapter 2, a work is unleashed that we see on every page of the book of Acts, in the lives of the first Christians. We see the Holy Spirit baptizing others, giving Peter power to preach with extraordinary anointing, giving the Christians courage to testify before the authorities and to endure the persecution that breaks out. We see Him bearing witness; we see them receiving revelation, as when the Holy Spirit tells Ananias, go to Saul, for this man is a chosen instrument; anoint him, lay hands on him, because I am going to use him greatly.

We see Philip receiving instructions to minister to the eunuch. We see Paul and Barnabas receiving revelation from the Holy Spirit about where to go and preach. We see healings taking place and deliverances from demonic spirits that are cast out under the power of the Holy Spirit. We see many things happening because the Holy Spirit is there.

Actually, the book of Acts ought to be called the Book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit, not the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, as it is called, or as people call it. That is the name they gave it. In reality, it is the Holy Spirit praying.

And the idea in that book is that just as the Holy Spirit moved in those days, He should and can also move in the life of the church today, in the twenty-first century, and He should move in that way in the Lion of Judah congregation as well.

The Bible tells us that we can also do the same works these men and women did; that is why that book is there, and that is why we too must seek the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Now, three elements appear in this event, and we may ask why God chose these distinctive elements at such a special moment. What do they mean? And what purpose did that God—who never does anything without having a reason and a purpose—have? What did God have in those three elements that He wanted to tell us? What message did He want to give us?

Look, it says here that a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven—a mighty rushing wind. Why was this? It was as though a hurricane had suddenly been unleashed. I do not know how many of you have sometimes heard what wind sounds like when it is blowing like a hurricane. That is terrible. It frightens anyone. It was a mighty rushing wind, a blast, a roar like a hurricane that was suddenly unleashed where they were. A mighty rushing wind blowing.

Number two, it says that divided tongues appeared to them. Tongues—they were like little flames that rested upon the head of each of the Apostles, or of the people who were in the place where they had gathered. And those divided tongues were as of fire; they were little flames, as I said a moment ago. So here we see a mighty rushing wind—we see wind—and we see tongues that looked like little flames, as though they were lit, tongues of fire. In other words, the element of fire is actually the most important thing. Those divided tongues, it says, began to speak in other tongues. In other words, those little flames were also like symbols of tongues that were going to be distributed.

So we see that the people spoke in tongues, there was a mighty rushing wind, and fire was involved. Why those three elements? Tongues, fire, and wind. God had a purpose in these three things. Why tongues? Let us focus mainly on that part. Why did these people speak in tongues? I do not have time now; you know what speaking in tongues is. A tongue is a supernatural language inspired by God. It is speaking in a language that is not your own. Now, that language may be one that is not of this earth—an angelic language, a spiritual language that you do not know and that does not exist in human culture. Or it may be a human language that you also do not know, but that God gives you the ability to speak, from another tribe or another nation.

The Apostle Paul says, “If I spoke in the tongues of men and of angels.” So that is a tongue. These people began to speak in other languages. In this particular case, because God had a purpose in it, these people spoke recognizable languages—human languages, languages belonging to all those Hebrews who were in Jerusalem at that time, celebrating the festival of Pentecost itself, and who came from different nations and spoke the different languages of the nations from which they came.

And the Lord gave those disciples the ability to speak in that language, in those different languages, because He had a purpose in it, a symbolic purpose. He wanted to declare something through it for all of history.

Now, what did they mean? Those tongues—the fact that they spoke many languages from different nations—referred to the universal and worldwide character of the Gospel. It signified that the Gospel was now going to spread throughout the whole earth and reach every nation, that this proclamation that Christ is Lord and Savior was for all humanity, not only for the Hebrews. Through this, God was saying, this message will be carried throughout the world, and it is for every nation.

Second, I believe that the tongues speak of something important, namely, that language is crucial for communicating the Gospel. Our mouths communicate the truth of God. And it was like a consecration of human language for preaching and proclaiming the Gospel. God was saying, this language that human beings use for so many different things, I now consecrate for proclaiming My Gospel. God was anointing the mouths of His disciples in a supernatural way.

Third, many scholars have said that, in a sense, God was neutralizing the negative work of Babel. Do you know what happened at the Tower of Babel? What happened? Human beings tried to glorify themselves, and God, it says, brought confusion. Before that, according to the biblical account, humanity spoke only one language. It is interesting that many linguists today, who do not believe in electric light, say that the different languages of humanity certainly come from a single language. And they are always searching, trying to discover which words all the languages of the earth have in common. They know that the languages of the world come from one mother tongue and that, from there, they developed and divided into the Indo-European languages, the Germanic languages, the Romance languages, and so on. But they come from a common root. They understand this independently of the Bible.

Now, Babel says that God confused the languages of man as a punishment so that they would not advance their idea of glorifying themselves. And from then on there was a Babel, that is, a multitude of different languages. Now, at this moment, when God is creating a chosen people, He unifies the languages in a sense by allowing them to be spoken in all the different languages so that the Gospel may be proclaimed and people may communicate with one another.

In other words, it was as though God were saying, you know what? Babel divided human beings, but My Son now unites them and enables them to communicate with one another.

In addition to that, I believe that tongues are a supernatural way of praising and glorifying God with a supernatural language. It is a way of communicating directly with God in a freshly made language, hot out of the oven—a fresh language that does not have the destructive and fallen elements of human language. With a supernatural tongue inspired by the Holy Spirit, you can communicate directly with God. Now, intellectually, you may not know what you are saying, but your spirit knows. And it is direct communication with God.

God wanted to communicate a supernatural experience supernaturally. I believe that, by having these people speak that supernatural language, God was saying to the church, you know what? The communication of My word will always have to be something mysterious, spiritual, supernatural, done in the power of the Holy Spirit.

When you communicate the truth of the Gospel, brother, sister, think in your heart and in your mind: I am speaking to people not in my own strength, but in the power of the Holy Spirit. I am communicating this language of the Kingdom of God in a different way.

I would also say that God wanted to do something else, and that is that, if you look at it, language is the most fundamental thing there is, I believe. Human beings are distinguished by their ability to speak. Chimpanzees, and monkeys in general, have the ability to communicate on a very basic level, and it has been discovered, for example, that chimpanzees have a fairly complex language, but compared with human language, it is absolutely primitive. Human beings are distinguished by speaking, and by speaking in an extremely complex way.

Look at all the things I am communicating right now through human language. So it was as though God wanted to seal that element, so essential to the human race, with the touch of His Spirit. And God wanted to seal with His Spirit that which is so essential to man.

And I believe that this is why we have this idea of tongues. What was happening at that moment was so special that God wanted it to be marked by touching something so integral, such an essential part of the human race, as language. And God wanted to touch His people in that sense, and that is why there were tongues. Now, later we will have more time to talk about tongues and their meaning and importance.

Second, the wind. It says that it was like a mighty rushing wind, that there was a sound like a mighty rushing wind blowing, which filled the whole house where they were sitting. Why wind? Wind has always been a symbol of the Spirit of God. The Hebrews speak of “ruach.” Look at the word breath: the word breath refers to the blowing, the air that comes out of our mouths, the air we breathe, oxygen. But it also refers to our spirit. “It left me breathless” often does not mean only that it left me unable to breathe, but that it left me discouraged, without strength. Breath is the mark of strength.

In the Old Testament, in the Scriptures, “ruach” is like that: breath, the wind of God, the air of God, which is also the spirit. I was reading something about that on the internet. It says here that in the Tanakh, which is the Hebrew Scripture, the word ruach generally means wind, breath, mind, or spirit.

In a living creature, ruach is breath, respiration, whether of animals or of the human race. God is the creator of ruach, of breath. In God’s hands is the ruach, the breath of all humanity. In humanity, ruach, besides denoting breath, indicates the principle of life that possesses reason, will, and consciousness—what we also call the soul. Ruach imparts God’s divine image to man. And it constitutes the dynamic element that results in man becoming a living being.

Remember that when God creates Adam from the earth, He breathes into his nostrils and gives him life. But I believe that through that, God also imparted His spirit to him. So the wind has always been associated with the Spirit of God and with the spirit of man—the soul, the driving force of man.

And so I believe that here the wind was referring to many things. It is vitality; it is the power of God moving. I also believe that this mighty rushing wind alluded to the fact that the Spirit is power, that He is dynamic. The wind can break things; it can destroy anything; it moves mountains. So that mighty rushing wind alluded to the dynamic and powerful character of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to baptize us with power from on high.

It also speaks, I believe—the wind suggests—of the unpredictable and uncontrollable character of the Holy Spirit. No one can control the wind. When the wind blows, you have to get out of its way. Christ said that the wind blows wherever it wishes. The Holy Spirit does whatever He wishes. We submit to the Holy Spirit. We do not control the Spirit; the Holy Spirit controls us.

Just as the wind moves wherever it wishes, I likewise believe that this wind was saying, “I move as I wish, however I please.” It also spoke of the sovereign and unpredictable character of the Holy Spirit.

Another thing: the fact that it was like a mighty rushing wind suggested something mysterious, something threatening and supernatural. If you hear a wind blowing, it is like something from another world. And I believe that mighty rushing wind was like a declaration: “I come from a realm that you do not know.” It refers to what I would call the otherness of God. God belongs to another dimension; He is something mysterious, something not of this earth. That wind suggested: “I am coming here; I come from another world, and I come to do things that you do not understand and cannot control.”

So it spoke about the mysterious, supernatural, almost threatening aspect of God. That mighty, powerful wind also suggested the endowment of power and the ability to act and transform that the Holy Spirit possesses through the lives of God’s children. Wind is used for productive things—for example, to move a windmill and thereby produce energy. And so the wind likewise signifies energy to accomplish things, to carry out tasks, and that is what the Holy Spirit does in our lives: He enables us to carry out the tasks of the Christian life.

And finally, in the Old Testament, the coming of God—the appearance of the Holy Spirit in a place—is often associated with the wind. Remember Elijah, when he was there and God gave him that vision: it says that a wind came that shattered the rocks. Elijah thought God was there because God appears in the wind, but at that moment God chose not to appear through the wind. Nevertheless, there is indeed this idea that when the presence of God is there, there is a wind that breaks and destroys things.

So that was all part of it. I believe that mighty rushing wind was meant to say, “My Spirit is powerful, empowering, dynamic, mysterious, threatening, otherworldly.” All of that was suggested by that wind that came. It was the breath of God, that breath of God that was going to invade us and enter into us, just as it entered through Adam’s nostrils—the breath of God from the mouth of God—and gave him life so that he became a living being.

And lastly, the fire. Tongues of fire appeared over their heads. Why fire? Again, the same thing: among other things, fire suggests the consuming power of God. Fire consumes; fire melts. God is almighty. So through His fire, God also wanted to suggest, “Get out of the way, because I am coming in power.”

The Bible speaks of God as a consuming fire. The Bible says that at the end of time, the elements and the earth will burn. All the elements, everything that makes up the earth, will melt and be consumed, and God will create new heavens and a new earth. So there is this idea of God as a consuming fire.

Second, fire suggests life, energy, and warmth. We do not have to emphasize that very much. If there were no fire… You know that the sun is fire; the sun is a ball of fire, and if the sun went out, life could not exist. So fire suggests the life of God, the energy of God, the warmth that God imparts when He is present—just as the Holy Spirit gives us life, gives us energy, and gives us warmth to carry out the tasks of the Christian life.

Fire also speaks of passion and commitment to testify about the Gospel. When a person has the fire of the Holy Spirit within her or him, that person has passion. Many people are indifferent, mediocre, and lukewarm because they do not have the fire of God in their lives. And that is why many people do not care whether they go to church or not, sing to the Lord or not, read the Bible or not, pray or not.

Now, when a person is filled with that fire of the Holy Spirit, that person needs to be in the presence of God. Such a person is committed to God and has the energy of the Spirit. That is why I say to Him, “Lord, help us. Fill us with the fire of Your Holy Spirit, because if we have Your fire, we will be committed people.”

So the fire suggested that life, that energy, that warmth of the Spirit that was coming upon the people of God. And it suggested that passion and that commitment to testify about the Gospel. Fire also suggests that conviction that Christ is Lord and Savior, which leads us to testify about Him as well. It is that fire that consumes us and does not allow us to remain silent—the fire of which one of the prophets says, “I tried to remain silent, but it was like a fire in my inward parts, in my bones; I could not stop proclaiming the Word of God.”

Fire is obviously the opposite of coldness, formalism, and spiritual death. Wherever the fire of God is present, that cheap, routine religiosity flees. People can no longer remain in the routine of religion, simply coming and showing up there, doing a few strange things, and then going home exactly the same as when they arrived. No; the life of God’s people then becomes active and dynamic. It is the complete opposite of formalism, coldness, and rigid structure that kills.

I am almost finished. Fire also suggests the judgment of God. One day, God’s judgment will be manifested in fire upon humanity and in the destruction of this world. And I believe this is also suggesting that aspect of God as judge.

And finally, fire also suggests the conflict, persecution, and war that would be unleashed against the church of Jesus Christ. In other words, it was also suggesting war. Fire suggests war; it suggests conflict; it also suggests persecution.

So, as you can see, I simply wanted you to see that through this coming of the Holy Spirit by means of tongues, fire, and wind, God was conveying a subliminal message about everything that would make up the life of the church of Jesus Christ and about the true nature of the Holy Spirit. And that fire, those tongues, that ability to communicate sublime, supernatural, spiritual things, and that ability to move dynamically as the mighty wind of God moves—this is what God wants in our lives. Amen.

That is Pentecost. When you read about the fire, the mighty rushing wind, and the tongues that appeared, understand this very important characteristic—what God was telling you and what God also expects from your own life through the presence of the Holy Spirit within you. Amen.

Brothers and sisters, let us stand and give thanks to the Lord. We packed a lot in today, didn’t we? Are you tired? Glory to God. If you are tired, that is good, because it means that you worked. You have to come to God’s church to work. If you came to sleep, you had better stay home. No, we come to work. Next Sunday, bring your dungarees; bring some jeans. Okay? And a work shirt. We are going to work. If you can, bring a hammer too, as a sign that we come to work in the house of the Lord.

Let us bow our heads and thank the Lord for everything we have received today. Go home and live in the power of the Holy Spirit. Father, thank You. We have praised You; we have worshiped Your name; we have rejoiced to be here in Your house, and we want You to continue with us throughout the rest of this day. Bless my brothers and sisters, both the English-speaking and the Hispanic brothers and sisters who are here.

Thank You because we are one people. Thank You because the fire of the Holy Spirit melted the barriers that divided humanity. Thank You because the tongues united us, Lord, so that we could communicate as brothers and sisters in a mysterious language that only You know how to give. Thank You because we have the transforming fire and the transforming wind of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Thank You for Pentecost, Lord. We want this church, every day, to be a church enlivened, strengthened, and energized by the power of the Holy Spirit. We bless You. I dismiss my brothers and sisters and declare over each one of them the presence and blessing of the Holy Spirit.

I bless their homes, Lord, their lives, their finances, their bodies, their health, their dreams, and their struggles. Father, strengthen those who are weak at this time, those who are in crisis. Lord, fill them with a fresh anointing on this day, Father. And we ask for miracles, Lord, in the lives of Your people. Father, we ask for solutions for those who have serious problems right now. Father, we ask that You open the windows of heaven and perform financial miracles in the lives of Your children, Lord.

We release prosperity into the lives of Your children. For those who need work, Lord, we ask for miracles and for doors to open. For those who need their documentation, Lord, we ask for a solution to this problem as well. For those who have marital problems, and children who need a touch of Your Spirit, Father. For health problems in our bodies—oh Lord, send Your Spirit right now, Father, and send us out of here with hope and joy in our hearts.

Thank You for having us in Your presence today and for the privilege of worshiping You, Lord. Dismiss us now with Your blessing, in the name of Your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.