A message of fullness and power resonates with a society that feels its emptiness and impotence. Modern society, with its stress on individualism and success has created a climate of emptiness that is seen financially, socially, relationally, physically, emotionally — the list continues. This felt need, however, also creates a danger. We can too easily create a doctrine of the Holy Spirit that meets our perceived needs of wealth, health, prosperity and fulfillment. Such a doctrine may bear little resemblance to the teaching of Scripture.

Acts 2 gives us many insights into an understanding of what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. This chapter is often referred to as the first Pentecost, but such a designation can be unhelpful. Pentecost was an established Jewish festival prior to the New Testament, and the significance of the events of Acts 2 needs to be read in the light of its Old Testament precedents.

Pentecost finds its origins in the Festival of Weeks, so named as it is celebrated after a week of weeks (7 x 7 = 49 days) from the time that harvesters first put their sickles to the grain (Deut. 16:9). On the 50th day (hence the word Pentecost), after a week of weeks, the festival occurs. It is a celebration that God has provided the harvest (Ex. 34:22).

On that day no work is to be performed (Num. 28:26), all Jewish men are to gather in Jerusalem (Deut. 16:16), and a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings of the Lord are to be given as a reminder that the whole harvest belongs to the Lord. This festival is therefore similar to that in many agrarian societies — it celebrates the fullness of the harvest after the hard labour that is required to gather it.

By the time of the New Testament, Pentecost had gained an extra significance beyond that of a celebration of harvest. It was also a celebration of the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai, three months after the original Passover and deliverance from Egypt (Ex. 19:1). This covenant of Sinai was a renewal of God's original covenant to Abram (Gen. 12:1-3), at the time when a group of travelling pilgrims in the wilderness were established as a nation, the people of God.

This background becomes helpful as is look at Pentecost, which itself is the renewal of the covenant: the new covenant that is inaugurated by Jesus' blood through His death and resurrection (Lk. 22:15-20).

On the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, 50 days after the events of the Passover and its tragic yet glorious events at the time of Jesus' trial, death and resurrection, we find Jewish men gathered in Jerusalem from around the Roman Empire. These men came from places where people spoke different languages.

While they were gathered there was a sound of wind and the appearance of tongues of fire, an allusion that is reminiscent of the presence of God at the giving of the Law at Sinai (Ex. 19:16- 20). This is the renewal of Israel of which the prophets had spoken, this is the gift of the Spirit whereby God would dwell with His people, this was empowerment for mission, and as with other covenant renewal, this is the creation of a community of God's people.

At this point we need to be clear about what this bestowal of languages was that accompanied the gift of the Holy Spirit, and what was its significance. It did not result in incomprehensible utterances; it resulted in people hearing in their own languages (Acts 2:6). The gift of tongues was given to facilitate comprehension and communication for a group who had come from the far corners of the known world (Acts 2:9-11).

The reader of Acts 2 is reminded of the confusion of tongues in the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. In that story, human pride was such that the nations of the earth thought they could build a great city with a tower that would reach the heavens. This tower was to be a monument to human hubris. The careful reader, however, hears the humour in Gen. 11:7 as the Lord needs to come down to see the tower and the city; the builders of the tower had not reached their objective. God then destroys that city, scatters the people and confuses their languages.

Acts 2 becomes the reversal of Babel, but it is a reversal with a difference. God does not impose a new universal language whereby global communication would be restored. He does something far more exciting: people hear in their own languages. A language is a window into culture, and rather than obliterating cultural differences, in Acts 2 people hear the gospel in their own cultural categories through linguistic diversity. That which began in Acts 2 has been continuing until today, as the same gospel is preached beyond Jerusalem to the ends of the Earth through different cultural incarnations.

The miracle of Pentecost was not so much in what was said, but in what was heard (Acts 2:6); the hearers heard the gospel in their own language. This gift of tongues did not divide those who heard, it united them. It was not a miracle about incomprehensibility but about understanding. A diverse church that would unite, yet respect for cultural and linguistic differences was born. Human differences were not ignored; the unity of the Spirit was able to bring together people from many different backgrounds into one Christian community.

Have you ever thought of how many different languages we speak in our various societies? In the street where I live there are people who speak English, Italian, Mandarin, Arabic, Greek, Korean and many other tongues. But these are not the only languages that divide us. There are those who speak in the concepts of Gen Y, Generation X, of the Baby Boomers. Some feel more at home at a football match because they "speak the language" while others prefer the conversations among young mums at the local playgroup. What brings us together? When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, people heard in their own tongue. It still remains true, people do not hear the message of the gospel unless the Holy Spirit moves within them and opens their ears. This should remind us of the necessity of prayer.

The gift of the Holy Spirit at the festival of Pentecost creates a powerful Christian community that both cuts across and respects personal and social boundaries. The transformative work in the lives of the recipients of the Holy Spirit should not be underestimated; the change within Jesus' disciples is breathtaking. Fifty days before these events, Peter had denied Jesus before a powerless servant girl; at Pentecost Peter proclaims the gospel to those assembled and sees 3000 people baptized.

Peter and the other disciples have witnessed the crucifixion, have met the resurrected Jesus and now have been filled with the Holy Spirit, and their worlds and priorities have been transformed. As the story of Acts continues, they will suffer and even die for their faith. The first-fruits of the harvest had arrived and the transformation that would follow would be inevitable.

It is interesting to note the sort of community that is established with the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. In Acts 2:42-47 we see a community that focused on teaching, sharing possessions, breaking bread and prayer. Three thousand newly baptized Christians would be a challenge for any church, but it is interesting to note that the first priority that is given by the early church is to teaching. The New Testament never makes a divide between being filled with the Holy Spirit and the need for teaching; true spirituality is not anti-intellectual, it involves the consecration of all that we are to the service of God.

The filling of the Holy Spirit led to a new appraisal within the Jerusalem church of possessions. Community was valued more highly than personal needs and desires. In the emptiness of modern society, where people are lining up outside the doors of psychologists, counsellors and therapists, where relationships are cracking and empty, this message of community and fullness strikes a chord. There is a level of community for which our society longs, yet through our underlying values of individualism we are unable to fill the void.

The feeling of emptiness is present within people who are in our churches every Sunday. As humans we were created for intimacy and community, and this level of belonging should be evident in the Spirit-filled Christian community. It may be 2000 years since Pentecost, but the gift of the Holy Spirit still leads to the quality of relationships that reflect the destruction of the barriers that divide us.

The fullness of the Holy Spirit as given at Pentecost will thus result in radical generosity that creates a level of fellowship for which we long. We celebrate this community every time we break bread, as happened in Acts 2. It is a symbolic enactment of our unity in Christ, a declaration of God's presence with us by His Spirit whereby the community of believers is established. People who have this Spirit-filled perspective on life and church understand God's grace, teach it and practise it. It is not surprising that in Acts 2, from such a Spirit-filled community, the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:47).