The Tongues of Fire
“And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” — Acts n. 4.
“rTlHEY began to speak with other tongues;” that is, in 1 other languages than their own; especially in the languages of the various nationalities enumerated below. This is not a miraculous gift bestowed on the missionaries, and to be used in their ministry so as to supersede the use of ordinary means. There is scarcely a trace of such a gift in the Scriptures of a later date; and no trace of it in the subsequent history of the Church. It would have been unlike the way of the Lord — against the analogy of Providence. It .was a sign graciously given on that day to confirm the faith of the disciples at the crisis of their need; not a convenience to render exertion unnecessary. In like manner, the Lord, in a crisis of his personal ministry, fed a famishing multitude with a few loaves. This was done for a sign, that they might believe. But he did not interfere with the ordinary course of Providence; he did not free men from the necessity of tilling and sowing the ground.
“As the Spirit gave them utterance.” Their hearts were filled with the great things of the kingdom, and they laboured to pour them forth as glory to God. The Spirit given to them infused the thoughts, and framed the thoughts into words; so that the emotions and sentiments that filled the hearts of these Galilean fishermen were poured out in the tougues of Greece and Rome, of Persia and Africa. Thus the men, whether of the stock of Israel or proselytes from the Gentiles, who had from various countries come up to Jerusalem to worship at the feast, heard in their own languages
The Tongues of Fire. the wonderful works of God — heard and believed — believed and carried to their homes, and in their homes repeated; so that the Gospel spread in the first age farther and faster through the world than in the ordinary course of even apostolic ministry. These foreign worshippers at Jerusalem received “bread to the eater and having lived on the word themselves, they carried it with them to their homes, as “seed to the sower:” and thence sprang a harvest, that waved like Lebanon, in Europe, in Africa, and in the East, during the lifetime of the Eleven.
The utterance given by the Spirit to the missionaries was aptly symbolised by the tongues of fire. As water in baptism signifies the spiritual cleansing, so the fire, resting on the apostle’s heads, promised the living conquering energy with which they should preach the gospel and spread the kingdom. The speech that publishes the glad tidings should be a tongue of fire. He who speaks the gospel coldly has not himself felt its power. When the preacher’s heart is kindled, his words will burn. Enthusiasm, instead of being a blemish in a Christian, is his normal condition. “Eervent in spirit, serving the Lord;” these two have been joined together by the Word of God, and they should never be put asunder in the practice of men.
The gift of tongues — the “utterance” imparted by the Spirit — was a direct means of establishing Christ’s kingdom, in that it supplied the apostles at the beginning of their work with a certificate of their call and their competence. It was evidence to all who heard that they were Divinely commissioned to make known the way of life. But besides its use as a sign to certify the calling of the preachers, it was in its own nature fitted, more than any other sign, directly to promote the cause. It both proved the doctrine true, and spread it far. The expression of the doctrine by Galilean
The Chwch in the House.
preachers, in a language that foreigners understood, both induced the hearers to believe and enabled them to carry home what they had heard for the benefit of their own countrymen. Any other sign from heaven might have been equally effective to convince the on-lookers that the apostles had a Divine commission to make known God’s will; but no other sign would have suited so well as an instrument to spread the Word of life rapidly among the nations — to sow the seed in the first spring over the wide field of the world.
A question has been raised as to the precise import of the expression, “dwelling at Jerusalem,” whether it means Jews born and bred in foreign countries, who in old age returned to lay their bones in the sacred city, or Jews and proselytes whose homes were in the various countries enumerated, and who were sojourning temporarily at Jerusalem, that they might worship at the feasts. There may have been specimens of both kinds; but the spirit of the narrative seems to imply that the majority belonged to the latter class, and the Ethiopian eunuch is an example. Having come so far, it is probable that he remained a considerable time in the city; and that he, and such as he, although only visitors, might correctly be represented as “dwelling at J erusalem.”
The Lord lives and rules now and in this land, as really as then in Judsea. He is the same yesterday and to-day and for ever. When a young person goes for a time to reside in town or country at a distance from home, and there hears the wonderful works of God — the work of redemption by the death of Christ — let him think, God has brought me to this place in order to speak this word to me; he means that I should receive it, and live; that, living by faith on his Son, I should return to my own home and tell what great things the Lord hath done for me.
The Seed of the Word is spread. 3 7