Acts 2:1-47
It was just last year (2020) that we read Acts and the Epistles together as we had the Gospels in 2019, averaging ten or eleven verses per day. So last year we read today’s 47 verses over a five-day span. (See my five days’ worth of comments in the links below.) So with full apologies, today’s reading is very possibly our longest reading for the rest of the year, but I could not find a good place to split it into two or three parts. So we read the whole of Pentecost in one day. Thankfully, it’s an event which we read every year, so it’s not unfamiliar to us!
Carol and I are touched every time we read these “nations” that are listed in verses 9-11. Why? In 2017 we visited our niece in Turkey and spent a few nights in Cappadocia – a fascinating geographical area! But while there we recalled the book of Acts and Luke’s mention of Cappadocia in his list of nations. That alone was a warm feeling. Then as we left the region we traveled west along a modern highway which years ago had been a caravan route and we imagined that the apostle Paul might have traveled this very route himself on his way back to Galatia on his second or third missionary journey. (Not likely, but possible…) Either way, the Bible truly came alive for us as we traveled this road!
Peter speaking: “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day…” (v. 29) I have used this verse in the past in sharing the gospel with someone who wanted “proof” of the Resurrection. This sentence does not offer full “proof”, but you and I are able to cite Peter’s comment and note that we can still go to the site of David’s tomb today – but we won’t find Jesus’ tomb anywhere nearby, not in all of Jerusalem or Judea or anywhere on this earth!! “He is risen, He is not here!!” (Mt. 28:6) Hallelujah!!
See also: January 4 / Acts 2:1-4; January 5 / Acts 2:5-13; January 6 / Acts 2:14-21; January 7 / Acts 2:22-28; January 8 / Acts 2:29-39; January 9 / Acts 2:40-47