Thousands of people had come from dozens of surrounding countries to gather in Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost. It had been 7 weeks since Jesus’ resurrection. You could hear the hum of hundreds of languages being spoken across the city when suddenly, they were silenced by a loud noise that could only be the power of God.
Before this moment, God’s followers had occasionally been empowered by His Spirit—Samson had superhuman strength, and David’s mighty men won impossible battles. But at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus’ followers in a new, even more powerful way. His disciples were filled with the Spirit permanently rather than temporarily, which enabled them to proclaim the good news boldly in languages they had never spoken or even studied before.