The International Bible Lesson (Uniform Sunday School Lessons Series) for Sunday, May 24, 2015, is from Acts 2:1-7, 12 & 1 Corinthians 14:13-19. This posting and podcast includes both the International Bible Lesson Commentary and the International Bible Lesson. The International Bible Lesson Commentary is now available in five different Bible translations on the International Bible Lessons Commentary (http://www.ouosu.com/IBLC/) website: these versions are the English Standard Version (ESV), King James Version (KJV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), New International Version (NIV), and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).  Questions for Discussion and Thinking Further follow the verse-by-verse International Bible Lesson Commentary. The Study Hints for Discussion and Thinking Further discusses each of the Questions for Discussion and Thinking Further to help with class preparation and in conducting class discussion: these hints are available on the  International Bible Lessons Commentary (http://www.ouosu.com/IBLC/) website along with the International Bible Lesson that you may want to read to your class as part of your Bible study using the easy printable lesson. To help your class review the lesson, links to an easy printable Word Search Puzzle, a Crossword Puzzle, and a True and False Test are also available below. To listen to this commentary a podcast is available by subscribing (http://ouosu.com/biblelessonforum/?page_id=6113) and by clicking on the audio links here on the International Bible Lesson Forum.
International Bible Lesson Commentary
Acts 2:1-7, 12
(Acts 2:1) When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.

The disciples obeyed Jesus and they waited in Jerusalem until they had received the promised power from on high (the Holy Spirit). Because Jesus had been raised from the dead 50 days earlier, and had appeared to them, they were no longer scattered and hiding. They were all together in one place, probably so they would not miss the sending of the Holy Spirit as a gift from God and so they could encourage one another as they prayed, waited and wondered what would happen. They knew from their time spent with Jesus something of what to expect when the Holy Spirit came upon them in power, because the Holy Spirit had empowered Jesus. In some sense, they already knew the Holy Spirit personally within them, because Jesus had breathed the Holy Spirit upon them before He ascended into heaven: “When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’†(John 20:22). By His Spirit, Jesus had not left them from the day of His ascension to the Day of Pentecost.

(Acts 2:2) And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

The Holy Spirit did not come quietly. If He had come quietly, that might have left some doubt among some as to whether or not the Holy Spirit had been sent or received. The Holy Spirit came from heaven (from a location above them or outside of this material world as the sound came into the room). It might have sounded similar to a roaring tornado or a sudden loud gust of wind. Notice: the Spirit “filled the entire house;†therefore, everyone in the house heard the Spirit’s coming and everyone could talk about their experience. Everyone in the house was surrounded by the Holy Spirit, and all of Jesus’ disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and His power. Everyone heard the Holy Spirit when He came, and they could describe the sound He made. No one had a doubt about His coming, just as Jesus’ disciples had no doubt about the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus. Whereas Jesus had gently breathed the Holy Spirit upon them, on the Day of Pentecost He came like the sound of a rushing wind.

(Acts 2:3) Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.

The Holy Spirit also came visibly into the house.