A panoramic view of the book of Acts shows what the early disciples actually became conditioned to. Many Christians do not recognize the true emphasis in the book of Acts. They read how the Holy Spirit fell on the day of Pentecost, loosing the power of God in the Church. They are thrilled by the account of the cloven tongues of fire, the rushing mighty wind, and everyone speaking in tongues.
But they do not realize that after the Holy Spirit was received, the emphasis was never again upon tongues. The book of Acts contains only a scattered report about tongues after the Pentecost outpouring when the Holy Spirit was first received.
The eighth chapter of Acts tells how Philip went down to the Samaritans and they all believed. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the Samaritans had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. They laid their hands upon the new believers, and they received the Holy Spirit.
It is not recorded whether or not they spoke in tongues; but evidently it was quite a phenomenon, for Simon the sorcerer offered a great deal of money to Peter in a vain effort to buy the ability to lay hands on people and produce the same results (verses 14–20).
When people read of the incident in the tenth chapter of Acts, they tend to put the emphasis on the fact that the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius and his household and they all began to speak with other tongues (verses 44–46). Such an emphasis is wrong.
It was as Peter spoke the word of God that the other happenings occurred. The true emphasis of the report is not upon the Holy Spirit phenomenon, but upon the fact that Peter spoke God’s word. That word conveyed the whole spiritual experience to those receptive hearts.
The nineteenth chapter of Acts tells how Paul spoke to about twelve disciples at Ephesus, saying, “Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard anything about that.” When Paul laid hands upon them, they received the Holy Spirit; then they spoke with tongues and prophesied (verse 6). Although there was a dual phenomenon, Pentecostals use this passage to support their emphasis on tongues. However, the important key is that Paul was speaking the word of the Lord. The emphasis was entirely on the speaking of the word. For two years the word of God sounded out until everyone in Asia had heard it. God wrought special miracles by the hand of Paul, and the word of God grew mightily and prevailed (Acts 19:11,12,20). The writer of Acts did not say that everyone in Asia spoke in tongues. He emphasized the fact that the word of God was proclaimed. This is the real phenomenon that is mentioned in chapter after chapter. It was that prophetic proclamation of God’s word that became such a living part of the early Church.
The importance of receiving the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues should not be minimized. But we should understand why we receive the Holy Spirit—so that we might become the oracles of God. This key is given in John 7:37–39. Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink…from within him shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Only when Jesus is glorified as Lord in our lives and we come and drink of the Holy Spirit, do we become living fountains. This is not necessarily a flow of tongues. Many receive the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues, but the “rivers of living water” refer more to a prophetic flow. The Holy Spirit who comes within us is the instigator of our becoming oracles of God and fountains of the Lord, with rivers of living water flowing forth from us.
All of this should help us to read the book of Acts a little differently. We should not read it primarily as an account of people who received the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues; that was a secondary emphasis at best. What we should really see is that the people who received the Holy Spirit became the channels of God speaking in the earth. The book of Acts records the acts of the apostles. It is an account of what God was doing through them and how He was speaking through them.
The entire book of Acts is a study on speaking the word of the Lord. For instance, notice what happened in the third chapter: Peter and John were going up to the Temple to pray, when suddenly they saw a lame man whom they healed (verses 1–8). A crowd gathered and Peter preached to them, and many people believed on the Lord. Chapter 4 begins with the account of the rulers, the guards, the Sadducees, and the priests being so disturbed over the situation that they laid hands on Peter and John and put them in jail until the following day, for it was already evening.
When the rulers brought them forth, they talked to them very seriously about stopping their preaching. At this point Peter stood up, filled with the Holy Spirit, and began speaking to them, “Rulers and elders of Israel….” He did not stop until he had proclaimed the word. The rulers did not know what to do. After conferring with one another, they finally summoned the two apostles and commanded them not to speak or to teach at all in the name of Jesus.
But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard.” (It was a compulsive flow of the word of the Lord.) And when they had threatened them further, they let them go (finding no basis on which they might punish them) on account of the people, because they were all glorifying God for what had happened; for the man was more than forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.
And when they had been released, they went to their own companions, and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is Thou who didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Thy servant, didst say, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples devise futile things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ.’ For truly in this city there were gathered together against Thy holy servant Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Thy hand and Thy purpose predestined to occur. And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Thy bondservants may speak Thy word with all confidence” (they were not concerned about talking in tongues; their one objective was to be able to speak the word of God), “while Thou dost extend Thy hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Thy holy servant Jesus.”
And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak the word of God with boldness. Acts 4:19–31. Looking forward to another day of Pentecost would be just fine, but it would be better if it were like the day described here. They all began to pray and the place was shaken. The sign that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit was not the tongues, but the fact that they all spoke the word of God with boldness. In speaking the word of the Lord, they had reached the purpose and the function of the Spirit.
There must be a faith in God’s people today which looks to God with the expectation that He will fill the whole Body of Christ afresh with the Spirit of the Lord. There must be a faith which believes the Lord for this same experience of laying hands on the people to receive the Holy Spirit. The old ways of thinking would have us believe that to do so, everyone must speak in tongues. However, the foundational ministries can lay hands on people for the ultimate function of the Spirit to come forth, which is speaking the word of God. There is nothing wrong with speaking in tongues, but it should be considered the elementary beginning. We should never be content until we go on to be filled with the word. Paul wrote to the Colossians, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Out of that will come “speaking to yourselves in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16). The prophetic flow in songs and the prophetic flow to speak the word of the Lord comes from the fullness of that word within His disciples. This is the way they will become the prophetic company that they must be in the end time.
And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own; but all things were common property to them. And with great power the apostles were giving witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales, and lay them at the apostles’ feet; and they would be distributed to each, as any had need. Acts 4:32–35.
Most people are afraid to do such a thing. They draw back when someone starts talking about selling his property and giving it to the Lord. That seems too radical.
Most of the people in the early Church fled from Jerusalem according to the word that had come from Christ (Luke 21:21). Within thirty to thirty-three years, they were fleeing over the hills to save their lives. By 70 A.D., many of the people who had kept their property were killed and the property was destroyed anyway. When Jerusalem finally fell, so many people were crucified that not enough wood could be found for the crosses. The Christians in those early days were doing the wise thing. They were investing their money in the Kingdom. It would be good if people still believed that way today.
Every church needs to be filled with the Holy Spirit afresh. Every believer should speak with tongues. Every believer should prophesy. But every believer should go even further. It was this pressing into an even greater experience that made the events of Acts 19 such a miracle. Those twelve disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit. They spoke with tongues and they prophesied. If you could choose a Bible experience to follow and measure up to, why not choose one of the best? Some may be partial to the one where they all spoke in tongues. That is good. Some may want to speak a definite language. That is also good if there are any foreigners around. But the experience recorded in Acts 19 is one of the best of all.
After Paul found those disciples in an upper room in Ephesus and laid hands on them, they received the Holy Spirit; but they went on further to a prophetic flow which resulted in the word going forth throughout Ephesus. That word went forth with more power than it would have had if they had only spoken in tongues. It went forth until it filled all of Asia, and everyone heard the word of the Lord (Acts 19:10). Why not believe to receive the Holy Spirit, speak with tongues, and also prophesy the word of the Lord? Believers ought to start into a prophetic flow almost from the initial stage of receiving the Holy Spirit.
In Acts 5:19,20, the emphasis is again on speaking the word of the Lord. But an angel of the Lord during the night opened the gates of the prison, and taking them out he said, “Go your way, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life.” They were told, “Proclaim the words of this Life.” The book of Acts keeps pointing out how God said to men, “Go and speak the word of the Lord”; and they went forth, speaking the word of the Lord.
As you read on into the sixth chapter, you see that a problem developed because of the disciples’ dedication to speak the word of the Lord. There were complaints that some of the widows who were poor and old were not being fed properly. The apostles knew what their responsibility was, and so they called the brethren together and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.” Acts 6:2b. It was not their place to stop serving the word of God in order to serve tables. They saw that speaking the word of God was their responsibility. They were not responsible for the organization of the Church. Therefore, they told the people, “Select men who will do this job.” But they also laid down some high qualifications! “But select from among you, brethren, seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.” Acts 6:3,4. This is exactly what happened.
The seventh chapter tells about Stephen, one of the deacons who was chosen. He preached one of the longest sermons recorded in the book of Acts. Stephen was full of the Spirit. He was also full of the living word, but some of the scribes and Pharisees stoned him for preaching it. Philip, another one of the seven deacons who was chosen, fled down to Samaria. As the story continues in the eighth chapter, it is easy to see that those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Acts 8:14 tells us, Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God (Philip was speaking the word of God), they sent them Peter and John. Then we read in verse 25: And so, when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. It is interesting to note that these men were chosen to serve the widows, but the Church was scattered before they hardly had a chance to fulfill this part of their ministry.
The world ignored the Church after it stopped speaking a word from God, but those early disciples were not ignored. They were listened to! They were either totally accepted or rejected on the spot. Stephen was stoned, but the others continued speaking the word of God. Even when Paul was suffering imprisonment as an evildoer and a criminal, he said, “The word of God is not bound” (II Timothy 2:9). He kept speaking the word. It was a living word. He also wrote it and ministered it.
People must seek a high level of prophecy in the church services, or they may bog down and start substituting lung power for the depth of anointing. They sometimes think that the louder they shout, the more effective they will be. It is the fullness of the Spirit and the level of faith that causes the utterance to change things. Everyone should spend time waiting on the Lord and come prepared to be part of a participating Body. With this preparation of fullness and faith, God’s people can begin to speak, and what they bind on earth will be bound in heaven; what they loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Matthew 18:18). When they pray over a person, they will do more than deliver him from problems; there will be the injection of such a depth of the Spirit of the Lord that they will create another fountain.
The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ must become the prophetic voice that God wants, so filled with God that they shall speak the word of the Lord throughout the earth.