The Pentecost of the Spirit
“And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire… and began to speak with other tongues.” Acts 2:3,4
The great unifying element of the Spirit of Pentecost is that He gives us a common language. Before the Spirit comes, we speak in our own tongue. That’s why I can’t understand the language of my brother. But when I receive the outpouring of the Spirit, I receive the Rosetta Stone called sympathy—the power to understand someone else. The only language which I can speak in common with another is the language of the heart. It's the only tongue that history has never changed. Heart speaks to heart. I weary of the shibboleth spirits. Of saying, “It must be spoken like this, or it’s not true.” Like our Savior, the language of the heart is the same yesterday, today, and forever. It's the speech of one born from above.
If I can only get past my own desire for accent and custom and get down to the Spirit's leading, I will begin to hear the Spirit’s words in others. Yes, even with different accents, inflections, tones, and elocution. Dutch is guttural; French is soft, and English a mixture of the two. Yet all beautiful tongues come from the Spirit's grammar school, though it may initially sound strange.
The tower of Babel was an act of pride. Its curse was the scattering of speech and hearts. So, Babel became the death of two things: listening and sympathy. The coming down of the LORD that day was a flight downward, to scatter. The Spirit’s outpouring at Pentecost was a flight down also, not to earth, but to the earthen heart. Not to confuse the children of God, but to link their hearts. A leading down of the soul into the depths of its own need, and, therefore, becoming an entrance into sympathy with others. We all live in the experience of others when the Spirit speaks.
We need the Spirit to pour fresh Pentecost on us, Congregation. To break down Babel’s tower in our hearts. To send forth that Fire of sympathy that will overlook all that differs to the One that unites and give us the power to listen to our brother’s language.
Too often, I am imprisoned within myself. I speak only one language—the language of me. But the Spirit of Pentecost can make me a linguist. He can enable me to understand the speech of every heart that loves Christ by giving me a lesson from my own. He can help me to translate the soul-words of others into my own mother tongue. When He shall give us utterance, we shall speak the language of love.