“Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2).
Sound (Def): (Gr): Echos: A loud reverberating and resonating noise, echo
As we read the account of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost we can miss something very significant. We tend to focus on the “tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them” (Acts 2:3b). We also focus on how “they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4). But what of the sound from heaven?
The Sound from Heaven was an echoing, reverberating and resonating noise like “the sound of a rushing mighty wind”. This sound echoed, reverberated, resonated and filled the whole house where the disciples were sitting. The sound was very loud. Some say the sound of a tornado is like the sound of a freight train. A tornado is a rushing mighty wind, is it not? So, this sound from heaven must have made a similar sound. Of couse, there were no trains in those days, so it must have been confusing to those who heard it. Yet, this sound, along with the disciples speaking in other languages drew the people from throughout the entire City of Jerusalem to that house.
The Gospel writer describes Jesus as an Echos, a reverberation that “went out into every place of the country round about”. The translators translated the Greek word Echos as “fame” in the text of Luke 4:32, but we can easily see how fame can reverberate and resonate like a sound of Him who did the mighty deeds.
The Sound from Heaven was also evident at the giving of the Law of Moses on Mount Sinai as recorded in the Epistle to the Hebrews:
“For you are not come unto the Mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound (Echos) of the trumpet, and the voice of words which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more” (Hebrews 12:18-19).
So, we see at both the giving of the Law and the giving of the Holy Spirit there was a similar manifestation of the Presence of God that is as a sound from heaven like the sound of wind. The wind, along with other symbols, represents the Holy Spirit (cf. John 3:8). So, the Holy Spirit comes with manifestation as evidenced by the happenings at Pentecost. The miracles of Christ also testified to His Deity (cf. John 10:37-38). Wherever the Presence of Christ is, there is a reverberation and resonating of Him that goes out from Him to draw the people in.
What can we say to these things? Does the Presence of Christ reverberate to others around us? Do we resonate with the power of the Holy Spirit? Does the nature of the Lamb echo and redound to the Glory of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit? The Sound from Heaven will be in full manifestation when the genuineness of the Spirit and Life of the Son of God is in our midst and will draw the people in. They are coming, are we ready? The Apostle Peter was ready at Pentecost and preached the Gospel of Christ to the people and three thousand were added in one day. Then the Book of Acts tells us the disciples were “praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2:47).
Let the Sound from Heaven go forth! Let us reverberate and resonate with the Presence of Christ Jesus. May the sound of His Life go forth throughout the land and testify to Him, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
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