I love this story, because in it we see God beginning to put our broken world back together again. You remember the story in Genesis of how people were building the Tower of Babel and God came down and confused their language? Everybody had to stop working on their ridiculous building project because they couldn’t understand each other; and they all moved away to live with the only people they could find who still understood them.
But look at what God is doing on Pentecost! He starts with the followers of Jesus “all together in one place,” waiting; and then He sends the Holy Spirit. And the first thing the Spirit does is to make it possible for them to speak in all different languages, and for what? So that all the foreign visitors in Jerusalem could understand them when they started telling about Jesus!
No doubt some of the people who heard them went home again shaking their heads. But at least 3,000 of them stayed and believed in Jesus, who died and rose again to save us all—everyone who will trust in Him. Those 3,000 stayed together, even after they finally left for their homes far away—because now they were part of God’s building project, the baby Christian church.
That is the unity God planned for all of us—that we should all be one in Jesus (see Ephesians 1:10). We can’t bring it about—but the Spirit can and will. Because Jesus died and rose for us, the human family that broke into pieces in Eden will be healed and united in Jesus once again.
WE PRAY: Dear Lord, make us one in You. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions:
1. What command were the people breaking when they tried to build the Tower of Babel? See Genesis 9:1 and 11:4.
2. Why do you think God chose to give the first Christians the ability to speak other languages instead of simply reversing Babel so everyone could understand everyone else?
3. Why do you think God chooses to build up the redeemed human race with people of every language and nation?