As the division of languages during Nimrod's time prevented or at least inhibited the spread of ungodliness, so now the new language- the tongues of men and of angels (I Cor. 13:1)- would cement the spread of godliness throughout the world. The apostles spoke in tongues.

Gathered in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost were devout Jews out of every nation under heaven. Many would have stayed in and around Jerusalem since the Passover fifty days before and would have witnessed the crucifixion. Both Passover and Pentecost were required feasts for every Jewish male over thirteen years of age to attend. Only the disabled and infirm were excused from this requirement.

The devout were all there. Parthians, Medes, Elamites, dwellers in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Libya, Cyrene, Rome- all understood the words spoken. Jews, proselytes, Cretes and Arabians all heard the apostles speak in their own languages THE WONDERFUL WORKS OF GOD!

They witnessed an unprecedented miracle in the history of the world and in witnessing that miracle they had undeniable proof that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead. They heard in their own languages, from unlearned Galileans, the wonderful works of God. And, although we are not told the words that were spoken, the most wonderful work of all was bound to have been spoken- Jesus Christ had risen from the dead!

Such was the start of the new age. Some tried to dismiss the miracle by saying that the apostles were drunk. But, those who heard the wonderful works of God in languages that they understood, but which they knew the apostles did not understand, would not buy that line. The miracle was undeniable. What a great day in the history of the world!

Jesus' promise that they would be endued with power from on high was delivered! The era of the new nature had begun! The church of the body of Christ was created. The age of grace, kept secret since before the world began, was now made manifest. And, on that same day, Jesus Christ poured out God's spirit on about three thousand souls and as Peter pointed out in Acts 2:33, Jesus Christ "hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear."

Did all three thousand speak in tongues so that everyone heard from them also the wonderful works of God? I do not know. But, God did a pretty good job of confounding the people during Nimrod's time by causing them to speak in languages that their neighbors did not understand. That work is still obvious as there are many languages in the world today. It would be in character for God to unconfound to the same degree now that the new age had begun. It took two thousand years, but the commotion caused at the Tower in Babylon finally gave way to a new order in the Temple in Jerusalem.

There is a hint of evidence in Acts 5:32 that speaking in tongues was common in that the apostles on trial state that the holy spirit was God's witness of the resurrection as well as the apostles themselves. Since the apostles were on trial before the Sanhedrin, what they said must have been clearly understood by the members of the Sanhedrin. If the apostles were not referring to speaking in tongues, what other manifestation of the spirit they could have been referring to is not clear. Certainly speaking in tongues was a witness of the resurrection (as is clear from the account in Acts 2 of the day of Pentecost and also from the account of the "pouring out of the gift of holy spirit" on the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius in Acts 10:44-46 where Peter and the six Jews with him were astonished because the Gentiles also spoke in tongues) and may well have been "the witness" spoken about in Acts 5:32.

There is ample evidence in the rest of Acts and in Paul's epistles that speaking in tongues was common throughout the Christian community. There is ample evidence today that speaking in tongues is common throughout the Christian community. What Jesus Christ poured out on the first day of the church age, He continues to pour out as men and women believe. "Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).

With the outpouring of holy spirit described in Acts, chapter two, a dramatic change occurred- a change unparalleled in the history of the world. The spreading of the Good News took hold like a forest fire out of control. And, on an individual level, it has continued to spread down through history to this very day.

After hearing the wonderful works of God in their own languages as the apostles spoke in tongues on the first day of the church age, the devout Jews who were gathered from all over the world believed Jesus was The Christ and about three thousand souls were saved on that day alone. After that first day, the Lord added to the church daily such as were being saved (Acts 2:47).

Some people take longer to make up their minds than do others. However, often times, when they do decide, they are more durable in their convictions than those who change quickly. If there were an additional three thousand saved on the second day of the church age, they could well have been more deeply convinced than the three thousand that believed the first day. And, if three thousand were saved the first day, as we are told in Acts 2, it is more likely that the number of converts grew the second day, the third day, and thereafter, rather than dropping off to a trickle. A mighty miracle had been witnessed on the day of Pentecost and the effects of it would hardly have died off in a day.

Consider also the reality that just fifty days earlier, Israel had been shaken by the events surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Luke (Luke 23:44) tells us that there was darkness over all the earth the day Jesus Christ died and it lasted from noon until 3 o'clock P.M.. Such an event would have shaken the world. And, it would not be soon forgotten. From facts such as this, the picture that develops is one of three thousand converts a day being typical of the new order of things rather than being exceptional.

The next event we learn about, in Acts, chapter three, is Peter healing the lame man at the gate of the Temple. Consequent to that miracle, " many of them which heard the Word believed; and the number of men was about five thousand (Acts 4:4). Notice the words "many of them which heard the Word believed." The indication is that a majority of those who heard the Word, or a large minority, if not an overwhelming majority believed rather than only a few of them believing after many hearing God's Word spoken.

The conclusion to which we are drawn is one of an eager acceptance of the Word of God rather than a reluctant admission that a miracle may have been done and Peter may have been right in what he told them after the man was healed. This was a mighty moving of the spirit of God, not a parochial event that soon fizzled. The number of men who were converted was about five thousand. Add to that number the women and children. This means perhaps ten or fifteen thousand converts consequent to Peter's healing the man lame from his birth. This event included a mighty miracle following closely on the heels of the miracle of Pentecost. These were only two of many miracles witnessed in Jerusalem for we are told that "many wonders and signs were done by the apostles" (Acts 2:43).

Some translators picture the statement recorded in Acts 4:4 as a summary of the number of believers up to that point in time and therefore translate the verse "and the number of men became about five thousand" or "bringing up their number to about five thousand." However, such a picture does not do justice to what was happening in Jerusalem. Luke, the writer of the "family history" of Acts, is not here giving a head count of the number of children born into the family up to that time. If so, he would have fixed some kind of date on which the head count was done. He didn't. We do not know from the account whether the man was healed within days, or weeks, or perhaps even a couple of years of the first day of the church age.

Also, there is ample evidence in the Old Testament that God's people were not to take a census or rely on numbers to indicate their strength. God was their strength. Luke uses numbers throughout his gospel and the book of Acts to signify the magnitude of events, for example, the feeding of the five thousand in Luke 9;14, and it seems much more likely that in Acts 4:4 Luke is indicating the magnitude of the event surrounding the healing of the man lame from his birth rather than the overall size of the church.

Another point to consider is that if Luke was giving a count of the number of believers to that time, he would have kept up the method throughout his history. He does not do so in any other passage in Acts. On the contrary, he records a multitude here, a multitude there, a whole city here, a great number of priests there. He indicates the magnitude of events without ever numbering the church.

Finally, the statements of the High Priest indicate that the growth of the church was not slowing down but rather increasing. The High Priest says, "for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it" (Acts 4:16), and "ye have filled all Jerusalem with your doctrine." (Acts 5:28).

For all these reasons, I am confident that the phrase "and the number of men was about five thousand" (Acts 4:4), refers not to the total number of men in the church up to that time, but rather to those who believed after seeing the man healed and hearing Peter's explanation of the event.

A comparison of the record of the man healed by Peter, who was lame from his birth (Acts 4), to that of the man healed by Jesus, who was born blind (Jn 9), shows that Jerusalem had changed dramatically in the time between the two events. In the gospel account, Jesus healed the man born blind and the religious leaders did their best to deny that the miracle had happened. In John 9:9, "some said this is he, others said, he is like him, but he said, I am he." This gave the religious leaders an opening to deny the miracle. But, in the Acts account, the man healed by Peter was a far more difficult matter for the religious leaders to handle. Jerusalem had indeed changed. You can bet your last dollar that the High Priest and his cronies on the Sanhedrin tried their best to find a way to deny the miracle. They could not! It was known to everyone in Jerusalem!

Acts 4:21 tells us that after Peter and John were interrogated they were let go, the rulers of Israel "finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done. For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed."

Stop for a moment and consider just how different this Jerusalem was from the Jerusalem of only a short time prior. The man that was healed had been born lame only a few years before Jesus was born. We are told that he was brought daily to the gate Beautiful of the Temple to ask alms of them who went into the Temple. Unlike healthy men who had much to do with their lives and places to go, this man who was more than forty years old, could go nowhere without being carried. And so, he was set there each day, perhaps for most of his life, and was a known man.

Jesus would have passed him many times going in and out of the Temple and there may not have been another single man in all of Israel who knew so much of what went on in the Temple each day for so many years. He may even have been there while Jesus, as a twelve year old child, was teaching in the Temple. The man would have been perhaps twenty years old at the time.

When Peter said, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk," and then took him by the right hand and lifted him up, the man had to have in mind all the incredible things that had been happening in Jerusalem in recent months. And, when his feet and ankle bones received strength, what thrill must have gone through the man. What joy must have permeated Jerusalem at news of his deliverance. Jesus Christ had healed him!

I can imagine people hurrying home with the good news and when asked by their spouses, "What has Jesus Christ been doing today?" answering, "Why, He healed that man at the gate Beautiful! The one who has been there all these years." "How wonderful!" would have been the reply.

Another telling verse regarding the first months and years of the church age is Acts 2:47. In it we see that the saved, the born again, had "favor with all the people." They were not considered as outcasts or oddballs or fanatics. They were welcomed by those who had not yet been saved. Jerusalem was a different place indeed!

Acts 4:32 mentions "the multitude of them that believed". Acts 5:14 records, "and believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women." Acts 6:7 declares that the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. Notice that multiplied is used, not added. (ten added to ten equals twenty; ten multiplied by ten equals one hundred) And, in the same verse we are told that a "great company of priests were obedient to the faith."

And so, in the first six chapters of Acts, which covers a period of about five years, how many people were there in Jerusalem and around the world that had a new nature? There were three thousand the first day. Then the Lord added daily such as were being saved. Then there was another five thousand men, plus women and children. Add to that a multitude. Add to that another multitude. Add to that a great company of priests. Then multiply that number by some number. How many? Fifty thousand? Five hundred thousand? Five million?

The point is simply this: Within five years of the time of the ascension of Jesus Christ, a massive number of people in Jerusalem believed in Jesus Christ, saw great miracles, great deliverance, great rejoicing. And, an equally massive number of people would have heard the "Good News" around the Mediterranean Sea and throughout the empires of Rome and Persia. Five years is a long time. To think that such wonderful things happening in Jerusalem could have been kept secret from the rest of the world is unrealistic. The ranks of Judiasm must have swelled dramatically as devout Jews went from their homes to the feasts in Jerusalem each year and then came home to tell their friends, neighbors and associates of all the healing and deliverance they had seen. The Messiah had come! Proselytes and "God-fearers" must have been added to the Jewish cause in a way hard to appreciate without historical numbers to go by.

Many of the pilgrims would have gone home after the various feasts, and it is not possible to judge the effects they had on their local communities. But, the residents of Jerusalem certainly had all heard the gospel message by the end of the first five years of the church age. Those who did not hear were only those who refused to hear. Many, many of Jerusalem's residents believed.

Many of them would have remembered Herod having all the male children under two years of age in and around Bethlehem murdered when the wise men from the East did not return. Many would have lost sons at that time. Many would have remembered John the Baptist being beheaded because he condemned Herod Antipas' marriage to his brother's wife. Many remembered Jesus Christ being crucified. Surely, each had heard, by experience or at least from their neighbors, of the many miracles that Jesus did. Those who refused to believe chose not to believe. They were not innocent people who had never had the opportunity to believe. They certainly had had the opportunity to hear. Their unbelief was of a different kind than those elsewhere who had never had a chance to hear up until that time.

In short, all Jerusalem was well aware of what Jesus Christ came to do and what He stood for by the time that the first few years of the church age had passed. It was filled with men and women who believed.

How big a city was Jerusalem? The evidence outside the general picture painted in the book of Acts is sketchy and conflicting. Josephus says about two hundred thousand people lived in Jerusalem in the time of Jesus. Tacitus says six hundred thousand. Some recent writers say about fifty thousand.

The city was about four miles in circumference and some say its population was limited by the water supply to it. But, it had an elaborate water supply and the amount of water that could be stored in the various pools and cisterns (not to mention springs and other sources of running water) probably exceeded ten million gallons. It is hard to imagine that only fifty thousand people lived in the city in view of this and in view of the numbers and "multitudes" mentioned in Acts.

As a comparison, evidently about one million people lived in Rome (among them 60,000 to 80,000 Jews) and fifty four million people lived in Roman lands at the time Christ was born. According to Chrysostom, about two hundred thousand people lived in Syrian Antioch in the fourth century (probably excluding slaves), and Antioch rivaled Damascus as a trade and political center. Antioch was the intersection of north, south, east and west trade routes and could be called the "Rome East" of the Roman empire. Chrysostom also tells us that Antioch had about one hundred thousand Christians at the time of Theodosius (350- 400 A.D.). In Alexandria, the second largest city in the Roman Empire, two of the seven sections of town were entirely Jewish. With so many Jews living in Rome, Alexandria, and other cities of the Mediterranean world, it is hard to imagine that only 50,000 Jews lived in Jerusalem.

In any event, since Tacitus was a Roman historian and Josephus a Jewish historian, Josephus' numbers are probably more accurate when talking about Jerusalem. Also, Tacitus wrote around 100 A.D., after the city of Jerusalem was destroyed, and was therefore removed from the events that Josephus would have observed, being a priest and living in or around Jerusalem from his birth in 37 A. D. until its destruction in 70 A. D.. Therefore, a normal population of two hundred thousand people seems as reasonable an estimate as can be obtained. If we accept the fact that Rome was six per cent Jewish, and assume that the Roman Empire contained the same percentage of Jews, then there were about 3.25 million Jews in the Roman Empire in the first century. If we assume that there were an equal number living in the Persian Empire and other areas of the world, then the total Jewish population was about 6.5 million. If 200,000 of them lived in Jerusalem, this would represent three per cent of the Jewish population, not an unreasonable number.

Along these lines, it should be mentioned that Josephus gives an account that Cestius requested the High Priest to make a census, in order to convince Nero of the importance of Jerusalem (Nero was emperor from 54 A.D. to 68 A.D.). The High Priest did so by counting the number of lambs slain at Passover. He counted 256,500 lambs and at a ratio of ten people fed for each lamb slain, the number of people in Jerusalem during the feast of Passover that year would have been about two and a half million. Again, not an unreasonable number for a feast that was "required attendance" for 6.5 million people.

It should also be noted that the pilgrims were not required to stay within the city but could reside within a "Sabbath Day's Journey" of the city, or about three quarters of a mile away. If the normal population was two hundred thousand, Jerusalem would have been packed with visitors sleeping on roofs and in the countryside outside the walls.

Also, to prevent the reader from being overwhelmed by the prospect of 256,500 lambs being killed in the Temple, it should be pointed out that the Temple area occupied roughly a square whose sides were about one thousand feet, or about twenty three acres. In the Temple, twenty four courses of priests and twenty four courses of levites each served a week at a time during the normal course of the year, but all served together during passover. There were evidently about five thousand priests and seven thousand levites living in and around Jerusalem during the time covered by the book of Acts.

With the above facts and estimates in mind, it should be clear that the impact of the pouring out of holy spirit on the day of Pentecost and the growth of the church in the first few years following, were dramatic, not only as regards Jerusalem but among the millions of people of the dispersion as well.

That being the case, why did not Jerusalem far surpass all the rest of the nations of the world in power and prestige? What checked the growth?

We see throughout the scriptures that "righteousness exalteth a nation but sin is a reproach to any people"(Prov. 14:34), and "when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn"(Prov. 29:2). What sin and wickedness crept back into Jerusalem and brought it down?

It is true that about twelve years after Jesus Christ's death, in 41 A.D., Jerusalem was again a Royal City and King Agrippa I reigned. Not since 161 B.C. under Judas Maccabaeus had Israel achieved its independence as a separate (though subordinate) nation. But, Israel's independence was short lived- a mere three years. King Agrippa died in 44 A.D. (see Acts 11:20-23) and the nation was again parceled out by the Roman authority. Not only did Israel lose its autonomy, but by 46 A.D., severe famine was in the land.

What happened in Jerusalem? What cancerous growth stole the life from that city so that forty years after the outpouring of holy spirit, it was reduced to ashes. It was destroyed physically, politically, religiously, and economically. Israel as a nation disappeared from the face of the map. It would not revive for almost nineteen hundred years.

What can we discover from the first eight chapters of Acts that might begin to explain such a tragic demise? We have seen that a vast multitude in Jerusalem believed. Certainly, such a number of believing people could not be persecuted out of existence by those outside their number. At least, it is highly unlikely.

In Acts, chapter four, the leaders of the Jewish nation had the apostles arrested and thrown into jail. But, they could not do anything except threaten them because of their popularity with the people. They could not deny the notable miracle that was done to the man who was lame from his birth and was healed after living with his handicap forty years or more.

The response of the church to this threat was to pray for more boldness to preach The Word. They asked for God's support by healings, signs and miracles. Chapter five records God's response to their prayers and in that response He gives to Israel the most marvelous period in its history!

Never was there a time when healing was so wide spread. It was unprecedented, exciting, thrilling, awe inspiring. In short, the period could be summed up by saying that grace held sway in Jerusalem. The Word of God prevailed. Jesus Christ reigned over the city of Jerusalem. Acts 5:16 says, "There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits; AND THEY WERE HEALED- EVERY ONE!"

Never before had Israel experienced such deliverance. It was a deliverance even greater than the exodus from Egypt! Jerusalem had reached its high water mark, the pinnacle of its history. Had there been an election in the city of Jerusalem, the apostles could have run for any office and won overwhelmingly. Peter was so popular that people laid their sick by the side of the road in the hopes that just his shadow would pass over them and they would be healed.

The Chief Priest and all his support group were indignant with all this and forcibly threw the apostles in prison. But, even this action was turned around by God to make the Chief Priest and his power look foolish in the sight of the people when the angel of the Lord delivered the apostles from prison and they went right back to the Temple and taught.

Among the best testimony as to the state of affairs in Jerusalem at this time is that of the High Priest himself. In Acts 5:28 he declares accusingly, "ye have filled all Jerusalem with your doctrine!" To what doctrine was he referring? Verse seventeen says that the power base of the High Priest was the Saducees and one of the Saducees central beliefs was that there was no resurrection from the dead. They denied any supernatural intervention in the affairs of men. The apostles had filled Jerusalem with not only the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but also with all the implications of that fact, miracles, deliverance, healing, joy, etc.. All those implications would undoubtedly point to the Chief Priest and the Saducees as being impostors. For, Jesus had said after His resurrection, "all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matt. 28:18).

During the ministry of Jesus Christ, he was harassed mainly by the Pharasees over points of law. But now, the apostles are harassed by the Saducees because they preached that Jesus Christ had been raised from the dead. The evidence points to the fact that the Pharasees finally believed in Jesus Christ. (see Acts5:34, 15:5, 23:9).

What angered the Chief Priest and the Saducees was that they were losing their power base. And, if they lost their power base, they would loose their money! Then, as now, the love of money was the root of all evil. The Temple income was huge and they controlled it all. They refused to be brought under the doctrine of Christ and administer their offices by its precepts. They wanted a firm hold on the peoples lives and considered themselves the supreme authorities. They were the law!

For our purposes, the account shows conclusively that the people now knew of the resurrection and all that it implied, and no one in Jerusalem could later say that he had never had the opportunity to hear.

Acts 5:26 tells us that the Chief Priest and his followers were concerned to the point that they were convinced that they themselves would be stoned by the people if they did violence to the apostles. They feared the people! Imagine the state of affairs in Jerusalem.

The death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ was accepted by the people with all that those events implied. The rulers were well aware of this and faced the choice of either complying, (which would mean losing face and perhaps their positions), or finding a way to regain authority over the people without losing face. This was a Jerusalem that had never been seen before. And, as we shall see, would never be seen again. Imagine the people so solidly behind the apostles that they would have stoned their own leaders if those leaders had harmed the apostles.

With all this evidence, it is very doubtful that the believers in Jerusalem could have been persecuted out of existence by those outside their number. Therefore, we must look within the group of believers to see if we can find a cause for the decline in godliness which became so evident as the years went by. What breaching of the dike occurred that allowed in the forces of evil?

How did the believers relate to each other? How did they organize? In the first five years of the Christian church, who were the principal characters? Remember, Paul had not yet arrived on the scene. His conversion on the road to Damascus occurs in the ninth chapter of Acts. So, Paul was not yet in the picture. Who was?

In Acts 1:2 we see "the apostles whom He had chosen." They were with Jesus Christ at His ascension. In verse thirteen we find these apostles named -except Judas who had hanged himself. In verse fourteen we find additional people- some women not named, and Mary the mother of Jesus and Jesus' brothers. The apostles "continued with one accord in prayer and supplication" with these others. Verse fifteen mentions that there were about one hundred twenty people present. (There were obviously many more people who believed in Jesus Christ at that time, but these were the only ones gathered together in Jerusalem between the day of the Ascension and the day of Pentecost, ten days later. For example, Jesus was seen by over five hundred people at one time after his resurrection as stated in I Cor. 15:6.) From these, Matthias was chosen to fill the place of Judas.

In the first five chapters of Acts, the only recorded miracles are done by the apostles. (This by no means implies that the rest of the church did no miracles or that no other miracles were done than the ones recorded). The apostles are the ones in the forefront of the church. In Acts 2:43, "and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles." Note also that in verses forty four and forty five, all that believed sold their plurality and gave to others as the others had need. The individual believer not only sold his excess goods, for he now had a life that transcended mere worldly abundance, he also decided where the proceeds were to go.

Chapter three shows Peter healing the lame man at the Temple. Acts 4:33 says, "and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them." The people brought the money from the things they sold and laid it at the feet of the apostles. The apostles distributed to every man as he had need. Verse thirty four states that there were none that lacked! Everyone had their needs met. Both direct giving to those who had need and indirect giving, through the apostles, is seen.