This Sunday was a special day on the church calendar called Pentecost. This week we learned about what happened on Pentecost in our lesson title "Pentecost" which came from the first and second chapters of Acts. Download this week's Family Worship Guide and refer to the teaching points from this week's lesson to make the most of your family worship time.

How does today’s Bible story fit into God’s greater plan of redemption?

In the Old Testament, the feast of Pentecost was called the Feast of Harvest or day of the firstfruits (Exodus 23:16; Numbers 28:26–30). On this day, bulls, lambs, and a goat were sacrificed, in addition to the regular offering, to make atonement.

Now that Jesus has been sacrificed upon the cross and salvation has come to the people of Israel, there is no longer need to kill the goat of atonement. In addition, the promised blessing to Abraham has been fulfilled. With the arrival of the Spirit of God, the disciples were free to begin the advance of the gospel to people of every tribe, language, and nation.

The assembly was amazed—The people from various nations heard the disciples speaking in their own language. They could not understand how the disciples could do this since they were Galileans. Yet there were others who heard only a loud babble they could not understand. They wrongly assumed the disciples were drunk.

This event marked a major development in God’s salvation plan for man. It signaled that the gospel was for all peoples and all tongues. God was now going to take initiative by his Spirit, through the followers of Jesus, to reveal himself to people outside of Israel. From this point on, people did not have to identify with the nation of Israel and learn the Jewish tongue to know God. He was now speaking by his Spirit, through his disciples, to the whole world in order to reach every tribe and tongue.

God had separated the nations by confusing their language at the tower of Babel (Genesis 11:7). Now, with the beginning of the advance of the gospel, God was at work bringing them together again.