Matthew Henry

And while they were gathered together, He commanded them: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift the Father promised, which you have heard Me discuss.

“First, The Spirit was given by promise, and it was at this time the great promise, as that of the Messiah was before ( Luke i. 72 ), and that of eternal life is now, 1 John ii.”

For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

“But Christ can do more than any of his ministers. It is an honour to them to be employed in dispensing the means of grace, but it his prerogative to give the Spirit of grace.”

After He had said this, they watched as He was taken up, and a cloud hid Him from their sight.

“By the clouds there is a sort of communication kept up between the upper and lower world; in them the vapours are sent up from the earth, and the dews sent down from heaven.”

When they arrived, they went to the upper room where they were staying: Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon…

“Here was the beginning of the Christian church: this hundred and twenty was the grain of mustard-seed that grew into a tree, the leaven that leavened the whole lump.”

He was one of our number and shared in this ministry.”

“What will it avail us to be added to the number of Christians, if we partake not of the spirit and nature of Christians?”

Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

“(3.) It was the sound of a wind, for the way of the Spirit is like that of the wind ( John iii. 3 ), thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it comes nor whither it goes.”

They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

“(2.) The sign given was fire, that John Baptist's saying concerning Christ might be fulfilled, He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire; with the Holy Ghost as with fire.”

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

“(2.) A very proper, needful, and serviceable miracle. The language the disciples spoke was Syriac, a dialect of the Hebrew; so that it was necessary that they should be endued with the gift, for the understanding both of the original Hebrew of the Old Testament…”

Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome, both Jews and…

“They took lodgings there, because there was at this time a general expectation of the appearing of the Messiah; for Daniel's weeks had just now expired, the sceptre had departed from Judah, and it was then generally thought that the kingdom of God would immediately…”

both Jews and converts to Judaism; Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

“(1.) The things they heard the apostles discourse of were the wonderful works of God, megaleia tou Theou -- Magnalia Dei, the great things of God.”

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, lifted up his voice, and addressed the crowd: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you…

“And it was not by Peter's preaching only, but that of all, or most, of the rest of the hundred and twenty, that three thousand souls were that day converted, and added to the church; but Peter's sermon only is recorded, to be an evidence…”

‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people.

“It refers to the last days, the times of the gospel, which are called the last days because the dispensation of God's kingdom among men, which the gospel sets up, is the last dispensation of divine grace, and we are to look for no other…”

Even on My menservants and maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

“The Jewish doctors taught that the Spirit came only upon wise and rich men, and such as were of the seed of Israel; but God will not tie himself to their rules. [2.]”

I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.

“The blood points at the wars of the Jews with the neighbouring nations, with the Samaritans, Syrians, and Greeks, in which abundance of blood was shed, as there was also in their civil wars, and the struggles of the seditious (as they called them), which…”

The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the coming of the great and glorious Day of the Lord.

“It was a little day of judgment; it was a notable day: in Joel it is called a terrible day, for so it was to men on earth; but here epiphane (after the Septuagint), a glorious, illustrious day, for so it was to Christ in…”

And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

“Those that distinguish themselves by singular piety shall be distinguished by special preservation. And observe, the saved remnant are described by this, that they are a praying people: they call on the name of the Lord, which intimates that they are not saved by any…”

He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.

“And yet he was approved of God, and there was nothing in this that signified the disapproving of him; for it was done by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, in infinite wisdom, and for holy ends, which Christ himself concurred in, and in…”

Those who embraced his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to the believers that day.

“The good effect of this sermon in the conversion of many to the faith of Christ, and their addition to the church,”

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

“But it was at Jerusalem, because this had been the place which God chose, to put his name there, and the prophecy was that thence the word of the Lord should go forth to all nations, Isa. ii.”

When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.

“It was not many weeks ago that the blind and the lame came to Christ in the temple, and were healed there, Matt. xxi.”

Peter looked directly at him, as did John. “Look at us!” said Peter.

“John did so too, for they were both guided by one and the same Spirit, and concurred in this miracle; they said, Look on us.”

So the man gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.

“As every one hath received the gift, so let him minister it. Let us now see how the cure was wrought. [1.] Christ sent his word, and healed him ( Ps. cvii.”

Taking him by the right hand, Peter helped him up, and at once the man’s feet and ankles were made strong.

“He stood without either leaning or trembling, stood straight up, and walked without a staff. He trod strongly, and moved steadily; and this was to manifest the cure, and that it was a thorough cure.”

they recognized him as the man who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened…

“He had sat there so long that they all knew him; and for this reason he was chosen to be the vessel of this mercy.”

While the man clung to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and ran to them in the walkway called Solomon’s Colonnade.

“But, if they will not stay with him, he is resolved to go with them, and the rather because they are going into the temple, whence he had been so long kept by his weakness and his begging: like the impotent man whom Christ cured…”