Bill Johnson - The Sound of Heaven
Suddenly, there’s this sound created that blanketed a city called Jerusalem and changed the consciousness, awareness, and mindset of an entire city. You had people who crucified Jesus 50 days earlier now asking the question, «What must I do to be saved?» In Acts 2:1, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all in one accord in one place. Suddenly, there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. There appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Okay, what were the two natural manifestations seen in these verses? Wind, yes. What was the other? Fire. Wind and fire. Hebrews 1 calls angels ministers of wind and ministers of fire. Jesus said, «You’re going to see more than that, Nathanael. You will see greater things,» including angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Now, I have zero interest in stirring up affection or affinity for the angelic realm. They exist; they cooperate with us, and it’s foolish to ignore them. Excuse me; it’s foolish to worship them. It’s equally foolish to ignore them. They are not to be worshiped. I don’t serve them, but they help facilitate God’s assignments in our lives. Ignoring them is not smart.
So, here this comment is made, and in Acts 2, there is the sound of wind and fire that comes into the room. Look at the next verse, verse 6. When the sound occurred, the multitude came together. They were confused because everybody heard them speak in his own language. In verse 7, they were all amazed and marveled. In verse 12, they were all amazed and perplexed. In verse 13, others were mocking. So, we have a perfectly described revival right here: they were amazed, they marveled, they were perplexed, and they mocked. If you think you can have an authentic move of God without those things, you are horribly mistaken.
Years ago, I bought these little geodes and these little rocks. They are ugly on the outside; inside, there are these beautiful purple crystals. Oh, what a beautiful thing! I bought some for my kids way back when and said, «This is revival. It looks ugly on the outside; it’s gorgeous on the inside.» That really is the way a move of God is. It has to be experienced.
You find Michal, the daughter of Saul and the wife of David, up in her palace, mocking David as he danced before the Lord because worship at a distance always looks weird. She bore no children to the day of her death. Barrenness took over where there was the rejection of sacrificial giving unto the Lord in thanksgiving and praise. We have this same kind of situation here.
We see in verse 6 that when the sound occurred, the multitude came together. I’ve heard throughout my life—I don’t know if it was taught or if it was just assumed—but it seemed to me that it was taught that thousands of people all over Jerusalem laid down their tools or toys with their kids, and all came because this sound occurred. The sound was people praying in tongues. That doesn’t make any sense. This is an international city. Jerusalem is an international city. To have half a dozen people speak Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, and all these different languages is not going to draw a crowd of thousands. They are not going to leave the workplace; they’re not going to leave their homes to hear a sound that is common. It wouldn’t happen in Reading—not quite the international center of the universe yet, but it’s coming; it’s not quite there yet. It wouldn’t happen here, and yet it happened there. Why?
I would like to suggest that there was a sound that was otherworldly. There were 120 people in this room, and it says they were in one accord. You can have a band or an orchestra in perfect harmony with each other but be completely out of tune. If they start by tuning to each other and they’re wrong with a note that is off, they will sound together, but they’re not right. There are a lot of ministry movements that are united, but they’re not right. They’re not right because they’re not tuned to the heart of God. There’s one tuning fork; it’s not mine, it’s not yours—it’s His. It is His heartbeat. There’s one note, and we all adjust to that.
I’m not opposed to the effort to be united. I’m alright with that, but I would rather see the people of God put forth effort to be in tune. When I find that I’m in tune with Him, I find that I’m in tune with everybody else who is in tune with Him. The more I yield to what He’s saying, the more I yield to what He’s doing—the more I become the instrument in His hand, simply to represent Him well. Suddenly, I find my heart is drawn to people who have those same values and breakthroughs. It becomes a unity created by the Holy Spirit Himself.
Here we have 120 people who laid down their issues, and you know they had issues. Just days earlier, they argued as to who was the greatest. There was Peter, who said, «I’ll never deny you; all these people will, but I won’t.» There’s all this stuff going on in this room. They get together for ten days; I think it took them ten days of prayer to work things out. Finally, on the day of Pentecost, the outpouring of the Spirit happened, and they were in perfect harmony.
What’s the point? You’ve got 120 people that are perfectly yielded to God, and it creates a sound. It creates a sound just like a skilled musician can breathe on the reed of a saxophone and create a unique, distinct sound. We have somebody else with horns, the trumpets, and everybody’s breathing over that instrument that is in perfect tune. Suddenly, there’s this sound created that blanketed a city called Jerusalem, changing the consciousness, awareness, and mindset of an entire city.
You have people who crucified Jesus 50 days earlier now asking, «What must I do to be saved?» It wasn’t just a stirring sermon by Peter. I’m sure it was powerful; I don’t want to downplay that, but I’m just saying people left everything they had to follow a sound. Imagine standing there—3,000 got saved, so who knows how many were there? They all left whatever they were doing, finding themselves standing, staring, mocking, perplexed, and wondering, asking questions at 120 people under the influence.
A sound was created that changed the atmosphere of an entire city, and I’d like to suggest that every time you and I say yes to the Holy Spirit to do whatever it is He wants to do, we die to ourselves and live to Christ. Every time we do that, a sound is released into a city; something happens in the awareness, if you will, of a city. The consciousness, mindset, and value system of an entire city begin to change as people start to think otherworldly. Why? Because there’s something in the air—a sound has been created that changed everything.
When the sound occurred, one of the words used in Acts 2 for sound is actually the word «roar.» So, if you can imagine, here are 120 people who don’t know what they’re doing. They’ve been together for ten days, praying. They’ve been told they’ll know it when it shows up; they don’t know what it’s going to be. They have no idea. I’m sure they are honoring the Lord, praying together, and giving thanks, and all of a sudden, there’s this sound that comes through the room. It changes the atmosphere of an entire city.
120 people who were inebriated got more done in the following moments than they ever could have through their skilled gifting. I believe in skilled gifting; I believe in skilled preaching of the Word. I believe in all of that, but in this one moment, this one church service, we can confidently say the Holy Spirit was completely in charge because nobody knew enough to mess it up. They were all rookies, not yet steeped in any traditions. This was like their first time out. All they know is they’re speaking languages they don’t understand. It doesn’t make any sense to them; they feel strangely edified and encouraged. They’re a little bit tipsy and stumble out onto the streets, trying to figure out what’s going on. Suddenly, they look out, and there are thousands upon thousands there.
They’re trying to figure out why you’re here. It’s because a sound was created. You see, a yes in private is broadcast in public. A yes in quiet—there’s something that happens to people who simply yield. Maybe in here, we have our worship teams lead, and we stand, and we win, and we declare, «Don’t you tell me He can’t do it!» We stand and declare that even though we don’t see Him working, He is working. We make these decrees; it’s incredible.
Look at this whole story, this whole storyline: for hundreds and hundreds of years, there has been momentum. Prophets have prophesied of a coming day. They’ve been preparing—there’s Moses, who makes the cry, «I would that all God’s people were prophets.» There’s all this stuff mounting—the anointing on the prophets, the kings, the judges—preparing for a day when the people of God will carry presence and power in a way that is beyond everyone’s comprehension. It’s not just the specialists; now it’s everybody.
This has been building for hundreds of years, and we come to this point where the devil thinks he wins because he crucified the Christ. Three days later, He raises from the dead, and much to the enemy’s surprise, the anointing that was on the One—the same anointing—is now upon millions. The biggest nightmare in all of history happened in that moment. So, this is building for hundreds of years. We’ve got one service where we know the Holy Spirit was in full charge, and look at what it says in verse 11: «We hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.» You understand they were all speaking languages they didn’t know, but people in the crowd heard them. They said, «They’re speaking the mighty deeds of God.»
Think with me: that which has been building for hundreds and hundreds of years has its first intelligent expression revealing the wondrous works of God. Of all the things that could have happened in that moment, of all the things that preceded the conversion of three thousand people, I would like to suggest to you that as powerful as Peter’s preaching was in helping bring a moment of decision for that crowd, it was put against the backdrop of a revelation—a corporate revelation over thousands of people of the wondrous works of God. They made a decision to follow Jesus because it was in the context of a revelation of the wondrous works of God.