I love to read of the outpouring of the Spirit in the upper room on the day of Pentecost; however, a second outpouring took place a little over a decade later, in the house of Cornelius, a Roman centurion.
Both outpourings had Joel’s prophecy as their reference point — the first, “all flesh”, the second “whosoever” — and on both occasions those present all spoke in tongues when filled with the Holy Spirit.
I have been blessed to see this kind of outpouring a number of times in Australia and around the globe, and will never forget the awesome presence of God that was seen and felt each and every time.
Inevitably, the reaction of those who had experienced the outpouring on the Day of Pentecost was to question the validity of the second, since it was not a calendar event, and that the languages spoken. were unknown and were not interpreted.
But Peter had experienced the first and witnessed the second, and so was able to compare them and satisfy the apostles at Jerusalem that the latter experience was as genuine as the former.
Bear this in mind when future outpourings occur. They are sure to because “all flesh” — meaning, the entire human race — has not yet experienced this startling spiritual phenomenon. Outpourings of the Spirit of God are preliminaries to large scale conversions, and are followed by widespread miracles of healing and exorcisms.
Every outpouring will likely differ in secondary ways. Whether small or large, the constant will be the glorifying of God and the exaltation of His risen and glorified Son Jesus, and the variables will be the secondary manifestations.
On the Island of Borneo in 1985, the entry of the Holy Spirit into a church in Sabah was preceded by a cyclonic spiritual wind which caused the 300 Christians meeting to fall to their knees as one and mourn repentantly. Eight years of revival followed, spreading down to Sarawak.
The outpouring on the Channel Island of Jersey came without wind but most of the congregation fell to the floor and a young teenage girl stepped up to the pulpit and sang solo in a tongue in the Holy Spirit. I could list more such outpourings of a completely unexpected kind, but each one resulted in lasting changes that took place in those present.
Wonderful times are ahead of the church worldwide, and we’ll all likely to be startled by the ways the Holy Spirit moves in nations and cities in a world that’s wild. Some say, “Expect the Unexpected!” But in my experience even that smacks of the predictable. And God simply isn’t.