Acts chapter two is one of the most exciting chapters in the Bible. Think about it from the apostles’ perspective. Seven weeks earlier, their hopes and dreams of the redemption of Israel had been utterly crushed. Jesus had been brutally slaughtered by the combined forces of the secular and religious authorities. Peter, and perhaps the others, had thought he was the Messiah, but how could the Messiah be so wholly defeated?

Three days later, they were plunged into absolute confusion. Early that...