At Pentecost there was no fire. The divided tongues like fire came down to each one of the disciples and they spoke different languages so that all the people there could understand what they said without translators. In the OT times, God appointed his prophets by touching their mouths and putting his word into their mouths so that they might declare it to his people. Therefore, a prophet was the spokesman of God, and is usually called ""the mouth of the Lord."" Jesus, called the Word as well as God, came into this world as the great prophet for the ministry of the word. He taught the kingdom of God to his people and trained his disciples to be prophets after his departure. The risen Christ appointed his disciples to be prophets, giving them the ministerial task of the word and asking the Father to seal them as his prophets. Thus, the baptism of the Holy Spirit was the installation ceremony for the disciples to be the new covenant prophets, as it was for the prophets of OT times. The disciples were to go out to the ends of the earth to proclaim his word. Those baptized by water are simultaneously baptized by the Holy Spirit and are given the office of the new covenant prophet. ""I am pleased to commend Seock-Tae Sohn's pioneering work on the baptism of the Spirit in the book of Acts. His fresh approach opens up new and enlightening perspectives on the important questions of the Spirit's work in our lives today."" --Tremper Longman III, Westmont College ""Sohn seeks to shed new light on the Lukan description of baptism of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:3. His new approach, from the call narratives of Old Testament prophets, uncovers a layer of its meaning that has not hitherto been recognized. An interesting attempt "" --Seyoon Kim, Fuller Theological Seminary ""Dr. Seock-Tae Sohn is one of Korea's greatest scholars in the area of biblical studies. I am sure that this work will be a wonderful challenge to all who read it. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit has been ignored for far too long in our churches, and Dr. Sohn's book is a needed help in this area."" --Samuel Lamerson, Knox Theological Seminary Seock-Tae Sohn studied at Westminster Theological Seminary and New York University. He is President Emeritus at Reformed Graduate University in Seoul, Korea and author of The Divine Election of Israel and YHWH, the Husband of Israel.
