And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, even as the Spirit gave to them to speak forth.
— Acts 2:4
“And it shall be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream things in dreams.”
— Acts 2:17
These verses also show us that not only were the believers filled with the Holy Spirit, but they also spoke in different tongues. It had been predicted that their sons and daughters would prophesy, that their young men would see visions, and that their old men would dream things in dreams. Here we see variety both in the use of different tongues and in having different talents. One accord is not possible unless there is variety. When variety is not there, there cannot be any one accord.
Suppose we get a typical American, Chinese, and Korean together. Each one is so different! If they were all in the military, we could have them all marching in step through training. But without some way of getting them to conform outwardly, each one is too different. One person you would trust simply by looking at him, and another you wouldn’t. One is so good in music, and another can’t follow the notes. One brother is willing to be trained, and another feels he has had enough training. Everyone displays so much variety. Yet we can all still be in one accord. How? It is by not loving the world, by being filled in spirit, by being sanctified by the word, and by keeping the Lord’s name, exalting only Christ. Then we will see the manifestation of Christ in this kind of variety. This is the genuine one accord. It is very different from uniformity.
Adapted from Oneness and the One Accord, pages 29-30.
Tomorrow: “Subdued by the Spirit”