In Acts 2:1-2 we read: And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
There was a noise, a sound. Luke says: 1) it came suddenly; 2) it was from heaven; 3) it was like the noise of a violent, rushing wind – not necessarily that a wind actually blew; and, 4) it filled the whole house where they were. I have yet to experience a tornado hit firsthand, but I have read accounts and been told that it is very similar to the above description. In the minutes and moments before the touch-down from the sky, it is often very still and quiet. Then suddenly there is a roaring sound like a freight train approaching (like violent hurricane winds), with sound waves so powerful that the whole building begins to shake as when there is a close clap of thunder. Finally, and also suddenly, the tornado hits with incredible power; taking a path of destruction that cannot be manipulated by man.
We know from the following verses in Acts 2 that the noise from heaven was the sudden arrival of the Holy Spirit to the apostles in fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to them in Chapter 1:4-8. And as given in verse 8, the Spirit’s arrival was on display in the power of the apostles to witness of Christ to the throng of thousands who were drawn to them by the violent sound, and in the sign of the apostles’ sudden ability to speak the home languages of the various people groups who had gathered around them. The climax of the Spirit’s powerful work was the salvation of about 3000 souls that day following the preaching of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Although the subsequent comings of the Holy Spirit upon persons in the book of Acts and the epistles do not list all of the features of Acts 2, we know that He is the agent of the miracle of spiritual birth of the lost (Titus 3:5-6) just as in Acts 2, and as Jesus explained to Nicodemus in John 3:3-8. And because the Holy Spirit is from heaven, His work is like the path of a tornado and the account of Acts 2 in that He is not subject to human manipulation. He can appear suddenly and acts according to the will of God, not the will of man. As Jesus told Nicodemus (John 3:8) – The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.