The Day of Pentecost

A message from Acts 2:1-21 by Phil Rogers 16/09/07

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What was the significance of the day of Pentecost the second of the threee great feasts? “The climate in Israel allows for over-wintering of grain and an early harvest between March and June. Passover marked the beginning of the harvest. Barley is the first grain to ripen and at Passover a sheaf of freshly cut barley was waved before the Lord in thanks for his provision. For seven weeks each of the various grains were harvested. The last grain to ripen was wheat and at the end of the harvest two loaves of bread were baked from wheat flour and offered to the Lord in the harvest festival called The Feast of First-fruits or Feast of Weeks (Shavuot). A 'week of weeks' were counted from Passover, seven lots of seven days = forty-nine days concluding on the fiftieth day (Gk. Pentecost) with the great joyful celebration of Shavuot.”
Christ’s death at Passover was the begining of the harvest - he was the barley sheaf lifted high and waved before the Lord. But at Pentecost the Lord of the Harvest brought in the first-fruits of all who would come to Christ - 3000 believed in him that day. Two loaves were waved, one for the high priest and one for the rest of the priests. Jesus our great high priest saw the results of his labour and was satisfied and we his priests are satisfied with the full salvation Christ has brought to us.

Pentecost also celebrated God giving Moses the Law “Fifty days after Israel fled from Egypt following the Passover night, God gave the law at Sinai. On this day the Israelite slaves became a nation committed to serving God by keeping his Torah.”God gave the Law as a ‘sign-post’ to lead us to Christ. The law is perfect, but we cannot keep it. It condemns us to death, shows us our sin and our need of a Saviour. The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus sets us free from this Law of sin and death, trying to keep God’s laws. God’s intention had always been to have a people forgiven and cleansed in whom he could pour out his Holy Spirit, who would have the law in their hearts and the power of the Spirit to live in God’s ways. With the giving of the Spirit, this new people came into being, a people committed to living life in the Spirit accord -ing to the Lord's Word. The life-giving words of Jesus did not abolish the Torah, but raised it to a new level. Acts 2 literally begins with the words “Now in the fulfilling of the day of Pentecost”. What was impossible to keep by human effort, could now be fulfilled by those empowered by the Holy Spirit. God gave the Jews Pentecost in anticipation of this day when he would pour out the gift of his Holy Spirit and inaugurate a new age of grace, where his people would no longer be under the law but, by grace, would live in the power of his Spirit. This was the new era that burst upon these first disciples.

Life, for these first disciples over these past couple of years, had been pretty much a roller coaster. From the frenetic days of being with Jesus, constantly besieged by huge crowds, seeing Jesus healing the sick and driving out demons until late in the day, to the excitement of going out themselves and telling the good news of the Kingdom and healing the sick and driving out demons, to the horror of the events of Passover when they watched their Master taken and hung on a cross; the numbness and despair of those few days after he was sealed in the tomb and then the incredulity and elation on seeing that he had truly risen from the dead. Then they spent those amazing forty days with the Lord who would just suddenly appear in the middle of them, absorbing his every word. “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth, so go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptising them.. but first wait in Jerusalem until you receive power from on high.. and when the promised Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will be my witnesses from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria to the furthest parts of the earth…”

Then, as they crowded round him on the top of Olivet, Jesus began to float up into the sky in the middle of them right in front of their eyes, which were almost popping out of their sockets. Their dearest Friend and Master was enveloped in a cloud and they would never see him in the flesh on this earth again. After this extraordinary experience they spent every day in almost constant prayer.

Nine whole days passed, then it was Pentecost, they were all met together again praying, when they heard a wind blowing. They immediately remembered that first Sunday when Jesus appeared to them and blew on them, “Receive the Spirit”. This was it! Jesus was blowing on them from heaven; the sound of a mighty wind. The promised Holy Spirit, for whom they had been waiting and preparing their hearts through prayer for ten days, was here! “If any one is thirsty, let him come to me and let him drink he who believes in me” Jesus had said before the Spirit had been given. Today the Spirit was being given and now they all began to drink to the full.Jesus had promised “you will be baptised with the Spirit not many days from now” and what they had been eagerly anticipating was here, although they had no idea quite what to expect. Flames of fire began to sweep through the room and, dividing up, rested on each of their heads. They were all filled with the Spirit and filled with joy and with glory and with praise! They began to speak out the mighty deeds of God in languages they had never learned. Words poured out of their mouths they didn't understand. They were like drunks, drunk not with wine or alcoholic spirits, but with the Spirit of God. Elation, loss of inhibition, intoxication - no party had ever been like this! This was unutterable joy, full of glory.

But the party soon began to attract curious passers by whom the Lord wanted to join in his party too. Before they quite knew what was happening, a great crowd had gathered, intrigued by these Galilleans all praising God in languages they recognised. Then Peter found himself standing in front of them preaching a gospel message. (Read v2 14-21)

God had long before to planned to pour out his Spirit on his people. ‘Whoever calls on his name will be saved’ and become eligible to be filled with the Spirit. A new people, the Lord’s Church, was about to come into being. Not a baby church, but fully-grown just as Adam had been created fully-grown. This was God's new creation, Christ's body, his bride, the passion of his heart and so the Lord breathed from heaven upon them and made them a people full of God.