After his resurrection, Jesus
appeared to his disciples and instructed them for 40 days, after which he
ascended to heaven. While with them, he said: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait
for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John
baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy
Spirit" (Acts 1:4-5). That first baptism of the Spirit would be the birthday of
the church.
Jesus’ words were fulfilled on the
day of Pentecost. The disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4), and
the apostle Peter preached his first sermon, urging the crowds to repent, to
believe in Jesus Christ as their Messiah and to receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit (verse 38). That very day of Pentecost some 3,000 people were baptized
and became the people of God (verse 41). The church had been born.
The day called Pentecost is named
after the Greek word pentekostos, which means 50th. It is the Mosaic
festival observed by Jews, Shavuoth, sometimes called in the Old Testament the
Feast of Weeks (Exodus 34:22; Leviticus 23:15; Numbers 28:26; Deuteronomy
16:9-12). Other names for the day are the Feast of the Harvest and Day of First
Fruits (Exodus 23:16; Numbers 28:26). Pentecost was to be observed in ancient
Israel on the 50th day after the priest waved a selected sheaf of the first
grain that had been harvested in the spring (Leviticus 23:15-21). That meant
that seven weeks elapsed between the day of the wave sheaf offering and the
beginning of Pentecost, thus the name of the festival—the Feast of Weeks. This festival had come to signify
for Jews the commemoration of the giving of the Law of Moses (the Torah) at
Mount Sinai 50 days after the Exodus Passover (Exodus 20–24).
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Pentecost or Whitsunday
Many Christians celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit in worship
activities on Pentecost, or as it is sometimes called, Whitsunday. This
name is said to arise from the traditional ancient practice of newly
baptized individuals wearing white robes during this time. In the
Christian liturgical year, Pentecost is the seventh Sunday after Easter
and closes the Easter season. |
Perhaps the Holy Spirit first came
specifically on the Jewish day of Shavuoth, or Pentecost, to signal that God had
now moved to write the Law not on tables of stone, but in the hearts of his
people through the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3). The indwelling Spirit, the
Comforter or Advocate Jesus had sent, was replacing the external "schoolmaster"
Law of Moses that had supervised ancient Israel’s worship under the old covenant
(Galatians 3:23-25).
"And I, if I am lifted up," Jesus
said, "I will draw all men to myself" (John 12:32). God had moved once and for
all through his Son to rescue humanity from sin and death. The coming of the
Spirit into human hearts and minds on that Day of Pentecost in the early 30s was
God’s sign that in Christ he was creating a new people—a new Israel—an Israel of
the Spirit (Galatians 6:16) that included Jews and Gentiles alike.
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