Pentecost: Act 2
“And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord.”
--Leviticus 23:15-16
Now when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
--Acts 2:1-4
Introduction
After Jesus rose from the dead, he told his disciples to “stay in the city [of Jerusalem] until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49b NIV) Whatever this “power” is, it is something that Jesus was going to send as promised by the Father (verse 49a).
This should have been nothing new to the disciples, for Jesus had told them just a few days before that he would “pray the Father, and he will give you another Helper, that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive …” (John 14:16-17)
A little later that same evening, Jesus said, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7)
The coming of this Helper (or Comforter – KJV) would prove to be a mighty event in the history of the God’s people, and some 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, this power did come, and it came in a dramatic and public way. In Acts 2, we get the strong impression that God had long before appointed the date for the coming of the Holy Spirit just as he had appointed the dates for the death and resurrection of Christ.
Study Questions
1. Leviticus 23:15-16. Note that this is the only Holy Day that appears not to have a specific day of a specific month assigned to it. How were the Israelites to determine the date of this Holy Day?
2. What is this day called in the New Testament? (Acts 2:1). The word “Pentecost” is a transliteration of the Greek “pentekoste”, which means “count fifty”. It can be seen from this that the disciples of Jesus were assembled together and observing this day, and it was this day that God chose to send the Holy Spirit to reside in them. (Note that Jesus made a distinction between the Holy Spirit being “with” you and being “in” you in John 14:17).
Besides being known as Pentecost, the day is also variously referred to as “The Feast of Harvest” (Exodus 23:16), “The Feast of Weeks” (Deuteronomy 16:9-10), and “The Day of Firstfruits” (Numbers 28:26). It is important to keep in mind that in ancient times this was a harvest festival celebrating the early grain. Those of us who have the Holy Spirit today are called a “kind of firstfruits” (James 1:18), and that we have “the firsfruits of the Spirit” (Romans 8:23).
3. If we count fifty days from the Sabbath that takes place during the Days of Unleavened Bread (which took place near the middle of the first month of the year), we find that Pentecost is to take place early in the third month of the year. Historically, what important event happened around that time? (Exodus 19 – 20). The Ten Commandments were written in stone at about that time of year. While there is no sure proof of this, many Rabbis teach that the Ten Commandments were given on this day. Regardless of the accuracy of this tradition, it is scripturally correct to say that the Ten Commandments were given some time around the time of Pentecost.
God wrote the Law of God in tablets of stone, and in Exodus 24 Israel and God ratified a covenant, with Israel solemnly promising that “all the Lord has said we will do and be obedient” (verse 7, and see also verse 3). We know that Israel rarely lived up to the covenant, and there was a reason for this. Many years later, after Joshua had led the nation into the Promised Land, he warned them that “you cannot serve the Lord for he is a holy God.” The protestations of the people notwithstanding, they as a nation in fact did fall short, for God did not write on their hearts, but only on stone.
In the days of Jeremiah, God made a promise regarding a new covenant. Read these verses from Jeremiah 31:31-34:
Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah -- not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." (NKJV)
Psychologists often use the term “internalize”, meaning that a concept or habit becomes such a part of our inner being we don’t even have to think about that habit or concept any more. That’s exactly what God wants to do with his law – he wants to write it on our hearts so that it becomes an unquestioned part of our character. He wants us to become holy, as he is holy (Leviticus 20:7). He wants us to get to the point where the thought of stealing, or lying, or adultery, or hatred, or selfishness, or irreverence does not even enter our minds, for his law is written indelibly on our hearts. The Law of God, once written on stone, must now reflect every aspect of our character, but it cannot do so without the Holy Spirit being in us. And the Holy Spirit, as Jeremiah shows, is an integral part of the New Covenant that God has made with us.
4. In Jesus’ final discussion with his disciples before his crucifixion, he made reference to the coming of the Holy Spirit: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” (John 16:7-8 NKJV) What would this Helper do? See verses 13-14.
5. Read John 14:16-17, 25-26. Notice how the Holy Spirit gives a depth of understanding that the natural mind can’t seem to grasp. Paul wrote of this in I Corinthians 2: " ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:9-15 NKJV)
6. Read Galatians 5:22-25. How will the presence of the Holy Spirit manifest itself in our lives?
In Acts 2, on the very day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came and “filled” (verse 4) the 120 disciples who were gathered together, and they began to speak in other languages (“tongues”) so that “everyone heard them speak in his own language” (verse 6). Peter, in the sermon that followed, reminded them of the words from the prophet Joel, who said that in the last days God would “pour out of My Spirit on all flesh” (verse 17). The fact that this key event in God’s plan transpired on one of the High Holy Days is an indication that these days have a special significance to God, and they should for us too.
We have studied the Holy Days that have already had their latter fulfillment. In the following lessons, we’ll study the Holy Days that point to events yet in the future. The pattern they reveal should give us hope in a world that seems to be losing its sense of sanity.