Pentecost, The Day The Holy Spirit Exploded Into Humanity

It was the day before Passover, the Day of Preparation, and the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the sinless Man of God, was condemned to death by a kangaroo court. The crowds were given the chance to replace him with Barabbas, a known murderer, but they screamed that Jesus Christ had to die. So Jesus went to the cross and died. He died on the Day of Preparation so that the religious leaders wouldn’t see anyone dead on the cross on the Day of Passover. However, Jesus died on the cross, not to pacify a baying mob, but so that your sins and my sins could be put onto Jesus' shoulders. The blood of Jesus Christ washed our sins away. And today, we are here to worship God who sent His Son to earth because He loved us so much. The Son of God had to die so that we could live.

The word Pentecost comes from the New Testament Greek, “pentekoste” which means the fiftieth day. So, Pentecost was a celebration on the fiftieth day, seven weeks, 49 days, plus one. Counting back from the Day of Pentecost brings us back to the Day of Preparation when Jesus died. Pentecost was the culmination of the Feast of Weeks where the Jews celebrated God’s great provision. The Festival of Weeks was at the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest.

However, Pentecost in the New Testament, God’s great provision, is the arrival of the Holy Spirit for the church. Maybe I should say that the Holy Spirit exploded onto the scene on the day of Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost, 120 disciples of Jesus were gathered together and upon the filling of the Holy Spirit, they heard what seemed like a great wind and spoke in different languages. Also, it seemed as though tongues of fire settled upon the disciples. The significance of the fire can be found in recognizing it as a symbol of the dwelling of the Spirit of God. In the Book of Exodus, we read that “Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire.” Later on, the Apostle Peter wrote, “ If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” The Spirit of glory, the Holy Spirit rested on them. On the Day of Pentecost, what seemed like tongues of fire rested on the disciples.

We will come back to the fire of God later on. But first of all, There is a general rule in Theology that if something is duplicated in the Bible, we can safely assume that God is making a determined effort to get our attention on the issue. This is applicable here with regard to the Holy Spirit. In the Book of Joel, in the Old Testament, we read, “ I will pour out my Spirit on all people.” On all people, ordinary people, not just a few select prophets. Then John the Baptist said, “I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.” When John said he, he meant Jesus Christ. Then Jesus himself said to His disciples, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever”, “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.” “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” So what we see on the day of Pentecost, is the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecy, and the prophetic statements given by John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. God repeated Himself several times and then He went and did it, He sent the Holy Spirit and it rested on the disciples. The disciples were ordinary people who believed that Jesus was Lord. Ordinary frail, flawed people who just over a month previously ran for their own lives and failed Jesus at the one time he needed them to stand up.

The Holy Spirit of Fire. We have seen that the Holy Spirit came down in fire on Mount Sinai. But also in the Book of Exodus, we see that God called Moses from what seemed to be a burning bush. Moses was told to take his sandals off because the ground he was standing on was holy. “When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”And Moses said, “Here I am.” “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Moses had to take off his sandals. Then at Mount Sinai, the people were told that they could not go up the mountain because the Holy God was present. “And the Lord told Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, "Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it.”