Pentecost Sunday
A DAY OF PRAYER PRAISE AND PROCLAMATION
Scripture texts: Acts 2:1-21 I Cor 12:3-13 John 7: 37-39
Probably most of you realize that in our church calendar year this is what is known as PENTECOST Sunday.
And of course the prefix “pente” has something to do with the number “5” as in our word “pentagon” (something with five sides.) The day of Pentecost in the Jewish calendar represents 50 days after the Feast of Unleavened Bread or Passover. It was celebrated 7 weeks after the first day of Passover, so 7 weeks of 7 days = 49 + the actual day of Passover makes it the 50th day. Sometimes it was also called the Feast of Weeks.
Whenever the Bible mentions “7” it has this idea of completion….(God’s creation in 7 days, the man healed of a disease after dipping 7 times into the Jordan, 7 good years and 7 years of famine, etc.) The Talmud, or Jewish Holy book, calls it “the Conclusion.” When I saw this aspect, I became even more intrigued.
In Exodus 23:14-16 God told Moses to celebrate three annual feasts. Passover, then a Festival of Firstfruits…..
Isn’t this interesting….. since the Bible tells us that Christ is the Firstfruit of the dead. (I Cor 15:20-22) And in James 1:18 it says that He chose to give US birth through the word of truth so that WE might be a kind of firstfruits.
We know that Passover was an early sign that Christ would be the REAL lamb whose blood was spread on a crossbeam , and now the celebration of Firstfruits was pointing to His resurrection from the dead and His making a way so that we also could rise.
Then I read in my book on Jewish traditions that another name for this same celebration was the Feast of Harvest when they traditionally brought some of their first grain harvest or some flour or bread to give to the High Priest.
Look at the New Testament parallel now!
Jesus, the True Bread of Heaven, who was broken for us, had just ascended to heaven to present Himself to the Father and become our Great High Priest.
This day…. now known as Pentecost, was associated with the same time in the Jewish calendar year that Moses was given the ten commandments on Mt Sinai.
The plan had now completely unfolded …. look….
On Mount Sinai God gave the Law….then on Mount Calvary Christ paid the penalty and fulfilled the Law……and on the Mount of Olives He ascended and FREED us from the law of sin and death!
The Spirit now comes down to usher in the age of Grace.
We see “the conclusion” of God’s hidden plan on the day of Pentecost!!!
Remember that Jesus told his disciples and followers right before he ascended that they were to wait in Jerusalem and He would send the Comforter to them. So they were all there, “in one accord” agreeing together in prayer, and there came a sound from heaven like the blowing of a violent wind. Then they saw what looked like “tongues of fire” (some versions use the term “cloven” and we know that means “split” like a hoof or in the same way we draw flames with separate peaks at the top,) and this flame shape seemed to come to rest on everyone’s tongue.
At that point they began to speak in other tongues, or languages they had not learned, but spoke by the Spirit’s enabling. They were experiencing a spiritual “high”or ecstasy and quite naturally, a crowd gathered.
The people were “bewildered amazed and perplexed.” They asked each other, “What does this mean?
This is still pretty much what happens today if anyone speaks in tongues in the modern day church. People are divided in their opinions as to the origin, or necessity or validity of this manifestation of the spirit.
Tongues ARE divisive, but as David Duplesis said, “That’s why the Lord created different languages to begin with!” Remember back in Genesis chapter 12 when the people decided to get together and build a tower that would reach to heaven? And God said if the people unite like this they can do anything they imagine! So he confused their language at that time and the Tower of Babel could not be built because of it. They were planning to build THEMSELVES a name, and God will have no other name exalted but His own. Man cannot build a tower that will reach God, but God Himself came down as the bridge to reach man.
So the people on the day of Pentecost were divided.
Those who understood what was being said in their own language by men who ordinarily would not have known it, said, “They are praising God.”
But those who did not understand and were only looking at the outward actions of ecstasy, said, “They are drunk.”
You see, they really were “under the influence” and were exceeding the bounds of rationality.
Then Peter (yes, this same timid disciple who a little more than 50 days ago had denied he even knew the Lord) spoke up to explain,
“They are not drunk….it’s only nine o’clock in the morning.”(And in their culture they did not even eat anything until later than that.) “This is that spoken of by the prophet Joel.” (Joel 2:28 – 32 is quoted here in Acts)
Peter understood this as a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. The spirit was being poured out not just upon selected prophets of God, but on everyone who believed !
In John 20, Jesus himself, in his last appearance to them on earth, had breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” Just as God breathed upon the dust of the earth in the first creation of man, now they were being re-breathed, or re-born by the Spirit of God to become a new creation.
The word for spirit or breath in that scripture is translated “pneuma” from which we derive our word pneumonia. This was the gentle breeze of birth. Now on the day of Pentecost it was a “rushing mighty wind” and the word used is not “pneuma,” but dunomas from which we derive our word dynamite!
Once Jesus had ascended, he sent the “dynamite” of his power to enable the small band of followers to “turn the world upside down” with their witness.
The fact that he took control of their tongue is very significant. James compares the tongue to a ship’s rudder and to the bridle in a horse’s mouth. The spirit must control the part of the body used to witness…..to tell the story of Jesus and His love. When the Spirit comes, He testifies of Christ, He convicts of sin, and He leads you into the truth of God’s word.
The Holy Spirit could be everywhere…..unlimited by time or space…inhabiting and empowering believers.
You have all heard the analogy of the Persons of the Trinity being compared to God the Father as like “WATER” the very essence of God, and Jesus like “ICE” as the substance of water that has a definite dimension, and then the Holy Spirit as being like “STEAM’ and steam is the POWER that runs things.
Lets look again at what the text from Corinthians says…..(I Cor 12: 4-6) There are different gifts, same SPIRIT, different service…same LORD….different work….same GOD. See the persons of the Trinity here?
Not only are we given the PRESENCE of the Holy Spirit and the POWER of the Holy Spirit, but also the POTENTIAL of the Holy Spirit.
Paul lists 9 gifts of the spirit which are distributed “for the common good” and just like parts of the body they work together in the body of believers equipping them for service until Christ returns. The Word of Wisdom (wise & godly counsel) The Word of Knowledge (knowing what you have not studied) the Gift of Faith (to believe the impossible is possible) The Gift of Healing (for yourself or for others) The Gift of Miracles (supernatural God-incidences)The Gift of Prophecy (telling future events or speaking a message from God) The Discerning of Spirits (able to tell when evil spirits are present and causing problems)Speaking in Tongues (either ecstasy praise and prayer or sometimes real languages you have not learned) Interpretation of Tongues (being able to give a message in “English” or the common language interpreting what someone has spoken in tongues in a public service of worship)
In Paul’s churches, speaking in tongues was a common experience and throughout history in great revival times and in the more recent charismatic movement this gift has had parallels.
It is often coveted as sort of supreme proof of a Divine relationship even though it does not edify un-believers, tends to disorder, and can easily be counterfeited.
We are warned not to forbid it, but to control it.
In that great and familiar chapter 13 of Corinthians it says “prophecies shall fail, tongues shall cease, and knowledge shall vanish” when Jesus returns. So the most “showy” gifts are for a limited time only…(in the “nasty now and now.”)
In heaven none of these gifts will be necessary, since God will be fully revealed to everyone.
What will remain is FAITH, HOPE, and LOVE.
So when we get together as Christians to witness to a lost world, we need to talk clearly about basic things everyone understands like…. NEED, FAILURE, and SIN…..and the CURE for that which is SALVATION that gives us FREEDOM and HOPE.
These things are common to all people in every nation.
So, with the Spirits’ help, we can all speak LOVE in any language.
Katherine Marshall wrote a book about the Holy Spirit called, “Something More”. She says:
“That ‘something more’ is free…..flexible….creative…and personal. It comes upon us when we feel the reality and power of the unseen in our lives.
When the Spirit breaks through this world of flesh in a remarkable and wonderful way.
Just like on that first Day of Pentecost when into a degenerate Roman world, to men without much hope left, there came a sound from heaven…..and a life-renewing spirit invaded their world….and they were forever changed.”
When Peter finished preaching that day, the crowd asked, “What must we do?”
He said, “repent, and be baptized”…. and three thousand people were saved.
Why?
Because they PRAYED and PRAISED and PROCLAIMED Jesus as the Messiah, the risen Lord and Savior.
That’s the same thing we must do and say.
We must tell a lost world that Jesus came to them,…. to die for them,…. to pay their penalty and give them His righteousness,…… and he rose for them, and now prays and intercedes for them. He is preparing a place for them ….and will come again to receive them unto Himself.
That’s the good news of the gospel.
I call that speaking in the Spirit’s best language. .
Amen
