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.”
So you can see that God is a Holy God and we are flawed, sinful people. It is the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross that washes us clean from all sins. John wrote, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” We are cleansed by the work of Jesus on the cross, not by anything we do. We cannot make ourselves righteous. Paul said, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”
Going back to the Book of Joel, the prophet said, “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” Joel declared that ordinary people would do extraordinary things. Then on the day of Pentecost, we see that the disciples, “ were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” Again, ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
In Mark chapter 1 we read, “And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” John preached that everyone needs to repent to ask for forgiveness for their sins. In a few verses on Mark 1:14 & 15 we read, “ After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Jesus preached about repentance. In the very first chapter of Mark, both John and Jesus told the ordinary person that they had to repent.
In 1904, there was a revival in Wales, and the central figure Oral Roberts. In less than a year, the Lord moved in Wales, and the rest of the UK, capturing hundreds of thousands of people’s souls for God’s Kingdom. Evan was deeply devoted to the Word and never left home without carrying his bible with Him. When he grew up and started working in the coal mines, at every spare moment available, he would be found seated on a piece of coal, absorbed in the Word of God. Evan also had a deep prayer life. He would be awakened by the Lord at 1 am and be in prayer for 4 hours till the break of dawn, as he sought the Lord’s face for revival to break out in Wales. It wasn’t long before God spoke to Evan about bearing the burden of the imminent revival in Wales in prayer. The Holy Spirit came down because Oral Robert was serious about prayer and the Word of God.
In 1948, there was a Revival in the Scottish Outer Hebrides. The churches were empty, there were no youth at church. Two old women Peggy & Christine Smith, two sisters, were so infirm that they couldn’t come to church so they prayed at home. A young deacon at a local church looked down at his hands and cried out to God. Then lifting his hands toward heaven he cried: “Oh God, are my hands clean? Is my heart pure?” He got no further but fell prostrate to the floor. At that moment, the Holy Spirit came down and Revival came to the Scottish Islands. Churches filled up and the youth left the nightclubs to seek God.
Peter, who denied Jesus when he should have stood up and supported Jesus, became the man who brought three thousand people to a saving faith in Christ. Peter, who bumbled his way in life, went to a Roman Centurion, Cornelius, and brought his whole family to a saving faith in Christ. Peter, who denied Jesus, went to the temple and healed a beggar. Today, if you are a Christian, an ordinary person, an ordinary flawed feeble person. You can be like Peter. You have the Holy Spirit within you, the Holy Spirit has rested on you. God can use you. If you repent of your sins and pray, then God can use you. Do you want to see the Holy Spirit explode onto the scene in your locality? Then get on your knees in prayer, repent, and ask God to intervene in your lives and the lives of those around you, your friends, family, and neighbours.
