Corby Glen 08-06-2025
Introduction
The fifty days between Passover and Pentecost following Jesus’ Crucifixion must have been incredibly strange time for the 11 remaining apostles (Judas having committed suicide) and the other disciples who had not deserted Jesus.
The Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem had expected Jesus to start an uprising to throw the hated Romans out – along the lines of Judas Maccabeus – who in 167 BC had thrown the Seleucid Kings out of Israel and made Israel an independent Kingdom under the Hasmoneans. In 63 BC Pompey the famous Roman General was asked to support one of two claimants to the Jewish throne - Aristobulus against his brother Hyrcanus. Instead Pompey decided to annex Israel into the Roman Empire and this was the status quo in Jesus' era.
But Jesus had not led an uprising against the Romans.
What shocked the apostles and other disciples profoundly was to see Jesus falsely accused and then crucified.
And so far as the rulers in Jerusalem were concerned THAT SHOULD have been the end of this annoying little Galilean sect
But that wasn’t the end of the story.
Jesus had risen from the dead three days after his Crucifixion.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the only event that the early Church gave for its phenomenal success and growth.
Following His Resurrection, Jesus spent 40 Days with various of his Disciples before he ascended to the Father
We don’t know exactly how many people saw the risen Christ before his Ascension.
However St Paul tells us that the resurrected Jesus was seen by at least 500 brothers and sisters (in 1 Cor 15.6) plus the 11 apostles, Cleopas and his companion on the Road to Emmaus (Lk 24.13-35) and James (the brother of Jesus).
That makes at least 514 – and that doesn’t include the women such as Mary Magdalene
During those 40 days from Jesus’ Resurrection to his Ascension, Jesus gave his Church what is known as the “Great Commission” just before he left this earth.
He told them
“ Go and make disciples of all nations baptising them in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you till the end of the age” (Mt. 28:19 and 20)
But before they were to start evangelising, Jesus gave a very clear but bizarre instruction to the disciples.
In Acts 1. verse 4 we read that Jesus
…gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem,
So I have three questions:
1. The first question is this.
Why were the disciples told to WAIT, rather than to start evangelising right away
i) One reason, I think was that the disciples’ minds were probably still scrambled by the events that had happened.
We see this confusion in Cleopas and his companion – possibly his wife Mary (who is named as one of the three Mary’s at the Cross in Jn 19. 25) - on the Road to Emmaus
It would have been hard for them to think straight as they were still grieving at Jesus' death
ii) But the second more important reason was that they needed to wait for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus told them to stay in Jerusalem (before they were to start fulfilling the Great Commission), he gives them his reason
“But you shall receive Power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnessses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1 v.8)
This was the only way the disciples would be able to fulfil the Great Commission.
Bringing people to Christ is a spiritual battle.
It is not simply an intellectual discussion – as you might have if you were discussing politics.
The spiritual battle for people’s hearts can only be won, on the spiritual battlefield – and we need the power of the Holy Spirit to succeed.
It was amazing how much time Jesus’ disciples spent in prayer in Acts 1 and 2.
And the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 occurred during one of these prayer meetings
It must have been very daunting for the disciples, when they first heard the Great Commission - to preach the Gospel to all nations.
But what they also had to learn was that when Jesus asks us to do something – He provides us with the means to do it.
2. My second question is this
WHY did God PICK the feast of Pentecost for the outpouring of His Spirit and the launch of the Christian mission to the world?
Why did Jesus make such a fuss about the timing?
There are a number of reasons but I believe the prime reason is that the actual meaning of the Pentecost will tell us what is going on.
Background
Let me go a little into the background.
THE THREE MAJOR JEWISH FESTIVALS
The Jews had three major festivals in their calendar year, which all male Jews were expected to attend in Jerusalem.
1. Passover
The first major festival in the year was called Passover and it occurred in the Spring.
During that festival, the Jews recalled how God had - miraculously delivered them - from slavery in Egypt - through the leadership of Moses.
And so it was highly appropriate that the Crucifixion occurred at Passover.
Why
Because Jesus miraculously delivered all mankind from the slavery of Satan and sin by His death on the Cross. He died in our place for our sins.
We are justified, which is a legal term. I like to understand this term as God now sees us “Just as if we had not sinned.”
But there are conditions.
i) we need to confess our sins regularly and work to stop committing them,
ii) we need to allow the Holy Spirit to grow in us and
iii) we need to follow God’s leading in our lives
It is Jesus’ death on the Cross that enables us to access the Christian Promised Land which is heaven.
2. Pentecost
The second major Festival was Pentecost, also held in the Spring, occurred 50 days after Passover.
Pentecost was also known as the Feast of Weeks.
It was a harvest festival - at the beginning of the wheat harvest.
It was at that Festival - that the first fruits of the wheat harvest were presented to God.
And so it was appropriate for God to release the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, as recorded in Acts 2.
For by doing so, God was saying - that this will be the beginning of a spiritual harvest - a harvest which is still going on today almost 2000 years later.
The spiritual harvest is the building of Christ’s church here on earth.
And we are all called to be harvesters in that harvest regardless of where we live or what we do for a living.
3. And the final major Jewish Festival was the Feast of Tabernacles (known also as Sukkot) where the Jews lived in temporary tents (known as Tabernacles). This was held in the autumn
This festival reminded the Jews that God looked after them in the Wilderness where they had to wander for 40 years before they reached the Promised Land
And I think for the Christian today, the Feast of Tabernacles reminds us that we still haven’t yet reached the Promised Land.
We are still waiting to get there.
It is a place Jesus referred to (when he spoke to the thief on the Cross in Lk 23,43) as Paradise.
Jesus told his disciples before his Crucifixion that He has gone to prepare a place for us to be with Him.
Jesus said in John 14.2
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Story: And interestingly at Pentecost in Acts 2 we see a reversal of what happened at the Tower of Babel that we read about in our first reading in Genesis 9.1-11
God had instructed Noah and his sons (we can read this in Genesis 8 and 9) to fill the whole earth.
However the people decided to disobey God’s command and instead to settle only in the Shinar valley - which is known later as Babylonia or Lower Mesopotamia. And which today is a region in southern Iraq .
In their arrogance, they decided to build a Tower in Babel so “they could enter heaven and have power just like God” (from the article “What was so bad about the Tower of Babel” www.relevantbibleteaching.com
So as a result of their disobedience God confused the single language that they had so that they no longer could communicate with each other.
In Acts 2 we see this being reversed.
The disciples obeyed Jesus’ command to wait in Jerusalem
And their obedience was blessed by the Power of God coming down on the disciples at Pentecost so what they were saying could be understood by everyone there
St Luke in Acts 2 describes the scene as follows
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
6 When they heard this sound (of a mighty rushing Wind, saw tongues of fire and the believers speaking in tongues), a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.
7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?
8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?
9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
The curse of Babel was reversed and the Good News of the Gospel was released to all people both Jews and Gentile
It was made available to all those who would listen.
Conclusion
So you might ask, what does Pentecost have to do with us today.
We in the Church are called to work for God in the spiritual harvest here in Corby Glen.
And as a result we have responsibilities for enabling the success of the spiritual harvest.
1. Our first responsibility is to hear what God is saying to us and obey him.
The disciples were told to wait in Acts 1 – and that is what they did.
This enabled God to release his power on them.
And it is interesting to note that on the day of Pentecost, 3,000 people were converted.
How did the disciples know the will of God – they spent a lot of time in prayer.
2. Our second responsibility is to ask for power to preach the Gospel.
We need to ask for strength and boldness to proclaim Christ – at the right time.
Perhaps we should pray that God will make us bold evangelists
3. Our third responsibility is to know our Scripture well.
Peter knew his Scriptures well and so could explain to those present that this was the fulfilment of a Prophecy -from the book of Joel.
We read in Joel 2. 28 that God says
I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
If we are going to preach the Gospel successfully, we need to be earthed in Scripture.
That is something we can all work on.
No one knows the Scripture so well that they don’t need to immerse themselves daily in the Old and New Testament.
