Introduction
The day of Pentecost. I don’t know what your traditions have been in the past but I don’t think I’d really heard much about the day of Pentecost until I moved to the Nazarene Church. Now this might be strange considering we moved from a Pentecostal church but then again I was only about 8 at the time. But when I did move to the Nazarene Church it was something which was preached about. We are not that liturgical in the Nazarene tradition, or at least most of us aren’t in that we don’t follow set texts for the year. But there are one of two occasions when we do, Easter, Christmas and Pentecost.
So what is it all about. In Jewish tradition Pentecost was a harvest festival that took place 50 days after Passover, hence the name Pentecost, meaning 50. It was one of those festivals that not only would Jews from around Judea and Galilee come to Jerusalem to celebrate but Jews from all round the Roman world would make the journey. Now most of them wouldn’t come every year but many would come at least once. So you can imagine it, the city was overflowing with people from all round the world, speaking all kinds of languages and engaged in celebrations and parties. Sometimes we think of religious festivals as somber occasions and some are but this one wasn’t. They had to make an offering of grain to God from the first fruits of the harvest but then they would celebrate. In fact the atmosphere would probably be like a modern international sports festival and Jerusalem at the time must have been very similar to the atmosphere in Manchester when the Commonwealth games were there last year. People of all cultures mixing and partying in the streets and then there would be the squares where people would just gather together and party.
And in the midst of this were Jesus disciples. They must have been elated at his resurrection and then awed by his ascension into heaven but also a little saddened that Jesus was gone and a bit afraid and unsure about what to do next. Jesus had told them to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit but if their previous performance was anything to go by then they probably didn’t really know what was going on. But they did still gather together and probably not just the 12 either but all those who followed him including some of the women.
Anyway, as they were gathered together the Holy Spirit did come. With the sound of a great rushing wind and the visible sign of flames of fire, which I discovered only a few years ago is what is meant by tongues of fire, just flames. Yup, I know, degrees in Maths and Physics and doesn’t know what a tongue of fire is. Anyway the Spirit that came enabled them to speak in foreign languages. As they went out on to the streets they caused a commotion. You know when you are in a foreign country and you here people speaking your native language you are always curious and often go and say hi, just to talk in your native language. Well, the people in Jerusalem were the same. They heard these people talking in their language and when they went to investigate they were not natives of their country or even rich people or scholars who would have been likely to travel or speak their languages but fishermen and other assorted group who were from Galilee a backwater province. Understandably they were confused. So Peter stood up and began to explain things. He did so by telling them about Jesus, his death and his resurrection. Remember many of these people were only in town for the festival and would not know much about Jesus although many of them would have come for passover and stayed for Pentecost so they would know something about Jesus death, but not his life and resurrection. But then he goes on to justify what is happening now by referring to a prophecy from the Old Testament. A prophecy from the book of Joel, and saying that it had been fulfilled. So what I want to look at this morning is that prophecy from the book of Joel and see if by understanding what it means we can understand what the significance of Pentecost is.
Context of Joel
Firstly, the context of Joel. Unfortunately we really don’t know a lot about Joel. We don’t know when it was written or what the circumstances where but we do know a bit from the book itself. The people who it was written to seemed to worship God, but some how they were not doing right. They observed all the outward forms, the sacrifices, the ripping of clothes in repentance but they didn’t change their attitudes or their behaviour. If we extrapolate a bit from the other prophets then it was likely that they exploited the poor and had corrupt justice systems. Whatever the sins were they were paying for it. From chapter 1 to chapter 2 verse 11, we are told about the condition of the nation. The land had been devastated by locusts and a drought. There was famine in the land. It was so bad that Joel compared the locusts to an invading army moving relentlessly across the land, scaling walls and never stopping, leaving utter devastation in their wake. I don’t know if you know anything about locusts but they are actually grasshoppers who under certain conditions that no-one really knows what they are, swarm at one time, with millions in one swarm and they settle in an area until they have eaten everything and then they move on. They leave utter devastation in their path, destroying everything. And worse is to come, more than just comparing the locusts to an invading army, Joel seems to see the locusts as pointing to the armies that are going to come, marching across the land.
God told them that the drought, the locusts and the famine was a judgement and but only a shadow of the judgement to come. But it is not all doom and gloom, it is not all bad news, there is hope. God promises that if they would just turn to him. If they would just give up their hypocrisy, their going through the forms, motions and rituals because it was the done thing, yet still oppressing the poor and not following God. If they would just turn and repent, then God would forgive them there sins, end the drought and get rid of the locusts. The rain would come, the land would green again and produce crops.
Joel in Acts
And then we come to the bit that Peter quotes. After he has poured the rain on the people, he would pour out his Spirit upon all people. Sons and daughters would dream dreams, young men would see visions and God would pour out his Spirit even on servants. God’s outpouring of the Spirit would not be limited to the priests, kings or prophets, it would not be limited by class or gender, God was going to pour out his Spirit on all. There will signs in the sky, the Sun will be darkened and moon would turn blood red, and anyone who called on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Well, ok, I get the first bit about the outpouring of the Spirit and the bit about people being saved but what about these heavenly signs? We’ll look at the Spirit and the saving bit in a few moments time but first these signs? Aren’t these rather dramatic, if the Sun was darkened and the moon turned blood red then shouldn’t there be a record of it somewhere? Isn’t this pretty remarkable stuff.
Firstly, the sun will turn to darkness. OK, by now we should be familiar with solar eclipses, where the moon gets between the Sun and Earth and the Sun is darkened. There is even a Biblical record of darkness at the time when Jesus died. Perhaps this was the fulfilment of this prophecy. The sun was turned dark and then 50 days later the Spirit came.
But what about this moon turning to blood or turning blood red. Surely that would cause some comment if it really happened. Well, actually no. Now I know you know about solar eclipses, there was that famous one over Cornwall the other year. But what do you know about lunar eclipses. This is when the earth’s shadow covers the moon. However, what you may not know is that when this happens depending on the distance of the earth from the sun and moon when it happens there are a variety of phenomena which can be observed. Actually, the most uncommon is for the moon to go dark, what is much more common is that moon turns red, the exact shade depends on the exact conditions. Here are some pictures taken of a lunar eclipse, these are the real colours the pictures haven’t been altered. There was a lunar eclipse a few weeks ago where this happened in this country, unfortunately it was at 4 am and it was cloudy. However, there was one a few years ago when I actually saw the moon turn a reddish orange. I really wanted a camera but didn’t have one handy, so I had to download these pictures from the internet. So was there a lunar eclipse on the day of Pentecost AD 33. I don’t know, maybe there was or maybe there was something supernatural going on, Acts doesn’t say if there was or there wasn’t but it is the sort of thing that does happen, that God is using as a sign here.
As for the blood, fire and pillars of smoke. Well, we hear about the fire in Acts, we don’t hear whether there was any blood and pillars of smoke. However, in all of this its not so much about what the physical signs were but the significance of the signs. In Jewish thought it was believed that when great events took place on earth that would fundamentally alter events from that time forward that this change would be mirrored in the heavens in the form of sins. Thus, the signs are not important in themselves, the important thing is the coming of the Spirit. But the signs show the significance of the events. Some have even suggested that the signs themselves were not meant to take place at all, but rather it was an accepted Jewish way of showing the significance of an event in a written book, it was certainly true in Jewish apocalyptic literature, whether or not this is the case here is irrelevant as long as we understand the significance of the event.
This was fundamentally different to anything that had gone before, it was not like the Spirit coming on David or King Saul or one of the Old Testament prophets. This was a one off event, a fundamental shift in the dealing of God with man. Nothing would ever be the same again. In the past the Spirit had come on people temporarily for one purpose or another. You often read in Judges or 1,2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings about the Holy Spirit coming on some one or the Holy Spirit being with some one. But it was always temporary for a specific job and just because the Holy Spirit was on them for event did not mean that he would be with them later. The Holy Spirit came and went. But now the Spirit had come to stay . To come upon some one and stay. The Spirit would be poured out.
Also previously it had only come on specific people. It was with the judges, when they did their great acts. It was with some of the prophets during some of their prophetic ministry. The Spirit came upon Saul when he was anointed King in an incident that would seem to be very similar to the tongues Paul spoke about in Corinthians. The Spirit was upon David it times. But the ordinary person would not have the Holy Spirit. It might fall upon Judges, Kings, Priests and Prophets but your ordinary Jew who followed God faithfully, no. But this was to change, the Spirit would be poured out on all people . Not just the leaders or the prophets but all, even the servants and even the women. The Holy Spirit was to be available to all.
All they had to do was repent of their sins, call upon the name of God and they would be saved and the Spirit would be poured out. Wait a minute we’ve heard this before, wasn’t this what Peter preached. Yes, Acts 2:38, “Peter replied, "Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The speaking in foreign languages, the fact that there was a multitude of nations gathered in Jerusalem at the time. It was all to tell us what Joel had said. The Spirit had been poured out and it was not limited by gender, position, authority, job, race, all who called on the name of the Lord would be saved and given the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2 was the fulfilment of Joel. While some of the signs, might make us think of Christ’s second coming there is no further fulfilment here. Now chapter 3 is awaiting Christ’s second coming, but chapter 2, no that’s already taken place. God has given himself to us. That is the miracle of Pentecost, that God not content with becoming human and living with us, he comes and dwells within us to stay. Acts tells us that he comes to give power to witness, to live a Godly life, to serve God, but the greatest gift the greatest miracle is that God gives himself to us, to stay.
And of course we had to wait till Acts for it happen because it could only come after Jesus had died, risen and ascended. Don’t ask me to explain why here, I thought I got a grasp on it once but I can’t explain it in this sermon, maybe in a Bible study later.
Conclusions
In conclusion. Most sermons on Pentecost end with the invitation to have a personal Pentecost. Well, I’m sorry, you can’t have a personal Pentecost. It was a unique, one off, event to mark the inauguration of the New Testamet, the New Covenant, the New Age, when the Spirit was poured out on all flesh. It has already happened it need not happen again. The Spirit has been given. But we can experience the Holy Spirit, we can be one of those in whom the Spirit dwells. How? Well, follow what both Joel and Peter said, repent, turn to God, call on the name of Jesus and be saved, saved from sin, saved from death, saved from hell and receive the greatest gift God could possibly give you, himself.
Don’t expect the showy signs. Do expect the power, power to witness, power to live a Holy life, power to serve. Do expect your life to be turned upside down and inside out. Do expect God to give himself to you. But Joel and Peter tells us that it can only come through repentance and calling on the name of the Lord.
