PENTECOST

Pentecost, which occurred 50 days after Passover, was a harvest feast, where the Jews were to offer to the Lord the first fruits of the new grain. It was one of the three festivals (along with Passover and Tabernacles) which, according to the law, required temple attendance by Jews. Therefore, Jerusalem was crammed with possibly 200,000 people in the temple area alone. What is the significance of Pentecost for Christians (50 days after Easter)?

Pentecost means that the Holy Spirit, who in Old Testament times came upon God’s servants to empower them, has now come to live within every Christian. Pentecost signals the dawning of the age of the Holy Spirit. The fulness of the Spirit in God’s people is designed to empower them for witness to everyone on earth (Acts1:8).

Jesus promise in John 14:16-17 was fulfilled at Pentecost: “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would come to indwell all Christians, and at Pentecost that is exactly what happened – “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4). Since that day, everyone who becomes a Christian is immediately indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost means that Christians are not isolated units, but they are joined together as members of one glorious body, the Church. The coming of the Holy Spirit marked the beginning of the Church.  Up to this point the church was anticipated (Mt. 16:18).  The church is established as a Body by means of Spirit baptism (I Cor. 12:13) “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”  The first occurrence of the baptism of the Spirit indicates the inauguration of the church. Acts 1:5 anticipates it and Acts 11:15-16 refers back to it as having occurred at Pentecost.  It is the Holy Spirit taking up residence in His newly formed Church (I Cor. 6:19).

Pentecost means that the Gospel is for everybody and that anybody, anywhere, may be saved by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter, quoting Joel 2:32 in his first sermon in Acts 2:21 proclaims, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” The scope of God’s plan is for all the nations. Did you ever wonder why Luke goes through this long, somewhat tedious list of nations in Acts 2:9-11? They are representative of the nations that the Lord wants to reach. The key to the list is in verse 5, that it represents “men from every nation under heaven.”

Pentecost is the birth of the Church through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth for the glory of God.

Am I allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and control my life so that I might have the desire and ability to share in His global ministry?

Am I actively praying and involved in sharing the Good News of Jesus to those who are lost?