This coming Sunday Christians around the world will gather for the third
great feast of Jesus.
The first one was in December. It is the annual celebration of the
birth of Jesus. “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son”
(John 3:16). We exchange gifts in remembrance of Jesus as the Father’s Gift to
the world.
The second one was in early April this year. It moves with the Old
Testament festival of Passover because it was on Passover “that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that
he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
The third great feast of Christianity also moves
with the Old Testament festival calendar. As the Old Testament Feast of Weeks was
held seven weeks after Passover, so the New Testament festival of Pentecost is
celebrated seven weeks after Easter Sunday.
The book of Acts makes this clear. “And when the
day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place”
(Acts 2:1 [KJV]). Pentecost is a Greek word that simply means “fifty”—seven
weeks plus Sunday.
Fifty days after the angel of death passed over the
homes of those who had the blood of the lamb on their door-posts, and after the
Children of Israel passed through the Red Sea on dry land, they celebrated the
giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai.
This is called the “Feast of Weeks” in Exodus 34:22
and in Deuteronomy 16. By the time Jesus was born, it was called “Pentecost.” And
after Jesus rose from the grave and ascended into heaven, He did one more
magnificent thing while the Jews were gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost.
“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of
a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were
sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and
it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and
began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:2-4).
Just as it is instructive to read the suffering, death and resurrection
of Jesus against the backdrop of the Jewish Passover, so it is helpful to read
the events of Acts 2 against the backdrop of the Jewish feast of weeks—the
momentous events that happened at Mt. Sinai.
“[T]here were thunders and lightnings, and a thick
cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all
the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the
people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of
the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD
descended upon it in fire” (Exodus 19:16-18).
At the first Pentecost, the twelve tribes of Israel
had been freed from slavery in Egypt and assembled together to meet with God. At
the second Pentecost, the twelve Apostles were freed from slavery to the devil
and assembled together in the Upper Room.
At the first Pentecost, God was present in the form
of fire on the top of Mt. Sinai. At the second Pentecost, God was present in
the form of fiery tongues on the Apostles.
At the first Pentecost, God spoke in a disembodied
thunderous Hebrew voice so that “[W]hen all the people saw the thunder and the
flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the
people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, ‘You
speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die’”
(Exodus 20:18-19 [ESV]).
At the second Pentecost, God spoke in every
language of the world, through the voices of fishermen, tax-collectors, and ordinary
men. And, rather than scattering in fear, “the multitude came together” to hear
the Word of God speaking in their own language in which they were born (Acts
2:6, 8).
This is the glory of Pentecost! Rejoice and be glad that you can gather
in churches still today! And that you, by Jesus’ power, can hear the voice of
God preached in your own native tongue.
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