What is Pentecost?

Prayer – Holy Spirit—I call on You—as well as my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, confessing that He is my Savior. It is in obedience that I work out my salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in me, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13. 

On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. Acts 2:1-4

Meditate. Consider God’s plan and His harvest.

 

Grain harvest in Israel

Pentecost or Shavuot is a Holy Feast, also known as the Feast of Weeks, that celebrates God giving of the Torah to the Jewish people. The Torah—the first five books of the Old Testament—is to guide all of us in how we are to live in the world. Exodus 23:16 give us instructions for Shavuot which is established in Deuteronomy 16:9-10. It is a harvest festival in which the Israelites were to offer a freewill contribution to the Lord marking the fruitful grain harvest. It occurred on Pentecost, 50 days after Passover. 

 

As a fulfillment of the Old Testament, a spiritual harvest began on Pentecost when Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the gift of Holy Spirit as God the Father had promised (Acts 1:4-5). The disciples began to speak in languages of visitors from every nation—with the power of the Holy Spirit—so that everyone could understand God’s message in their own language. There were about three thousand people in Jerusalem that day who believed in Jesus and were baptized after they heard Peter preach following his infilling of the Holy Spirit. Three thousand! That is a lot of people—more than the population in the small farming community in which I grew up.

 

Part of what Peter preached was from the Old Testament prophet, Joel:

'In the last days,' God says, 'I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants--men and women alike--and they will prophesy. And I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below--blood and fire and clouds of smoke. The sun will become dark, and the moon will turn blood red before that great and glorious day of the LORD arrives. But everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.' Acts 2:17-21 NLT

Things may get a little scary in the last days…smoke and fire…the sun darkened and the moon looking blood red. But don’t be alarmed. God will be with us—He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Keep your account short—confess your shortcomings—your sins—daily and be at peace with the Lord. Be prepared for those last days. Claim that promise in Joel—repeated in Acts 2… But everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved. Like those visitors to Jerusalem, are you calling on the name of the Lord? Are you or will you be saved? 

 

Verse of Salvation ~ But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Matthew 24:13

Reused, revised, and recycled from Banquet With The King, May 24, 2015.

© 2024 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved. 

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted. 

New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. 

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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