The Day of Pentecost always comes on a Sunday. It celebrates an important event. But it is not only what happened that day, but when and why it happened that shows God’s work. It also gives a strong gift to you.
What Happened on Pentecost
If you know about ‘Pentecost,’ you may have learned that it is the day when the Holy Spirit came to live inside the followers of Jesus. This is the day the Church, the “called-out ones” of God, was born. The Bible book of Acts chapter 2 tells this story. On that day, the Spirit of God came down on the first 120 followers of Jesus. Then they started speaking loudly in many different languages from around the world. This made a big noise, and many people in Jerusalem came to see what was happening. In front of the crowd, Peter gave the first gospel message. The Bible says ‘three thousand were added to their number that day’ (Acts 2:41). The number of people who follow Jesus has been growing since that Pentecost Sunday.
The story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, PD-US-expired, via Wikimedia Commons
People were filled with the Holy Spirit
That day happened 50 days after Jesus rose from the dead. During these 50 days, Jesus’ disciples became sure that Jesus was alive. On Pentecost Sunday, they went public with their faith and changed history. Whether you believe in Jesus rising or not, the events of that Pentecost Sunday have affected your life.
This common understanding of Pentecost is true but not complete. Many people want Pentecost to happen again in the same way. The first followers of Jesus had this Pentecost experience by waiting for the gift of the Spirit. So today, many people wait and pray for God to bring Pentecost again. But this idea misses the exact meaning. The Pentecost in Acts 2 was not the first Pentecost ever.
Pentecost from the Law of Moses
‘Pentecost’ was actually a yearly Old Testament festival. Moses (1500 BCE) gave several festivals to be celebrated each year. Passover was the first festival of the Jewish year. Jesus was crucified on a Passover day. The timing of his death was a sign, matching the Passover lamb sacrifices.
The second festival was called Firstfruits. The Law of Moses said to celebrate it on the day after Passover Saturday (which is Sunday). Jesus rose on a Sunday, so his resurrection happened exactly on the Firstfruits festival. Because he rose on Firstfruits, it promised that others who trust him would rise later. His resurrection is the ‘firstfruits,’ just like the festival name said.
Exactly 50 days after the Firstfruits Sunday, the Jews celebrated Pentecost. (‘Pente’ means 50. It is also called the Feast of Weeks because it counts seven weeks.) Jews had been celebrating Pentecost for 1500 years before the Pentecost in Acts 2. The reason many people from all over the world were in Jerusalem that Pentecost was because they came for the Old Testament Pentecost celebration. Today, Jews still celebrate Pentecost but call it Shavuot.
We read in the Old Testament how Pentecost should be celebrated:
Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD. From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the LORD.
Leviticus 23:16-17
Precision of Pentecost: Evidence of a Mind
The Pentecost in Acts 2 happened exactly on the same day as the Old Testament Pentecost (Feast of Weeks). We know this because they were on the same day of the year. The crucifixion of Jesus happened on Passover, his resurrection on Firstfruits, and the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. This shows a mind working through history. With so many days in a year, why did these events happen exactly on the three spring festivals? Unless it was planned. Such exact timing happens only if a mind plans it.
Did Luke ‘make up’ Pentecost?
Some might say Luke (the author of Acts) made up the Pentecost events to happen on the feast day. Then Luke would be the mind behind the timing. But his story does not say Acts 2 is ‘fulfilling’ the feast. It doesn’t even mention it. Why would he create this important event on that day and not tell us it ‘fulfills’ the feast?
Luke wrote the events very well, not just his own ideas. Many people today do not know Acts 2 happened on the Old Testament Pentecost day. Many think Pentecost started at Acts 2. Because most people don’t know the connection, Luke would be smart to make the story but bad at explaining it.
Max Fürst (1846–1917), PD-US-expired, via Wikimedia Commons
Pentecost: A New Power
Instead, Luke points us to a prophecy from the Old Testament book of Joel. Joel said one day God would pour out His Spirit on all people. Pentecost in Acts 2 fulfilled this.
One reason the Gospel is ‘good news’ is because it gives power to live differently, better. Life now can be a close relationship between God and people. This happens when the Spirit of God lives inside us — starting at Pentecost in Acts 2. The good news is that we can live life in a new way, with God’s Spirit. The Bible says:
And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
Ephesian 1:13-14
The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
Romans 8:11
Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
Romans 8:23
The Spirit of God living inside us is another ‘firstfruits.’ The Spirit is a sign and promise that God will complete changing us into His children.
The gospel offers a full life, not by having things, pleasure, power, or money — all of which pass away. Solomon found these things empty. The full life comes by having God’s Spirit inside. If this is true—that God wants to live inside and give us power—then this is good news. The Old Testament Pentecost, with its celebration of special bread made with yeast, showed this new, full life coming. The exact matching of Old and New Pentecost shows that God is the mind behind this plan. So He gives us the power for a full life.