Pentecost 05/31/2020

Good Sunday morning to all and may the Lord bless those who read this message as well as those who hear it.

Last week Sunday, I introduced the feast of Weeks, aka Shavuot (Hebrew) and Pentecost (Greek) in my sermon. Today, I would like to examine a few more aspects of the great celebration associated with the feast.

While on their journey through the wilderness of Sinai from Egypt to Canaan, seven special annual feast days would be prescribed to the Hebrews. Fifty days after leaving the land of bondage, the Israelites found themselves at the foot of mount Sinai, where God instructed their leader, Moses, to ascend the mountain for a 40-day time of sharing. It was during this period that God revealed to the Hebrew prophet, the Torah (teaching) containing the ten commandments. This great event of the giving of the law happened on the day following seven weeks after leaving Egypt. Hence the names Shavuot (plural for weeks) and Pentecost (pente for 50)

During the first temple period, ie: the period when king Solomon's temple stood in Jerusalem, God required all males to assemble at the temple site for the celebration of three feasts : Passover, Tabernacles and Weeks. Therefore, these were called the pilgrimage festivals. In preparation for Weeks, the Jewish farmers would carefully examine their crops in search of the first fruits for the season. The seven major crops in Israel were wheat, barley, figs, pomegranates, dates, olives and grapes. A straw ribbon would be tied around the bunch of grapes or figs first spotted on the trees. Later, those bunches would be harvested and transported to the temple mount in Jerusalem. All males slept outside their homes so as not to become ritually impure before starting out in the morning for Jerusalem. Oxen for sacrifice would have their horns adorned with gold plating while latecomers would have the horns of their animals decorated in silver. Caravans of travelers would leave their home towns and villages as they made the days-long or weeks-long journey to the Capital. The travelers would be greeted by temple priests and fellow pilgrims as they anticipated the happenings for this glorious occasion. This would be an exciting time of showing gratitude to the Lord for all His abundant blessings. Praise and worship would be on the temple agenda. During the second temple period (Herod's temple) Jesus would be found in Jerusalem for this feast. Leviticus 23:15 instructed the Jews to accurately count the days from Passover to ensure the correct timing of the feast of Weeks. In the same way, we are counting down the days in the expectation of a supernatural harvest when all will be complete and perfect. During the one-thousand year Messianic reign, believers in Jesus will rule and judge with Him in a world that recognizes the God of Israel. (Revelation 2: 26-27; 2 Timothy 12:1; 1 Corinthians 6: 2-3)

At the temple, twenty-six animals including oxen, lambs and doves would be offered on the alter as pilgrims laid their baskets of fruits and vegetables at its base. The priests would lift the baskets and wave them before the Lord as the Jerusalem pilgrim prostrated himself before the alter. The unground wheat would be rubbed and hand-beaten by the priests and two loaves of leavened bread would be baked. The two rectangular loaves were kneaded and baked separately before they would be waved before the alter. A sheep would then be sacrificed as Levites blasted flutes and trumpets on the temple grounds. The priests would then take the loaves to the 'chamber of the hearth' alongside the temple and eat them. The two loaves signified that this celebration did not exclude anyone, but included both Jews and gentiles.

We saw last week that this particular feast had its fulfillment fifty days after Jesus' final Passover. The Greek translation refers to it as Pentecost. Prior to Jesus' departure, He advised His followers not to engage in preaching or teaching the gospel message unless they were empowered from heaven.

'And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which", He said, "you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.' - Acts 1: 4-5

The second chapter of the book of Acts represents this 'outpouring' of the Holy Spirit in the second story of a building structure in Jerusalem. One hundred and twenty faithful followers of Jesus were present. This group included His disciples and His mother, Mary. Everyone present were of the same mindset. The fervent desire to fulfill Christ's calling of the Great Commission to go into all the world and preach and teach the gospel message was on the hearts of everyone. Suddenly, the Holy Spirit of God descended on the people there, They were all energized with the spiritual fortitude they needed. But there was one problem: Jesus had commanded that the gospel message must be preached not only in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria but that it must be published throughout the world. (Acts 1:8) Africa, Asia, Europe, and every country and people are to hear the message of Jesus. How can this be accomplished? The one hundred and twenty in the upper room were all Galilean Jews. They all spoke a Galilean Aramaic dialect. But God was not challenged by this reality. He miraculously and instantly gifted the believers with the ability to communicate in foreign languages, Suddenly one was able to speak Arabic, another, Latin, while yet another, Greek. etc. This was the miracle of Acts, chapter 2. Everyone spoke in a different tongue. Now each one understood where his/her ministry was to be directed. This made it easy for the believers to travel throughout the world and share the truth about Jesus. What a unique move of the Holy Spirit that has since never been repeated! Also, it was Shavuot, the Jewish feast of Weeks, and males from all over the world were assembled in Jerusalem. These visiting Jews no doubt also spoke foreign languages and were able to hear and understand the voices coming from the upper room. They were flabbergasted! The apostle Peter attempted to explain what was happening to the confused onlookers, but the event was such an obvious miracle that three thousand individuals got saved that day and the Christian church was born. At the end of the day's proceedings, these visiting Jews went back to their homes in different parts of the world and shared their miracle experience. Despite nay-saying doubters, the gospel message spread throughout Jerusalem and Judea; it invaded Samaria and from there blazed a trail throughout the rest of the world. Thank God for that first Pentecost, for because of it, gentiles were able to hear and believe.

Today, the Pentecostal message has not changed and can still be capsulized in the verse:

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life."

Pastor Chandroo