Pentecost Sunday

Pentecost Sunday
Today - 11th May - is the Pentecost Sunday. What is its significance to us?

In the Old Testament, as an annual festival, Pentecost is the second of the great Jewish national festivals. It was observed on the 50th day, or 7 weeks, from the Paschal Feast, and was also called “the feast of weeks” or “harvest feast.” The festival begins when the first sheaf is offered at the Passover and ends with the offering of two leavened loaves at Pentecost. These events mark the beginning and ending of the grain harvest, and the period in between is the Pentecostal season.

Pentecost commemorates the giving of the law on Sinai (Exodus 12:2,9), the 50th day after the Exodus. It is also considered the birthday of the Christian church (Acts 2:1, 20:16, 1 Cor 16:8) through the Holy Spirit, who writes Christ’s new law on the heart.

The great feature of the celebration was the presentation of the two loaves made from the first-fruits of the wheat harvest. With the loaves, two lambs were offered as a Peace Offering, and all were waved before Jehovah, and given to the priests; the loaves being leavened, could not be offered on the altar. The other sacrifices were a Burnt Offering of a young bullock, two rams, and seven lambs, with a meat and drink offering, and a kid for a Sin Offering (Leviticus 23:18 – 19). The whole ceremony was a dedication of the harvest to God as its giver, and to whom both the land and the people were holy.

The lesson to Israel was, God “maketh peace in thy borders, He filleth thee with the finest of the wheat” (Psalm 147:14). The people were especially exhorted to rejoice before Jehovah with their families, their servants, the Levite within their gates, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, in the place chosen by God, for his name, as they brought a free-will offering, of their hand to Jehovah their God (Deut. 16:10 – 11).

In the Exodus, the people were offered to God as living first fruits; at Sinai, their consecration to him as a nation was completed. The typical significance of the Pentecost is made clear, from the events of the day recorded in the Acts chapter 2. Just as the appearance of God on Sinai was the birthday of the Jewish nation, so Pentecost was the birthday of the Christian Church.

The Christian Pentecost marks the official end of the 50 days of the Easter Season (hence “Pente”). It celebrates the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples and into the world. It is formally known as the “Birthday of the Christian Church.”

The key lesson at Pentecost is: the disciples were empowered by the Spirit to share the Gospel. Up until then, they had been keeping it to themselves. It is the gift of sharing the Good News boldy, and in such a way as it makes sense to those who hear it. It is not the gift of “speaking in tongues” as some mistakenly think. The apostles spoke in known languages. It is a powerful metaphor for the Church today - it is about who we are supposed to be toward others and what we’re supposed to be doing - its about sharing the Good News.

In Christ,
Rev Robert Chew