What is Pentecost?

Pentecost Sunday, 8 June,  remembers and celebrates that Jesus kept his promise that we will not be left alone after his ascension, but that God would send the Spirit to teach, guide and strengthen us, as we obey the great commission to spread his Gospel across the globe.   Hundred and twenty followers of Jesus were filled with the Spirit on the first Pentecost Sunday and they represented all of God’s Church, through all the ages, including us.

The English word “Pentecost” is a translation of a Greek word pentekostos, which means “fifty or fiftieth. Early Christians received this name for our feast from Greek-speaking Jews who used this name to refer to a Jewish holy day, known as Shavuot in Hebrew. It originates from Leviticus 23:16, which instructs believers to count fifty days from the end of Passover to the beginning of the next holy day, the Shavuot.

Shavuot was the harvest festival of Israel. (Exod 23:16).

This festival became especially significant for Christians.   Fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus, on the Jewish holy day, Shavuot/Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon Christ’s followers. The first Pentecost Sunday was a wonderful “harvest feast” as 3000 new followers of Christ were brought into the Kingdom of God and baptized into Church of Christ.

What actually happened on that first Pentecost Sunday?

This event is recorded in The Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 2:   “And when the day of Pentecost had come, [the first followers of Jesus] were all together in one place”  (Acts2:1). All of a sudden, they heard a sound like a strong wind, filling the house. And something like tongues of fire rested on their heads. “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak” (2:4).

The promise that the Holy Spirit will fill God’s people and the Church was not only for that generation. It was for all generations of believers. It was also for us.  We do not have to try to build the Church of Christ in our own strength. The powerful “Wind”, the Spirit, and the cleansing passionate “Flame”, the same Spirit, will fill us anew and we too will be able to bring the Gospel to all – in the strength and through the wisdom of the Spirit of God.

Pray for the power of the Holy Spirit!

Pray that your life may be filled with the Holy Spirit, as we seek to do Gods work and build up the Church amongst us.  

May the LORD bless, keep and sustain you and grant you a blessed and empowering Pentecost!