Events of Pentecost

Events of Pentecost

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Colossians 2:16-17 (NKJV) 

“So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”

The Hebrew word for the celebration is“Shavuot” meaning “weeks”.    Pentecost is a Greek word meaning “50 days.”  Pentecost is counted from the day of Passover.  Let us remember that Shavuot/Pentecost is a picture of what is to come and what has already come.  The most important thing is that the feast is one of the Lord’s appointed times and teaches us about Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah.

Leviticus 23:15-16 (NKJV):  “And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath (the Passover), from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD.” The offering was brought on the second day of Shavuot.

According to the rabbinical tradition, the Lord gave the 10 Commandments to Moses on the Feast of Shavuot.  When we carefully count the days from the Exodus on Passover, it is a logical conclusion.  Part of the Orthodox Jewish celebration of the feast is the reading of the 10 Commandments.  On Shavuot, the Jews remember the events of Mt. Sinai that directed their worship, sanctification and anticipation of the coming Messiah who would deliver them from the slavery of sin just as God had delivered them from the slavery of Egypt.

Pentecost/Shavuot occurs 50 days after Passover, the day when the Lord suffered the agony of the cross for our redemption.  Three days after Passover is the Feast of Fruit Fruits.  The fruits of the barley harvest were then offered to the Lord.  Jesus rose from grave on the Feast of Fruit Fruits as the First Fruits of those who will be resurrected (1 Corinthians 15:20). 

Pentecost commemorates the first fruits of the wheat harvest. In bringing the first fruits to the Lord, the people were declaring that God is their provision, the source of their strength and that they will be good stewards of the harvest which He has provided.

Fifty days after the crucifixion of our Lord, “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:1-4 (NKJV)  

The 120 believers gathered in that day became the first fruits of those who are indwelt and empowered by the Holy Spirit.  They became the first fruits of the Church triumphant in the overcoming power of our indwelling Holy Spirit.  Pentecost declares that God is the Christian’s provision, the source of our strength and the harvest of souls belongs to Him.

Fifty is a significant number in the Bible.  It is the number of Jubilee.  It is the number of restoration and redemption.  Every fiftieth year was to be a year of Jubilee when debts were forgiven, when the slaves were set free, when lands were returned to their original tribes, when the mercies of God were celebrated.

Pentecost is the eternal celebration of the finished work of the Cross.  Pentecost is the acknowledgment that in the power of the Holy Spirit, believers in Jesus Christ, are forgiven, set free from the power of sin and death and returned to a relationship with the heavenly Father who has created us.  Pentecost is about empowering, redemption and restoration through Jesus Christ who is our Jubilee.