WHAT IS PENTECOST?
WHAT IS PENTECOST?
By: Jack Guyler
There are three big events that are celebrated in the Christian Church that make Christianity unique among world religions. Two are very familiar to us, Christmas and Easter, but Pentecost often flies under the radar.
Christmas – is the celebration of “God with us.” God in human flesh. Jesus represents the gift of salvation
Easter – is the celebration of resurrection. Life overcoming death and eternal life in Christ
Pentecost – is the celebration of God giving to us His Holy Spirit and the birthing of the Church
The account of Pentecost is found in Acts 2. The story really begins in Acts 1 where Jesus tells his followers to wait until the Holy Spirit comes upon them with great power to begin to fulfill the mission He was giving to them. In Acts 1:8, Jesus lays out their mission – to spread the good news about Him starting where they were in Jerusalem and then eventually sharing that news and being his witnesses throughout the world.
In Jewish history, Pentecost was one of the three great Jewish feasts each year. Pentecost, also called the Feast of Weeks, occurred each year 50 days after Passover. Pentecost represented the time when the Jews offered to the Lord the first fruits of the new grain.
Pentecost, in Acts 2, would become the day God gave to his people, the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised this gift to his followers in John 14. God’s Spirit had always existed, but beginning at Pentecost, the Spirit would be with and reside in all followers of Jesus.
WAS PENTECOST A ONE TIME EVENT?
Yes! It was a historical event that has happened only one time in history and signaled the start of the Holy Spirit leading and empowering God’s people to be witnesses to all nations and people groups. This was the birth of the Church. Followers of Jesus could not be effective witnesses for Christ without the Spirit – that is the real message of Pentecost and why Jesus told his followers to wait until they received the Spirit to begin their mission of reaching the world.
WHAT WAS THE POINT OF PENTECOST?
The point of Pentecost is for Christ-followers to be empowered by the Spirit to witness to a world who needed to know Christ as their Lord and Savior – for people of all nations and tribes to worship the Lord and glorify Him. As Peter says in Acts 2, “In the last days, God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit on all people…and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
