The word “pentecost” means “fiftieth day.” In most Christian traditions, Pentecost Sunday occurs 50 days following Easter Sunday. Easter occurs on different days in different years (it is tied to the lunar cycle, while the calendar is solar based); Pentecost is always 50 days later. This Christian event seems to gathered dust over the last half-century or so; it has been neglected. And yet it is one of the most important days in Christianity, the formal beginning of Christ's church on earth.
It is a remembrance of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on those in the Upper Room on the summer festival of the Jewish Pentecost day - after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. The story can be found in Acts 2. The emphasis is on the Holy Spirit empowering the followers of Jesus by sending the Comforter, as Jesus had promised, and enabling them to witness about the gospel of Jesus Christ, thus fulfilling the Great Commission to spread the gospel to the entire world. The event was a fulfillment of Joel's prophecy (Acts 2:16-21). Luke, the author of the Book of The Acts of the apostles, understood the experience of the Spirit in the context of the prophetic tradition: the Spirit realizes the new covenant promised by Ezekiel 36:26-27.
Jewish Pentecost was a thanksgiving feast for the first fruits of the wheat harvest and was associated with remembrance of God's gift of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. It is also the name of the Jewish celebration of Shavuot ("Festival of Weeks").
There may be at least a couple of reasons for the decline in the celebration of Pentecost. First, the charismatic movement, which carries the name "Pentecostal," engenders ongoing suspicion by many evangelical, fundamental churches, due to the differences in styles of worship and even in theology. Second, the churches often do not want to associate themselves with the more formal, liturgical aspects of the Catholic Church and other formal churches, probably a lingering sentiment going all the way back to Martin Luther and the Reformation. Third, the more 'culture centered' informality of the 'purpose driven' movement has taken informality even further away from liturgy and formality.
It has the potential of importance in prophecy. The Jews celebrated seven major feasts. The first three were spring festivals and are expressions of Christ's first coming. The last three were fall feasts and foreshadow his second coming. The Feast of Pentecost, the harvest, falls between the spring and the fall feasts, and some believe that it foreshadows the harvest of the church - the Rapture. Hayyim Schauss, author of The Jewish Festivals, says that it is "the only Jewish Festival for which there is no fixed date." Because it is based on counting the seven weeks that follow the First Fruits feast, its date is flexible. It is the perfect symbol and model of the Rapture.
Wouldn't that be wonderful?
Pentecost Sunday is a day for Christians to celebrate hope, because we know that God through His Holy Spirit is at work among His people. It is a celebration of newness, of joy, of renewal of purpose, mission, and calling as God’s people.
Royal Heir
Posts
