Pentecost Explained.

Pentecost was originally the end of a season of Jewish festivals known also as the Feast of Weeks. In the bible the story of what happened after Jesus’ death and resurrection is told in the book of Acts. It was written by a doctor, Luke, and it starts like this: 

Dear Theophilus, in the first volume of this book I wrote on everything that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he said good-bye to the apostles, the ones he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven. After his death, he presented himself alive to them in many different settings over a period of forty days. In face-to-face meetings, he talked to them about things concerning the kingdom of God. As they met and ate meals together, he told them that they were on no account to leave Jerusalem but “must wait for what the Father promised: the promise you heard from me. John baptized in water; you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And soon.”

The last words of Jesus that Luke records are…. “when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.”

So, they waited and they hid away from the authorities in case they would be punished, or even killed, because they had followed Jesus. Lots of people from all over the known world had come to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost and in Acts chapter 2 it says: 

2 1-4 When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.

5-11 There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were blown away. They couldn’t for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, “Aren’t these all Galileans? How come we’re hearing them talk in our various mother tongues?

Some bible translations say that it looked as if they had tongues of fire on their heads. People who were listening didn’t understand what was going on because they were from so many different countries but they understood what Jesus’ friends were saying, and they were talking about God and Jesus. Some people thought they were drunk but Jesus’ friend Peter preached the first sermon, explaining who Jesus was and over 3000 people became Christians that day. It was the start of the church and churches across the world remember those events and celebrate Pentecost today. And it goes from this little sect of believers who followed a Jewish rabbi from Nazareth who died and rose again, and suddenly the church breaks forth into the culture. Suddenly it is an unstoppable force that no one can really deny any longer.

In the bible people try to explain what God is like and sometimes pictures are used for that. No one picture can explain God (in fact no amount of pictures could) but in Acts there are two things to note: the noise of the wind and the flames. The loud noise like a storm is about God being very powerful and moving where and when he wants to. He can’t be contained. The flames are a sign of God’s presence. Jewish people could look back in their history to Moses who encountered God in a bush that appeared to be burning but it was the presence of God. When they were leaving slavery in Egypt God guided them in a pillar of fire. That’s why you’ll see churches using decorations that look like flames – it’s a reminder that even today people can still experience the presence of God.

Quotations from The Message Copyright @ 1993, 2002, 2018 Eugene H Peterson.