Pentecost

When do you think Pentecost began? For many years I only associated Pentecost with the disciples speaking various languages when the Holy Spirit came into the upper room and filled the men with the ability to speak all kinds of dialects. Don't ask me what I was thinking, but I didn't realize that the whole event was actually named after the Jewish high holiday called the Festival of Pentecost, which I knew as the Feast of Weeks, or the Festival of Shavuot.

This week is that celebration. It occurs fifty days after Passover. The most notable one occurs in the book of Acts when over one hundred thousand people returned to the city of Jerusalem. These people would have seen Jesus crucified just fifty days earlier, but they had no idea the significance of that act until another unusual thing happened during the Pentecost.

You see the rush of wind in the upper room and its house could be heard outside and the people came running. According to A Visual Guide to Bible Events, when the room filled to capacity they moved outside, more than likely to the southern steps of the temple. Just so you know, the rabbis would frequently teach the people from that location. The steps were wide enough to accommodate many people and the apostle's voices could be heard easily.

While the other disciples spoke in tongues that got the people's attention, Peter spoke to clarify what was happening. He helps the people make a connection between what they saw in Jesus and what was promised in the scriptures. Here's an interesting fact about the feast, not only were the people giving thanks for the grain harvests but they were also recalling the giving of the law at Mount Sinai. Don't you find it interesting that on that very celebration Peter would show the people that the law and it's prophecies for Messiah had come to fruition?

And here's another interesting tidbit. Next to these steps was a large ritual bath set-up (miqva'ot) that could have been used for the baptisms that followed Peter's teaching. And while only three thousand were baptized that day, you know that the rest of the listeners went back home and shared how men from Galilee spoke the dialects of lands to which they'd never traveled.

How amazing that must of been. Today not only do we have the Bible written in almost every language, but it's also available in many forms. The first Pentecost after the resurrection of Jesus was the start of it all. . .getting the word out to the world that God loves them and wants them to join him in heaven for eternity.