We celebrate and worship God in many ways. One way Christians unfamiliar with the Hebrew Scriptures, or Old Testament, don’t typically think about is celebrating Pentecost in the context of its origin. Understanding it will help you more fully appreciate God’s covenant gifts the way the 1st century believers did.
It was originally prescribed as the Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot. Celebrated 50 days after Passover, this time served to link the deliverance from the bondage of Egypt to the giving of the Torah, or God’s covenant law; better translated instruction. It served to remind the children of Israel that the redemption from bondage was not fully complete until they had received the fullness of God’s covenant word and order, or law.
RELEVANCE
Following the LORD’s resurrection, the disciples had been spending time with one another in prayers and devotion. While they were celebrating this feast, a sound from the sky like the roar of a violent wind came and filled the whole house where they were. The disciples were “filled with the Spirit,” as recorded in Acts 2.
On Shavuot—Pentecost—their lives were transformed by the Holy Spirit! In their devotions and celebration, God’s Word connected with His Spirit and brought completion—or fullness—to the revelation of God’s covenant. It therefore, brought fulfillment to Isaiah’s prophecy expressing the fullness of God’s covenant (see Isaiah 59:21). The early disciples also understood more clearly the reality of what the LORD meant by “a fountain of water” that would spring up within and bring refreshing new life.
“Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13-14).
Once the reality of the Holy Spirit’s infilling becomes real to you it will change your life; as the Spirit provides refreshment and illumination of God’s truths.
REFLECT AND RELATE
In what ways do you celebrate—and express gratefulness—for God’s Word and Spirit?
REFERENCES
Leviticus 23:15-22; Exodus 23:16; 34:22; Acts 2:1-4; 19:1-7