Lessons From Pentecost

Good morning, everyone, on this beautiful Feast of Tabernacles. Feast of Tabernacles. Feast of Pentecost. Say feast. You'll think Feast of Tabernacles on Pentecost 2011. It's great to see all of you here. Welcome to our visitors and guests. I don't know if this struck you, the special music there, which I thought was really wonderful. One Faith, One Love. I couldn't help but think of the sound of all of these musical instruments, seven different instruments blending together so beautifully there. And the words to One Faith, One Love. You may want to take a look at page 171 in your hymnal there, which says, because I think it's a beautiful picture of this day and the things that happen in Acts 2 as well. From many nations of the earth do we hail. And certainly that was the case in Acts 2, where people from many, many nations came together for that feast of Pentecost. With many tongues we form our praise to thee. Across the seas from mountain, isle, and deep veil. Thy sons and daughters in one love agree. And as we strengthen one another in thee, thy spirit binds in perfect harmony. And again, I couldn't help but be reminded of the beautiful beauty of those instruments blending together and the way God's people blend together, especially on this day which pictures the giving of God's Holy Spirit on one of God's commanded Holy Days and Assemblies. We do know that God's festivals and Holy Days are to teach us about God's plan. They teach us how God is working among the human race according to His own timetable, His own purpose and plan to bring many sons and daughters into His immortal spirit family. These Holy Days also teach us a great deal about the role of Jesus Christ in that plan, beginning with the Passover, which teaches us about the very foundation of God's plan, which is Jesus Christ being sacrificed to pay the penalty for our sin so that we might receive His gift of eternal life. They teach us about Jesus Christ's role on up through His return to earth, as pictured by the Feast of Trumpets and His reign on earth during the Feast of Tabernacles, and eventually the judgment and the opportunity for all of mankind through the resurrection, pictured by the eighth day, of all those who have ever lived to receive their opportunity for salvation as well. But each of these Holy Days teaches us other things as well. Each of the Holy Days has specific meanings, which we hear about on these days. Some are obvious and some not so obvious, too. Well, today on this Feast of Pentecost, I'd like to talk about four lessons that we can learn from Pentecost. This doesn't mean they're only four. It just means that's all I have time to give. I'd like us to focus in on this morning's sermon. You'll hear more lessons from Pentecost, because we already heard one in the sermonette by Mr. Lee this morning. We'll probably hear more lessons about Pentecost in the messages this afternoon as well. But today I would like to focus in on four specific lessons to learn from the meaning and significance of this Holy Day. I'll tell you up front, and going through this sermon, I'm not going to tell you the points up front and make it easy for you. We're going to go through and read history and read Scripture, and then see what lessons we can pick out from what we're told there. So if you're taking notes, you may want to leave a line or two of space at the top of each section, and go back in and fill it in with a specific lesson as we get to that at the end of each section. Let's turn back to Leviticus 23, an appropriate place to start on this day. Leviticus 23, which of course is where God lists the seven festivals there.

And as we're turning there, we'll give a quick overview of the agricultural year in the Holy Land on which these festivals are based. The first harvest was the barley harvest there, and the very first of the barley harvest begins to ripen around the Days of Unleavened Bread. And there was a particular ceremony that took place during the Days of Unleavened Bread on the day after the weekly Sabbath, and that was the wave-sheaf offering. And Mr. McMaster gave a whole sermon on that yesterday in Denver, which I thought was very, very good.

I'd recommend that you download and listen to that if you weren't able to catch that in Denver yesterday. But the wave-sheaf offering marked the beginning of the first of the barley harvest being harvested there. And the Israelites presented a few sheaves before God. They were waved or held up before God, presented as an offering there. And you can read about that in verses 10 through 14 of Leviticus 23. We won't go into that for lack of time. But the wave-sheaf was offered on the day after the weekly Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread.

And of course, this also represented, you might say, two things. One, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who was resurrected sometime near sundown on that weekly Sabbath. But more specifically, it represented Jesus Christ being accepted by God the Father on that day after that weekly Sabbath. Being accepted by Him as the first of the first fruits there.

He was raised as the very first part of God's harvest. And the first of the first fruits to be raised from the dead, just as many would later be resurrected from the dead. And later harvests in accordance with the timing of God's plan. Now, 50 days after the wave-sheaf offering, there was another harvest that was celebrated.

In Hebrew, this is called Shavuot, or in Greek, Pentecost. The day that we're celebrating today. And this was another first fruit's harvest. Because now the first of the wheat harvest is ripe. The wave-sheaf offering marked the beginning of the barley harvest. Now Pentecost, or Shavuot, marks the beginning of the wheat harvest there. So Shavuot is the spring harvest feast that specifically focuses on the wheat harvest. It's the beginning of the second of these harvests here.

So picking it up here in Leviticus 23, verse 16, we'll begin reading about Shavuot, or Pentecost. God says here, Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. So Pentecost falls on the day after the seventh Sabbath. So it is on a Sunday. Then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Eternal. You shall bring from your dwellings two wavelengths of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be a fine flower. They shall be baked with leaven. They are the first fruits to the Eternal. In skipping down to verse 21, we see that this day of Pentecost is a Holy Day. Verse 21, And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a Holy Convocation, or a commanded assembly God's people are commanded to be here on this day, to you.

You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. So again, to recap, the Bible tells us to count seven weeks from the Sabbath that falls during the days of Unleavened Bread to the day after the seventh Sabbath, which would be today. Leviticus tells us to count seven weeks from that Sabbath to the day after seven weeks are completed, and that day is Shavuot in Hebrew, or Pentecost, meaning the fiftieth day. Now, the difference between the Hebrew and the Greek names for this feast comes from how you determine when the feast is held.

The word Shavuot in Hebrew means weeks. It's also called the Feast of Weeks. So when you call it by its Hebrew name Shavuot, that's referring to counting the seven weeks. Now, the Greek-speaking Jews named it after the fifty days. Pentecost means fifty. So whether you're talking about Shavuot in Hebrew or Pentecost in Greek, you're talking about the very same feast and the very same day. We won't turn there, but you might also write down Exodus 23 and verse 16.

Exodus 23 and verse 16, where this feast is called by another name, and that is the Feast of Harvest. The Feast of Harvest. And it was a harvest feast. As we read there in Leviticus 23, on that feast you are to bring to God lobes of bread that are baked from the first of the wheat harvest. And they were brought to the temple as a way of telling God, Father, these were baked from the first and the best of this year's wheat harvest. And we're thanking you for it with these first fruits of the wheat harvest. So thank you, God, for blessing us, providing us with the wheat and the crop and the harvest that will keep us alive and nourished through the coming year.

Until the next year. So this was very much a thanksgiving feast in coming before God. Let's turn also over to Deuteronomy 16 in verse 16. A very familiar passage. Mr. Courthouse just referred to this a few minutes ago here. We read it every year in giving an offering on the Holy Days. And notice something here. Deuteronomy 16, 16. Three times, or three seasons, in the year, all your mail shall appear before the Eternal your God in the place which he chooses.

At the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, Shavuot, or Pentecost, and at the Feast of Tabernacles. And they shall not appear before the Eternal empty-handed. And I'd like to focus in on the part that Mr. Courthouse focused in on, which is verse 17. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Eternal your God which he has given you. So we see here that this was to be a Thanksgiving feast.

It was to thank God for the wheat harvest that he was giving them there. And they were to present the loaves as a reminder to thank him for these things. And this is also, as we read here, one of the times of the year when they were specifically to think about and meditate on the great blessings that God had given them to consider that and to come before him with an offering that would reflect those blessings.

And how much they meant to the people. So this is the first of the great lessons of Pentecost that we should learn today. That Pentecost is a time of thankfulness. It is a time to thank God for what he has done. Now in ancient Israel it was a time to come before God and to thank him again for the harvest. The wheat harvest was their primary source of food for the year. So this was to thank him for providing for them and keeping them fed, keeping them nourished throughout the coming year. But for us today we also have a great deal to be thankful for as pictured by this feast.

Not just for food and water and shelter and clothing, the basics of life that God supplies us, but also for the precious gift of his Spirit. Not just for that Spirit, but for all that Spirit means and all that that Spirit does in our lives. Paul Price gave a very good sermon at Denver yesterday about what a wonderful gift God's Spirit is for us.

Just to hit a few of the high points for what God's Spirit does. First of all, it allows Jesus Christ to live again within us. Very important point there. It is God's divine presence within us. His divine presence that is a guarantee of the eternal life that God has promised to us. It is His divine help. His divine help in a number of ways to open our minds to spiritual understanding of God's truth.

His divine help to overcome, to overcome sin, to overcome our own selfless nature, to gain the victory over Satan, our adversary, to gain the victory over Satan's system, this world in which we have to live here. It's His help in all of that. It's what produces the fruit of His Spirit in our lives. The fruit of love, joy, peace, kindness, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

It is the comforter. It is the helper that Jesus Christ promised to give His followers. You can no doubt list many other things as well. Just like us to think on a few of these things that God's Spirit does us here. You could easily make several sermons just out of that. But I just wanted to give you this as an overview here. So, Pentecost is a feast that shows us that we have a great deal to thank God for.

And that is the first lesson for us to consider today. What about other lessons that we can learn? Let's turn to Leviticus 23 and verse 22. Now, Leviticus 23 and verse 22, this follows on right after God's instruction about Pentecost. And we find here a particular command, a practice that is given by God here, right after the Feast of Pentecost is given. And this seems unrelated to the Feast of Pentecost itself. It's not something you do on the Feast of Pentecost or this is directly related, or maybe it is related.

Let's take a look at it here. Pick it up in verse 21, which is the command for the Pentecost feast. And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation for you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. And now notice this that God puts in here, what God says about your harvesting in connection with this harvest feast.

Verse 22, when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. In other words, don't go back after you've harvested and go back and pick up all the little heads, grains of wheat, or barley there, after you've gleaned your field.

So this tells the Israelites that when they harvested their field, that they were supposed to leave parts in the corners. If you were to leave the field about this big, you would leave an area in the corner, maybe 10 by 10 feet, maybe 20 by 20 feet, something like that. And they were to leave those parts of the field for the poor or the stranger among them.

Now this was a profound requirement that God sets down here, because under the system of laws that God gave there to the Israelites, there was no welfare system as we know it today. Yes, there was the Third Tied System to take care of widows and orphans, and so on, but there was nothing like the welfare and social programs that we have today. But there was a dignified and meaningful way for those who were not as blessed, or those who had fallen on hard times in some form or another, to be provided for just as adequately as those who had been blessed, or who had not fallen on hard times there. So if you were a farmer and you had this patch of wheat, you would leave the grain there.

As you harvested your field, you would leave some standing in the corners of the field. And then you also would not go back through where you had cut your grain and pick up all the grains of wheat off of there.

So if someone was in poverty, that person was free to come, didn't have to ask permission, could just come and harvest from those sections, those corners of the field there, and could go through and pick up the grains out of the area that had been harvested there. And this is one reason why the book of Ruth is traditionally read in the synagogues on Pentecost here, because Ruth is the story of Ruth, if you remember the story, was a Moabite, she was a widow of an Israelite, and she came to the field of Boaz during harvest time, springtime of the year, and was going through and gathering up this wheat that had fallen on the ground and gathering from the corners of the field there.

So that's right in accordance with this particular law that is given here. So an obvious question to ask is, why put this command here? Why do we find this command right smack in the middle of Leviticus 23, where God is talking about the Holy Days? Have you ever thought about that? Ever asked yourself that? I know I have a couple of times. But why isn't this here instead of with the other laws, where God tells us what to do with our property, what to do with our fields or our farm, or what to do even in caring for the poor?

Why is it here? Why here, right after the instruction about Pentecost here? Well, think about this in light of what we just read about Pentecost being a harvest feast. What do we mean by a harvest feast? Well, a harvest feast is when you come before God and you say, thank you.

Thank you, God, for all that you have given us, all that you have done for us, for the ways that you have blessed us in giving us this field to harvest and to feed ourselves. Thank you that you are the one who cares for us and provides for us.

Now, if you were an ancient Israelite, it would be the height of hypocrisy to come before God and present a thank offering to Him and not have anything to share with somebody who has nothing. Be the absolute height of hypocrisy to do that. It's a mockery to come before God and to thank Him and to recognize Him as the one who gives us everything, gives us life, gives us air, gives us water, gives us food, gives us shelter, gives us everything.

And for us not to be willing to share anything that we have with other people. It makes a mockery of coming before God and giving thanks at a thanksgiving feast, if that is our attitude there. One rabbi wrote that, quote, God disdains the person who comes with His arms full of thank you gifts, who has nothing for his needy neighbor.

So this is a second great lesson of Pentecost, that God expects us to be a sharing, a caring, and a generous people. He expects us to be a sharing and caring and generous people. And if that's what he intended for the unconverted ancient Israelites to learn from this feast, how much more should we who have God's Spirit learn to be caring and sharing and generous people? How much more should that affect us and change our lives through God's Spirit? You know, through God's Spirit, He changes us from the inside out, from being totally selfish people, totally self-centered, totally self-seeking, self-serving, and all of that, to becoming a loving and kind and generous people.

So that is a second great lesson of the Feast of Pentecost, that God expects us to be a sharing and caring and generous people. You might ask yourself, what is the first of the fruit of God's Spirit that's listed there in Galatians 5? What is it? It's love. It's love, outgoing concern for others. True, outgoing love. That is the first evidence of God's Spirit at work in our lives, changing us from the inside out. So we are not to come to God to give thanks and at the same time not be willing to give anything to others who do not have what we have.

And of course, one of the most precious things that we can share is the wonderful truth that God has given to us. And we do that through our offerings on the Holy Days. We just gave an offering here, which is one way of showing how much we value what God has given us. How much we value that precious truth and that hope in His Spirit here. And of course, that does not negate giving in other ways as well.

We should certainly be doing that as well to those who are in need when we have the means and the opportunity to do so. So this is the second lesson that we should learn from Pentecost that God expects us to be a sharing and caring and generous people. So what other lessons can we learn from Pentecost?

The next two sections will be a bit longer here. We've likely all heard that according to Jewish tradition and teaching that the Ten Commandments were given to Moses and the Israelites on the Feast of Pentecost. But you can read through the Bible cover to cover and you won't find that explicitly spelled out there. It doesn't mean it did happen, it doesn't mean it didn't happen. It just does not say for sure here. So did God give the Ten Commandments on the Feast of Pentecost? This does go far back in Jewish history. We know from history, for example, that the community of Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered near the shores of the Dead Sea there, they specifically taught that Pentecost was the very day that the Ten Commandments were given at Mount Sinai. It doesn't prove it, but it is one of the historical arguments that this may have been the case. We also know from the Book of Jubilees. It's one of the books of the Apocrypha, historical book. But it does tell us that a large segment of Jews celebrated the Day of Pentecost as a commemoration of the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites. Again, this doesn't prove it, but it is part of the historical evidence that this was a strong tradition going back to before the time of Jesus Christ when the Book of Jubilees was written. Now last, and the last that I'll cover, there are actually a number of other things we don't have time to talk about, but maybe the most significant of all were what were called the Temple readings. And what this is referring to is on the Holy Days, particularly like Pentecost as we're observing today, there would be specific readings from sections of Scripture that would be read on the Holy Days that the priests and the Levites thought that were pertinent to the meaning of the particular Holy Day. And these were very specific. And this is fascinating because what is included in the passage is to be read on the Day of Pentecost among the sections of Scripture. And there were readings from Ezekiel, there were readings from Habakkuk, I believe, and also a very significant part here, Exodus chapters 19 and 20.

What are chapters 19 and 20 of Exodus about? It's about the giving of the Ten Commandments there at Mount Sinai there. Of course, Exodus 20 is the chapter that lists the Ten Commandments there. So why did these people, from when the temple was rebuilt, about 500 BC approximately, and the temple readings were instituted apparently at that time, why did they always read the story of the giving of the Ten Commandments on Pentecost? Again, going back to 500 BC. Well, the answer is that obviously they thought there was a connection between the giving of the Ten Commandments and the Feast of Pentecost. Again, going back to 500 BC. So we see here a very strong historical tradition that the Ten Commandments were given on the Feast of Pentecost. Again, we do not know it for sure. Scripture does not say explicitly that. But we do know that the people of Jesus Christ Day celebrated Pentecost, first of all, to thank God for the wheat harvest, as we talked about, but also to thank God for Torah, for giving of the law to the Israelites. So whether the Ten Commandments were or were not given on Pentecost, they sure thought and sure taught that that was the case. Now, is there evidence from Acts 2, and let's turn over there, Acts 2, the story of Pentecost, that gives us any indication about that? Let's turn there to Acts 2, and you might put a marker there in your Bible because we'll be flipping back and forth here for the remainder of the sermon. There are some fascinating details there that I think tell us quite a profound story. Things that we probably have not considered or certainly paid as much attention to as we should have here. So let's read about the fulfillment of Pentecost as it unfolds here in Acts 2. Let's go back a little bit and set the stage for this here. We know that Jesus Christ died on Passover. He was crucified at the time that the Passover lambs were being slain at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. He was buried on the tomb just before sundown, before the first holy day began. Then he was raised somewhere near sundown at the end of the weekly Sabbath during that particular week. Then he was accepted by God the following day on the day that the wave sheaf was offered there. Again, Mr. McMaster covered that very thoroughly in his sermon yesterday. After this, we read from Acts 1 that 40 days later he ascended to heaven there in the sight of the disciples. Before he ascended, he sent his disciples, told them to stay in Jerusalem where they would receive Ruach HaQodesh, the Holy Spirit. A phrase frequently found in the Old Testament and meaning, literally, Holy Wind. Holy Wind, or the Wind of God, as it was called. Hebrew is a language that doesn't have a large vocabulary, so a lot of times you'll find in Hebrew that one word has many multiple meanings. Ruach, the Hebrew word for wind, also means spirit. It also means breath. You might think when Jesus Christ breathed on the disciples, he went, receive you the Holy Spirit. This was before, well before Pentecost there, but he is, in a sense, using that same connotation of breath and wind to convey that they would receive the Holy Spirit there. So we do see a very clear connection between wind and the fulfillment of Pentecost and the giving of the Holy Spirit here in Acts 2. Beginning in Acts 2, verse 1, When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, and what was the sound? It was the sound of a rushing, mighty wind.

It was a huge wind there, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. So they are all in one place, and they hear the sound of a rushing, mighty wind. You might think of a hurricane or some of the tornadoes. It is entering the word whirlwind that is used a number of times in the Bible as apparently the same word for tornado there. There, God at times manifested himself as a tornado. You might think of Elijah at Mount Sinai when he was there, and God comes and speaks to him. One of the ways he manifested himself was in a whirlwind, or a tornado there. So this sound, like a rushing, mighty wind, fills the place where they were. Now in Acts 1, again, we read that Jesus had told them to wait in Jerusalem to receive the Holy Wind.

The Holy Wind, as they would have thought about it. So they are waiting for the Holy Wind, the wind of God. And wouldn't you expect that the Holy Wind would come with the sound of wind? And that's exactly what happens here. But notice also, it's just the sound of wind. It's not the actual wind itself, because think what would happen if we had a hurricane in this room right here. Or a tornado. It would be very destructive, very harmful. People would be hurt. They would be injured. So it is the sound of wind, and not the wind itself. I find that quite remarkable there. So it seems logical that, since Christ was crucified on a Passover, he was buried before the first Holy Day, he was raised on the weekly Sabbath, and then he was accepted on the Sunday, which was the wave-sheaf offering. And they are told to wait there in Jerusalem to receive the Holy Spirit, that just maybe they were anticipating something that would happen on the next significant day in God's holy calendar, which is Pentecost, the day of Pentecost here. But whether they were or not, what is really fascinating is that on that day in the temple, again, there were temple readings. And the service began that day with the readings. And we don't know the order in which they were read, but we do know that among the readings were some from the book of Ezekiel, as well as Exodus 19 and 20, and from the book of Habakkuk. But picture this. Disciples are gathered together, and in the temple, the readings began. It's one of the pilgrimage feasts. About a million people are gathered there around the temple. The temple, I've shown pictures of it in various Bible studies before, and it's a huge, huge complex. This temple out there in Jerusalem covers about 30 acres, about 1,200 feet by about 900 feet. Huge plazas packed with people there on this day of Pentecost to hear the temple readings.

And the priest stands up in a very dignified voice, and he begins to read. Could he have begun reading since we know he read from the book of Ezekiel? Could he have been reading from Ezekiel 1 and verse 4? You don't have to turn there, but this is where Ezekiel describes God coming down and appearing before him. And perhaps the priest is beginning to read, and he says, Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself. And I wonder if that is the point at which the temple is filled with the sound of wind.

And fire appears.

And he's reading this from Ezekiel 1 and verse 4. You know, it doesn't change why we read there in Pentecost. I'm not saying this is what happened, but isn't it just incredible, if that's the way, if that is the time that God sent his Holy Spirit, when the priest is reading about God appearing in the form of a whirlwind and fire, appearing to Ezekiel at that time. Just amazing! It just gives me goosebumps to think about that. The way God works out some of these things here. Isn't it just like our great God to send his Holy Spirit, this great wind, at a very time when the priest would be reading from Ezekiel about God appearing in the form of a whirlwind and fire? It's just like our great God to do something like that. Notice what happens next here in Acts 2 and verse 2. Again, Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as though a rushing, mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire. And one sat on each of them. And notice the significance of fire here. We just read about there from Ezekiel 1.4, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself. Now, if you look back to some of the significant events when God came down to be among his people, how did he manifest himself? He manifested himself as fire.

The first time was when God came down on Mount Sinai. You don't have to turn there, but you could write down in your notes Exodus 19 and verse 18. Exodus 19, 18. It says, now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, for the eternal descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.

So this tells us that God descended upon it in a fire.

Another significant time we find, again, we won't turn there, but 2 Chronicles 7 and verse 1. 2 Chronicles 7 and verse 1. And this is where Solomon has built the great and magnificent temple to God there. And Solomon is dedicating the temple, and he finishes his prayer. And it says here, 2 Chronicles 7 and verse 1, When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and its sacrifices, and the glory of the eternal filled the temple.

Just imagine this. This beautiful, beautiful temple. Apparently the most beautiful temple, beautiful building in the world in its day. And all the Israelites are there watching and waiting, and watching their king give his prayers here for the dedication of the temple. And suddenly out of the sky comes fire, and it fills the courts of the temple there.

And here, now in Acts 2, what do we see?

God is coming, and fire appears. It seems here that the links between Mount Sinai and God coming down and fire there, and the connection with Pentecost of God manifesting himself or his spirit, is fire unmistakable. It seems that God is drawing a very, very clear connection here. There's another remarkable connection between the events that happen in Mount Sinai and Pentecost. There's actually a number of them that I don't have time to go into. I'd like to give you another one. Do you remember what happened when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments? What happened while he was gone up on the mountain and he did not return when the people thought he would? Remember the story. What happens? When the cats away, the mice will play. The Israelites took their gold jewelry, and they gave it to Aaron, and he fashioned a golden calf out of that. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, what did he find? He found the Israelites dancing and cavorting around the calf and probably doing other unmentionable things as well. Moses threw down the two tablets containing the commandments and broke them. Interesting side point. This was an ancient way of saying this covenant is broken. A covenant would be written on tablets, and if you threw it down and broke it, it meant that covenant was broken. And that's what it meant here as well.

So what happens? Moses comes down and finds these people committing these abominations with a calf, and what does he do? He tells the Levites to strap on their swords, and away they went. Do you remember how many people died that day?

Anybody remember?

3,000. 3,000 people died that day. Yes, there were other plagues in which other numbers died, but 3,000 died on that day when Moses came down with the Ten Commandments there. Now let's move forward again to Acts 2. Acts 2, there's the sound of a rushing mighty wind, and fire appears, and descends on the people who are gathered there, and they begin speaking in other languages. And suddenly, where this little community of the followers of Jesus Christ numbered about a hundred, now there are several thousand who believe and are baptized that day. How many?

3,000.

3,000 die at Mount Sinai. 3,000 are given life on that Pentecost there in Acts 2.

God is telling us here, something here. He's giving us an obvious connection between Mount Sinai. It could have been 2,900 at Mount Sinai, it could have been 3,100 at Pentecost. No. 3,000 and 3,000. Our God is a great God, a God of details, a God who plans and does everything perfectly to give us that kind of details there. And unless you believe in a God of pure coincidence, that's just an amazing thing. This argues again very, very strongly there is a connection between the Ten Commandments being given and the Day of Pentecost there. I think it's unmistakable if you go through and read and think about these details here, the same manifestations there of God coming down in fire. 3,000 killed and 3,000 saved there. God does not do things randomly. He doesn't do things by chance. Everything He does is by His purpose and His plan. And it's all spelled out beautifully and wonderfully thought out. So again, I think it's unmistakable that God is drawing a connection here between Mount Sinai and the Pentecost of Acts 2. He seems to be clearly saying that what Mount Sinai was to the Israelites and the importance of giving them the Law and the Ten Commandments, that Pentecost and the giving of His Spirit, that's how important it is to a Christian today here. That as the Ten Commandments were to ancient Israel, so is God's Spirit to us today as Christians. And it's all right there for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. So what's the lesson we can draw from this? Well, you could draw a number of them, but I'll sum it up. Let's turn back to Jeremiah 31 and 31.

And I would sum up the primary lesson to learn from this, is that at Mount Sinai God wrote the Law on tablets of stone, and through the miracle of Pentecost He writes His Law on our hearts. And we read this here in Jeremiah 31, 31 about what God's Spirit would do for His people.

And you might also write down Hebrews 8 and verses 8 through 10, where this is quoted directly here. So again, a third great lesson of Pentecost is that at Mount Sinai God wrote the Law on tablets of stone, and through the miracle of Pentecost and His Holy Spirit He writes the Law on our hearts.

We have one more lesson that we'll cover today about Pentecost. This will take a little time here because we need to get quite a bit of the background here. Now we just read here from Acts 2 about the miraculous manifestation of God sending His Holy Spirit on the disciples there. But where did this happen? Where did the disciples experience that fulfillment of fire, and of wind, and of speaking in other languages that they did not know before?

That miracle. There is another great lesson from Pentecost that we can learn if we understand where these events took place. Where did it happen? Can we know? Did you ever think about that? Is there Biblical evidence that can help us see and understand where these events likely took place? Let's first consider where it was not. We have several dozen, perhaps a hundred or more followers of Jesus Christ who are gathered together at this point.

Those of you who have been to Jerusalem before, you've probably seen some of the excavations taking place there and seen the foundation, some of the walls of some of the houses dating back to Jesus Christ's day. And they're not all that big. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to get several dozen to a hundred, hundred and twenty people together in one room for a meeting place like that. You might think of your home.

How many people could you cram in? Could you cram in several dozens to a hundred or more people in your house? And their houses at that time were considerably smaller than ours there. There is one particular mansion, an excavated mansion you can visit in Jerusalem that belonged to a wealthy priestly family there that dates back to the time of Jerusalem's destruction in 70 AD. It's fairly large, but there's no way you could fit a hundred, hundred and twenty people in that house. That's a mansion, a very wealthy place for that time in that day.

So consider, again, trying to fit a hundred, hundred and twenty people into your house. Your house is bigger than the average house there in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was quite crowded at that time. We know from the excavations there. And then there's another factor, too. We know there were 3,000 people who listened and heard and were baptized that day. Now, where in Jerusalem are you going to find room to fit 3,000 people together? I mean, that's the size of a lot of our fisites. If not bigger, where are you going to fit in Jerusalem 3,000 people? There, who are hearing Peter, and who hear and heed and are converted as a result of his sermon there.

Where are you going to find that much room in a cramped city as Jerusalem was at that time? Well, there is evidence in the Bible that can help us sort this out. Let's turn back to Luke 24. Luke 24 and verses 52 and 53.

This is the very ending of Luke's Gospel, the last two verses here. He ends his Gospel by describing the ascension of Jesus Christ up into the sky before the apostles who were gathered there. Then he says this, Luke 24, 52, And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.

So the disciples returned to Jerusalem after Christ's ascension into the sky and to heaven, and they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. This doesn't mean that they were there literally 24 hours a day, 7 days a week there in the temple, praising God. It doesn't mean that, but it does tell us that they spent the predominance of their time, a great deal of time there, at the temple between Christ's ascension and Acts 2, where we read about the day of Pentecost here.

So now let's turn to Acts 2. Remember here that Luke wrote both the Gospel of Luke, which we just quoted from, as well as the Book of Acts. There were a two-volume set, you might say. Luke's Gospel was volume 1, the Book of Acts was volume 2. So one of them picks up, the Book of Acts picks up, where the Gospel of Luke leaves off. So we come to Acts 2, verse 1, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Now where do you suppose that place was? Verse 2, we read this earlier, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing, mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

So here's that miracle again, but it says here they were in the house. But again, the houses in Jerusalem were quite small, just a fraction of the size of this room that we're in today. Very tiny fraction of that. You can look this up yourself, but the Greek word translated house here does not always mean just house, as we would think of house. It has several meanings. I'd like to read what my Greek English dictionary defines this word as meaning.

One, uninhabited house or home. Two, any building, any building whatever. Three, a palace. Four, any dwelling place. Five, the house of God, or the tabernacle. So the basic meaning of this Greek word is a building or structure of any kind. Yes, it can be a house. It's usually translated house, but it doesn't limit it to that particular meaning. It can mean a building of any kind.

Or maybe it does mean house here. It may well be that that word is being used here to refer to the temple. Because the temple was called God's house, or the house of God. In Hebrew, the temple was regularly referred to as the house or house of God. You might write down again, we won't turn there, but 2 Chronicles 6 and verse 2. This is right before where we read earlier here, where Solomon has built the temple.

2 Chronicles 6, 2. And what does Solomon say when he has built the temple? He says, I have surely built you, capital Y, you God, an exalted house. In the King James version, you can go through and read this throughout this chapter, 2 Chronicles 6 and 7. The word temple doesn't show up there. It's always called the house, the house of God.

They recognize that the Hebrew word too can mean house or can mean temple there. To this day, many Jews refer to the temple as Har Abit, or the mountain of the house, or the mountain of the house of the Eternal. And we actually see this in New Testament times as well there. We won't turn there, but Acts 7 and verse 47. This is a story of where Stephen is defending himself before the priests, and he goes through and recounts the story of the Israelites, their interactions and their rebellions against God. And he comes to the part where Solomon is building the temple, and he says, in Acts 7, verse 47, Solomon built God a house.

He built God a house. You might also remember that when Jesus Christ cleanses the temple of the money changers and the merchants who are there ripping off the people. And what does he say? Probably remember this by heart. My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. So we see that's Matthew 21 and verse 13. So Jesus Christ himself referred to the temple as his house. His house there. So let's continue reading here in Acts 2. Acts 2. Do you suppose that the house that they were in is the temple?

They'd been spending a lot of time there, as we read from the last two verses of the Gospel of Luke. Verse 3 of Acts 2. Then there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now let's ask a question. We have Peter and the other apostles who've been there waiting, according to Christ's instruction, to wait in Jerusalem to receive the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Wind, the Holy Spirit of God. They've been spending a lot of time there in the temple. What day is this? It's Pentecost. It's Pentecost. Where do God-fearing Jews, especially those who are continually at the temple, where are they going to be on the day of Pentecost? One of the holiest days, one of God's seven holy days of the year, where are they going to be? Where are they going to be? They're going to be at the temple. Not only that, but as we read on in the next few verses, there's a whole crowd of people, thousands of people who are gathered there, many of whom have traveled long distances, hundreds of miles, some as much.

If you read the accounts of where these people are from, some of them have traveled as much as 2,000 miles to be there. And now it's the day of Pentecost. Where are these people going to be on Pentecost morning who have traveled 2,000 miles to be in Jerusalem? They're going to be at the temple. They're not going to be down at Joe's Bar or Crab Jack or something like that.

They're going to be at the temple. That's why they came. That's why they came. They're going to be in the house of God on that day. And what happens next in the story? There's the miracle of the disciples speaking in different languages, at least 15 different languages and dialects. And some people ridicule this, and what do they say? They say they're full of new wine. And what does Peter say? Skipping down to verse 15, notice what Peter says. He says, These men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.

Why this little detail? Why does he toss in the third hour of the day? Third hour of the day is nine o'clock in the morning, the way we would count time. What happened at nine o'clock in the morning? Think back to Christ's crucifixion. He was crucified beginning at nine o'clock in the morning. And he died at three o'clock in the afternoon. What is the significance of those two times? What happened twice a day at the temple?

Anybody? Morning and evening sacrifices. When did the morning and evening sacrifices take place? Nine o'clock in the morning, three o'clock in the afternoon. Peter tells us these things took place at the third hour, at nine o'clock in the morning. Where are God-fearing men who are continually in the temple on one of the holiest days of the year?

Where are they going to be at nine o'clock in the morning? They're going to be at the temple where the sacrifice is taking place. Again, that's where everyone would have been in Jerusalem. The whole city would have been there at that day, at that time, at that day. Again, a million people or more gathered there, according to Josephus, here for this holy day of Pentecost. This entire temple complex was called the Temple Mount or the House of God. It covered an area about 30 acres, about 30 football fields in size, with these huge enormous plazas all around there. The temple itself was actually a fairly small building, probably, I'm guessing, about half the size of this room.

There would have been an inner court around it. That whole area took up maybe three to four acres out of the 30 some odd acres of the entire Temple Mount complex there. This is a very huge place, a very large place. It's filled with all these people. Also, there are colonnades surrounding it on all four sides. Again, I've shown some of these different depictions in Bible studies and so on. You probably remember the porches. They would have been perhaps half the width of this room with huge columns there and a roof over it.

It was sheltered, and people could teach under those porches. Jesus Christ did on a number of occasions there as well. From what we've covered so far, these events could have taken place anywhere in that 30 acres, except within the actual inner court or the temple itself, where only the priests and the Levites could be there. It's possible it took place in these large open plaza areas or under some of these colonnaded porches there, as it's called in the Gospels, where Jesus did some of his teachings.

This gives us a considerably different perspective on these events. If we're used to thinking all this took place in a tiny little house, it gives us a very different perspective on these things. When I read through these events here in Acts and having been to Jerusalem several different times, everything that I read here tells me that this is taking place either very near or at the Temple Mount.

Another little detail that's tossed in here. Peter refers to David's sepulchre, David's tomb there. It says, David is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. David's sepulchre, or tomb, was a very well-known landmark in that time. If you've ever been to Jerusalem or seen some of the photos of the model of Jerusalem of that day, David's tomb was maybe 200 yards away from the Temple Mount, something like that.

A very significant landmark. And anybody going up to the Temple, going to or from the Temple, would have looked up on the hill and saw David's tomb up there. They passed it every day, on their way to and from the Temple. I think this is another reference to tell us that when Peter is referring to David's sepulchre, that everybody there, oh yeah, it's just right down the street here.

They all knew that. There, again, they saw it every day. So I think what is being described here is that the apostles are somewhere within this temple complex when suddenly the whole place again is filled with a rushing of a mighty wind. A hurricane or tornado-like wind, and fire appears. And the fire divides and it descends on the men and the women who were gathered there that day.

Something else to consider, too, that I think is evidence that this took place at the Temple. Archaeologists, since the 67 war and the Israelis recapturing Jerusalem, have done a lot of excavating around two sides of the Temple, on the southern side and on the western side. You can't excavate to the north because that's the Muslim Quarter, and you'll start a war if you dig there. You can't excavate on the eastern side because it's the Kidron Valley, and it's very steep and drops off very quickly. But wherever they've excavated on those other two sides, they keep finding one thing over and over and over. And it's a structure called a mikvot. Or mikvah, I should say. Mikvot is plural. And it was a place to ritually wash yourself before you went up to the Temple to appear before God, because you were to appear before Him clean. You might think of a structure about the size of your average jacuzzi or something like that. If you have steps, it would go down. It would be anywhere from four, five, six feet deep. And you would walk down, and you would rinse yourself, and then you would be ritually cleansed to go up to appear before God clean and pure there. So again, there's literally dozens of these that are found all around the Temple Mount there, wherever they excavate. And again, if you go there, if you know what you're looking for, you can see these everywhere. You just look for a small structure with steps leading down into it there, because they would be filled with water. And that's where you would rinse and figuratively wash away your sins before ascending to the Temple. Now, where do you suppose, and if you've been to Jerusalem, you know Jerusalem is a very dry city with no sources of fresh water anywhere nearby. Where do you suppose you're going to find sufficient water and sufficient space in a short period of time, one day, to baptize 3,000 people? There are no rivers anywhere nearby, no lakes, no ponds. There are a few pools for water drinking and that sort of thing. To me, the only logical place and the solution for where all of these people are baptized are the mikvos. Again, there are dozens of them. There are several quite large ones, larger than this stage, where literally dozens of people could come and walk down the steps and immerse themselves all at once there. So I think the only logical way that this happens is that the apostles are using some of these dozens of mikvos surrounding the Temple Mount to baptize the 3,000 people on that day. There's simply no other source of water to do it. Yeah, you could hike down to the Siloam Pool, but it's about a half a mile on a pretty long trek down there. That was a drinking water source, so I don't think they're going to baptize all the people in the city's drinking water supply there. But I do think it's obvious from this that this all fits perfectly well together and makes sense that they would have baptized the people in the mikvos. And what did the mikvos represent? It represented coming and rinsing yourself and washing away your sins before you ascended the Temple Mount to worship God. So the symbolism ties in perfectly with baptism. Ties in perfectly there. But that's not the point I want to leave you with. That's the background for the point I want to leave you with. This is all evidence leading up to the point. And the point that I want to leave you with is that it seems obvious that Pentecost happened at the Temple. But what does that mean? What does that mean for us? What kind of lesson should we draw from that? What did the Temple represent?

The Temple from the beginning was viewed as the place where God lived.

First, there was the Ark of the Covenant that was created during the wilderness wanderings there. What was the Ark of the Covenant also called? It's called the Mercy Seat. It represented God's throne. It represented where God sat. And there was the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle where God's symbolic throne was placed. It was viewed as where God lived.

Later, Solomon builds the Temple in Jerusalem. And as we've talked about, the presence of God came down and fired and it filled the whole Temple and the Temple courts. God was there.

Later, the Babylonians destroyed that Temple and destroyed Jerusalem. But the Jews returned and built another Temple. And later, Herod the Great built a bigger and better Temple that existed in Jesus Christ's day.

A bigger and better one there. And anyone in the whole world could travel 2,000 miles and come to that Temple. They could come to Jerusalem. They could climb the steps to ascend the Temple Mount. And they could go to the Temple and they could stand before it and say, that is where God lives. And their children, they could bring their sons and their daughters and bring them there to teach them about their faith. And they could say, son, that Temple is where God lives.

That's where God lives. Inside that building is God. And that's the way people viewed it there in Jesus Christ's time. Again, even Jesus Christ referred to it as His house. A house is where somebody lives. It was viewed as where God lives. Yes, we know that God is everywhere, but the Temple was God's address. That was His address. Look back in Acts 2 and verse 3 one more time. The disciples, the faithful followers of Jesus Christ, that tiny band of Talmadim who are there, maybe a hundred or so. And what happens? They are here and suddenly there's the sound of wind, a mighty wind, a hurricane, a tornado that fills this building or this house, perhaps this whole temple complex, the size of 30 football fields. And verse 3, And again, fires we saw earlier represented the presence of God at Mount Sinai when He descended in fire and at the dedication of Solomon's Temple when He came as fire and filled the temple and the courts there. That meant that God Himself was there. And where in Acts 2 does the fire go?

The fire divides into tongues and it says here, And one sat upon each of them, on each of the disciples, on each of the men and the women gathered there. What is this telling us about Pentecost and the meaning of this Holy Day? Again, we read earlier that God appeared as fire at Mount Sinai and at the dedication of Solomon's Temple. And now fire representing God comes again. And where does it go? It goes to God's people. What this is telling us here is that God changed His address. He changed His address. He was no longer in the temple. And in this great unbelievable miracle of grace and love, He said, I'm leaving this beautiful temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, renowned throughout the world for its beauty, this beautiful marble building, trimmed with gold inside and out. And He says, I'd rather live there.

I'd rather live there. And He moved into those men and women of the church gathered there that day. And they became the temple of the Holy Spirit.

You might turn to 1 Corinthians 3 in verse 16. 1 Corinthians 3 in verse 16. What does this mean?

If you are a Christian led by God's Spirit, where does God live today?

He lives in you.

As it says here in 1 Corinthians 3 in verse 16, do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you? God has decided that out of all the places in the world, not just the world, all the places in the universe, this great and vast and incredible universe, He decided to live in you.

Through His Spirit is depicted by this day.

And if this world is going to know the presence of God, one of the ways that they will know and to see God is to see Him in you.

To see Him in you. You are to this world what the temple was in Christ's day and before that. And that is what Pentecost means. God does not dwell in a temple made with human hands. He dwells in us through His Spirit. And the world desperately needs to know what God is like. And you're it! You're it! We don't deserve to be God's temple, certainly. And as Isaiah said, God does not dwell in a temple made with human hands. But God has chosen to live with us, and in us, and through us by His Spirit. We're not used to thinking that way, but we need to understand and hope that the world will see the presence of God. And you and me, as Mr. Lee referred to in his sermonette, you are the light of the world. You are the light of the world, and that is what this gift of His Spirit is given to us as represented by this Feast of Pentecost means. It means that God has left the temple, and He's come to us, to you, and to me, to live within us. And that is the greatest of these lessons of the Feast of Pentecost.

Thank you.