The Power of the Holy Spirit in Pentecost

The Meaning of Pentecost in the Old Testament

The presentation of the firstfruits and the firstborn Numbers 28:26

The first of everything including crops, domestic animals and children were to be presented to God Ex 13:2;22:29-30

The first barley sheaf (the first ripened crop of the season) was offered during the Days of Unleavened as the Wave Sheaf offering Lev 23:10.  The next ripening crop was the wheat crop. It was offered at the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost Lev 23:17, Exodus 34:22. Note: there was also a final crop in the fall that would be brought before God during the Feast of Tabernacles.

Offering of the first fruits was a symbolic act of thanks toward God and acknowledgment of His blessings- Deut 26:1-10

Pentecost in the New Testament

Our understanding of Pentecost and its meaning comes partly from a re-interpretation of the Old Covenant meaning and partly from the recorded events of Pentecost A.D. 31 found in Acts 2. Like the Passover, the new meaning of Pentecost is portrayed in what Christ and the disciples did and said.

The Timing of the Holy Spirit

Acts 2:1 “when Pentecost came”… “when Pentecost had fully come” – the wording here in the Greek is apparently bit awkward. Luke purposefully used a turn of phrase that makes the point that the events of Acts 2 happened during the Feast of Pentecost, not just after or just before, but in the midst of the Pentecost celebrations.

Acts 1:3-8 Jesus had given them specific instructions to wait until a very specific time in a pre-planned location. At that time and in that place they would receive the Holy Spirit. They had all been baptized and come up out of the water but none of them had received the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands. Jesus never performed what we know and consider the next logical step after coming up out of the water… instead, He was going to put on a display of His power at a specific time… to make an important point about the meaning of these events (actually multiple important points).

… That time pre-appointed time was the Feast of Weeks, The Feast of the Harvest, The Day of the First Fruits.

Just as Jesus was sacrificed at the exact time as the Passover lamb to drive home the point that He was the redeeming sacrifice… Just as rose from the dead and showed Himself as the Wave Sheaf on the morrow after the Sabbath to show He was the first of the first fruits… NOW He would publically reveal those who were called to be among the first fruits God’s harvest and the first to be born into His Holy family.

Personal Question: why don’t other people get Pentecost? Even those who accept the Sabbath often reject the Annual Feast Days because they consider them to be “Old Testament” yet they buy into the profoundly “Old Testament” Passover… Even non-sabbath keepers kind of buy into the Passover although they generally do it at a time of their own choosing rather than Gods clear instruction… communion, Good Friday etc.

Why? Because Passover (Lord's supper) is so obviously full of meaning and great importance in salvation history it cannot be ignored. But isn’t Pentecost also full of explicit and obvious meaning for anyone who considers themselves a follower of Christ?

Why Pour Out the Holy Spirit on the Day of First Fruits?

Because, as I alluded to regarding baptism… it’s the next logical step in the plan of redemption and salvation from the futility of death. To be transformed and brought into the family of God.

Step 1. The people have to be redeemed from the death penalty their Sin has brought them. But simply redeeming them from sin serves no purpose in and of itself. Elaborate… no tree of life etc.

Step 2. The redeemed people have to be changed into something different from what they were before. TO stay the same would just lead to death again. Redeemed people need to be transformed in their mind and heart through the power of the Holy Spirit. Then they can be transformed from corruptible flesh to spirit being. This transformation (in both cases) is accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Days Help Us Understand the Plan

By timing these very real events with the specific Annual Sabbaths/Feast Days that foreshadow them both the participants and the observers could more easily recognize and accept the reality of salvation that was taking place before their eyes. The same is true for us today.

The Holy Days are somewhat prophetic in that they look forward to future events, some fulfilled and some not. The coincidence of the real historic even with the annual fast day is a miracle… since who else but God could control the history of mankind that the historic event of say Jesus death on Passover or the outpouring of the spirit on the Feast of First Fruits would happen on the exact holy day they need to fulfill and picture the next step in God’s plan?  

James 1:18 this, in turn, helps us understand the concept of a first and then a second resurrection. There is a first harvest in the spring and then a final (larger) harvest in the fall.

The miraculous timing evident at Pentecost 31 A.D. was a God-given sign to everyone there… These disciples, followers of Jesus… they are the ones I consider to be a sort of first fruits to be born into my family… before I spoke through my son Jesus… now I speak to you through them… and to make it so I am filling them with my own power, the power of my Holy Spirit.

There was Wind, Fire, Preaching in foreign tongues… and something that had been missing up to this point. Courage & Conviction. Before, the disciples had run away when the going got tough. Now, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, they were ready to face the world.

Who Poured Out the Holy Spirit?

Acts 2:32-33 – after His ascension Christ was exalted to His position of supreme power and dignity by being seated at the right hand of the Father.

The enthronement of the Christ is a significant part of Peter’s first Pentecost sermon. He goes through some prophetic material from the Psalms regarding the enthronement of the Holy One of Israel showing how these prophecies of kingship and sitting at the right hand of the Father are fulfilled in Christ. Peter ends his sermon on that note: verses 34-36

From other scriptures, we know that Jesus was resurrected and continued to speak and teach the disciples for 40 days. After which He ascended to the heavens and took His place at the right hand of God on a throne Acts 1:9, Mark 16:19, Hebrews 1:8.

Note: This enthronement either happened in the 10 days prior to Pentecost or on Pentecost itself… we don’t know for sure. But given what we noted earlier about timing of real events in heaven and on earth with the Holy Days and given the content of Peter’s Pentecost sermon… Pentecost 31 A.D. is a possibility.

What is Jesus Doing in Heaven?

Is He taking a break? Is He resting up from the stress of living and dying and resurrection so He’s fit and ready for the second coming.

Pentecost 31 A.D. clearly marks a new phase in the work of Christ. In the flesh, Jesus worked out a ministry of redemption and reconciliation. But now, having returned to the glory and power He had formerly given up… having taken up His position of honor at the Father’s right hand… Christ begins what I am going to call a “ministry of intercession”. From this point forward He works to help people like you and me fulfill our destiny to become transformed by the renewing of our mind with the end goal of become sons of God (which also means the renewing of our bodies).

Hebrews 7:23-25 His intercession is the process of completing the work He began in you/us through His redeeming sacrifice… read through to Hebrews 8:1

The first work of Christ now that He is once again filled with glory, honor and supreme power and seated at the right hand of majesty is to pour out that power upon the first fruits, the church, the called, the believers. And He does this on the very day of Pentecost.

Christ’s Ongoing Intercessory Ministry

So Christ is not taking a breather… and His work does not end with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Christ continues His work of bringing many sons to glory, changing the hearts and minds of those called by the Father. Here are a few quick points I came up with regarding other facets of His ongoing work:

• Walks in the midst of the Church sustaining, exhorting and disciplining it—Rev 1: 20-2:1
• Mediates repentance and forgiveness to believers—Acts 5:31, I John 1:9; 2:1-2, I Tim 2:5, Heb 8:6
• Makes Prayers acceptable to God—John 16:23-24
• Provides angelic assistance—Hebrews 1:14, Rev 5:6
• Sends forth the Power of the Holy Spirit! Acts 2:33

Let’s take a deeper look at the last point…

The Power of Conviction & Courage

We noted earlier how the church through the Power of the Holy Spirit is given the conviction and the courage to speak the gospel. This same power is at work within each and every one of you (or can be)… helping you to understand the truth, convicting you of need to live by the truth, and filling you with the power to make it happen… if you choose to follow.

John 16:8-13

The Power of the Holy Spirit at work in you to Overcome

The Holy Spirit does not do the work of overcoming for you but it does give you the necessary power, weapons, tools, helps you spot the enemy, plan you attack or defense etc. You have to supply the will and the faith.

• II Cor 10:4 – divine power to overcome, be transformed
• Col 1:10-23

The Power of the Holy Spirit (Life Over Death)

The good news is that death is not the end. There’s more in store if you want to be a part of it. The power of the Holy Spirit keeps that hope before us keeping us moving forward.

• I Cor 6:14 – confidence in His power to raise you from the dead, II Cor 13:4
• Colossians 2:12 – God did it for Jesus He can do it for you
• Phil 3:20-21 – raised to spirit beings (see also I Cor 15:37-58)
• Romans 8:23-24
• Romans 15:13 so that you might have something to hope for

Pray for the Power of the Holy Spirit to be working in you (and others)

If you look at the prayers of Jesus and also of Paul, at least what examples we have in scripture, a big part of their intercession was that others might experience the power of the Holy Spirit.

I would like to propose that we make it our personal goal between now and the next Holy Day to take this example of what the scripture teaches about prayer and incorporate it into our prayers for others, for ourselves, for our congregation and for the entire church of God.

• Eph 1:18-20
• Eph 3:16-21
• II Thess 1:9-11

May you all experience the power of the Holy Spirit in your lives to believe, to be transformed, and to move toward the hope that God our Father has laid before us... to enter into His family in glory and power.