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Pentecost: the Holy Spirit arrives
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Acts 2:1-13
Pentecost was one of the festivals that Jews observed both in the Old Testament and in the time of Jesus.
Its name came from the Greek word meaning fifty because it occurred fifty days after Passover.
As one of the three major Jewish festivals, along with the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles, Pentecost was a pilgrimage fes-tival, meaning that Jews came to Jerusalem to celebrate during that week.
In the Old Testament, Pentecost was called the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Harvest.
Its meaning appears in four passages (Ex. 23:16; 34:22; Lev. 23:15-22; Deut.
16:9-12).
The festival celebrated the end of the grain harvest, and participants brought a grain offering to the Lord in thankfulness for His provision (Lev. 23:16).
They also offered burnt offerings and refrained from labor (Lev.
23:18-21).
What was the significance of God choosing Pentecost as the day to pour out His Spirit upon those who believed?
The enablement of the Holy Spirit was for the purpose of empowering Christians to be witnesses and to take the gospel to the ends of the earth (Luke 24:49).
Pentecost provided a particularly effective day to pour out God's Spirit upon the believers because crowds had assembled from every nation (
Acts 2:5).
Believers could hear the gospel in their own language that day (vv. 8-12) and take it back home to others.
As crowds swelled in the city, the apostles and other early Christians had a tremendous opportunity to share truths about Christ with those who had come to observe Pentecost.
MORE INSIGHT
Who was in the Upper Room on the day of the Spirit's outpouring at Pentecost?
Though the text does not specifically say, Acts 2:1 probably indicates that the crowd of 120 that gathered in Acts 1:15 were present.
Certainly this crowd included the eleven remaining disciples (Acts 1:13). It is assumed that Matthias, who was soon selected to take Judas's place, was there (Acts 1:23).
Jesus' mother and His brothers were there, as were some of the women who followed Jesus during His ministry (Acts 1:14).
Joseph Barsabas, though not chosen to be an apostle, probably was in the crowd (Acts 1:23).
People from every nation under heaven heard the apostles teach (Acts 2:4-6, 11).
next: Acts 4:5-22