The Significance of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21)
One of the most forgotten days in the Christian calendar is Pentecost and more often than not, Christians do not place emphasis and celebrate it like Christmas, Good Friday or Easter Sunday. The purpose of this message is to show us the significance of Pentecost – Jesus is both Lord and Christ, and that he has poured out the Spirit to empower his church – Peter has 3 essential points to his sermon:
1. What they are experiencing is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
2. Jesus is the Christ
3. Jesus is Lord
Today’s message will be covering briefly the narrative of the event that occured at pentecost and Peter’s first main point in his sermon.
Prior to Pentecost having a Christian meaning to it, this day was and still is a Jewish festival known as the Feast of Harvest or Weeks. It was one of the 3 main festivals that all able-bodied males had to observe in the temple in Jerusalem. It was during this event that we find the 120 disciples gathered in Jerusalem.
The event at Pentecost was a supernatural event starting with a sound from heaven like a rushing mighty wind, loud enough to draw a large crowd around. There appeared also tongues of fire that were resting on the disciples that were there they were without exception filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues.
The representation of tongues of fire is quite an interesting one. In the immediate context, the symbol of tongues was used because the disciples began to speak in the native languages and dialects of the Jews who were scattered all over the various nations. This did cause confusion amongst those who heard their native languages being spoken by the disciples.
The symbol of fire was used because God the Spirit was in their midst and fire was one of the most common visual manifestations of God. This can be seen in the burning bush when God appeared to Moses, God guiding Israel in the form of a pillar of fire at night in the wilderness, God descending upon Mt Sinai when Israel was to receive the Law. So we see God in the presence of the disciples and they had received the gift to speak languages they have not learnt before.
It was against this backdrop that Peter stood up and gave his first sermon to the crowd. We want to see that the coming of the Spirit meant 3 things:
1. A New Day
2. A New Experience
3. A New Twist
The New Day (Joel 2:28-32)
The coming of the Spirit signals a new day or a new era. In v17 it says “in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh”. We should not think of the term “Last days” as referring to something only happening in the future but instead the New Testament writers commonly use that term to describe the period of time that we are currently living in (Heb1:1-2, 1 Pet 1:20). It refers to the final period of time before we reach the end, before we reach the consummation of all history, of God’s kingdom and this is commonly known as the “day of the Lord” when God will visit His people for salvation or judgment. With the coming of the Spirit it signals that we have entered the final stage of redemptive history and we are still waiting for the coming day of the Lord.
The New Experience (Joel 2:28-32)
What is new with the coming of the Spirit is seen in v17 that the Spirit is poured out upon “all flesh”, all of God’s people will have access to and will be filled by the Spirit. Why does everyone in the church have to be filled with the Spirit? So that as a church we can fulfill the mission of carrying the gospel to the ends of the Earth.
In Numbers 11:14, we see Moses complaining to God that he was unable to bear the burdens of the entire nation alone. God intervened and in v24 He filled the 70 elders with His spirit as well. Now even when the 2 of the elders, Eldad and Medad, did not show up in the tabernacle, they were filled with the Spirit too when they were prophesizing in the camp. When Joshua reported the incident to Moses, his response in v29 was a desire that all the Lord’s people had the Spirit upon them. This then became a prophecy by Joel, which was then fulfilled at Pentecost.
Apart from the disciples speaking in tongues after being filled with the Spirit, we should also see that the disciples were declaring the wonderful works of God. The coming of the Spirit enables us to declare how awesome our God is, to declare His wonderful works and how great He is because He has saved us.
The New Twist (Joel 2:28-32)
Finally the coming of the Spirit brings a new twist to an old message. V21 was an old quotation of Joel written hundreds of years ago, a message and call to repentance and to place their faith in God, a message that has been preached for hundreds of years. However, the twist comes in the last line of the verse, specifically “the name of the Lord”. A typical Jew would identify that “Lord” here refers to God. What Peter does in his subsequent points of his sermon is to declare that Jesus is Lord. That the means of salvation is through placing your faith not just in God but specifically in Jesus because He is the Lord that Joel was prophesying about.
Conclusion
Too often we approach this passage and use it as a defensive lens against the teachings of the charismatics and Pentecostals regarding tongues. However, this draws us away from seeing the true significance of this passage. This passage speaks of what Christ has done through the Spirit for His church. Pentecost, as an event, has current significance and lasting power that continues on today. It was that moment in history when God unlocked the power of the Holy Spirit and gave it to His church and this power exists till this day. The coming of the Spirit signaled us entering a New Day with a New Experience with God unlike under the old covenant and it showed us the “New Twist” that Jesus is Lord.
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