– The Spirit’s Inscription on Believing Hearts
Our nation accommodates multiple interests. As a result, official calendars are crammed with holidays and observances. A few holidays merit a day off from work, while others are a nod to trends or silly notions (i.e. who celebrates popsicle flavors on separate days?).
Unlike almost any other holiday on public lists, Pentecost, aka Shavuot/Feast of Weeks has thousands of years of vibrant history in both Christianity and Judaism. According to Exodus 23:15, Exodus 34:22, Leviticus 23:15–22 and Deuteronomy 16:9, Pentecost is inextricably tied to 50 days after Passover and is always celebrated on a Sunday. According to Scripture, Jewish men were required to celebrate three holidays in the Jerusalem temple — Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles. Hence, Jews from all over the world (not just local farmers) were gathered there as events unfolded early in the day, (Acts 2:13-15).
In addition to being the festival celebrating the second “first fruits” harvest while in the Promised Land, certain scholars** have linked Pentecost to the time God supernaturally gave the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. Long after the Sinai event, when the people of Israel and Judah were forced to leave the Promised Land during their deportation to Babylon, the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Ezekiel 11:16-21 and Ezekiel 36:24-27) spoke pointedly about a New Covenant that would be written on the hearts of future Israelites after they returned to the Promised Land.
“Indeed, a time is coming,” says the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them,” says the LORD. “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land,” says the LORD. “I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Jeremiah 31:31-33 NET
As recorded in Acts 1, Jesus spoke this to his disciples just prior to Pentecost and before ascending to heaven.
While he was with them, he declared, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait there for what my Father promised, which you heard about from me. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Acts 1:4-5 NET
As the disciples obediently waited, the Father fulfilled the words of Jeremiah and Jesus with his fiery, supernatural power from heaven (resembling his activity on Sinai) as he baptized/permeated/filled the hearts and voices of those disciples with his Holy Spirit.
Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like a violent wind blowing came from heaven and filled the entire house where they were sitting. And tongues spreading out like a fire appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2:1-4 NET
Hebrews 8 repeats the prophecy of Jeremiah, establishing Jesus and the indwelling Holy Spirit as the promised fulfillment of the New Covenant and therefore, Pentecost.
Presently, when we observe Pentecost, we no longer bring grain offerings, newly harvested from an earthly Promised Land. Instead, we commemorate being his spiritual first fruits — those who have the heavenly gift of the Holy Spirit inscribed on our hearts. We are thus empowered to walk in the way of Jesus, celebrating his abundant spiritual harvest.
** Moshe Weinfield on Pentecost as a Festival of Giving the Law and the Book of Jubilees
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