The Day of Pentecost

The Day of Pentecost

“Pentecost”  is derived from a Greek word meaning “fiftieth”. It is the name given to a Jewish Festival appointed by Jehovah in Leviticus 23.15-21. “Fiftieth” signifies that it was observed fifty days after the Festival of First Fruits. This Festival was typical of  the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 15.20.

On the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit of God came down from Heaven to Jerusalem, Acts 2.1. There the followers of the Lord Jesus were baptised in the Holy Spirit, Acts 1.5. They were representative of all Christians who are members of the” Body of Christ”, 1 Corinthians 12. 12,13. This is a metaphor of the Church of God. The context and grammar in Greek indicate the baptism in the Spirit was a corporate and one off event. The “filling of the Spirit”, however, is a personal and ongoing experience, Ephesians 5.18-20.

Doctor Luke wrote the  Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. The Bible teacher, Albert Leckie, drew a delightful comparison from these two documents. In the former, we have the birth and thirty or so years of the Lord Jesus’ life on earth. In the latter, we have the birth and thirty or so years of the early Church. In the birth of both the Holy Spirit played a major role, Luke 1.35; Acts 2.4.

The Church, then,  began on the Day of Pentecost and be completed at the Rapture, “and so shall we ever be with the Lord”, 1 Thessalonians 4.17.