The Pentecost Celebration in the Bible

The Pentecost celebration marks the day God poured out His Holy Spirit upon the church, fulfilling the promise of Christ and launching the worldwide proclamation of the gospel. The feast itself had ancient roots in Israel's harvest calendar. Under the Law the people were to count from Passover: "And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath... seven sabbaths shall be complete" (LEV.23.15), and "even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days" (LEV.23.16) — hence the name Pentecost, meaning fiftieth. What began as a celebration of firstfruits became, in the New Testament, the day of the Spirit's coming and the firstfruits of a vast spiritual harvest. The events of that day are described with vivid power in Acts 2. "When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place" (ACT.2.1). Suddenly "there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting" (ACT.2.2). Then "there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them" (ACT.2.3), and "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (ACT.2.4). Wind, fire, and many languages signaled that God was forming a new people for Himself, gathered from every nation. Peter then preached, and the celebration became a great ingathering of souls. He called the crowd, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (ACT.2.38). The response was astonishing: "they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls" (ACT.2.41). For believers, the Pentecost celebration is therefore a remembrance of the Spirit's empowering presence, the birth of the church in its mission, and a call to continue proclaiming repentance and forgiveness in the name of Jesus until the harvest is complete.