Acts 2 - Introduction
Acts 2 - Introduction to Pentecost
[1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.]
Verse 1 - “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come”
Before specifically looking at Pentecost, I would like to spend some time studying the other Feasts leading up to Pentecost.
The Jewish Festivals and feasts are marked off on the Jewish calendar. The Jewish calendar is based on both the moon and the sun and is a bit complicated to explain. I think most of us understand that Easter doesn’t come on the same Sunday each year, nor does Passover come on the same day. This is true for the same reasons - they are both based on the phases of the moon and the sun. According to Encyclopedia Britannica:
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The Feasts Leading up to Pentecost
In Colossians, we read, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ (Col. 2:16-17).”
Imagine being outside on a bright, sunny day with Jesus physically standing in front of you. Now imagine glancing down to see Jesus’ shadow being cast on the ground as the sun shines overhead. In light of Colossians 2: 16-17, we can see eternity shining on Christ and casting the shadow of what we read in the Old Testament - its laws, feasts, and festivals. But their true fulfillments are found in Christ.
The Passover:
“Now the LORD spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying: "Let the children of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time. According to all its rites and ceremonies you shall keep it." So Moses told the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover. And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, at twilight, in the Wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did (Numbers 9:1-5).”
On the 14th of Nisan, as the afternoon begins to fade into the evening - this was when the Passover lamb was to be killed. Then it was to be eaten before sunrise on that same day. If we could rewind history some 3500 years, to the first Passover evening, we would see a lamb being killed at the entrance door to each family's house. The blood of that lamb would then be caught by a little ditch at the bottom of the door. This ditch was made to keep rain from seeping into the house. This blood was then applied to both doorposts and also to the top of the door.
In this context, the words of John the Baptist are significant as he saw Jesus coming to him:
“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold!! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)”. So the Passover was fulfilled when the true Passover lamb, Jesus, was sacrificed for us. His blood now protects those who put their trust in him, from God’s righteous judgment of sin (See Hebrews 10:1-18). The Passover was not a meal or a day, it was a lamb. Jesus was that lamb.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread:
Before we consider the Feast of Unleavened Bread, let me set the contextual stage by reading from 1 Corinthians:
“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. (1 Cor. 11:23-26).”
After the killing and eating of the Passover lamb on the 14th, next came a special “high” Sabbath day on the 15th of Nisan. The Passover meal and this special Sabbath started the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This feast lasted seven days (Leviticus 23:6) with one main stipulation - no leaven could be eaten. In fact, there was to be not even a hint of leaven in their homes during that time- “And no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the meat which you sacrifice the first day at twilight remain overnight until morning. (Deut. 16:4).”
Leaven is a type or symbol for sin and decay. Leaven brings on the process of decay, which we call “fermentation”. The keyword here is decay - just like when our bodies waste away with age, leading to death and then our bodies continue to decay, returning to the ground (“dust to dust” Genesis 3:19).
Contrast this to unleavened bread, which is simple and pure. Just add flour & water, then mix and bake - no decay found here.
Perhaps you can see the symbolism found in Christ? Jesus is the pure and sinless Lamb of God, that though dead, rose to eternal glory, with His body never seeing decay.
Jesus was the only pure and sinless man to ever live. All the rest of us have sinned with a debt of judgment that we can never repay. But Jesus took our sin on Himself. This leads us back again to “unleavened bread”, interestingly called - “the bread of affliction”. Jesus was the only one who qualified to be the unleavened bread broken for us.
“You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), that you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life (Deut. 16:3).”
Jesus said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19) By humbly giving of Himself as the sacrificial Lamb of God, He took upon Himself the afflictions meant for us. Isaiah 53:4-5 says:
“4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.”
So as we “take communion”, eating this bread of affliction, we are actually eating the bread of His affliction. It was only the pure sinless breaking of His life that could ever save us. Jesus said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world (John 6:51)."
Let us be continually committed to looking to Jesus for our salvation. We are to only eat His bread of affliction, for there is no other. Jesus is our pure and sinless Unleavened Bread of Life.
I find it interesting that at His Last Supper, Jesus chose to represent His shed blood and broken body with only the simple elements of wine and unleavened bread. He did not choose to use lamb/mutton. There are many theories as to why. I believe it was because there is no longer a need for another lamb to ever be sacrificed. Jesus was the true and final Lamb (Genesis 22:8). So Jesus chose bread and wine because they are common, so as if to say, “Remember Me and My sacrifice every time you eat and drink together.”
The Feast of First Fruits:
Jesus rose the Sunday after the Sabbath (See Lev. 23:11). We should consider this in light of what Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 15:20-23 -
“But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.”
In John 20 Jesus says, “23 But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” (John 20:23-24)
Jesus' resurrection is the first fruit - the first to have risen, and we who have put our trust in Him will also experience this resurrection and will rise to eternal life in the very presence of God. Now we can say with Paul:
“So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?” (1 Cor. 15: 54-55) Praise God and all Glory to Him forever - Yes, literally FOREVER!
I hope you’ve noticed how the Jewish Festivals and feasts truly foreshadow who Jesus is to us. This now brings us to the day of Pentecost and Acts 2:1 -
Pentecost:
Verse 1 - “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come”
At this point, the wheat harvest had been gathered, and it was time to celebrate and give thanks for the gathering of all the harvest, making this a Jewish Thanksgiving Day of sorts. But Shavuoth became more than that, it also had become a time to commemorate the giving of the Torah. The Day of Pentecost seemed to chronologically line up with the time of year that God spoke His Torah to the people of Israel. So we might say this was a birthday party for the giving of the Law. To many, it became a time of remembrance of God’s covenant and promises to His people.
9 “You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain. 10 Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you. 11 You shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. 12 And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes (Deut. 16: 9-12).”
I want to point out a few things concerning this passage:
This was a time of rejoicing for what the Lord had given them (vs. 10).
Everyone, whether servant, stranger, or poor, had something about which to rejoice (vs. 11).
They were to remember that once they were slaves, but now God had set them free (vs. 12).
We praise God for giving us the Law to teach us how much we need Him, but now we also thank God for giving us Himself, both in the flesh of Jesus and in the Spirit of His anointing (#1). And this is for everyone (#2) as we will soon read in Acts 2:17. We were once slaves, but God has now set us free (#3) from the tyranny of sin, death, and the grave!!! Praise God!!
15 “And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. 16 Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. 17 You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven…
20 The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the Lord…
22 ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the Lord your God. ” (Leviticus 23:15- 22)
Shabbat, or what we call the “Sabbath”, has always had great significance and meaning to the Jewish people. In fact, it was and continues to be, their most sacred tradition because on the Seventh-day God rested and commanded that we should also rest.
With the Feast of Weeks “Shavuoth”, we had a “Sabbath’s Sabbath”, meaning that there had been Six Sabbaths and Pentecost is the Seventh Shabbat.
So let me ask you here, might it be significant and meaningful that the Spirit of God is poured out on such a day? We know that our true rest is found in Christ - Hebrews 4:1-3 says, “ Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest…” Brothers and Sisters, this is truly something to consider and celebrate!
It has always been a Jewish tradition to read Psalm 67 on Pentecost because it has only 49 words in Hebrew. I find it interesting to read this Psalm thinking of what we are about to read:
1 God be merciful to us and bless us,
And cause His face to shine upon us, Selah
2 That Your way may be known on earth,
Your salvation among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
4 Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!
For You shall judge the people righteously,
And govern the nations on earth. Selah
5 Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
6 Then the earth shall yield her increase;
God, our own God, shall bless us.
7 God shall bless us,
all the ends of the earth shall fear Him. (Psalm 67)
On the original day of the giving of the Law, we read that about 3000 people lost their lives for not keeping the Law (Exodus 32:28). As mentioned earlier, the giving of the Law is one reason for the celebration of Pentecost - a sort of “Birthday Party” for the giving of the law.
But now consider that Acts 2 is the day the Church was born and a day we continue to celebrate. It’s the “Birthday of the Church” and the Giving of the Holy Spirit. Interestingly, on this New Testament day there were 3000 people saved (Acts 2:41). “... For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Cor. 3:6).” - Coincidence? I don’t think so! This is really quite amazing to me.
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