Acts 2 Pentecost

It’s Thanksgiving Day & the aroma of roast turkey fills Charlie Brown’s house.
Snoopy, outside, lying on top of his doghouse, smells that aroma, & he is thinking, “It’s Thanksgiving Day. Everybody eats turkey on Thanksgiving Day.”
So he lies there, watching the back door, eagerly awaiting his Thanksgiving dinner.
Finally, the door opens & here comes Charlie Brown with a bowl of dog food, & he puts it on the ground.
Snoopy gets off his house & stares at the dog food with a forlorn look on his face. And he thinks, “Just because I’m a dog, I have to eat dog food on Thanksgiving Day.”
Then the next square shows him looking at the dog food more intently, & he is thinking, “It could be worse. I could be the turkey.”
Today we turn to the Book of Acts in a special time. We are going to see something big happen in the History of God’s dealings with man on a special day.
This holiday is Pentecost.
I will propose to you that many great Biblical events follow the feasts and holidays of Israel.
Have you ever wondered why God opened the doors of His Church on the day of Pentecost?
Why would God start this work on this day?
What we forget is that the earliest Christians were Jews- for the first few years of the Church the Church is 100 percent Jewish.
They will know the holidays and they will know the significance of these days.
The day of Pentecost in Hebrew is the word Shavout. That would the word that you would have heard in Jerusalem during that time
So we are going to pick up at the end of Acts 1 and going into Chapter 2.
Pentecost was counted from the ending of Passover.
Remember that Jesus crucifixion and passion was during Passover.
Maybe having a good idea of the Jewish Calendar and how Jesus was fulfilling that calendar will make sense to you this morning as we go into Pentecost.
There were seven feasts of the Jews and there are Eight if you counted Hannakuh which is the feast of lights that is celebrated around Christmas.
Passover is the 1st feast of the Jews and it celebrated God’s liberation from Egyptian bondage. Jesus was crucified on the day that the Passover lambs were slaughtered.
Paul tells us in [1 Cor. 5:7]
“Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us."
2nd Feast – Unleavened Bread – (Late March or Early April) Israelites plant grain in the ground and pray for God to bring the harvest. This would happen at the conclusion of Passover.
This would have occurred when Jesus was in the grave on that Saturday or Sabbath.
He was crucified on Friday as the true Passover Lamb and was put in the tomb on Friday.
On Saturday he was in the heart of the earth.
On this very day he was in the earth the Jews were celebrating a time looking forward to a great harvest. They planted expecting God to bring forth a harvest.
3rd Feast – First fruits – (Late March or Early April) This feast celebrates the first fruits of the harvest in the Promised Land. They celebrated the Harvest that God brought forth.
This feast would have been celebrated on that Sunday. On Saturday that celebrate the feast of Unleavened bread by planting grain in the ground but on that Sunday they would celebrate the first fruits.
Remember that is the same Sunday that Jesus was raised. They day Jesus came from the grave the Jews were celebrating the first fruits festival.
Jesus is literally the first fruits of those that will be raised from the dead.
He is God’s advanced sign for what is coming for all of us. Because Jesus was raised from the dead the rest of us have that hope.
4th Feast – Pentecost (Weeks) (Mid to late May)– Celebration of the Law being given and late harvest – second harvest
This would celebrate the Barley Harvest in the land. The second harvest.
2 themes dominate Pentecost – Celebration of the 2nd Harvest or Late harvest and also the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai.
So this morning to understand what the Jews thought about Pentecost we need to know that those two themes will be in held in their minds.
Celebration of the Law given to Moses
Celebration of the 2nd Late Harvest of Barley.
We see in the book Exodus 12 to 19 – We have an elapsing of 50 days between the leaving of Egypt and the Beginning of the Exodus and the arriving at Mount Sinai.
It took them 40 days to arrive and the Law would be given on Day 50 after the Passover began.
This is where we get the term Pentecost.
Pentecost – great celebration – God has given His very word or law at Pentecost.
Mount Sinai was the place where God speaks His will to man in great detail. Before that time God had relationship with some of the Patriarchs like Abraham but with the Law given to Moses God speaks very specific to what He wants.
This will be the very place that God will speak his word to man. This will be the place where God starts trying to reshape fallen humanity back into the image that we were intended to be.
This is the beginning of what some would call God's household rules. God was calling Israel to be His Family – His children.
Exodus 20:18 – Not sound of trumpets – but voice of the trumpets- They saw the voice – Rabbis and Josephus called the voice of God at Sinai as 'tongues of fire'
God said all these words - Decalogue – Literally 10 words – 10 words or ten commandments
The Hebrew of the Exodus account literally states that the Israelites Saw the words of God and to the Hebrews they saw the word of God in the form of fire from the Mountain.
There was a group of Jewish puritans that lived during the 1st century called the Essenes.
The Essenes believed that God would come and purify the Temple with fire on the day of Pentecost.
In Jewish thinking Pentecost was tied together with the idea of God’s fire and presence.
This was part of the Mount Sinai experience.
It is interesting that when the Peter and the apostles just 50 days after the Passover are in the Temple celebrating Passover we see something similar occur.
We see in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost that celebrating the giving of the Law – the Torah – we see the coming Holy Spirit come with power on the Apostles.
At Pentecost the people would enter the Temple through the Southern steps. This is important that we understand the location of this Pentecost account because there 48 Mikveh’s – Baptistries.
Do you think God had a plan – 3000 people will be baptized and God provided a location with tons of baptisteries. 48 baptismal areas capable of full immersion baptism.
The Pentecost story probably happened right there, at the House at 9:00 a.m. when all the worshippers were at the temple for Pentecost.
Peter tells them in Acts 2:15 that it was the third hour when he began to preach – that is 9 AM.
This is significant because at 9 AM is when there would be the most people at the Temple engaged in Prayer.
So you see that God has the right place, and the right timing.
The Pentecost passages are Exodus 19 and 20, Ezekial 1-2, Habakkuk 3, and Ruth.
The Holy Spirit comes down on Pentecost and we compare this to Moses coming down after receiving the Law.
When Moses comes down 3000 disobey, when Holy Spirit comes down 3000 obey.
The language used to describe the Holy Spirit coming upon the apostles and the Upper Room would remind one of the description of Sinai and the fire and noise.
2nd harvest of those that obey – Jesus was the first fruits to come back from the dead but the Holy Spirit will come and make the new Christians at Pentecost the 2nd harvest that is to come.
Hosea 6:11 prophesies that there will be a time of Harvest for God’s people
Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, When I restore the fortunes of My people.
God’s Shekinah came out in fire, just like in the stories.
The very day that the Jews celebrated the giving the Scriptures through the breath of God, Peter and the apostles have a supernatural experience.
Pentecost Sunday –
Acts 2: 1-13
“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance
So three big ideas come flowing out of this account
1) It begins with Redemption – Pentecost cannot come without redemption
The Jewish Pentecost did not come until God lead them out of Egypt – Redemption
But God now redeems us from Sin with Christ’s sacrifice.
Jesus frees us from the slaver from Sin. This is paramount in importance before a day like Pentecost can happen in Acts 2
One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry.
He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door.
Instead of a meal, he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked hungry and so she brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it slowly, and then asked, "How much do I owe you?"
"You don't owe me anything," she replied.
"Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a kindness." He said, "Then I thank you from my heart." As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in God and man was strengthened also.
He had been ready to give up and quit.
Years later, that young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare disease.

Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from, he went down the hall of the hospital to her room.
Dressed in his doctor's gown, he went in to see her. He recognized her at once. He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her life. From that day, he gave special attention to the case.
After a long struggle, the battle was won. Dr. Kelly requested from the business office to pass the final billing to him for approval.
He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge, and the bill was sent to her room. She feared to open it, for she was sure it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all.
Finally she looked, and something caught her attention on the side of the bill. She read these words:
"PAID IN FULL WITH ONE GLASS OF MILK....
(Signed)
Dr. Howard Kelly."
2) Renewal of Convent and Renewal of Purpose
We need to understand that at Pentecost we see a renewal of the Covenant that God made with Israel.
This covenant will be called a new covenant and it is at Pentecost we see the enacted New Covenant.
Moses then descended down the Mountain, out of the smoke and cloud, to give the Law of God to the people.
This imagery would not have been lost on the Jews in the time of Acts.
Jesus, we learned earlier in Acts 1 had ascended into Heaven and now, just like Moses, he would send His Covenant seal in the form of the Holy Spirit.
Pentecost marked a time of renewal to the covenant and was a reminder of God’s promises.
It was the usual time of Bar Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs for Jewish boys and girls as they made their vows to God to be faithful Jews. It was a time of renewing the covenant.
The prophets in the Old Testament Prophesied that there would be a time of great renewal of the Covenant with Israel.
This covenant would be a new covenant that is not like the covenant made with Moses – it will be new.
It will go straight to the heart of the person and bring about renewal of that person.
Jeremiah 31: 31-34
31 " Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. 33 "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, " I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 "They will not 4 teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
This covenant renewal will involve forgiveness of sins.
God’s grace will be extended to all nations – this will be important for our sermon next week – this forgiveness of sins will be very important.
In Acts 2 we see many of the parallels from the Exodus account. We witness sound from Heaven and fire. Literally tongues of fire upon the apostles.
We can start to draw out exactly what the Bible is telling us.
In John's account of the giving of the Spirit, we witness Jesus breathing upon the Disciples.
John 20: 21-23
21 So Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you." 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 "If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained."
This passage parallels the Genesis account
Genesis 2: 7
7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living being.
God formed man and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils
We see that Jesus breaths the breath of new life into the Apostles.
This fits right into the picture that Paul gives us of Scripture
2 Timothy 3:16
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness ;
Paul tells us that the Scriptures are Theopneustos – or Literally Breathed out by God.
The very breath of God that brought life to man has now been breathed into the Scriptures.
The Scriptures are live giving because they come from the very breath of God.
Now lets tie all of this together.
At Pentecost we see the Israelites celebrate the giving of the Torah or the word of God.
The same God that spoke the universe into existence with His very word has now given the Israelites his words in the Scripture.
Just as God’s word was given to Moses on Mount Sinai the Apostles will be given the Holy Spirit to help guide the Church.
We see later in Acts 2 that the new Christians will devote themselves to the teachings of the Apostles.
It will be the Apostles that will speak the authoritative message of God. Just as the word of God came at Sinai now at this new Pentecost – God’s word will come from the Apostolic teaching and Apostolic writings of the New Testament.
3) Renewed Humanity
Just as I mentioned before Jesus breathed upon His disciples to renew them.
Now this message of renewal will start at Pentecost.
God has called His people to be a kingdom of priests. We are not called to our priestly task.
We see at the original Pentecost in Exodus that God established the Levitical priesthood because of the rebellion of the People.
3000 men rebel against God and make the Golden Calf and it is the Levites that kill the disobedient and it was the Levites that were obedient.
Now in Acts 2 we see at this new Pentecost – 3000 people obey God – Now the priesthood will reach its original purpose – all men will become priests of God.
We are to be renewed people –
Paul calls us ambassadors of Christ – we are being sent to the world to reflect God’s teachings.
In the eleventh century, King Henry III of Bavaria grew tired of court life and the pressures of being a monarch. He made application to Prior Richard at as local monastery, asking to be accepted as a contemplative and spend the rest of his life in the monastery.
"Your Majesty," said Prior Richard, "do you understand that the pledge here is one of obedience? That will be hard because you have been a king."
"I understand," said Henry, "The rest of my life I will be obedient to you, as Christ leads you." "Then I will tell you what to do," said Prior Richard. "Go back to your throne and serve faithfully in the place where God has put you."
When King Henry died, a statement was written: "The King learned to rule by being obedient."
This is what it means to be called to a vocation to serve God. People have misshaped the word vocation to mean your job.
Your vocation is to serve Christ in whatever capacity you find your self. Henry the III found that he could best serve Christ as being a King obedient to the true King.
That is really one of the true tasks of the Church today is to teach Christians to fulfill this vocation and call. To remember that it is not your job that shapes who you are but Christ. In other words we work in our jobs explicitly to represent Christ and show Christ to others.
If we want Christ back in our schools – then teachers must go to work everyday for the specific purpose of working for Christ first and then the board of education second.
If we want more godly business working people must first be an ambassador for Christ first and then run their business in that way.
We must constantly ask the question about our jobs, If God were in charge of this world what would it look like?
If God were in charge of our workplaces what would they look like?
This our challenge to Bring God’s kingdom rule to every aspect of society.
This message cannot stay in the Church house. This message challenges everything.
The Government would like for you to keep your faith in the Church.
Satan wants you to keep your religion here at the building because if we do that then he can carve up the world how he wants to.
But God has called us to go out and teach and transform this world.
That means you will offend people sometimes – that means that you will be persecuted.
Why do you think in the book of Acts we will see the Church persecuted?
It is because the left their assemblies and brought God’s wisdom to every part of life and some people didn’t want to hear it.
They don’t want to hear about truth because they like the darkness.
People practicing evil don’t like it when you come in and flip on the light switch and reveal to the world that what they are practicing is evil.
We are called to bring God’s light to the world – to bring light in dark places.
History records for us an interesting footnote. It was during the dark winter of 1864.
At Petersburg, Virginia, the Confederate army of Robert E. Lee faced the Union divisions of General Ulysses S. Grant.
The war was now three and a half years old and the glorious charge had long since given way to the muck and mud of trench warfare.
Late one evening one of Lee’s generals, Major General George Pickett, received word that his wife had given birth to a beautiful baby boy.
Up and down the line the Southerners began building huge bonfires in celebration of the event. These fires did not go unnoticed in the Northern camps and soon a nervous Grant sent out a reconnaissance patrol to see what was going on.
The scouts returned with the message that Pickett had had a son and these were celebratory fires.
It so happened that Grant and Pickett had been contemporaries at West Point and knew one another well, so to honor the occasion Grant, too, ordered that bonfires should be built.
What a peculiar night it was. For miles on both sides of the lines fires burned. No shots fired. No yelling back and forth.
No war fought. Only light, celebrating the birth of a child. But it didn’t last forever. Soon the fires burned down and once again the darkness took over. The darkness of the night and the darkness of war.
The light of the Gospel and the fire that was started at Pentecost is one that cannot be extinguished.
We are called today as Christians to ignite that fire and illuminate God’s path for all men to follow.