The Holidays of God: A Prophetic Timetable? Part 3

Pentecost (Shavuot) falls seven Sabbaths after the Feast of Firstfruits. Observant Jews spend the fifty days preparing themselves spiritually and in great anticipation. Why? Because this time is like waiting for a special friend who is coming from a great distance with the best possible news imaginable. For the apostles, this meant spending those weeks with the freshly resurrected Messiah! Not only had their best friend and mentor been raised from the dead, but He was promising them an even more intimate and unique relationship with someone who would never leave them--the Holy Spirit!

Back in Moses' day, up on Mount Sinai amid great thunder, lightning and billowing smoke, God descended in awesome power in the form of fire. He gave His people the Law, the Ten Commandments (see Exodus 19:1-25). What day do you suppose it was? You guessed it--Pentecost!

Now, fast forward to the second chapter in Acts. Here we find the disciples waiting in the Upper Room. They've just come from the temple Shavuot service where every year the prophet Ezekiel was read: "I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire" (Ezekiel 1:4).

Shockingly, the disciples hear what sounds like a freight train barrelling down on them!

"On the day of Pentecost, seven weeks after Jesus' resurrection, the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them, and it filled the house where they were meeting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability (Acts 2:1-4).

And so the Holy Spirit descended in awesome power in the form of fire, coming to abide in every person on the face of the planet who called on the name of the Lord. The day of Pentecost has been fulfilled.

Four down, three to go.

Words to the Wise: "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.--Abraham Lincoln

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