What we learned about Pentecost

I want to tell you what I taught the children about Pentecost this weekend … because I was so excited while I studied this week and I learned so much! It is sometimes difficult for me to verbalize stuff to the children ~ I am not a gifted teacher ~ but I will say that at least I am a passionate one! I loved learning about Pentecost, and I loved sharing all of it with the children Friday night.

Some of the color pictures available on-line
PENTECOST

 I've always been curious about Pentecost. WHY the tongues of fire? WHY did Jesus ascend 40 days after Easter and make his friends wait TEN days more for the gift He promised to them? Was there anything significant about 50 days between Easter and Pentecost? And what did it mean that the Holy Spirit was given as a gift? What kind of power did He give the disciples?

There are no accidents in Scripture. And God's story is such an amazing one. No one in the whole world could make up a story this beautiful! I've understood for a long time now why Jesus was crucified during Passover … such an old, old story Passover was … a remembrance of deliverance from Egypt, captives set free, the sacrifice of the lamb, the blood on the doorposts … Jesus being the Lamb of God. That Jesus was crucified during Passover was NO ACCIDENT! 

I went back into the Old Testament to find out what happened in Israel 50 days after Passover, and discovered that it was the Feast of Weeks (also known as the Feast of Harvest, the Day of Firstfruits, Shavuot!), one of the three major festivals, it was celebrated with JOY at the completion of the harvest season. There are too many details to write here, but mainly, many sacrifices were brought: grain, lambs, a wave offering, a sin offering … and "a burnt offering to the Lord was made BY FIRE."

 Where else do we find God and fire in the Old Testament? God appears to Moses in a burning bush that is not consumed by fire, God appears to Israel on top of Mt. Sinai with a fire that consumed the entire top of the mountain, God led the Israelites by a pillar of fire at night, God consumed the altar with fire at the time of Elijah the prophet … just to name a few. But FIRE represented the awesome presence of God! "Our God is a consuming fire!"(Hebrews 12.29)

Pentecost means "Fifty." Where else is 50 an important number in Scripture? The year of Jubilee! When debts were cancelled and slaves were set free!

So … after Jesus ascended, on the very feast day when Jews from all over the world had traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Weeks, God gives the gift of His Holy Spirit, signified by "tongues of fire" on top of the heads of the believers! Fire representing the awesome presence of God!

On the Day of Pentecost, God's Spirit gave the disciples the ability to "declare the wonders of God" in many languages! These folk were amazed to hear their own languages being spoken by the men of Galilee! What a miracle! And how opposite this story is of the tower of Babel when God confused people by different languages … this time, He unites them, and makes His message understood!

There is so much more to this story, but as I thought about it and studied in the OT about the sacrifices I wondered if the tongues of fire also represented a NEW KIND of sacrifice … living ones (not dead). 

"And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice--the kind he will accept." Romans 12:1  The sacrifices in the OT had to be perfect lambs, and these lambs were "pleasing to God." Because of Jesus, our lives too can be the kind of sacrifice that is pleasing to God. Galatians 2 says, "I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me." 

I have a new appreciation for Pentecost. That day, over 3000 people came to faith in Christ because the Holy Spirit was given, revealed Himself in fire, and helped the disciples to speak of "the wonders of God." And God will give us that same power, we who belong to Him, to offer ourselves to Him and live a new live by His Spirit, sharing His light with our world!