The Day of Pentecost
Sunday, May 11, 2008
The Rev. Charles Henrickson
From Feast to Feast to Feast (John 7:37-39; Acts
2:1-21)
Today is the Feast of Pentecost, a major festival in
the Christian church year. Today we celebrate the
giving of the Holy Spirit, whom our ascended Lord
Jesus Christ poured out on his church, as we read
about in the second chapter of Acts. That was the
beginning of the worldwide spread of the gospel, and
you and I are here today as Christians because of what
began on that first Pentecost.
Actually, though, that was not the first Pentecost.
For the Christian Feast of Pentecost has its roots in
the Jewish Feast of Pentecost. Thats why all those
people were there in Jerusalem in the first place.
They had come to observe the Jewish feast.
You see, there were three main festivals in the Jewish
year, in the Hebrew calendar, when all pious Jews from
all over would travel to Jerusalem and go to the
temple to fulfill their religious duty. They were
these three: the Feast of Passover, in the early
spring; the Feast of Weeks, also called Pentecost,
which occurred seven weeks, or fifty days, later in
the spring; and then in the fall, the Feast of
Tabernacles or Booths. These three are called the
pilgrimage festivals, because they called for Jews to
make that pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
Now at this point youre probably saying, Who cares?
That stuffs ancient history, and besides which, Im
not even Jewish! What does all that have to do with
me? Well, the answer is, a lot! As were about to
find out, when you see how these Old Testament feasts
are fulfilled in Christ, and when you see how the
Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Passover come to
fruition now in the Feast of Pentecost, then you will
rejoice in the good gifts that God gives us. So lets
go on a pilgrimage of our own now, as we go From
Feast to Feast to Feast.
Our first stop is the last of the three pilgrimage
festivals, the one that occurs in the fall, namely,
the Feast of Tabernacles. Its called Tabernacles
because it commemorated the time when the Israelites
traveled through the wilderness and lived in tents,
tabernacles, on their way to the Promised Land.
During those years of wilderness wandering, the Lord
God graciously provided for his people by giving them
food and drink, even in a dry and desolate desert.
God miraculously supplied them with bread from heaven
and water from a rock.
Water from a rock. Do you recall that incident from
the time of Moses? The Israelites were out in the
wilderness, they were thirsty, and they were grumbling
that there was no water for them to drink. So the
Lord told Moses to strike a rock with his staff, and
water would come out of it, and the people would
drink. Thats what happened: Moses struck the rock,
water came out, and the people drank. It even
happened a second time, later on, when once again the
Lord supplied them with water. God was graciously
providing for his people while they wandered in the
wilderness.
The Feast of Tabernacles, then, was a time when the
Jews gathered in Jerusalem to give thanks for that
great provision. Tabernacles was a week-long
festival, with various ceremonies and rituals taking
place throughout those days. One of the rituals
involved water. Each morning, water was drawn from
the Pool of Siloam and carried in a golden pitcher to
the temple. The water was poured out, the trumpets
would sound, and the people would sing the words of
Isaiah, With joy you will draw water from the wells
of salvation.
Well, thats where we meet Jesus in the Holy Gospel
for today. Hes in Jerusalem for the Feast of
Tabernacles. The water ceremony was vivid and fresh
in peoples minds. Thats where we pick up the text:
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus
stood up and cried out, If anyone thirsts, let him
come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the
Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers
of living water.
What is Jesus saying here? Hes saying: If you
think the way the Lord provided water for our
forefathers in the wilderness was great, guess what?
Theres something even greater in store. That water
satisfied their thirst for a time, but I have water
that will satisfy your thirst for eternity. Are you
thirsty? Come to me and drink.
How about you, my friend? Are you thirsty? Do you
realize that our life in this world is like wandering
in a wilderness? This world, apart from God, is a dry
and desolate desert. Do you see the sin and death all
around you? Do you see the sin and death within you?
Then you are thirsty. Then you are ready to drink.
Then you are ready to receive what the Lord wants to
give you: Living water. The water of life, eternal
life. Come to Jesus and drink.
And when you come to Jesus and drink, when you believe
in him, that living water will spring up in you and
flow out from you and through you to others. Thats
the work of the Spirit, thats what Pentecost will be
about, and thats why this Feast of Tabernacles text
was chosen as the Gospel for the Feast of Pentecost.
As the gospel-writer adds: Now this he said about
the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to
receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given,
because Jesus was not yet glorified.
So were heading toward Pentecost, but were not there
yet. Weve got one more feast to stop at before we
get there--thats Passover--and its hinted at in the
words, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Jesus
will be glorified, in a very unexpected way, at
Passover.
But lets back up for a moment. What was Passover in
the Old Testament? Like Tabernacles, Passover
likewise was associated with the Lords deliverance of
his people at the time of Moses. Israel was in
Egypt-land, in slavery, and the Lord acted to bring
them out from that bondage. The Lord brought a series
of plagues upon Egypt, to convince Pharaoh to let his
people go. The last plague was the death of the
firstborn. That plague would have struck the homes of
the Israelites, too, except that the Lord instructed
Moses to have the people sacrifice a lamb without spot
or blemish and spread its blood on their doorposts.
The blood of the lamb would be a sign, death would
pass over their homes, and the people would be spared.
That night would be their exodus from Egypt, from the
land of their slavery.
The Feast of Passover, then, was how the Jews from
that time forward remembered their great deliverance.
And it was at a Passover, many years later, that the
feast would find its fulfillment. Jesus was with his
disciples, and at the end of the Passover meal, he
instituted something new and greater: Take eat, take
drink. This is my body, this is my blood, given and
shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Then he
went out and was betrayed and arrested and delivered
over to death, even death on a cross. The only Son of
God becomes the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of
the world. His blood marks our doorposts, and we are
spared. Death passes over.
And strangely enough, this is how Jesus is glorified.
It brings glory to Jesus to die for the sins of the
world, to die in shame even though he is sinless. God
is glorified chiefly in showing mercy, and this is his
greatest act of mercy: giving his Son into death for
your salvation. No greater glory is there than in the
revelation of divine mercy in the cross of Jesus
Christ.
And when Jesus died on that cross for your salvation,
and he gave up his spirit, and the soldier pierced his
side with a spear, from out of his side came a sudden
flow of blood and water. Truly of Christ it can be
said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living
water. For his pierced side, given into death, is
the source of your eternal life. The Holy Spirit, the
Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Son,
flows out from Christ the Crucified and gives you
life.
At Tabernacles, Jesus was not yet glorified. At
Passover, Jesus would be glorified, by his death and
resurrection, to be followed by his ascension into
heaven forty days later. Fifty days later, then, we
finally come to Pentecost, when Jesus pours out the
Spirit on his church.
But again, we want to back up and find out the Old
Testament background for this feast. Pentecost, as I
mentioned, was also called the Feast of Weeks, coming
seven weeks after Passover. It fell in mid-to-late
spring, the time for the early harvest. The Feast of
Weeks, or Pentecost, therefore celebrated the
abundance of blessing the Lord bestowed on Israel when
they settled in the Promised Land. It was a land
flowing with milk and honey, with abundant crops, and
Pentecost or Weeks rejoiced in that great gift from
God. People came to the temple and gave
thankofferings of grain from out of the early harvest.
This was called the firstfruits offering, since the
firstfruits signaled that there was much more to come.
So thats where we are on the Day of Pentecost, in
Acts chapter 2. Were in Jerusalem, along with the
multitudes of Jews who had come on pilgrimage from all
the nations where the Jews had been scattered: Now
there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from
every nation under heaven. . . . Parthians and Medes
and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and
Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and
visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans
and Arabians.
What does this mean? It means that now God is going
to have a firstfruits offering from among these
nations. The harvest is ready to be brought in, and
its about to start. The Spirit is poured out on the
disciples. Peter starts to preaching. This is how
the harvest will be gathered. Peter is going to tell
them the mighty works of God. Hes going to make
known to them what God has done for them in Christ, so
that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved.
My friends, this is what the Feast of Pentecost is all
about. Its about the gospel going out to all the
world, calling people to repentance and faith in
Christ--calling you to repentance and faith in Christ.
From Tabernacles to Passover to Pentecost, From
Feast to Feast to Feast, the message is the same:
The rivers of living water are flowing out to you!
Come to Jesus and drink.
Charles Henrickson
4749 Melissa Jo Ln
St. Louis, MO 63128
(314) 845-8811 (home)
(314) 779-8108 (cell)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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