The Ongoing Significance of Pentecost

Shavuot , when the Law was given- the festival of first fruits on Mt. Sinai

Scripture Reading: Joel 2:27-32

 I will make myself known among you, I, the Lord your God, who alone am God; Israel cheated of their hopes never again! And afterwards? Afterwards I will pour out my spirit upon all mankind, and your sons and daughters will be prophets. Your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men see visions; ²⁹ everywhere servants of mine, handmaids of mine, inspired to prophesy! ³⁰ I will shew wonders in heaven, and on earth  blood, and fire, and whirling smoke. ³¹ The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the day of the Lord comes, the great, the terrible day. ³² And never a soul shall call on the Lord’s name but shall find deliverance; here on mount Zion, here in Jerusalem there shall be refuge; for a remnant, a remnant of the Lord’s own summoning, there shall be deliverance at last.

Key Verse: I will pour out my Spirit on all people (Joel 2:28a)

Meditation: Joel foretold the *Day of Pentecost 800 years before fulfillment.  Peter then declares in Acts, “This is that spoken before.” Never had there been such an outpouring on so many people. Individuals like Moses, Malachi, David, Daniel, Deborah, and Hannah had been touched before, but never anything like the crowds of people filled as Joel had predicted, even to the God-fearing Gentiles.

Giving of the first crop

The Word of God accompanied this unparalleled outpouring of the Spirit. Visions and dreams and, above all, prophecy, would be extended not  just to Israel but to all peoples. This gift would extend through the church age, not as a new revelation, but as a speaking of the truth that had already been revealed, applying the principles of the in local and international situations.

During the Old Testament time the Spirit’s activity focused on individuals for  a specific task. In the New testament the Holy Spirit‘s work is character transformation. The ultimate purpose of the Spirit’s coming on the **120 at Pentecost and on us is to enable all believers to live and speak as Christ’s witnesses.

Thought for the Day: Pentecost, the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy, a clear signal that God is moving history to His preordained goal on Ills schedule.

* Pentecost=Shavuot= anniversary of the giving of the Law(the stones)

 ** Several references to the number 120 in the Old Testament.
There were  120 satraps, under the three presidency chiefs, on whom the king Darius establishes his kingdom. The prophet Daniel was one the three chiefs. (Daniel 5:31-6:2)

Also the number referred to the  Represent the power and the glory of the Christ-King and essentially, this number is associated to one of the Forces of cosmic Trinity. According to the sacred geometry of Essenians, it is the place of the cosmic geometry of the Without-Name, to the third of His force of creation: 360 degrees / 3 = 120 ... Interesting, eh?  The 1/3 of the Trinity that has no name- or the Holy Spirit. The Essenians were an interesting groups of monks that lived during the time of Christ.   

Pentecost -when the Holy Spirit was given on Mt. Zion