Pentecost is Feast of Weeks or Shavuot, and Shavuot is Pentecost. It is the second of the three great Jewish feasts mentioned in Exodus 23:15-17, and it is marked by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that was experienced in Acts 2. The name Feast of Weeks was given because Israel was instructed to count seven sabbaths (weeks) and number fifty days before presenting an offering unto the Lord, and Pentecost means fiftieth because it was the fiftieth day after Passover.
As God revealed Himself during Shavuot, over 3000 years ago, to Moses and the children of Israel through giving the commandments on tables of stone — and as God poured out His Spirit, in Acts 2, to those who waited with one accord in one place as they honored Shavuot and waited in obedience to the instruction they had been given – God desires to bring great demonstration, revelation, and manifestation to all flesh.
According to Joel 2:28, Pentecost means that all flesh can be a candidate for God’s visitation and outpour.
1. Pentecost is PROMISE fulfilled. A prophetic promise was given by the prophet Joel and the fulfillment of it came forth when hungry hearts gathered in one place, with one accord, with one agenda. “And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions” (Joel 2:28).
2. Pentecost is PRESENCE. God’s presence leads to repentance and ushers in refreshing. “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).
3. Pentecost is PURSUIT. God has always pursued man—even in man’s disobedience, the voice (Spirit, Ruach) pursued man in the Garden (Gen. 3:8-9) while he was hiding. The outpour of the Spirit was God’s way of pursuing us. God knew we would now have a way to relate with Him by His Spirit. During Pentecost, the church was born and, thus, sons and daughters of God came forth to establish sonship (relationship).
4. Pentecost is POWER. On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was our receipt (seal) of power given so we could be witnesses to restore and reconcile the world back to the Father.
5. Pentecost is PRESERVATION. Preservation and revelation are companions. Without revelation (vision), God’s people perish [are destroyed, run wild, are unrestrained] (Prov. 29:18). It is the revelation of God that preserves us. Pentecost brings vision and revelation of God’s ways and nature.
6. Pentecost is PROVISION. There is a harvest that is always a result of Pentecost/Shavuot/Feast of Harvest that is intended to make room for a greater move of God’s glory. In Exodus 25:1, following the revelation on Mt. Sinai, the Lord spoke to Moses to have the children of Israel bring an offering of those who would willingly give with their heart, so they could prepare to institute the tabernacle as a place where God could dwell. In Acts 2:47, Pentecost brought provision to the newly born church in that the Lord multiplied the church (adding to it daily). Here we see God now multiplying living tabernacles.
Janice Sanders