The day of Pentecost - 3 Jun 2009 - By: grahame - 2 Comments
Today, Sunday 31 May 2009, Christians celebrate the day of Pentecost. That was the day that God sent down the Holy Spirit into His church. Christ foretold of this day when he was yet with his disciples (John 15:26-27)
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: 27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

And (Acts 1:6-8)
When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

This day was foretold in the Hebrew Scriptures
15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: 16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
(Leviticus 23:15-16)
Pente mean 5. Pentecost was 50 days after the Passover. Christ was crucified on the Passover. Pentecost was also celebrated not on the Sabbath (Saturday) but on the Sunday. Hence we have the reference to a "New meat (meal) offering. Note: it was not an animal sacrifice that was offered, that was already done on the Passover. But it was a "meal" or grain offering, signifying "new life". All this had been written into the Hebrew's Law all those centuries beforehand. For they foretold of that great and notable day of The Lord.

This was the birth of the New Testament Church when it received power from on high. (Acts 2:1-4)
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Then we read that all those Jews who had gathered in Jerusalem for the feast days from all over the known world each heard the gospel (good news) preached in their own language. It was then that Peter began to speak and told them that this was in fact the fulfilment of the prophesy of Joel the prophet,
And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? 9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, 10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. 12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? 13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.

14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: 15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. 16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; 17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: 18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: 19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: 21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.


I know that there are those who question those scriptures today and ask questions such as, how come these New Testament scriptures were only written in Greek? Well these words here show that they were not only written in Greek. But also in Latin, Aramaic and also Arabic. Gospels have been found written in all these languages.

The one thing that separates the Christian message from every other religion is the "Holy Spirit". Christians draw their strength from Him, the other comforter who was send down from Christ and the Father into the church and it is the Holy Spirit that Christians claim lives in them and gives them the power to live the life of God. He is the powerhouse of God.

There was a well known preacher who lived and preached in London during the days of Queen Victoria, named Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He attracted crowds so great that he held his services in the Surry Gardens Music Hall. Eventually they had to build a church and that church exists to this day (although because of a fire in the 1930's only the facade is original) that church is The Metropolitan Tabernacle.

A reporter from one of the newspapers of that day asked Spurgeon where he got his power to preach from and so he led them downstairs to a room underneath the sanctuary (the place of worship) he opened the door to reveal a room full of church members who were deep in prayer to God for the service going on upstairs. He said to the reporter, "This this the powerhouse".

Unfortunately today we live in a day where the worship of God in the Christian church is at a very low ebb and it seems that the power has deserted the church. Many believe that because of our sins the Holy Spirit has forsaken the church of Christ. Only a renewing of the church and its people from the Holy Spirit will one again revive the church again.