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Editorial
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The Legacy of
Pentecost
by Ken Ryland
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There is one festival mentioned in Leviticus 23 that is still
celebrated by the Christian Church at large. It is Pentecost.
Even though Passover, Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles can
cast great light on the sacrifice of Christ, His atonement, and
the coming Kingdom of God, these festivals have long since been
abandoned by Christendom, along with the Saturday Sabbath,
primarily due to anti-Semitism in the early Western Church—a
fact made obvious in the writings of the early Church fathers.
As we near the time of Pentecost, it would be good to look at
what this one festival means to all Christians. Whether you call
it Pentecost, Feast of Weeks, Whitsunday, or Shavuot, the day
drips with meaning for all of us.
The word Pentecost comes from Pentecoste in Greek. Although many
may think this term has to do with the Latinization of biblical
terminology that occurred after the death of the apostles, this
is not the case. Greek-speaking Jews gave this festival the name
of Pentecost (meaning "fiftieth" in Greek) since it
occurs 50 days after Passover. It is a rough Greek translation of
the Hebrew term Shavuot, meaning "festival of [seven]
weeks."
The Jews of Jesus' day had at least two ways of marking the 50
days between the Passover week (Unleavened Bread) and the Feast
of Weeks. The tradition of the Pharisees, which most Jews observe
today, was to count the days from the "morrow after the
[first high day] Sabbath" of Passover. This meant that the
festival of Pentecost or Shavuot would always occur on Sivan 6 on
the Hebrew calendar. The Sadducees, on the other hand, believed
that the Sabbath referred to in Leviticus 23:15 was the weekly
Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread (Passover week). This
calculation always put Pentecost on the first day of the week
rather than on a fixed calendar date. The Sadducees believed that
this counting of seven Sabbaths (a jubilee of days) exactly
matched the marking of seven-year cycles until the Jubilee, or
the fiftieth year, when debts were forgiven and land was returned
to its original owners. This also allowed for two Sabbaths on
consecutive days, the forty-ninth day (a weekly Sabbath) and the
fiftieth day (the high-day Sabbath of Pentecost). This was
considered a special blessing from God and a reminder of the
Jubilee (fiftieth) year.
As you can see, Pentecost is tied directly to the Passover. The
waving of a sheaf of barley "on the morrow after the
Sabbath" during Passover marked the beginning of the harvest
season. The offering of loaves made from the new wheat marked its
completion at Pentecost fifty days later. Because the grain
harvest was looked upon as a great blessing from God, the people
were told to rejoice, feast, and share their bounty in freewill
first-fruits offerings with others: Levites, foreigners, orphans,
and widows (Deuteronomy 16:9-12 and Exodus 34:22). In other
words, they were to share with those who had not worked for the
harvest with the admonition to "remember that you were once
slaves in Egypt."
One point that stands out with regard to Pentecost as well as the
other festivals (that is, Passover and the festivals of the
seventh month) is that their emphasis was on grace, not on a
slavish obedience to the Law. We don't see "legalism"
here. What we see is "freely you have received, so freely
give," (Matthew 10:8) and "He that spared not his own
Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him
also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32). Pentecost
and the other harvest festivals in particular—Passover and
Tabernacles (Succoth)—are a celebration of the freewill
offerings that God has poured out on His people. We, in turn,
like our Heavenly Father, are to pour out our blessings on
others.
It is true that the counting of Pentecost has changed from what
it was during the time of the Apostles and the first century
Church. With the ascendancy of Rome and its tightening grip over
the entirety of Christendom after the death of the Apostles, the
starting date for the celebration of Pentecost was changed from
Passover to Easter.
Pentecost is, according to Jewish tradition, the day of the
giving of the Ten Commandments. The day of "the birth of the
Torah" is considered to be the date at which the nation of
Israel became a constitutional body and a special treasure unto
God. Israel accepted God's requirements and He, in turn,
possessed them as His own people.
Every Christian rightly associates Pentecost with the coming of
the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church. It is the day when
the God of Israel began to write His law into the minds and
hearts of the people (Hebrews 10:15-17). Thousands were baptized,
people heard the Apostles speaking in the languages of the
Diaspora. It was just as Jesus said; the Apostles would be imbued
with power from on high. It was a spectacular event. The Holy
Spirit descended on the Apostles like tongues of fire. Miracles
were performed. People witnessed firsthand the power of the
coming Kingdom of God as it filled the Apostles. And, most
important, people learned about the One who sent that
power—the same One who died and rose from the dead, the One
who lived and taught among the people for 40 days after his
resurrection.
What is puzzling to me is that many Christians do not associate
that day of Pentecost with the life and times of the people of
Israel. Yet, if these observant Jews had not come to Jerusalem to
celebrate the Feast of Weeks that year, the Church would have
been born with a whimper and not a loud cry.
Pentecost has everything to do with the continuation of the
nation of Israel, not its demise. At Pentecost in the year of our
Lord's crucifixion, God took a faithful remnant of Jews and began
to rebuild the nation of Israel through them. The foundation for
that rebuilding was Christ, the Cornerstone, and the apostles, as
well as the prophets of Israel. Through that faithful remnant,
the Lord refashioned Israel, not in the image of the faithless
Pharisees and Sadducees, but in the likeness of the father of the
faithful, Abraham, and his faithful Son, Jesus Christ. It was
Jesus, like Moses and Joshua before him, leading the way to the
Promised Land. Only the faithful were bound to follow and
ultimately possess the land. In this case, the land to be
possessed was not a piece of real estate in the Middle East, but
the world itself under the King of kings and Lord of lords. It
was not to be possessed in terms of land titles and deeds, but in
the bringing of righteousness to every man, woman, and child. As
those transformed Jews on that special Pentecost went out from
Jerusalem to their own lands, they took the message and the power
that they now possessed from God and began to speak of the great
things the Lord had done in Jerusalem. In so doing, they
transformed the cultures of entire nations.
Yet, God did an even more amazing thing than this. He repeated
the miracle of Pentecost in the house of Cornelius, the Roman
Centurion (Acts 10). Beginning with Cornelius and his household,
He began to graft into the remnant of Israel the faithful
believers of all nations. From that point forward any man, woman,
or child, no matter what his country of origin, could, through
faith in Christ, become a child of Abraham and an Israelite
(Galatians 3:29, Ephesians 2:12-13).
The message that the apostle Peter preached on Pentecost when the
Lord sent His Holy Spirit came straight from the Hebrew
Scriptures—from the prophet Joel. It was about how the Lord
would bring salvation to the remnant of His people: "And it
shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD
shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be
deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the remnant whom the
LORD calls" (See Joel 2:32 and Acts 2:21).
The day of Pentecost gives every Christian much to think about.
It is a holy day whose influence is waning, but its important
place in the plan of God should never be overlooked. It marks the
beginning of the spreading of the good news of Christ and the
power of His kingdom. It is also a witness to the world that He
will return and possess the kingdoms of this world (Revelation
11:15). As this special day approaches, take some time to allow
its powerful significance to renew your zeal for the Church's
mission in this world.
—Kenneth Ryland
TSS
May
- June 2005 The Sabbath Sentinel
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