Acts 2:1-13
The word Pentecost means “fiftieth day”. It signifies the start of the Jewish holiday that occurred 50 days after Passover. It was also known as the Festival of Weeks (Deut 16:10) and the Festival of Harvest (Exod 23:16). Every Jewish adult male was required by law to go to Jerusalem three times each year to celebrate the major feasts (Deut. 16:16). The Feast of Passover was observed in the spring. The Feast of Pentecost was observed seven weeks and a day later (Lev. 23:15, 16).
The calendar of Jewish feasts in Leviticus 23 gives us a picture of the work of Jesus Christ. Passover pictures His death as the Lamb of God (John 1:29; 1 Cor. 5:7), and the Feast of Firstfruits pictures His resurrection from the dead (1 Cor. 15:20-23). Pentecost is traditionally held to be the birthday or formation of the church, composed of both Jew and Gentile.
Interestingly, on the Feast of Firstfruits, the priest would wave a sheaf of grain before the Lord, but on Pentecost, he presented two loaves of bread. “ Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD”(Lev 23:17). Unlike most other sacrifices, these loaves had leaven in them, which is the presence of sin. Why? Because the church is made up of sinners who have been saved by grace, and the church will not be perfect until it gets to heaven.
The miracle that took place on the day of Pentecost was that the disciples were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. In Acts 2:6, 8, Luke uses the Greek word which referred to known and understood ethnic languages, or “dialects.” The “other tongues,” mentioned here should not be confused with the “unknown tongue” spoken by the Corinthians (1 Cor. 14:2, 4, 13, 19, 27). This “unknown tongue” is always in the singular and is accompanied by a singular personal pronoun. The Apostle Paul demanded that this unknown tongue always be interpreted. The tongues that were spoken in this passage, however, needed no interpreter because each man heard the message of the Lord in his own language.
Thus on the day Pentecost, the Holy Ghost anointed the disciples with tongues of men to miraculously proclaim the wonderful works of God. All may not speak with the tongues we read about in 1 Corinthians, but all born again, Spirit filled disciples are anointed by God to proclaim to sinners the wonderful gospel of the grace of God. Selah.
