The Holy Spirit
and the Birthday of the Church
Westhill Community Church, 9 June 2019
Reading: Acts 2: 1-14
Today we celebrate what is often referred to as the birthday of the Christian Church – the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.
There are many different terms used in the Bible to describe this feast day for the people of Israel: Pentecost, Shavuot, Festival of Weeks, Festival of Harvest, Day of First Fruits.
The name Pentecost comes from the Greek word “pentekoste,” which literally means “fiftieth.” It comes from God’s instruction in the Law of Moses:
From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the omer of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of one fifth of an ephah of the finest flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. (Lev 23: 15-17)
The day after the Passover lamb was sacrificed was a special Sabbath, marking the beginning of the Festival of Unleavened Bread. On the following day, known as the Festival of First Fruits, the people were to bring an omer (or sheaf) of barley as an offering to the Lord. They were then to count the days (known as “counting the omer”) and on the fiftieth they were to present another offering of firstfruits to the Lord, this time comprising two loaves made from wheat flour. It is this fiftieth day that is known as Pentecost.
The Hebrew term most often used for Pentecost is “Shavuot,” which literally means “weeks.” This comes from the same Bible passage already quoted. The people were to count off seven full weeks (i.e. 49 days) and then the next day they were to make the wheat offering.
The book of Exodus also refers to Pentecost as the “Festival of Harvest.”
Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. (Exodus 23: 16)
It may seem strange to us celebrate harvest in early summer, but Exodus makes it clear that it is the firstfruits of the wheat crop that are being celebrated. It anticipates by faith a bountiful harvest of produce by the end of the summer. At the end of the summer at another festival, known as the “Festival of Ingathering,” the full harvest of all crops is celebrated. This festival is also called the “Feast of Tabernacles” or “Feast of Booths,” since the people camped as they celebrated.
Unsurprisingly Pentecost is also described in the Bible as the “Day of First Fruits” (Numbers 28: 26). There is a clear link with the “Festival of First Fruits” that takes place fifty days earlier when the first fruits of the barley harvest are offered to the Lord. Celebrating the first fruits of the grain crops marks both the beginning and the end of the fifty day period of “counting the omer.” Clearly the concept of first fruits is key to a correct and full understanding of both Passover and Pentecost.
The diagram shown here describes when the festivals specified in the Law of Moses should occur. There are seven in total, in three groups: those in the spring associated with Passover and the festival of Unleavened Bread; those in the autumn associated with the commencement of the civil year and the ingathering of harvest; and the early summer festival of Pentecost. These are the three occasions that the book of Exodus calls on the people of Israel to travel to Jerusalem and celebrate with thanksgiving and joy before the Lord. They are referred to as “Pilgrimage Festivals.” In passing, reflect on the fact that holidays and festivals are part of God’s plan.
Both Hebrew and British months appear on the diagram. Note that Hebrew months commence with a new moon. This means that they do not synchronise with the Western calendar, and in some years the month Adar is repeated to ensure that the Spring month, Nisan, keeps pace with the solar year and occurs at the same time as the early barley harvest.
Now what is most remarkable about the working out of God’s plan of salvation is the way in which highly significant events took place on these festivals. We know that Jesus, the Lamb of God, died just after 3 pm on the afternoon of 14th Nisan just as the Passover lambs were being sacrificed by the people. Then, as sunset approached (although whether anyone saw it on that afternoon of unprecedented darkness we do not know) Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus took down his body and hurriedly laid it in Joseph’s personal tomb, rolling the stone to seal in the body just in time for the start of the High Sabbath at sundown. Jesus’ body lay in the tomb for the entirety of that first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the feast during which the Israelites remembered the awful judgement of God on those who were not protected by the blood of the Passover lamb, their own flight from slavery in the land of Egypt, and the wonderful deliverance provided by God to enable them to live a life of commitment and service to Him.
And then came the day after the High Sabbath, the Festival of First Fruits. The day in which Jesus burst from the tomb in triumph over sin and death. Listen to what Paul had to say concerning this momentous historical event.
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. (1 Cor 15: 20-23)
Christ is the firstfruits, he said. The firstfruits of the great harvest of all who eventually will be resurrected as He was. How fitting then that Christ, the firstfruits, was raised on the Festival of First Fruits!
In those days following His resurrection Jesus told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the promised Holy Spirit. It seems that He did not tell them precisely when this would happen. But, as they waited, all over the land the Jewish people were engaged in a countdown: 49, 48, 47, 46, … Day by day the count got lower. They were all involved, because the Law of Moses decreed, “Count fifty days.” They even had a name for it – “Counting the Omer.” Luke tells us that on or about day 40 Jesus ascended to heaven, and the gathered disciples – completely alone now, but still meeting together – continued to wait in Jerusalem for what Jesus had promised. And all around them the people of Israel were engaged in the final ten days of the countdown: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
The countdown reached zero. And on that very day the Holy Spirit descended on the waiting disciples with the sound of a mighty wind, with tongues of fire, with uttered words that spoke to all about of the mighty wonders of God, and with a powerful gathering of the firstfruits of the spiritual harvest. Peter, who had fearfully denied Jesus less than two months previously, stood up and preached boldly to the inquisitive crowd, and that small Jerusalem church of 120 believers saw an astonishing 2500% increase in their numbers, some time after 9 o’clock in the morning.
It was the Day of Pentecost, the Day of First Fruits. Listen to what Paul and James had to say about this coming of the Holy Spirit, and the Church that was born on that day.
We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. (Rom 8: 23)
He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. (James 1: 18)
The Holy Spirit is described as firstfruits, to equip the Church with all that is needed until the day comes when we, like Christ, are resurrected to glory. And the Church itself, comprising all redeemed believers, is likened to the firstfruits of the spiritual harvest that God is bringing about. How fitting, then, that the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church took place on the festival day known as the Day of First Fruits.
What do these things tell us? They tell us that the coming of Christ into the world, and the salvation that he offers are not stories made up to try and make sense of a few strange and inexplicable events. Christ came to fulfil a plan devised by God before the world even existed, a plan that He revealed beforehand, a plan not only written in the pages of Scripture, but also depicted and predicted year after year in the very ceremonies and rituals that His chosen people of Israel were called upon to celebrate.
Look again at the diagram of the seven Israelite festivals, and particularly the summer period between Pentecost and the Festival of Trumpets. This stands for the present time in which we live. It is the time of spiritual harvest. You see, God’s plan is still being worked out, and the fulfilment of the Autumn festivals will be as sure and certain as the fulfilment of the Spring festivals. Year after year the people of Israel have sounded the trumpet (the shofar, or ram’s horn) on Rosh Hashanah – the Feast of Trumpets. During services on that day typically 100 blasts will be sounded. Different types of sound are used, some to depict joy and thanksgiving, others to depict sorrow and repentance. But the final blast of the trumpet is different from the others. It is a long, sustained note, held in fact as long as the trumpeter has breath in his lungs. It has a particular name – “Tekiah Gedolah,” which means “great trumpet sound” (see and listen to this YouTube recording of an actual Tekiah Gedolah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLi36r_bk_Y ).
Consider what the Apostle Paul had to say about the day of Christ’s return.
Take notice! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet call. For a trumpet will sound, and the dead [in Christ] will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. (1 Cor 15: 51-52)
Ask an orthodox Jew today what they understand by “the last trumpet call” and they will almost certainly respond, “that’s the Tekiah Gedolah sounded at the Feast of Trumpets.” This feast, as those before it, speaks of God’s great plan of salvation. Whether Christ’s return will occur precisely on this feast I do not know. But what is clear from Scripture is that the firstfruits of Christ’s resurrection and of the birth of His Church will be followed in God’s perfect time by the full harvest of the resurrection of all who those who believe in Him. And right now the Holy Spirit is with the Church on earth enabling us to work tirelessly to bring in this harvest.
Now there are three things I believe we should take note of.
1. The Holy Spirit Is With Us To Fulfil A Mission
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1: 8)
The Holy Spirit was not sent to help us with our mission and our agenda. He is not an assistant, sent to apply finishing touches to our work. He was sent to follow His agenda, God’s agenda. His purpose is to make us powerful witnesses for Jesus. I don’t know if you presently think of yourself as a powerful witness. Like me you would probable admit to falling a long way short of that. You might say, “Well actually I’m pretty effective now at using the dishwasher in the kitchen, and I’m not bad with the hoover either; but speaking to someone about Jesus is just not my cup of tea.” Actually, I think that probably describes 99% of us. If it describes you then be encouraged by what took place on the Day of Pentecost. The very individual in Jesus’ team who made such a complete hash of communicating with non-Christians is the one the Holy Spirit chose to talk to the crowd at Pentecost. Peter’s personal response to the challenge of communicating with others was to chop off one person’s ear, and to swear blind to another that he had never met Jesus. By the way, I wonder of either of these was in the crowd at Pentecost. O, hi there. How’s your ear? Fully recovered? That’s great, isn’t it. Isn’t God good. You can see how much He’s changed me!
The Holy Spirit is not at all deterred by our inadequacies. He has a mission, and He is determined to use us to accomplish it. Which brings me to my second point.
2. Without the Holy Spirit We Achieve Nothing of Lasting Value
On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.’ (Acts 1: 4-5)
Why did Jesus tell them to wait? They had witnessed His resurrection, so why not start spreading the good news straight away? Jesus himself gave the answer to this question to the Jews of His day who were grumbling about Him. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them,” He said (John 6: 44). You can’t draw people to Jesus, no matter how hard you try, how dramatic your testimony, and how irrefutable your arguments. It is only when God draws them and links them up with someone who will share His word with them that they will come to faith. Do you really believe that? Or do you think someone with a powerful testimony, or an eloquent speaking style, or great Bible knowledge will always achieve more for God than you, who may have a very ordinary testimony and hesitant, faltering speech? Trust in Jesus’ words. The Holy Spirit may not make you eloquent. Jesus never said that He would. But He will empower you as you trust Him and follow His leading.
3. The Holy Spirit Will Bring in an Abundant Harvest
With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ Those who accepted his message were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. (Acts 2: 40-41)
From 120 to 3,120 in one morning. How would we cope if that were to happen here in Westhill? I do not know, but I’ll tell you this. God was confident that His people would rise to the occasion. Of course it cost them – time, effort, money, personal inconvenience, and more. But notice this: as they responded wholeheartedly to what the Holy Spirit was doing, and were prepared to change and adapt to meet the challenges presented, they themselves were blessed abundantly. Just a few verses later we read
They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2: 46-47)
Would you not rejoice if that were the testimony of our church in the months and years ahead? I believe it could be, because Jesus has not changed His commission to us, and the Holy Spirit has not changed His intention and purpose to lead us, guide us and see us fully empowered for that mission.
Do you want to see it happen? If so I want to ask you to do these things, at least weekly and if possible daily.
Pray that you and all your brothers and sisters here would be daily filled with, guided by and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Pray that His passion would be your passion. Be assured, Jesus said if you pray this prayer God will always respond with good things.
Pray for the many people in Westhill and the surrounding districts, that the Lord of the Harvest will send out labourers to bring in a harvest for Him. This is a prayer Jesus told us to pray.
Pray that you will learn to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit as He leads you. Offer yourself to the Lord as one who is ready and willing to speak and act as He opens the way.
Steve Townsend
9 June 2019
