Every year we celebrate Pentecost, a Christian holiday that’s not nearly as popular as Christmas or Easter, but it should be! Here are a few helpful ways to prepare for and celebrate Pentecost.
First, though it is a Christian holiday, the word itself, which means “fifty,” stretches all the way back to Leviticus 23:16, where God instructs his people to “count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath.” These fifty days followed Passover, which commemorated the climactic redemptive event of the Old Testament, the day God delivered his people from slavery, known as the exodus.
Second, Pentecost is a Christian holiday because it celebrates the birthday of the church, recorded in Acts 2. Following Jesus’ resurrection on earth and his ascension to heaven, on the actual day of Pentecost no less (Acts 2:1), Jesus does exactly what he promised – he sends his Holy Spirit to his disciples, empowering them to fulfill the mission he had called them to in Matthew 28:18-20 by fulfilling his promise: “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” The church is born, fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection, the climactic redemptive event, not just of the New Testament, but of all history.
Finally, Pentecost is the reversal of Babel. Going all the way back Genesis 11, when the whole world had one language, they proceeded to join together and build a staircase to heaven to “make a name for themselves.” In response, God confused their language so that they could not understand each other, scattering them all over the entire earth; the tower henceforth known as the Tower of Babel.
In Acts 2, we read that the disciples “were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” Why? The next verse tells us – “now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5), who would later exclaim, “we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” (Acts 2:11). The Holy Spirit enabled the disciples to reverse Babel by proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ – his life, death and resurrection – to everyone gathered “in their native language” (Acts 2:8). It was so staggering that “those present were amazed and perplexed, asking one another ‘what does this mean?’” (Acts 2:12) What this means is the church was born on the day of Pentecost, the same church Jesus promised to build when he said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18). City Church, you are a small part of that church! Happy Birthday!