Day 143 Shavuot & Pentecost

 

5/24/2026

"And suddenly there came a sound from heaven,

as a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house

where they were sitting."

John 2:2

 

Yesterday we celebrated Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, one of the three pilgrimage feasts that require all men appear before the Lord in Jerusalem annually. As I shared in my previous post, after Passover, also one of the three pilgrimage feasts, was over, the Lord instructed the counting of the Omer, a measure of grain, to be used in counting the days to Shavuot. In Leviticus 23:15-17 the Lord instructed Moses:

"And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD. You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the LORD."

Shavuot also is a day of remembering the giving of the Torah or law of the Lord to Moses on Mount Sinai. After the children of Israel were delivered from Egypt, they traveled fifty days in the wilderness, arriving at Mount Sinai where God met with the people and wrote the commandments on tablets of stone with His own finger. God told Moses to have the people gather at the base of the mountain on the third day where He would meet with them. "Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled." (Exodus 19:16) 

Today is the Day of Pentecost for the Christian Church, the day we celebrate the outpouring of Holy Spirit as told in Acts 2. Jesus was crucified on Passover, as our sinless, spotless Lamb who gave His life so that we could be saved. When He arose on the third day, He appeared to His disciples and He remained with them for forty days teaching them many things. Prior to his death He had instructed His disciples that He would not leave them alone, but that the Father would send a Comforter, Holy Spirit, who would be with them. Before He ascended to Heaven on the fortieth day, He instructed them to wait in Jerusalem until they were endowed with power from on high. In Acts 1:1-3, 7-8 Luke says, "The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God....And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.'"

The timing of these events was critical. The disciples had come for Passover, not realizing that Jesus would be put to death, although He told them many times prior. So when Jesus arose from the dead, during the forty days He was with them, this was the time of the counting of the Omer up to Shavuot, the appointed feast when all men were in Jerusalem as commanded by God. The disciples were in the upper room, waiting for the Promise of the Father to come, when the day arrived:

"When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:1-4) 

The New Testament, written by the Jewish people, was written in Greek, and the word "Pentecost" means fifty. Later in the account of the baptism of the Holy Spirit of the apostles in Acts 2, is the account of the crowd of people who heard the apostles speaking in different languages, testifying of Jesus. The Jews who were present in Jerusalem for Shavuot were of different regions, tribes, and dialects, and they heard their own individual languages being spoken. When Peter addressed the crowd that had gathered (Acts 2:14) he called them "men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem." Then he explained to them that what was happening had been prophesied by the prophet Joel (Acts 2:16-20). After Peter preached the gospel to these men, testifying from the prophets, he told them to repent and be baptized for their sins. About three thousand received the word, accepted Christ, were baptized, and joined the church that day. It is important to note here that when Holy Spirit was given on this day of Pentecost, the promise of the Father was given to the Jewish people. At this point Gentiles had not been included. In Acts 11 in Antioch the Gentile believers were called Christians, so the original church were Jewish believers in Christ.

Pastor Peter from Kehilat HaCarmel Church shared that it wasn't until 1908 when the Azusa Street Revival broke out in Los Angeles, California when the baptism of Holy Spirit was poured out in America. This was the beginning of the Pentecostal Movement. Seventy years later, another revival broke out in California, the Jesus Revolution, and this was the beginning of the Charismatic movement. Today the two movements include about 700 million people who identify as Pentecostal and/or Charismatic.

The history of these two celebrations, Shavuot and Pentecost, are Biblically significant to the Jewish heritage and to we who have received Jesus as our Savior and Lord who have been grafted into the olive tree and are included in the promises of God. In previous posts I have shared about the confusion in the church today and the introduction of Replacement Theology which teaches that the Church has replaced the Jews as the chosen people. This is nonsense, yet it is taught in seminaries and in many denominations today. This has aided the rise of antisemitism all over the world.

So much more could be said, but that is for another time. I encourage readers to seek the truth found in the scriptures for yourself. Study to show yourselves approved unto God, workmen who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)