A.      To have a good understanding of the Bible, we must understand the account of the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2:1-41.

B.      Let us devote two lessons to the topic of Pentecost.  We will begin by considering the events of Pentecost.

II.      EVENTS LEADING UP TO PENTECOST

A.      The most significant events in the days prior to Pentecost were the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.

                                                             1.      The Lord was crucified and buried on a Friday during the Passover week.

a.       His last meal was the Passover meal on the night before He was crucified, which was the first day of the weeklong Passover Feast (“Unleavened Bread” – Matt. 26:17-35).

b.       That same night, Christ was betrayed and arrested, and the next day He was tried, scourged, crucified, and buried (Matt. 26:47-27:66).

                                                             2.      After three days in the tomb (part of Friday, all of Saturday, and part of Sunday), the Lord was raised from the dead on the first day of the week, Sunday (Matt. 28:1-8; Mark 16:1-14; Luke 24:1-43; John 20:1-25).

B.      Following His resurrection, the Lord appeared to many people over the course of the next forty days.

                                                             1.      Notice Acts 1:3 – “To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.”

                                                             2.      Paul accounted for the people who witnessed Jesus during this forty day period in 1Corinthians 15:5-7 – “He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.  After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.”

C.      At last, the Lord ascended into heaven while the apostles looked on from Mt. Olivet near Bethany.

                                                             1.      Notice Acts 1:9 – “And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.”  See also Luke 24:50-51.

                                                             2.      After the apostles witnessed Christ’s ascension, they returned to Jerusalem where they gathered with about one hundred and twenty people (Acts 1:12-26).

III.   THE DAY OF PENTECOST

A.      First, let us understand what the day of Pentecost was.

                                                             1.      The “day of Pentecost” was a first century term for the annual Jewish Feast of Weeks (also called the Feast of Harvest).

a.       The Feast of Weeks was the second of the three great Jewish feasts observed annually in Jerusalem (Ex. 23:14-17; 34:22-23; Num. 28:26-31; Deut. 16:10-11).  The others were the Feast of the Passover (or Feast of Unleavened Bread) and the Feast of Tabernacles (or Feast of Booths).

b.       The Feast of Weeks was celebrated in grateful recognition of the completed barley harvest.  This is why it was also called the Feast of Harvest.

c.        The Feast of Weeks was observed fifty days after the Passover (Lev. 23:15-21).

i.         This is why it was called “Pentecost” in the first century, for the word “Pentecost” comes from a Greek word meaning “fiftieth.”

ii.        Pentecost always fell on the first day of a week (Sunday), for it was the first day after the seventh sabbath counted from the Passover.

                                                             2.      Today when Christians think of the day of Pentecost, they typically think of the specific day in which the events of Acts 2:1-41 occurred rather than the annual Feast of Weeks.

B.      On the day of Pentecost after the Lord’s ascension, Jews from every nation had gathered at Jerusalem.

                                                             1.      Notice Acts 2:5 – “Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.”

a.       Some of these Jews lived in Jerusalem at all times, but many devout Jews came for the Passover and stayed over for Pentecost.  The city swelled significantly during these times.

b.       It is unknown how many people were present on this occasion, but we might estimate between two or three million.  This is based on the fact that the Jewish historian Josephus reported that at least three million Jews were present in Jerusalem when the Roman Emperor Titus besieged the city during the Passover in A.D. 70.

                                                             2.      The nationalities of these Jews are listed in Acts 2:9-11 – “Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs.”  All parts of the known world were represented.

C.      In was on this day when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles of Christ and they preached the full gospel.

                                                             1.      Just before the Lord ascended back to heaven, He said to the apostles, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:7-8).

                                                             2.      The Lord’s words were fulfilled on Pentecost just a few days later when the Holy Spirit filled the apostles while they were gathered together at Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-11).

a.       The Spirit came with a sound “like a violent, rushing wind” and an appearance like “tongues as of fire” that distributed themselves and rested upon each of the apostles (vv. 2-3).

b.       The apostles began to “speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance” (v. 4).  By “other tongues,” the Scripture means that the apostles spoke other languages that were foreign to them so that the Jews of various nationalities could hear the gospel preached in their own languages (vv. 5-11).

                                                             3.      When some of the Jews asked, “What does this mean?” and others mocked the apostles as being drunk, Peter answered them with an astounding message (Acts 2:12-21).

a.       He denied that the apostles were drunk and then declared that these events were the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel 2:28-32.

i.         Joel’s prophecy was about the coming of the Holy Spirit and His miraculous acts that would accompany the revelation of the way of salvation.

ii.        The timeframe given by Joel was simply “after this,” but by the Holy Spirit, Peter gave the timeframe as “in the last days” (compare to Isa. 2:2; Dan. 2:28).  Therefore, the period of the last days was in effect as Peter spoke (beginning during Roman rule).

iii.      Notice that by this timeframe, Joel 2 and Acts 2 are associated with Isaiah 2 and Daniel 2.  In the “last days,” God has poured forth His Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:1-21), many people have come to the “mountain of the house of the LORD” (Isa. 2:2-4 pertaining to Jews and Gentiles coming into God’s kingdom), and God has “set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed” (Dan. 2:36-45).  The fulfillment of these prophecies commenced on this day of Pentecost.

b.       Peter then preached the message of Pentecost, which was that Jesus is both Lord and Christ (we will study this message in depth in the next lesson).

D.      The final great event of this day of Pentecost was the obedient response of three thousand souls.

                                                             1.      Notice Acts 2:41 – “So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.”

                                                             2.      This was the beginning of the Lord’s church and the first fruits of the harvest of salvation through Jesus Christ that continues to this day.

IV.    CONCLUSION

A.      The events of Pentecost are some of the most important in the New Testament.  They marked the beginning of God’s final revelation to mankind through His Holy Spirit.

B.      Now that we have a good understanding of the events of Pentecost, we will devote the next lesson to obtaining an understanding of the message of Pentecost.