PENTECOST
Today, we have no particular rituals to observe on Pentecost, except not to work and to gather for a “holy convocation”. But before I get into the meaning of the day, you need to know that the original giving of the Ten Commandments was also done on the day of Pentecost; proving that is a fun little exercise in Bible study.
Israel left Egypt on the 15th day of the first month. The first day they were still in Egypt, fleeing Pharaoh, and on the last day they crossed the Red Sea and escaped. Then they worked their way to Mt. Sinai where they received the law. But few realize it is possible to precisely date all these events.
Look in your extra material, and you’ll find those blank calendar sheets. Download and print three blank calendar sheets with no day numbers on them. Don’t skip this step, it’s important, and fun! Now number the months 1, 2, 3. Then read all of Exodus 16. The purpose of this chapter was to record how Israel was officially given the Sabbath command, and when the manna began to fall.
They arrived in the wilderness of Sin on the 15th day of the second month (and no, the Hebrew name “Sin” doesn’t mean “sin”). On this day, the Israelites were complaining, so God promised them manna on the next day (Exodus 16:4-8).
Then the manna fell for six days (Exodus 16:22), and on that sixth day God said the NEXT day was a Sabbath. So since that would be a Sabbath, the sixth day was a Friday; and so counting back six days shows that the promise of the manna, given the 15th day of the second month, was made on a Sabbath!
So on your calendar marked “second month”, find the Sabbath column, and on the third row down mark that it was the 15th of the month, and write beneath it “the wilderness of Sin, manna promised”. On the next day (Sunday, the 16th), write that the manna fell, and then find the next Sabbath and number it the 22nd day of the month.
Then fill in the un-numbered days in between, then count backwards; when you get to the first day of the second month (a Sabbath), go to the bottom of the first month on the day before (it should be a Friday) and write “30” (God’s ideal months are always 30 days), and keep going until you have all three calendars filled.
Now you’ll see that the 14th day of the first month, the Passover, fell on a Wednesday; the Exodus on a Thursday; and the drowning of Pharaoh next Wednesday. Until after the drowning of Pharaoh, they had been fleeing Egypt. They didn’t take the time to camp until they were trapped at the Red Sea, on the night that began the 21st day (remember, these days are always sunset to sunset!). This encampment was at Succoth.
Now read Numbers 33:5-8. Rameses was where they left Egypt from (Numbers 33:3), the next site was Succoth, where they spent the 21st. The 22nd was spent at Etham, the 23rd at Pihahiroth, and the 24th at Marah. So Marah was on a Sabbath, which your calendar should show as well. So write “Marah” on that day.
Back in Exodus 15:22-23, it again records that they went three days from the Red Sea and encamped at Marah. The rest of Exodus only records encampments once a week; so every time it records an encampment it was on a Sabbath, as you’ll see it lays out perfectly. Exodus 15:27 says they came to Elim and encamped; write “Elim” on the next Sabbath.
Exodus 16:1 says they left Egypt, and came to the wilderness of Sin. This is the third encampment after the Red Sea, so write “Wilderness of Sin” on that day; the same day the manna was promised that you already read about.
The next Sabbath they were still at the wilderness of Sin (Exodus 16:23-27). Then they moved to Rephidim in Exodus 17:1, where water came from the stone. This event took place at Mt. Horeb (Exodus 17:5), and Horeb is another name for Sinai – see Exodus 3:1 and Deuteronomy 4:15.
So they were at Sinai – but were apparently on the wrong side, for though they are in “Rephidim”, Exodus 17:6, Exodus 18:5 place them at the “mount of God”, “Horeb”, and yet Exodus 19:1-2 shows them moving FROM Rephidim to Sinai. So Rephidim was near Sinai, on one side of the mountain, and then they moved from there to the other side – a short journey.
Exodus 19:1 says they arrived at Sinai “in the third month… the same day…”. This can mean one of two things; the same day of the month that they left Egypt (the 15th), or the same day of the week (a Thursday). We know they were in the neighborhood of Sinai on the 29th day of the second month, it is inconceivable it took them over two weeks to travel the rest of the way. So it probably wasn’t the same day of the month.
But if they arrived on a Thursday, the same day of the WEEK that they left Egypt, in the week following their last encampment at Rephidim, then they would have arrived at Sinai on the fourth day of the third month. Write that in your calendar. The next day, Friday, Exodus 19:3-6 records that Moses went up to the mountain to receive a message from God. 10
Then he returned to the people, and then went up the mountain again to get more instructions in Exodus 18:8-9. What were those instructions? Exodus 19:10-11
. What did Moses do? Exodus 19:15-16 So in your calendar, on the 5th day of the third month, write “Today”, then “Tomorrow” and then “The Third Day”.
You’ll find it falls on a Sunday. In fact, you’ll find it falls after exactly SEVEN WEEKS from the Sunday during the Days of Unleavened Bread! Because it was the day of PENTECOST!
THE MEANING OF PENTECOST
The church was started on Pentecost. On that day, God gave the holy spirit. Now God could have chosen any day of the year to do that, but He didn’t – He did it then. Do you suppose God had no reason to choose that particular day?
Did Christ’s disciples know when Pentecost was, and gather specifically to observe it? Acts 2:1. What time of day was it? Acts 2:15 [Note: The third hour was about 9am]. And on the morning of that holy day, what happened? Acts 2:2-4 So if someone had refused to keep Pentecost that year for any reason, he would not have been there – and would have missed the giving of the holy spirit!
Did Peter explain what was going on? Acts 2:14-20 Did Peter say a particular prophecy (not the holy day) was fulfilled on that day? Acts 2:16 And what did people who believed receive on that day? Acts 2:37-38
So on that day God (by His spirit) spoke to man. The spirit “gave them utterance” to speak His will. Remember that fact. On the same day, they saw fire descend from heaven, heard loud noises like wind, and Peter said it fulfilled Joel’s prophecy of smoke and other signs.
When God gives someone His spirit, what happens? 1 John 4:13. Are there conditions on having that spirit dwell in you? 1 John 3:24. Are you a place for God to live? Ephesians 2:22. So God lives in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16. And where is that spirit? 2 Corinthians 1:22.
But what is God trying to accomplish in you? Hebrews 10:16. How is God going to write that law in your hearts? 2 Corinthians 3:3. Can you know God without keeping His law? 1 John 2:4. So God is writing His laws on your heart by His spirit. Without His spirit – without Him living in you to help you understand the law, you couldn’t understand it! (1 Corinthians 2:14, 16).
You could only understand the letter of that Law as ancient Israel did; but to understand the spirit of God’s Law, you must have God’s holy spirit present within you, interpreting it during every experience you encounter in life.
You may have noticed in 2 Corinthians 3:3 that Paul makes a clear contrast between the spirit writing laws on your hearts and God writing laws on the tablets at Sinai. This is no accident – for the Bible reveals the Ten Commandments were given ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST!
Over 1,500 years before the holy spirit was given, God gave Israel the Ten Commandments – accompanied by many of the same signs as in Acts 2! Read Exodus 19:16-18. The third day here was Pentecost, as you just proved.
Notice many of the same signs; smoke, loud noise, “the Lord descending in a fire” (compare with Acts 2:3), and God speaking His will to man. Notice also that it was at the same time of day in both places! “In the morning”! 11
And on this day, God gave man the laws that were to be written on stone – just as 1,500-odd years later, He gave man the spirit to “decode” that law and make it apply to every conceivable situation!
The morning of that holy day, God gave mankind His law; the same day, a little over 1,500 years later, God gave mankind His spirit to interpret that law! And on the same day, yet in our future… something even greater is going to happen!
Anyone not keeping Pentecost with Moses 3,500 years ago would not have been a part of the Covenant God made with Israel! Anyone not keeping Pentecost with Peter 2,000 years ago would not have been a part of the NEW Covenant God made with His church!
And anyone not keeping Pentecost when God returns… just think about that.
BUT WHAT DOES PENTECOST MEAN?
God gave man His law on Pentecost, and His spirit on Pentecost. What do those have in common? Here is a simple logical equation;
The nature of God is love (1 John 4:8) – a simple equation of A = B.
Love is the keeping of the law (Romans 13:10, 2 John 1:6, 1 John 5:3). A simple equation of B = C.
And that equation requires the conclusion that C = A: The keeping of the law is God’s nature.
To put it in clearer terms, the law is the most basic expression God’s nature. The law defines what God’s nature is like. God cannot break any of those laws (James 1:13, 1 John 3:9). He wouldn’t even want to, because it’s His deepest lust to live according to them, even as it’s your deepest lust to take care of #1.
So if you know those facts about God, you KNOW what God would do in any situation. You know what God WANTS in any situation – He wants the solution that fulfills those laws, which is always the solution that is the most loving, because love is the keeping of those laws in all four sides.
This means without those laws, you couldn’t know God. You might know His name, where He lived, something He did 2,000 years ago… but you can’t know HIM, you can’t know His NATURE, without the laws that DEFINE His nature! (1 John 2:4).
It would be like claiming to know me based on where I lived, my name, and the fact that I once traveled to Mexico. You don’t know me! You only know a few unimportant things about me – and without God’s law, that’s as good as you can ever hope to know God!
You can’t know anyone until you know their character; will they steal from you? Can you trust them with your life? Will they lie to you, kill you, cheat you? The Ten Commandments answer all those questions about God, so you can truly get to know His holy nature.
So for ancient Israel to have any hope of being God’s people, and KNOWING God, He had to introduce Himself to them, which He did by giving them His law. But man is carnal, and his nature rebelled against that law (Romans 8:7).
So God had to send the law AND a way of understanding it, which was His spirit – He lives in us and helps us apply the law, so that we can know Him better. The giving of the law was God’s business card, in a manner of speaking; it defined His nature on paper (well, stone actually).
But that could be misinterpreted, because words on stone are not alive. So God sent us His spirit – a piece of His nature living inside of us and explaining those words to us, helping us to understand them and know Him better.
It’s rather like the difference between knowing a person through letters you’ve exchanged with them, and knowing them over a telephone; no amount of words can convey the thoughts and feelings of a person as well as a few minutes on the phone. This is the difference between knowing God through laws written on stone and knowing God through His spirit.
And yet even over the phone, you can’t truly know a person. You can become quite close, but it’s still not the same as literally knowing a person face-to-face (Deuteronomy 34:10). And so it is with God, too. Read Revelation 21:3.
One day, far in the future when the Earth is cleansed and the plan of God is finished, God intends to literally, physically, actually dwell with man. On that day, we will truly meet Him for the first time. No more phone calls, no more letters… face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12).
And that is the ultimate fulfillment of Pentecost. Three successive stages of introduction; first in word, then in spirit, finally in body; each Pentecost bringing us closer to that state Jesus prayed for when He said…
John 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
And that’s the meaning of Pentecost.