Happy Pentecost!

Happy Pentecost! As a North American Christian, I remember the story of the first Pentecost well. The believers were gathered in the upper room and suddenly, a wind blew, fire appeared over their heads, and they began to speak in languages they didn’t understand. One day, I discovered this wasn’t the entire story.

The story of Pentecost actually began many years before. Approximately 1600 years before this incredible, miraculous day there was another incredible, miraculous day: Shavuot. Shavuot is a Jewish feast that is celebrated every year to remember the day God gave the Jews the Torah on Mt. Sinai. The story is found in Exodus 19.

On this day, the people gathered at the bottom of the mountain, men on one side, women on the other. All of the people had gone through ritualistic cleansing to be ready to meet God. God descended on Mt. Sinai in a thick cloud, there was thunder and violent shaking. I’m sure my imagination doesn’t even come close to how it actually was. God’s power and glory is so vast and beyond our ability to comprehend, when He manifested His presence to this degree, everything around it reacted in a way that could be seen and felt. There have been times God has revealed Himself to me with such intensity that I felt I couldn’t bear it, and I couldn’t stop a physical reaction. Each time He has blessed me in this way, I was permanently changed afterward. Those times only make me want even more of His presence and glory because I know that those times barely even scratch the surface of Who He is. When I remember those times, then try to imagine this day, so many years ago, on this mountain, I imagine His presence and glory was revealed with intensity far beyond anything I’ve ever experienced.

This is the heritage of Pentecost. Pentecost is really the Greek equivalency for the Hebrew word Shavuot. Shavuot means “weeks” and Pentecost literally translated means “fiftieth.” Shavuot is the culmination of the countdown of seven weeks, or 49 days, between Passover and Shavuot, so both days speak to this time lapse between the two holy days. The days are truly intertwined, and the Christian celebration has a far deeper and richer meaning than some of us may realize.

On Shavuot two loaves of bread are waved before the Lord to celebrate the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat season. As a New Testament believer, we can see how it foreshadowed Jew and Gentile being able to come before the Lord and worship the Lord as a living sacrifice as one Body. We can see how these festivals foreshadowed the end of the era of the external rituals that remind us that there is no way we could ever be righteous before God and the post-cross era where we are gifted the righteousness of God. On Shavuot God revealed His presence externally from the Jews on the mountain, but on Pentecost God revealed His presence internally through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Last year I remember hearing, literally physically hearing, the wind of the Spirit for Pentecost. There were no open windows (or any windows in that room), no fans, and no air conditioning. There was no source for this sound except His Spirit. I remember receiving a sense of “breathing new life” when I heard the sound of the wind. I believe this to be a general word of encouragement for His Church.

God is breathing new life into churches and into individuals. God is preparing His Bride for a greater release of His glory. In Jewish culture, Shavuot is likened to a wedding. Just as before a wedding there is a growing anticipation and excitement, I’ve been sensing a similar feeling in the Spirit. I sensed it last year, but even more so this year. I fully believe God is working to enlarge our capacity to experience and bear His presence and glory in our lives both individually and corporately as the Church. I fully believe God is breathing new life, releasing His gifts and greater authority in those gifts and is getting ready to do something amazing!

So I am excited! I am excited to see and participate in what God is releasing on this planet in this time. To that end, I pray that God would continue to draw us deeper into His presence, that He would continue to enlarge our capacity to experience and bear His presence and glory into our environments. I pray that He would continue to release His gifts in our lives and strategically place us with others so we can have a greater impact in our regions of influence. I pray for a release of God’s wisdom and understanding in our hearts so we can align to His Word and His plans. I pray that we would learn how to operate in His authority in greater degrees in our lives. I pray for His wind to blow in our lives, in our churches, and in our regions and breathe new life. Amen.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Shavuot”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Apr. 2022, www.britannica.com/topic/Shavuot.

Goodman, P. “The Shavuot Marriage Contract.” My Jewish Learning. Retrieved from www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-shavuot-marriage-contract/

“Pentékosté.” Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance Updated Edition. Retrieved from BibleHub. biblehub.com/greek/4005.htm

“Shavuot Customs and Rituals.” Union for Reform Judaism. Retrieved from reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/shavuot/shavuot-customs-and-rituals