When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2:1-4
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Acts 2:37
This coming Sunday many Christians will celebrate Pentecost. In the Old Testament, Pentecost was a Jewish feast day celebrating the agricultural harvest. But in the New Testament, Pentecost celebrates an entirely different kind of harvest: It was on this day that the Holy Spirit was poured out on 120 followers of Jesus who were gathered in Jerusalem (Acts 1:15). The result was thousands found Jesus as their Lord.
Pentecost is the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:15ff)— it happened fifty days after His resurrection.
As I look across the Christian landscape today, it seems like many Christians are wandering—bogged down somewhere between the reality of Jesus’ victory at the resurrection and the Holy Spirit’s victory at Pentecost. They got the salvation piece down but don’t really know what to do with it because they don’t have the power that arrived with the Holy Spirit.
They’ve been to Bethlehem for a Savior. They’ve been to Calvary for pardon, but haven’t gotten to Pentecost for power and transformation that comes with the Holy Spirit.
The nativity means ‘God With Us’.
Calvary means ‘God Forgives Us’.
But Pentecost means God In Us.
Many Christians today are like the Ephesians. Paul asked them did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They replied, we did not even know that there was a Holy Spirit (Acts 19:12). Today, with more thorough teaching, most Christians are aware of the Holy Spirit’s existence, but for many, that knowledge does them little good because they haven’t been to their own Pentecost—Yet.