The Spirit Led Church

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Pentecost

PENTECOST (חג שׁבעת, chg shb't, “weeks”; πεντηκοστή, pentēkostē, “fiftieth”). In the Hebrew Bible, Pentecost is an annual harvest festival that occurs seven weeks after Passover. It became an important Christian holiday after God poured out the Holy Spirit upon the Jerusalem church on the first Pentecost after Christ’s resurrection.

Biblical Relevance

Pentecost in the Hebrew Bible

Leviticus 23:15–21 instructs the Israelites to hold an annual one-day harvest festival seven weeks, or 50 days, after Passover (see also Exod 34:22). This festival included extensive sacrifice (Lev 23:15–21; Deut 16:9–10; 2 Chr 8:13). At Pentecost, also known as the Feast of Weeks, Israelite farmers would start their journeys toward Jerusalem to present their firstfruit offerings (Wigoder, “Shavu’ot,” 707; Werblowsky, “Shavu’ot,” 628).

Pentecost in Acts

On the Pentecost immediately following Christ’s resurrection, God pours out (ἐκχέω, ekcheō) the Holy Spirit upon the Jerusalem church, thus enabling them to perform extraordinary deeds such as healings, speaking in tongues, prophesying, and inspired preaching. Fulfillment of Jesus’ promise of the baptism in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5, 8) occurs on Pentecost while the disciples are gathered in a house (Kee, Good News, 30). The Holy Spirit rushes into the house as a strong wind, and tongues of fire appear over each of the disciples. Fire is a conventional literary feature of theophanies (e.g., Exod 3:2; 2 Thess 1:8; 4 Ezra 13:10).

I. Spiritual Power

A. Declaration of this Power

i. Jesus promised this power

a. Acts 1:5 “For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.”

b. Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

ii. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

a.1 Corinthians 12:13 “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”

b. Romans 8:9–11 “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

B. Demonstration of this Power

a. the sound

i. wind. Wind symbolizes the Holy Spirit.

John 3:8 “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

b. the sight

i. Fire

a. Fire Purifies, it Illuminates, it Heats,

b. Matthew 3:11 “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:”

c. the sign

a. tongues

i. What are these tongues?

a. Gift of speaking in a foreign language that you have never been taught.

ii. The use of tongues

a. Three mentions of tongues being used in the Book of Acts.

b. All three instances Unbelieving Jews were present.

c. 1 Corinthians 14:22 “Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.”

d. Proof of the Holy Spririt is not the miraculous gift of tongues but rather the ability to control the one tongue that you do have.

C. Dynamic of this Power

a. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit

b. The filling of the Holy Spirit

i. Ephesians 5:18 “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;”

II. Spiritual Preaching

A. 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

III. Spiritual People