The following is an excerpt from Seasons of Worship: A Spiritual Calendar for the Church Today.
Pentecost, occurring fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection, was a well–established feast known as the Feast of Weeks, celebrated by the Jewish community for centuries even before Jesus’ time. During the year of Jesus’ death and resurrection, thousands of Jews gathered in Jerusalem to participate in the Jewish harvest festival known as Pentecost.
On the tenth day after Jesus’ ascension, about one hundred twenty of his followers were gathered together in a room, expecting to partake in the festivities. However, their plans took an unexpected turn when the Holy Spirit descended from heaven, giving birth to the church on earth. God the Father sent his Spirit to indwell his people, bringing forth the harvest known as the church.
Early Christian author Tertullian addresses Pentecost in his treatise on baptism, where he describes it as a “most joyous period” (laetissimum spatium),
“. . . because the Lord’s resurrection was celebrated among the disciples and the grace of the Holy Spirit was inaugurated and the hope of the Lord’s coming indicated, because it was then, when he had been take back into heaven, the angels told the apostles that he would come exactly as he had gone up into heaven—meaning, of course, during the Pentecost.”
It is evident that the whole fifty–day Easter season celebrated the resurrection and ascension of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, looking ahead to Christ’s coming in glory.
©2024 Steven D. Brooks, Wipf and Stock Publishers
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If you would like to read more about Pentecost and the Christian year, and it’s spiritual impact upon the lives of worshipers, you can find more in Seasons of Worship: A Spiritual Calendar for the Church Today by Dr. Steven D. Brooks.