The feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits all happened within eight days in the spring. Fifty days from the Feast of First Fruits to Pentecost–there are seven Sabbaths in between–takes us into fall, harvest time. So, Pentecost is during the fall harvest time and means “fifty days after” (Leviticus 23:15-16).
During the Feast of First Fruits, they waved a single loaf of bread, but during Pentecost they waved two loaves of bread. Because of the harvest, they had the grain, therefore they could make bread. Why would they wave two loaves? Jesus wants old covenant and new covenant people. He loves both Jews and Gentiles–Jesus makes one new man. Pentecost celebrated us all coming together as one–in Jesus. The power of the Holy Spirit is in the Feast of Pentecost, and it affects both the Jew and the Gentile–it affects you!
The very first celebration of Pentecost was in Numbers, when Moses was given the Law for the Israelites, but it was actually not a good celebration. God wrote the Ten Commandments on two tablets for Moses to give to the people so they could live a long and happy life in the promised land. Sadly, when Moses came back to reveal the law to the people, he found them involved in sin and worshipping a golden calf.
When Moses saw this, he was so angry he threw down and broke the Ten Commandments at the foot of the mountain. That day, judgment came down on the people on the Feast of Pentecost, and 3,000 Israelites were killed (Exodus 32:27-28). It shouldn’t have been that way, but the people had turned their backs on God and missed what He had for them. Moses went back up on the mountain and interceded on behalf of the people and pleaded with God not to destroy them. Moses, as mediator, stood between God and the Israelites. He went and again got two more tablets of commandments and came back to call the people to repentance. Because of the intercession of Moses, the Israelite’s repentance, and God’s forgiveness, the presence of God came back, and He led them into the promised land. God looked for a man to stand in the gap for His people, and Moses stood in that gap, just as Jesus did for us.
In the New Testament, Jesus was involved in Pentecost. After He rose from the dead and went back to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). Pentecost was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on God’s people, sent by Jesus. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came with a rushing, mighty wind, fire fell, and people began to speak in tongues. Three thousand did not die as on the first Pentecost, but instead, 3,000 were saved (Acts 2:41)! God always intended for people to be saved and anointed with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, because though the Law brings death, the Spirit brings life (2 Corinthians 3:7-8).
When you get spirit-filled, you enter into an astounding dimension of power. At Passover they were filled with the Lamb; at Pentecost they were filled with the Spirit. In 2 Corinthians 3:18-20, we see that we can be transformed to another level of glory by the Spirit–this is true for every believer–to experience the power of the Holy Spirit! With Pentecost came power; and the demonstration of healing and miracle came after Pentecost through the disciples and the rest of the body of Christ. What has Jesus always wanted? A demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit!
