Why It Matters //
In the weeks preceding Pentecost (on May 31st), we will explore the meaning, history, and significance behind this day. Pentecost, which in Greek means “the 50th day”, is celebrated fifty days after Passover and it signifies the day when the Holy Spirit fell on the people who were assembled in the upper room. If we rewind another 1300 years or so, this is the same time that Moses receives the law from God up on Mount Sinai, which we read about in Exodus. Pentecost is a time when we look to God with gratitude for his provision. God desires that we please him yet he gives us everything we need to do so. First the law, so that His people would know His moral standard and the requirements to life, a blameless life; then finally His Spirit that we would have the grace to live out God’s righteousness standard through the power of His Spirit.
What It's Talking About //
The day of Pentecost falls during the Jewsish holiday called Shavuot, or Feast of Weeks. Shavuot is one of the three pilgrimage Festivals that God commanded the Israelites to celebrate every year: Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot (Deuteronomy 16:16-17). The Feast of Weeks (occurring seven weeks after Passover) is a celebration of first fruits, a time when the Israelites offer their best to the Lord (Exodus 34:22, 26).
Exodus 34:1-11 & 29 NIV
1 The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
2 Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain.
3 No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.”
4 So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands.
5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord.
6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,
7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.
9 “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”
10 Then the Lord said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you.
11 Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
...29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.
2 Cor 3:7-18 NIV
7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was,
8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!
10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.
11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away.
14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.
15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.