The Feast of Pentecost also known as the Feast of Weeks is the Jewish feast that occurred 50 days after the Feast of First Fruits, therefore the name Pentecost. It also occurred 7 weeks and one day after the Sabbath associated with Passover and Feast of First Fruits from which the Feast of Pentecost gets its name as the Feast of Weeks. It was one of the three times in a year when Jewish people were expected to come to the Temple in Jerusalem to meet and offer animal sacrifices to the LORD (God). It occurred on the 6th day of the 3rd Jewish month Sivan. There was a waving of two sheaves of wheat by the priest representing the first or first fruits harvest in Israel. It was originally also the time of giving of the Law of Moses and later with the Church the time of the giving of the Holy Spirit. The main reference to the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost in the Bible is in Leviticus 23 as follows:
And ye(you) shall count unto you from the morrow (next day) after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seven sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat (meal) offering unto the LORD. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken(baked) with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD. And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat(meal) offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD. Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. And ye(you) shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation(gathering or meeting) unto you: ye shall do no servile(manual or wage-earning) work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. Leviticus 23:15-21
The reference to the Feast of Pentecost or Weeks as being one of the 3 times in a year when the males were to come to the Temple in Jerusalem to offer animal sacrifices is found in Deuteronomy 16 as follows:
Three times in a year shall all the males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty: Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy(your) God which he hath(has) given thee(you). Deuteronomy 16:16-17
It was on the Feast of Pentecost about 30 AD fifty days after the Lord Jesus Christ rose again that God poured out His Holy Spirit from Heaven on His disciples waiting in Jerusalem. This gave them a new experience even for God's people of not just having the Holy Spirit come upon oneself and giving some guidance but the new birth of the Holy Spirit (being born again) indwelling, baptizing, guiding and when we allow God and His Holy Spirit filling every true believer in God and His Son Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit in this age also gives all believers at least one gift of the Holy Spirit although there are many different gifts and there is not one gift God has for all believers. The Holy Spirit also works in all Christians the fruit of the Holy Spirit which are godly character qualities.
The Holy Spirit also convicts unbelievers of sin partly because they haven't trusted in Jesus, of judgement because the prince of this world(Satan the devil is judged (by Jesus' death for our sins and resurrection) and of righteousness(because Jesus went to the Father (in Heaven because He has successfully completed His mission on Earth in God's sight). Gospel of John 16:7-11. The Jews in general were also gathered at Jerusalem at that time as well as Jesus' disciples for the Jewish Feast of Weeks or Feast of Pentecost in which offering were given, thanksgiving for first harvest and rememberance of the giving of the Law of Moses. The immediate circumstances concering this initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit from Heaven which gave new boldness in preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ by the disciples and speaking in other tongues of other nations that they didn't learn naturally are given in Acts 2 which I will share some verses:
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. ...
Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye(you) shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward(unruly) generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. Acts 2:37-41
There is a chapter in the New Testament, 2 Corinthians 3, that directly compares the two events and systems associated with the Feast of Pentecost or Feast of Weeks. These two events and resulting systems were God's giving His Law to Moses and then the Israelites on Mount Sinai and God's giving His Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost) to believers in Him and His Annointed One or Messiah (Christ) Jesus of Nazareth in Jerusalem. Both these events happened on the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost fifty days after the Feast of First Fruits in their respective years.
A main difference between the giving and life for believers by the leading of the Holy Spirit as compared to the Law of Moses is that there is greater life, spirituality, glory and liberty under the leading and indwelling of the Spirit of God compared to under the Law of Moses. This is stated quite clearly in 2 Corinthians 3 as follows:
Ye(you) are our epistles(formal usually long letters) written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter(detailed regulations), but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 2 Corinthians 3:2-7
While the pouring out of the Holy Spirit from Heaven on humanity but especially on believers at Pentecost brought a new source of power, godliness, and godly guidance for believers and restraint through the conscience and work on unsaved people's spirits to convict of sin, the rapture will remove or steal all these things from the world when the Lord Jesus Christ comes at the rapture very soon to take all His born again or born of the Holy Spirit believers and in some sense His Holy Spirit in His current work back to Heaven from Earth. This is somewhat like the reverse process of Pentecost though fortunately involving orders of magnitude more believers including many from the nations as well as Jewish believers in Jesus the Messiah.
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