Back To The Basics - #10

Picture this with me: Tongues of fire, a violent rushing wind and multiple languages being spoken at one time by hand-fulls of different people within one room... it sounds a lot like a scene out of an epic story of grueling battles between bilingual, tactful heroes and ferocious villains, doesn’t it? Or maybe it’s all the classic stories I’ve been reading lately to prepare for my English Literature teaching position. Ha ha! Even still, these descriptions are fascinating! Especially because they exist within the book of Truth, God’s Word, which means they actually happened! If you read Acts 2, you will find these words and the account of the Holy Spirit being gifted to Christ’s followers just after Jesus finished what He came to Earth to do, and ascended back into Heaven. This event has been recorded in history (His-story!) because of the power that it holds and is known as Pentecost.

The events of Pentecost have been fascinating to me over the last month or so for a few different reasons. I’d love to share them with you...

Fascinating Fact #1: These people were able to gather in person to worship

It was the very beginning of Acts 2 that first caught my attention. It says:

“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.”

Oh, how my heart longs for this scene to become a reality in my own life once again. For two and a half months, my family and I, (as well as the rest of the world), have been forced to keep distance between others due to the invasive COVID-19 virus that has spread across the globe. Our mothers; our grandfathers; our best friends; our teachers; these are not just the “people” we’ve been forced to stay away from, these are the lives we’ve been forced, in a way, to detach from for the unforeseeable future. It’s been tricky navigating this process because no matter what order I have been given, I refuse to distance my heart from these “people.” While I continue to adhere to the requests of my authority figures, my hope is stirred, just as Paul’s was in Romans 1:10-17 (and many other similar passages), to dwell with my people in person once again. This is why the opening sentence to the retelling of this incredible event in Acts 2 struck my heart so deeply.

I read that first line of Acts a couple weeks ago, and as I dug more into Pentecost, I found that it was directly connected to Passover. Which leads to the next Fascinating point about Pentecost...

Fascinating Fact #2: Pentecost means “Fiftieth”

(Strong, James. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Abingdon Press, 1890.)

Fiftieth of what exactly? Have you noticed that God’s Word continually uses numbers as a means of symbolic importance? For example:

Three= The number of “perfection”

-The Trinity (Mt. 28:19)

-3 prayers a day (Dan. 6:10)

Seven= The number of “completion”

-7 days in a week (Genesis 1)

-7 churches, trumpets, bowls, seals... etc. (Revelation)

-7 weeks of the omer (Lev.

-Multiples of 7 to count seasons between celebrations (eg. Year of Jubilee was celebrated every 7x7 years, or 49; or 50 in Pentecost’s example because the celebration falls the day after an interval of 7x7- Lev. 25).

Ten= The basis of the numerical system

-10 plagues of Egypt (Ex. 7-11)

-10 Commandments (Ex. 20:2-17)

-10 men that would be saved from Sodom (Gen. 18:32)

(Bromiley, G W. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Eerdmans, 1979. Print.)

Pentecost took place fifty days after Passover, which I personally think is fascinating due to the strong pull I felt to study Passover as it approached last April. Passover is one of those holidays that is dependent upon the lunar cycle, so this past year it fell on April 8th. I had the joy of learning more about it’s Biblical significance and feeling called to celebrate it with my family. I wrote all about my discoveries with it in my last blog entitled, “The Blood of the Lamb.” This celebration was a very sweet new tradition, that with careful consideration, I would love to observe every year. Since Passover 2020 was on April 8th, that puts Pentecost 2020 on May 31, (That’s today!).

So what is the significance of the fifty days between these two events? That’s what I’ve been asking God. As I explained briefly in the list above, the number fifty is significant because it represents the product of the number of completion (7) multiplied by two. Obviously, that number is equivalent to 49, but the extra day is added because it takes place the day after that intervals of 7x7 occur... the day after 7x7 is fifty. Make sense? So biblically, this time period was used to count the seven weeks of the sowing of grain to it’s time of harvest, which they referred to as Shavuot (meaning ‘weeks’). It was also known as The Feast of Weeks. It became a tradition that Jews from every nation gathered to Jerusalem to celebrate this appointed feast. As these people poured into the city going about their normal annual plans, God had a surprise in store for them! Some would receive it and others wouldn’t. I’ll explain more about that under FF #4. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavuot)

What these passed fifty days (between Passover and Pentecost) has meant for me relates to a type of harvest also. I've poured myself into the search for truth, which meant much research, heartbreak (as I found some truths I wasn't seeing before), and much reliance on the Lord's guidance. I've had to learn how to essentially "sow" the seeds of truth into my life. A new kind of practice that I wasn't diligently doing before now. I believe God is revealing the growth of some of these seeds of truth to me. I'm coming into a type of harvest within this season of waiting and seeking. That leads me to my next point.

Fascinating Fact #3: The Disciples were in a period of waiting, just like we are as we quarantine.

Previous to this amazing event, the disciples had experienced a pivotal point in their faith as Jesus had just ascended back into Heaven ten days prior. But before He did so, He told them that the Father would leave them a Helper.

I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth...

-John 14:16-17a

He also reminded them a handful of times that they would be baptized by the Spirit; the very Helper and gift that He referred to just before this event took place.

“And while staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, ‘You heard from me, for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’”

-Acts 1:4–5

Here’s the timeline:

Jesus dies and suffers a punishment for all who have sinned. ---> 3 days later, He raises to life. ---> Over the next 40 days, Jesus appeared to many people convincing them that He was indeed alive. ---> He then ascends into Heaven with the promise of God’s Helper coming soon. ---> Over the next 10 days, the disciples were instructed to wait for that promised gift to arrive, (however, they didn’t know at the time how long this time would be!). This can all be accounted for in Acts, chapter 1.

Isn’t that interesting that just as Pentecost meets us on the calendar, we are faced with similar instructions and circumstances?! While the disciples were not faced with a pandemic, they were certainly faced with confusion, fear, disorganization, and doubt! Does that sound familiar to anyone?! God has shown me through this Pentecost investigation that He wants us to wait in joy for what is to come. He has not promised an easy life, (John 16:33), or any of the freedoms we so badly want to fight for, but he did promise us that we would never be alone! (Joshua 1:9; 1 Chron. 28:20). I love that God gives us this story to show us the mighty power that comes to those who wait on Him!

Fascinating Fact #4: God showed up in a mighty way after the disciples waited and He will do the same for us.

So now that you have that timeline in your mind, imagine what Christ’s disciples must be feeling. I’m sure some of their thoughts might even sound very similar our most recent ones. However, one of the main differences is that they were allowed to gather together and pray. So as Shavuot approached, they took the opportunity to do so. And wow, did God show up!

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested1 on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

-Acts 2:1-4

“Mighty rushing wind,” “divided tongues as of fire,” “speaking in other tongues.” Wouldn’t it have been amazing to be in that room? It sounds amazingly terrifying! As one that has experienced the Holy Spirit however, I can assume that there was a perfect balance of both terror and pure joy! I would associate this feeling to that of hang-gliding, or sky-diving (although I’ve never done either of those two things...). The coolest part about this story though, is that it is true! This is how our God shows up for those who seek Him. It was true back then and it is true of Him today; even in our very own lives.

God didn’t stop there though! Remember all those visiting Jews that were in Jerusalem where the disciples were gathering for the festival? If you read through the rest of the second chapter of Acts, you’ll see that all of this divine commotion attracted their attention as well. That was not a coincidence. They questioned what was going on. Can you imagine walking by a building (in a city that spoke a different language than you), that was most likely shaking, lighting up from the inside, bursting with sounds of strong winds, AS WELL AS your own native language being spoken amidst many others? You’d most likely stop in curiosity as well. While some scoffingly walked away and called these people nutso’s (my made up word for crazy people), others sought it out enough to see the truth! Through their search for truth, they were saved! The next couple chapters of Acts reveals that the church grew from that small group of about 120 people, to about 5,000. It all started in that one room.

This makes me wonder... we are faced with the realization that when (or if) the church doors are allowed to be opened again, things may look completely different than what we are used to. More precautions; More stipulations from authority figures. It may just be speculation, but I believe the enemy is serious in his attempt to gain control of this world... he’s already got his foot in the door. Why would he let down now? The Bible warns us that things will get much worse before they will get better, (2 Tim. 3:12-13). However, does that mean that we should just throw in the towel and give up? No way! (I’m getting excited over here! ; ). I believe God is preparing us for a new way of fellowshipping together... actually an old way if you think of it in terms of where the church began! Acts 2:2 mentions that the Holy Spirit filled the whole house! The house! Not the sanctuary. Not the temple. The house! We have been “asked” to shelter in place.... in our homes. I wrote a whole blog about what that means to me personally (#8), but to make a long story short, I believe God is preparing us to go back to the basics; back to where things began. God can take basic and make it significant... just as He did in the Acts 2 house on the day His Spirit filled His church for the first time. On top of that, He wants a righteous bride (Eph. 5:25-27); a church that is awake to truth (Rev. 2:7) and doing all we can to stay close to his shepherding side (Rev. 22:17). This is an opportunity for His church to make sure they are truly abiding in Him, (John 15:4).

“Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap; for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth. But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

-Luke 21:34-36

As I wait out the Lord’s will for this strange and uncomfortable time of life, I am choosing to wait in stillness, yet with fierce supplication of Him and His truth. He is the only One who holds the answers... And telling from His-story, the wait is worth it!

Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth.

-Psalm 46:10

Lastly, as I ponder all that this virus has done and is still doing, I am brought to my knees in full surrender of any plans I thought I had in place for my life. I can’t focus on my plans. I must focus on His. If I choose to focus on cramming what I want to do within what God is doing, I will end up disappointed. The same is true if I focus on all the wrong facts. Such as the fact that COVID has attacked many of our loved ones lives. Or the fact that that it has seriously afflicted our population as a whole. Or the fact that it threatens to steal our peace. However, if I direct my focus on the facts that hold truth and bring life, such as the ones I listed above, I will gain the wisdom, strength and joy I need to endure the hardships that He has asked me to walk through. I have to choose not to feed the monster of fear that COVID reveals. The more I focus on the threats, the more power I yield to it. I have to give all of my worship and attention to the only One who can bring clarity to this mess as well as unity to the disorganization of what life has now become. He will show us what to do. Our Heavenly Father holds our lives in His hands. He is in control. He has a plan, and it’s not plan B!

He gives us the story of Pentecost as an example of how mightily he can move within the body of Christ... even within our small homes! Pentecost is the birth story of the church and it is a beautiful picture of the mighty power that His Holy Spirit works through us, His vessels. I will choose to wait on Him and His timing. I hope this encourages you to do the same.

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

-Genesis 50:20