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Held 50 days after Passover,
Pentecost was also called the Feast of Weeks. It was one of three
major annual feasts (Deuteronomy 16:16), a festival of thanksgiving for the
harvested crops. Jesus was crucified at Passover time, and He ascended
40 days after His resurrection. The Holy Spirit came 50 days after the
resurrection, ten days after the ascension. Jews of many nations
gathered in Jerusalem for this festival. Thus Peter’s
speech (Acts
2:14) was given to an international audience, and it resulted
in a worldwide harvest of new believers — the
first converts to Christianity.
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The
book of
Acts begins with the outpouring of the promised Holy Spirit and the
commencement of the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This
Spirit-inspired evangelism began in Jerusalem and eventually spread to Rome,
covering most of the Roman empire. The gospel first went to the Jews;
they, as a nation, rejected it. A remnant of Jews, of course,
gladly received the Good News. However, the continual rejection of the
gospel by the vast majority of the Jews led to the ever-increasing
proclamation of the gospel to the Gentiles. |
