Acts 2:1-13 | God's SpiritSample

It says it was Pentecost. That’s fifty days after Passover. That’s also fifty days after Jesus’s resurrection, and only about ten days after his ascension. Pentecost was one of three Jewish holidays on which all Jews were called to return to Jerusalem to celebrate the history of God’s work. (Note how Acts points out that God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven were staying in Jerusalem.)

They also came to celebrate when Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying God’s law. Remember God coming down on the mountain, all full of thunder and noise and smoke? Exodus 19 says this happened about the same length of time after the Passover. That of course awakens the mind to God’s deliverance, the lamb’s blood that spared them, and the covenant God entered into with them.

It also came to celebrate when Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying God’s law. Remember God coming down on the mountain, all full of thunder and noise and smoke? Exodus 19 says this happened about the same length of time after the Passover. That of course awakens the mind to God’s deliverance, the lamb’s blood that spared them, and the covenant God entered into with them.

Let it all come crashing together. Like Moses, Jesus ascends up to God, but this time instead of coming down with God’s law written on stone, he sends the Spirit of God upon people to write his way in their will and on their heart.

Go further. A wind came down from heaven. The presence of God is often marked by a thunderous presence of wind, cloud, and fire. God’s Spirit (and remember that “wind” and “spirit” are the same word in Greek), is coming down from heaven to bring his presence and reign through his creative and powerful work.

All this on the heels of Jesus ascending into heaven. Here, Jesus, made human, goes up to heaven. Part of the earthly realm comes into the heavenly realm. Things begin to change. And from heaven, Jesus sends his Spirit. The heavenly realm coming down into the earthly realm. Something new is happening as each realm begins to intersect each other. The new heaven and new earth are beginning.

And like the first fruit of that wheat harvest, we see the disciples energized right from the beginning, testifying to the saving power of God and bringing in new converts as the first of a greater harvest to come.