YEA Lesson Library

The Lesson

Have you often felt you are the only person, besides your family and people in the church, who celebrates the holy days? Take heart! Today's lesson is about a holy day that many Christian churches observe, so you're not the odd guy out when you celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. However, there are still many other American churches which remain blissfully unaware of this Festival. Pentecostal, to many, is a word connected with the charismatic movement that includes speaking in tongues, but has little to do with the Feast of Pentecost.

Pentecost is called Whitsunday in England, and the day after is a national holiday, Whitmonday. The Catholic church says that Pentecost is a feast which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles 50 days after the resurrection of Christ (Exodus 34:22; Deuteronomy 16:10). But what is Pentecost really all about, and why should you celebrate it?

You learned in last year's Pentecost lesson that while the Israelites were camped at the foot of the mountain, God called Moses to the top of Sinai and warned that the people were not to come up. Then according to God's instructions, the people purified themselves in preparation for the spectacular event that was about to take place. Smoke billowed as though Sinai was a furnace on fire. The whole mountain trembled violently and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him (Exodus 19:16-19). You remember the story. It was on this Pentecost that God gave the Ten Commandments. It was nothing short of awesome! But that was only one awesome Pentecost - there was another.

In the New Testament. Jesus had been crucified and resurrected on the third day. He was with His disciples on a different mountain this time. It was the Mount of Olives. His disciples were quizzing Jesus about when His Kingdom would come to this earth and He told them, "You don't get to know the time. Timing is the Father's business. What you'll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world" (Acts 1:7, 8 The Message). These were Jesus' last words before He ascended to heaven.

The disciples stood on the mountain watching in astonishment as Jesus was taken up in the clouds. Suddenly two men dressed in white robes appeared. "Why do you just stand here looking up at an empty sky? This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly — and mysteriously — as he left" (v. 1 Ibid). But there is more.

The disciples left the mountain and returned to the room where they were staying. They had a job to do that fulfilled a prophecy. Judas had to be replaced by another disciple, because he had committed suicide after betraying Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Matthias was the man God led them to select to replace Judas. But there is yet more.

Jesus had instructed the disciples not to leave Jerusalem before Pentecost because He would send the Holy Spirit to baptize them (Acts 1:5). The Day of Pentecost came. As on holy days today, everyone had come together in one place. But this wasn't a normal holy day. Without warning, a great sound and a strong wind, probably gale force, filed the whole building. The people saw what appeared to be flames of fire resting on each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in foreign languages they hadn't known before. The Bible lists the languages given to specific groups of people: Parthians, Medes, Elamites, the people of Jews and proselytes, Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, and Rome, Cretans, and Arabians (Acts 2:9-11). These were not gibberish words no one understood. People were hearing the Gospel taught in their own native language supernaturally! They were amazed and perplexed and asked each other, "What does this mean?”

There were 120 people who saw Jesus alive after His death and burial. Peter doesn't rely only on that day's phenomenon to establish his point to this Jewish audience well trained to reject mere miracles as proof of anything. Such matters had to be established by Scripture, and Peter cited Scripture in a tough, to-the-point speech. "This Jesus God has raised up . . . having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ" (vv. 32-36). The resurrection of Jesus trumped everything and led to the climax.

These disciples came to realize that they were responsible for the death of Christ and it crushed their souls. Peter told them how to resolve the pain in Acts 2:38, 39: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call" (NIV).

Do you, like the disciples on the first Pentecost after Jesus' resurrection, realize you are responsible for the death of Jesus Christ? Has your soul been crushed? Are you cut to the heart as the Apostles were? Peter laid out the cure--repent and be baptized. What is the gift God gives you when you do? His Holy Spirit! What good is the Holy Spirit to you? It can impact your physical and eternal life. It is a Spirit of power that can change you into the very image of Christ. It's that small voice that says, "Don't do that" when you're tempted to break the Sabbath, have premarital sex, shoplift, talk back to your parents, or use words that do not honor your Savior. How can you have the Holy Spirit? You must repent, be baptized, and have the laying on of hands, and you'll have that gift that will continually help you to become like Jesus Christ.