Pentecost

TROWEL & SWORD

Pentecost

Bill Berends

On Pentecost Sunday we celebrate the birthday of the church. We also remember God's special birthday gift to the church, the coming of the Holy Spirit.

But how old is the church? If you answer, 'nearly 2000 years old,' then you are only partially correct. The evangelist, Stephen, speaks of Moses leading the 'church in the wilderness' (Acts 7:38). Here, quite deliberately, the book of Acts uses the word ekklesia, the very same word used throughout the New Testament for the church.

Stephen's account calls to mind Old Testament references to a special 'day of the church,' or 'day of the assembly' (Deut. 5:22; 18:16). This was the day when God gathered his people at Sinai and made a covenant with them, giving them his Ten Commandments (Ex. 19, 20).

By identifying the New Testament people of God as 'the church' (Mt. 16:18; Acts 2:47), the Bible draws a direct link between them and the Old Testament people of God. The church, in fact, has become the true Israel, inheriting the blessings promised to Abraham (Rom. 4:16; Gal. 3:29).

The church is therefore considerably older than 2000 years. It goes all the way back to the time of Moses. But in another sense it is even older than that, going back all the way back to Adam. Thus the Westminster Confession of Faith defines the church as the whole number of the elect, past, present and future. But it is gathering at Mt Sinai that God's people were first identified as the church. Here they were set aside as a special people, to be dedicated to God in holiness (Ex. 19:6). And to remember the occasion God instituted the feast of Pentecost, the feast of the first fruits.

To the western reader the Old Testament text does not make it very clear that Pentecost was celebrated to remember the covenant of Sinai. One reason is that we are not familiar with the Hebrew calendar. But the ancient Hebrew would immediately recognise that the date of Pentecost, a word which means 'fiftieth', occurred fifty days after the Passover, which remembered Israel's flight from Egypt. Passover was celebrated on the 14th day of the first month, and Pentecost fifty days later on the first Sunday in the third month, to correspond to the date Israel was assembled before Mount Sinai (Ex. 12:2, 6; 19:1, 11). Moreover, to the Hebrew it would make perfect sense that the redemption and consecration of Israel as God's first-born (Ex. 4:23) should be celebrated by dedicating one's first fruits to God. The first fruits, as well as the firstborn of men and animals, were collectively known as the chorem, things dedicated to God (compare Ex. 13:14-16).

In the New Testament God's people are again likened to first fruits, dedicated to God (Jas. 1:18, cf. Rev. 14:4). They are the first fruits of the long promised new covenant. The prophets had foretold that in making this new covenant God would write his law not on tablets of stone, but directly on men's hearts (Jer. 31:33).

This God would do by sending his own Spirit to live within his people (Ezek. 36:27). These prophecies were fulfilled at Pentecost, an event marked by signs reminding the Jewish Christians of the first covenant. This is clearly shown in the book of Hebrews, where the author contrasts the making of the new covenant with the occasion at Sinai in these words:

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: ÒIf even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.' The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, 'I am trembling with fear.' But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Heb. 12:18-24, NIV)

How different was that dark and gloomy day at Mt. Sinai from the joyous occasion when God sent his Spirit at Pentecost. And yet there are many similarities. Again there was the sound of a mighty wind, like a trumpet blast. Again God showed his presence in flames of fire. Again God sends a gift. But in contrast to Mt. Sinai, the sound of wind does not drive people away in fear, rather it gathers them from all over the city of Jerusalem. When they come, the flames of fire indicating God's presence are not seen some distant mountain, but on the heads of God's people. And God's gift is not a law written on stone, but his Holy Spirit, who now resides in the hearts of all believers.

There is another sign that sets the new Pentecost experience apart. God speaks not just to the Israelites, but to people from all the nations. He speaks to them in such a fashion that all can understand, regardless of their language. Yet, curiously, this is exactly what the Jews believed to have occurred at Mt. Sinai. A long Jewish tradition, going back to before the birth of Christ, held that the Ten Commandments had been proclaimed in such a way that all nations could understand it. Thus the first century Jewish philosopher Philo describes the events at Mt. Sinai as follows:

Then from the midst of the fire that streamed from heaven there sounded forth to their utter amazement a voice, for the flame became articulate speech in the language familiar to the audience, and so clearly and distinctly were the words formed by it that they seemed to see rather than hear them." (Philo, The Decalogue, 45-46)

An ancient Jewish Midras explains the voice in greater detail:

Although the Ten Commandments were promulgated with a single sound, it says, 'All the people heard the voices': it follows then that when the voice went forth it was divided into seven voices, and then went into seventy tongues and every people received the Law in their own language. (Midras Tanhuma 26c )

With the tongues of flame and multiplicity of languages it is amazing how close the events at Pentecost paralleled the Jewish understanding of the events at Mt. Sinai. No first century Jew witnessing the events, or hearing them described, would have failed to note the similarities. For them the message was clear: once again God was making a covenant with his people.

When we consider these events surrounding Pentecost we realise it is much more than just a remembrance of the outpouring of God's Spirit. It is a feast to mark the birthday of the Old and New Testament church alike. It is a feast remembering the new covenant, whereby we live not under the law, but in the Spirit. But it is not just a feast to remember the past. In identifying believers as the first fruits of Christ's redemption, Pentecost points us to further fruits yet to be gathered in. Here we must think of the eventual redemption of creation itself (Rom. 8:19-23). This will mark the climax to Christ's saving work, when all things will be renewed, and God will be all in all (1 Cor. 15:28).

But how do we know this will really happen? We know it because the Pentecost gift of the Holy Spirit is God's pledge to us. Thus Pentecost reminds us that the redemption of the world, including the resurrection of our bodies, is guaranteed by God himself (2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13).

* A much fuller account linking Pentecost and Sinai is presented in Vox Reformata #63, 1998.

All reports of problems and comments concerning this site: webmaster@trowelandsword.org.au

Privacy