The day of Pentecost was one of two first-fruits holiday in Israel. The series started when the barley harvest began, just after the first sheaf was harvested. God instructed the people on what to do in Leviticus 23. They would take the sheaf to the priests at the temple, who would wave it before the Lord. No one could eat any of the harvest until the wave offering was complete.
God told the priests, then, to count seven sabbaths from the day of the wave offering. Pentecost was the day after the seventh sabbath, celebrating the wheat harvest. They would make the wheat into flour and bake two loaves of bread to wave before the Lord. They would also offer a male goat as a sin offering and two lambs as peace offerings. The festival of Pentecost was a celebration of the final harvest.
Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38). On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes to bring a new harvest of God’s people. John the baptist said something similar about the coming of Jesus, “His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (Luke 3:17).
That’s what happened on the day of Pentecost. God had brought the harvest field to the city of Jerusalem, and the Holy Spirit empowered the laborers to bring the harvest in. The disciples stood up, filled with the Spirit, and they preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. They spoke about his life, his death, his resurrection, and his ascension to save all who believe.
This amazing gift was accompanied by a miracle. When the disciples spoke, everyone heard it in their own language. People from every nation in the known world had come to Jerusalem, faithful Jews with different languages, different customs, and different histories. They were all gathered into the great harvest by this glorious miracle.
The nature of the miracle is fun to think about. With all the different nations and all the different peoples represented, the question is this: Was the miracle one of speaking or of hearing? Were each of the disciples given a gift to speak in a different language or several different languages or were the people given the miracle of hearing what the disciples spoke in their own language?
Either way, the Holy Spirit united disparate people into one people. And he still does the same thing, now. He unites all of God’s people around the world with the one Spirit. The best miracle that the Holy Spirit brought wasn’t speaking in tongues. It was healing the divisions between people that have existed since the tower of Babel. God’s miracle was the unity that he gives all of us.
And that miracle continues today. God’s people are one, whether they are Arab, African, European, or American. God’s people are one, whether they are liberal, conservative, or libertarian. God’s people are one, whether they are male or female. We all have the same Spirit, who empowers us to follow Christ .
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God bless you
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