What is Pentecost Sunday?

 It is one of the three holy days in the Old Testament that God commanded His people to appear before Him. They would appear before the Lord at the Temple in Jerusalem.

"Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:" - Deuteronomy 16:16 KJV

The Hebrew names for these three holy days are Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot. We know the feast of unleavened bread as Passover, and the feast of weeks as Pentecost.

Shavuot means “Seven Weeks.” Pentecost means “the fiftieth day.” Pentecost is fifty days after Passover.

Shavuot is the celebration of the wheat harvest and the ripening of the first fruits, (the "Day of the First Fruits" the "Harvest Festival,") but its primary celebration is commemorating the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. The Jewish people call the Law, which is the first five books of the Old Testament, the Torah. The Jews count 613 commandments in the Law.

Jewish sages have compared Shavuot to a wedding between God and the Jewish people. It is said that, Shavuot also means “oaths,” for on this day God and the Jewish people made an oath to each other.

Exodus 19:5-6 KJV - "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure [my own special treasure] unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel."

Exodus 19:7 KJV - "And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him."

Exodus 19:8 KJV - "And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD."

We can see why God chose the Day of Pentecost as the day to first pour out His Spirit and begin His New Covenant church.

To be continued…