PENTECOST-COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Very Rev Canon Dr. Rebecca Nyegenye
Provost.

On the day when pentecost happened, the coming of the Holy Spirit was Experienced by the New Testament church. In Old Testament this day used to be was a Jewish feast held 50 days after Passover. The firstfruits of the wheat harvest were celebrated. In the Jewish rituals of that time, the first sheaf reaped from the barley harvest was presented to God at Passover. But at Pentecost, the firstfruits of the wheat harvest were presented to God; Pentecost is also known as the day of the firstfruits (Numbers 28:26). 

Jewish tradition also taught that Pentecost marked the day when the Law was given to Israel. on the New Testament Day of Pentecost the Church received the Spirit of Grace in fullness.“In Old testament pentecost was the best-attended of the great feasts because traveling conditions were at their best. Leviticus 23:15-22 gives the original instructions for the celebration of Pentecost. It says that two loaves of leavened bread were to be waved before the Lord by the priest as part of the celebration.

Joel 2:28–32 was an old testment prophesy of the coming of the Holy Spirit. In the New testament Acts 1:3, When the Day of Pentecost had fully come: It was now 10 days after the time Jesus ascended to heaven (, and since Jesus commanded them to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. (Luke 24:49).
Acts 2:1–3-Pentecost is reminiscent of the Last Supper; in both instances the disciples are together in a house for what proves to be an important event. At the Last Supper the disciples witness the end of the Messiah’s earthly ministry as He asks them to remember Him after His death until He returns. At Pentecost, the disciples witness the birth of the New Testament church in the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell all believers. Thus the scene of the disciples in a room at Pentecost links the commencement of the Holy Spirit’s work in the church with the conclusion of
Christ’s earthly ministry in the upper room before the crucifixion.

The day of Pentecost is associated with Fire and Speaking in new tongues. The description of fire and wind mentioned in the Pentecost account resounds throughout the Old and the New Testament. The sound of the wind at Pentecost was “rushing” and “mighty.” Scriptural references to the power of wind (always understood to be under God’s control) abound. (Exodus 10:13; Psalm 18:42), Fire is often associated in the Old Testament with the presence of God and with His holiness (Exodus 3:2; 13:21–22; 24:17; Isaiah 10:17, Revelation 1:14; 19:12, John 16:14)  Pentecost brings to us the fulfilment of God’s promise that he will not leave us as orphans but send us the His comforter. The Holy Spirit being part of the trinity God
the father, Son and the Holy Spirit, is God. He is the source of strength and peace in our walk with the Lord. He is the evidence of God’s presence in our lives, that can be activated in all situations around us for God’s glory.

The Very Rev. Canon Dr. Rebecca Nyegenye,
Provost.