This coming Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, which commemorates the very beginning of the church. On this day 2000 years ago, as recorded in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem, and they were filled with boldness and power. Spilling into the streets, they declared the praises of God in different languages so that Jews gathered there from many different nations could all understand in their native tongues what the disciples were saying. Peter addressed the crowd to explain both the extraordinary event that was happening and the meaning of Jesus’ recent death and resurrection that had taken place 50 days before. His talk was so compelling the crowd was “cut to the heart” and cried out: “What must we do?” (Acts 2:37)

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins,” was Peter’s reply. Acts 2:41 says 3,000 were added to their number that day. Thus, the Church of Jesus Christ was born.

The reason the disciples had gathered on that day was to celebrate the traditional feast of Pentecost, which dated back some 1200 years before to the time of Moses. To Jews then and now, Pentecost celebrates the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai, when according to Jewish tradition the nation of Israel was established because all the Jews who were gathered at the foot of the mountain agreed to do what God told them. (See Exodus 19:8 and Exodus 24:3.) The name “Pentecost” means “fiftieth” and refers to the fact that this feast day  comes 50 days after the first Passover, when Israel fled Egypt as the Angel of Death passed over them.