Walking the 2,000-Year-Old Road to Pentecost

This road was hidden for 2000 years here in Jerusalem, and it is now uncovered. And it will change the way you read about Pentecost. What is Pentecost? Well, it comes from the Greek meaning 50th, 50 days after Passover. Remember in the book of acts, chapter two, when Peter stands before a large crowd, Holy Spirit comes down. 3000 are baptized, and they come to believe in the resurrected Jesus. Well, Pentecost didn't start that day. You see, Pentecost points back to the feast of Shavuot. Put in the Torah. We find that this is one of three feasts where Jews were commanded by God to ascend, to go before the presence of God. Specifically, the feast of Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, was for the Israelites and the foreigners, the orphan and the widow. The sojourn among the people of Israel to go before the presence of the Lord and celebrate. 

If you look back to the time of the disciples when Peter is preaching the gospel, and Jews from the diaspora from all over the world are gathered. I can only imagine what these devout Jewish men were talking about. The longing to be before the presence of God, singing the songs of ascent. How good it is to be together, unified, to come before the presence of the Lord. Now go back to that time when Peter is gathered with all these people, Jews from all over the world, from the diaspora, hearing the gospel in their own language because of the Holy Spirit. And they're listening to this message of the resurrected Jesus. They have come as pilgrims to be before the presence of God to the temple.

Never would they have imagined that that Shabbat would on this day, that Peter was proclaiming the gospel. The reality of the prophecy of the prophet Joel would be fulfilled in their midst. 
That day changed everything. Because you see, back in the times of the kings and the prophets, the presence of the Holy Spirit was reserved for them. But on that day, as they were going, the pilgrims of these steps going to the temple of God walking this road, they were going to encounter the reality of Holy Spirit, the presence of the living God, the love of God, poured out into their hearts because of the risen Jesus. What does that mean for you and for me? Well, I want you to think about the presence of the Holy Spirit. If you're a follower of Jesus and you know what it's like to have joy inexpressible and full of glory, the love of God poured out into your heart by the Holy Spirit. This is because of that one day when the prophecy of Joel was fulfilled and the presence of the Holy Spirit was given to all who believe in Jesus. 

Never take for granted the presence of the Holy Spirit. Never take for granted the reality of the love of God in you. The joy of God, inexpressible and full of glory. Let this passageway, this pilgrimage road, remind you that these stones point to a deeper, truer way. The way, the truth, and the life that has been opened for everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit. The presence of the living God can be within you. When you put your trust in the name of the Lord, as Peter declared, and these stones are a reminder that together, both Jew and Gentile, we are a living temple.

As unto the Lord we have access not because of stones, not because of physical reality, but because of the Son of God who gave himself for us, entered heaven for us. It stands at the right hand of the father, interceding for you and for me. And now we have the first fruits. We have the gift of the Holy Spirit living within us. The presence of Almighty God. That is the gift and the reality of Shavuot, the first fruits of the Holy Spirit within you.