The Spirit of God
What is Pentecost? What is the importance of Pentecost? What did Jesus promise concerning the Holy Spirit of God and when was the Holy Spirit sent?
The day of Pentecost is named after the Feast of Weeks and means fifty. Christians remember Jesus sent the Holy Spirit of God fifty days after the resurrection. Pentecost begins the era of the church, and the dwelling place of God being within each believer in Jesus.
Jesus promised to give his disciples his Holy Spirit. In John’s Gospel, Jesus said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17, ESV).
In the Book of Acts, Jesus promised, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, ESV).
This promise of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled, “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:1-4, ESV).
Pentecost is important because it marks the coming of the Holy Spirit of God for the followers of Jesus, and the receiving of the power of God to bear witness to him throughout all the world and to do the work of God.
May we be filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit of God as we trust in Jesus.
A Collect for the Day of Pentecost: “Almighty God, on this day, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, you revealed the way of eternal life to every race and nation: Pour out this gift anew, that by the preaching of the Gospel your salvation may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).
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