The word Pentecost came from the Hebrew words meaning fifty-day. It was called this because it was celebrated 50 days from the first Sunday after Passover. For us that would make it 50 days from the resurrection of Jesus to the time the Holy Spirit empowered believers. Both happened on a Sunday this is why the early church worship on this day and not on the Sabbath.
It had two reasons for its celebration:
Agricultural: It was also called the feast of first fruits. At Passover the first sheaf of barley was harvested and presented to God. At Pentecost the first fruits of the wheat harvest were given to God in two loaves of bread.
Historical: Feast of weeks, to the Jews they would celebrate it because historically they believed it was at this time, (50 days after the parting of the Red Sea that they received the Law from God.) So historically they called this day the “joy of the law”.
So to the Jew the day was a feast day where they celebrated the first fruits along with the joy of the law. But for the Church we see it as the day when the Spirit of God came upon His church. Now it is interesting to see what God’s Word has to say about these two different views. In Ezek. 36:27 we read, “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”
And then in Jer. 31:33 we are told, “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts;” So? Well the Jews celebrated the Joy of the Law and the Church celebrates this same day as the Joy of the Spirit. And the Prophets speak of both. I suggest to you that the full meaning of this day is the “JOY OF THE LAW BY WAY OF THE SPIRIT”, or as Calvary Chapel likes to put it, “The Word of God by the Spirit of God”. This is further illustrated to us when we see that the fruit produced by the giving of the law was 3000 died because of their rebellion. Then here as we shall see, (Acts 2:41), when the Joy of the law is by way of the Spirit, 3000 are added to the church, thus we see the first fruits of God!
Hey Christian do you want to see fruit in your lives? Well it’s right here in the Word. Fruit is always the by-product of the Word of God through the Spirit of God into the child of God. All of this reminds us of Paul’s words to the Corinthians “the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”