Pentecost Sunday
Fishers of Men and the Feast of Weeks
Eight weeks ago, we talked about the Battle Drill for Jewish Pilgrimage Festivals. There are three of them: Passover, Pentecost, and Sukkot. I believe these ancient times of celebration foreshadowed the three greatest days in the life of the church AND that they are the greatest evidence the Bible is the Word of God, and Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.
On Palm Sunday we talked about Jesus and his parents going to Jerusalem for Passover, Mary and Joseph losing Jesus, and then finding him in the temple. We said the battle drill for Pilgrimage Festivals is to “Listen and Ask Questions.”
Today we’re looking at the next feast – Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot – and the question for this festival is, “Why did the disciples, eventually including Paul, get so excited about the events that occurred on the Pentecost following the Resurrection?” What did they understand about Pentecost that a modern-day Christian is clueless about? And how does that understanding shape who you are as a Christian?
Much of what we’re going to talk about today may be new information and that’s okay. I’m still learning new things, and I’ll share something that I never saw before in Scripture until about three weeks ago. I’m listening, and learning, and asking questions and I want to encourage you to do the same.
The church should be the safest place to ask hard questions. Never stop asking questions! I want to encourage you to think about what you find in Scripture, to ask questions, and be comfortable when the answers don’t come quickly. I want to encourage you to read Scripture, and to read large chunks of Scripture at a time. Don’t read just one or two verses. Read whole chapters or whole books in the Bible. Many people gave their lives to provide the versions and translations we often take for granted. Today we’re going to look at several Scriptures including two large chunks of Scripture.
If you think you don’t have time to read, most of the Bible apps on smartphones will read the Bible to you. I’m pretty sure Alexa will read Scripture to you! Listen to the Bible instead of the news, or the talking heads, or the same four songs you’ve heard 20,000 times. If you have the YouVersion Bible, go the Events section and look for First Baptist Church in New Castle. You can follow along there today with the Scripture references, and you can take notes if you want to.
Today we need to do a quick 30,000 ft. review of Scripture so that we can get into the heads of Jesus, the disciples, Paul, and nearly everyone else you read about in this 66-book collection we call the Bible. I want us to live inside the head of an ancient Israelite and think his or her thoughts; to see the world through the eyes of a God-fearing Jew around 30 A.D.
We are going to spend most of this morning in Exodus chapter 32 and Acts chapter 2, but before we get there let’s pray and then get an overview of the stories they knew inside and out. As we go along today, I want you to pay special attention to key words I will emphasize. Hopefully, by the end of the next few minutes you will see the hyperlinks between these two large chunks of Scripture.
PRAY
Let’s hop on our Scripture plane and go all the way back to the first chapter of the Bible – Genesis 1 – and look at verses 26-28. This is the very first commission that God gave to humanity, and I believe it is the underlying commission for every other commission we find in Scripture.
Genesis 1:26-28 (ESV)
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
That was the first commission – the prime directive for every human being – be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, and rule. In the first eleven chapters of Genesis, we see several stories about men and women who failed at accomplishing that mission. In Genesis 3, we see what we call the Fall of Mankind; it’s the story a rebellion of a spiritual being, and the failure of humans to obey God’s word. In Genesis 6, we see the depravity of man and another spiritual and human rebellion that precipitates (literally) the Flood and the story of Noah. And in Genesis chapter 11, we see another human rebellion in the story we call the tower of Babel and I want to camp here for just a moment.
Gen 11:1-9 (NET)
The whole earth had a common language and a common vocabulary. 11:2 When the people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 11:3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” (They had brick instead of stone and tar instead of mortar.) 11:4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower (a ziggurat) with its top in the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise we will be scattered across the face of the entire earth.”
(Now, when you think of a tower, don’t think skyscraper. Almost every ancient culture built ziggurats (stair stepped, pyramid-like structures) and at the top of the ziggurat they would usually build a temple to their favorite deity. In 2008, I was in Indonesia and climbed an ancient ziggurat called Borobudur with a temple built to honor Buddha. Pictures The temple they were going to build in Genesis 11 was for their own name. They were preparing to put themselves in God’s place.)
11:6 And the LORD said, “If as one people all sharing a common language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. 11:7 Come, let’s go down and confuse their language so they won’t be able to understand each other.”
11:8 So the LORD scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building the city. 11:9 That is why its name was called Babel—because there the LORD confused the language of the entire world, and from there the LORD scattered them across the face of the entire earth.
Eventually Babel was called Babylon, but for now all the humans in the world are divided into “the Nations.” Deuteronomy 32:8-9 tells us that God disowned the Nations and gave them over to other gods. But he didn’t abandon them without a plan for restoration. Immediately after separating the Nations, in Genesis 12, God selects an infertile couple, Abram and Sarai, out from the Nations and supernaturally creates a family that will eventually become the nation of Israel. God is going to bless and redeem the Nations through Israel and reclaim them as his own. This is, and has always been, God’s Plan A – God’s Rescue Plan.
The descendants of Abraham and Sarah become slaves in Egypt. God says, “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God.” (Ex 6:7a ESV) He delivers them through an event called the Passover (what we celebrated eight weeks ago) and then God brings this enlarged family to the foot of Mt. Sanai.
There’s a lot of text in Exodus that leads up to chapter 32. In chapter 19 (vs. 16-20) we see that at the top of Mt. Sanai there was thunder, and lightning, and a sound of a loud trumpet, and thick clouds, and earthquakes, and the trumpet grew louder and louder! And then in Exodus 24 (vs. 15-18) Moses goes halfway up the mountain. The cloud covered the mountain. The glory of God (the Presence of God) was on the mountain covered by the cloud for six days. Then Moses was called into the cloud on the seventh day. He walked into what looked like a devouring fire in view of the people and was there 40 days and 40 nights.
The Presence of Yahweh God was resting on Mt. Sanai, in fire, and smoke, and lightning, and the loud sound of a trumpet, earthquakes, and thunder. It was the original sound and light show! And you remember that the presence of God was represented earlier in Scripture as a consuming fire in the burning bush, and also in the pillar of fire and smoke as God was leading them out of Egypt and through the Sea. Fire and loud sounds accompanied God wherever he revealed himself. And this image, this motif, is repeated again and again in Scripture.
We’re about ready to descend from our 30,000 ft. view and land our Scripture plane.
After walking into the devouring fire, while Moses is on the mountaintop for 40 days, God gives instructions to construct a lot of the furniture in the Tabernacle, and to build the Tabernacle itself.
Now we land our Scripture plane on the last verse in Exodus 31, verse 18.
Let’s walk through Exodus 31:18-32:35 (ESV) and get these details in our minds because these events are what Jews remember and celebrate during The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost, Shavuot) every year as one of the three pilgrimage feasts.
31:18 And [God] gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him (for forty days on the mountain) on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, (what we call the Law) written with the finger of God.
(In chapter 32 we come to the story of the Golden Calf scene at the foot of the mountain. And after that, the scene changes back to the top of the mountain, where God knows what’s going on down below. God says that he wants to wipe out all of the people of Israel and start over again with Moses. Moses pleads with God to change his mind and God agrees. Then it’s Moses’ turn to see what is really going on in the camp)
15 Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony (the Law) in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. 16 The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
(Covenants in the Ancient Near East were usually written on two identical documents. Each party to the covenant, would take one copy with them and place it in their “holy place,” next to their god who was charged with witnessing the covenant and executing justice when a covenant was broken. In this case, each of these two tablets contained all ten commandments (Law) (written on the front and back), and because God was going to dwell with his people, BOTH copies were to be stored inside the Ark of the Covenant (the Ark containing the Covenant). And that was the place on which the presence of God would rest inside the Tabernacle.
17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” 18 But [Moses] said, “It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.” 19 And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets (of the Law) out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
(Then Moses starts to execute judgement, because the covenant (the LAW) between God and Israel had been broken, almost before it ever became effective. He confronts Aaron and says that he’s the reason the Israelites are sinning. Aaron should have kept his mouth shut but he didn’t.)
Verse 24: “So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
(A pretty lame excuse if you ask me. Aaron must have lacked experience in lying because this is a poor example of a lie. Anyway, the people were being very hedonistic in their worship of the Golden Calf.)
25 And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), 26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the LORD’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. 27 And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side, each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’” 28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell.”
This is passage is shocking to our minds, but it is a natural response in the Israelite mind. When you “cut a covenant”, you usually cut several sacrificial animals in half, lay the two halves opposite each other (making a path of blood in between), and each party would walk that path symbolizing, “If I or any of my people break this covenant, this is what is to be done to the ones violating the covenant.” And that’s the only way to stay in a covenant. Someone must die to restore the broken relationship.
Then Moses does something that a priest would do, what all priests are called to do, what Aaron should have done but did not do – he interceded for the people in front of God.
30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31 So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.”
Moses offers himself as a sacrifice to God. This is an Old Testament image of what the Messiah would do; what the Passover Lamb would do.
The people are punished, and God sends them away from Mt. Sanai to the Promised Land. And by giving them the Law, Israel became a Nation – and not simply an enlarged family.
This is what Jews remember on Pentecost. God was present on the Mountain, he sent his Law down from his presence, 3000 people died as a result of their sin, and the Nation of Israel was born. Remember that they celebrate this every year at Pentecost; one of the three Pilgrimage Feasts where they gather in Jerusalem. In this annual feast they remembered the Presence of God, the Giving of the Law, the Birth of the Nation, and the death of 3000 who were disobedient. They did this every year on the same day (fifty days after Passover) for at least 1200 years (maybe as many as 1400 years!).
So now it’s time to travel to our next big chunk of Scripture. Let’s get on Scripture plane and do another long-range scan along the way. What happens over time is that God promises to establish a Kingdom that would last forever and would be ruled by David’s descendants, and David’s Kingdom IS established. But his grandsons split the kingdom in two, the northern ten tribes are sent into exile by the Assyrians (2 Kings 18:11-12), the southern two tribes are sent into exile by the Babylonians (Jeremiah 52:10-30).
We know that the Assyrians were ruthless in their conquering of the northern kingdom. The ten tribes are removed from the Promised Land and sent into the various Nations (the Gentiles). They were forced to intermarry with other conquered nations. And the northern kingdom was dissolved, never to return to the Promised Land.
Even though there was a remnant who still tried worshiping Yahweh, their ethnic identity had been mixed with the Nations (the Gentiles). Their ethnic identity as the ten tribes of the northern kingdom was erased.
The southern two tribes after being exiled to Babylon, eventually returned to the Promised Land, but things were never really the same as before.
However, even in the dark times of exile, God was still speaking through his prophets. Throughout Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Micah, Daniel, and others, God gave promises. One is found in Joel 2:28-29 (NET) Promise:
“… I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your elderly will have revelatory dreams; your young men will see prophetic visions. Even on male and female servants I will pour out my Spirit in those days.”
God also promised that he would gather his people out of the Nations where they were scattered and restore the kingdom. Jeremiah 16:14-16 reads this way:
By the way, do you remember when Pastor Jerry talked two weeks ago about being fishers of men? When God called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to be disciples, and told them that he would make them fishers of men? We think that Jesus was just saying, “I know you guys all fish for a living. Well, I’m going to modify your occupation. You’ll still fish, but this time you’ll fish for men.”
A few days before Jerry included that reminder in his message, God had led me to this passage in Jeremiah 16:14-16 (ESV) and I realized that Jesus was signaling something incredible when he called the four fishermen! I believe Jesus was referring to what God says through this passage in Jeremiah:
14 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 15 but ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries (Nations) where he had driven them.’ For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.
16 “Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the LORD, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.”
God is saying, “One day you’re not going to be talking about how I brought you out of Egypt. Soon you will be talking about how I brought you out of all the countries (Nations) where I’ve driven you! I’m going to send fishers to cast nets and drag you home. And then I’m going to send hunters to hunt you down and bring you home!”
When Jesus said, “I’m going to make you fishers of men.” Peter, Andrew, James, and John knew what he meant. This was probably one of their favorite verses of Scripture!
You know how, when you buy a new white Ford pickup truck, then you start seeing all of these other white Ford pickup trucks on the road? You’ve been sensitized because now you identify with the white Ford pickup trucks.
I’m convinced that every time one of these four guys (four guys who eventually became the leaders of the disciples), I’m sure every time they heard Jeremiah read in synagogue or Temple and these verses were read their ears perked up. They knew that fishers and hunters were going to be sent to reclaim the lost tribes of Israel. They knew that the kingdom would be restored when that happened. “Fishers of men” was like a dog whistle to these four disciples signaling that the kingdom is at hand and God is going to reclaim what was lost.
When God prompted Pastor Jerry to use that image two weeks ago, it became clear to me. God is speaking urgently to his church in these days. Are we listening?
Well, let’s land the plane in Acts and get a close look at what happened on that first Pentecost after Passover. You are about to hear many of the words and phrases that we talked about at Mt. Sinai. Listen for those.
By the way, the word Pentecost means “fiftieth.” In the Jewish calendar they would count 50 days (or seven weeks – seven sevens, plus one) from Passover and that is the day they would celebrate Pentecost. The Feast of Weeks (seven sevens, plus one) or Pentecost (fifty) was fifty days after Passover. And we see at the beginning of Acts chapter one that Jesus appeared to the disciples for forty days after the Resurrection, talking to them about the Kingdom of God, and he then ascended into heaven, into a cloud – a moment that many Christians celebrate as the Ascension. Ten days later it was going to be Pentecost.
Before his ascension into the cloud, Jesus tells them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father (remember what the prophecies promised).
Acts 1:5-6 (NET) – “[And Jesus said,] For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So when they had gathered together, [the disciples] began to ask him, “Lord, is this the time when you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?””
Do you see what happened there? The disciples were tracking on the restoration of the Kingdom of God.
He told them, “You are not permitted to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 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 farthest parts of the earth (Nations).” (Acts 1:7-8 NET)
The rest of the chapter talks about the ascension of Jesus and the disciples’ time waiting in Jerusalem in the “upper room.” About 120 of them were waiting, so this was a big room. And this brings us to Acts 2.
Acts 2 (NET)
Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2:2 Suddenly a sound like a violent wind blowing came from heaven and filled the entire house where they were sitting. 2:3 And tongues spreading out like a fire appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them. 2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them.
2:5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven residing in Jerusalem. 2:6 When this sound occurred, a crowd gathered and was in confusion, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 2:7 Completely baffled, they said, “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 2:8 And how is it that each one of us hears them in our own native language?
And then Luke gives us a list of all the Nations that are represented in Jerusalem on Pentecost. Interestingly, it also describes geographically where all of the nations were scattered after Babel. You can find THAT list in Genesis 10. Here’s the list from Acts 2:
2:9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and the province of Asia, 2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 2:11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own languages about the great deeds God has done!” 2:12 All were astounded and greatly confused, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 2:13 But others jeered at the speakers, saying, “They are drunk on new wine!”
2:14 But Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice, and addressed them: “You men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, know this and listen carefully to what I say. 2:15 In spite of what you think, these men are not drunk, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 2:16 But this is what was spoken about through the prophet Joel (Promise):
2:17 ‘And in the last days it will be,’ God says, ‘that I will pour out my Spirit on all people, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
2:19 And I will perform wonders in the sky above and miraculous signs on the earth below, blood and fire and clouds of smoke. (Jump down to verse 25) 2:25 For David says about him, ‘I saw the Lord always in front of me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken. 2:26 Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced; my body also will live in hope, 2:27 because you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor permit your Holy One to experience decay. 2:28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of joy with your presence.’ (Quoting Ps 16:8-11)
(Now jump to verse 34) 2:34 For David did not ascend into heaven, but he himself says, ‘The Lord said to my lord, “Sit at my right hand 2:35 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’
2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know beyond a doubt that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.” (Both Lord [or King], and Christ which means Anointed One or Messiah)
Peter finishes his sermon, calling everyone to repent and then we read in verse 41:
“So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added.”
On that Pentecost after the Resurrection, on the same day that they’ve been celebrating for 1200 to 1400 years, the Presence of God was tangible, the Holy Spirit was sent down from Heaven, 3000 people were saved, and the Church was born. During the feast when they were remembering the Presence of God on the mountain, the Law coming down from the Mountain, the Birth of the Nation of Israel, and the death of 3000 who were disobedient – God brought about a reversal.
But not only that. On this Pentecost after the Resurrection, God also reversed the scattering of the northern ten tribes – remember? “Devout Jews from every nation under heaven” were in Jerusalem. The remnant of the northern kingdom that God had scattered to the surrounding nations through the Assyrians; The ten tribes of Israel were being restored! The kingdom was being restored!
AND not only that, but God also reversed what had happened at the tower of Babel, when languages were confused, and the Nations were scattered. This meant the Nations (the Gentiles) could be reconciled with God and restored back into his family! What happened at Pentecost made it possible for you and me (Gentiles – a people without God and without hope in the world [Eph 2:12]) to become children of God and “heirs according to the promise.” (Gal 3:29)
When Paul learned about the events of Pentecost, it drove him on his three missionary journeys. Paul went where he went precisely because those places are where the ten northern tribes had been scattered, AND it’s where he could find Gentiles (representatives of the Nations) that he could rescue!
And finally, the Presence of God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, in the lives of every believer, makes it possible for us to live out the original commission given to us before we were created in Genesis 1. To “be fruitful and multiply! To fill the earth and subdue it! To the Glory of God our creator.”
And not only THAT commission but ALL the other commissions God has issued in Scripture including the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20 ESV). We have been commissioned by the One who has ALL authority – In heaven AND on earth. And through this commission he grants us the authority and responsibility to accomplish that commission.
“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always (Presence), to the end of the age.”
As we close, let me read what Paul wrote to the church in Corinth in 2 Corinthians 3:1-8 (NET). I am convinced he was thinking about the great reversal that happened on Pentecost.
“Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? We don’t need letters of recommendation to you or from you as some other people do, do we? 3:2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, 3:3 revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets (Law) but on tablets of human hearts.
3:4 Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. 3:5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 3:6 who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter (Law) but on the Spirit, for the letter (Law) kills, but the Spirit gives life.
3:7 But if the ministry that produced death (3000)—carved in letters on stone tablets (Law)—came with glory, so that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face (a glory which was made ineffective), 3:8 how much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be?”
What happened on that first Pentecost after the Resurrection changed everything! The tangible Presence of God is living among us! The Holy Spirit was sent from heaven to empower us and to live within us. 3000 people were saved from certain spiritual death, and the Lord continues to add to that number every day, including today! And the Church was born, the bride and body of Christ, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it! The Kingdom of God is advancing and WILL be victorious!
The Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that God has reconciled us to himself through the blood of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. That is, IF you accept his free gift. No one is excluded! If you are without God and without hope in the world; If you feel lost and erased, and that no one can bring you back; If you are weighed down by the burden of a legalistic law that is carved in stone. The Good News today is that God has sent fishers and hunters to search you out, and find you, and bring you home!
And if any of that describes you, you can accept that free gift today – before you leave. Feel free to talk to me or others you’ll find down front here in just a minute.
Jesus Christ has done what we are powerless to do, so that we can do what he has commissioned us to do. The question for every one of us today is, will you receive and embrace his commission on your life? And if you do, “how much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be” in your life than the events that happened in Moses’ life?