O SING unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things.
Psalm 98.1
Christ, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
Acts 2.33
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Galatians 4.6
We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,
Are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2 Corinthians 3.18
GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen
THE COLLECT.
GOD, who as at this time didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people, by the sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Savior, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
Acts 2. 1.
WHEN the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them: and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed, and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
Pentecost OT background: Pentecost and the Feast of Weeks
Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks, is one of three feasts - feast of Unleavened Bread, feast of Booths - which required all adult males to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to present themselves before the Lord. These three feasts were part of seven annual feasts which celebrated God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt and God’s blessing of His covenant people in the Promised Land.
Exodus 23:14 “Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me. 15 You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed. 16 Also you shall observe the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field. 17 Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.
Numbers 28:26 ‘Also on the day of the firstfruits, when you bring a new grain offering to the Lord at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work.
Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times a year, then, all your males shall appear before the LORD, your God, in the place which he will choose: at the feast of Unleavened Bread, at the feast of Weeks, and at the feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed; 17 but each with his own gift, in proportion to the blessing which the LORD, your God, has given to you.
The Feast of Weeks/Pentecost was the offering of the first of the wheat harvest. The feast starts 50 days after the Feast of Firstfruits. On that fiftieth day Israel was to present the grain offerings to the Lord.
To put this in a NT context … Jesus rose from the dead on the Feast of FIrstfruits. His Ascension to the right hand of God took place 40 days later. On the 50th day after the Resurrection Jesus sent the promised Comforter, the Holy Spirit on the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. On Pentecost the “firstfruits" of the Church were gathered in through the work of the Holy Spirit.
JSH+