05.24.2026. Pentecost Sunday Sermon
Pastor Jeungbok Lee

Scripture: Luke 24:47-49, Acts 2:1-8
Title: The Fulfillment of the Promise: The Coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost

Luke 24:47-49
“And that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Acts 2:1-8
When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem devout Jews from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that we hear, each of us in our own native language?”

We often think of the Pentecost event in Acts chapter 2 merely as a remarkable revival or evangelistic event that happened in the past. However, the Bible does not present it simply as a historical event. The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was the decisive event marking the entrance of God’s redemptive history into its stage of fulfillment.

Today, through this message, we will examine three things.
First, the meaning of the Feast of Pentecost.
Second, the promises in the Old Testament.
Third, the event of the coming of the Holy Spirit and its redemptive-historical significance.

1. What Kind of Feast Was Pentecost?

 

Pentecost literally means “the fiftieth day.” The word “pente” refers to fifty. It was the feast celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover.

This feast was called by several names:

The Feast of Weeks: meaning the feast observed on the day after seven Sabbaths.

The Feast of Harvest: meaning a feast of thanksgiving for the barley and wheat harvest.

The Feast of Firstfruits: meaning a feast in which the first fruits were offered to God.

Thus, although it was the same feast, it was called Pentecost, Firstfruits, Harvest Festival, or Feast of Weeks depending on which aspect was emphasized.

The common central theme of this feast was one thing: offering the first harvest of the year to God. In other words, it was the day when the people first offered to God the results of the grace He had given them.

This feast, together with Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles, was one of the three major Jewish feasts.

2. The Redemptive-Historical Timeline Revealed Through Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles

 

These three major feasts were not merely memorial celebrations. They were God’s timetable for His work of redemption to save the world.

2.1) At Passover, Jesus accomplished salvation by dying on the cross as the Passover Lamb.

Passover appears in Exodus chapter 12. When God judged the land of Egypt, He instructed the Israelites through Moses to slaughter a lamb and apply its blood to the doorposts so they might be spared from judgment.

The families who applied the blood were saved, while the firstborn in every family without the blood died.

On the night of Passover, Israel was finally delivered from Egypt.

However, this was not complete salvation. The Passover that God commanded Israel to observe as they were delivered was only a foreshadowing.

In the New Testament, Jesus became the true Passover Lamb. By dying on the cross as the Lamb, He saved us from sin and death. Through faith, we are saved by the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God.

Yet there is a difference between the Passover of the Exodus and the Passover accomplished through Jesus.

The Exodus Passover temporarily saved physical lives. Therefore, Israel had to observe Passover every year.

In contrast, the salvation accomplished once for all by Jesus as the Passover Lamb is salvation from sin and death itself. Therefore, Jesus never needs to die again as the Passover Lamb.

The Passover of the Old Testament was merely the shadow; the cross of Jesus Christ is the reality.

2.2) The second feast, Pentecost, was fulfilled in Acts chapter 2 through the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Every year, fifty days after Passover, the Israelites observed Pentecost.

This feast marked the beginning of the harvest, when the first fruits of the year were offered to God.

However, before Pentecost arrived, there was an extremely important event concerning the first fruits in the New Testament.

Strictly speaking, the true first fruit of the Feast of Firstfruits was the resurrected Jesus Christ Himself.

1 Corinthians 15:20
“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

To summarize: Jesus died on the cross at Passover as the Lamb, and through His resurrection He became the first fruit offered to God.

Then, at Pentecost, through the coming of the Holy Spirit, the harvest of lost souls began.

Acts chapter 2 reveals the beginning of this spiritual harvest. In Acts 2:41, three thousand people repented after hearing Peter preach the gospel. These were the spiritual fruits produced through the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

After Pentecost, countless Jews were converted. And even to this very moment, fruit continues to be borne through the work of the Holy Spirit poured out at Pentecost.

2.3) The third Jewish feast, the Feast of Tabernacles (also called the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Ingathering), still remains to be fulfilled.

The Feast of Tabernacles commemorated God’s protection of Israel when they lived in temporary shelters in the wilderness during the Exodus.

Every year, from the fifteenth to the twenty-first day of the seventh month (roughly late September to mid-October on the solar calendar), the Israelites built booths, remembered that they had been pilgrims, and rejoiced that God had been with them.

The Feast of Ingathering was also the thanksgiving festival celebrating the completion of the year’s entire harvest. It was a feast of joy.

Those who had worked faithfully throughout the year brought abundant fruits before God and celebrated together.

However, for us Christians, the Feast of Tabernacles has not yet been fulfilled. This feast points to the future completion of salvation.

Therefore, believers must diligently labor while waiting for the day when this feast will be fulfilled, preparing abundant fruit.

Until our Lord Jesus returns to this world, believers are to live as pilgrims dwelling in temporary tents, waiting for the final harvest day—the return of Christ—and bearing the fruit of souls in this world.

When we do so, we will participate with joy in the true Feast of Ingathering, the completion of salvation.

The overall flow of redemptive history is this:

First, Passover revealed salvation through the cross.

Second, Jesus’ resurrection revealed Him as the first fruit harvested before Pentecost.

Third, at Pentecost, God sent the Holy Spirit so that the salvation accomplished at the Passover cross might be applied to believers, and the great harvest officially began.

Finally, the Feast of Tabernacles and Ingathering will be fulfilled through the return of Jesus Christ, when He completes salvation.

He will gather the harvested grain into His heavenly storehouse. After that, only judgment remains.

3. The Meaning of the Coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts Chapter 2

 

3.1) Pentecost was the day God’s promise was fulfilled.

Joel 2:28 says, “I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh.”

Pentecost was the fulfillment of God’s promise through the prophet Joel that in the last days He would pour out His Spirit upon all people.

It was also the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise in Luke 24:49: “I am sending the promise of My Father upon you.”

3.2) Pentecost fulfilled God’s promise to give a new spirit and a new heart so that He Himself would cause His people to obey Him.

Ezekiel 36:26 says:
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

This is truly a gracious promise. Without the work of the Holy Spirit, our hearts are so stubborn that we would never repent.

Those who do not repent will ultimately face God’s judgment.

Romans 2:5
“But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed.”

3.3) By comparing the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, we can see how astonishing the Pentecost event truly was.

In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came only selectively upon kings, prophets, and priests. The Spirit came upon people like Samuel and David temporarily and for specific purposes.

But in the New Testament, in Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit came upon all flesh at Pentecost.

One did not need to be a king, prophet, or priest to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, those who experienced the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost became royal priests. They became prophets.

All of them boldly proclaimed that Jesus is the Messiah sent by God. Even under threat of death, they did not stop proclaiming God’s will.

4. What Happened When the Holy Spirit Came in Acts Chapter 2

 

Acts 2:1-4
“When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

At Pentecost, the disciples were gathered in Jerusalem in obedience to Jesus’ command (Luke 24:47-49). Then the Holy Spirit descended from heaven.

People experienced the coming of the Spirit as a mighty rushing wind (Hebrew: ruach; Greek: pneuma) and as tongues of fire.

The wind signifies the powerful presence of God. The fire symbolizes holiness and purification.

Therefore, those who experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit encountered God’s power and holiness.

As a result, the disciples’ witness concerning Jesus Christ carried great power. Those who heard them, through the work of God’s holy Spirit, confessed that they were sinners.

Acts 2:37
“When they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’”

Finally, all those who experienced the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost spoke in different languages, enabling people from many nations to understand the testimony about Christ.

They understood the message, realized they were sinners, and repented.

Lost souls were harvested and gathered into God’s storehouse.

This is what happened at Pentecost.

5. The Historical Meaning of the Coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost

 

First, it announced that a new age had begun.

No longer was it merely the age of the external law of the Old Testament, but the age in which the Holy Spirit works within us.

Second, salvation was now opened not to one nation only, but to all nations.

Previously, God’s salvation had been revealed only to Israel. But through the coming of the Holy Spirit, salvation was opened to every nation, every people, and every person.

Third, the Holy Spirit now dwells within all who believe in Christ.

Previously, the Spirit came only temporarily upon prophets, kings, and priests at special moments. But after Pentecost, the Holy Spirit indwells all Christians.

Through this, He unites believers with Christ, enables them to understand Christ more deeply, empowers them to proclaim Christ, and transforms them to become more like Christ.

Finally, the fact that the Holy Spirit has come upon all believers means that the age in which we now live stands very near to the completion of salvation.

Therefore, we must always remain spiritually awake and do our utmost to save souls.

6. Conclusion

 

Through the Jewish feasts, we have seen how God fulfills His promises of salvation.

At Passover, Jesus died on the cross as the Passover Lamb and saved us.

By rising again on the third day, He became the first fruit of the resurrection.

On the day of Pentecost, God sent the promised Holy Spirit to apply to us the salvation Jesus accomplished, thereby saving us.

Not only that, He sent the Holy Spirit to all believers so that they might become fruitful workers.

Now we are waiting for the completion of God’s salvation. We are waiting for the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Ingathering.

As we wait for the final feast to be fulfilled, we must strive with all our strength to bear abundant fruit.

I pray in the name of the Lord that all of you may become believers who bear much fruit.

Let us pray.

(End)