With today being Pentecost Sunday I was reminded of when I was studying and learnt about the relationship between Pentecost and Passover. Here is a little post summarising this.

“Jesus had been crucified in their Passover festival and this was no coincidence, in fact this was exactly the way God had planned it. 

Passover was so called because of an event that happened hundreds of years before in Egypt. The Israelites had been living in Egypt as slaves. They knew that God would rescue them and bring them into an expansive future but they were still waiting for that to happen.

They were told that God was going to punish the gods of the nation that had held them as slaves by bringing death to their homes. The way that the Israelites could save themselves from included in this was by putting the blood of a lamb on their door. God would recognise the blood and pass over their home.

Passover represented God’s ability to pardon

The people would celebrate Passover every year, remembering God’s pardon and how He rescued them from their bondage all those years ago. Fast forward many years later and it makes sense why God chose this time for Jesus to die on the cross.

Back in Egypt they were forgiven by God because of the blood of a lamb.  At Calvary they had all their sins forgiven by the blood of another lamb; Jesus, the son of God. 

The Israelites had another celebration they held called the Feast of Weeks. This was a celebration that was held 50 days after the passover celebration. This was a day where the people would celebrate the harvest, God’s provision. They knew if the harvest was in that their near future was secured. When the modern world began to speak Greek the name of the feast was changed to Pentecost, meaning the 50th day. 

Pentecost represented God’s ability to provide

So when we turn to Acts 2, 50 days after the Passover celebration, where the blood of the lamb had forgiven them, we read how they received the power of the Holy Spirit.

 “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”Acts 2:1-4 

They had no longer simply experienced God’s pardon but His provision

I love that the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on all people was not a random occurrence. It represented God’s provision just like it had 50 days after the passover celebration every other year. Moments like that make God just even more incredible.”