The day chosen was striking and suggestive. Proselytes from various countries were all gathered together with the Jews of Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Weeks. It was Pentecost, the fiftieth day — a week of weeks — since Passover. At Passover a sheaf of ripe barley had been waved in the Temple; at Pente- cost the two loaves of fine flour made from the newly gathered wheat were now being waved in the Holy Place. And it was harvest. What better occasion for the outpouring of the Spirit, the " Giver of life," than this feast of Pentecost, when the first- fruits of the great Spiritual harvest of both Jews and Gentiles were offered unto the Lord who had redeemed them ?
Moreover, Pentecost was celebrated as the anniversary of the giving of the law from Sinai, after the wanderings of the children of Israel for seven weeks from the first Passover in Egypt. How fitting a festival for the first outpouring of the Spirit, whereby that law might be observed in its fullest meaning, not as uttered amid the terrors of Sinai, but as revealed in Him who fulfilled the law and the prophets to the uttermost.
2. On this great festival the apostles and disciples were assembled together in Jerusalem. They were praying. They were waiting for the promise of the Spirit. Suddenly the whole
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place was shaken as with a tempest, and bright flames, like tongues of fire, flickered for a moment over every head. These were, indeed, wonderful outward signs; but we must not think of this rush of tempest, and this shower of flaming tongues, as the most wonderful thing that happened. They were but the outward signs of something more wonderful still. The Holy Ghost filled the hearts of all that were present — not only the apostles, but also the men and women who were with them; and they burst out into loud shouts of praise and thanksgiving to God.
3. "They were all with one accord in one place." There is no absolute certainty what that place was or who were the recipients of the gift there bestowed. Some have thought that it was within the precincts of the Temple, and the early testimony of Josephus {Antiq. viii. 3. 2) is appealed to in support of this. He says the term here used (olxog) was applied to describe the thirty chambers which ran round the Temple of Solomon; but though open and easily accessible, none of them could have held so large a multitude ; and it is extremely difficult to believe that the Priests and Pharisees would have allowed such a gathering of the despised followers of One whom they had crucified but a few weeks before. Although, then, it would have been intensely significant had the New Covenant been inaugurated within the very shrine of the Old, we are compelled to look for some other scene. Tradition has placed it in that Upper Chamber, in which we know that the first Christians were wont to hold their religious meetings.
4. On whom was the gift bestowed ? It is impossible to say whom St. Luke intended when he spoke of " all." Perhaps the more general belief has limited it to the Apostles, as the Whitsuntide preface in the Book of Common Prayer unhesitat- ingly teaches; there is ancient testimony, however, to the inclusion of " the one hundred and twenty," and some extension beyond the Twelve is almost necessitated by the language of Joel's prophecy, which, St. Peter says, was fulfilled on this occasion. The expression was perhaps intended to embrace all the believers in Christ then congregated in Jerusalem.
T| Can it surprise us that the world, which has no eyes and
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no heart for spiritual things, usually appreciates this feast least of all, and rather seeks its satisfaction in the enjoyment of nature than in gratitude for the copious outpouring of the Spirit ? Men must in some degree be filled with the Holy Ghost in order to value aright the blessing of this day ; they must with the eye of the Spirit have seen something of the glory of the New Dispensa- tion, in order to know fully the value of the declaration : " The promise is to you and to your children, and to as many as the Lord our God shall call." Just this is the glory of the feast of Pentecost, that it not merely renews the remembrance of a most interesting event in the past, but, moreover, points us to the source of richest blessing for the present, and opens to us the brightest prospect for the so frequently beclouded future.1
I.
The Coming of the Holy Spieit.
The words of Jesus concerning the Holy Spirit seem to have made but little immediate impression upon His sorrowing disciples. Probably they were too full of trouble to comprehend their meaning, and too indifferent to consolation to care to understand. Love in tears is apt to be petulant. The suggestion of any possibility of compensation for impending loss is resented as an insult and a reproach. The promise that Another should fill His place brought no comfort. They did not want Another. To speak of a successor was a reflection upon their devotion, and to say the exchange would be to their advantage could be nothing but the exaggeration of compassion. Grief for impending loss refuses to be comforted. So the promise of the Paraclete brought little light to their understanding, and apparently less comfort to their hearts. It was not until the Ascension that their eyes were opened. The Eesurrection filled them with a great joy, but not until they witnessed His return to the Father did they realize the true greatness of their Lord and the meaning of His Mission in the world. As they beheld Him rise, the mists lifted from their understanding, and they returned to Jerusalem, not like bereaved and broken men, but rejoicing and praising God. The vision of the opened heavens had given them a new conception of all things in heaven and on earth. Infinity had received a 1 J. J. van Oosterzee, The Year of Salvation, i. 475.