The message of the Bible is salvation in Jesus Christ, beginning with the message that Christ is coming, then Christ has come, and finally Christ will return. And within the message, there are many significant days not the least of which are the days of Jesus’ death and His resurrection.
But the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 is a milestone day also. It was a day of beginnings. When the apostle Peter described to brethren in Jerusalem the conversion of the Gentile Cornelius and his household, he referred back to the events of Acts 2 as “the beginning” (Ac 11:15). In what way was that day “the beginning”?
That day of Pentecost was the beginning of the Holy Spirit doing His work of conviction and conversion through the apostles’ teaching. The apostle John records that the Spirit was not given until Jesus was glorified (Jn 7:39), a reference to Jesus’ resurrection and ascension into heaven. Jesus had promised the apostles that they would be given the Holy Spirit who would convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come (Jn 14:16, 16:7-13). Through the apostles’ preaching on that day of Pentecost, people were convicted and converted by the Holy Spirit (Ac 2:37, 38-41).
That day of Pentecost was the beginning of Jesus being preached as Lord and Christ. Although prior to Jesus’ crucifixion Peter had confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus had commanded him and the other apostles to tell no one that He was the Christ (Mt 16:16-20). But now that Christ had died, been resurrected, and ascended to the throne in heaven, He was to be preached as both Lord and Christ, beginning in Acts 2.
That day was the beginning of the remission of sins being preached in Jesus’ name. Jesus had spoken of remission of sins when he instituted the Lord’s Supper, saying regarding the fruit of the vine, “for this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Mt 26:28). But it was not preached until Pentecost.
That day was the beginning of the church. Some six months before His death, Jesus spoke of building His church as a future event (Mt 16:18). He taught about discipline within the church in Matthew 18 before the church existed. But on the day of Pentecost, “the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” (Ac 2:47). The church is the saved people (Eph 5:23). The church then became a reality on the day of Pentecost.
That day of Pentecost was the beginning of a new worship. Because the old law, the law of Moses, was nailed to the cross (Col 2:14), its ordinances of divine service and worship, which had been given only to Israel, had been abolished (Eph 2:15). It is therefore not surprising to find those who were saved on that day devoting themselves not to the law of Moses but to the apostles’ doctrine and also to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. The breaking of bread is the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 10:16), and that is a new act of worship that will continue until the Lord Jesus returns (1 Cor 11:26).
Truly, the day of Pentecost of Acts 2 marked a “beginning.” It was one of the great landmark days in the history of man. What a privilege to be on this side of Pentecost where Jesus is preached as Lord and Christ, the remission of sins is preached and can be received through the terms of pardon, and as a result we can be added to the Lord’s church!
– Larry Jones