A Foreshadowing of Pentecost in the Old Testament
In my previous blog I gave a picture of Pentecost that involved the law of God being given to the children of Israel through Moses at Mount Sinai. That time of encounter with God occurred, according to Jewish tradition, fifty days after the people were delivered from slavery in Egypt. Pente means fifty. This prophetic event fulfilled in our current age when the church was established by God on the day of Pentecost, fifty days after the resurrection of Christ (Acts 2).
Another story of a powerful encounter with God is recorded in the Old Testament in Numbers chapter eleven. This also in many respects gives us a picture of an Old Testament type of Pentecost. Chapter eleven begins by telling us that the people were complaining about their circumstances in the wilderness. We are told in the beginning of the passage that the Lord was not pleased with their complaints and that His anger was aroused against them. The “fire of the Lord burned among them and some of the people on the outskirts of the camp were consumed (Numbers 11:1). The people then cried out to Moses. Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire was quenched. The place where this happened was given a name, Taberah, which means burning. In essence, God’s fire of judgment had burned against the people.
Unfortunately, this act of judgment did not stop the complaining of the people, and those of mixed multitude among the people yielded to intense craving, longed for meat to eat as well as other food that they had come to enjoy in Egypt. The people wept bitterly because the only food they had to eat was the manna, which they had to gather each morning, grind into pastry and make it into cakes. V.8
Moses also became discouraged with all the complaining and crying which he heard coming forth from the people. He entreated of the Lord and bemoaned the fact that the Lord had bestowed upon him the task of leading the Israelites back to Canaan through the wilderness desert. Moses told God that he was not able to bear the people alone because the burden was too heavy. He even pleaded with the Lord to kill him (Numbers 11:14-15).
God came to the rescue of Moses by telling him to gather together seventy elders of the people and bring them to the tabernacle of meeting that they might stand there with Moses. God then told Moses in verse 17 that God would take of the Spirit that was upon Moses and put the same Spirit upon the men so that they would be able to help Moses bear the burden of the people. Interspersed within this narrative is the story of the quail that God sent into the camp, but this was only done because the people kept complaining that they did not have enough meat to eat.
Moses gathered the seventy men to the tabernacle and then The Lord came down in a cloud, took the Spirit that was on Moses and placed it on the men. When this happened they all began to prophecy. The literal meaning to prophecy is to speak forth under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. It is interesting that two of the men who had been chosen were still out in the camp and were not at the tent of meeting as were the others. These two men also began to prophecy when the Spirit fell. Their names were Eldad and Medad. Eldad’s name means “God has loved” and Medad’s name means “beloved”.
A young man in the camp heard the men prophesying and ran and told Moses what was happening. When Joshua heard what was taking place, he told Moses and asked Moses to forbid them from speaking in this manner. Moses’ reply was to say to Joshua, “Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!”
This is precisely what happened on the day of Pentecost some 1400 years later when the church was formed. Jesus had told his disciples in Acts 1:4-5 that they were to go back to Jerusalem and to wait for the Promise of the Father. He told them that John had baptized with water, but they would soon be baptized with the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit fell upon them on the day of Pentecost they all began to speak with other tongues, or to prophecy, as the Spirit gave utterance. They were speaking forth in all of the languages of the people gathered in Jerusalem for the feast. Sixteen different people groups are listed. Verse 11 of Acts 2 tells us that – “we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” The text also tells us that the people around them were amazed and perplexed, wondering what this could mean. Some thought that they were all drunk, but Peter stood and explained that this represented the latter day outpouring of the Holy Spirit that had been spoken of by the prophet Joel (Joel 2:28-32).
Moses’ request that God would pour out His Spirit on all flesh and that all would prophecy finds it’s ultimate fulfillment on the day of Pentecost. God is still pouring forth His Spirit on all flesh, to all who call upon His Name in truth.
After Peter preached his sermon, there were many in the crowd who wanted to know what they could do in response to this outpouring of the Holy Spirit? In verses 38-39 Peter tells them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:38-39). As believers in Christ, if we are living unfulfilled or uncommitted lives to the lordship of Christ, then we simply need to humble ourselves before God and repent and ask the Lord to send forth His Holy Spirit into our lives so that we each experience an individual Pentecost.