The feasts that God established for the Israelites weren’t meant to only remind them of what He had done. They were practiced each year so they could know what He was going to do. Each feast was a rehearsal for a real event.
Rehearsing something gets you ready for a real event. You repeatedly practice until what you do is done without thinking. When the moment finally arrives for the actual event, all the practice you’ve done becomes natural and effortless.
Throughout their entire lives, these 120 disciples had celebrated Shavuot. They had rehearsed the feast year after year, and now they were about to participate in the real event. Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem because He knew it was almost time for the moment they had spent their entire lives preparing for.
In Acts 2, Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, preached a powerful sermon that cut straight into the hearts of his listeners. When he was finished, they asked Peter what they should do.
“Then Peter said to 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).
Peter not only gave an open invitation that day to the 3000 people who repented and were baptized; he also gave the invitation to those God would call through the generations to come. You are part of Peter’s “all who are afar off.” Peter’s invitation to receive the Holy Spirit is for you, your children, your grandchildren, and for all those who will receive Him.
The Holy Spirit never withdrew Himself after He fell on the disciples that day in Jerusalem. He has never stopped pouring Himself out upon hungry believers. When God said he would pour out His Spirit on all flesh, He never said that promise would one day end.
Are you waiting for the real event? Pentecost is here, and it isn’t over. The harvest is still being gathered, the fire of the Spirit is still falling, the fountain is still flowing, and God is still fulfilling His promise. God has promised the Holy Spirit to you and invites you to receive Him.
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38).
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