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Pentecost is regarded as the birthday of the Christian Church, and the start of its mission to the world, but the disciples of Jesus didn’t know that as, 50 days after the Passover, when Jesus was crucified and they had discovered His empty tomb, they met together for the celebration of the festival of Shavuot, the ‘Feast of Weeks’, as all faithful Jews were doing. Shavuot marks the time when the Jews received the Torah on Mount Sinai, the books of the Law which were given to Moses. It is considered a highly important historical event and so is one of the three great festivals still celebrated by the Jews. It was not just the disciples who were gathered together, it was ‘all the believers’ (Acts 2.1[GNB]) and none of them could have been aware that it was going to be ‘one of those days’. But suddenly, and all translations stress the suddenness, the unexpectedness of it, something happened. And what did happen? Luke must be recording the words that the disciples used in describing it to him. There was a sound ‘like a strong wind blowing’ and the sight of ‘what looked like tongues of fire which … touched each person there’ (v.2-3[GNB]). Luke explains what it meant, ‘they were all filled with the Holy Spirit’ (v.4), God’s Spirit promised to the believers by Jesus (John 15.26). That experience, amazing in itself, was not the only thing that made this day unforgettable. The believers found themselves speaking in what were, to them, strange languages, but languages which people from at least a dozen different places (Acts 2.9-10) could understand. The believers, particularly Peter (v.14), also found they had the courage to speak out boldly about Jesus and, by the end of the day, 3,000 people had joined the believers.  Wow! What a day! It had been one of those days they would never forget, and neither would the Church, for we celebrate it, joyfully, at Pentecost.

On Palm Sunday, Jesus was head and shoulders above the crowd as He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. On Good Friday, He was lifted up on a cross, in shame, suffering and humiliation, for all to see. On Easter Day, He was lifted up from the tomb, raised from death. Now, on Ascension Day, He leaves His followers and, as they watched, He is ‘taken up into heaven’ (Luke 24.51). Here is the culmination of that ‘lifting up’ which is integral to Christ’s work of salvation. Lifted up that we might see Him and know who He is. Lifted up that we might know the agony of His death on the cross and realise the depths of His love for you and for me. Lifted up so that the tomb is empty, confirming God’s acceptance of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf and approving our redemption in Him. And now lifted up to the glory of His rightful place in the Godhead, the glory which He gave up when He ‘made Himself nothing’ (Philippians 2.7) [‘emptied Himself,’ ‘set aside the privileges of deity,’ as some translations put it] to come down to serve and save humanity. As Jesus was taken from them, the disciples were lost for words – it would soon happen again at Pentecost. They could only describe what they experienced in terms of Him being lifted up to the highest, taken up into heaven. For them, His immediate personal presence with them seemed to be over but His work on earth had culminated in His glorious return to the heavenly realm and was further confirmation that they had been in the presence of the Son of God. One of Graham Kendrick’s hymns begins, ‘From heaven you came, helpless babe, Entered our world, your glory veiled ‘ That veil has been removed as the Babe of Bethlehem has returned to the eternal kingdom as the Crucified Saviour and Risen Lord. Now lifted up to the highest, His work for our salvation has been triumphantly completed.