Pentecostal Joy

At the Feast of Weeks (the Old Testament Feast of Pentecost), the Lord called His people to come and gather together in His presence and rejoice before Him. They had plenty of reason to rejoice. Pentecost came at the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest, so they could rejoice before the Lord for His great provision of good crops. But that wasn't their only reason for rejoicing. The Lord told them that they were to remember that they were slaves in Egypt (Deut. 16:12). So, they had every reason to rejoice before the LORD at Pentecost, because He's the God who delivered them out of slavery and bondage.

And we too have great reason to rejoice before Him, for He’s the God who has delivered us out of an even worse slavery and bondage! We weren’t slaves in Egypt, but the Bible tells us, we were in slavery and bondage to sin. Yet thanks be to God, for He has delivered us through the death of Jesus Christ His Son in our place on the Cross. Jesus has taken our punishment and defeated sin, death and the Devil for us so that we might be delivered safely out of slavery and bondage and instead be brought into the family of God as well-beloved sons and daughters.

Pentecost and joy go together. And not just any old joy, but joy for the sons and daughters of God. If you want to hear some more about that, then here's a sermon from Acts 2 and Deut. 16:9-12 for Whitsun Morning on Pentecostal Joy to which you can listen.