Pentecost: A Spiritual Significance
Pentecost Acts 2: 1-4
John R. Houk, Blog Editor
© June 9, 2025
I was preparing a Pentecost Sunday (6/8/25) post when I heard my wife weeping in pain. Diana was doing some Spring cleaning in the garage with our eldest grandson and for some inexplicable reason my 69-year-old wife thought it was a good idea to pick up a 50-pound weight for a barbell to move it. In that decision, 50-pounds slipped from her hands landing on the big toes of both her feet. Diana was in such pain she thought her toes were broken. So we spent the day at the Indian Hospital ER (Diana is my Cherokee princess) awaiting X-Rays. Long story short: Not broken but bruised. THANK YOU JESUS. God is Good.
SO…I did not post on Pentecost Sunday
The thing is I began writing the post. I pray I am not slipping into hubris because I sense there is someone out there that will benefit from reading the Pentecost insight that came upon me. Therefore, I am modifying what I began to write on Sunday to deliver the post on Monday…The day after Pentecost 2025.
For Christians Pentecost signifies fifty days after the Resurrection (Easter) of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus walked the Earth this day would have been fifty days after Passover and was a holy harvest festival called the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot in Judaism. I’m not a calendar expert but I’m guessing the Jewish Passover-Shavuot and Christian Resurrection Day-Pentecost do not often line up. Christians use a solar oriented calendar and Jews use a lunar oriented calendar.
Regardless of the calendar differences, the spiritual significances are related and important.
Let’s look at the Christian perspective of Pentecost from the New Testament Acts of the Apostles:
2 1When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all [a]with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them [b]divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. [Blog Editor Bold Text Emphasis]
Footnotes
a. Acts 2:1 NU together
b. Acts 2:3 Or tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each
-- Acts 2: 1-4 NKJV
Pentecost – as illustrated by Herbert R. Sim
When I was researching Pentecost I ran into a post by Ben Tertin from 5/1/23 entitled, “What Is Pentecost? And Why Is It Important? A New World Begins”.
I am aware that theologians Pentecost the beginning of the Early Church period. For me Pentecost is a deeper experience because my Christian background to becoming Born Again is through the Charismatic-Pentecostal-Word of Faith road. So, yup. I’m one of those Tongue-Talkers that most mainline Christians might have been told are too extreme in their faith. Or perhaps even worse, some might believe my faith is heretical. So now you are at the stage of reading to ponder to yourself: “Do I keep reading?”
Hopefully, you’ve decided to read on.
The insight I gleaned from reading Tertin has to do with the Presence of God that is symbolized in “Wind” and “Fire”. Here is an excerpt from the Tertin post that ignited by train of thought:
“In the Hebrew Bible, mysterious windstorms with fire or lightning are consistently associated with two things: God’s presence and the formation of a temple.
Yahweh becomes present to Moses through the fire of a burning shrub called the seneh tree (which sounds a lot like “Sinai” and foreshadows what happens there later). In that famous scene, God speaks in Moses’ own language and tells him he’s standing on holy ground, implying this place is like a temple. And then God promises to empower Moses to help him set Israel free from oppression (Exod. 3).
Moses delivers his people from slavery, and they travel to Mount Sinai, where a bigger fire blazes on the mountain as a wind and fire (lightning) storm kicks up (Exod. 19:18-20). Like before, this fire signals God’s presence, marking this mountain as God’s dwelling place and a symbolic temple. …” (What Is Pentecost? And Why Is It Important? A New World Begins; By Ben Tertin & BibleProject Team; BibleProject.com; 5/1/23
The Burning Bush in which the Presence of God spoke to Moses and the Tongues of Fire signifying God’s Presence inhabiting those who Believe on the Risen Savior Jesus is EXTREMELY significant.
Ponder this: In Exodus Chapter 3 Moses discovers his purpose as the delivering instrument freeing the Twelve Hebrew Tribes from Egyptian Bondage then leading those Twelve Tribes (called Israel after the name change given to Jacob) to the Land Promised as an inheritance through the line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The Burning Bush message to Moses becomes the Tongues of Fire proclaiming Deliverance to ALL who Believe on the Risen Savior/Deliverer Jesus the Son of God. The significance is THE PRESENCE OF GOD.
More to Ponder: Moses asked the ALMIGHTY who should I tell the Israelites has sent me to Deliver them that they should believe? I like how the Amplified Classic Bible shows this conversation because it shows all the English translations for YHWH (Yahweh):
3 13 And Moses said to God, Behold, when I come to the Israelites and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, What is His name? What shall I say to them?
14 And God said to Moses, I Am Who I Am and What I Am, and I Will Be What I Will Be; and He said, You shall say this to the Israelites: I Am has sent me to you! [Blog Editor Bold Text Emphasis]
15 God said also to Moses, This shall you say to the Israelites: The Lord, the God of your fathers, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has sent me to you! This is My [a]name forever, and by this name I am to be remembered to all generations.
Footnotes
a. Exodus 3:15 To know the name of God is to witness the manifestation of those attributes and apprehend that character which the name denotes (Exod. 6:3; I Kings 8:33ff.; Ps. 91:14; Isa. 52:6; 64:2; Jer. 16:21) (John D. Davis, A Dictionary of the Bible). God’s name is His self-revelation (Charles Ellicott, A Bible Commentary). The name signifies the active presence of the person in the fullness of the revealed character (J.D. Douglas et al., eds., The New Bible Dictionary).
--Exodus 3: 13-15 AMPC
AND EVEN MORE TO PONDER: Now that you are aware of THE NAME of the Presence of God in conversation with Moses. Consider the usage of “I AM” used by Jesus the Son of God. In John Chapter 8 Jesus is conversing with unbelieving “Jews”. I placed Jews in quotes because I need to be clear Jesus is NOT referencing all Jews. How do I know this? Before the crucifixion Jesus preached to large crowds of Jews. Many if not most of these crowds of Jews became believers in the message of Jesus. Among those believers were even some dedicated Pharisees (e.g., Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea). It is my belief that the corrupt Pharisees and Sadducees of the Sanhedrin held the so-called trial against Jesus in the dead of night to make sure to exclude the believing Pharisees from the trial debate. [Hmm… Something to think about in the corrupt U.S. Congress and Corrupt Judiciary.] In picking the portion of the conversation between Jesus and the “Jews”, take note from verses 54-59 in NKJV:
8 54 Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is [a]your God. 55 Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, ‘I do not know Him,’ I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
57 Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”
58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” [Blog Editor Bold Text Emphasis]
59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going[b] through the midst of them, and so passed by.
Footnotes
a. John 8:54 NU, M our
b. John 8:59 NU omits the rest of v. 59.
--John 8: 54-59 NKJV
Just as a reference, you should check out the GotQuestions.org post entitled, “What are the seven I AM statements in the Gospel of John?”
To be clear. This is my Pentecost Epiphany: The mighty Rushing Wind is the Presence of God expressed in the Holy Spirit. That symbolism is in the Old and New Testament. The Tongues of Fire is that I AM Presence the Holy Spirit permeates our New Creation empowering Believers to both live a Life of Christ and share the Christ Redemption from the slavery of this dark age as Believers are transferred into the Kingdom of Light of the Father’s Dear Son.
I can hear an AMEN!?
FURTHER READING:
o Why is Pentecost significant? BibleHub.com (No Date)
o The Profound Meaning of Pentecost Sunday: When Heaven's Fire Touched Earth; BibleInspire.com; 6/2/25
Ben Tertin included an animated Youtube video about Pentecost on his BibleProject.com post I referenced above. I include it below:
Youtube VIDEO: What Happened at Pentecost and Why It's Important
[Post by BibleProject
Posted on Jun 7, 2018
The book of Acts shows how God fulfilled His ancient promises to restore His blessing to all the nations through the offspring of Abraham: Jesus of Nazareth. In this video, we'll explore how Jesus and the Spirit renew the people of Israel and prepare them to announce good news to the nations.]
JRH 6/9/25
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