Sunday May 23 was the day of Pentecost.
Without getting into the history, this was a Jewish festival HOWEVER
Acts 2: "5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?"
Did you notice that it said that "God-fearing Jews from every nation" were gathered .....
When reading the rest of the passage it seems obvious to many that A NEW THING was happening; the Christian church was being born from its Jewish roots.
Did you notice also that they were God-fearing Jews? Not just your average go to Shabbot-a-few-times-a-year Jew, but GOD-FEARING Jews! These were really sincere people.
"37When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 38Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call."
If these were God-fearing men, why did they need to repent? Why did they need to turn their lives around?
It is because as they recognized the truth of what Peter spoke they may have realized that their religion [not Judaism] but their own personal "religion" or relationship to God was a shell. It needed filling up. It needed completion.
And so it was that 3000 or more people began that day to form the Church of Christ.
Now if you are Jewish, I am NOT preaching at you. All of us, Christians, Jews and the rest of the world, we all fall short of what God would have for us. We often need to repent and get back on track.
I love following my boss, a Jewish carpenter and he wasn't exactly a bad preacher either! He was a Jew. However he came to bring a new revelation, an expansion of present understanding. All those who recognized his truth began to follow him. I can too. You can too. We can learn a lot from him.
But we never forget he WAS a JEWISH rabbi and we give much credit to the Jewish people from whom was birthed the Messiah. It is because God selected the Jews according to the Bible to show to the world a better way that we honour them as a race and make our best attempt to follow the example of our Jewish Messiah.
Also if you check my blog at http://peace-in-Israel.blogspot.com you will see EXTREMELY UNUSUAL achievements that this small beseiged, maligned country has contributed to the world.
Chances are that you may be reading this on a Windows computer which was pioneered by in Israel.
Check out the "Cool Things about Israel" videos! THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!
