“‘Pente,’ the first part of ‘Pentecost’ is translated as 50 and refers to the 50 days after the resurrection when we celebrate Pentecost, where the Holy Spirit came to Earth.” Owen King, pastor of Harmony Baptist Church in Brookhaven, tells of one of the most important Christian holy days, Pentecost Sunday, this year falling on May 24.

“Jesus said a great comfort would follow him. It’s really the third biggest holy day that we celebrate,” King said. “We celebrate his birth because the messiah had finally came; his death and resurrection, that was the bridge and the gap that was paid for all humanity’s sins; and then Pentecost, because God fulfilled his promise to us when he sent his spirit forth to all men.”

John the Baptist prophesied of the first Pentecost when Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matthew 3:11). Jesus confirmed this prophecy with the promise of the Holy Spirit to the disciples in John 14:26. He showed Himself to these men after his death on the cross and his resurrection, giving convincing proofs that he was alive.

Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the Father’s gift of the Holy Spirit, from whom they would receive power to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:3-8).

“This is a day that we emphasize the Holy Spirit, you’ll hear a lot of preaching out of Acts when the Holy Spirit came down and the people in the upper room were filled with the Spirit and compelled to speak,” King said. “And the Bible tells us they were speaking in tongues, but everybody could understand each other. God’s spirit came down and after that thousands of people were saved.

“And this day is just a day we emphasize and focus on the gift that God has given us. Just like in Easter time, during this time we celebrate the third promise he gave us which was the Holy Spirit,” he said.

King said for a modern-day example, if the Holy Spirit were received today and he was to preach to a congregation of people who spoke all different languages, they would be able understand him as he would be one of God’s witnesses.

“Like today when the Holy Spirit when I began to preach the good news everyone would be able to understand,” he said. “That was the biggest astonishment to them that everyone understood yet they were speaking a different tongues.”

King said that Jesus said the comforter could not come unto the Earth until he left.

“Pentecost Sunday is a focus upon that great joy that we have because before that time, we couldn’t even imagine what it was like,” he said. “It wasn’t a gift God gave everyone until after his resurrection when the Holy Spirit came. We preach and teach and focus upon that, without that we wouldn’t have the blessing we are experiencing today.”