Your studies this week have centered on New Testament background.  Check out the following blog by Dr. Brassfield.  He masterfully uses NT background information to illuminate the Day of Pentecost.

So to get to the real meaning of Pentecost, lets first look at the location of the outpouring. I believe that the where will answer the why and help us understand that first outpouring at a much deeper level.

First it is a general assumption among most Pentecostal and evangelical groups for that matter, to believe that the Holy Spirit fell in the Upper Room. This is probably because of the biblical references to the upper room in other New Testament passages such as; Luke 22:12 and Mark 14:15 which speak of a common event, the upper room of the “Lord’s Supper”, and Acts 1:13 which speaks of an upper room where the disciples of Jesus were staying during the Feast of Pentecost. It is logical, though not expressly indicated in Scripture, that this accommodation would have been one and the same place. And there has been much speculation as to the relationship that Jesus and His disciples might have had with the particular owner of this upper room. Maybe it was a familiar place that they often used when visiting Jerusalem. Perhaps they rented it? Or, it might have been simply loaned to them by a family member or friend. Jewish residents of Jerusalem would often offer hospitality to pilgrims who had come to Jerusalem for the three chief Feast of Israel. Whatever the case, we have traditionally assumed that it is there, in the upper room, that the Holy Spirit was poured out on that day. But does the Scripture actually say that? No!

Luke in Acts chapter one tells us that they return to Jerusalem, after Jesus ascension to heaven from the Mount of Olives, to the Upper room, “where they were staying” (Acts 1:13) While there, they conducted the business of replacing Judas position of leadership with another of their number who had been faithful and had been with them since Jesus baptism in water by John and we are told that they continued in one mind and one accord. 

But Luke uses a Hebraic-styled narrative break[1] to introduce chapter two and the events of chapter two. This in other words changed the flow of the story and disconnected everything going on in chapter one from that of chapter two.

Acts 2:1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.”This change let’s the reader know that where the disciples were and what they were doing in chapter one is not necessarily where they are and what they are doing as chapter two opens.

Now let’s remember that they are devout Jews. And this fact has to be accounted for in the story of Pentecost. We must assume that they continued in their Jewish traditions after Jesus Ascension. They did not understand, as of yet, the distinction that would develop between Judaism and Christianity. They, during feast times and regularly scheduled prayer times would have almost certainly followed their Jewish traditions. Luke tells us as he closes his gospel in chapter Luke 24: 52 and53 “And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the Temple praising and blessing God. Amen.” No doubt when it was time to pray they would have went to the Temple for their normal prayer times. We even see that evidenced later in Acts chapter 3 verse one when Peter and John encounter the lame man at the gate called Beautiful, begging. He is of course healed in the encounter but Luke tells us they are there presumably to pray because its prayer time, “…the hour of prayer, the ninth hour”. Acts 3:1

This understanding gives us a bit more insight into the Acts chapter two story. Being devout Jews and clearly seeing that they demonstrated no apparent reason to reject the Temple or their associated Jewish customs, where are they likely to have been when the “Day of Pentecost had fully come?”

Pentecost is the only one of Israel’s chief feast that was celebrated on a single day as opposed to a week or at least over several days. The doors of the Temple opened just after midnight to allow the visiting crowds to have their sacrifices inspected by the priest. The services began with the morning sacrifices being offered and then prayer time followed around the third hour of the day, between 9 to 10 am. Large numbers of Pilgrims, perhaps ten of thousands, [2]would have been there having traveled from all over the World. Luke gives us a list of the different nationalities present. Acts 2: 5-13.

It is unthinkable that the disciples would miss the morning ceremonies associated with the Feast of Pentecost. Indeed it would have been disobedient to the command of the Lord from the Torah. Exodus 34:23-24. So for them to have been in a neighborhood near but not present at the Temple is not realistic.  

Yes the scripture does say that the Spirit “filled the house where they were sitting” Acts 2:2. But the house referred to was most likely the Temple.

The Center for Holy Land Studies of the Assemblies of God suggest, that in Hebrew, the moscommon term used to refer to the Temple is “house”.  The Temple Mount is referred to as “the mountain of the house”; cf. m. Bikkurim 3:4). At this point within the Greek narrative of Acts, Luke often preserves Hebraic-styled syntax and idiom.  His narrative mention of the “house” in which the disciples sat quite likely reflects this Hebrew idiom referring to the Temple, which is where one would expect to find Jesus’ disciples on the festival of Pentecost as well as the crowds they encounter.[3]

So to set this possibility in motion lets imagine the scene. Tens of thousands of devoted Jews from all over the World have gathered for this one-day grand celebration that was both a celebration of the first fruits of the Barley harvest and the commemoration of the giving of the law to Moses at Mt Sinai. The sacrifices have been offered, sections of the Torah recited and songs sung. The people have gathered in ethnic groups to read the Torah and pray when suddenly the place is shaken by the sound of a rushing mighty wind. All the believers in Christ who were present, mostly from the regions of Galilee, begin to speak loudly giving glory to God and testifying of his wonderful works; speaking in the diverse native languages of the pilgrims who were present at the Feast.  The people are amazed!

Peter the Apostle stands to speak and explain what they are witnessing. Luke records his message for us in Acts 2: 14-39. He explains that they are not drunk as some had supposed since it is the third hour of the day, (prayer time by the way), but rather he attributes the outpouring as the fulfillment of the prophet Joel. He then preaches the gospel of Jesus to them as a suffering Messiah and the savior who had been crucified and resurrected from the dead. At the end of his message some 3,000 people respond to the gospel and are baptized. The only place in Jerusalem that could have accommodated that many hearing and being baptized was the Temple with its large outer court and ritual baths that were located at the southern entrance at the pilgrim’s gate to the Temple Mount. [4]

When we settle in our mind that the most likely place for the outpouring was the Jewish Temple and that God had purposely orchestrated the place and the time with such careful planning, I believe it helps us understand the why. And the why was so much greater than just the experience of power received by 120 gathered in an obscure upper room, it was to ignite a movement around the World in a single moment, as people were undoubtedly converted from all over the world at that one great event. It is as if God planned this moment to assist the fledgling disciples who had just received the Great Commission to take the good news all over the world to every creature. Pentecost was God’s sovereign way to override racial prejudice, ethnic barriers, gender issues and the natural resentment that the disciples must have felt toward the people of Jerusalem who had just participated in Jesus crucifixion. When many of them came to faith as a result of the work of the Holy Spirit all questions were answered; forgiveness was for everyone-even those who had participated in his death, and that every person from any country who called on the name of the Lord could be saved.  The where answers the why.