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Tim Maas
Although Pentecost is normally associated by Christians with the coming of the Holy Spirit that occurred ten days after Jesus' ascension (and thus fifty days after His resurrection), the observance of it was actually ordained by God in the Old Testament (Leviticus 23 and Numbers 28), where it was also known as Shavuot or the Feast of Weeks. It was to take place fifty days after the occurrence of Passover. (This fifty-day interval accounts for the "Pente-" portion of the observance's name.) The purpose of it was originally in thanksgiving to God for the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, but it was also later associated with a remembrance of the Law given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai, as described in Exodus 19-20. Jesus' perfect fulfillment of the Law on humanity's behalf, followed by His atoning death and resurrection, made Pentecost the appropriate time for the original outpouring of the Holy Spirit -- not just to selected individuals, but to all believers, who became the "first fruits" of the salvation that Jesus had been incarnated to gain for them.
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