Now the next thing it says - and this is also important - when you reap the harvest of your land, you won't wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor gather any gleanings from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God. Now I want you just to notice these. We'll come and I'll refer to them when we get into the New Testament fulfilment. Here's what He's saying. Pentecost - now He required they celebrate this every year. Every year they were required to gather and celebrate this feast for a day. Notice this - they came before the Lord to experience and encounter Him. They came to give Him something. It was no work, no labour, no striving, no struggling. It was rest, and they also gave to the poor.
Now we're going to go into the New Testament and look at Pentecost, and you'll see all of these facets are there in what Pentecost really means for us today. I know the moment I talk about Pentecost you'll think of speaking in tongues, and that's a part of it, but there's somewhat more to it than that. So let's go into Acts, Chapter 2, where there's the fulfilment of this. Remember the Old Testament was just the picture; here is the reality. Here is the substance. This is what it was always pointing towards. So the disciples, Jesus has offered Himself. He's become the Passover lamb. He's risen from the dead. He's become the first fruits to the Lord. Now, 50 days later, they've been in prayer, they've been in hungering, and it is the Feast of Pentecost. Everyone has gathered in the city. It's a day when they're going to celebrate the feast, and they're going to make an offering to God. There'll be no work, and it's a time of giving to the poor. Now notice what happens.
It says they were gathered - Verse 1 - when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Suddenly a sound from heaven, like a rushing mighty wind - that word rushing is a roar, a mighty roar, like the roar of a thunder. It says a mighty wind - that means it's forceful and powerful, and notice then it filled the whole house where they were sitting. There appeared to them tongues, or flames like fire on them. They were filled with the Holy Ghost, began to speak in other tongues, as the spirit gave them utterance. Of course it was so noisy, 120 people filled with the Holy Ghost, the noise was so dramatic, everyone came to have a look at it. When they came to have a look, they were amazed because of what they heard, and experienced. The power of God, the presence of God had come upon a room. It was filled now, with the presence of God, and the people were speaking in tongues. They were full of joy and laughter, and were carrying on like drunk people. That's why some mocked and said: they've been drinking.
Now you would never say to a person: you've been drinking, unless you had evidence, or it looked like they were, so if you said to someone: you've been drinking, it's because you've observed something about their behaviour that indicates they've been drinking. In other words they're laughing a lot, they're staggering a lot, they're carrying on like drunk people. They are absolutely immersed in the Holy Spirit - so that's got to be a good thing, for all those who love to be in control. That's how God desires to do it. I didn't write that, He did. [Laughter] So I want to share with you three things, primarily focus on three things. Number one, Pentecost is about a personal experience, of being filled with the spirit of God. It's an engagement to Him, to enter intimacy, so you notice the first thing that happened is, they got baptised in the spirit, began to speak in other tongues. Now essentially it means this. The baptism in the spirit is an entrance into a new realm of relationship with God. It's the entrance into the supernatural. It's like a gateway experience you walk through, but here's the thing.