Misconceptions:

Pentecost is the birthday of the Church

I suppose the almost universal view in Christendom is that "The church began at Pentecost" but, did it? After all, Pentecost was a Jewish feast, one of the big ones, so why would the Lord choose a Jewish Feast day to begin something new?

In fact Pentecost was one of the several feasts listed in Leviticus 23, to form Israel's religious calendar. As well as the weekly Sabbath, there were the seven annual feasts: Passover and Unleavened Bread; First fruits; Pentecost (also called the Feast of Weeks); Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles. Each feast, as well as remembering a past event, also looked forward to a future one.

Passover and Unleavened Bread
Not only did this look back to the Exodus and the Passover lamb when Israel put all leaven (yeast) outside of the home, it also looked forward to the future and was fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ's death. As Paul put it in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, "For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth."

Firstfruits
The sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest was to be waved before the Lord on the day after the Sabbath, the first day of the week. This was the day when our Lord Jesus was raised from the dead. He was the firstfruits, as 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 makes clear: "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him."

However, there were also others who believed on Him that day, and the days following. During the weeks before His ascension, more and more believed and formed the first fruits of the harvest that was to come.

Pentecost
This came fifty days after Passover and Unleavened Bread, when an offering of new grain was made to the Lord. On that Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, the 120 Jews who believed in Christ were that new grain. And the Holy Spirit descended upon them, and the harvest from Israel began with 3,000 that day, and it wasn't long until that number grew to 5,000 (Acts 2:42; 4:4).

Trumpets and Atonement
The Feast of Trumpets, just ten days before Atonement, was celebrated by trumpet blasts that announced to the nation of Israel the coming of the Day of Atonement, when the high priest made atonement for the sins of the Nation of Israel. These two events await future fulfilments with Israel. We read of the trumpet blasts in Revelation 8-11, and, as Christ returns, the last trumpet is sounded and the dead are raised (1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16). Then Israel enter their great Day of Atonement, when they look on Him whom they had pierced and rejected (Revelation 1:7). They repent, are given a new heart, and the nation is born-again in a day (Ezekiel 36:24-34). This is followed by:

Tabernacles
This feast not only remembered the time when Israel lived in tents (tabernacles) in the wilderness, it also looked forward to the 1,000 year Millennial Kingdom of Christ upon this earth; an event which will follow His return (Revelation 20:4).

All the feasts
As all these feasts are intimately linked with the people of Israel—both in their history and also in their prophecy—it seems incongruent that one of them, the Day of Pentecost, should be singled out for the beginning of the church which became almost exclusively Gentile.

Not only that, in the period following the completion of the Old Testament, Pentecost came to be regarded as the anniversary of the giving of the Law at Sinai (Babylonian Talmud, Pesahim 68B; Midrash, Tanhuma 26c). Thus those Jews who met in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost came, not only to celebrate the new harvest, but also to remember the giving of the Law of Moses to the people of Israel.

Also, if we read the Scriptures, we see that the inspired writers almost go out of their way to make it clear that the events being described pertain solely to the people of Israel. For example it tells us, "staying in Jerusalem were God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:5). It goes on to repeat that the people there were "Jews and converts to Judaism" (2:11).

Peter, when speaking to them, addresses them as "Fellow Jews" (2:14), "Men of Israel" (2:22), "Brothers" (2:29), and concludes by saying, "Let all Israel be assured .." (2:36). The simple fact is that there was not one Gentile present to witness the events which took place on that Day of Pentecost described in Acts 2.

And in his speech Peter quotes from the prophecy of Joel (2:28-32), and the Psalms (16:8-11; 110:1), The Gentiles of that time would not have known these Scriptures and certainly would not have understood them.

Conclusion
If the almost-exclusively Gentile church of this age did not begin at Pentecost, at the start of Acts, when did it begin? The answer is quite simple; at the end of Acts , after the sixth and final pronouncement of judgment upon Israel. Because that nation had hardened its heart against Jesus, rejecting Him as both Christ (Messiah) and Son of God (see Acts 28:26-27), they became blind and deaf and useless. Thus God sent His salvation to the Gentiles, who were not only to listen, but who were also to take the gospel message of salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus to the ends of the earth.

For a fuller treatment of this subject read The Church! When did it begin? And why is that important? by Olive and Lloyd Allen (£8.50). For a summary of the Feasts of Leviticus, ask for our chart by Glen Burch, at just 50 pence. Both available from The Open Bible Trust, Bethany, Tresta, Shetland, ZE2 9LT.

This is the feast of Pentecost—the type of God's people, gathered by the Holy Ghost, and presented before Him, in connection with all the preciousness of Christ. In the Passover we have the death of Christ, in the sheaf of first-fruits we have the resurrection of Christ, and in the feast of Pentecost we have the descent of the Holy Ghost to form the Church. All this is divinely perfect. The death and resurrection of Christ had to be accomplished ere the Church could be formed. C.H.Mackintosh, p 402 Notes on the Pentateuch

The foundation of the seven feasts was Grace; the top-stone, Glory; for the Passover proclaimed redemption through the blood, and the last feast, Tabernacles, pictured the Millennium. Between these two feasts came the sheaf of the First-Fruits, i.e. the Resurrection of Christ; Pentecost, i.e. the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Firstfruits themselves; and the Great Day of Atonement when they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced and, repentant, receive the new heart predicted in Ezekiel. George Williams, p 75 The Students Commentary