Ten days after the ascension, the disciples were all together to celebrate the Jewish Festival of Pentecost: a great agricultural festival, when the start of the wheat harvest was marked by offerings of newly baked bread.  Every man brought the first fruits of his crop, and his wife baked special cakes with the new flour.  There were also dishes made with milk and honey, to symbolize the richness of the Torah for body and soul.  Here was another party being held by the Jews!  Suddenly something unexpected happened.  There was a sound like a violent wind, which seemed to come from heaven.  Then there seemed to be tongues of fire coming out of the sky, and settled on each of the disciples.  They started talking in different languages from their normal one.  In that room there were Jews from all over the place, speaking many different languages: suddenly each one heard their native tongue being spoken by simple fishermen who could barely manage a decent level of Galilean!  And they were very perplexed: some suggested the disciples were drunk.  Then Peter stood up: 'I know you think we are all drunk, having overdone the wine, but you are wrong.  Today something very special has happened.  Joel's prophecy has been fulfilled.

"In the last days God says,

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

Your young men will see visions,

Your old men will dream dreams.

Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days and they will prophesy.

I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below,

blood and fire and billows of smoke.

The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood

before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

(Joel 2: 28-32)

And then Peter explained who Jesus was, what his mission was and how it had now been accomplished.  He told them,

'Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  This promise is for you and all your children and for all who are far off'

(Acts 2: 38-39)

Jesus had ascended into heaven but he sent the Holy Spirit so that he could be with each one of us: Emmanuel - God with us, in a permanent sense.