In the Hebrew Spiritual Calendar, we have just come from 1st Spring Appointed Time of Passover/Pesach to the 4th Spring Appointed Time, Pentecost/Shavuot.
Pronounced sha-voo-ote.
We may have met Messiah along the Emmaus road and been compelled to return to Jerusalem and WAIT for the Promise while Counting the Omer.
These 50 days between the Feasts, are designated as a time of introspection, repentance and preparation; making ourselves ready for His coming, the outpouring of Holy Spirit/Ruach HaKodesh.
The infilling of His power for us to become His witnesses. The Appointed Times/Feasts of the Lord, were part of the annual cycle of Adonai’s Plan of redemption and kept by the Israelites as part of their normal lifestyle.
So why are these Appointed Times important to us?
Here are some things to consider.
If we are the grafted in believers that we say we are; then, as part of the Olive Tree/ spiritual Israel, what affects Israel and what is important to them should also be important to us. We cannot be joined to them in one way and not in others and it’s not for us to pick and choose which bits we want or not.
An understanding of the meaning behind their observances gives a clear picture of Messiah and how it all fits together.
In Deut.16:10-11 and Leviticus 23:15-21, God commands the Israelites to count 50 days from Passover/Pesach to Pentecost/Shavuot. (Another name for Shavuot is Feast of Weeks). This 50 day count is known as “the counting of the Omer.” An omer is a biblical measure of grain.
On the second day of Passover, an omer of barley was offered in the temple signaling the start of the harvest and the beginning of the 50 day count to Shavuot. This is because it’s a commandment of the Lord/Adonai, to always remember the appointed times that He set into the calendar at the time He made His first covenant with the children of Israel.And because this was an annual rehearsal for them, which they would pass down through the generations until the time that it was fulfilled in the person of Messiah.
Exodus 32:20; Leviticus 23:15– 21. You shall count 50 days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord.The Omer was parched in fire –
Fire represents Judgment – Gen 19:24; Ex 9:23 Jer 52:13, Rev 20:10
Fire represents Refinement and Purification Ps 12:6; Zech 13:9,M 3:3
Fire represents the Trials of our Faith – 1 Pet 1:7, James 1:2,3,12
The Omer was tossed in the wind – Omer tossed to the wind represents Every Kind of Doctrine – Eph 4:8-14;
A time of counting the days for (50) PENTE the COST of being His disciple. Luke 14:25. Prepares us to receive all He will release preparation through fire, repentance and cleansing leads to deliverance and freedom.
I set you free to serve Me.
(Actually meaning to return to the WAY that He had intended for humanity to walk before Him, was now given in Torah/Instructions)
This is in reference to the prophecy in Malachi and will be mentioned later.
This was the observance for the feast of Shavuot.It takes place seven weeks, or 50 days after the Passover/Pesach. The rabbis realized that this was the same time Moses had gone up on Mount Sinai to receive the guidelines for their new lifestyle having come out of the bondage of Egypt.(We know it as the 10 Commandments).
So Shavuot became a day to remember the giving of the Torah directions.
It is one of and the 3 annual appointed times of the Lord when all men were required to go to Jerusalem.
then
and now. (Passover, Pentecost and Yom Kippur)So on the 50th day, the barley harvest ends and the wheat harvest begins, the change in harvest symbolized by the waving of two wheat loaves by the High Priest in the temple before the Lord.The waving of the two leavened loaves, also, representing those who would be harvested;
both Jew and Gentile – which is why the Torah and the ‘Church’/Ecclesia/Congregation/Called out ones, share the same birthday.
On Shavuot, the holiday celebrating the harvest, the holiday of the first fruits.
Israel marks not just the giving of the Torah by God, (also known as ‘Zman Mattan Torah’, ‘the time of the giving of the Torah’.) but their acceptance of the Torah.
The integration between celebrating the giving of the Torah and our gratitude for the land, between a holiday that is solely connected to “heaven” and one connected to the earth, to the land of Israel. On the one hand, we aspire to reach the highest place, to receive the Torah, and on the other hand, we are connecting to what is under our feet, to the land and its crops to understand that building the Israelite homeland is a process that starts with the earth and continues on up to heaven.Nothing in scripture stands alone everything is interconnected and when we see how, it becomes clear and all begins to make sense.
One way the holiday is observed is through the reading of the Book of Ruth, the story of a woman who converts to Judaism and accepts the Torah.It is appropriate to read the Book of Ruth on Shavuot for several reasons:
First, because it gives us a picture of how the poor were treated in the harvest season with sympathy and love.
Secondly, because in the Book of Ruth we are shown the origin of the House of David — King David was the great-grandson of Ruth and Boaz. And it recounts the story of the Gentile woman (Ruth) who becomes the bride of the Hebrew Boaz, the kinsman redeemer.
Their union produced the most famous of all Israel’s kings, King David. Who incidentally, was born on this very same date (Shavuot) and amazingly Shavuot is also the yahrzeit (anniversary of the death) of King David.
In the Book of Ruth, it is written that when Ruth wanted to stay with Naomi she said, “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.Your people will be my people and your God my God.” Ruth first committed herself to another human being, to Naomi, and afterwards to her people and then to her God.It is well accepted that Ruth, the foreigner represents the largely gentile church redeemed by Messiah Yeshua/Jesus, the Lord of the harvest, as represented by Boaz, who functioned as her kinsman redeemer.It’s interesting that Boaz instructs her to stay through out the barley and the wheat harvest. For as we have noted in Jewish tradition, the counting of the Omer is said to be a time of preparation for receiving the Torah.The Exodus was looked on as a gift, while the giving of the Torah required some spiritual preparation or readiness. This presents an interesting picture. Do the fifty days between the First fruits resurrection of Messiah Yeshua/Jesus and the receiving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost constitute a period of ‘readiness’ for the congregation of believers, Body of Yesuhua, (church), as well? The book of Ruth is replete with symbolism regarding the gentile bride and her kinsmen redeemer.
“So Boaz, said to Ruth, “My daughter listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here …So, Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean until the barley and the wheat harvest were finished.” Ruth 2:8,23
If Messiah Yeshua/Jesus returns for His bride before the 50th day, she would qualify as a first fruits bride (barley); a bride who has made her self ready. While those who are not ready would still be here after the 50th day and become part of the wheat harvest – foreshadowed, possibly by Ruth who gleaned throughout the barley and the wheat harvests? A connection to the parable of the 10 virgins and the condition of their spiritual preparedness?
Also indicated in the instructions Messiah Yeshua/Jesus gave His disciples before He ascended into heaven –
“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father has promised ” Acts 1:4
Is this why He met them on the Emmaus Road? To make sure they were where they were supposed to be?And meeting with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “But you shall receive power when the Set-apart Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judah and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:4,8Messiah Yeshua/Jesus told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the promise of receiving the power of the Set-apart Spirit came upon them; because, ONLY when this happened could they begin to spread the message of the Good News!
Why did they have to wait in Jerusalem?First, we are instructed by YHVH that Shavuot is a feast celebrated in Jerusalem – Messiah Yeshua/Jesus was instructing His disciples to keep Torah.Second, judgment – and blessing – are first for the house of Israel and then for the surrounding nations. Likewise, the Good News began in Jerusalem and was sent out from there.This is also one of the reasons that Messiah’s disciples and so many other crowds of people, were still together in Jerusalem.For most the trip back home, only to return it again 50 days later, would have been too arduous, (most walked), so they stayed their through the counting of the Omer.Briefly noted above,
the love story between Boaz and Ruth
that took place during Shavuot.But there is another love story
that takes place during the
season of Shavuot.
A love story 5,000 years in the making.
The story of a King who is scorned by His beloved bride and vows to redeem her to Himself. The story of a King’s waiting that transcends time…a price He willingly pays in order to reclaim His precious bride.
Over a thousand years after the giving of the law, when the first covenant was given on Mount Sinai,
the renewed covenantobtained through Messiah Yeshua’s /Jesus’ death and resurrection…was energized and quickened by the Spirit of God on the Hebrew feast of Shavuot.It became known as the feast of the 50thday or pentecoste because the rabbis of the Greek world had to give a Greek name to the Hebrew holy day.One of the major elements of the Good News is redemption and restoration, another parallel.
We learned from the story of Ruth and Boaz that the season of Shavuot is a season of redemption and restoration. To further this point, we learn that in Jerusalem 3,000 people were added to the assembly of believers.
Why is this 3,000 number important?
At Mt. Sinai, there were 3,000 missing from the House of Israel who should have received the Torah and didn’t because of the sin of the golden calf.And Moses saw that the people were let loose, for Aaron had let them loose, to their shame among their enemies. And Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said,
“Who is for YHVH? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves to him. And he said to them, “Thus said YHVH Elohim of Israel: ‘Each one put his sword on his side, pass over to and fro from gate to gate in the camp, and each one slay his brother, and each one his friend, and each one his relative.’ ” And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day.” Exodus 32:25-
Once the people of Israel were redeemed, they could then offer their first-fruits to YHVH. At Mt. Sinai we see this redemption take place by the marriage covenant that was established.
In comparing the exchange to a marriage or other sacred covenant. Hebrew scholars have shown that it’s Not simply the giving of Torah and giving of the Holy Spirit,but a covenant of marriage between Adonai and His beloved Israel.
The form of marriage covenant agreement is called a Ketubah;the Torah (10 commandments) were part of the ketubah/written agreement,hence the scripture
In Jerusalem thousands of years later, we see this by the ingathering of the lost sheep of Israel; the ingathering of exiled Israel from the nations.
The Spirit of God was given to the believers on the same day that the law of God was given to Israel. The old or first covenant and the re-newed covenant are joined together both being initiated on the same day.
The correlation here is that when the Law was given to Moses, judgment followed, people perished and according to the Scriptures it was about 3000.
However the amazing thing is that on the second sealing of the covenant with His people, when His spirit was given, there was salvation and eternal life for the number of those who came to new life was about 3000. Acts 2:41;
(Israel, His Beloved became His ‘wife’ אִשָּׁה Ishah, pronounced Ee-sha)
Then there’s the more complimentary, dignified word – רַעְיָה Rayayah.
3000died
and centuries later
3000came to life
on the exact same Holy Appointed Day of the Lord.
In 2 Corinthians 3:4 -6. Paul wrote, the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. The spirit was given on the same day as the commandments were given.
This was because the Law (\commandments\ directions for living Life before the Lord;) can tell us the will of God.
However only the Spirit can give us the power to live it.
If we live by the Spirit of God we will fulfill the will of God for our lives in the same precise way that the coming of the Spirit on Pentecost fulfilled the Law of the Covenant.The outpouring of the fire of the Holy Spirit was to empower and enable His disciples then and now. Effectively, to fulfill the plan and purpose of His will in the Earth.
The manifestation of the fire was in direct correlation to the pillar of fire that was with them in the wilderness.It was His manifest presence with them along with the pillar of cloud during the day.
Elohay Ha Elohim Our God is a consuming fire.
Conclusion to follow soon = marriage made in heaven…
Please don’t leave this page before making certain Jesus is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.
Its all about Life and Relationship, not Religion.
NOT SURE? YOU CAN BE..
SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Now we are at the fourth Hebrew Feast called Shavuot in Hebrew and Pentecost in Greek, from the word for 50.
Pronounced sha-voo-ote.
In parts of Europe it is also known as Whitsun, Whit Sunday or Whitsuntide.
In Deuteronomy 16:16, 17 Shavuot is known as the Feast of Weeks in addition to being called first fruits.
The name Shavuot, comes from the word, weeks. In Hebrew, the word weeks is Strong’s 7620, Shaabu’ot.
It is not mentioned by name but referenced in John 5:1. So called because it falls exactly 7 weeks and one day after the first fruits of Unleavened Bread following Passover.
Shavout was the Holy day that launched the reaping of wheat, the summer harvest and the second first fruits of the year.
It was during this feast that God’s Holy Spirit filled them and they spoke in tongues and 3000 came to the Lord. They were the first fruits of the congregation of believers.
These 3000 were all Israelites/Jewish men and women who had come in obedience to Jerusalem. This was one of the three pilgrimage festivals of: Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot, where all Israelite males are to appear before God with offerings, and give according to his blessings. They came to see and be seen before the ‘face of God’ in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. This was not a new Holy date for them, their ancestors had been obediently keeping this command since God gave the dates to Moses in Leviticus 23:15
This is why it is also the anniversary of the giving of the 10 Commandments and the Torah, (first five books of the old Testament), on Mount Sinai. Here, God’s covenant was made with the children of Israel to come and dwell with His presence among them, to be contained in the ark of the covenant. Ex.19:1
The Israelites accepted the covenant agreements and declared ‘all He has said we will do.’ It was in effect the marriage of God to His beloved Israel and Israel became a nation that day. A chosen generation, a people set apart to Him a Holy nation, a royal priesthood. Ex 19:6 ‘And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an Holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.’
For us as believers, grafted in by grace, Holy, sanctified, set apart as 1Pet 2:9 tells us;
‘But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an Holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.’
Everything is connected, when we only remember some parts of the Holy days, it does not make as much sense.
50 days earlier, The children of Israel sacrificed their first Passover lambs; ate their first meal consisting of lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs; fled away from Pharaoh and the Egyptians; and emerged alive from the Red Sea, all in the first month (Aviv). They traveled for the remainder of the first month and throughout all of the second month (Zif or Iyyar). The day the children of Israel walked out of the Red Sea (Aviv 17) is counted as day one, then Sivan 1 would have been day 45 of their journey. They then set up camp in front of Mount Sinai which, according to Gal. 4:25, is in (Saudi) Arabia.
Although not specifically stated, it was probably the next day (day 46) that Moses ascended the mountain to speak with God Ex.19:3-6; and the following day (day 47), Moses returned to the people and told them everything God had said (19:7). The people agreed with what God had said, so the next day (day 48) Moses brought this information back to the Lord (19:8,9).
The Lord told Moses to return to the people that very day (day 48) and “…consecrate them today and tomorrow…and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people” (19:10,11). The third day (Sivan 6), then, would be the fiftieth day of their trek, beginning with the day they came up out of the Red Sea (Aviv 17).
For Shavuot, it is added also that ‘you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt,’ (Deut 16:12). In reminding ourselves, we understand both the natural and spiritual meaning to what it means to be a ‘slave in Egypt.’ For us it was to have been, ‘In bondage to the ways of the world’, and without God’s provision through Jesus, we have no hope of gaining freedom, no promise of forgiveness of sin or redemption unto eternal life in the Fathers presence.
God’s appearance upon Mount Sinai, on the sixth day of the sixth month (Sivan), was in a manner that the children of Israel would not soon forget:
On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. … Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire.
The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder.
Teeth, consume, destroy:sheen – alef:ox, bull, strength,leader, first
Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him (Ex.19:16,18,19).
The people were too awestruck and afraid to have God speak directly to them Ex 20:18; Deut 5:5. So, then and later, God spoke to Moses the Ten Commandments and the Law (the Torah):
the instructions and guidelines by which He wanted His people to live and the means by which sacrifices were to be presented.
This was a manifestation of the same fire Moses saw in Midian many years before.
While unleavened bread symbolizes Jesus’ sinless humanity (Luke 22:19),
the two loaves used at Shavuot / Pentecost contain yeast and symbolize that the Body of Messiah Jesus (the congregation) would be made up of sinners as well.
The two loaves used at Shavuot also symbolize Jews and Gentiles, demonstrating the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham to bless all the nations through him (Gen. 12:3; see Gal. 3:26-28).
Here is also where the story of Ruth is remembered.
On the surface a seemingly simple story, however it is profound in depth. It describes the loyalty and kindness of the gentile Moabitess, who sought refuge under the wings of the Divine presence after the death of her Israelite husband. It is also the story of the Scripture guidance and nurturing provided by her mother-in-law. Further it is the account of the older judge who became her kinsman redeemer and from whose union emerged the hidden spark of the Messiah.
Boaz became Ruth’s ‘kinsman redeemer’, (a type of Jesus the Messiah). It was prophetic of the future ‘grafting in‘, of the gentiles. (Also called, the heathen or goyim and refers to all people from non-Israelite nations.)
Boaz was true to his responsibilities and married Ruth. They had a boy and named him Obed, (Oved). He was the father of Jesse, the father of David and therefore part of the ancestral line from which Jesus/Yeshua was descended.
(See video at end for more of the Ruth and Boaz story.)
We as gentiles, are indeed grafted in by grace to the royal household of Jesus the King of Kings. Everything is connected and not one story can be left out, nor does it stand alone.
We are to count 50 days, including the Day of First fruits, to the day after the 7th weekly Sabbath, which is Shavuot (Pentecost) (Leviticus 23:15-16). The 50th day is Shavuot the first fruits of the wheat harvest.
An offering of two loaves of bread was made with fine flour and baked with leaven. The bread is to be waved as a wave offering before the Lord. (Lev. 23:16,17,20).
‘bring two loaves made of fine flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of first fruits to the Lord’ ( Lev. 23:17).
These loaves of leavened bread were significant as a ‘mikrah’ (rehearsal), of something that God had in mind for a time in the future.
This subtle instruction indicates a great truth.
These two ‘wave loaves’ are of equal weight and they are baked with leaven called ‘firstfruits.’ Since they are baked with leaven, they represent sinful man (certainly not, for example, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, who are unleavened) and since they are ‘first fruits’, they are redeemed or resurrected men. Obviously God was predicting here that the Body of Jesus would be comprised of two parts, Jew and Gentile, of course it was originally and has always been part Jewish, since the Lord inevitably retains a remnant of His People.
We are the ONE NEW MAN: Israelite/Jew and Gentile/Heathen TOGETHER
Eph. 2:15
Counting the ‘days between’, the disciples continued in prayer. Acts 2:42; and waited obediently and patiently for Jesus had promised the Holy Spirit would come and live in believers’ hearts (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7), and He said it would happen soon after His ascension (Acts 1:4-5)
They were Preparing their hearts to receive the gift of Holy Spirit. The comforter, the One who comes alongside to help, to empower, to quicken us, and make us alive.
Acts 2 records the fulfillment of Shavuot as the promised Holy Spirit descends, indwells believers and ushers in the church age, which we are still in.
Holy Spirit descended upon each of them with the same Holy fire that some 3300 years before, had protected their ancestors in the wilderness.
The same ‘fire’ from the mountain that had made Moses face shine.
Now 3300 (approx.) years later His presence is with them and each individual becomes the physical container of His Glory.
On the Day of Pentecost, as descendants of the children of Israel from all over the world gathered in Jerusalem, they read, among other Scriptures, Ezek. 1:1-28 and 3:12; and Hab. 2:20 – 3:19. These passages speak of the brightness of God’s glory. Ezekiel heard wind and voices, and saw fire; later, he witnessed the departure of the Shekinah glory from the Temple.
There was expectation on this special day that the Shekinah glory would return and take its rightful place in the Temple’s Holy of Holies. But instead, as Luke records in Acts 2, there was wind, fire, and voices (the 120 speaking in tongues). Rather than returning to reside in the Temple, the Holy Spirit took up residence in the ‘temple of God’ (1 Cor. 3:16), the bodies of believers in Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.
(Acts 2:5). When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues [languages] as the Spirit enabled them.
‘…there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound [the speaking in tongues], a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language’. (Acts 2:5,6).
In this way, God began to use believers, indwelled by the Holy Spirit, to be His witnesses, beginning in Jerusalem (Acts 1:8). The 3,000 saved on the Day of Pentecost were Jews. Filling them with a bold spirit that compelled them to testify of Him in joy and truth, preaching the good news to all who would listen.
Just as faithful Israelites brought the first fruits of their wheat harvest to the Temple on Shavuot, so the 3,000 Jewish believers on the Day of Pentecost were the first fruits of the Body of Messiah, (the congregation/church).
Peters was ‘on fire’ for the Lord and his first sermon after Pentecost is recorded in Acts 2:1-41.
This feast is very much about those of us who are grafted in by His Grace.
Jesus/Yeshua and Pentecost/Shavuot
Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, fulfilled the 4th Hebrew Spring festival at Pentecost.
The Feast of Weeks always had been considered a time of offering ‘firstfruits’ to the Lord. Lev 23:20; Num.28:26, just as the Feast of First fruits had been. Similarly, Pentecost was the beginning of the Holy Spirit’s moving upon many people who would be the ‘first fruits’ from spiritual death—‘born again,’ as it were—into spiritual Life in Jesus. John 3:3-7.
At Mount Sinai, there was an unmistakable, extraordinary, supernatural manifestation of God, to those whom He had chosen to perceive it firsthand. At that point in time, though, God still was ‘untouchable’; and the people were so afraid to hear God speak that Moses had to be the ‘mediator’ between God and the children of Israel.
In Jerusalem on Pentecost, the manifestation of God, in Holy Spirit, not only was perceived but also received by those who believed upon Jesus as Messiah and Lord. Jesus, manifested in the Holy Spirit, was (and is) the ultimate “mediator” between God and His people.
Before His crucifixion, Jesus told His disciples that He was “…going to the Father” John 14:12, 28; 16:10. In other words, He was going to leave them by ascending into heaven (after His resurrection) to join God the Father. Then He made this promise:
‘And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor [or Comforter] to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.’ John 14:16-19.
Jesus said that He was leaving but that the Father would send another (the Counselor or Comforter) in His place. But then Jesus said, ‘I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you and …you will see me’. Later He said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’.
How could this possibly be? Was Jesus ‘coming or going’?
Actually, and wonderfully, He was going to do both. Holy Spirit would come to dwell within all believers, enabling them spiritually to ‘see’ Jesus, John 14:19. There is not a thought, motive, purpose, or action that the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit do not share in common. Therefore, when Jesus claimed that the Counselor (Holy Spirit) was coming, yet in another place implied that ‘He’ was coming, there was no contradiction; Jesus was (and is) present in and through the Holy Spirit of God.
Meaning of Pentecost
Finally, this ties counting the days and the two first fruits together. Just as Jesus ties His Resurrection, Ascension and the giving of the emersion of His Holy Spirit at the Feast of Weeks.
In the same way as the farmers could not use the wheat crop until the offering of the loaves; so also Jesus the Bread of Life, had to ascend, before the rest of ‘the grain’, (His disciples), could take Holy Spirit and be used in power as recorded in Acts 2.
After Pentecost they healed the sick, delivered the oppressed and raised the dead.
It was REAL and they were forever changed. When God truly touches your life you are never the same again. There is a fire in your heart and in your bones (Jer. 20:9), and nothing else but God will satisfy. (Ps. 90:14; 107:9)
The zeal of God consumed them, (Ps.69:9) and they were on fire, a fire that cannot be quenched, the same fire that burns but does not harm, like that which Moses saw in the burning bush.
The description is of tongues of fire upon each one and may seem a little strange as some artists depict it. However, when you experience the power of the living God it is unmistakable.
It is to the Jew first and then to the gentile (Rom 1:16; 2:10) and because of their obedience to the Lord’s commands and also because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we are grafted in by His grace. (Rom. 11:17) This enables us to receive the benefits of salvation, forgiveness, mercy and the opportunity to be filled with His Holy Spirit.
His priceless gift is given to every believer.
He did not come to abolish the law (Matt. 5:17) and as Jesus told the rich young ruler to keep the commandments, He quoted Deuteronomy 6:4–9; 11:13–21 and Numbers 15:37–43
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and let your desire be for Him. Jesus, the Father and Holy Spirit are one and with His indwelling power we are enabled to accomplish that which is not possible by our own abilities and strength.
For as Matt.19:26; Luke 18:27 remind us..
The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
We can experience Pentecost every day and not for a purely personal experience but to empower us to do His will and fulfill the purpose for which we are reminded here, Exodus 8:1 .. I set you free to serve Me.
The same is also true for us. We are called to leave all our idols behind, which is often hard in this materialistic, Nikolatian, humanistic, leisure filled age. Old habits die hard! As with the children of Israel in the wilderness and we often fall short in our focus on material things, instead of doing the things Jesus brings out in Matthew 25:35.
Shavout is important to believers because it ties deliverance, freedom and salvation, celebrated at Passover with Jesus crucifixion, to His resurrection and firstfruits of unleavened bread. His ascension 40 days later and then his sending the emersion/saturation of Holy Spirit on the first fruits of Shavout giving us the power to live victorious lives and to witness to non-believers.
Jesus is the promise and reality of the 10 commandments made flesh.
This does not mean these were the first people to receive the gift of eternal life, just that they were the first to obtain access to numerous gifts of the Holy Spirit.
When invited, God’s Holy Spirit dwells inside anyone who believes in Jesus’ physical, bodily resurrection from death, one who accepts Jesus as Savior and Lord of one’s life, and who looks forward with great anticipation to the miraculous resurrection and eternal perfection of one’s own body. Paul said that “…we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Rom.8:23).
This post completes the 4 Spring Feasts series and all of them are relevant to us as Christian Believers.
Now we are at the fourth Hebrew Feast called Shavuot in Hebrew and Pentecost in Greek, from the word for 50.
Counting the ‘days between’, the disciples continued in prayer. Acts 2:42; and waited obediently and patiently for Jesus had promised the Holy Spirit would come and live in believers’ hearts (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7), and He said it would happen soon after His ascension (Acts 1:4-5)
This does not mean these were the first people to receive the gift of eternal life, just that they were the first to obtain access to numerous gifts of the Holy Spirit.
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