he third of God's annual festivals (after the Feast of Unleavened Bread) is the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost (Leviticus 23:16-21 [16] Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
[17] Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.
[18] And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD.
[19] Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
[20] And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.
[21] And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
See All...; Acts 2:1And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
See All...). This festival, also called the Feast of Harvest or Firstfruits (Exodus 23:16And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
See All...; 34:22), was also the day God first granted His Spirit to the New TestamentThe 27 authoritative books of the apostolic writings: the four Gospels of Christ, Acts (a history), 21 apostolic letters and the book of Revelation. Church of God (Acts 2).
Pentecost portrays God as the Lord of His harvest, choosing and preparing the firstfruits of His coming Kingdom by giving them His Holy Spirit (Matthew 9:38Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
See All...; Luke 10:2Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
See All...; Romans 8:23And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
See All...; James 1:18Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
See All...). The preceding festival of Unleavened Bread pictures our commitment to come out of a sinful life and live our lives by God's perfect laws. But we can't do this on our own. Pentecost pictures God's willingness to give His Holy Spirit to provide the power those He has called need.
God's Holy Spirit empowers us with the love of God, the motivation to obey Him and a sound mind to discern His truth (2 Timothy 1:7For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
See All...; John 15:26But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
See All...; 16:13). Only those who are led by God's Spirit are called the sons of God (Romans 8:9But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
See All..., 14). These Christians have a pledge or down payment on eternal life (2 Corinthians 5:5Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
See All...) and can look forward to the first resurrection, which is to eternal life in God's family.
The Church of God, which began on Pentecost (Acts 2), is given the mission of preaching the good newsThe good news of God's everlasting kingdom to be established on earth after Christ's return and how we may be a part of that kingdom. This message was central to the teaching of Jesus Christ and the apostles. The term is used about 100 times in the New Testament . of the Kingdom of God in preparation for the next step in God's plan, the return of Jesus Christ. This is pictured by the next festival, the Feast of Trumpets.
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