Anticipating the Promises

We just finished the Days of Unleavened bread and the next Holy Day is the feast of Pentecost.  We know that it is 50 days from what was once the wave sheaf offering.  And although we no longer perform the wave sheaf ceremony, it linked these two Holy days together and foreshadowed a major reason we keep the Holy day today.  In ancient times, Pentecost was called the Feast of weeks because if this link between these two Holy Days.  What can we learn from this time between the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Pentecost.  Today I would like us to look at this linkage and what we can learn and focus on as we await the Feast of Pentecost to fully arrive.

Turn over to Leviticus 23 and lets read about the important events that took place during this time.  Now Leviticus 23 walks us through all of God’s Festivals in one condensed Package.   In just 37 verses Moses records the entire yearly Holy Day Plan in 5 sections.  Each section starts with the words the LORD spoke to Moses, saying.  

The first section is 8 verses and contains the introduction, the weekly Sabbath, the Passover, and the first two Annual Holy days.

Skipping over the 2nd Group you find the 3rd, 4th, and 5th group comprising 14 verses discussing the Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day totaling the last 4 Holy Days. 

That’s Just over half of the entire section to record 4 of the 5 groups containing 6 of the 7 Holy days, the Weekly Sabbath and the Passover.

So what’s in the 2nd Group with 13 verses?  This whole section describes the detailed process of a series of offering of thanksgiving for the blessings that they would receive when they entered the Promised land.

Let’s read this section speaking about the time were in right now.

 Leviticus 23:9-22 9 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,  10 "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.  11 'He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.  12 'And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the LORD.  13 'Its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the LORD, for a sweet aroma; and its drink offering shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin.  14 'You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 

These offerings would begin with a priest Waving before God the first of the Barley harvest that would signal the start of the Holy Day season, the first month of the year and before Israel could use any of that for personal use, this offering must first take place. It also Included one sacrificial Lamb and some grain and Oil as kind of burned by fire on behalf of the people.  This was during DUB.

You can see the Passover symbolism here to start these weeks of counting.  But rather than a repeat of the symbolism of the Passover Lamb, this lamb is linked to the very first of the harvest.  Remember that Jesus was killed on Passover but was in the tomb before the first Holy day began.  He was then Resurrected near the end of the day 3 days and 3 nights later which was the weekly Sabbath that fell within the Days of Unleavened bread.

He was then resurrected to be the first of the First fruits and this was all during the Days of Unleavened bread.  This Lamb spoken of in this passage refers to the resurrected Lamb of God who was first and the Grain that was offered at the same time represents the first of what was yet to come.  Let’s continue reading.

15 ' And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed.  16 'Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD.  17 'You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the LORD.  18 'And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be as a burnt offering to the LORD, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the LORD.  19 'Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats as a sin offering, and two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a peace offering.  20 'The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs.  They shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.

What was to come was more offering but instead of the grain of the next harvest (wheat) the wheat was made into flour and made into Unleavened Loafs and along with many more animals.   These offerings are the culmination of the First fruits that Jesus was the first of and that the people of God would follow in their time to salvation and to the Kingdom of God.

Now each of these sections describing the Festivals the descriptions are quite brief.  SO this second section was 13 verses by far the longest group of the 5.  But the next section, group 3 is much shorter, Just 3 verses and contains a very important Holyday.

Leviticus 23:23-25   23 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,  24 "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.  25 'You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.'

What offering, for which reason, what should they be thinking when they offer it?  In this section, it just doesn’t say.  But for the first fruits, the detail is quite extensive and it does not end in verse 20.  There is one more concept that is piled on to the top.

Let's continue with verse 21:

21 'And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.  22 ' When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the LORD your God.' "

So God tells them it is a holy day, it is forever, and then this command which seems out of place for this type of instruction; a command to allow gleaning and not to fully clear their fields.  When you think about how brief trumpets were covered, this level of specificity seems strange.

We have been blessed with the understanding about how these Festivals picture what God and His Son have done to bring about the Kingdom of God and what things are ahead of us all pictured in His feasts.  Starting with the Sabbath picturing His plan of salvation each and every week, a feast day that we can rejoice each week, we can then move on to each of the festivals that reveal the past, present, and future of His plan of salvation.  It is truly a blessing to understand this.

The reason this is in there is to remind us that even though we are the first fruits, we are not the finally of His plan.  The gleaning of the fields looked after the poor, widows, and fatherless, but it also pictures the many more to follow.

The third group on Trumpets was short because it did not directly apply to them.  It was a placeholder for a much deeper meaning yet to come.  For that matter so was the feast of Tabernacles.  But the Feast of the Firstfruits had much, much more to do with their lives.  They were the first fruits in God’s Physical Kingdom of the Promised Land.  Just as we look to be the first fruits of God Spiritual Kingdom that will come to this earth.

The Jewish people today

Now many Christians today regard Pentecost and the other Holy Days as Jewish holidays and are not interested generally in learning about them.  Its funny when you consider how much Jesus Christ is the center of our Pentecost worship.  When you look at what Jews today think of when Pentecost comes it’s actually rather sad.  Although you can look up the main historical points that we have in the Jewish encyclopedia, they never seemed to connect the dots as the great prophetic significance of this festival.  Today when you go on the many Jewish websites, the focus is not on the deep meaning we can get from the symbols but rather, they look backward rather than forward.  Now what do I mean by looking backward?

If you look at Jewish websites to learn about the Feast of weeks or Shavuot as they call it.  Shavuot means weeks in Hebrew.  You see that the main focus today is about how they were freed from Bondage and then when they were ready they were given God’s Law.  Now many today will say that they are continually receiving the Torah meaning its not just a remembrance but something they continue to do, but outside of some lesser mentions of the first fruits given once upon a time, not much is said about the harvest symbols and how they could only look forward to role of the Messiah.  Here is a rather nice article from a rabbinical website called Chabat.org and it’s about Shavuot ----------------------

The Torah was given by G‑d to the Jewish people on Mount Sinai more than 3300 years ago. Every year on the holiday of Shavuot we renew our acceptance of G‑d’s gift, and G‑d “re-gives” the Torah.

The word Shavuot means “weeks.” It marks the completion of the seven-week counting period between Passover and Shavuot.

The giving of the Torah was a far-reaching spiritual event—one that touched the essence of the Jewish soul for all times. Our sages have compared it to a wedding between G‑d and the Jewish people. Shavuot also means “oaths,” for on this day G‑d swore eternal devotion to us, and we in turn pledged everlasting loyalty to Him.

In ancient times, two wheat loaves would be offered in Holy Temple. It was also at this time that people would begin to bring their first and choicest fruits, to thank G‑d for Israel’s bounty.

On this day G‑d swore eternal devotion to us, and we pledged everlasting loyalty to Him.  The holiday of Shavuot is a two-day holiday, (In Israel it is a one-day holiday)

Now, from their perspective, they are looking forward to their relationship with God but what is missing is the role that the Messiah will have at leading His people into salvation to the Kingdom of God. 

Now it’s understandable that they would not focus too much on that part of prophecy since we get most of this information from the New Testament.  It's not that there are not a number of clues to this fact in the Old Testament, but the rabbinical understanding is based on the Old Testament, but also on other sources including tradition which was a criticism by Jesus 2000 years ago.

Themes of Pentecost

So what are the major themes of Pentecost?  First of all we have in the Old Testament Thankfulness, Giving offerings to God before they take of the bounty of the Land, and the focus on First Fruits.

Exodus 23:14-19   14 " Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year:  15 "You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty);  16 "and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field. 

Here we see the three times a year we keep the feast similar to what we read in Duet 16:16 during Offerings.  But here we see different names the last two.  Why?  Because here God is making a link between the last two feasts as being Harvest related.  One of the things we need to remember is that God uses different names to describe the same events. 

Its not because He hasn’t made up His mind what to call something.  Its because each of these names have great meaning.  In this case Feast of Harvest and ingathering have prophetic meaning about the first crop to be saved and the second group to be saved. 

The relationship between the two are unmistakable.  Both harvests are from the same fields, one is an early harvest, the other is a later one.  The first is small but gives indication of what is to come.  The second is much larger.  This lines up with the first and second resurrections.  And Jesus is the glue that holds the Holy Days together and God’s Plan is to bring many sons and daughters to Salvation and the Kingdom of God.

In First Corinthians 15:17-26 we see the three Feasts talked about again.  But this time they are not veiled in symbolism of grain, sacrifices and offerings,  Here the language is quite plain and points to the future.

1 Corinthians 15:17-26   17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! PASSOVER AND UB  18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.  19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.  20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  FEAST OF THE FIRST FRUITS 21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.  22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.  23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. THE FIRST RESURRECTION  24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.  THE SECOND RESURRECTION 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.  26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

Now what were the Jews of Christ’s time looking forward to?  Turn over to Acts 1.  Here we have the time period after the Resurrection of Jesus but before the Day of Pentecost.

Acts 1:6  6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"

Remember that their focus was on a physical kingdom that they would inherit just as they did before.  Even the Disciples had trouble early on grasping the incredible scale that God had planned.  All of this pain and suffering was not just so Israel could be restored.  No, God was bringing the kingdom to the whole world.  But without the Holy Spirit, Jesus cannot live in us and we cannot be one with Him and the Father.  All of that was about to change.  Rather than explain what was to come in more detail, we can read His instructions starting in verse 1 of this chapter.

Acts 1:1-5  NKJ The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,  2 until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen,  3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.  4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me;  5 "for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

This is what this time should mean for God’s people.  Anticipation, Eager Anticipation for His Kingdom poured out for the whole world.

But we have a part to play.  We have to grow.  Just like the Barley that was planted at the end of the Growing season in the late fall only to wait till the right time to sprout, in spring; Jesus came and opened the door for those the Father calls to come through Him and become part of the first fruits.  But this time (UB to Pentecost) represents our time to Grow.  We are the Wheat that is to become the early Harvest at Pentecost time.  We are to Grow right now.  We are to ready ourselves to rule with Christ and to overcome this world.  That is what we are to be doing right now as its prophesied in God’s Plan.

Romans 8:18-26   18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.  20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;  21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.  22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.  23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.  24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?  25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.  26 Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Let’s go forth and grow and lets plan for a wonderfully spiritual Feast of Pentecost.