Counting the 50 Days to Pentecost

Well, thank you, Mr. Manko. Happy Sabbath, brethren, to all of you. Great to see you with us on this beautiful spring Sabbath day.

You know, we're in the process of counting 50 days towards the observance of Pentecost this year.

And Mr. Boucher has been very good at reminding us each Sabbath, putting the day number as we count towards Pentecost.

But something unusual happened this year.

The first day of Unleavened Bread occurred on the first day of the week, what we call in our Western world a Sunday. And according to historical data, the first day of Unleavened Bread falls on a Sunday, that is the first day of the week, less than 13% of the time in a given century. It happened in 2001, 2005, 2008, 2021, 2025, and the next occurrence after this year will be in about 20 years, 2045. Mr. Graham and I will only be 91, 92 years old. We're looking forward to sharing that service together.

Now all that means is that this pattern happens roughly every 8 to 11 years. And it does that because it's not on a fixed cycle.

So how does this affect the counting of 50 days during these years when the first day of Unleavened Bread falls on a Sunday and the seventh day of Unleavened Bread falls on the following Sabbath?

Because it's different. And some would say it's counted differently. Today, to prepare for the Feast of Pentecost this year, I'd like to share what was originally instructed, how to count to the day of Pentecost, and why it's so very important for us to understand the truth behind how to count the days of Pentecost. We're going to begin by going back to Leviticus chapter 23. And if you will turn there, beginning in verse 4.

Again, Leviticus chapter 23. And we'll pick it up in verse 4.

It says, These are the feast of the Lord. God owns them. He has ownership of these holy days, holy conventions, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. On the fourteenth day of the first month of twilight, is the Lord's Passover, and on the fifteenth day of the same month, is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord. We observed all that wonderfully. It was very enjoyable, very fulfilling. Seven days you must eat Unleavened Bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days. And of course, we attend the holy days in the New Covenant as living sacrifices. All of the animal sacrifices were fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Continuing, the seventh day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. 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. And in context, it's talking about a ceremony that occurs during the days of Unleavened Bread. That was the context of the verses just before it. And this is an instruction given to ancient Israel. And the word Sabbath here, it says, On the day after the Sabbath, it's the Hebrew word for the weekly Sabbath, Shabbat. It's not the word Moed, which is usually the Hebrew word used for festival days. So in context, it's talking about, On the day after the weekly Sabbath, the priest shall wave it.

So the wave sheaf was part of the barley harvest. That was the first early harvest of the year. And Jewish history records that the sheaf was harvested on Saturday night after sunset, which began the first day of the week. And it was gathered together the next morning. It was put together in a bundle.

And it was waved as a very special offering on that day, originally in the tabernacle, later on in the temple. Now, this was a very important ceremony that wasn't a public ceremony. It was done something. It was something among the priest later in the temple. The wave sheaf was not a sacrificial offering.

It pictures the future ascension of the risen Jesus Christ to be accepted by the Father. I want you to notice that verse 11 stated, To be accepted on your behalf. That's what this wave sheaf offering represented. In 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21, Paul wrote, For he made him who knew no sin, speaking of Jesus Christ, to be sin for us. Again, think of that scripture. Accepted on your behalf, which is what that wave sheaf offering represented. Paul continues that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Over history, people have come to choose the day of the wave sheaf differently. That's not surprising. I was joking with my wife today that with modern Christianity, if there are three ways you can possibly do something, people will have five. Because that's just the way people are. But over history, many have come to choose to wave or look at this wave sheaf day differently.

By the end of Christ, for example, or by the time of Christ, the Pharisees always did it on the first day of unleavened bread. Today, some do it on the following Sabbath, after the feast is even over, on the weekly Sabbath. Here in verse 6, again, the word Sabbath is not mowed, which was the Hebrew word for feast, but it's the word for the weekly Sabbath. Now, the Sadducees did it something different. The Sadducees, who were responsible for performing the temple services during the time of Jesus, observed the wave sheaf offering on the day after the Sabbath during the days of unleavened bread, as we typically do. But what do you do when the first day of unleavened bread falls on a Sunday and the seventh day of unleavened bread falls on a Sabbath, meaning that there is no Sabbath occurrence during the days of unleavened bread between the first and the seventh day? The answer to that question will have a little later in the sermon. Let's continue to read about the wave sheaf offering here, so we understand how to count to 50. I think that's very important. Verse 12, That's what that represents in this sacrifice. The beating of the flesh of Jesus Christ that He accepted on our behalf. Mixed with oil, Jesus Christ had a full measure of God's Holy Spirit. An offering made by fire to the Lord. Whenever you see that phrase, an offering made by fire, what that means is that everything in that sacrifice was given to God. Nothing was held back. Fire consumes everything. There is nothing that goes back to the person who gave the offering. You're all in. You're giving everything to God. And that's what Jesus Christ did to the Father when He became the Passover Lamb for us. For a sweet aroma, what Jesus Christ did, is welcomed and it's pleasurable to God.

And its drink offering shall be of wine, one of the symbols of the Passover itself. One-fourth of a hen, verse 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, and it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. So the instruction here is when you reach the Promised Land. It is only after this offering occurs that the people could enjoy the new harvest. Eating from the new crop before this act of this wave-sheaf offering and the other offerings was strictly prohibited.

Emphasizing the importance of putting God first, even before satisfying your own needs, you had to perform this ritual and sacrifices, even if you were hungry. Even if the previous crops you'd run out of that you'd stored all winter and you were now getting hungry, not until this ceremony could you eat the grain from the new year.

This act symbolized dedicating the harvest to God and publicly acknowledging that the land's bounty was a gift from God and that He was the true provider. Later, near the end of this sermon in Joshua 5, we're going to see that this is exactly what Israel did when they entered the Promised Land. They fulfilled this very Scripture. From the day of this wave-sheaf ritual, we're going to read in beginning in verse 15, they were to begin counting forward to determine the next feast called the Feast of Weeks, the Shavot, or sometimes called the Feast of Harvest.

We used the New Covenant name of Pentecost. You may recall a few weeks back, just around, I think, on the very first day of Unleavened Bread, I talked about how we don't just observe the days of Unleavened Bread like they did in ancient Israel. We observed the New Covenant days of Unleavened Bread. In the same way, we observed the New Covenant Pentecost. And we even changed the name. We no longer associate it with the Feast of Weeks, the Shavot. We use the name Pentecost, which comes from Acts 2 and a few other places in Scripture, including Acts 20 and 1 Corinthians 16.

I'll also use that name Pentecost. Let's pick it up now in verse 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. Count fifty days to the day of the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. Verse 17, you shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves, two tenths of an ephah.

They shall be a fine flower, and they shall be baked with leaven. These are the firstfruits to the Lord. Now, I want you to notice something that's startling. I want you to notice here that these two loaves are mixed with leaven. This is truly exceptional. Usually, meaning in every other place in the Bible, leaven was prohibited from being included in Old Testament grain offerings. In Leviticus 2 and verse 11, it stated, No leaven or honey could be added to the grain offerings to the Lord.

So this is truly unique. And why was this exception allowed? Well, because the leaven represented the imperfections and sinful nature of God's people, people just like you and me, while also symbolizing the abundance and fullness of the harvest. So despite the leavening being mixed in there, the loaves are presented to God. God accepts those loaves mixed with leaven. They are called the firstfruits to the Lord, signifying God's grace and His forgiveness of His chosen people. That's why leaven was mixed into these two wave loaves.

Some biblical scholars say that these two loaves represent Israel and the Gentiles. Other scholars say the two loaves represent the Old Covenant Church of God, whom He had a relationship and covenant with, the New Covenant Church of God, whom He has a relationship and a covenant with. So counting forward 50 days from a Sunday, inclusive meaning you count that day as well, leads us 50 days later to another Sunday or a day after the seventh Sabbath, which was the instruction here in Leviticus 23.

On the 50th day was another holy day again called Shavuot, or the Feast of Weeks, and that was celebrated at that time. Today we use the term Pentecost. Now I want to give you an example of how the counting worked.

We're going to go to 31 A.D. at the time of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and we're going to see how this related and this counting began during the time of Jesus Christ. We'll begin by going to John 20 and verse 1. If you will kindly turn there for me and with me.

John 20, verse 1. Jesus has been resurrected. He says, now on the first day of the week, which we commonly call Sunday today in our western Romanized culture, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark, and she saw the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran back and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, most likely John, who wrote the book and didn't want to highlight himself, and said to them, they have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. So her initial response is, the body's been stolen. She's not thinking of resurrection. She's thinking they came and they stole the body. So both Peter and John run into the tomb. They look inside. They're confused. They're unsure what they do. And they don't know what to believe. And so they return to their own homes and think about what they saw. Let's pick it up now in verse 10. Then the disciples went away again to their own homes. But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. Again, she's thinking the body's just been removed. Now, when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus. Remember, it's very early, still kind of dark. Then Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? And she, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.

And then Jesus just simply says, Mary. And she recognizes the timbre and tone of his voice. You know, you do that too sometimes. I get calls, and as soon as someone says, Hello, by the way they say Hello, I know exactly who it is before they identify themselves. Because all of us have a distinctive tone of feature to our voices in the way that we talk. He simply said to her, Mary. And she turned and said to him, Rabboni, which is to say, Teacher, Jesus. Verse 17, Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father, to my God and your God. And Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things to her. This was obviously the day following the weekly Sabbath during the days of unleavened bread that year. Jesus died on a Wednesday afternoon at the time when the Passover lambs were being slaughtered in the temple. His body was entombed quickly before sunset because that began the first day of unleavened bread. He was entombed three days and three nights, as he said he would be. And he arose from the grave before the end of the Sabbath. Jesus was resurrected just before the ritual grain was being cut to present the God the next morning. Remember, they did that after they considered that work. They did that after the sunset on the Sabbath. So let's picture what's going on here.

So let's continue. Let's remind ourselves that Mary arrives very early Sunday morning while it is still dark. Jesus is long gone. She meets him at the tomb after Peter and John have gone. It's about the same time when the priest who were Sadducees were preparing to present the wave sheaf offering ritual in the temple that very year. Jesus is completely fulfilling the role of the ancient wave sheaf offering pictured in Leviticus chapter 23 and verse 11. And that's why he tells her, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. He told Mary that he could not be delayed from ascending to heaven and being accepted as Savior, Redeemer, and the first to be resurrected to eternal life. Jesus has a divine appointment in heaven. Leviticus 23, 11 said, 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. Only after Christ had ascended to the Father and then returned to them again the same day, He allowed others to touch Him, as he demonstrated later in John chapter 20, in the latter part of the chapter, and in other scriptures. So in 31 AD, there was a weekly Sabbath during the days of Unleavened Bread, and it all fell together on the day after the Sabbath. But what about a year like ours? Today we celebrated, or this year, the first day of Unleavened Bread on Sunday, April 13th. The correct understanding is this, that the counting of Pentecost should begin from the day after the Sabbath, even if that first day of Unleavened Bread is the day, like happened this year. Do you know that this also happened to ancient Israel? I'm about to prove it to you. It was a year very similar to the one that we had this year. Let's go to Joshua chapter 5 and verse 10. Joshua chapter 5 and verse 10. Again, the counting of Pentecost should begin from the day after the Sabbath, even if that day is the first day of Unleavened Bread, like this year. Joshua chapter 5 and verse 10. Now the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month of twilight in the plains of Jericho. Verse 11. And they ate the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, Unleavened Bread, and parched grain on the same day. So they ate the harvest on the first day of Unleavened Bread, is what Joshua tells us. And the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate food from the land of Canaan that year.

Now remember, they had been told in Leviticus chapter 23 and verse 14 that you shall eat neither bread or parched grain or fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering, referring to the wave-sheath, to your God. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations and all your dwellings. So in Joshua 5, on the first day of Unleavened Bread that year, the Israelites ate the produce of the land. That's what we just read in Joshua 5, which also marked the beginning of a new harvest. The only way this could have happened is if the wave-sheath had been offered on the first day of Unleavened Bread, allowing the Israelites to begin eating the spring crop immediately, as instructed in Leviticus chapter 23 and verse 14. They fulfilled that command and instruction, and this meant that the feast of weeks would occur 50 days from that day. Well, we've had the same kind of thing happen this year, as on the year in Joshua chapter 5.

The text highlights the correct understanding that the Count to Pentecost should begin from the day after the weekly Sabbath, even if that day happens to be the first day of Unleavened Bread. And again, as I've said a few times in this sermon, that exactly is what happened to us this year. So on Sunday, April 13th, the counting began as day one, and you count that day. The first day is inclusive. That is included in the count. April 19th was the end of week one. Seven completed days. April 26th, week two. May 3rd was week three. May 10th was week four. May 17th was week five. May 24th, today. We'll conclude week six, and next Sabbath, May 31st, we'll conclude seven full weeks of 49 days, and the day after the next Sabbath is Sunday, June 1st. And that's how we count, using the scriptural example, and that is when we will be observing the Feast of Pentecost this year. And it's something we should truly look forward to. My final scripture for today, Acts chapter 1 and verse 4, if you'll turn there with me quickly, Acts chapter 1 and verse 4, highlights the significance of the day of Pentecost, that all of us are going to hear so much more about next Sabbath and the actual day of Pentecost itself. Acts chapter 1 and verse 4, and being assembled together with them, this was about 10 days before Pentecost in 31 A.D., being assembled together with them, he, speaking of Jesus, commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, You have heard from me, Jesus said numerous times in the eve of his death, that the Father would not leave them orphans, that the Father would give them his Holy Spirit. Verse 5, for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

And not many days from now, we will all be observing the Feast of Pentecost in the year 2025. I'm sure we'll hear more about God's Holy Spirit next Sabbath and the following day, the Feast of Pentecost. I wish all of you a wonderful Sabbath day.