Feast of Shavuot / Petecost
Pentecost did not happen because
that is the day the Holy Spirit came with tongues of fire –
the Holy Spirit came that day because it was Pentecost!
And that is significant.
Remember, basically the old testament was written in Hebrew, and the new testament in Greek. Sometimes what seems like a new concept in the new testament is really an old concept expressed in a new language. Such as:
“Moshiach” (Messiah) in Hebrew = “Christ” in Greek.
Though Pentecost literally means “fifty”
and Shavuot literally means “weeks”,
the day of Pentecost, was the Greek translation
for the Hebrew Feast of Shavuot,
which was the counting of seven weeks plus one day (50 days)
after First Fruits. [(7X7)+1=50].
Day of Pentecost = Feast of Shavuot
“You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering.{first fruits} You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. “ Leviticus 23: 15, 16
The first sheaf of the harvest was to be offered as a wave offering on the feast of first fruits, which is the second day of Passover. The following 49 days, referred to as counting the omer, or sheaves, ended with the celebration of the harvest on the 50th day: Shavuot.
Shavuot is one of three major festivals when males presented themselves before God at Jerusalem. So when God chose to send the Holy Spirit on this day, Jerusalem was a “happenin’ place” just as it had been at Passover. No wonder Jesus had told His disciples to remain…
“When the day of Pentecost (i.e. Shavuot) had come, they were all together in one place.” Acts 2:1
Jesus/Yeshua
Became God’s Passover Lamb for our redemption (at Passover)
Rose as the First Fruits of the dead (on the feast of First Fruits)
and
Sent His Holy Spirit at Shavuot (Pentecost) to celebrate the beginning of the spiritual harvest of human souls (Acts 2:41)!
There is more…
After Moses led the people out of Egypt and into the wilderness, (Passover), Exodus 19 tells us it was the third month when God told Moses to tell all the people to assemble after three days of consecrating themselves so that God would come in a thick cloud “so that the people may hear when I speak with you” (vs. 9). Then God descended upon Mount Sinai in fire and smoke and spoke with thunder, and the mountain quaked violently (vs. 18-19), and God spoke the ten commandments, until the people trembled with fear and begged Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us or we will die.” (20: 19) Rabbinic study has calculated this is most probably the day of Shavuot, or Pentecost.
Acts 2: 2-3 says on the day of Pentecost, “ And suddenly there came from Heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.”
This noise beckoned a crowd to assemble. This time the word of God came through the Spirit descended upon men with tongues like fire, and violent rushing wind.
I can imagine violent rushing wind. I live in Kansas, and we get lots of tornadoes, and I have seen two very close in my life so far, and first there is a deathly silence, then a violent rushing wind that sounds like a train roaring through – challenges thunder to be sure.
My imaginings, but I see many parallels in Exodus 19, 20 and Acts 2, plus, as I study the feasts of Messiah, it just seems that God likes to do major events on these days for a specific reason, and we should not let that escape us.
So on Pentecost/Shavuot:
OT – God descends in fire and smoke on mountain
NT – Holy Spirit descends in tongues of fire on men
OT – God speaks with Thunder and imparts the law, later written on tablets of stone
NT – Holy Spirit comes in violent rushing wind and causes men to speak in every language, so that the law can be written on human hearts
OT - 3,000 slain for spiritual adultery (idolatry/golden calf)
NT - 3,000 baptized and added to the Book of Life
When is Pentecost?
The Western world uses a Gregorian calendar which differs from the calendar as set forth in scripture.
‘Biblical’ dates and Gregorian dates will fall on different days most years, but will occasionally coincide some years. Just as you were born on a particular day of the week but your birth ‘date’ falls on a different day each year, so too do Biblical holidays.
The Biblical calendar uses 1st, 2nd, etc., to note days and months (the book of Esther is an exception, using Babylonian names, but these are not God given names). The Gregorian calendar uses Julian (Roman) names for days and months after false deities of mythology and such.
A Biblical day is sunset to sunset. Sabbath, the seventh day, is sunset of the 6th day to sunset of the 7th day: sunset of Friday to sunset of Saturday, on the Gregorian calendar.
Just as the western world has chosen to adopt Mondays to observe several national holidays (even though the date falls on different days each year), [Memorial day is May 30, but we observe it May 28 this year, 2007], so too, the modern, Western Christian world, since the 3rd century, has chosen to observe certain events such as the resurrection of Jesus and Pentecost on Sundays, since Jesus rose on the 1st day of the week. So, the Biblical Passover (which is the 14th day of the first month) fell on April 3 of the Gregorian calendar, 2007. (or sunset of April 2 to sunset of April 3). First Fruits was the second day of Passover in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, April 4. These were a Tuesday and Wednesday this year. The Western world celebrated the resurrection on April 8.
The Biblical Pentecost falls on May 23, a Wednesday. The Western calendar will celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit part of Pentecost on Sunday the 27. (This is in the third month of the Biblical calendar. re: exodus 19 mentioned above). I don’t have a problem with celebrating on Sundays since that is when we gather as a body to worship and fellowship; I just think we might lack understanding from having not been taught the history of it. Sometimes man changes things for his own convenience, and does not realize that over time the significance of the original can become diluted without due diligence to teach it in context.
I will post Passover, First Fruits and Unleavened Bread soon. I was in Trinidad during this time and am behind. Seeing all the feasts as pieces of the same picture add insight, so I hope to post soon.
Pentecost did not happen because
that is the day the Holy Spirit came with tongues of fire –
the Holy Spirit came that day because it was Pentecost!
And that is significant.
Remember, basically the old testament was written in Hebrew, and the new testament in Greek. Sometimes what seems like a new concept in the new testament is really an old concept expressed in a new language. Such as:
“Moshiach” (Messiah) in Hebrew = “Christ” in Greek.
Though Pentecost literally means “fifty”
and Shavuot literally means “weeks”,
the day of Pentecost, was the Greek translation
for the Hebrew Feast of Shavuot,
which was the counting of seven weeks plus one day (50 days)
after First Fruits. [(7X7)+1=50].
Day of Pentecost = Feast of Shavuot
“You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering.{first fruits} You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. “ Leviticus 23: 15, 16
The first sheaf of the harvest was to be offered as a wave offering on the feast of first fruits, which is the second day of Passover. The following 49 days, referred to as counting the omer, or sheaves, ended with the celebration of the harvest on the 50th day: Shavuot.
Shavuot is one of three major festivals when males presented themselves before God at Jerusalem. So when God chose to send the Holy Spirit on this day, Jerusalem was a “happenin’ place” just as it had been at Passover. No wonder Jesus had told His disciples to remain…
“When the day of Pentecost (i.e. Shavuot) had come, they were all together in one place.” Acts 2:1
Jesus/Yeshua
Became God’s Passover Lamb for our redemption (at Passover)
Rose as the First Fruits of the dead (on the feast of First Fruits)
and
Sent His Holy Spirit at Shavuot (Pentecost) to celebrate the beginning of the spiritual harvest of human souls (Acts 2:41)!
There is more…
After Moses led the people out of Egypt and into the wilderness, (Passover), Exodus 19 tells us it was the third month when God told Moses to tell all the people to assemble after three days of consecrating themselves so that God would come in a thick cloud “so that the people may hear when I speak with you” (vs. 9). Then God descended upon Mount Sinai in fire and smoke and spoke with thunder, and the mountain quaked violently (vs. 18-19), and God spoke the ten commandments, until the people trembled with fear and begged Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us or we will die.” (20: 19) Rabbinic study has calculated this is most probably the day of Shavuot, or Pentecost.
Acts 2: 2-3 says on the day of Pentecost, “ And suddenly there came from Heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.”
This noise beckoned a crowd to assemble. This time the word of God came through the Spirit descended upon men with tongues like fire, and violent rushing wind.
I can imagine violent rushing wind. I live in Kansas, and we get lots of tornadoes, and I have seen two very close in my life so far, and first there is a deathly silence, then a violent rushing wind that sounds like a train roaring through – challenges thunder to be sure.
My imaginings, but I see many parallels in Exodus 19, 20 and Acts 2, plus, as I study the feasts of Messiah, it just seems that God likes to do major events on these days for a specific reason, and we should not let that escape us.
So on Pentecost/Shavuot:
OT – God descends in fire and smoke on mountain
NT – Holy Spirit descends in tongues of fire on men
OT – God speaks with Thunder and imparts the law, later written on tablets of stone
NT – Holy Spirit comes in violent rushing wind and causes men to speak in every language, so that the law can be written on human hearts
OT - 3,000 slain for spiritual adultery (idolatry/golden calf)
NT - 3,000 baptized and added to the Book of Life
When is Pentecost?
The Western world uses a Gregorian calendar which differs from the calendar as set forth in scripture.
‘Biblical’ dates and Gregorian dates will fall on different days most years, but will occasionally coincide some years. Just as you were born on a particular day of the week but your birth ‘date’ falls on a different day each year, so too do Biblical holidays.
The Biblical calendar uses 1st, 2nd, etc., to note days and months (the book of Esther is an exception, using Babylonian names, but these are not God given names). The Gregorian calendar uses Julian (Roman) names for days and months after false deities of mythology and such.
A Biblical day is sunset to sunset. Sabbath, the seventh day, is sunset of the 6th day to sunset of the 7th day: sunset of Friday to sunset of Saturday, on the Gregorian calendar.
Just as the western world has chosen to adopt Mondays to observe several national holidays (even though the date falls on different days each year), [Memorial day is May 30, but we observe it May 28 this year, 2007], so too, the modern, Western Christian world, since the 3rd century, has chosen to observe certain events such as the resurrection of Jesus and Pentecost on Sundays, since Jesus rose on the 1st day of the week. So, the Biblical Passover (which is the 14th day of the first month) fell on April 3 of the Gregorian calendar, 2007. (or sunset of April 2 to sunset of April 3). First Fruits was the second day of Passover in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, April 4. These were a Tuesday and Wednesday this year. The Western world celebrated the resurrection on April 8.
The Biblical Pentecost falls on May 23, a Wednesday. The Western calendar will celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit part of Pentecost on Sunday the 27. (This is in the third month of the Biblical calendar. re: exodus 19 mentioned above). I don’t have a problem with celebrating on Sundays since that is when we gather as a body to worship and fellowship; I just think we might lack understanding from having not been taught the history of it. Sometimes man changes things for his own convenience, and does not realize that over time the significance of the original can become diluted without due diligence to teach it in context.
I will post Passover, First Fruits and Unleavened Bread soon. I was in Trinidad during this time and am behind. Seeing all the feasts as pieces of the same picture add insight, so I hope to post soon.
Labels: Pentecost / Feast of Shavuot
posted by Shirley @ 2:38 PM
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