The Feast of Shavuot, Pentecost
What is the prophetic meaning of this feast?
The feast of Pentecost or Shavuot is the conclusion of the grain harvest and the Passover season. This harvest season lasts for seven weeks and one day, and on this day another "first fruits" was offered unto the Lord.
Leviticus 23:15-18Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
15 “‘From the day after the day of rest — that is, from the day you bring the sheaf for waving — you are to count seven full weeks, 16 until the day after the seventh week; you are to count fifty days; and then you are to present a new grain offering to Adonai. 17 You must bring bread from your homes for waving — two loaves made with one gallon of fine flour, baked with leaven — as firstfruits forAdonai. 18 Along with the bread, present seven lambs without defect one year old, one young bull and two rams; these will be a burnt offering for Adonai, with their grain and drink offerings, an offering made by fire as a fragrant aroma forAdonai.
This day has many names, Feast of Harvest - Hag ha-Kazir, Feast of Weeks- ha-Shabuth, Day of First Fruits- Yom ha-Bikkurim, and as Hag atzeret or Atzeret,Feast of the Conclusion or Conclusion. It is also known as the day or the season of the Giving of the Law. Just as someone who is expecting the arrival of one of their most faithful and closest friends, we count the days and hours to his arrival. Much in the same way we count from the Omer (sheaf of First fruits) of the day from the Exodus from Egypt to the day of the giving of the law, fifty days. That is where the name Pentecost comes from, pente is the Greek word for fifty. The giving of the law on Mount Sinai was an event that lasted only one day, so this feast, unlike many others, lasts only one day.
"15 (18) All the people experienced the thunder, the lightning, the sound of the shofar, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled. Standing at a distance, 16 (19) they said to Moshe, “You, speak with us; and we will listen. But don’t let God speak with us, or we will die.” Exodus20:15-16 (18-19) CJB
Out of fear, the people begged Moses to speak to them on the LORD's behalf so that "The Word" would no longer speak to them directly. This is how it was for thousands of years, the children of God only heard their Father's words through an interpreter, like a priest, or a prophet. While being able to find out what the creator of the universe says and thinks is a miracle in itself, Adonai Elohim wanted to have a personal relationship with His children, not to be separated by partitions, walls, and veils. Thousands of years later, right at the appointed time, The Lamb of God with out spot or blemish was slain for the sins of mankind. He rose again on the eighth day fulfilling the feast of the first fruits being the first of them that slept, or as Dr. Saphir put it, "Here is the glorious Head of humanity coming forth out of the earth, a Sheaf waved from the earth unto God, that He might sit at the right hand of the Father. Oh, how beautiful is the Passover fulfilled unto us! Christ our Passover is offered; Christ the first- fruits of the dead is risen. We are brought out of Egypt, the house of bondage. We have been redeemed with the precious Blood of the Lamb of God." Forty days after Passover Jesus stood before His disciples about to ascend to the Father and He gave them this instruction,
Acts 1:4-8Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
4 At one of these gatherings, he instructed them not to leave Yerushalayim but to wait for “what the Father promised, which you heard about from me. 5 For Yochanan (John) used to immerse people in water; but in a few days, you will be immersed in the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit)!” 6 When they were together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore self-rule to Isra’el?” 7 He answered, “You don’t need to know the dates or the times; the Father has kept these under his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Ruach HaKodesh comes upon you; you will be my witnesses both in Yerushalayim and in all Y’hudah and Shomron, indeed to the ends of the earth!”
For ten days they waited in the upper room until the day of Pentecost was fully come and SUDDENLY.. Can you imagine it? The worshipers were in the Temple, probably just as they were offering the wave-lambs and the wave-bread, remembering the day when the law was given .The priest was talking about the sounds, the fire, and smoke, when suddenly.....
Acts 2 (CJB)
2 Suddenly there came a sound from the sky like the roar of a violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire, which separated and came to rest on each one of them. 4 They were all filled with the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) and began to talk in different languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.
This great multitude of people all over Jerusalem heard a mighty sound unlike anything they had ever heard before .Turning in the direction of that sound they saw the glory cloud and fire come down onto the place the believers were praying. This sound and sight drew them from the Temple to this place...
5 Now there were staying in Yerushalayim religious Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered;
The door to the upper room opens, and what looks like smoke from the glory billows out. Then these believers come stumbling out of the glory filled room and down the stairs as if they were drunk, covered with fire! Much like they might imagine Moses looked when he came down from the mountain after receiving the law. Then with great power and boldness they began to speak of the "wonderful works of God" in languages understood by the entire crowd!
they were confused, because each one heard the believers speaking in his own language. 7 Totally amazed, they asked, “How is this possible? Aren’t all these people who are speaking from the Galil? 8 How is it that we hear them speaking in our native languages? 9 We are Parthians, Medes, Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Y’hudah, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, 10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome; 11 Jews by birth and proselytes; Jews from Crete and from Arabia. . . ! How is it that we hear them speaking in our own languages about the great things God has done?” 12 Amazed and confused, they all went on asking each other, “What can this mean?” 13 But others made fun of them and said, “They’ve just had too much wine!”
On that Pentecost day, the harvest of the first fruits was more than three thousand souls added to the Body of Christ. Much like the two loaves, representing the Jews and the Gentiles, baked with leaven (sin). They came together to make up one offering before Jehovah as a wave-bread offering. The offering of the wave-lamb is to remind us that only by the blood of the lamb can we come to the Father, because His blood cleanses us from all sin. David Barron put it like this, "The believing Jew and the believing Gentile, washed in the same blood, sanctified and indwelt by the same Spirit which teaches both to cry, 'Abba, Father', and presented by the One Great High Priest, are made equally acceptable, and are consecrated as one offering to the service of God." As the two have become one, by the blood of Yeshuah we can now walk right into the Holy of Hollies, to our Father, and personally hear from Him. No more interpreters or veils. Thousands of years ago at the base of Mount Siani the people said no to the Spirit of God, and He honored their decision. Today you have the same choice to make, all you have to do is ask Him to fill you to overflowing and he will gladly come and fill you up! When He does you will be given a better law, no longer written on cold, hard tablets of stone but the fleshy tablets of your heart.
