"SHAVOUT" - THE FEAST OF PENTECOST
WarriorforJesus
May 31, 2019
"The Feast Of Weeks", "The Feast Of First Fruits" and the Feast Of Pentecost"
"Shavuot" (pronounced Shavoot in Hebrew), also known as "Pentecost" in English, as well as "The Feast of Weeks”, and "The Feast of First Fruits", is celebrated seven weeks after "Passover" (49 days, including the counting of the one day of the Seder holiday meal which equals 50 days). The counting of a period of weeks is called "Sefirat Ha-Omer" in Hebrew, and so the counting unto Pentecost begins right after Passover, then at the end of the counting of the Omer, "Shavuot" (Pentecost) takes place exactly 50 days later. Hence, the definition of the Greek word "Pentecost" which means “Fifty,” therefore Shavuot is also referred to as "Pentecost". The 50th day of Shavout would then be called "The Day of Pentecost".
During the counting of the Omer on the 40th day (this year the 40th day falls on May 30, 2019), we commemorate the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. Recall that the disciples and the followers of Jesus didn't like the idea of Jesus having to leave them when he told them that He must now ascend into Heaven, where He must go to become one with the Father. Therefore He had to remind them that His leaving would actually be a good thing for them because if He didn't go, then His Holy Spirit, which is also known as the Comforter, and as our Spiritual Advocate between us and God, would then not be able to come and dwell upon all True Believers who ask and pray to be filled with Gods Holy Spirit.
"But I tell you the Truth, it shall be unto your advantage that I AM going away, for if I do not go away, then My Holy Spirit shall not come unto you, but after I go I shall then send My Holy Spirit unto you". And it shall be the Holy Spirit Power of God that shall carry you and protect you and comfort you through all of your trials and tribulations in this life. John 16:7 (KJV). 10 days later on the 6th day of Sivan (This year the 6th day of Sivan falls on June 10, 2019), the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples and upon all of the followers of Jesus who were all gathered together in the upper room, where they then received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within their Hearts, within their Minds and within their Spirits. Therefore because this Holy Day landed on the 50th day after Passover, this day in the Greek was called the Day of Pentecost.
The Day of Pentecost marks the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon the followers of Jesus after his death, resurrection and ascension into Heaven. The story comes from the New Testament Book of Acts: “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from Heaven and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what appeared to them to be what looked like individual Tongues of Fire that came to rest upon each and everyone of them. All of them were then filled within, with this Holy Spirit Spiritual Fire and they all began to speak in other tongues as the Holy Spirit enabled them.” Jesus’ followers were amazed that they could now speak and understand languages they never knew before and they could understand the languages of others whom they had never understood before. It was also at this time that the Apostle Peter stood up and preached his first sermon." — which is why so many Christians also consider this holiday as the “birthday” of the church.
Shavuot is also called the “Festival of Weeks” because it is held five weeks after the second night of Passover. Originally it was also tied to an ancient grain harvest festival, it also became the holiday that marks God’s giving of the Torah to Moses upon Mount Sinai, which a thousand years earlier also occurred on the very same 6th day of Sivan. “Pentecost” comes from the Greek word “Pentekostos,” which means 50. So Pentecost owes its name to Jesus’ Jewish followers who were gathered together in the upper room to observe the festival of Shavuot on the Day of Pentecost.
The idea of receiving “gifts” from the Holy Spirit also came on the Day of Pentecost, and also from what occurred with Peter and the Disciples and with the Followers of Jesus on this same day. The gifts received on the Day of Pentecost are interpreted as spiritual benefits that we receive after accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Personal Savior. These gifts bring us closer into a more meaningful spiritual relationship with God as well as with our earthly physical life as well. These gifts help us to reap spiritual blessings and spiritual protection from God unto ourselves. It is also of the belief that the exchange between humanity and God on the Day of Pentecost is to be compared to that of a marriage and to that of a sacred covenant between God and Humanity, that we as True Believer's in Jesus entered into this covenant when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Personal Savior of our Eternal Spiritual Soul.
Also to Christians known as Pentecostals, they believe the Day of Pentecost allows all followers of Jesus, those who Truly Believe in Jesus, those who are Truly filled with Gods Holy Spirit, those who Truly Repent unto Jesus Christ and those who Truly Worship Jesus Christ in Spirit and in Truth to receive and utilize “the Gifts of the Holy Spirit” — by not only by speaking in and interpreting tongues, but also by having the ability to prophesy, by having the power to heal through prayer and even by touch, and by having the ability to discern spirits and the spiritual. Pentecostals also believe these gifts are available to all Christians, and to all of those who accept these gifts they will then be able to fulfill the work and destiny that God has laid out for them.
"Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire flickering and alighting upon each and everyone of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak and hear in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to". Acts 2: 2-4
Shavuot History
The origins of "Shavout" are to be found in both the Ending Grain Harvest as well as an event known to the Jewish people as the Beginning of their "First Fruits" harvest, both of these events are festivals/holidays of ancient Israel. The Month of Sivan on the Hebrew Calendar (Our months of May/June), commemorate the end of Spring and the end of the grain harvest, as well as the beginning of the first fruit harvest of Early Summer. The timing of the Ending of Spring and the Beginning of Summer, as well as with the coinciding of the New Moon (Pronounced Rosh Codesh in Hebrew), during the month of Sivan (May/June), and the ending grain harvest and the beginning signs of the first fruits harvest, all determine the rituals enacted for this festival/holiday of ancient Israel.
Shavuot (the Feast of Pentecost) is a major Israeli religious observance, it is one of only three Shalosh Regalim (“Mandatory Solemn Feast Pilgrimage”) of the ancient Israelite people. (This is when all Israelite males were commanded to appear before God in Jerusalem, bringing offerings of their first fruits of the early summer harvest with them, as an offering of belief and of obedience and of repentance unto God for the remission of their sins). This ritual takes the form of entering into a covenant and into a formal agreement between them and God. This is a joyous time, since it is the moment at which God enters into a covenant with us, a sort of figurative marriage so to speak , that signifies the hopeful springtime of our relationship with God whereby we become known as His Bride, which is why we are also called The Bride of Christ.
Pentecost (Shavout); also known as the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Harvest and the Feast of First-fruits is also known as a time of Revelation and the time of the giving of divine knowledge. Pentecost concludes the counting of the Omer, a seven-week period that falls after Passover. It is known as the Feast of Weeks because it takes place after this seven-week interim including the one day of the First Seder Holiday Meal is complete. In current Christian practice, the readings and practices of Pentecost spiritually pertain to the offering up of the first-fruits of our own early summer harvest, which is to say, the First-fruits of Christianity, the Wise Virgins, the Bride of Christ (see Matthew 25 (KJV)). Though the Feast of Pentecost (Shavout), may seem to some like the poor redheaded stepchild of all the other Jewish holidays. It is in fact one of the “top three” Jewish moeds (appointed memorial day's/holiday feast/festival days (as indicated by the fact that it required a special trip to Jerusalem as a rite of passage for all Jewish males), yet it remains the least understood and the least celebrated of of them all. “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he shall choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths” (Deuteronomy 16:16-17).
Shavuot (The Feast of Pentecost), was a way for the Jewish people to offer their best unto the Lord. In the book of Exodus, God commands His people: “The first of the first-fruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God” (Exodus 23:19; 34:26). Further instructions regarding this offering of first-fruits are outlined in Scripture in Deuteronomy 26:1–4: "And it shall be, when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, then you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. And you shall go to the one who is priest in those days, and say to him, ‘I declare today unto the Lord your God that I have come to the country which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us." Then the priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. Following the presentation of the first-fruits or “wave loaves,” Jews would recite a prayer of supplication, describing the bondage of their ancestors in Egypt, their deliverance and their dependence upon God, who brought them to “a land flowing with milk and honey. Deuteronomy 26:9 Jews were also required to give of their harvest to any poor dependents on Shavuot such as;..."the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow”), so that the holiday also would serve as an occasion for mercy and social equality.
First Shavuot Tradition
Shavuot (The Feast of Pentecost), was not the only holiday of first-fruits. It eventually became known as the anniversary of the giving of the Ten Commandments upon Mt. Sinai. It has always been common knowledge that before God gave the Torah unto Israel (The Torah is the name given to the first 5 books written by Moses which housed the 10 Commandments), he first offered it to the other nations of the world in their own languages, but for various reasons, they all declined to receive the Torah, except for Israel who eagerly chose to receive it, thus becoming Gods Chosen People, not because God Chose them but because they chose God and because they chose to abide by Gods Commandments. Also it is documented knowledge throughout Jewish History that King David was not only born on the 6th of Sivan, the Day of Pentecost but he also died on this very same day which of course was his birthday. In addition to this coincidence, knowledge of Jewish History also documents that the Holy Prophet Enoch was also documented as being born on the 6th of Sivan, the Day of Pentecost as well, and lived for 365 years up until God sent Angels unto Enoch to bring him into Heaven, which just so happened to be on the 6th of Sivan, yes, you guessed it, which was also the Day of Pentecost, the very same day as his birthday only 365 years later.
In the New Testament book of Acts 2, it tells of how the disciples of Jesus were gathered together in Jerusalem when a sound like a mighty rushing wind came upon them and blew throughout the entire house, while something looking like flickering spiritual tongues of fire appeared all over them. "Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem at this time, Jews [that is to say, there were Jews staying there for the holiday of Pentecost], but also many different devout men from every nation on earth. And upon hearing the sound of the Holy Spirit rushing around on the Day of pentecost the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each person there was now able to understand what the other person from a different country was saying as everyone spoke in their own languages. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking these other languages Galileans? Then how is it that we hear and understand, each of us in our own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” (Acts 2:5-12)
Second Shavuot Tradition
Peter one of the apostles of Jesus, obviously knew of King David being born and also dying on Shavuot, the Day of Pentecost. For Peter quotes directly from Psalm 16 saying: “Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here unto this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him with an oath that he would place one of his descendants upon his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke [in Psalm 16] of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of this fact." Acts 2:29-32
If this tradition was in place in the first century, Peter was taking what was on the minds of many people to make his point about the Messiah. This is always the thrust of the New Testament: Jesus is intimately connected with the hopes, dreams and traditions of the Jewish people especially during the Feast of Pentecost Festival when it was at this time that the people thanked God for giving them grain and for giving them His Law, the Lord God also decided on this very same day to give His New Covenant unto His New People in Christ called Christians, for on this Day of Pentecost He gave us His Holy Spirit of Life and Truth. (Acts 2:1-4). Jesus rose from the dead the first day after the Sabbath during Passover (Matthew 28:1-10). The first-fruits offered unto God in ancient times anticipated the fuller harvest which was to come. The resurrection of Jesus anticipates the bodily resurrection of His People first promised under the old covenant (Job 19:25-27) and now in the new covenant: “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep . . . For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall now be made alive”. I Corinthians 15:20-23. Christ is the first-fruits of those who will be raised from the dead and His resurrection fulfilled "The Feast of First-fruits".
The Importance of Shavuot for Christians
For believers in Jesus pronounced "Yeshua" in Hebrew, Shavuot becomes an archetype of what happened seven weeks after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Because of the great power displayed in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost, which is why many regard this day as celebrating the advent of the Holy Spirit. "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1:8
We read in John 20:22 that the risen Jesus breathed upon each of the disciples and filled them all with His Holy Spirit before the day of Pentecost, so the event of Pentecost was more than just the receiving of the Holy Spirit for the disciples, it was also known as the “birthday” of the Church of Jesus Christ. the welding together of both Holy Spirit-Filled disciples into one organism with the living body of the First Christian Church. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit moved upon each of the disciples as well as all of the followers of Jesus who also attended this meeting. This event brought about the united story of the First Christian Church. Just as the giving of the Laws Of The 10 Commandments within the Torah at Sinai formed the Constitution of the Spiritual Commonwealth of Israel, so did the visible manifestation of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples signal the Constitution of the Spiritual Community of Faith in Jesus Christ. In the former case, Israel was brought together by the law (by the rules of their constitution), in the latter case, True Believers in Christ were bonded together not by rules, but by the Holy Spirit within them.
God’s Plan From Passover to Pentecost
The entire spring religious season of Israel, from Passover to Pentecost, speaks of God’s plan to harvest a Holy People unto Himself. First, Jesus (Yeshua), died as the perfect, sinless sacrifice. Then, He arose and became the first-fruits from the dead as described by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:20. Then weeks after the resurrection, the dynamic manifestation of the Holy Spirit among the early Jewish believers became the catalyst for many to put their Faith in God’s Messiah. The Jewish pilgrims at Jerusalem who heard and received the Good News Gospel Truth of Spiritual Salvation joyfully brought it back to their own native lands to share with their people. There, it was received by Gentiles as well as by other Jews, and just like that the Church became established abroad.
Thus, the inclusion of the Gentiles completed the symbolism of the wave offering, where the High Priest offered two loaves of fine wheat flour baked with leaven. Centuries before it came to pass, the two loaves of the wave offering symbolized the Body of Messiah made up of both Jewish and Gentile believers. Though the loaves were made of fine wheat flour, they contained leaven, a symbol of sin. That speaks of the fact that the Church, though refined through fire (was also cleansed by the sacrifice of the blood of Jesus), still retains the human sin nature until that day when the True Christian Church will be presented as the Bride of Christ, without spot or wrinkle unto the Bridegroom Jesus Christ.
Today, Pentecost should speak to us of the sowing and spreading of The Good News Gospel Seed of Truth Unto The World and of The Harvest and Ingathering of Saved Souls, which is to say, Redeemed People who make up the Body of Christ. For God is commissioning us to help Him bring in a Harvest of Spiritual Souls from every kindred, tribe and from every nation on earth. As we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost we would do well to contemplate the fact that our primary purpose is to proclaim the Good News Gospel of the Truth of Jesus Christ and His Plan of Spiritual Salvation to every Spiritual Soul ever created, and as we, God’s True Believer's remain Faithful to this task, God's Spiritual Harvest of Spiritual Souls will grow and grow up until the very end.
Remember as I mentioned above, Shavuot, is also called the Festival of Weeks, and it is the second of the three major festivals with both historical and agricultural significance (the other two are The Feast of Passover and The Feast of Tabernacles). Agriculturally, it commemorates the time when the first fruits were harvested and brought into the Temple, which is why this Feast is known as Hag ha-Bikkurim (The Festival of the First Fruits). Shavuot shares two important characteristics with the holidays Passover (The Feast of Pesach) and The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). 1) All three holidays involved a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. 2) All three holidays involved first-fruit offerings at the Temple.
Passover, in early spring, included first-fruits from the first harvest, barley. Shavuot, in late spring, included first-fruits from the wheat harvest. Among the many offerings given, there was also a “wave offering” of two loaves of leavened bread. This was the first-fruits offering. Sukkot, in the fall, was the final harvest and included first-fruits of olives and grapes. Shavuot is not tied to a particular calendar date, but to a counting from Passover. Because the length of the months used to be variable, determined by observation (see the Jewish Calendar), and there are two new moons between Passover and Pentecost, so the Day of Pentecost could actually occur on the 5th or 6th of Sivan. However, now that we have a mathematically determined calendar, and the months between Passover and Pentecost do not change length on the mathematical calendar, Pentecost is always on the 6th day of Sivan (Our May/June). According to Jewish tradition, Moses received the Torah, the Laws of The 10 Commandments from God at Mount Sinai during Shavuot on the 6th day of Sivan. Jewish tradition also suggests that King David was born and also died on his birthday on the 6th day of Sivan, which was also on Shavout (The Day of Pentecost), as well as the Holy Prophet Enoch was also born and then carried away by Angles into Heaven on his birthdau which was the 6th of Sivan, the Day of pentecost. meaning;..The 6th of Sivan, the Day of Pentecost is definitley considered a special day unto God.
Shavuot in the New Testament
The New Testament is the giving of the Gospel of God’s Grace revealed through the Living Word Jesus Christ. When the Holy Spirit came to the disciples on the Day of Pentecost in Spiritual Flickering Flames which looked to them like Spiritual Tongues of Fire and they began speaking other languages, they began preaching the Good News Gospel of Jesus Christ to not only Jews, but to every person who had come to Jerusalem that day, many people from every nation under Heaven to observe Shavuot at the Temple. Peter at this time when he gave his sermon seemed to have known about the tradition that King David was born and that he also died on his birthday. For he used the prophecies of David in the Psalms to speak of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Spiritual Son of David. Peter also pointed out to the crowd that what they all appeared to be witnessing that day was a fulfillment of prophecy from the book of Joel (Joel 2:28). As it seemed to Peter at this time that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was also promised by the prophet Joel in the Old testament, and even though a partial fulfillment may have happened on the Day of Pentecost 2000 years ago, the complete fulfillment of Joel's prophecy will come on another Day of Pentecost in the not to distant future of our current generation, for our generation is in fact the generation that Joel speaks about in his prophecy.
"After those days I shall pour out My Holy Spirit upon all of My True Believers: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. In those days, I shall also pour out My Holy Spirit upon the male and the female slaves." Joel 2:28-29
A mighty revelation occurred that day as 3,000 people from different parts of the world understood the truth of Peter’s words and became followers of Jesus. And just as there was an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the point where all of these people heard and accepted Jesus in a supernatural way on that Day of Pentecost 2000 thousand years ago, so an even greater outpouring is predicted by the prophet Zechariah for a future generation. A generation who is currently alive in our present generation: “And I shall pour upon the house of David and upon all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Holy Spirit of Grace and Supplication; then they shall finally look upon Me, Messiah in whom they pierced. Yes, they shall mourn for Me as one mourns for His Only Son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for His Firstborn” (Zechariah 12:10). Yes, there shall be mourning when all of Israel finally realizes who Jesus really was and who He really is, but after the mourning and after much repentance there will be great joy. For Jesus (Yeshua), said this regarding the end-time harvest of souls: “The Harvest Truly is Plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray unto the Lord of the Harvest to send out more laborers into His harvest” Matthew 9:37, 38
2000 years ago the Holy Spirit changed everything. Life was no longer “business as usual” anymore after "The Day of Pentecost" had taken place. The Holy Spirit was poured out just like Jesus promised us it would be. But like E.P. Hovey points out “This promise is no lullaby for the faint-hearted. It is a blood transfusion for courageous living.” The Holy Spirit did not just come to comfort us but to give us courage so that we could surrender everything unto God, and to follow Jesus Christ wherever he may lead us, and to fully embrace His Holy Spirit so that we will have the strength and knowledge to be able to witness boldly to anyone and everyone that we come in contact with. To share this Love of the Truth of Jesus Christ abundantly with everyone we must all serve Jesus humbly, and we must extravagantly give Him all of our heart, mind, love, soul and spirit, and we must die to our own self ego and flesh daily , so that we can Truly Live For Him.
All of the people who were fortunate enough to have heard the disciples witnessing boldly on the day of the first Christian Pentecost were asking “What does all of this mean?” (Acts 2:12) The very same question should be upon our own lips this Pentecost. What is Pentecost supposed to Truly mean, not only to me but to all True Christians? What if this Pentecost we opened up our hearts wider than usual for the fire of Holy Spirit to indwell us completely? What if we did not limit the work of the Holy Spirit within us? What if we let the Holy Spirit Truly Change us, inside and out with no holding back? Because if we let the Holy Spirit come to us personally and if we let it change everything about us, only then can God use us to help Him bring in the last harvest during all of the trials and the tribulations that are soon about to befall upon planet earth....Will you be ready? Believe, Pray for the Lost and Repent and then share the Love of the Good News Gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone and you will be ready!
