Feast of Weeks (2)

In the Fullness of Time

In the hit comedy show King of Queens there is an opening sketch when Doug and his wife Carrie are staring at a microwave as it was popping corn. Carrie was anxious to get the popcorn and didn’t want it burned. Doug, a man who clearly loves his food, was the gourmet chef holding her back until the perfect number of pops had occurred. Even with the bag out of the microwave there was still one more kernel that needed to pop before it was ready. Pop!

What other “fullness of times” can you think of?

· I remember as a kid (and as a teacher) counting down the days until school was out. Then it finally came! Summer vacation!

· Do you remember (mothers will) of the last month, weeks, and days until you finally delivered? …then holding your precious little one with the cute little nose, toes, and fingers!

· Retirement?

For what have you been waiting? What is it that you need? As we look at our second feast, the Feast of Weeks, I think we will be excited about what God has in store for us in the fullness of time.

Feast of Weeks

At the end of the last feast, the Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread, the priest takes a sheaf of wheat and waves it before the Lord. This is an expectation of the harvest that would take place in approximately 50 days – seven weeks and one day. The sequence is explained to us in Leviticus:

Leviticus 23:9–14 NIV

The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the Lord a lamb a year old without defect, together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil—a food offering presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.

Then comes the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost, Harvest Feast). There are several terms for this feast – the Feast of Weeks, Pentecost, Feast of Harvest. This feast occurs at the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest.

Leviticus 23:15–22 NIV

“ ‘From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. Present with this bread seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings—a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering. The priest is to wave the two lambs before the Lord as a wave offering, together with the bread of the firstfruits. They are a sacred offering to the Lord for the priest. On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. “ ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.’ ”

I know that is a lot of material, but I hope that you are seeing how this reveals the goodness of God to us! Realize the excitement of the harvest. It provides. It enriches. It is celebration. Through the Passover a lamb was provided, the Feast of Unleavened Bread reminded us to not allow pride to puff us up, for 7 weeks the people prepared for harvest, and on Pentecost the celebration took place. And on Pentecost in the Book of Acts the Holy Spirit was poured out on the people!

The Time Has Come to Celebrate!

In this series I want us to see if we can connect these feasts to modern Israel and, hopefully, make the pages of Bible come to life for us. This clip comes from Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr7XPHa77bo

As you can see, this feast is a celebration to the nation of Israel. However, just like modern Jews fail to see Jesus as the prophesied Messiah, it seems that they also miss the exciting fulfillment of Pentecost in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts that inspires the proclamation of the Gospel to the world.

There are several lessons that would be good to us to consider this morning. Let’s begin with the emphasis on the Word of God, or what the Jews called the Torah.

Receiving of the Torah

As a Pentecostal I have never really considered the importance of the Word of God in association with Pentecost. One Messianic Jew helps us make this connection:

From the day of Shavuot/Pentecost immediately following the resurrection of Yeshua, Shavuot is associated both with the giving of the instructions of Torah and the empowering of believers with the Holy Spirit. Yeshua stated that “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth”(John 4:23) and affirmed while praying to the Father, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17).

The narrative goes on to describe “all” of them (no description of who “all” is) being filled with the Holy Spirit, no doubt in fulfillment of a prophecy Yeshua gave them recorded in Acts 1:8. We aren’t told the date of Pentecost or even what day of the week it was …. Meeting in Jerusalem on the day of Shavuot is in keeping with the Torah commandment.[1]

It is not simply about the giving of the Torah but about the receipt of it. We are a Bible teaching church and want to be sure to use the Word of God as a guide for our lives. A recent post comes to mind:

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Don’t get me wrong. I believe in deliverance ministry and there can be an evil spiritual influence, but more often than not people are disobedient to the Word of God and choose to walk in unforgiveness, sinfulness, and unkindness.

Shavout recognizes the receipt of the Torah by the Jews, not the giving of the Torah. There is a difference! We should not undervalue the necessity of the Word of God in our lives!

It is also a tradition to eat dairy on Shavuot, specifically cheese blintzes and cheesecake. There are a variety of explanations for this, but it seems no one really knows for certain why we do this. Most commonly it is suggested that the Torah is nourishing, like milk. The apostle Peter wrote about the “pure milk of the word” (1 Peter 2:2), and although rabbinic Jews would not care what Peter wrote, it is an indication that Peter, a Jew and a disciple of the Jewish Messiah, had this understanding.[2]

Sadly, too many people like to criticize the Bible as a list of “Thou shalt not’s”. I see it as a prescription that, if followed, makes me well!

Pentecost Fulfills the Promise of Jesus

It is sad that modern Jews (unless Messianic) miss the fulfillment of the promise made by Jesus:

John 16:7–11 NIV

But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit came some amazing gifts to Christians. Here and it other places the Bible describes the work of the Holy Spirit as

1. Convicting of sin and emphasize what righteousness really is

2. Speaking to us

3. Directing us

4. Praying for us

5. Revealing Christ

I appreciate what Francis Chan explains:

Have you ever thought about the significance of having “another” Counselor who is “just like” Christ? Right now, imagine what it would be like to have Christ standing beside you in the flesh, functioning as your personal Counselor. Imagine the peace that would come from knowing you would always receive perfect truth and flawless direction from Him. That sounds amazing, and none of us could deny the benefit of having Jesus here physically, guiding and enabling us every step of the way.

Yet why do we assume that this would be any better than the literal presence of the Holy Spirit?[3]

It is good to be reminded of the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the main thing that we as Pentecostals think about the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost. It was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Peter connected it to the prophecy of Joel.

Acts 2:17–21 NIV

“ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

The arrival of the Holy Spirit was an abundant spiritual harvest for the believer. Just like Jesus promised, …

Pentecost Prepares Harvesters for the Fields

Have you learned to call on the Holy Spirit when you need supernatural strength. Are you teaching your children to call on the HS when they are in those situations? Let’s take a second to look at what the Bible tells us about these moments:

Mark 13:11 NIV

Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

That’s pretty extreme but what about when your friends are pressuring you? What about when modern culture says faith is outdated and shallow? What about when the talk at work is about the latest conquest of money, power, or pleasure? What about when the world around us just seems to be crushing us?

Acts 4:29–31 NIV

Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

When we teach ourselves and our families to rely on the Holy Spirit’s boldness in our lives, what a tremendous advantage we have given!

These Godly themes that are inspired by the Feast of Weeks lead us into abundance! We find God and God’s ways in the Bible. The gift of the Holy Spirit provides a guarantee of God’s presence – the presence of the Spirit of Christ continually.

Are You Ready for Blessing?

I don’t know how any of us would say, “No” to this. Life is filled with disappointments. You might be living in the middle of disappointment today. It may seem difficult for you to imagine and Feast of Harvest in your life but the truth is that is exactly what God has made available for you. It is what He is making available to you even now.

James 1:16–18 NIV

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Hebrews 10:23–25 NIV

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

His promises are sure. His blessing is real. Turn to your neighbor and say, “I don’t know what you’re going through right now but there is a blessing coming! Get ready for it.”

[Pray for His blessing over the congregation. Infilling of the Holy Spirit. Realization of God’s promises. Blessing and faith to continue to stand firm.]

[1] https://messianiclight.com/shavuot/ [2] https://messianiclight.com/shavuot [3]Francis Chan and Danae Yankoski, Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2009), 34.