Feast of Weeks
Notes
Transcript
Shavuot
Shavuot
This year Shavuot began last week at sundown on Sunday, June 1st and ended at nightfall on Tuesday, June 3. According to Old Testament scripture, Israelite males were required to observe three major feasts annually at the Tabernacle and later the Temples.
While they are fascinating to study, they are not required nor forbidden for the church to observe. You see, they are Feasts of the Lord not Feasts of Israel or the Jews. You see, Old Testament pictures are New Testament principles to live by.
St. Augustine said “the Old Covenant concealed is the New Covenant revealed”. What do they mean?
The Old Testament, with its laws, prophecies, and history, contains elements that point forward to Jesus Christ and the New Covenant established through the work of the cross. Even Yeshua said He came to fulfill to the Law not destroy it. He told the two men on the road to Emmaus and later his disciples That the Law, the prophets and the Psalms speak of Him. This is what makes the scripture intriguing to read. So bear with me as I show you one example after another simply by combing through the Old Testament narratives!
All the rich symbolism and rituals are like buried treasure under our own own feet to dig for and discover the ministry of Christ, His life, His death, His resurrection in the Old Testament.
Case and point: from reading about Creation and fall of Adam and Eve living in Paradise then losing it all by choice, we can learn that in Christ, we are new creations who can enter boldly into the throne room of grace by choice!! The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
When the earth was filled with corruption causing God to regret making man, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and was commissioned to build an ark before flooding the whole earth, yet Yeshua said “just as the world did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Not to be confused with the rapture, for all the saints in heaven and on earth will meet the LORD in the air as Moses went up to meet YHWH on Mt Sinai to receive the Law, but Jesus said “just as judgment came upon the earth through the flood so too, God’s wrath will be poured out during the tribulation before He comes to earth”. Second coming.
Just as Abraham believed the promises of God, whom Paul called “the gospel” and God counted it to him for righteousness, so too when we place our trust in Jesus we are justified by grace through faith not by works in the same way!
Just as Isaac was the promised son who went willingly to Mt Moriah to be sacrificed as an offering by his father Abraham on the third day, So too, Yeshua carried the cross willingly up on that same mountain as the promised Son to die for the sins of the world yet rose on the third day that we might know laughter! [God provided Himself a Lamb]
As Jacob wrestled with the angel of God and wouldn’t let go until God blessed him, God touched his hip and altered his walk changing his name to Israel. So too, as we wrestled with sin and sought God, and wouldn’t let go, He altered our walk and changed our names from sinners to Saints as a new nation!!
As the eleven brother’s betrayed the favored Joseph, overtime he rose to power and saved the nation.
So too, Judas betrayed Yeshua yet would rise to power through his death and resurrection, offering salvation to the whole world!
As Moses was sent to confront Pharaoh and deliver Israel out of the bondage of Egypt,
God sent His only Son to confront death and deliver us out of the bondage of sin!
As the Tabernacle or ‘dwelling place”, was to be built according to pattern so that Israel could see God’s glory and find forgiveness, Yeshua “dwelt” or tabernacled among us to offer a pattern whereby we might find forgiveness - Now we are temples of the Holy Spirit! Christ in us, the hope of glory!!
Just as Joshua led Israel into the Promised land,
Yeshua led believers to the Promise of the Father - The Holy Spirit. Which is what we will talk about.
So the Feasts of the LORD give us insights as well into God’s character and ministry established through Yeshua. Three main Feasts but seven in all. Passover in the Spring, Pentecost in early Summer and Tabernacles in the Fall. In review:
Passover or Pay-sah had three events within: It began with a Sabbath before and after the Feast. Passover speaks of Yeshua, our Passover Lamb [1 Cor 5:7] Feast of unleavened Bread speaks of the pure & sinless life of Yeshua & Feast of firstfruits was observed on the first day of the week for God’s provision of the barley harvest which was waved before the Lord in a cross formation and speaks of Christ’s resurrection on the third Day.
THE NEXT FEAST IS SHAVUOT OR PENTECOST. It has many titles: feast of weeks or feast of Harvest. The Hebrew name is Shavuot,
the Greek word is pentēkostē," meaning "fiftieth.
Let’s look at Lev 23 verses 15-17
15 ‘You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; [feast of firstfruits] there shall be seven complete sabbaths. [seven weeks]
16 ‘You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall bring a new grain offering near to Yahweh.
That would place this one day holiday on the first day of the week!!
17 ‘You shall bring in from your places of habitation two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to Yahweh.
Now many traditions have been added to this feast over the centuries.
Staying up all night to read the Torah: Genesis through Deuteronomy.
Homes and synagogues are decorated with flowers and greenery, which represent the harvest and the Torah as a “tree of life.”
Reading the book of Ruth which talks about the harvest but much more!
Special desserts such as cheesecake and cheese blintzes are eaten, because the Law is compared to milk and honey.
The Ten Commandments are read in the synagogues. Because later on Judaism thought it was the anniversary celebration of the giving of the law at Mt Sinai. How did they get that?
The two loaves from verse 17 . But remember, the bible never said that.
This was also a interpretation added later on! But this is a huge problem...why? these loaves are “leavened” .
Leaven is consistently portrayed in scripture as a picture of sin, hypocrisy and corruption so how could these loaves represent the law of God which is perfect converting the soul yet have leaven in it?
Ok, remember they also read the book of Ruth which was another added tradition. But it speaks of a Jewish woman Naomi who lost her husband and both her sons and lonely Naomi moves back to Bethlehem. The wives of the sons “Orpah and Ruth” were from Moab and Naomi told them to go home. Orpah did but Ruth refused to leave Naomi saying “for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God”. Ruth gets a job, gleaning in the fields of Boaz, who happens to a relative of Naomi’s deceased husband Elimelech. As Boaz shows kindness to Ruth, she is instructed by Naomi to submit herself to Boaz and lay at his feet. Boaz ends up marrying her after he redeems the land. So a Jewish kinsman redeems and marries a Moabite!
Sound familiar? Jew and Gentile marry and Ruth is the great grandmother of David! Yeshua is the “son of David”. Remember the promise regarding David’s lineage?
“And your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.” ’ ”
Now turn to Acts 1:1-8
The first account, O Theophilus, I composed, [Luke] about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over forty days and speaking about the things concerning the kingdom of God. And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Jesus had been teaching his disciples for 40 days which is often mentioned in scripture. The flood, wilderness wandering, Jesus fasted 40 days & nights, the number 40 is linked with hardship, affliction, punishment or testing. Verse 6.
So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” But He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to THE END OF THE EARTH.”
Now remember, last week we looked at how the LORD told Israel “you are My Witnesses” yet they failed this mission so now a risen Lord tell his disciples, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses
So while the city was preparing for the feast of weeks or Pentecost, before all the traditions, it was meant to express gratitude to God for the wheat harvest and worshippers would present their firstfruit wheat offerings to the Lord, as well as other offerings. But what makes this interesting is that Yeshua promised that the Holy Spirit would come “upon them”. In John 14 just before his death Yeshua informed his boys he was leaving them but he would not leave them as orphans.
I want to show you how the three prepositions or stages Yeshua uses for the ministry of the Holy Spirit
“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, that He may be with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him. You know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
Notice two stages of the Holy Spirit - He dwells with us or comes alongside us
But when Jesus goes to the Father the Holy Spirit shall be “in” or within us.
Yet the third stage is used in Acts 1:8 - “upon” you.
And it is linked to the word “power” dynamis which means might, strength, force, ability
Now I know there are various opinions and interpretations of the Holy Spirit but all I know is that the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to testify of the Son, plain and simple.
So three stages of the Holy Spirit - “with” [come alongside], “in” [born-again] and “upon” [empowered] to do what?
To witness the gospel to others. While the first two stages are permanent in a born-again believer it seems the third stage “upon” is activated when a believer needs strength or ability in a situation to step out in faith and boldness. For instance: put away our fear to glorify God, be empowered to start a ministry, facing unique witness opportunities to share the gospel, [Sherri knocked off her bike]; to assist someone who’s hurting financially or needs physical healing, [As Peter did in Acts 3] even wise counsel! [sometimes someone calls us for advice and when we’re done talking we reflect back and recall the things we shared were not studied - they just came to our lips] That’s the empowerment of the Holy Spirit! etc...But as Paul said the Holy Spirit distributes to each one individually just as He wills to unleash God’s power! It’s not something we can conjure up! So in my opinion this “coming upon” is a temporary manifestation when we have need of power.
So Acts 2 is a very familiar passage but I have to say, it has been taught out of context especially referring to speaking in tongues today. That is another kind of tongues we discussed in 1 Corinthians 12-14. Verses 1-6
And when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all together in one place. 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 like fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language.
Verse 11 in summary says “All fifteen nationalities said “we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” The message was clear!!
God, having spoken long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days spoke to us in His Son...
The language of the Son is to be understood by all!!
So who gave these these 120 people utterance? The Holy Spirit filled them or came upon... “same word”, they spoke in unlearned languages, all the devout people from fifteen other nations heard about the mighty wonderous works of God!! It was all to prepare Peter who was more than ready to explain what happened by using God’s word to preach the gospel. I’m not sure why Pentecostals cite this verse for the church and operating in the gift of tongues because all the scripture Peter cited was directed to Israel applies!! Peter even addresses his sermon to “Men of Judea and sons of Israel” until verse 29 when he preaches the gospel but Acts 2:36
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”
So yes it’s the birth of the ekklesia yet it was a rebuke to Israel to repent!!! So why does this happen on Shavuot? While the Jews see it as the anniversary of the giving of the Law, but the hidden gem was always there. It was the wheat harvest! Wheat is indeed used as an allegory for the church!
The leavened loaves don’t point to the Law but the church made up of both sinful or leavened Jew and Gentiles who repented, received Christ and got baptized as a wave offering before the Lord on the first day of the week. So even though the Jews added traditions, like Ruth they still pointed to the future of the bride of Christ marrying Yeshua, the son of David!
[worship team]
So actually it’s our birthday and the Lord’s Supper is our cake to remember our new birth, the old things are passed away, all things are become new. And don’t forget 50 speaks of Jubilee when all land was restored, all debts would be canceled and all slaves freed...ironically Israel never observed it but one day they will! - Shall we break bread with our LORD
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