Feast of Weeks

Feast of Weeks Acts 2:1-4

The 50 Days after Passover the jews celebrate a feast commanded by the Lord called the feast of weeks (Shavuot). Turn: Leviticus 23 Jewish families come together, sing, eat cheesecake and other sweets (the torah referred to as milk/honey) and celebrate the law.

( Deuteronomy 16:9–12 Establishes the Feast, then) Leviticus 23:15–17 “ ‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. 16 Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. 17 You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord.” This is still part of the Firstfruits. They are all brought before Him.

Jesus was called the Firstfruits 1 Corinthians 15:20–24 “ But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. (who are his? those that believe) 24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.”

Jesus was the first to resurrect from the dead. As the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruit was the completion of the beginning of the barley harvest. So we were given everything necessary for life, (salvation) during these feasts.

Often the Jews say a mitzvah (prayer or scripture) each day of Pentecost. They call it counting omers. Omer (עֹמֶר, omer). A unit of measure equal to one-tenth of an ephah; used by the Israelites to ration manna in the wilderness (Exod 16:16–36) An Omer is a sheaf of barley that loads the back of a donkey.

BA-RUCH A-TAH ADO-NAI E-LO-HE-NU ME-LECH HA-OLAM ASHER KID-E-SHA-NU BE-MITZ-VO-TAV VETZI-VA-NU AL SEFI-RAT HA-OMER.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the counting of the Omer.

They also read this (sometimes every day or the final day)

Psalm 67:title–7 “ To the Chief Musician. On Stringed Instruments. A Psalm. A Song. 1 God be merciful to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us, Selah (vv2-8 contain 49 words in Hebrew that mark the counting of the omer from pesach to shavuot start first day unleavened bread) 2 That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. 4 Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, And govern the nations on earth. Selah 5 Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. 6 Then the earth shall yield her increase; God, our own God, shall bless us. 7 God shall bless us, And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.”

Shavuot (weeks) is more than tradition—it's a prophecy in motion. According to Jubilees, the covenant the giving of the Torah, was during this feast. Doesn't mean it was, its a talmudic tradition, but, if so we have the law given, now, we have the Law of Christ, or birth of the Church at the same “time”. Jesus told them 40 days after resurrection, go wait, and we see in our text,

Acts 2:1–4 “ When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

They were in agreement that they were to be where they were supposed to be. With one accord is homothymadon, with one mind. or of the same mind.

Sound from heaven, the sky, the air. Like a rushing mighty wind. If you have had a sudden storm come in here you have an idea. but note, it was sound. my wife and i were outside when a huge thunder-boomer that wouldn't stop drew us outside. it seemed to travel around. It wasnt a mighty wind but had the same sound. This spiritual event, breaks into reality.

Appeared to them - doesn't mean other saw it, again, this manifestation the description seems to be that there was a something that like tongues of fire (we use same describer - licking flames, etc) doesnt mean we are lit on fire or should act like we are when the Spirit comes upon us, its simply lacking the ability to say what it is. Its never happened before in history. Combined with the sound (again like hearing the approaching cyclone) perhaps it was the sound of the gospel in every language being confessed to them all.

v15 of chapter 1 says there was about an 120 when they voted) each of them, were baptized in the HS.

This, i don’t think was the visual representation of the indwelling, this had already happened. In John 20:21–22 “ So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” both times part of this infilling seems to be, an election to life and in that, serving. Jesus had purpose, to call to repentance and submitting to the Gospel.

We see this in action when they come outside to reveal whats happening and Peter preaches. Remember, when he does, folks know about what is being reported. And all these folks that rose from the dead walking through town, is freaking everyone out. Then this happens. This is the end and beginning of an epoch for the entire universe. The messiah has come and the process toward judgment, the end times, has come.

Filled. Their response to Jesus of faith, resulted in the indwelling of the HOLY Spirit. This is something different. These are still imperfect, struggling men and women. But they have died. They have been crucified and now, they can be filled.

They were filled, they spoke, but the Spirit, gave them the language and Words. Like in the tower of babel, it was all reversed. The gospel has permeated every nation (nearly) and their are blievers everywhere you go. The enemy of course is trying to hijack it, present a corrrupted version of it, but Jesus, is the means by which God brings the world back to him. I want to read the following from the NLT Colossians 3:10–11 “ Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. 11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.” And now, when we need His power, blessing and gifts, He can just do it. Because we have been Justified, Sanctified and have been Saved and are being Saved (its finished when we die/resurrected).

Closing: The tanahk, the Law and the Prophets, all spoke of this. All pointed to this. Like the elders on Mt Sinai received the tongues of fire - Numbers 11:25 “ Then the Lord came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, although they never did so again. (some texts read never ceased)”

Now, the tongues and sound never happened again scripturally, but the same God visited this group to anoint them to share the truth of Jesus, give them not just the authority but the power to share the gospel, which Romans 1:16 says, it the? Power of God to salvation. Now, if Pentecost was fifty days later—seven weeks plus one day—then Pentecost also took place on the first day of the week. Christians assemble and worship on Sunday, the first day of the week, because on that day our Lord arose from the dead, but it was also the day on which the Holy Spirit was given to the church.

Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 407). Victor Books. “On the Feast of Firstfruits, the priest waved a sheaf of grain before the Lord; but on Pentecost, he presented two loaves of bread. Why? Because at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit baptized the believers and united them into one body. The Jewish believers received this baptism at Pentecost, and the Gentile believers in the home of Cornelius (Acts 10). This explains the presence of two loaves of bread (see 1 Cor. 10:17). The fact that there was leaven (yeast) in the loaves indicates the presence of sin in the church on earth. The church will not be perfect until it gets to heaven.”

The law, given on stone that sepearated and brought death, now, the law, written on hearts, giving life more abundantly. Jeremiah 31:33–34 “ But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.””

This is what it means to be the church. Pray invite to receive the holy spirit. To receive Christ.