Feast of Weeks - Pentecost

Pentecost (Feast of Weeks)

Feast of Weeks / Pentecost Lev 23:15-21

Leviticus 23:15–21 NKJV

‘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. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. 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. And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be as a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the Lord. Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats as a sin offering, and two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a peace offering. The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

1. This feast is unique. It stands alone and is set apart from the other two groups of feasts

a. Only one day of observance is ordained for this feast of “Weeks”. (The other feasts are clustered into threes, and each has a full-week feast included)

b. Weeks is the only feast where leaven is required rather than prohibited

c. Weeks is directly linked to the Feast of Firstfruits.

i. Called the Feast of Weeks because Israel was to count a week of Sabbaths from the Feast of Firstfruits to know when the feast was to begin

ii. Firstfruits and Weeks were both Sunday observances (all other feasts are set to the day of the month, not the day of the week).

iii. The spring barley harvest time was ending, and the summer wheat harvest was ready to begin

d. Only feast where two loaves of bread are ordained as the offering

2. Pentecost – the New Testament fulfillment of the Feast of Weeks

a. Fulfilling the promise: the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to believers

i. 50 days from Jesus’ resurrection on the Sunday after Passover (Firstfruits)

ii. Firstfruits marked Jesus’ resurrection. Pentecost marks the beginning of the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the church Acts 2:1-4

Acts 2:1–4 NKJV

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

1. He came with a sound from heaven like a rushing mighty wind

2. His presence filled the house where the disciples were waiting

3. The Holy Spirit then distributed tongues (languages) as if by fire (compelling them to speak) as He gave them supernatural utterance

iii. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is a unique New Testament event not expected or seen in the Old Testament era

1. The Holy Spirit’s work in the Old Testament was limited, situational, and temporary. He would come upon and then leave a person

2. The Holy Spirit filled (and He continues to fill) believers with divine power to be witnesses for Christ to the world (Acts 1:8)

Acts 1:8 NKJV

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

iv. Pentecost marks the end of God’s personal presence in a structure (temple), and the beginning of God’s presence being directly within individual believers. Rather than calling all who seek the Lord to come to the temple in Jerusalem, God calls His temples to go out directly to the world (Matt 28:18-20)

Matthew 28:18–20 NKJV

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

v. Pentecost also marks the end of the priestly service at the temple in Jerusalem where people would come and seek the Lord’s favor and comfort from the temple priests. From Pentecost on, the Holy Spirit is called our Helper and our Teacher (Jn 15:26, 16:5-14) who convicts the world of sin for repentance.

vi. Pentecost therefore marks the formal end of the practice of bringing offerings to the temple. The Holy Spirit now gives divine gifts to believers according to His will instead of requiring them (Heb. 2: 4, 1 Cor. 12, Rom. 12:3-8, Eph. 4:7-16)

Hebrews 2:4 NKJV

God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?

b. Pentecost is the Birthday of the Church (beginning of the church age)

i. Pentecost marks the beginning of the church – a brand new group of people taken from the two groups before (Jew and Gentile)

ii. The church of Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, is called to engage in a spiritual battle, but the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18-19, Eph. 6:10-20)

iii. Pentecost established the church as the Body of Christ, purchased by His blood (Acts 20:28)

Acts 20:28 NKJV

Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

iv. Pentecost changes the citizenship of believers from earth to heaven (Eph. 2:19-22, Phil. 3:17-21)

Ephesians 2:19–22 NKJV

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

v. Pentecost (filling believers with the Holy Spirit, and the church age) will continue until the end of this age has come (1 Cor. 10:11). The final three feasts will likely be fulfilled at the end of the church age; like the first four feasts they serve as prophetic models for the future return of Jesus Christ.

3. God’s call to us – time to take action

a. Be filled with the Holy Spirit – both His power and His gifts. Seek them. Use them.

b. Walk in the Holy Spirit daily so that we do not fulfil the lusts of the flesh (Gal. 5:16-21)

Galatians 5:16–21 NKJV

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

c. Receive the full authority of your calling as a royal priesthood and a holy nation so that you may proclaim the praises of God in the world (1 Pet. 2:9-10)

1 Peter 2:9–10 NKJV

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.