Skip to main content

337. A History of Pentecost

Leviticus 23:15-22, Deuteronomy 16:9-12
Key Verse: "Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain.  Then celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you."
Deuteronomy 16:9-10

Count off seven weeks from the Feast of First Fruits.  Or Count off seven weeks from the Sabbath after Passover and add one day to make it fifty and then come together again to celebrate how much the Lord has given you in your harvest!  Once again, we see, God had it all worked out and orchestrated it all beautifully so that a massive crowd would be at the temple to witness the next miracle He had planned for His people.

 Remember that we have already discovered that the Feast of First Fruits is when the resurrection took place.  Originally, it was intended as a time when the people brought a stalk of the first of their harvest to offer to the Lord as a statement of faith that He would bless them with more.  Jesus was the First Fruits of them that slept, restored to life after He had conquered sin, death and hell for those who would put their trust in Him and follow Him.

Now, after fifty days, the people were to gather again at the temple to celebrate all that they had been given by God in their harvest.  Again, a lamb was sacrificed and prepared in a very specific way to remind them of how God had set them free from slavery in Egypt.  On this day, yes, there is a sin offering, but the lambs are given as a fellowship offering, or the beginnings of a major pot luck of celebration for God's goodness to them at this present harvest.  It was meant to be a celebration for everyone, aliens included!  All were welcome at this feast!

As part of this grand celebration, in Leviticus 23:17 we read, "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 first fruits to the Lord." Baked with yeast! That is different from an offering of "unleavened" bread as at the Passover meal. Also, there are two loaves! One represents the Jews, the other represents the Gentiles, both brought together at the same party! Yeast represents sin and these loaves have yeast in them to show that they are representing natural people rather than the most holy God, as when Jesus gave the unleavened bread to his disciples and said, "This is my body."

 It is interesting how God prepared the way for this gathering in Leviticus when He says to Moses:  "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 the alien.  "I am the Lord your God!"" (Levi. 23:22)  The Poor and the aliens would be included in the celebration because they too had gathered from the gleanings.  They too had received from the harvest and they too had an offering to make from their gleanings.  Everyone would be there, the poor, the alien, along with the land owners, and the religious.  The table was set for a grand and glorious multi-cultural day in which God would be glorified once again.  This time, however, there would be a new kind of harvest, one that had never been experienced before or since.

Hymn: "HolySpirit Come to Us"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

258. "Remember, Always Remember!"

Exodus 12:1-30 Key Verse: "This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord a lasting ordinance." Exodus 12:14 "Celebrate the feast of unleavened bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come." (Exodus 12:17) "And when your children ask you, "What does this ceremony mean to you?" then tell them, "It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when He struck down the Egyptians." (Exodus 12:27) The original act was an act of worship as the first true act of freedom for the people of Israel. They had been brought to Egypt by Joseph during a time of famine so that through Joseph God could preserve their lives. ( Genesis 37 , & 39-50 ) After Joseph died, however, instead of heading back to C...
Post a Comment
Read more

August 13 What Is Fitting

It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury—how much less for a slave to rule over princes! ~Proverbs 19:10   On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man!” Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. ~Acts 12:21-23  Wow! Well, what in the world can there be to benefit us here? First of all, perhaps we should review the first Biblical definition of a fool, penned by no other than Solomon’s Father, David himself. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” (Psalm 14:1 and Psalm 53:1) It is not fitting for the fool to live the blessed life. Why should they when they deny from whom all blessings flow?  King Herod was a fool. Now, just to be clear, this is not the Herod who ruled at Jesus’ birth and ordered the slaughter of the male children in Bethlehem. He ...
Post a Comment
Read more

July 26 Time for A Wellness Check Up

This too is a grievous evil: As a man comes, so he departs, and what does he gain, since he toils for the wind? All his days he eats in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger. Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work, this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart. ~Ecclesiastes 5:16-20  I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret to being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everythi...
Post a Comment
Read more