The Feast Of Weeks - Pentecost Series

The Feast of Weeks

Leviticus 23:15-22

March 20, 2022

Today we’re looking at the 4th of the 7 Feasts of Israel. There’s really a lot to unpack in this Jewish festival, so we’re going to get right into it. The Feast of Weeks is probably the best known of the Jewish feasts as it corresponds to the Christian life, because Christians call the Feast of Weeks - - - Pentecost. In Hebrew the Feast of Weeks is called Shavuot, which means weeks!

I hope you’ll see why this feast was so important for the Jewish people and how it also ushered in the Spirit of God and the church. It’s really cool to see how God orchestrated these events as they correspond to the life of Jesus as well.

So, let’s look again from Leviticus 23 and see what this feast was about. I’ll unpack the feast, and help us see Jesus in the Feast of Weeks.

15 “You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering.

16 You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord.

17 You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah (4 quarts).

They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the Lord.

18 And you shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, and one bull from the herd and two rams.

They shall be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

19 And you shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings.

20 And 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.

21 And you shall make a proclamation on the same day. You shall hold a holy convocation.

You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a statute forever in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.

22 “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest.

You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”

You may not have realized it, but high level math is often needed to calculate the Jewish holidays and feasts. This is no different and God lays it out there very specifically.

So, let’s recap this feast. It was to be 50 days after the Sabbath after the Feast of Firstfruits. It was celebrated in the late spring, usually late May or early June. This year the Feast of Weeks is celebrated beginning June 4. We will celebrate Pentecost on the next day, because it’s a Sunday.

I want to step back for just a moment and recap where we’re at. There are 7 feasts which God gave to His people to observe. The feasts are broken down into three main seasons. The Spring feasts – Passover, Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits --- were fulfilled by Jesus at His first coming.

Passover signified the fact that Christ died for our sins.

Unleavend Bread tells us Jesus is holy and died to make us holy or righteous before God. He was the One and only One who was without sin.

Firstfruits celebrates the fact that Christ was resurrected on the Feast of First Fruits. He is the best and first of the offerings.

If we look at a calendar, we’ll see that Christ died on Passover day, was buried before the first day of Unleavend Bread, and was resurrected on the Feast of FirstFruits.

The Feast of Weeks coincided with the completion of the wheat harvest and, as we’ll see this morning was fulfilled by Jesus by the giving of the Holy Spirit which inaugurated the church age in which we now live.

The final three feasts – the Feast of Trumpets or Rosh Hashonah, the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur and the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot - occur in the Fall, and they will be fulfilled by Jesus at His second coming.

To spell it out about the date of the feast of weeks, it occurred on the 50th day following the regular weekly Sabbath that occurs during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Remember the feast included 2 High Sabbath days. Sometime during that week there would also be a regular weekly Sabbath. The Feast of Firstfruits was held on the day after that weekly Sabbath, 7 and a day later.