Introduction:
A This evening, in just a few hours, Jews all around the world will celebrate Shavuot.
1 Shavuot in Hebrew means “weeks” (7 weeks, 49 days & on the day after 49, 50, celebrate Feast of Weeks) since the Feast of First Fruits.
a “Pentecost” is Greek for “50". (Used by Greek speaking Jews; Hellenistic Jews)
aa Feast of First Fruits (50 days earlier) was to thank God for the Barely (The first of the winter harvest to ripen)
bb Pentecost was to thank God for the Wheat (The last of the winter harvest to ripen)
b God’s Appointed Time per Lev. 23.15-21. '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; there shall be seven complete sabbaths.16 'You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord.17 'You shall bring in from your dwelling places 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 the Lord.18 'Along with the bread you shall present seven one year old male lambs without defect, and a bull of the herd and two rams; they are to be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord.19 'You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male lambs one year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings.20 'The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering with two lambs before the Lord; they are to be holy to the Lord for the priest.21 'On this same day you shall make a proclamation as well; you are to have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work. It is to be a perpetual statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations. Lev 23:15-21 (NASB)
2 Traditionally, the focus of this feast was an offering of wheat & animal sacrifice.
a The bread was leavened, different than matzah bread of Passover, which symbolizes sin.
aa Priest would wave two loaves in every direction in the Temple (Public statement that God provides for all His people.
bb Sin must still be dealt with, removed.
b Enter the blood of the lamb, bull, and two rams.
aa These animals were innocent, w/o blemish . . . that’s what was needed to remove sin from the people.
bb Lev. 17.11 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.' Lev 17:11 (NASB)
cc To this point, all of the element of Shavuot point to the Messiah’s atonement for sin.
3 Since AD 70, Shavuot has changed, new traditions have been implemented.
a Rabbis discovered (Ex. 19.1) during the third month after Passover, God had given Moses the Law, Torah, Instruction.
aa Today, Synagogues are festively decorated with flowers, greenery, baskets of fruit to symbolize the slopes of Sinia in the Spring, harvest of Shavuot, and the beauty of Bethlehem in the Spring.
bb The Scripture reading is Exodus 19-20, Ezekiel 1 & all of Ruth.
b Let’s look at each passage’s significance.
B Exodus 19 & 20 are basically the Ten Commandments (Torah, Law)
1 Ex. 19.1-6, 18-20; 20.1-18 In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.2 When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped in front of the mountain.3 Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel:4 'You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself.5 'Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine;6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel." Ex 19:1-6 (NASB)
Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.19 When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder .20 The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. Ex 19:18-20 (NASB)
Then God spoke all these words, saying,2 "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery .3 "You shall have no other gods before Me.4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.5 "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.7 "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.8 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.9 "Six days you shall labor and do all your work,10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.11 "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.12 "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.13 "You shall not murder.14 "You shall not commit adultery.15 "You shall not steal.16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor."18 All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. Ex 20:1-18 (NASB)
a Some of the Jewish Sages teach that 50 days before the giving of the Law was the courtship between Israel & the Law.
b The one who made the earth provided instructions on what to do with it! The Law was the blueprint He used.
aa At Sinia, the Bridegroom Israel and the Bride Law were joined in marriage.
bb Interesting coincidence that Christians see Jesus as the Bridegroom and His Church as the bride (Eph. 5.21-33) ...and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself;29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church,30 because we are members of His body.31 For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife , and the two shall become one flesh.32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.33 Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband. Eph 5:21-33 (NASB)
cc Shavuot is the birthday of Judaism; Shavuot is the birthday of the Church.
2 The entire scroll of Ruth is read on Shavuot.
a Like Esther for Purim
b Easter was read for generations before the Ten Commandments were read during Shavuot.
aa Spring harvest
bb Gleaning harvest, dedication to the one true God, blessing in humility, honest, hard work, and the promise of a future blessing from meager beginnings.
c Remember Ruth? (Moabite, gentile, fell in love with a Jew from Bethlehem)
aa More importantly she fell in love with God of Israel. (Witnessed)
bb Husband died . . . she still loved her mother-in-law! (She came to love her through loving her, Naomi’s , son)
cc Ruth 1.16-17 But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; 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.17 "Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me." Ruth 1:16-17 (NASB)
dd Her’s is a story of love, loyalty, faithfulness & friendship that is stronger than death!
ee NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM . . .The love of Christ! Who will separate us from the love of Christ ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?36 Just as it is written,"For Your sake we are being put to death all day LONG; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered."37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39 (NASB)
d She became grafted into the nation of Israel by faith & became a forebearer of Daniel, David, & Jesus . . . who was born in Bethlehem.
3 Ezekiel 1 (The prophets vision of God’s Glory, Shekinah Glory)
a The Glory of God had not been on the Temple since it was destroyed by the Babylonians, some 600 years before Christ.
aa Wanted the glory to return, operate in signs, miracles, and wonders.
bb Feel Him.
b Imagine thousands of Jewish worshippers leaving the Temple after morning service (9 AM, Acts 2.15) having just read Ezekiel 1. For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day...Acts 2:15 (NASB)
aa Suddenly some of the same manifestations begin to occur that they had just heard read. (Windstorm, fire . . . is this the glory?)
bb God’s glory was at Sinai when He gave Israel the Law (Smoke, fire, shaking, holy ground); The same glory was manifested at the giving of the holy Spirit.
c Jews had came from all over and where hearing & seeing the impossible!
aa Galilean disciples were speaking with such an exact “dialect” that the crowds saw it as an irrefutable miracle.
bb Peter preached and 3,000 Jews responded to salvation FIRST FRUIT of Believers had come in a mighty way!
cc James emphasized the fact that God brought the Holy Spirit on Pentecost James 1.1, 18 James , a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings. James 1:1 (NASB)
In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures. James 1:18 (NASB)
C Pentecost is a promise to us that God is going to reap a latter-day harvest.
a Seeing 3,000 saved was an opening act!
b Today, record numbers of Jews are coming to know the Lord Jesus as Messiah . . . just as promised (Rom.11.26). NOT ONE JEW WILL DENY JESUS. ...and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,"The deliverer will come from Zion , He will remove ungodliness from Jacob." Romans 11:26 (NASB)
aa As Passover speaks of redemption, Pentecost speaks of revival
bb Pentecost is message of hope, joy.
cc May we see Him pour out His Spirit upon the House of David and look and in faith to the one who was pierced for them (Zech. 12.10) I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. Zech 12:10 (NASB)
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