Pentecost or Weeks (Shavuot)
(Leviticus 23:15-23)
1. Many Christians are surprised to find out that Pentecost is a Jewish Old Testament holiday.
2. A Jewish man was confronting a Christian man: “You know, you people borrowed the 10 Commandments from us.”
3. “Well,” responded the Christian, “we may have borrowed them from you, but we didn’t keep them!”
4. Indeed, Christianity is the fruit of Biblical Judaism, as demonstrated by our study of the 7 Feasts of Leviticus.
5. Thus far in our series, we have addressed the following feasts and the corresspoinding New Testament truth:
(1) Passover: Christ died for our sins.
(2) Unleavend Bread: He is holy and died to make us holy, and He Himself is unleavened, represented by the second of three pierced Matzah Breads
(3) Firstfruits: Christ was resurrected on the Feast of First Fruits, the First Fruits of them that sleep…
6. These first three feasts occurred within an 8 day period: I argued that Christ died on Passover day, was buried before the first day of Unleavend Bread, and arose on First Fruits.
MAIN IDEA: Pentecost foreshadows the truth that during the church age, a new phase in God’s program has emerged: Jewish and Gentile believers are united in one body through the Holy Spirit -- and God uses them to labor for a harvest of people.
I. Pentecost in the OLD Testament (Lev. 23: 15-23)
1. 50 Days after FIRST FRUITS, in Sivan (May/June)
2. Sheep sacrificed and TWO loaves of bread
3. First Fruits celebrated the BARLEY HARVEST
4. But Penetecost celebrated the MAIN HARVEST,
including WHEAT
• The Jews understood God’s description of Israel as “a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey” an impetus to offer all these at Pentecost (Deut. 8:8)
• Bruce Scott, in his book, The Feasts of Israel, describes the scene of Pilgrims entering the Temple area on Pentecost:
“As they traveled onward, the holiday pilgrims journeyed up to Jerusalem. During the day they sang songs of praise to God and rejoiced in His goodness. At night they slept in the squares of the towns through which they passed. Preceeding their procession was an ox, its horns covered in gold and its head adorned with a wreath of olive leaves. A flute player also preceded the group, playing his instrument all the way into the city of Jerusalem. Once near their destination, the excited pilgrims sent word ahead of their imminent arrival. The chief priests and officers of the Temple came out to greet them….
“…They then took the baskets off their shoulders and held them at the top as the priests held them underneath. Together the priests and worshippers waved the … fruits before the Lord….The worshippers…repeated a portion of Scripture….and left their baskets….next to the altar. The priests could them consume the…fruits.” (p. 65).
MAIN IDEA: Pentecost foreshadows the truth that during the church age, a new phase in God’s program has emerged: Jewish and Gentile believers are united in one body through the Holy Spirit -- and God uses them to labor for a harvest of people.
II. The Jewish Emphasis of Pentecost After Christ
• Since the Temple could only be built on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, when it was destroyed in 70 A.D., the sacrificial system was ended…
• There are many customs I will not address, but one is crucial
1. Pentecost celebrates the giving of TORAH
From a Jewish website: http://www.bus.ualberta.ca/yreshef/pesach/shavuintro.html
“Passover freed us physically from bondage, but the giving of the Torah on Shavu’ot redeemed us spiritually from our bondage to idolatry and immorality.”
We often forget the freedom that comes from knowing God’s will…we think of the burden of the Law (and it is), but not the freedom
But Pentecost exemplified a greater freedom
2. Exodus 19 and 20 place us NEAR Pentecost time wise.
• It is in Exodus 20 that God speaks the 10 Commandments
• This potentially puts us at about the 6th of Sivan with time off for the Sabbath, which is Pentecost.
MAIN IDEA: Pentecost foreshadows the truth that during the church age, a new phase in God’s program has emerged: Jewish and Gentile believers are united in one body through the Holy Spirit -- and God uses them to labor for a harvest of people.
III. Pentecost in the New Testament: The Church’s BIRTHDAY (Acts 2:1-4, 41)
1. The Church is the BODY of Christ
2. Pentecost was a TIMED event
• Believers were praying and fellowshipping while they were waiting; the HS would come on Pentecost whether they prayed or not…
• Because Pentecost was on a Sabbath, the bread was baked the day before
• The 3,000 people who came to Christ were prepared beforehand: years of Torah training, John the Baptist. hearing of Jesus through the grapevine…
• There was never another Pentecost, not because the early church lost its power, but because God did not plan it so
• To put it in lay terms, by the time someone gets saved, he is day old bread…
3. Pentecost begins the age of the SPIRIT
• Jewish tradition: When God spoke the Law, He spoke it in the 70 languages of the world
• Pentecost: Jews from all over the ancient world heard God’s word in numerous languages…
MAIN IDEA: Pentecost foreshadows the truth that during the church age, a new phase in God’s program has emerged: Jewish and Gentile believers are united in one body through the Holy Spirit -- and God uses them to labor for a harvest of people.
IV. Contrasts and Parallels
1. On Pentecost, 3,000 came to SPIRITUAL LIFE
2. When the LAW was given, 3,000 died (Exodus 32:28)
3. The symbolism of two LOAVES
4. Pentecost began the busy HARVEST season
Matthew 9:37-38, “Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’"
5. The LAW set up a wall between Jew and Gentile, Pentecost took it DOWN
• Ephesians 2:13-15, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace…
• The Old Covenant began with Passover, but was formalized at Mt. Sinai at Pentecost; The New Covenant began on Good Friday but was formalized on Pentecost…
6. Pentecost was a FUN holiday, not a solemn one
7. The Christian life is a wedding feast, not a FUNERAL
MAIN IDEA: Pentecost foreshadows the truth that during the church age, a new phase in God’s program has emerged: Jewish and Gentile believers are united in one body through the Holy Spirit -- and God uses them to labor for a harvest of people.
CONCLUSION
1. The Christian life is not about US, it’s about GOD. And it’s about doing things for God:
The sign on the stage proclaimed: "The Motionless Man: Make Him Laugh. Win $100." The temptation was irresistible. For three hours boys and girls, men and women, performed every antic and told every joke they knew. But Bill Fuqua, the Motionless Man, stood perfectly still. Fuqua is the Guinness Book of World Records champion at doing nothing. In fact, he appears so motionless during his routines at shopping malls and amusement parks that he is sometimes mistaken for a mannequin.
(Source: Dr. Leigh Bond, sermoncentral)
• Are you a motionless Christian? What do you do, BY ROUTINE, not some rare event, but by routine, that allows the HOLY SPIRIT to use you?
2. The Holy Spirit blesses us, but He came to empower us to serve God.
3. He binds us together like loaves of bread so that we might offer the bread of life to others. He sends us to the harvest as participants in the New Covenant.
