Shavuot (plural of seven, or week), also known as the Feast of Weeks, takes place fifty days after Passover. Some Jewish scholars teach that the number fifty refers to a new, higher realm, beyond the natural realm that is contained within multiples of seven. Shavuot does not have its own specific date in scripture, but depends on the date of Passover (the Lamb), and Feast of First Fruits (Resurrection) for its timing. Shavuot commemorates Israel's receiving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, seven weeks after the deliverance from Egypt. God's covenant with His people, Israel, was confirmed on this feast with the giving of the Torah. Part of the observance of this feast is the lifting of two loaves of leavened wheat bread, from the new wheat harvest, as a wave offering before the LORD. While we usually associate leaven with something negative (Mt. 16:6, 12, Mk. 8:15), Jesus also used the concept of leaven to describe the kingdom of heaven:
"...The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." Mt. 13:33
The Greek word for leaven used in this verse refers to a comparatively small, powerful quantity, that thoroughly pervades by its influence.
"...The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." Mt. 13:33
The Greek word for leaven used in this verse refers to a comparatively small, powerful quantity, that thoroughly pervades by its influence.
Pentecost, the Greek word for this feast in the New Testament, also refers to the number fifty. At the set time after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, God confirmed His covenant between Himself, His Word, Jesus, and His people, with the giving of the Holy Spirit on this day:
"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they (the disciples) 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 all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Acts 2:1-4
So at the same time as the priest was waving the two loaves of leavened bread in the temple for Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, the Holy Spirit was being received in another part of Jerusalem, above the tomb of David, fulfilling the prophesy of Joel:
So at the same time as the priest was waving the two loaves of leavened bread in the temple for Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, the Holy Spirit was being received in another part of Jerusalem, above the tomb of David, fulfilling the prophesy of Joel:
"And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on My servants and on My handmaidens I will pour out in those days of My Spirit; and they shall prophesy."
Acts 2:17-18, Joel 2
Acts 2:17-18, Joel 2
The Apostle Paul gave this description of the confirmation of covenant in the receiving of the Holy Spirit:
"...ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest (deposit) of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory....the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power." Eph. 1:13-14, 18-19
The giving of the Holy Spirit on the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, confirmed, or sealed, God's covenant with us, which was accomplished by the atoning sacrifice of His Son, Jesus.
On that day of Pentecost, it was also made clear that the gospel of salvation, and subsequent receiving of the Holy Spirit, was to people of all nations, as Joel had prophesied. Jews, proselytes from the Gentiles, citizens from near and far away nations, and Romans were present that day at the tomb of David, who was believed to have been born on Shavuot, and heard the disciples speaking with other tongues, hearing their own native languages coming from the mouths of the disciples, and were amazed (Acts 2:4-12). This move of the Holy Spirit, on the fiftieth day after Passover, went far beyond the religious confines of what these observers had previously known or experienced.
Perhaps these visitors should not have been so surprised. The two loaves of Shavuot should be a reminder of the prophecy of Ezekiel concerning the two sticks (Ez. 37:15-19), representing the divided people of Judah and Ephraim, the tribe associated with Joseph. By the prophetic word of God, these two separate sticks became one in God's hand. While Ephraim's father was Joseph, the son of Jacob, who received the covenant promise from God, Ephraim's mother was a Gentile. God explained to Ezekiel that this unification of two peoples would be connected with Messiah: "And David (Messiah), My servant, shall be King over them; and they shall have one Shepherd: they shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes and do them." (v. 24). One confirmation of this covenant, the everlasting covenant, the covenant of peace (v. 26), was the giving of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost in the hearing of both Jews and Gentiles, Israelite and foreigner.
Perhaps these visitors should not have been so surprised. The two loaves of Shavuot should be a reminder of the prophecy of Ezekiel concerning the two sticks (Ez. 37:15-19), representing the divided people of Judah and Ephraim, the tribe associated with Joseph. By the prophetic word of God, these two separate sticks became one in God's hand. While Ephraim's father was Joseph, the son of Jacob, who received the covenant promise from God, Ephraim's mother was a Gentile. God explained to Ezekiel that this unification of two peoples would be connected with Messiah: "And David (Messiah), My servant, shall be King over them; and they shall have one Shepherd: they shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes and do them." (v. 24). One confirmation of this covenant, the everlasting covenant, the covenant of peace (v. 26), was the giving of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost in the hearing of both Jews and Gentiles, Israelite and foreigner.
Each one of those local and foreign visitors making the pilgrimage to David's tomb that Shavuot day in Jerusalem, heard the disciples speaking in the foreign languages native to them, witnessed the giving of the Holy Spirit, and heard the gospel from Peter (Acts 2:22-36). Each of these visitors must have taken an account of this miraculous experience back to the home from which they had travelled.
Who will be the missionaries, the watchmen, sent to America to bring the gospel? Are we waiting for those from foreign lands to come to revive us? First, it must come from us, the inhabitants of this land, who have been set apart, and made into something new by the gospel of Jesus, and the infilling of the Holy Spirit. We also have witnessed and received our own Pentecost experience, and have been sent back to our own homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces, to tell others all that we have discovered. No matter our walks in life, or spiritual callings, we have each been sent home from the "upper room", after discovering something extraordinary, in order to bring our Pentecost experience to those around us.
Who will be the missionaries, the watchmen, sent to America to bring the gospel? Are we waiting for those from foreign lands to come to revive us? First, it must come from us, the inhabitants of this land, who have been set apart, and made into something new by the gospel of Jesus, and the infilling of the Holy Spirit. We also have witnessed and received our own Pentecost experience, and have been sent back to our own homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces, to tell others all that we have discovered. No matter our walks in life, or spiritual callings, we have each been sent home from the "upper room", after discovering something extraordinary, in order to bring our Pentecost experience to those around us.
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