~ Jesus Christ and The Feast of Weeks
/ Pentecost ~
The
Feast of Weeks is also known as the Feast of Pentecost.
Background ~ “Search the
Scriptures—they testify of Me” — Jesus Christ (John 5:39).
“And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, Jesus explained to
them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27). “Let no one judge you in food or in drink, or
regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the
substance is of Christ. Let no one
cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of
angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast
to the Head, from whom all the body [the
true Church of Jesus Christ], nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments,
grows with the increase that is from God” (Colossians
2:16-19).
The Scripture ~ … “And you shall count for yourselves from the
day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave
offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed.
Count fifty days to the day
after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord.
You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an
ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they
shall be baked with leaven. They are the first fruits to the Lord.
And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year,
without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be as a burnt offering to the Lord,
with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire
for a sweet aroma to the Lord. Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats
as a sin offering, and two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a
peace offering. The priest shall wave
them with the bread of the first fruits as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. And you shall proclaim on the same day that
it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your
dwellings throughout your generations. When
you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of
your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your
harvest. You shall leave them for the
poor and for the stranger: I am the Lord
your God” (Leviticus 23:15-22). …
note: Additional Scripture for
your review is found in Exodus 22; Numbers 28:16-31; and Deuteronomy
16:9-10.
The Messiah ~ The
Feast of Weeks / Pentecost is all about the pouring out of the Spirit of
God. It reached its fulfillment with the
creation of the Christian Church. Prior
to Pentecost the Holy Spirit occasionally dwelt in a person during a special
time. From the time of Pentecost the
Spirit of God continuously dwells in the hearts of God’s redeemed people.
The Feast of Pentecost (June)
~ Notice that there has been an
important order of the feasts. The Feast of Passover communicates that a
blood sacrifice is required for the atonement of sin. Christ, the perfect Lamb of God, satisfied
that requirement for ever. The Feast of Unleavened Bread represents the
fellowship with God which comes with accepting the blood sacrifice of The
Messiah. The Feast of First Fruits reminds us of Christ’s resurrection—He was
the first to rise and His followers will follow in resurrection at a future
date. The Feast of Pentecost reminds us of the birth of His Church.
“When the Day
of Pentecost had fully come, they 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 the
whole house where they were sitting.
Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat
upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts
2:1-4). “Then Jesus said to them, ‘These are the words
which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be
fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms
concerning Me.’ And He opened their
understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was
necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from
the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be
preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I
send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on
high’ (Luke 24:44-49). “And being assembled together with them, Jesus commanded them not
to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the
Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me; for John
truly baptized with water, but you shall
be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now’” (Acts
1:4-6).
~ Robert
Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE
NOW
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