Painting by Jewish artist Eizen.
Click on the image to go to his paintings.
THE FEAST OF
PENTECOST
50 days counted out from Firstfruits
is Shavuot or Pentecost.
God comes down to His covenant people
in an earthshaking day
of visitation.
It is a betrothal leading into magnificent
future glories.
Image from 'Christianity Today'
50 days from the day the firstfruits of the barley harvest
was waved before the Lord,
(50 days from the morrow after the sabbath after Passover),
is Shavuot or the Day of Pentecost.
Rabbinic scholars believe that it was on
this day that God visited His people after their exodus
from Egypt and through Moses, brought the Law
down from Mount Sinai.
This earthshaking day of visitation,
trembling, and betrothal is the birthday of the nation of Israel.
Moses brings down the Torah or Law for the nation.
Because of sin 3,000 die under the Law that day.
The Old Covenant is a national
covenant between YHVH-God and His covenant people.
And so the nation of Israel was established.
They agree to follow Him
in devotion and obedience.
In spite of past failures the nation of Israel will indeed be restored.
The Jewish House of Judah will be saved
and the throne of David in Judah will be established upon this earth under Messiah.
But that is not all. The lost sheep of the House of Israel, the
lost ten tribes of Israel, will be found and brought back home to Israel again.
(See
Ezek.37). The nation and Kingdom of
Israel along with Messiah's
Melchizedek Priesthood will be fully restored as a
single Elect and Chosen people.
The Old Covenant and the Law has not been "done away with" as we have been told.
Both estranged houses of Israel will embrace Messiah. Then with their partial blindness healed
they will rediscover each other at the end of this age
to restore the Union in both Righteousness, (the royal national burden of the Jews),
and in Grace, (the holy priestly burden of the Church).
Both Houses of Israel are being sifted through the nations.
Those being saved are bringing many companions home to Israel with them. (See
Ezekiel 37:15-28)
The nation will be reunited and regathered as that
Commonwealth of Israel spoken of by our Apostle Paul. (See
Eph. 2:12-13).
Restored Israel is destined to be cross-linked together as
that "royal priesthood
and holy nation
spoken of by both Moses and by the Apostle Peter.
(See
Exod. 19:6, and
1Pet.2:9).
The Old Covenant God made with the nation of Israel
and the righteous rule of Israel's Messiah upon this earth are in the heart of the Jewish House of Judah.
YHVH-God's righteous rule will surely come and the nation of Israel will be restored, but only under Messiah
and not by might or by power.
The restoration will not come by a seducing religious humanism, or by the military might
of a crusading Church Dominionism). It will come by God's Holy Spirit. (See
Zechariah 4).
The New Covenant is established soul by soul and silently in the gentle bonds of love and devotion as
Messiah is received into human lives. It is by YHVH's Grace through faith that His Law is written into the hearts.
The prophet Jeremiah spoke of this mystery.
See
Jer. 31:31.
See also
Hebrews 8:8-12.
The prophet Zechariah saw the Jewish House of Judah in Israel repenting and
receiving Messiah rather late, even as Jerusalem was surrounded by armies
at the close of this age. See
Zechariah 12:7-13:1.
50 days from the day the
Firstfruits of the barley harvest
was waved before the Lord, (that is
50 days from the morrow after the weekly (Saturday) sabbath after
Passover),
in the summer of the year of Yeshua's passion,
YHVH-God visits His people by His Holy Spirit.
This is another earthshaking day of
visitation and betrothal. But on this occasion
God's Presence is not as unapproachable as on the former visitation back at Sinai.
Moses had ordered 12 boundary markers placed around the foot of the mountain to hold back the
people lest the fire of God flash out upon them. Amidst the thundering and lightning God
came down as a consuming fire and
blackened the entire summit. Only Moses could stand in God's Presence.
Mount Sinai has recently been
discovered east of the Gulf of Aquaba in the former land of Midian, (now Saudi Arabia).
The real Mount Sinai
with many accompanying archaeological proofs of its authenticity is
Jabal el Lawz,
now hidden from the world behind security fences and armed guards of the Saudi military forces.
Back at Sinai it was a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
But this next Pentecostal visitation was quite different.
Tongues of fire descended from heaven to rest upon consecrated individuals gathered to wait upon God.
All of them had received Messiah and had come to know Him in a personal way in the New Covenant.
And so just as Moses had seen the burning bush that was not consumed
the fire came down and rested upon the 120 in the upper room,
not to consume them but to fill them with the Holy Spirit and bathe them in the glory of God.
This day of wonder sees the Holy Spirit descend in a splendid flooding wave.
This was the beginning of the Holy Spirit outpouring. And Joel saw this coming to a peak at the 6th seal
at the very end of the
latter days. See
Joel 2:28-32.
The revival spreads out from the Jerusalem epicenter
as the disciples go out into the streets of the
city proclaiming the Good News of
salvation. Whereas 3,000 had died under the Law on the previous visitation
3,000 are now saved by Grace as the Apostle Peter preaches to the crowds coming up to the Feast.
And so on this awesome day in holy history, the 7th day of Sivan on the Hebrew calendar,
the Feast of Pentecost comes to its appointed New Covenant fulfillment.
The Feast of Pentecost, the fourth of the
Seven Feasts of Israel
is taken up to the next level.
It becomes the birthday of the Church.
The Holy Spirit revival spreads out from Jerusalem
into Judea, Samaria, and thence onward
to the utmost parts of the world. This was that promised Light to the Gentiles Isaiah spoke about. See
Isaiah 49:6)
The ensuing 2,000 years sees Israel's Messiah continuing to 'call out' His 'ekklesia',
His Congregation, by His Holy Spirit.
The Good News of
the Gospel overflows Israel and spreads out into the heathen gentile nations.
And YHVH-God's Covenant people expand out of Israel to become a global Congregation (or "Church"),
even as Israel's Jordan river overflows its banks all the days of the harvest.
A study by Gavin Finley MD
endtimepilgrim.org - 2003
THE GOD OF ISRAEL IS A GOD OF CELEBRATION.
AND ON HIS HOLY DAYS HE PERFORMS HIS WONDERS.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is a God of wonders.
Indeed He is more wonderful than most realize. The word "wonderful" in Hebrew means "SURPRISE!!!"
and that is what Pentecost has been for Israel as a nation and for her people individually.
The reason for this
is quite simple. Unlike all the other vague absentee unknowable gods the Holy One of Israel is real.
By grace through faith a repenting heart can know God in a very personal way.
As affirmed by author Francis Schaeffer, He is
'The God who is there'.
And here at Pentecost Yehoveh-God has taken great strides to make Himself known to the people He calls.
And He will come in and sup with any person who opens their heart to Him.
This is not a cheap religious merchant's contact. Nor is it an indulgence for continued selfism
or a bargain priced "ticket to heaven".
The God of Israel is calling out His people for something far better.
And He is readily accessible to those who are willing to give their lives to Him
and to enter into
blood covenant relationship with Him.
YHVH-God is no respecter of persons.
People down through time have been saved from spiritual death the very same way.
They come into God's salvation by grace through faith
in the atoning covering blood of Israel's promised Sacrifice Lamb.
They repent of their sin, and they personally invite YHVH-God into their lives.
Then they walk with Him through their life.
We are told that "Enoch walked with God".
Apparently he strolled with Him right on up into heaven.
After the flood God "called out" Abraham from a city of idols.
YHVH-God made covenant with Abraham, His friend.
(Gen.15)
The covenant they made together that day involved the dual issues of the Abrahamic Covenant, namely
1. the Land of the covenant
and
2. the People of the covenant.
On Pentecost the God of Israel comes down to His people.
God comes down to visit His people, first nationally, (in the Old Covenant),
and individually and personally, (in the New Covenant).
He reveals Himself to His covenant people in power and great glory.
Pentecost unfolds in the Old Covenant as YHVH-God is betrothed to a nation.
And Pentecost unfolds in the New Covenant as YHVH-God is betrothed to individuals personally inside their hearts.
So the overshadowing glory of God descends down Jacob's Ladder on two spectacular days of wonders.
The first is at Sinai 3500 odd years ago. And the second
is in Jerusalem during the Day of Pentecost 50 days after the
Firstfruits Resurrection of Jesus Christ/Yeshua Hamashiach
in the summer of the passion year.
Pentecost at its heart is an occasion for betrothal, both nationally and personally.
This was true for the nation of Israel and the establishment of the Old Covenant after
the Children of Israel had come out of Egypt and gathered at Sinai in Midian on the backside of the Arabian desert.
And it is also true of Israel when as a Congregation/Church as they overflowed Israel
and spilled out into the heathen Gentiles on the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.
PENTECOST; THE POWER OF THE GOD IN ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH;
DESTINED TO SAVE ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH
BRINGING BOTH INTO VITAL RESTORATION AND UNION;
ALL THESE WONDERS WILL GLORIOUSLY UNFOLD IN THE LATTER DAYS.
Pentecost in the New Covenant establishes the Congregation of Israel
as an "ekklesia", a Congregation, or an "Assembly"of "called out" individuals.
This was the original meaning of the word "church".
Now the word "church" is so debauched and full of such bad connotations and bloody memories
it is time to select another word.
The word is tainted and useless in expressing the wonder and holiness of God's Congregation.
Is the word "church" actually ready for the rubbish heap?
Perhaps it should not be used in reference to the holy things of God.
William Tyndale
used the word "Congregation" instead of the word "Church" in his translation of the Bible.
the hired clergy went into a rage.
Tyndale was severely persecuted
by the established medieval Church. See
this YouTube video
The Congregation of Messiah/Church has a vital unfolding Kingdom connection to Israel through Christ,
the Messiah of Israel. Jesus Christ is the promised Seed of Abraham, (Gal. 3:29).
The saving blood of Christ is the blood of Israel's promised Sacrifice Lamb.
This is the only atoning covering for sin this world will ever know.
But because of her worldly political, commercial, and ecumenical connections
the present day western Church still refuses to acknowledge her ultimate national
identity in Israel through Jesus Christ/Yeshua Hamashiach
the promised Seed of Abraham. He is the Seed, (singular), who gives rise to a myriad of spiritual descendants
as numerous as the sand of the sea and the stars of heaven.
This wonderful visitation all comes to pass by a pro-active God
who comes down to His covenant people nationally and personally in a glorious wave
of true and genuine Pentecostal power.
Does the western Church acknowledge her roots in Israel through the Seed of Abraham, Israel's Messiah?
No, she does not.
This willing ignorance is the cause of the continuing partial blindness of the Church
to her identity in Israel.
This partial blindness will end, but quite late.
The lights will go on in the Church to their identity in Israel
at the very same time as the partial blindness of the other house, the Jewish House of Judah ends
and they finally recognize their Messiah.
We know this will be rather late in the final seven years of this age as the raging heathen armies surround Jerusalem.
See this passage in
Zechariah 12.
All this drama will unfold in
the latter days as the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. (See
Romans 11:25).
Yes, in the crucible of the end-time the end-time remnant Church will finally
read and understand
Ephesians 2:12-13 and come to their Eureka moment, a glorious epiphany.
True Christians will remember
Galatians 3:29 and recognize that their real national identity is in Israel
bundled in with the Messianic Jews of the royal Jewish house.
This is a
spiritual household founded upon Christ/Messiah the Chief Cornerstone.
This spiritual house is not bound by race or DNA lineage.
The End-Time Drama will see the
Breach of Jeroboam healed.
And the long 2900 year period of Church-Jewish feuding will mercifully come to an end.
Many will be the mysteries that unfold in those days.
In a moment of glorious understanding the remnant church/Congregation of Israel
will realize that their ultimate national identity is not with the princes of this world.
Their true Christian identity is in the
Commonwealth of Israel.
Sold-out Christians in increasing numbers are having their eyes opened and are coming to "see" this.
They are coming to understand that in Messiah
there is no Biblically valid dispensational wall of separation between Israel and the Church at all.
In fact this flawed doctrine of separate destinies for the Church and Israel is a formula for a fight.
This separate boxing of Israel and the Church is every bit as dangerous
as the Replacement Theology over in the Roman Catholic and Reformed Churches.
Their Replacement Theology teaches that the Church has replaced Israel
and the Jews and the nation of Israel are an archaic anachronism.
Prominent Unity churchmen secretly believe that Israel
needs to be quietly pushed aside as a triumphant emerging
Dominionist Church
prepares to take over the world. This is called Dominion Theology
and it is well established now among the New Charismatic churches.
God help us! Do these people read their Bibles?
Dear fellow believers.
If this apartheid policy inside Evangelical dispensationalism is not renounced and replaced by a
faithful Biblically sound
Israelology there will be some serious consequences.
This church ordained "us and them" group-speak is set to cause Israel untold grief and bring
us as Christian believers great shame.
This dispensationalis apartheid policy will give rise to another round of bloody anti-Semitic Church history.
This "Church vs. Israel" mindset is bad news.
The inherent jealousy we in the West have against Judah has been in existence since
the Breach of Jeroboam when the ten tribes walked out on the House of David,
cursing them as they went.
The jealousy here is very very strong. These people want desperately to belong to Israel.
And if there heart is open to Messiah they can. But they do not want to know Him as the Jewish Messiah.
So they rage in the flesh to try to achieve something that can only be realized in the Spirit.
Their churchmen should have opened all this up for them from the Holy Scriptures.
Because the indwelling Messiah is always standing ready from His throne and at His altar in men's hearts
to extend His scepter to us and thereby bring His peace and His shalom to the whole matter.
Let us face the facts here.
This jealousy that carnal Christians have of Judah and their racial connection to Israel's glory
caused a great tragedy in Western Christendom 1,000 years ago. We sold all our goods, padlocked up our wives in chastity belts,
then taking up the sword we killed the local Jews before soldiering off on the Crusades. Many crusaders never returned.
This "bad blood" is just beneath the surface. And it is still stirring up the souls of carnal Christians in the West.
A bad economy could bring all this to a head in a hurry. That is why we as evangelicals do not have a moment to lose.
Unless we act responsibly and deal with this Israel-Church dichotomy and fix up our fractured disjointed theology and eschatology
in proper Biblical fashion it could lead us into a sad situation. Christians in this continuing ignorance
could be led into all manner of carnal misbehavior to find themselves pierced through with many sorrows.
Remember, this has happened many times before.
Unless we set our spiritual house in proper order there is a very real danger that
profane crusading Christians will rise up again just as they have done in the past.
Yes, even evangelical Christians, operating in this "us and them" mindset can be deceived.
Under this bad theology we could find ourselves open to dark powers once again
and in the midst of another round of Church facilitated
Anti-Semitism.
The story of the Congregation of Israel, (the Church if you will), goes back a long way.
"The woman" was first spoken of in Genesis.
God said that "the Seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent".
The prophet Hosea prophesied concerning Gomer of the lost ten tribes or the "House of Israel".
The Book of Revelation wraps up the entire saga as a heavenly court case.
Two women respond in two ways to the end-time crisis with the dragon powers of evil.
John saw the Woman of wonder of Revelation 12.
And he saw the Harlot riding the Beast of Revelation 17 and 18.
To which do we belong?
Ever since the Abrahamic Covenant the God of Abraham has been calling out a nation and a priesthood.
The prophet Joel saw Pentecost come to its final magnificent blow-out climax at the end of the age
just as the sun turns to darkness and the moon to blood.
Pentecost, in its final outpouring upon all flesh, will unlock
the mystery of the Church and Israel. The latter rain outpouring
will heal the broken fellowship and
bring both estranged Houses of Israel into Union under Messiah.
The Kingdom of Peace/Salem under Messiah and the High Priesthood under Messiah are both based in Jerusalem.
That is why the heathen (and the UN and ecumenical ecclesiastical powers in there with them),
spend so much time and effort raging against Israel and
the royal Jewish House of Judah as they try to settle over in the land of Israel.
Two leavened loaves are waved before God
as Pentecost is celebrated. God is lifting up, dealing with, and bringing together
two entities that are not unleavened and not without sin, even Israel and the Church.
What a righteous and gracious God we serve!
Our God speaks to us in His Righteous Law and in His Grace and Mercy.
Herein lies the two-fold witness we see in the two leavened loaves
lifted up at Pentecost.
Our politics and religion are man's attempt to entrain or emulate the glory of
the Kingdom and the Priesthood of Israel. In this endeavor they have varying degrees of success
depending on their devotion to the God who is the author and energizer of all good things.
The four horsemen of human rule and human religion will ultimately fail to achieve this.
But these two offices of the Kingdom and the Priesthood
emerge in Pentecostal power from the double anointing of the Order of Melchizedek which is found in Messiah.
We also saw this in Zechariah's vision of the two olive trees in Zechariah chapter 4.
This twofold anointing of the Kingdom and the Priesthood is a very important matter.
It helps explain the split that occurred in Israel under Jeroboam after the death of Solomon.
Israel is divided right now.
We have a people of God's righteous rule and Torah/Law connected to the Throne of David
and the Lion of the Jewish Tribe of Judah.
And we have a people of the High Priesthood of God's Grace and mercy in the Gospel
who as Joseph bring the Bread of Heaven to the world for salvation.
Both belong to te God of Israel.
But they are in a serious state of disconnect.
Fortunately this broken state will not last forever.
The power of Pentecost is at work!
Let us remember we serve a God of perfect unity and integrity in Himself.
And so Gods' covenant people who appear to be at cross purposes and in conflict with each other
are not divided in the eyes of God.
The Holy One of Israel has not ordained that His Kingdom in the Jewish Israel should be severed and partitioned off
from His Priesthood in the Christian Church. In history we know that his split did in fact occur
nearly three millennia ago under Jeroboam. But this sad state of affairs is not ordained of God to be an eternal
condition as our dispensationalist teachers affirm.
Let us get down to basics here.
Our Messiah has just one path to salvation. And there is just one pathway to glory.
There is one Sacrifice Lamb and one atoning blood sprinkled on one heavenly altar in heaven
above. The blood of Messiah was shed once and for all. Jesus/Yeshua died for ALL of God's covenant people.
Our Jewish brethren will be saved, eventually, (if we can wait for them)!
Alas, most evangelicals of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture persuasion cannot wait around for the Jews to come around.
They want to be raptured out before any serious covenant issues arise and
those final seven years open up to cause any discomfort for them.
This points to a serious morale problem in the Church of the West.
Our problem is a failure of blood covenant commitment which in turn results
in a lack of Pentecostal power in the lives of the saints.
This needs to be attended to promptly. The saints overseas are already being called up to witness.
At some future point in time the Ancient of Days will be calling Western Christians up to the witness stand as well.
Are they, as wise virgins, prepared for this?
Do we have the oil, the oil of the Holy Spirit?
Dear saints, the separation of Israel and the church under dispensationalism is a grievous doctrinal error.
It is a fancy of men, an impossible dream.
This wrongheaded doctrine of escapism will throw up some nasty
history among our people if we do not speak up against it ASAP.
Messiah/Christ does not preside over an apartheid policy with the Church in one box and Israel in the other.
The two kingdoms have indeed been estranged from each other since the
Breach of Jeroboam. The blood-feuding continues this is true.
But this is still a temporary aberration in Israel, a sickness if you will.
The Church of western Christendom is very much in Gomer, lost Israel.
She is sin-sick from her dalliances with her Roman and other
princely lovers. Gomer has not returned to her true Husband yet.
She is still out there away from her Husband with her lovers and seduced by the motivational speakers
she pays to put in the pulpit. Gomer is still in the company of strangers.
She has forgotten the ancient paths and she is still suffering from amnesia.
Gomer's lost state will not last forever
any more than the Jewish denial of their Messiah will last forever.
Back on that awful day at the Breach of Jeroboam
Israel's Lost Ten Tribes cursed themselves into partial blindness.
Fortunately we have good news to report.
This condition, which has gone on for 2900 years now, is destined to be miraculously and wonderfully healed.
So with respect to the partial blindness of Israel we need to here the "rest of the story".
The two feuding houses of Israel, and yes, that includes US in the Church, are BOTH in
the "partial blindness" our Apostle Paul spoke about.
At the end of the age both Jewish Israel and the true remnant Church as well are destined to
find the needed
spiritual eye salve to regain their sight. Then the two estranged houses of Israel
will see their Messiah for who He is and looking across at their brothers and sisters in the other house
they will embrace each other as the twins of the constellation Gemini and come into Union together once again.
The two sticks will be re-united as they were under David and Solomon, only in a far more wonderful way than before.
They will then become the one single Elect Messiah said He would return to gather
"after the tribulation of those days". Then they will serve
in the Millennium of Messiah as kings and priests before Emmanuel, "God with us".
So we have a wonderful future if we go with the God of Israel.
Israel and the Church should not be forever divided as
evangelical theologians have divided them.
(But Pre-Trib Rapture dispensationalists had to do this to clear the way for their own special
early departing early rapturing Church).
Of course they will come around sooner or later, some to repentance and some to anger.
But for many the signing and confirming of the 7 year covenant
and the unfolding of the Feast of Trumpets will be a day of great surprise, even shock and awe.
Yes, the great divorce of Israel under Jeroboam was inevitable.
The prophet Zechariah had spoken of the breaking and separating of the
Staff of Union. (Zech. 11:14).
But that was not the end of the matter.
The prophet Ezekiel saw the House of Israel resurrected and the Union restored
in his Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones.
This was facilitated by the coming of the Holy Spirit as the Breath of Heaven
coming to the bones in full resurrection power.
Then immediately after that Ezekiel sees
the two sticks becoming one. See
Ezekiel 37:15-28.
This restoration of Israel is awesome and inspiring beyond words, something we have not yet seen.
There are many elements to the restoration of this Union and most of them will come together
as the End-Time Revival powers up to its blow-out climax at the end of the age.
So our churchy sectarianism with respect to Israel is something that is here today and will be gone tomorrow.
The Bible does not speak of a royal earthly Jewish Kingdom in Judah/Israel
separated off from a supposed
holy spiritual
Priesthood in the so-called "Church".
But we are consistently taught this error by our dispensationalist evangelical Bible teachers.
The Holy Scriptures show us something quite different.
The reunion and the
Moses in Exodus 19:6 and the
Apostle Peter in 1Pet. 2:9 stipulate a cross-linked royal priesthood and a holy nation .
What is going on here?
Well it appears we are on the road to find out.
And as holy history unfolds God is leading His people both nationally and individually
deeper and deeper into the unfolding
mysteries of the Abrahamic Covenant.
The Holy One of Israel is active in the covenant.
He sends His Servant as a Light to the gentiles and the heathen goyim respond to Him.
See Isaiah 49:6.
God Himself becomes incarnate as the
Unleavened Bread of heaven. He interposes Himself
as that "Bridge over troubled waters". He is the One who is bridging the pagan gnostic chasm between heaven and earth.
How do we know this?
Very early on YHVH-God showed the patriarch Jacob a ladder. It was extending from
heaven right on down into this earthly cosmos. The God of Israel has never hidden Himself from those
who sincerely seek Him. Such people will always hear His call. And they will respond to Him.
When they invite Messiah they step out of the
gnostic fog they break forth into the clear light of day.
Like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon they discover true freedom
and wonders they could never have imagined.
The God of Israel has been
making Himself known to His covenant people for a long long time. The pilgrimage of the children of Abraham
has always been an adventure and it has always been a romance in God.
And so it continues to this day.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has chosen to communicate His divine Message through His Word
under the ministrations of His Holy Spirit.
We hear His voice as we read the pages of the Bible.
YHVH-God ministers into the lives of His covenant people on a day by day basis by His Holy Spirit.
His personal, national, and congregational dealings with His covenant people continue.
In fact they will come to a climax during
the closing seven years of this present age.
Our God likes to celebrate. He likes to party with His people. And He parties big!
(See
John 2:1-11, Rev.7, and Rev.21)
One of the names by which He is known is "Emmanuel", which means, "God with us".
It is in His Spirit of fellowship that YHVH-God has set forth special times of the year for partying holidays.
He marks out and sets aside special dates on the Hebrew calendar to celebrate with His nation and His covenant Congregation,
even as He did with His
'Church in the wilderness' gathered at Sinai.
There are seven, (perhaps eventually eight), Feasts of the Lord.
These holy days are celebrated in the Spring, in the Summer, and in the Fall.
They are the
Seven Feasts of Israel.
The YouTube video here contains a short 8 minute video.
It is a brief overview of the Seven Feasts of Israel or Seven "Appointed Times".
Should you have trouble streaming the video from the YouTube box above
you may go directly to YouTube and see the video by clicking the image below.
If you would like to download an MP3 of this audio for your iPod right-click
here.
Then left click on "Save file/target as" to save the file 7feasts.mp3 to a folder in your computer.
Then when the file is clicked it should, or can be made to, open up into your iTunes library.
The next time you synch to your iPod the mp3 message on the Seven Feasts will load up.
If you would like to download a WMA of this audio for a player using Windows Media right-click
here.
Then left click on "Save file/target as" to save the file 7feasts.wma to a folder in your computer.
Then when the file is clicked it should, or can be made to, open up into your Windows Media library.
The next time you synch to your WMA player the wma message on the Seven Feasts will load up.
THE FEAST OF PENTECOST;
THE MIDDLE FEAST OF SEVEN FEASTS
The Feast of Pentecost is the middle feast of the seven
Feasts of the Lord.
Four of the seven Holy Days have already come to their New Covenant fulfillment.
Three big events are left to erupt from the Hebrew calendar.
These future epic events will unfold right out of God's holy calendar.
These next three blockbuster events will bring in the fulfillment
of the three
Fall Feasts of Israel.
So those three
Fall Feasts are waiting in the wings. Will the Hebrew calendar dates
of those three Autumn holy days out beyond Pentecost deliver up earthshaking future events as the former four feasts did?
It would be foolish of us to believe otherwise.
Look closely at the first four feasts.
Weren't the three spring feasts
fulfilled in spectacular fashion in the death, burial, and resurrection of Israel's Sacrifice Lamb?
And as we shall see, did not Pentecost, the birthday of the nation of Israel,
not also explode into holy history as the birthday of the (true) Church, the Congregation of Israel?
Did we not see epic earthshaking events unfolding right on those first four very
auspicious dates on the Hebrew calendar?
THE OLD COVENANT HISTORY OF PENTECOST IN THE NATIONAL HERITAGE OF ISRAEL.
MOSES BRINGS DOWN THE LAW ON MOUNT SINAI.
THEY DECLARE "ALL THESE THINGS WILL WE DO!"
AND THE ENTIRE NATION OF ISRAEL IS BETROTHED TO YHVH-GOD.
Soon after the Exodus, when the children of Israel came out of Egypt,
they camp out at the foot of Mount Sinai.
YHVH-God, the God of Israel, comes down to visit His people but they are unable to approach His glory.
Moses met with God upon the mountain and brought them the Torah or the Law.
On that day, the Day of Pentecost, on the 7th day of the month of Sivan,
the children of Israel were asked if they would make their national and personal covenant with God.
Their answer was a positive one.
They said,
"All that the Lord has spoken we will do". (Exo. 19:8)
And so on that day, a day of national covenant-making the nation of Israel was born.
In with the Law came the instructions from YHVH-God
for the
Feasts of Israel. (Lev.23)
The Feast of Pentecost is the fourth holy convocation in the annual list of the seven
Feasts of Israel.
It was celebrated during the early summertime in the month of Sivan.
Pentecost was time linked to Firstfruits, which was the third feast
event in the springtime celebrations of Passover.
The time span here between Firstfruits and Feast of Pentecost is fifty days.
As we see from the calendar below, the fiftieth day is the 6th/7th of Sivan.
Pentecost is a Greek transliteration of the phrase "fiftieth day".
THE TIMING OF THE FEAST OF PENTECOST.
AND ITS CONNECTIONS TO THE FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS AND PASSOVER.
The timing of the Passover in its agricultural context was linked to the barley harvest.
And so the Passover moon was called the month of Abib.
In its celestial context
Passover came on the 14th day of the first month that would come to fullness
after the spring, (or vernal), equinox.
And so the original Hebrew name for this month was Abib.
And later it came to be called Nisan.
Nisan, being the first moon to come to fullness after the spring equinox
is usually the month that sees the barley come to ripeness for harvest.
The Passover lambs came to inspection on
Nisan 10.
They were slaughtered on the 14th day of the Nisan moon at twilight.
The day following Passover was Nisan 15 and it was the first
day of the
Feast of Unleavened Bread. This day was a "high day" or a sabbath.
During such a 'high day', 'holy convocation', or any other 'sabbath' for that matter
no servile work was to be done.
The first and the seventh days of Unleavened Bread are both 'high days' or 'sabbaths'.
And then the seventh day of every week is a sabbath of course.
So a "sabbath" may mean a Saturday. Or it might mean a "high holy day".
This point about the other sabbaths is very helpful for us as we seek to understand the Feasts of Israel.
It lays a foundation for us to see just how the spring
Feast of Firstfruits is determined. Firstfruits is "day one" for the
fifty days which are counted out to the summer Feast of Pentecost.
This appreciation of the different sorts of Sabbaths also helps us to understand how
Jesus was in the grave for three days and three nights.
He was not in the grave for two days and two nights as medieval church
tradition has taught us through these past 1700 years.
There were two Sabbaths, back to back in the crucifixion year of 32 A.D..
The first sabbath was a "high day" sabbath.
It was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and it came on a Friday in the year of our Lord's passion.
The second sabbath, the very next day, was Saturday, a regular weekly sabbath.
And so here we have a solid scriptural basis for laying out the three days and
three nights in which Jesus was in the grave. Remember that Himself said that
as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights that He too would be in the
heart of the earth for three days and three nights. (Mat.12:40) That extra sabbath, the first day of Unleavened Bread
came on a Friday. Tat was followed by the weekly sabbath.
Thus we have the extra day that fulfills the prophecy Biblically and accurately.
The Passover festivities
included the
Feast of Firstfruits.
This was a celebration marking
the beginning of the barley harvest,
the first harvest of the year.
On this day the first fruits of the barley harvest,
a sheaf, or "omer" of barley was harvested and
presented before the Lord
as a thanksgiving "wave offering." (Lev. 23:10,11)
As we shall outline below, the day of Firstfruits came on
"the morrow after the sabbath' following Passover. So it was a workday.
It was a Sunday, the first day of the week.
This day marked the beginning of the barley harvest.
It also marked the starting point
for the counting out of the fifty days to Pentecost.
Barley harvesting involved manual labor.
So the celebration of the beginning of the barley harvest
was to come on the day after the sabbath that came during that week of celebration.
It mattered not whether that sabbath was the 'high day',
the "holy convocation" which came on the first day of
Unleavened Bread, or whether that sabbath was a regular weekly sabbath.
Firstfruits could not be celebrated on a sabbath.
The outcome of this was as follows.
The Feast of Firstfruits came on a Sunday.
It was the first day of the week, the morrow after the weekly (Saturday) Sabbath),
which came during the
Seven days of Unleavened Bread.
There was a non-Saturday high Sabbath, the first day of Unleavened Bread which was Nisan 15.
It was an "high day", a "holy convocation", or a Sabbath, (holy
day). This was a day in which no servile
work was to be done. The days following would see the appearance of a weekly (Saturday) Sabbath.
So Firstfruits was celebrated
on the day after this weekly Sabbath which was a Sunday.
One seventh of the time, on average, the Sabbath, (or high day), of Unleavened Bread was followed
immediately by another Sabbath, that being a regular weekly Sabbath.
In such years Passover week had two Sabbaths juxtaposed to one another
or 'back to back' Sabbaths.
And so both the Sabbath of the first day of Unleavened Bread and the regular weekly Sabbath
would have to pass by before the barley harvest could begin and the Feast of Firstfruits celebrated.
In such years the omer was waved before the Lord three days after the Passover lambs were slain.
Firstfruits in such years would then fall on Nisan 17, the 17th day of the Passover moon.
So on those years in which Nisan 15,
(the High day sabbath of the first day of Unleavened Bread),
was followed the next day, (Nisan 16), by a regular Saturday sabbath the Feast of Firstfruits
came the next day. Firstfruits would fall on Nisan 17.
That Nisan 17 would be on the first day of the week,
or in our Roman naming of the weekdays, a Sunday.
This is precisely what happened in the crucifixion year.
Firstfruits, (which became Resurrection Sunday) came on Nisan 17.
The number 17 in biblical numerics is related to the "sons of God".
For example, on the 17th day
of the 2nd month the fountains of the deep were opened and the ark lifted on the waters.
And then five months later on the 17th day of the 7th month the ark came to rest on Mount Ararat.
This auspicious Firstfruits was also a day of deliverance from death.
And it came on the 17th day of the Nisan moon in the crucifixion year,
32 A.D.
So Firstfruits in the year of the passion
came three days and three nights after the prescribed Passover date of Nisan 14.
It came three days and three nights after that epic
Passover that saw Israel's promised Sacrifice Lamb slain.
So Yeshua/Jesus kept that feast. On the morrow after the sabbath
He rose from the grave as the firstfruits from the dead. (1Cor.15:20)
The
Feast of Firstfruits was an important day.
It marked the beginning of the Barley harvest
and was always the anchor day for Pentecost.
It was day #1 of
the "fifty days of the omer" that are counted out to Pentecost.
(The word "Pentecost" is the Greek rendering of "fiftieth day".)
Moses had received specific instructions concerning this from YHVH-God.
Here below is our scripture.
LEVITICUS 23
THE SCRIPTURE FOR THE FEAST OF PENTECOST (WEEKS).
AND THE COUNTING OUT OF THE OMER.
15. '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. 16 Count fifty days to the
day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain
offering to the Lord.
17. 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 firstfruits to the Lord.
18. 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.
19. 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.
20. 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 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.
22 '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.' "
From the scripture above we see that from
the
Feast of Firstfruits seven weeks,
or forty-nine days were counted.
This was called "counting the omer".
The day following, the fiftieth day, was
the wheat harvest. (Lev. 23:10:11)
On the "fiftieth day" or "Pentecost" or "Shavuot" -
the firstfruits of the wheat harvest was celebrated.
On this day two loaves of bread baked with leaven
were waved before the Lord.
This was an act of thanksgiving before Him
for the bounty He had provided. (Lev. 23:16-20)
The Day of Pentecost came 50 days after the Feast of Firstfruits.
In the crucifixion year Firstfruits came on Sunday the 17th of Nisan.
Counting out those 50 days through a 30 day month followed by a 29 day month
we come to Sunday the 7th of Sivan.
The fiftieth day, is Shavuot (Hebrew) or Pentecost (Greek).
Here below is a calendar showing the back to back sabbaths
of Passover in the passion year.
The fifty days of "counting out the omer" to Pentecost
are numbered in red.
In
32 A.D., the year of the passion of Jesus Christ,
Passover, and with it the crucifixion, came on a Thursday.
The First day of Unleavened Bread was a Friday and the
next day, Saturday was a regular weekly sabbath.
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ came the following day,
on the Feast of Firstfruits on Sunday, the morrow after the sabbath
and the "first day of the week".
Jesus was in the grave during the passage of
the three days and three nights as He had said.
Those three days extended from Thursday
the 14th of Nisan,(Passover), when He was laid in the tomb,
through to Sunday the 17th of Nisan,
(Resurrection Sunday).
THE DAY OF PENTECOST AND THE BRINGING OF THE LAW/TORAH AT SINAI
What is the Old Covenant connection with Pentecost?
Or what is its significance for the nation of Israel?
We are not specifically told the exact date in which the Torah was given to
Israel thus establishing them as a nation in covenant
with YHVH/God. But we are
told that the children of Israel did came into the Wilderness
of Sinai "in the third month". That was the summer month
of Sivan. Here is our scripture.
EXODUS 19
1. In the third month
after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt,
on the same day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai.
For two and a half millennia Rabbinic scholars have believed that
Pentecost was the day Moses brought down
the Torah or Law from Mount Sinai.
The month is certainly on target.
And the giving of the Torah certainly fits the spirit,
character, and pattern of Pentecost very well. Pentecost is a day of
covenant making and betrothal between YHVH/God and His covenant people.
Pentecost in the Old Covenant is a covenant making day with the nation of Israel, a national betrothal with YHVH-God.
Pentecost in the New Covenant, (as we shall see), is a covenant making day for God's holy people,
the Congregation of Israel, the ones who by faith have entered into the covenants and the Commonwealth of Israel.
(See Eph.2:12-13, Gal.3:29, Rom.11)
On this auspicious day in the summer month of Sivan the God of Israel takes the initiative.
He comes down to earth in an awesome day of visitation.
Pentecost is the Hebrew Feast of "Shavuot" or "Weeks".
Seven weeks are counted off. The fiftieth day marks the beginning of
the wheat harvest. The "Feast of Weeks" is called "Shavuot" in the Old Testament
and by our Jewish brethren today.
It is called "Pentecost" in the New Testament.
Pentecost is a Greek translation of the words
"fiftieth day" which was when the Festival was celebrated (Lev. 23:15,16).
THE SUMMER FEAST
THE FEAST OF PENTECOST: .......FULFILLED!
It was right on the Day of Pentecost, in the summer of the crucifixion year.
Fifty days after the first fruits of the barley harvest had been
waved at the Passover festivities that year it happened.
That year in Jerusalem the Holy Spirit of YHVH-God fell in an unprecedented wave of glory.
The outpouring began with the 120 in the upper room.
This was the Congregation
of believers in Jesus Christ who had been tarrying, waiting on God
for the visitation that had been promised.
The Holy Spirit fell upon the 120 as they gathered, all in one accord, in that upper room.
The outpouring then spilled out into the streets of Jerusalem.
Pentecost in the New Covenant fulfillment was a life-giving flow. The Holy Spirit entered human hearts and lives
on an individual basis. Pentecost in the Old Covenant had brought us the Torah, and the requirements of God.
And on that first Pentecost when Moses brought down the Law to the Nation of Israel 3,000 died.
But when Peter preached on Pentecost of that year YHVH-God did a new thing. 3,000 were saved.
The infilling of the Holy Spirit brought new life in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The Holy Spirit outpouring continued in Jerusalem. But He did not stop there.
This first Holy Spirit revival, (and let us not forget that it came out of
the Jewish House of Judah in Israel),
spread throughout Judea and on into Samaria, and beyond.
The prophet Joel spoke of this Holy Spirit outpouring upon the nations.
(Joel 2:28-32) And the Apostle Peter made reference to it. (Acts 2)
God’s ministry of grace would go out beyond this initial Pentecostal outpouring.
It would flow on into the gentile nations
towards the ends of the earth. YHVH-God would be drawing all men to Himself.
He would be doing this in the power of His Holy Spirit.
The prophet Joel saw the very same Holy Spirit outpouring that Peter
saw on Pentecost Sunday 2,000 years ago. Peter makes a direct quotation
of Joel's prophecy (Joel 2:28-32) in Acts 2.
Joel saw the Holy Spirit outpouring that began that year at Pentecost.
He saw it at its very peak.
Joel saw it come to its final climax
in the context of the final 6th seal cosmic signs
of a darkened sun and a bloody moon.
This is the
End Time Revival.
Jesus/Yeshua tells us precisely when this main upthrust of the Pentecostal Holy Spirit outpouring will occur.
He tells us quite clearly in the Olivet Discourse.
He said that the days of the darkened sun and bloody moon
would come "after the tribulation". (Mat.24:29)
So we must assume that the cosmic signs are seen after the 1260 days of the Great Tribulation.
The days of a darkened sun and a bloody moon will therefore
be the 30 days extending out to
day 1290
as referred to by the prophet Daniel. (Dan.12:11)
We have
good evidence that this day 1290, (numbered off after the Abomination of Desolation),
will be the last day of this age, the final ultimate wrap-up, day of reckoning, day of accounting,
Day of Atonement.
The Apostle Peter remarked on the awesome show of Holy Spirit power
they were seeing.
He put it in its over arching context by saying,
"this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel".
Here is what happened on that awesome day.
ACTS 2
"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with
one accord in one place [together]. 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 Spirit and began to speak with other tongues (or languages),
as the Spirit gave them utterance.
And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation
under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together,
and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own
language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another,
Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every
man in his own tongue, wherein we were born? . . . .And they were all
amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?"
(Acts 2:1-12).
As we saw in the earlier articles the
year of the crucifixion saw the first three spring feasts fulfilled.
They erupted into holy history during passion week and right on schedule.
So the Feast of Pentecost was the fourth celebration fulfilled that year.
This auspicious Jewish holiday erupted that summer as a magnificent and memorable day
in holy history.
It saw the Congregation of Israel, (or Church), overflow its national banks, as it were,
and flow out into the heathen nations. YHVH-God through His cosmic expression in His Son
was doing a new work, just as He had promised through Isaiah several centuries before.
YHVH-God is here speaking to His Servant.
6 Indeed He says,
'It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; ......."
Here we see the extravagant grace of the God of Israel.
In effect He is saying that saving Judah and the lost ten tribes of Israel is "small potatoes".
He is going to go one better than that.
The Light of His salvation will shine forth out of Israel to the far side of the world.
Because He goes on to say,
"....... I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles,
That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.' "
The Day of Pentecost in that summer that followed the crucifixion was magnificent beyond description.
It saw the first overflowing of the Holy Spirit into the gentile nations.
This was an awesome day of visitation by the Spirit of Jesus Christ/Yeshua Hamashiach
the Savior and Spirit of the Anointed One, the Messiah of Israel.
This was the first day in which the Congregation,
of Israel, (now expanded as the Church), went global.
On that day the salvation of our Hebrew Messiah
engulfed in Jerusalem in waves of glory and in great power.
And so the Holy Spirit of YHVH-God went out among the people
as Light to the gentiles.
What a day that was!
PENTECOST SEES THE ETERNAL COVENANT OF ISRAEL COME INTO A GLORIOUS OVERFLOW.
ISRAEL'S GREAT SALVATION FLOWS OUT TO THE HEATHEN GOYIM GENTILES IN THE NATIONS.
Once again, Hashem is doing wonders, and His very name "Wonderful" means "SURPRISE!!!".
Here at the summer feast He is bringing salvation and blessing to two companies in need of help.
They are
1. "Lost" Israel", (both the yet to be saved Jewish house of Judah and lost amnesic Ephraim of the lost ten tribes).
And they are also
2. Today's rich, yet
miserable, blind, poor and naked semi-pagan
Church of Laodicea.
Here is how it happens.
God has an agenda laid out in seven feasts on the Hebrew calendar.
They are waypoints on the ongoing history of Hashem with His covenant people.
Each of the seven calendar dates of Leviticus 23 have had an Old Covenant fulfillment.
It was clearly seen in the past history of the holy nation of Israel.
But God has not finished!
He is still doing wonders in and on His Holy Days!
Three Fall Feasts are yet to come into their New Covenant fulfillment.
Eventually all seven feasts will have gone on to erupt in their New Covenant fulfillment.
They will be fulfilled in the future history of Israel and all her holy people.
The Old Covenant relates to the holy nation of Israel.
The New Covenant relates to the holy people of Israel.
The Old Covenant has never been "done away with". (This is a dangerous
anti-Semitic doctrinal error).
The Old Covenant is destined to be fulfilled in the New Covenant.
This was all made possible by YHVH-God in his great over-arching plan.
A key to this wonderful plan was the New Covenant fulfillment of the Feast of Pentecost.
The nation of Israel will be fully restored, including
all 12 tribes.
The New Covenant offers the nation of Israel a new means of identification.
It goes beyond the externally imposed national law of Israel.
Obedience to the God of Israel is still the focus. But the method of its establishment has changed
and so has its power to save and to change men's hearts.
The Law, the righteous rule of God is no longer a striving for goodness and virtue by force of human will.
It is now a grace and an empowering personally endowed upon the believer by the indwelling Messiah.
The indwelling Messiah, and His Personal Presence by His Holy Spirit is the key. He in Himself is the living indwelling Word of YHVH-God.
He is the indwelling Torah!
And so the nation is to become a Congregation, (a Church if you will), of the God of Israel.
Each one of them as an individual citizen of Israel is in personal covenant with YHVH-the Holy One of Israel.
These are the living stones that make up the foundation and the mansions of the New Jerusalem.
(1Pet.2:4-5)
Each one of them, betrothed to YHVH-God, is picked up and carried across a threshold,
Even as YHVH-God carried Abraham when he made covenant with Him.
And so the nation of Israel is silently and secretly being restored!
Moses declared that Israel would be a kingdom of priests
and a holynation.
(Exodus 19:6)
And the Apostle Peter similarly spoke of, "a royal priesthood
and a holy nation".
(1Pet.2:9)
There is only
one Elect, one Chosen people, one Congregation (or Church).
The word "Church" is from the Greek word "ekklesia" meaning "called out".
As Christian believers we have been "called out" and now by grace through faith
we belong to the Congregation of YHVH-God, the God of Israel.
We are citizens of the Commonwealth of Israel. See
(Eph 2:12-13)
We see the final full company of the Elect, the Congregation of Israel, in
Revelation chapter 7.
Here we see the "little flock", the first company of that myriad company of Abraham.
They are the saints, called out and dawn out of this evil age.
They are a wooed company, God's covenant people, drawn out from Israel first and then from
all nations, races, and tribes. They are gathered from both sides of Calvary, from the Garden of Eden to the last tribulation saint.
There is just one salvation plan and
one (single) Elect. The saved Congregation of Israel are in covenant with the God of Israel.
They are in covenant with the indwelling Messiah who is the promised Seed of Abraham.
(Galatians 3:29)
We have seen the heathen, the goyim, the gentiles enjoy the blessings of Israel all through the pages of the Bible.
Indeed, that was God's big plan right from the beginning.
(Isaiah 49:6)
But when did we first see the nations enjoy the covenants and promises of Israel in a big corporate sort of a way?
Well after the first coming of Messiah the Holy Spirit overflowed out of Israel.
The Holy Spirit outpouring overflowed Israel to spill out into the nations.
This was an epic blockbuster event in holy history. And it came in the summer of 32 A.D. At Pentecost!
PENTECOST; PHASE ONE; OLD COVENANT; THE BIRTHDAY OF THE NATION OF ISRAEL.
PENTECOST; PHASE TWO; NEW COVENANT; THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CONGREGATION OF ISRAEL
AS IT EXPANDS OUT INTO THE NATIONS AS "THE CHURCH".
Here we must bring to light a little known fact.
The Congregation of Israel and the Congregation of Christ
share the same birth date on the Hebrew calendar.
Is this likely to be just a coincidence?
I submit that this is very unlikely.
The coming of God's Law or His just and righteous rule
and the coming of His Grace and mercy
are both essential elements of the character of Christ our Messiah.
They are as seamless as the garment worn by our Lord Jesus/Yeshua.
He will gather His Elect in Israel and His Elect in the Church.
The breach of Jeroboam will be healed. Both are destined to become one and the same.
The crucible of the end-time will bring them forth as the
single undivided Elect
we see spoken about in Holy Scripture.
At the end of the story they will be in one accord.
And when all is said and done they will emerge
as a single company, a refined and glorious remnant.
They will come into unity under Messiah as the "royal priesthood and .. holy nation"
Moses and our Apostle Peter both spoke about. (Exo.19:6, 1Pet.2:9)
In the summer feast of Pentecost we see the sovereign Presence of God.
50 days after the Feast of Passover God used His servant Moses
to bring the Law or Torah down from Mount Sinai.
He introduces His righteous rule into the nation of Israel and into
the lives of men. On that first day epic day
of Pentecost He writes His law on tablets of stone. He gives them
to a nation; a nation He has called; a nation whom He
has delivered out of Egyptian bondage.
He comes down to His covenant people in power and great glory.
The nation of Israel is challenged.
The question is asked? Will you as a nation commit
To YHVH, the God of Israel?
And what was their response?
The people were in one accord.
They answered in unison and in one voice.
They said, "We will!"
On that day the nation of Israel was born.
So it was the Most High God who established the nation of Israel.
As His covenant people they
were destined to become a country and a congregation manifesting the righteousness
of YHVH/God. They would become a "royal priesthood and a holy nation"
Both the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai and the giving of the Holy Spirit into Israel
as an overflow into the gentile nations
came on Shavuot, or the Day of Pentecost.
But that epic day 50 days after the passion of Christ
would mark the time "when the Day of Pentecost had "fully come".
The birthday of the nation of Israel and the birthday of the Church
came on the very same date on the Hebrew calendar.
For the 120 tarrying and waiting on God in the upper room
the Holy Spirit came as a mighty rushing wind. Tongues of fire
rested upon the 12 apostles.
In that pivotal year of 32 A.D. the God of Israel sent forth the Good News of salvation
in the Gospel from Jerusalem to the gentile nations round about.
And so He established His Congregation, or Church, as an international Body, even the Body of Christ.
When the Day of Pentecost had "fully come"
it turned out to be a day like no other before it.
The Holy Spirit came down in waves of glory.
He rested upon the heads of those who had tarried for Him in Jerusalem.
But the Holy Spirit did not end His work in Jerusalem.
The Spirit of the God of Israel
would overflow beyond the Holy City in spectacular fashion.
This was the promised "Light to the Gentiles" Isaiah had spoken about.
Right there we saw the very beginning of the Church.
The Congregation of Israel would spread out beyond Jerusalem
and Judea to enter Samaria and then onwards towards the ends of the earth.
God's covenant people were greatly blessed that year.
In the springtime they saw the shedding of
the blood of the promised Sacrifice Lamb.
God was coming into this cosmos. YHVH/God had come into His fallen creation as God in the flesh.
And as our Lord Jesus Christ, or Yeshua Hamashiach, He brought His great salvation to all who would receive Him.
But His great salvation would not stop at the borders of Israel.
The Holy Spirit would overflow the nation of Israel.
And the Gospel Light would statrt a great work,
redeeming the lives of people even out to the ends of the earth.
YHVH-God was launching His Congregation as a global company.
And He was sending them forth as His ambassadors.
They would not be left desolate, struggling to fulfill God's law in their own power.
He would provision them with power from above.
And He would come inside them to write His laws in their inward parts, even upon their hearts. (Jer.31:31)
Many in Jerusalem, both Jew and Greek,
would come into covenant with YHVH/God after this wonderful day.
They would come to know and embrace the Saviour of Israel.
And he would come to be known as Yeshua Hamashiach or Jesus Christ.
God’s congregation has always come to Him and found His great salvation the very same way.
They have been saved by grace through faith in the promised Sacrifice Lamb.
The Holy Spirit of YHVH, as always, has stood ready to
fill the hearts of His Elect and so energize them by His grace towards
righteousness and good works. Pentecost in that year 2,000 years ago was a huge corporate
move of God. The Spirit of Israel began to overflow Israel and spill over into
the heathen nations round about.
The God of Abraham was saving and equipping all who came to Him
through conviction of sin, repentance, and then faith in His Son.
He would enter and change the lives of many from the inside out.
And so they would become His witnesses.
The coming of Holy Spirit is just not a theological doctrine.
It is a serendipity. Many will testify that this is a thrilling experience in God.
In the Pentecostal experience God gives the believer the first foretaste of what it will be like
to be with their Bridegroom in the glory.
At Pentecost God's covenant people enter into a betrothal.
They become engaged. They taste the heavenly food.
YHVH-God is taking the initiative here. He is
calling His people to Him in an intimate way.
Then in an experience of glory He is giving us an earnest or down payment.
It is a foretaste of things to come.
And so in Pentecost the saints make their experiential entry into the Eternal Covenant with God.
He is the One they are destined to spend eternity with.
He is the One and only true God, the Holy One of Israel. He has entered the cosmos
as Immanuel, 'God with us'. He has spoken through the prophets.
Now in His passion He is speaking through His Son.
But God is still not finished.
The Summer feast of Pentecost takes His people onwards.
And so they enter into the flows of His Holy Spirit.
This is how YHVH-God is at work in the cosmos He created.
He is here to do business in the hearts of men.
So here we are 20 centuries later.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is now ramping up.
He continues to save,
to sanctify, to deliver and to heal.
His magnificent Pentecostal power continues to work
inside the hearts of men.
He fills them by His Spirit just as fast as they
are prepared to surrender up their self life and their flesh life
to Him.
His wonderful and mysterious work goes on.
We see Him guiding, teaching, and inspiring
His covenant people in ever more wonderful ways.
He loves and cherishes His people.
And in the days to come He will lead them on to glory.
PENTECOSTAL POWER IN THE LAST DAYS
What can we say about the Holy Spirit in the last days?
We can say a lot.
The prophet Joel spoke of a massive revival that would power up in the endtime.
He saw it climax in a blaze of glory in the very last days of this age. (Joel 2:28-32)
See the article on
the End-Time Revival.
Joel saw the climactic Holy Spirit outpouring
as one would view a mountaintop from afar. He saw the Pentecostal outpouring
at its peak.
He saw it in the context of the days of the sixth seal
cosmic disturbances of a darkened sun, a bloody moon,
and the stars falling.
(Joel 2:28-32)
Jesus tells us in the Olivet Discourse that these are the
cosmic events that will occur
"after the tribulation of those days." (Mat.24:29)
Surely this blow-out flooding of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh
will come at the close of Daniel's 70th week
after the 1260 days have ended. This must be during those last 30 days of this age
running up to the 1290 days spoken of by the Angel Gabriel in his message to
Daniel. (Dan.12:11)
The peak of the Holy Spirit outpouring will occur
At the end of the final seven years of this age.
At the Second Coming of Christ, our other paraclete will
be at our side once again.
This will be a moment of unprecedented splendor.
At His coming He will glorify all His saints,
both the living and the dead.
All will rise to meet Him in the air on the
Resurrection-Rapture at the Last Day.
This will cap off of the prophesied blow-out Pentecostal
outpouring.
In that epic day the saints will go up.
They will go out in a blaze of glory.
Who would want to miss this?
---------------------------------
SOME DEEPER MEANINGS OF PENTECOST.
THE SUMMER FEAST AND A TIME OF BETROTHAL.
THE BETROTHAL OF THE NATION OF ISRAEL AT SINAI.
THE BETROTHAL OF RUTH, DURING THE TIME OF HARVEST.
THE BETROTHAL OF THE CHURCH AT THE FEAST OF PENTECOST.
THE BETROTHAL OF BELIEVERS AT THEIR OWN PERSONAL PENTECOSTAL EXPERIENCE.
As we begin our journey of discovery in search of the meaning of
Pentecost we shall start by going back to the time of Moses.
The children of Israel had come out of Egypt
in a magnificent deliverance.
They had crossed the Red Sea in a national baptism of sorts
and come out into the Sinai desert.
It was there at Mount Sinai in the third month, the month of Sivan,
that God came down to meet His people.
His Presence shook the earth. Up on the mountain
the people saw the thunderings and lightnings. And they trembled.
This was a day that they would remember forever.
YHVH-God delivered the Ten Commandments to Israel and to all mankind.
His appearance upon the mountain
was accompanied with smoke, with thunderings, and with fire. (Exo.19:18).
For the Israelites it was a day of national betrothal.
One and a half millennia later, on that same date on the Hebrew calendar,
God visited His people once again.
He had come in the person of a man, even God in the flesh.
Christ then ascended into heaven.
God then moved in covenant faithfulness
to what He had promised.
His people tarried and waited upon God.
They were ready to receive what He had for them.
And it was on the Day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit
outpouring came.
As we have alluded to earlier, the Feast of Pentecost
had been the occasion of a great and noteworthy
event in the Old Covenant.
It had been the birthday of the nation of Israel.
But now something new was happening.
In that epic year of Christ's passion
we are told that the Feast of Pentecost
"had fully come".
In that epic year and on that auspicious and awesome day
the Feast of Pentecost was fulfilled in the New Covenant.
On that day the Feast of Pentecost had become more than the
birthday of Israel. Pentecost in 32 A.D. would
now also become the birthday of the Church.
Pentecost that year was a day like no other.
It was an awesome display of power from heaven.
Tongues "like as of fire" were seen resting upon the 12 apostles.
Witnesses heard a rushing mighty wind, like a tornado (Acts 2:2-3).
In his sermon on that day, Peter explained what had just
occurred to the assembled multitude, saying,
"These men are not drunk as you suppose. But this is that which was spoken
of by the prophet 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. And I will show wonders
in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and
vapors of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon
into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: And it
shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be saved." (Acts 2:16-18)
Peter had quoted from a prophecy by the prophet Joel.
This dated from
about 800 years before. Joel’s prophecy foretold the climactic Holy Spirit
outpouring that would be seen at the very end of the age.
God inspired Peter to draw from that prophecy to explain
the miraculous events they were seeing on that amazing Day of Pentecost
2,000 years ago. The message the Apostle Peter brought was simple and straightforward.
This demonstration of spiritual power was the same
Pentecost that Joel had seen! Peter was saying in effect that
they were seeing this same remarkable outpouring of the Holy Spirit that Joel saw.
Only they were not seeing it at it’s peak.
They were seeing it at its beginnings.
They were seeing it as it expanded out from Israel to be a Light into the nations.
This was a remarkable message.
Obviously the Pentecostal outpouring that Joel saw had begun in earnest.
And it was going
to get more and more glorious as time went on.
It would reach its peak after the tribulation in the days
Of the cosmic signs of the 6th seal.
This would be those awesome future days when the sun turned to darkness
and the moon to blood.
God's Spirit was poured out on His people back then, even as it will be
poured out in torrents during the end-time.
The Holy Spirit will be powering up
during the latter days of those final seven years of this age.
This will be before the coming of the dreadful
and awesome "Day of the Lord"!
That first Pentecost during the birthing of the Church was the 'early rain'
of God's Spirit. But as we come into the arena and the time of the latter days
of this age we shall experience the fulfillment of the
'Latter Rain' of God's
Holy Spirit! The prophet Hosea foretold,
"Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will
heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days
will he revive us; in the THIRD DAY he will raise us up, and we shall live
in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord. His
going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall COME unto us,
as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth."
(Hosea 6:1-3).
The story of Ruth is especially appropriate for Pentecost for many reasons.
It was at Pentecost that Boaz was betrothed to Ruth.
It was the beginning of wheat
harvest, and Ruth went out into the fields to glean from the harvest of
Boaz, her next-of-kinsman. She presented herself to him in betrothal
on the eve of Pentecost.
He accepted, according to Jewish tradition. The Scriptures clearly reveal that
it was the beginning of barley harvest when Ruth began gleaning (Ruth 1:22).
She continued reaping all the way through until the end of barley harvest.
(Ruth 2:21)
This puts the story into the context of Pentecost.
The connection of Ruth to the Church is
obvious. (Ruth 2:6-11). The story of Ruth pictures the betrothal of the
Church, typified by Ruth, the Gentile convert, and Jesus Christ, the
Messiah, typified by Boaz, of the tribe of Judah.
PENTECOST AS A COVENANT OF BETROTHAL IN THE SUMMER SEASON OF LOVE AND FLOWERS.
RUTH IS BETROTHED TO BOAZ IN THE SUMMERTIME HARVEST.
ISRAEL AT SINAI RESPONDS TO GOD'S PROPOSAL WITH A
RESOUNDING "WE WILL!"
THE CHURCH HAS HER 'MOUNTAIN TOP EXPERIENCE'
ON THE BIRTHDAY OF ISRAEL, THE 7TH OF SIVAN, THE SUMMER FEAST OF PENTECOST.
Ancient Israel also entered into a betrothal, a "wedding" covenant with Hashem at Mount Sinai.
On the day of Pentecost
YHVH-God, the One who came to earth as the Messiah, came in His glory.
From the foot of the mountain the thunderings and lightnings of His Presence were seen by a nation of 1-2 million souls.
God "revealed" Himself to Israel and gave Moses the Torah including the Ten Commandments.
(Exo.19:20; 20:1-17). This was surely a momentous event.
This was a special "revelation" of God to mankind.
It occurred in the desert of Sinai.
We read,
"And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings,
and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking . . ." (v.18).
This was an epic day of visitation and covenant making.
The two parties come to terms. The earth moves under the feet of the Bride.
As a corporate nation the children of Israel enter into a betrothal.
It is a binding blood covenant commitment to her Bridegroom.
We read in Exodus 24:7 that Moses read the Torah, the covenant, to the people.
They responded by saying,
"All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient!"
Thus the nation of Israel is born.
It is the beginning of a new relationship between God and man.
Israel becomes the betrothed of YHVH-God.
He will take His prospective Bride onwards through many histories and adventures,
in a divine romance, a series of wooings, onwards and upwards towards the consummation
at the
Marriage Supper of the Lamb at the end of the age.
The commitment made at Sinai represents a beginning of a national relationship.
There are many difficulties to overcome. Shortly after Moses ascends
Mount Sinai, the Israelites make the golden calf. They violate
the commitment they made to YHVH as a nation.
But God is patient and walks them through all this.
Mount Sinai is very much a national wedding betrothal
between God and the nation of Israel.
And as we saw in the history of Israel, the nation was unable to
keep Old Covenant as it stood by itself.
PENTECOST'S FULFILLMENT IN THE NEW COVENANT
Enter the New Covenant. And in this inner personal work of YHVH-God we see the only viable hope for the restoration of Israel.
This is the wonder of Pentecost. Because in the New Covenant the global Church or Congregation of Israel
can begin to be regathered as Israel, not politically but spiritually.
Israel becomes a global Congregation of believers drawn out of Israel and the heathen gentiles.
Now they are devoted to Hashem, the Holy One of Israel.
So what was not possible for national Israel to attain through the Old Covenant
by an externally imposed and policed Old Covenant (or Law)
is now quite possible in the inner personal work of the new Covenant.
The obedience to the Torah, God's righteous rule, and the restoration of the nation of Israel is not just a possibility.
It becomes a living reality.
The restoration of national Israel is made possible by an inner empowering of the Holy Spirit. The indwelling Messiah, (or Christ), of Israel
can bring the Torah into the heart. This does not happen by a wagging of the finger.
But it is happening "soul by soul and silently"
in the gentle bonds of love.
And so it is 'by grace through faith' that the inner work of redemption and sanctification is being done.
This is what will eventually lead on to the 'final witness' of the saints.
At the close of this age, Messiah Himself will return.
His coming will bring the
glorification of the saints.
And the whole redemption, sanctifiation, glofification operation will be wrapped up.
This ease with which it is possible for those in covenant with Messiah to obey Torah is nothing new.
(Micah 6:8)
True saints have known about this all along.
(Deut. 30:11-14)
So called "Torah observance" has never been a problem for true believers.
They live out this obedience in their daily walk with God.
The facts are that the saints are not perfect.
But as the come to know God and walk with Him they begin to obey His law.
His Torah, His righteous rule, is not a grievous thing to them at all.
And why?
The answer is simple.
They obey Him because they love Him!
PENTECOST IN THE NEW COVENANT.
AND OUR PERSONAL BETROTHAL TO MESSIAH.
So our betrothal to Jesus Christ/Yeshua Hamashiach is a wonderful privilege.
And our own personal Pentecost is very real empowering in God.
It is a serendipity, an unexpected happy event, an initiation into the
Agape love of God.
The prospective bride and groom commit themselves to each other.
The
"bride to be" willingly agrees to "obey" her bridegroom and be faithful to Him
as her future husband. She pledges to keep the commandments and precepts He has given her for her future glory.
They break bread together.
The Bridegroom then presents the cup before His prospective Bride.
If she decides to go with Him she drinks the cup.
And so she enters into the New Covenant.
'Commune with Me' - by Keith Goodson.
'Click' the image to go to his studio.
The couple come into communion together. They exchange vows.
He promises to come for her at a future time.
There is to be a Wedding Feast.
The
Marriage Supper of the Lamb will also mark the
consummation of their future marriage.
Meanwhile, the Bridegroom promises to send His Holy Spirit, the Comforter
to strengthen and to guide His bride until they meet at the consumation.
By His Spirit He will communicate His love for her.
He will cherish her through all times, the good and the bad.
He expresses His love to her forever. She agrees to be
faithful to Him, to love Him and to obey Him.
By His Spirit she will endure life's trials on His behalf.
She has signed the betrothal with Him.
And so she will be His witness.
Her witness remains true through hardships, distress, trials, persecutions,
discouragements, or whatever.
There is no denying it, the Pentecost experience is a betrothal.
It is a watershed, and it represents a new an higher relationship along with a new
commitment.
Covenant is no longer just a "deal" or a "contract" that can be discarded when it
"no longer meets my needs".
Blood covenant cannot be re-written into the legal language of property law and contract law.
This is the way of the merchants. Blood covenant is a far greater and more awesome relationship
than we see in the contracts for for goods and services.
But many are trying to do this. Their scheme is to "sell" a weaker, but more "popular" version of christianity for the masses.
But such "knock-offs" of true Christianity will just not "cut it" when the chips are down.
This is our relationship with Messiah we are talking about here!
The Eternal Covenant is an everlasting relationship.
It is a
blood covenant commitment. And it is written in the heavenly
language of eternity.
Just like our marriage covenant it is 'unto death do us part'.
As we have seen, Pentecost is a transforming experience.
It is the doorway into a new relationship.
Two who were formerly separate now
"tie the knot" and walk as one. Christ the Head is betrothed to His
Church, even His Body, the Body of Christ.
Together they are the Servant of God the Father, even the man-child company.
(Rev.12:1-5)
They are committed to each other in a relationship that is binding.
Paul wrote that in this life we are to be transformed until
we are ready to become one with Christ.
He wrote,
"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God".
(Rom.12:2).
Paul likewise wrote to the Ephesians,
"That ye put off concerning the former conduct the old man,
which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on
the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."
(Eph.4:22-24).
To the Colossians, Paul writes:
"Lie not one to another,
seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him."
(Col.3:9-10).
As the people of God, we are being changed from the inside out.
By our surrender to the leading of the Holy Spirit we are becoming a new person.
We are being sanctified and set apart for a higher purpose.
We are being transformed into the very image and spiritual likeness of Jesus Christ!
At the time of the giving of the Law the Old Covenant, a marriage
covenant between YHVH and Israel, was proposed and answered with a
resounding "We do!"
by the nation of Israel. We saw this on that first Pentecost at Mount Sinai.
Now, in the New Covenant Pentecost is seeing the betrothal
of Christ's Church. It is a day of epiphany, a time of divine manifestation.
Once again God is coming down and showing Himself powerful among men.
God's covenant people are again entering into a new relationship
with God in a mountaintop experience. It is an earnest, a down payment, on our future inheritance in God.
Here at Pentecost we see and eat the firstfruits of many glories yet to come.
Pentecost is a foretaste of that magnificent future day when the Church will be
glorified. The saints will receive new incorruptible spiritual bodies and will come into immortality in the
New Heaven and New Earth. The Congregation of God will at last become that "royal priesthood, and a holy nation". (1Pet.2:9)
Pentecost also looks forward to the day of our
"epiphany", our complete change from mortal to immortal, from
corruptible flesh to incorruptible spirit bodies,
from the corruptible human state into the Divine
nature through union with Christ.
Through Pentecost God’s covenant people are empowered by the Holy Spirit.
They find the oil to light the way
in that coming dark journey.
And Pentecost gives us a foretaste of that coming future day
when Christ will be
"revealed from heaven," in awesome power and glory.
As we can readily see, Pentecost is not just an old forgotten Jewish feast.
We have every reason to believe that the Feast of
Pentecost, like Passover and Tabernacles, will continue
to be celebrated during the coming Millennium of Messiah.
It will be one of the three pilgrimage festivals that
every family in Israel will go up to Jerusalem to attend every year.
Does this mean there will have to be a quantum leap forward in
transport in the coming
Age of Messiah? Perhaps so.
In those future times people may be in an age of technology
that far outclasses the one we now know.
In the coming Millennium of Messiah it may even be possible to
travel at unheard of speeds from place to place around the world.
Perhaps in those wonderful future times the people under Messiah
will have new vehicles that can generate a gravitational field
to cancel out gravity and accelerate a vehicle at unheard of speeds.
Vehicles could be suspended in the air or fly through the air in a
locally generated gravitational field around the vehicle.
This is not beyond
the realm of possibility. Albert Einstein was working on the
Unified Field Theory towards the end of his life. God will not
let us have this technology yet.
There would be extreme danger of this technology falling into the hands of the
wicked men and rogue governments our era. But in the coming
Millennium of Messiah it will be different. Lucifer will be in
the Abyss
And the world system, under Messiah,
will no longer be evil and unsafe. The citizenry of the world
in that coming golden age will be able to move forward in every
conceivable way under His wonderful ministry and rule.
FOUR FEASTS OUT OF SEVEN HAVE BEEN FULFILLED.
FOUR FEASTS ARE YET TO GO.
Pentecost is the fourth of the Seven Feasts of Israel.
The first four have been fulfilled.
The fifth, sixth, and seventh feasts are yet to be fulfilled.
Knowing God's track record so far, will they be fulfilled?
Most certainly they will!
Obviously they will be epic earthshaking events.
What will happen on those future feast days?
The answer is absolutely mind boggling.
It is the subject of our exciting article on the
FALL FEASTS OF ISRAEL.
Painting by Jewish artist Eizen.
Image from 'Christianity Today' 
If you would like to download an MP3 of this audio for your iPod right-click
here. 
If you would like to download a WMA of this audio for a player using Windows Media right-click
