|
|
|
|
Meaning of the Feast of Pentecost – The Feast of Weeks – Pentecost is a celebration which pictures the first resurrection, being the ascension of the firstfruits of humanity into the God family as spirit beings. This is symbolized by the first harvest season, or reaping period, of the earliest part of the wheat crop. It is a festival to celebrate the commencement of the harvest of all humanity into the God family as spirit beings. Updated: 8 Jun-08 OPEN through Table of Contents to View Current Article Previous Article: There is a Real Hell
The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) is the last of three Holy Days set during the early wheat season of ancient Israel and is the day that uses the harvesting (reaping) of the early wheat crop to symbolize the time of ascension for the saints. The Feast of Pentecost explains the purpose of our existence; it is about where are headed, our final destination. This article elaborates on the spiritual meaning of the festival and the principal physical aspects relating to the Day.
Resurrection (Ascension) of the Firstfruits
In addition to being called the Feast of Weeks (Exodus 34:22), this festival is also known as the Feast of Harvest (Ex 23:16), the Day of firstfruits (Num 28:26) and more commonly, the Day of Pentecost (Act 2:1, Act 20:16 and 1Cor 16:8). The last of these names being due to the count of 50 days from the weekly Sabbath before the Wave Sheaf offering during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
It is Biblical agrarian knowledge that in the Middle East there always were early and latter harvest seasons for the annual wheat crop – the first (early season) being a smaller grain season and the second (late season), being a much larger autumn grain season. The Wave Sheaf offering, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev 23:10), was part of and actually commenced the very first fraction of the early wheat harvest. Although some churches of God teach that the Wave Sheaf was comprised of green barley Keil, quoting Philo and Josephus, suggests that the barley was already ripe at this time in the warmer areas of Canaan. The Wave Sheaf therefore, was either a sheaf of ripe barley or green wheat.
We are told in Ex 34:22 that the first harvest (at Pentecost), like the second larger harvest, is a wheat (khit-taw – Strong’s 02406) harvest: "...'And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year's end.'..." [NKJV].
The Hebrew Calendar is a religious almanac given by God to the Israelite nation in order that they may observe His annual Holy Days on the correct days and in the appropriate seasons of year. At the beginning of the year is the month of Abib, the first month in the religious calendar. The Jewish nation (separate from the nation of Israel) later commenced their civil year from the 1st of Tishri, the seventh month, but the religious calendar still remained the basis for annular calculations. As a religious almanac, even the names of the months had significance associated with events related to the Holy Days. The month of Abib, the month in which the Wave Sheaf was to be offered, literally means "green ears" and since it is the ears of wheat that are green at this time of year (not barley), the Wave Sheaf Offering consists of a sheaf of green wheat. Both Christ and the saints are called firstfruits (1Cor 15:23 and Rev 14:4 respectively) and just as God demands the purity of Christ in all who ascend to His family, so too are all those in both the early and late harvest of pure wheat – they were not of wheat and other mixed grain. They must all be pure spiritual Israelites – which is the overall message of conversion to God’s way of life – and this is the essence of Christ’s analogy of the vine as recorded in John 15:4-8: “…4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.’…” [NKJV].
Also in the context of conversion, we are asked a crucial question in James 3:12: “…My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?…” [NIV]. This Scripture, by God inspired analogy, shows clearly that as the fruits of the two ascensions to eternal life (the fruits being those who ascend into the God family as spirit beings) are described as wheat in Ex 34:22, then that fruit must have come from wheat – not barley or some other grain.
Central to God’s plan of salvation are the two ascensions to life – the two wheat harvests (the reaping) depict these two ascensions (cited in Rev 20:4-15). There is to be a third raising of the dead, but this is a resurrection to death – the equivalent of burning the stubble after the last harvest. In this article we will address the first ascension only, as it is this one which pertains to Pentecost.
Ascension of the firstfruits into the family of God is the single meaning of the Feast of Pentecost! There are a number of events connected to this day, but they are all either simply attachments or events subordinate to the ascension of firstfruits at the return of Christ. This is the first resurrection and it is a resurrection to eternal life.
All those people from all nationalities who have been predestined to be called by God and having remained faithful to God throughout the days of their conversion can now look forward to receiving the promised ascension into the family of God at the return of Christ to Earth. Although we are not yet immortal, because we have God’s Holy Spirit He looks on us as already being His children – to be made immortal at the first resurrection: 1John 3:2 “…Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is…” [NRSV].
A key to understanding all the discourse in the NT about the resurrection is that whenever it is mentioned, it is always referring to the first resurrection, unless otherwise specified. Accordingly, we only have to think in terms of one resurrection at this point – the first one. An equally important key is understanding that having the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit is synonymous with being predestined to be in the first resurrection, the resurrection of the saints at the end of this age. Where this is mentioned in Romans (Rom 8:12-22), Paul is preaching to the saints about the outcome for the saints – ascension into the family/kingdom of God: 1Cor 15:50-53 “…50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality...” [NRSV]. The “all” being spoken of by God refers to all of the saints, those with His Holy Spirit – those with the firstfruits of the spirit who have been predestined to be in the first resurrection: Rom 8:23; “…Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies…” [NIV].
The other principal Scriptures that allude to us being the firstfruits of the resurrection, that is to say participants in the first resurrection, are as follows: Rev 14:4: “…They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb…” [NIV]. Jas 1:18 “…Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures…” [NKJV]. 1Cor 15:23 “…and each in his proper order, a first-fruit Christ, afterwards those who are the Christ's, in his presence,…” [YLT].
There is no mistaking that the first harvest season (pictured by Pentecost) is symbolic of the first resurrection and this is the resurrection of all those with the Holy Spirit who gain God’s approval by remaining faithful to His way of life. This is the resurrection of the saints of God, but the rest of the dead are not to rise until a thousand years later, Rev 20:4-5: “…4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection…” [NIV].
Calculating Pentecost
Now that Pentecost and its true meaning have been presented we can move on to the most important part, which is how we arrive at the fulfilment of what the day symbolizes.
The physical part of this calculation is simple and requires only that one be able to count 50 days from a particular day in order to arrive at the Feast of Pentecost.
Unlike other Holy Days, where God has set a specific date (day of the year), for the Feast of Pentecost God specified that it is to fall on a specific day of the week, the first day or a Sunday if you will (Lev 23:16). To arrive at this day we are instructed to count exactly 50 days from and including the day of the Wave Sheaf offering, which is to be offered during the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev 23:10-16). We are told that the 50th day is the day after the Sabbath (the seventh-day, weekly Sabbath) which means if you count backwards from that day you arrive at the one and only Sunday to fall during the Feast of Unleavened Bread which is preceded by a weekly Sabbath during the eight (8) day Passover Season (see table below).
Sometimes the weekly Sabbath will fall on the seventh (or last) day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. On such an occurrence it means that the first day of the eight (8) day long Passover Season is also a weekly Sabbath as well as being 14 Nissan (Passover day). When this occurs, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread also becomes the day on which the Wave Sheaf offering is to be made.
The very first example of the Wave Sheaf Offering being on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (also showing that Passover of that year was a weekly Sabbath) is given in Josh 5:11. We know this to be the case because of the specific command in Lev 23:14, where the Israelites were commanded not to eat of any of the produce of the Promised Land until they had brought the required Wave Sheaf offering to God. The fact that the Israelites ate of the produce of the land the day after the Passover (the 15th), as related in Josh 5:11, means that this particular 15 Abib was the day of the Wave Sheaf Offering and therefore the previous day (Passover) was a weekly Sabbath. This event also establishes that the “Sabbath” referred to in Lev 23:11 is the weekly Sabbath, not one of the annual Sabbaths of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Accordingly, as the Wave Sheaf Offering is always made on the first day of the week we know that Pentecost is also always going to be on the first day of the week. This makes it easy to know the day from which we start the count of 50 days.
Possible Wave Sheaf offering days during the Feast of Unleavened Bread (UB) highlighted in green.
The Wave Sheaf Offering Table, above, shows the complete scenario of different days, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, on which the Wave Sheaf may be offered during any Passover Season. Using this table it is a simple matter of counting 50 days (seven Sabbaths + 1 day) to arrive at the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), which will always be on the first day of the week (Sunday). When there are two weekly Sabbaths in the Passover Season the last is discounted from the calculation, because the Wave Sheaf offering MUST be during the Days of Unleavened Bread. This is established from the example in Josh 5:11, explained above, when there were two weekly Sabbaths in that Passover Season – the actual Passover, the first day of the eight-day season, fell on the weekly Sabbath.
Jesus, the First of the Firstfruits
The Feast of Pentecost (designated the Feast of Weeks in Duet 16:10) is also known as the Feast of Firstfruits and the paramount meaning of the festival is that it symbolizes the harvest of the firstfruits of God – the saints. This harvest of firstfruits is also known as the first resurrection, which is to take place at the return of Christ to the Earth.
Since Pentecost pictures the first resurrection, which is a complete and distinct part of God’s plan of salvation, the logical question to be asked here is, “Why is Pentecost so firmly attached to an event in another festival season?” The simple answer is, the harvesting of the firstfruits actually began 50 days prior to the Day of Pentecost. The harvest began with the offering up to God of the Wave Sheaf (the first of the firstfruits) and symbolizes the Father receiving the risen Christ, who is the first of the firstfruits. That Jesus is the firstfruits is recorded in 1Cor 15:23: “…and each in his proper order, a first-fruit Christ, afterwards those who are the Christ's, in his presence,…” [YLT].
Those who take part in the first resurrection are also called “firstfruits,” thus making Christ the first of the firstfruits and this point is made clear in Rev 14:4: “…These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb…” [NIV].
The reference to “defilement with women” is symbolic. In prophecy reference to a woman always points to a church or a religion, so in this verse poetry is being used to describe the bride (collectively the church members) keeping themselves (herself) pure and unpolluted by false doctrines to present themselves (herself) as chaste before a virtuous husband. Marriage of the church (resurrected saints) to Christ is one of the major events pictured by the "Feast of Trumpets", the details of which will be provided in the next article.
God, being consistent in giving all the Sabbaths, including Holy Days, to man (Mark 2:27) set aside Pentecost as the annual Holy Day to celebrate the resurrection of firstfruits (the saints), but in this case ensured the event would be forever fixed to the Wave Sheaf Offering, which pictures Christ, the future husband of the church, being offered as the first of the firstfruits.
Pouring Out of the Holy Spirit
The Scriptures can be divided into two broad parts loosely known as the “before time” and the “after time”, with the coming of the Messiah being the central event.[1] – hence the "time before the Messiah" and the "time after the Messiah". There are references in the OT to a time called the “latter days,” but a more accurate translation of the Hebrew would be the “after time”. In this period of the “after time” we are told in Joel 2:28 that God would pour out His spirit on all mankind: “…28 And afterward [in the after time], I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days…” [NIV – with bracketed text being added as a more accurate rendering].
In Acts 2:16 we are told that this prophecy was to apply from the time the disciples received the Holy Spirit on the first Day of Pentecost after the death of Christ. So, for about the past 2,000 years we have been living in the “latter days.” There is nothing in Scripture to indicate that God will continue to pour out His spirit AFTER those days. In Joel the Hebrew word “yowm”[2] has been rendered “in those days”. In many other places in the OT this word has been accurately rendered as “season” or a specific number of days (indicating a beginning and an end). This word refers to a specific period of time; it is not indeterminate allowing a spill-over or carry-over into a different time period or season. In Acts 2:17 the Greek is even more definite, with God stating that this time of pouring out of the Holy Spirit will be PRIOR to the “day of the Lord,” which is prior to the first resurrection. Acts 2:17-21 (without verse references for ease of reading): “…'And it shall be in the last days,' god says, 'That I will pour forth of my spirit on all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of my spirit and they shall prophesy. And I will grant wonders in the sky above And signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the lord shall come. And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved.'…” [NASB].
In verse 17, regarding the Greek word “en”, Strong remarks that this word, which is rendered “In”,[3] is “a primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (in place, time or state)”. Likewise, in verse 20 Strong states that the word rendered “before” [4] is “a primary particle of distinction between two connected terms. The two connected terms being the beginning point and the ending point. As all of these prophetic events are to occur within the same time-frame (the time frame of the “latter days”), this means that the beginning of this prophetic period was at Pentecost 31AD and ends prior to the day of the Lord.
Thus, the time-frame is set for the pouring out of the Holy Spirit as commencing 31AD and ending prior to the day of the Lord.
To be plain, God is stating that there will be no spill-over of this condition (the pouring out of His Spirit) into the next age – the Millennium. These Scriptures show clearly that the Holy Spirit will NOT be available to mankind as an indwelling spirit during the Millennium. The Millennium is a Sabbath (picturing final rest in the Kingdom of God), not one of the two days of judgement, which is to say it is not a spiritual “work-day” requiring spiritual effort to fight spiritual battles. In Ezek 11:19 and 36:27 the Hebrew word “qereb” has been rendered “within” instead of “among” or “midst”, by some popular translations thereby giving the impression that the pouring out of the Holy Spirit will continue into and through the Millennial age. However, Young’s Literal Translation faithfully renders this word as “in your midst”, which is consistent with the set time-frame as shown in Joel 2:28-32 and Acts 2:17-21. The Holy Spirit is to be working WITH (among) not WITHIN people during the Millennium.
During the age before the Messiah (now past) and the age after the Messiah (now current) the Holy Spirit was only ever available to the firstfruits. The reason for availability of the Holy Spirit to the firstfruits is to help them resist Satan, the influences of Satan’s evil society and our own carnal natures. It is necessary to have this help because it is our “day of judgement”, the time when our behaviour is assessed for spiritual purposes. When the Millennium is over and the Great White Throne Judgement begins (the second day of judgement), then the Holy Spirit will again be available as it is now, because those people will need that power to help them change from their old ways and start following God’s way.
Viewing the statements, about the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, from our point in time it can be seen that the intent was not for the Holy Spirit to given to every single human being during this age, but rather was to be given to selected (predestined) humans from all nationalities.
Other conditions to be met prior to receiving the Holy Spirit include repentance, acceptance of Christ as our saviour and baptism (Acts 2:38). When a person meets these conditions they commence what is known as conversion. Conversion is the life-long process of striving to live God’s way of life. One approach to conversion is to apply the example God gives of Jacob – how he wrestled with Christ, then known as the Word, all night until dawn (Gen 32:24-28). Jacob was commended for his efforts and renamed Israel by God. There was no way a human was ever going to win a wrestling match against the one who created the entire universe. However, God wanted to see if Jacob would continue to strive even in the face of knowing that he could never win. The same goes for Christians! As humans we can never hope to defeat our carnal nature, but God wants to see if we will continue to strive anyhow and call on the sacrifice of Christ to atone for what we have not overcome. Although the Word did not represent our carnal nature, he did represent something with which we have to wrestle in order to obtain God’s blessing. This wrestling, striving or enduring is to prevail even in the face of suffering, as did Jacob when his hip was displaced.
Paul explained the situation very well in Rom 7:7-25. Having lived a life striving against sin a Christian can look forward to life in the family of God, which is the spiritual rest pictured by the weekly seventh-day Sabbath and the seventh millennium (“Millennium”). God “rested” on the seventh day of re-creation, to show that the seventh-day Sabbath represents something completely non-physical, life in His kingdom following completion of His plan of creation.
The Holy Spirit – Our Helper to the First Resurrection
Directly linked to our spiritual progress towards the fulfilment of Pentecost is the Holy Spirit dwelling in us and our effective use of that spirit. Following is an explanation of the Holy Spirit, its purpose, to whom it is available and the period of time for which it will remain available.
While Christ was with us physically on Earth there was absolutely no indication that the Holy Spirit was granted to so much as a single human – in fact Jesus stated definitely that the Holy Spirit would NOT be available to anyone while he was here in person, John 16:7: “…But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him [it] to you…” [NIV].
Christ also tells us that the “Counsellor” is “the Holy Spirit”: John 14:26 ”…and the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom [which] the Father will send in my name, he [it] will teach you all things, and remind you of all things that I said to you…” [YLT].
Different translations variously render the Greek word parakletos as Helper, Comforter or Counsellor. In view of the total usefulness of the Holy Spirit all of these interpretations are acceptable. The most important point to remember is that the Holy Spirit is NOT an entity as God, or Christ, or we are entities; it is a divine power sent from God to assist the saints in various ways throughout the days of our conversion here on Earth. Both in Micah 3:8 and later in Luke 24:49 it is made clear that the Holy Spirit is a power for use by the receiver. In Micah, being filled with the Holy Spirit is shown to be synonymous with being filled with power and in Luke when Christ promised that the disciples were to be imbued with power, they in fact received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost 31AD. Mic 3:8 “…‘But I, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of Jehovah, and with judgment and strength, to show to Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.’…” [Keil and Delitzsch Commentary]. [5] Luke 24:49 “…‘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.’…" [NKJV].
Accordingly, it is neither masculine nor feminine and when quoting from the various translations the neuter form of the word will always be included [bracketed], as above.
The Holy Spirit has always been available to mankind, it is just that in OT times far fewer people were called to be firstfruits and granted the Spirit compared to the last 2,000 years (approximately). Some people such as David, Elijah and Elisha are mentioned specifically, while others are just mentioned by number, such as the 7,000 about which God told Elijah (1Kings 19:18). However, after Christ's sacrifice, it was time to increase the number of God’s people and that meant supplying them with the Holy Spirit. God knew that when Christ was not present in person, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in His people would be essential not only for their spiritual survival in this world, but to lift the veil of Satan from their minds in order that they may be able to understand God’s basic truths. Accordingly, we were granted access to the Holy Spirit as never before on the Day of Pentecost 31AD and that event is recorded for us in Acts 2:1-4: “…1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them…” [NIV].
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is essential for the survival of God’s people through this age. This Spirit of God is a power that supplies us with many attributes, the principal ones being as follows: · Identifies us as God’s people; · Identifies us as God’s property; · Helps us to understand the truths of God; · Assists with prayer; and · Provides the gift of prophecy.
1. Identifies us as God’s people: Physical circumcision of the males is used by God as an outward sign to symbolize the spiritual circumcision which takes place at baptism with the Holy Spirit. It is used by God to identify His people for the purpose of promises under the "new covenant". Granting of the Holy Spirit was the momentous act which sig | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||