Sunday is Pentecost, the day when the Spirit of God was poured out on the believers, empowering them to be witnesses of Yeshua in Jerusalem, Judea, and even to the ends of the earth.
And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Act 1:4-8
But this holiday did not spring up out of nowhere for the first time in Acts 2. We are going on a bunny trail this week to trace the fascinating historical and prophetic significance of this day.
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Act 2:1
The Day of Pentecost is the Greek name for the Hebrew Feast of Weeks.
‘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.’ Lev 23:15
The Day of the Sheaf is the Feast of Firstfruits.
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.'” Lev 23:9-11
This harvest celebrates and gives thanksgiving to the Lord for the barley harvest, the first harvest of the agricultural year. It is celebrated on a Sunday each year (the day after the Sabbath). It just so happens that the Feast of Firstfruits normally occurs during the week of Passover and Unleavened Bread. For the first Passover took place during the month of Abib – a Hebrew word meaning, “ripening barley.”
“Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night.” Deu 16:1
The Hebrews follow a lunar calendar, in which the first day of the new month is marked by the sighting of the new moon. (The English word “month” comes from the same root as the English word “moon.”) When the barley begins to form seed heads, the very next new moon is declared to be the new moon of Abib, or the month of ripening barley.
You see, at the new moon of Abib that fateful year, the Egyptians were suffering the seventh plague of hail, which destroyed some of their crops:
Now the flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was in the head (Hebrew abib) and the flax was in bud. But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they are late crops. Exo 9:31-32
Two weeks later the Egyptians suffered the tenth plague of the death of the firstborn, and Israel was celebrating her first Passover, and being delivered from bondage to Egypt (Exo 12). Israel commemorated Passover every year on the 14th of Abib, on the exact day of their deliverance. Two to three weeks into the month of ripening barley, the ripened barley is harvested, and the Feast of Firstfruits is celebrated, on the day after the Sabbath (Sunday) that falls during the week of Passover and Unleavened Bread.
This means that Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks, always falls seven Sabbaths or 50 days after the Feast of Firstfruits, also on a Sunday (the day after the 7th Sabbath) every year. It was celebrated for 1500 years prior to the Acts 2 Pentecost. The seventh Sabbath and the 50th day always falls in the 3rd biblical month: 2 weeks to finish the month of Abib, the first month, then 4 weeks for the 2nd month, so the seventh Sabbath falls when the 3rd month has already begun. And the 3rd month did just begin for us: the new moon of the 3rd month was sighted in Israel on May 30 this year!
Now that we are somewhat familiar with the calendar of Pentecost and its connection to the Feast Days of the Lord, we can look at its fascinating history and prophetic significance …
pentecost in history and prophecy, part two
pentecost in history and prophecy, part three
pentecost in history and prophecy, part four
pentecost in history and prophecy, part five
pentecost in history and prophecy, part six
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