Most Pentecostal Christians can tell you
that the day of Pentecost is the day Yeshua (Jesus) baptized his disciples with
the Holy Spirit, and this is true. Beyond that however, the amount of ignorance
and misinformation in the Christian community is really quite shocking. And a
quick Google search is certainly not going to clear things up – I actually
checked this out myself, comparing the information I found (on Wikipedia, for
example) with what the scriptures actually tell us and I kept saying, ‘That’s
wrong… That’s wrong… That’s wrong.’ And it didn’t take long before I had to
stop and get back to writing this blog, so that at least a few people might
have the right information.
So first, I’ll go over the most
basic stuff, the what and the when of it. The day of Pentecost occurred 50 days
after Yeshua’s resurrection, not his death. That is 50 days after (and
including) the Day of Firstfruits, not Passover. (Many Christians nowadays
calculate when Pentecost will occur starting at Passover, all too easily forgetting
that Yeshua did not die and resurrect on the same day).
The name, Pentecost, comes from the Greek
word for ‘fiftieth,’ which is reasonable I suppose. But most people, including
devout Pentecostals, are completely ignorant of the fact that this day was
appointed by the Almighty a long time ago: In Leviticus Chapter 23, Yehovah
lays it all out…
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the
feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these
are my feasts.
3
Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest,
an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD
in all your dwellings.
4
These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall
proclaim in their seasons.
5 In
the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover.
6
And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened
bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
7 In
the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work
therein.
8
But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in
the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
9
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
10
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into
the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye
shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
11
And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on
the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
12
And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without
blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD…
14
And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until
the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a
statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
15
And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the
day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:
16
Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty
days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
And in Deuteronomy Chapter 16…
9
Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks
from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn.
10
And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a
tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the
LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:
Since the Israelites were not to partake of
any of the new fruit or grain of the land until the offering on the Day of Firstfruits,
we start the count of 7 weeks from that day and it puts us at what came to be
called Pentecost. This day was called the Feast of Weeks, and the Almighty
Himself had named it thus (about 1400 years before Yeshua was born).
Now, I am compelled to tell you that the
number seven is a very important number in the Holy Scriptures (the seven days
in a week, the seven-fold spirit of God, every seven days was a sabbath day,
every seven years was a sabbath year, there were seven churches in the book of
Revelation, there are six things God hates and seven are an abomination in
Proverbs 6:16), and that the word (in Hebrew) for ‘7’ is the same word for ‘week.’
As such, the Hebrew name Shavuot can be interpreted either as Feast of Weeks or
Feast of Sevens; both are correct.
The number seven itself is a number that
signifies fullness, completeness, and perfection. And the Feast of Sevens is
connected to very integral parts of God’s perfect plan; for instance, it was on
this day that God formally made a covenant with a nation, Israel, and gave
those His Ten Commandments (He actually shouted them down to the people from
atop Mt Sinai). It was also on this day the Holy Spirit (the power of the
renewed Covenant) was poured out abundantly on Yeshua’s disciples.
But, in my opinion, the most interesting
and faith-inspiring meaning hidden in this Holy Day is the complete fulfillment
of the prophecy given by the angel to the prophet, Daniel: the famous 70 weeks
prophecy from Daniel Chapter 9…
22
And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now
come forth to give thee skill and understanding.
23
At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I
am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the
matter, and consider the vision.
24
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to
finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make
reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to
seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25
Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the
commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall
be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again,
and the wall, even in troublous times.
26
And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for
himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city
and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end
of the war desolations are determined.
27
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the
midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and
for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the
consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
I won’t go into every word here
(there is a lot) but I will cover the chronological sequence of events starting
at the beginning:
Seven weeks + Sixty-two weeks (verse
25)
In
the year 457 BC, the Persian king Artaxerxes sent Ezra with other Jews to
return to Jerusalem to rebuild (and also to re-teach the law of God) (Ezra
7:7-9). After 49 years (seven sevens), most of the construction was complete
and the city was a fully functioning center of commerce. 27 AD, John the
Baptizer proclaims, ‘Behold the Lamb of Yehovah, which takes away the sin of
the world!’ This is the first time, since his birth, Yeshua is revealed to any sizable group of people as the Messiah. And this day is, in fact, EXACTLY four
hundred and eighty-three years since Artaxerxes sent Ezra back to Jerusalem.
That’s sixty-nine (7+62) sevens.
Sixty-two weeks (verse 26)
Part 1 of
the Seventy weeks (verse 24)
This
began with Yeshua’s baptism in water, then his forty-day fast, and temptation in
the wilderness. When he returned from his temptation is when John proclaimed, ‘Behold!’
This time-span ended the week before his crucifixion. And we are talking
literal weeks in this part of the prophecy. Also note that Yeshua told John
that this was a righteous thing for him to be baptized in water, and that he
came to ‘bring in everlasting righteousness’ (Dan. 9:24).
One week (verse 27)
Part 2 of the
Seventy weeks (verse 24)
The
CLV actually says ‘at half’ of the week, literally speaking that would be
Wednesday, which is accurate and correct. This is the day and week Yeshua was
crucified, the perfect Lamb of God, thus causing the sacrifice and oblation to
cease.
The it-goes-without-saying seven
weeks
Part 3 of the Seventy weeks (verse 24)
There
are seven weeks of prophecy remaining to be fulfilled after the week of Yeshua’s
crucifixion. These are the same seven weeks counted every year starting with
the Day of Firstfruits and concluding with the Feast of Weeks! Pentecost!
Putting it all together, it should
be plain that Yehovah made this day a VERY important day, several hundreds of
years even before Daniel, well over a millennium before Yeshua was born. And
this day directly links the giving of the Ten Commandments (the perfect law of
God) with the gift of the Holy Spirit baptism (the power to live above sin).
Yes, thanks to Yeshua, we can have it all!
One addendum before I finish: I know many
people have been indoctrinated with the idea that Yeshua’s ministry was 3 ½ years
long, and so may not be inclined to believe a much shorter time frame of
seventy weeks. Other than the fact that the Bible’s prophecies wouldn’t make
sense if that were true, I also offer the words of the Messiah himself: he said
the following in his home town’s synagogue shortly after the Feast of Weeks… from Luke Chapter 4
18
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach
deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at
liberty them that are bruised,
19
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
20
And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat
down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21
And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in
your ears…
He
that hath an ear, let him hear…
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