Pentecost -- Its True Meaning and Incredible Symbolism!

Millions of people don't understand the true meaning of the Pentecost holy day, because of one of two reasons: The Jews don't understand its real significance because they don't keep the right day, and they don't recognize the true Messiah. Thousands of others don't understand the true meaning of this day because, although they understand who the true Messiah is, they are also ignorant of the true day on which to observe Pentecost. But YEHOVAH God has revealed the awesome meaning of this holy day during these "last days." Let's take a good look at the mystery of Pentecost -- the "Festival of Shavuot" or "Weeks" -- also called Yom Ha'Bikkurim, or "Day of The Firstfruits."

It was the rabbis of the first decades after the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. who changed the significance of Shavuot and proclaimed that Atzeret, as they called it, was the celebration of the giving of the Torah (first five books of the Old Testament) to Moses on Mount Sinai.

“All agree in respect to Atzeret that it is required because on that day the Torah was given,” Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurcanus is quoted in the Talmud as saying during the early second century A.D. (Pesachim 68b). Eliezer based this assertion of an ancient tradition that placed the giving of the Torah in the month of Sivan, a tradition that appears in the apocryphal 2nd century B.C. Book of Jubilees, and that is based on a passage in the Book of Exodus that reads: “In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai” (Exodus 19:1).

From the 2nd century on, Shavuot began to focus on the Torah. The Torah portions read on the holiday revolve around the theophany, the physical manifestation of YEHOVAH God atop Mount Sinai -- namely the receiving of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19-20).

Aside from these readings, few traditions were assigned to Shavuot during late antiquity (after 70 A.D.) and the early Middle Ages. This began to change during the Middle Ages, however. This is when traditions, such as the act of decorating synagogues with greenery, first became associated with Shavuot. This particular custom is said to have its roots in a midrash about the giving of the Torah according to which before the Torah was given on Mount Sinai the entire mountain blossomed!

Other traditions that took shape during the Middle Ages included the tradition of inducting young Jewish boys to Hebrew school on Shavuot, so that they could begin receiving the Torah on the anniversary of the so-called giving of the Torah. It is likely that this is how dairy became associated with Shavuot: When families celebrated their boys’ induction into Hebrew school, Jewish mothers most likely served dairy rather than meat, since it is less expensive.

But as time went by, ex post facto explanations of why dairy food was eaten on Shavuot began to arise. One of these explanations was that when the Torah was given to the Israelites in the desert, they couldn’t prepare a meat meal according to the new commandments right away, so a dairy meal was made instead. Another explanation is based on one reading of the erotic Song of Songs verse: “Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue.” According to this particular reading of the verse, it is not the lips of a lover but rather the Torah itself that is likened to honey and milk. If that is true, what better way, the explanations goes, to celebrate the receiving of the Torah than by eating cheese blintzes!

An even later tradition to become associated with Shavuot is that of all-night Torah study sessions. The tradition started in the 16th century by Rabbi Joseph Caro. Later, under the influence of the Kabbalah revolution of the Ari, these were dubbed “Tikkun Leil Shavuot,” which is what they are called to this very day.

A surprising twist on the story of Shavuot came in the 20th century, when Jews, mostly from Eastern Europe, started to settle Israel and establish agricultural communities. Suddenly, Jews were tilling the land and reaping wheat in the summer. In the Kibbutz Movement, Shavuot was resurrected as an agricultural holiday and adapted to these Jews’ socialist ideology. The agricultural produce was presented -- not to YEHOVAH God or priest but to the community itself -- in jubilant processions featuring singing and dancing.

This secular, agricultural take on Shavuot spread across Israel, even to the cities, but as time went by and agriculture played a smaller part in Israeli life, the celebrations became more modest. Today celebrations of this kind are less common and largely used as a photo-op for dressing children in white clothes and putting wreathes of flowers on their heads, much like the old European pagan May Day festivals.

While religious Jews still celebrate Shavuot as the holiday of the receiving of the Torah, among secular Israeli Jews little is left of Shavuot. For most, the only tradition to survive to this day is the coincidental connection with dairy products -- for many, if they do anything to celebrate the holiday, they probably eat some cheesecake!

We read that on the day after the "Sabbath" -- which was both the weekly Sabbath and also the high Holy Day of Passover, the 15th of Nisan -- the people were to bring an "omer" or sheaf of firstfruits of the barley harvest to the priest, to be waved for them (Leviticus 23:11). And from that day, which would be the 16th of Nisan, they were to count off seven sabbaths and then 50 days:

Leading up to Shavuot, then, was a period of seven Sabbaths (or weeks) followed by 49 days -- counted from the day after Passover and the weekly Sabbath. Passover pictures the sacrificial lamb of YEHOVAH God shedding his blood in atonement for the sins of each sacrificer, the lamb of YEHOVAH God -- the Messiah -- who takes away the sins of Israel (John 1:29; I Corinthians 5:7). Putting leaven out of our homes for the seven days during the Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures putting sin out of our lives. Israel came through the Red Sea in a miraculous deliverance from Egypt, a type of "sin." This pictures the "baptism" of every repentant sinner who confesses his sins and acknowledges Yeshua as the Messiah and Savior (I Corinthians 10:1-4).

The two-month journey through the wilderness (Exodus 19:1) pictures the Christian's life of overcoming, rooting out sin, and conquering the fleshly impulses -- the "evil impulses" or yetzer ha'ra of human nature (Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 8:7). The number "49" of course is significant: It is 7 X 7, or perfection perfected. Thus we are to have our spiritual character "perfected" during this life of overcoming, so that we can be worthy to stand before the Son of man and YEHOVAH God at their coming!

What, then, does all this lead up to? It leads up to the "fiftieth day" -- that is, Pentecost!

The twelve loaves of the showbread found in the Tabernacle and Temple also represent the harvest of Israelites, represented by the summer wheat that the showbread is baked with, and occurs a thousand years after the harvest of Israelites represented by the barley. The barley harvest is at the beginning of the Millennium which is at the coming of YEHOVAH God, and the wheat harvest is at the end of the Millennium, 1,000 years after YEHOVAH God's coming.

Who are all these people who will stand before YEHOVAH God at the END of the Millennial reign of YEHOVAH God, the Messiah and the saints? They will be the uncountable number of Israelites who lived and died in this life, who did not qualify to be in the FIRST RESURRECTION, at the return of YEHOVAH God and the Messiah -- to be a part of the "firstfruits" of YEHOVAH God! The vast majority of them never even had a chance for salvation -- they grew up, lived and died in a foreign society which didn't have the knowledge of YEHOVAH, or His truth.

They are those who lived and died in ignorance, those who never even heard the true Gospel of the Messiah during their lives! At that future time they will be "judged" according to their works, and most will be given a period of time to repent of their misdeeds in this life, to be re-educated, and to qualify for eventual salvation and eternal life! In that future resurrection, YEHOVAH God will open their eyes, show them His truth, and give them their first and only chance for salvation!

Let’s now consider this picture through a symbolic interpretation -- in other words, how certain elements in the Old Covenant prefigure those in the New Covenant. We’ll start with the fact that the twelve breads were leavened and what this would symbolically portray for the twelve tribes.

In this scenario we see that the twelve tribes of Israel are still leavened in the figurative sense since they fell short of YEHOVAH God’s will at times. Yet YEHOVAH God still accepted them in His presence because they performed the legally commanded blood sacrifices, and their heart was to walk in YEHOVAH’s covenant and in the light He had shown. Thus, the showbread that symbolized the twelve tribes was placed face-to-face before Him, in His presence:

These two rows of six breads sat side by side in the first room (Leviticus 24:6) facing the second room, which contained the Ark of the Covenant, where YEHOVAH God was considered to reside; thus they were symbolically situated toward His face in the place where He said He would dwell (Exodus 25:22). However, a veil hung between these two rooms, separating the innermost sacred room from the room containing the showbread portion. This was true in the movable Tabernacle and later in the fixed Temple. The priests would enter into the larger room called the Holy Place (where the showbread dwelt). And when the High Priest passed beyond the veil on the Day of Atonement into the Most Holy Place (also called the Holy of Holies), he would see the Ark of the Covenant, considered the dwelling place of YEHOVAH God:

So Paul is saying here that under the law and the first covenant, only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and never without blood. This kept the other priests (and symbolically the twelve breads) away from the direct presence of YEHOVAH God in this holiest place. Paul then explains that the holy spirit was showing that the way directly into YEHOVAH’s presence was not yet available while the first covenant law still had its legal standing. When the holy spirit tore this veil in half at the time of the Messiah’s death, it showed that the way into YEHOVAH God’s direct presence was now fully available because the full price had just been paid:

With the veil torn in two, the twelve breads were now face-to-face with YEHOVAH God, showing that all of Israel who believed in the Messiah’s sacrifice had direct access to YEHOVAH’s presence. In fact, not only could Israelite believers enter directly into the holiest place where His full presence dwells, but His spirit could actually infill them.

After the 50-day counting following the seven Sabbaths complete (Leviticus 23:15) and the coming of the Day of Pentecost under the new covenant, the holy spirit was poured out for all believers of Israel to receive, and anyone -- male, female (Acts 1:14, 15; 2:10) -- could now be filled with YEHOVAH’s spirit:

Then an event occurred that was quite shocking and unsettling to these Israelite New Testament believers in Jerusalem: YEHOVAH God actually filled uncircumcised believers from the northern 10 tribes (so-called Gentiles) (Acts 10 and 11) with the holy spirit:

They were all filled with the spirit of YEHOVAH God (with the evidence of speaking in different languages). Peter says that this fulfilled what Joel had prophesied (see also Isaiah 28:9–12): that a time was coming when YEHOVAH God would pour out His spirit on all the people of Israel -- not just the high priest, but on everyone from fishermen to tax collectors to the uncircumcised from the House of Israel -- anyone of Israel who would receive His forgiveness and His gift. Thus YEHOVAH’s spirit would be poured out on all Israel:

One more feature of the festival needs to be noted: the relationship between Pentecost and the Jubilee Year. To understand the theological message of the Feast of Weeks, it is imperative that one not miss the close connection it has to the year of the Jubilee. The Israelites celebrated the latter during the fiftieth year following every “seven sabbaths of years” -- or forty-nine years (Leviticus 25:8-55; 27:16-25; Numbers 36:4). The Hebrew name for the festival is literally “the year of the ram’s horn,” for an instrument made from a ram’s horn was blown on Yom Kippur of the fiftieth year to announce the beginning of the year of release (Leviticus 25:9).

During this year, any ancestral land that Israelites families had sold was given back to them. Also, any Israelite who, induced by poverty, had sold himself (or been sold) into slavery to a fellow Israelite regained his liberty. Not only the people, but the land itself was “freed” from being worked, for no planting or sowing, harvesting or reaping took place during the fiftieth year. Like unto the sabbatical year (every seventh year), the jubilee year was a great sabbath or rest for the people of YEHOVAH God and the land that belonged to Him. Therefore, because of the Jubilee Year, the number fifty is closely associated with the remission of debts, emancipation of slaves, and rest within YEHOVAH’s protective care.

What connections are there between the Old Testament Shavuot and the Jubilee Year? Every Feast of Weeks was a kind of annual preparation for the Feast of Jubilees, just as every Sabbatical Year was a sort of mini-Jubilee. The temporal connection between the two is manifest in the way they are described: Shavuot is celebrated on the fiftieth day after the forty-nine days following the “seven sabbaths” of weeks (Leviticus 23:15) and Jubilee is celebrated on the fiftieth year after “seven sabbaths of years,” (Leviticus 25:8).

Also, every year, at Shavuot or the festival of Weeks, the Israelites gave their first-fruits of the grain harvest to YEHOVAH God. This action testified that YEHOVAH was the true owner of the land, as is expressly noted in the laws governing the Jubilee year: “for the land is mine,” YEHOVAH says (Leviticus 25:23). Shavuot was also a day of rest, for on it people were “to do no laborious work,” (Leviticus 23:21; Numbers 28:26). Again, this echoes a major theme of the Jubilee year, in which the Israelites rested from agricultural labors and the land enjoyed a sabbath as well.

In Deuteronomy, Moses proclaims that Shavuot was to be a day of rejoicing before YEHOVAH God for all the household, including children, servants, Levites, strangers, orphans, and widows (Deuteronomy 16:11). Why? He explains in the next verse: “You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; you shall be careful to observe these statutes,” (16:12). In this admonition we see that a chief function of Shavuot was to recall the fact that YEHOVAH God had freed the Israelites from servitude in Egypt, a message that forms the heart of the Jubilee year as well (Leviticus 25:42-43, 55).

Therefore, both according to YEHOVAH's Calendar and theologically, Shavuot and Jubilee were kindred festivals. Like the festival held every fifty years, so the festival held every year on the fiftieth day proclaimed the following: (1) YEHOVAH God had freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt; (2) He had fulfilled His promise to give them the Promised Land; (3) He provided rest for them from their labors. As we shall see momentarily, this has profound implications for the Christian understanding of Pentecost and the descent of the holy spirit on that first New Testament Pentecost.

“Proclaim liberty throughout the Land..” These immortal words, inscribed on the Liberty Bell, have their source in the Bible. The Bible frequently discusses the requirement to count seven cycles of seven years. The fiftieth year was called the Yovel, or Jubilee, during which all slaves were to be released, hence the aforementioned proclamation of freedom.

Shavuot -- the Holiday which occurs exactly fifty days after the “seven weeks complete” following Passover -- is certainly not coincidental.

Freedom can be measured by the degree that one is able to function in accord with one’s true desires. If a person’s greatest ambition and pleasure in life is to express himself through song, for example, that person is truly free only when he has the capacity to develop that talent. Though the person may be incarcerated in the harshest prison, since he can pursue and develop his core dream of singing -- he is truly free. Conversely, if the same person were to be physically free, but not allowed to sing and develop his talent, he would be considered anything but a free man.

A Christian-Israelite's innermost desire is to connect with YEHOVAH God by drinking from the life-giving waters of the Bible. When one is free to study the Bible without distraction, he or she is free in the truest sense of the word.

Another parallel can be drawn from the concept of freedom associated with the Jubilee year and the freedom connected with the Bible.

In the verse cited above, “Proclaim liberty throughout the land,” the Bible continues with the phrase, “to all its inhabitants.” Since, as mentioned before, we are actually discussing the freedom given to slaves in the Jubilee year, why does the Bible say “to all the inhabitants?” Does the rest of the population of Israel lack freedom that it must be granted to them in the Jubilee?

Both the Jubilee year and Shavuot are paradigms for the liberating age of the Messiah. Just as the Jubilee year pictures the physical emancipation of slaves, Pentecost represents the spiritual emancipation of YEHOVAH's people Israel who come up in the second resurrection.

Shavuot occurs at the culmination of the march through the wilderness, and after the time spent by Moses on Mount Sinai communicating with YEHOVAH God. The seven Sabbaths of the Passover to Shavuot count picture the seven stages or thresholds of "overcoming" sin and developing the character and divine nature of YEHOVAH God -- replacing human nature with its earthly pulls with DIVINE nature (Galatians 4:19; II Peter 1:4). What is to happen, then, on the "fiftieth day" following the seven Sabbaths and forty-nine days -- the "Feast of Weeks"? This Feast could be described as the "FEAST of the Weeks of Overcoming"! It is the PRESENT -- the GIFT of YEHOVAH God that He gives to His people Israel who have obeyed His commandments, and served Him faithfully!

The Feast of Pentecost, therefore, pictures the SALVATION of YEHOVAH's people Israel (those who were not called to take part in the first resurrection) -- and the GIFT of becoming ONE with YEHOVAH God -- spiritual ONENESS!

Notice! This summer feast pictures the harvest of the rest of Israel -- those who come up in the second resurrection. On this Festival day two loaves of beautiful bread are offered to YEHOVAH God, as wave offerings, made of the finest wheat flour (Leviticus 23:17). What do these two loaves of bread picture?

These two wave cakes or loaves are leavened bread. They are "the bread of the first-fruits" (Leviticus 23:20). They "shall be HOLY to the LORD, for the priest" (same verse).

As we have seen, Scripture reveals that Shavuot or Pentecost was established as an agricultural feast that was related to the wheat harvest. On this day a unique sacrifice was offered: The priests waved two leavened loaves of bread made from the finest of the newly harvested wheat flours. These loaves were then presented to the Holy One, but, they could not be placed on the altar, because YEHOVAH God declared that, "No grain offering, which you bring to the LORD, shall be made with leaven, for you shall not offer up in smoke any leaven or any honey as an offering by fire to the LORD" (Leviticus 2:11).

YEHOVAH God commanded the Israelites to bring an offering from the new wheat crop to the Temple on Shavuot. It was to be brought from the choicest wheat, which would be husked, ground into flour and sifted twelve times to ensure that only the finest flour was used.

The flour was brought to the Temple courtyard, where it was baked into two loaves of chometz, leavened bread, unlike almost all other offerings in the Temple, which were either flour or matzah (unleavened bread).

Along with the two loaves, two lambs were included in the offering. The priests would wave the lambs and the loaves in all four directions and up and down, and then place the lambs on the mizbeiach (altar). The loaves were eaten by the priests.

The Talmud tells us that no offerings from the new crop of wheat were allowed in the Temple before the two loaves were brought.

These two leavened loaves could be "waved" before YEHOVAH God, but they could not be "offered up in smoke" on His altar: "As an offering of first fruits you shall bring them to the LORD, but they shall not ascend for a soothing aroma on the altar" (Leviticus 2:12). Moreover, Israel could not eat bread from the new wheat harvest until after this wave ceremony was completed. The feast was traditionally concluded with communal meals to which the poor, and the stranger were invited.

The harvest of Israelites, represented by the wheat, is a thousand years after the harvest of Israelites represented by the barley. The barley harvest is at the beginning of the Millennium which is at the coming of YEHOVAH God, and the wheat harvest is at the end of the Millennium, 1,000 years after YEHOVAH God's coming.

Yeshua the Messiah put the truth plainly. He stated: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the DEAD [Israelites] shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live...Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which ALL THAT ARE IN THE GRAVES shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, to the RESURRECTION OF LIFE" -- this is the second resurrection, which occurs at the end of the Millennium!

But notice! Yeshua goes on, concerning the REST of the dead: "And they that have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment" (John 5:25-29). The King James uses the word "damnation" here, but the Greek word means "judgment." This means that part of the Israelites who came up in the second resurrection will be JUDGED by the Messiah based on how they conduct their lives after being resurrected. Will they repent of their evil? These are those who were really evil, to the core -- perhaps like an Ahab, or Amon, or serial killers, or others who gave their lives over to do EVIL. These Israelites are what is known as the "grape harvest" in Scripture.

These Israelites will be trodden in YEHOVAH's winepress (Isaiah 63:3-14) and will be given a chance to repent, and live out their lives in the flesh, to prove whether or not they will obey YEHOVAH God. Not all will be condemned! In fact, in all probability, MOST of the millions of Israel, given this first "real chance" at salvation, will probably jump at the chance, deeply repent, and eventually qualify for salvation and eternal life in the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God!

Both houses of Israel have fallen short, and will continue to fall short as long as they are divided and antagonistic toward each other (Isaiah 8:14; John 2:22; Romans 11:25). Both the houses of Israel and Judah are plagued by leaven, meaning, they are puffed up with error. As they stand, neither house is fit to be "offered" on YEHOVAH's altar. Singularly, neither house can be a "soothing aroma" to the Holy One. Something is missing. And, something is present that keeps them from being fully acceptable to Him.

To be an acceptable offering, bread must be unleavened. So it is that both houses of Israel fall short of the glory of YEHOVAH God. The sins found in their houses are a like a stench in His nostrils and it prevents them from being fully acceptable to Him (Isaiah 65:5). Both are missing the quality of sinlessness. That quality is found only in the Messiah. He is the Unleavened Bread of Passover, and in him, both houses can be made whole, sinless.

And yet, we note that even in their leavened state, both loaves are nourishing "bread," which depicts the ability to "feed people." Both houses of Israel offer some sustaining words of life to the children of Israel. Neither house is perfect, so we should partake of that which is nourishing from each house, and ask the Father to help us move on, to the Fall Feasts, and to that perfect place of sinlessness, wherein we will be able to Tabernacle with Him forever.

Again, both loaves were acceptable to the Almighty in that they could be "waved" before Him, but in themselves, they were not fit to be a sacrifice. This shows us that, if YEHOVAH God can look upon these leavened houses with mercy, and ever seek to draw both of them to Himself, we should seek to do no less. We should have proper regard for both the houses of Israel. We also see that both loaves could be in YEHOVAH's Holy Presence, and yet not be consumed. So it is that the House of Israel and the House of Judah are imperfect, and yet are not utterly consumed by the Holy One. He sees their defects, yet He loves them and longs for them.

Shavuot (Pentecost) featured a "new grain offering" (Leviticus 23:15-16, 21), but, Israel could not partake of their new wheat harvest until after the leavened wave offering of Shavuot was fulfilled. Similarly, we will not be able to fully partake of the Bread of Life until, like YEHOVAH God, we desire the full restoration of both houses. The Messiah preached the "Gospel of the Kingdom," which included the restoration of King David's divided kingdom/house/tent. The Messiah declared that a house or kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. We therefore, need to work toward Israel's reunion. Then, and only then, will her kingdom be fully restored. Then and only then, will we see and partake of the fullness of Israel's coming summer harvest. We will experience this only when we begin to properly honor both of her houses. Then, we will fully taste of the loaves of Shavuot and be prepared to move forward.

Two lambs were offered at Shavuot, and the feast was traditionally concluded with communal meals to which the stranger was invited. This tells us that Israel's Kingdom restoration will include all who belong to Messiah's "one flock," all who sojourn with either house, be it with the House of Judah or the House of Israel (Ezekiel 37:16-22; John 10:16).

Finally, we read that, "On this same day you shall make a proclamation as well...It is to be a perpetual statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations" (Leviticus 23:21). Making a proclamation, a qara, is a perpetual command for Shavuot or Pentecost. We are to proclaim, mention, publish, and preach the truth about this appointed time (Strong's word # H 7121).

Every generation of Israelites, beginning with those who stood alongside Moses at Mt. Sinai, had counted those fifty days following the "seven Sabbaths complete" that led from Passover to Pentecost. As we see in Acts 2, even those Israelites who lived in the Diaspora gathered in Jerusalem for this second major feast of the year. Present were “devout men from every nation under heaven,” for there were “Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs,” (Acts 2:5, 9-10).

This throng of Israelite pilgrims was unaware, however, that what awaited them that year was not a mere repetition of the ancient liturgies of Pentecost. For as Luke describes,

The crowds were understandably “bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language” (Acts 2:6) of the “the mighty acts of God,” (Acts 2:10). As inquisitive murmurs arose from the multitude, some asking, “What does this mean?” and others accusing the preachers of being full of different spirits (the intoxicating kind!), the apostle Peter raised his voice to address the assembly (Acts 2:12-14). Drawing upon the prophecy of Joel (2:18-32; Hosea 3:1-5) and a psalm of David (16:8-11), he declared that Yeshua of Nazareth is the Messiah, who, having been crucified and resurrected, YEHOVAH God had now poured out the holy spirit, as He has promised (Acts 2:14-40). Extraordinary was the result of this Pentecost sermon, for on that day “three thousand souls” believed and were baptized “upon the name of the Messiah for the forgiveness of [their] sins,” (Acts 2:38, 41).

The Christian-Israelite Pentecost as the Fulfillment of the Old Testament Shavuot

The question is this: Of the 364 other days when YEHOVAH God could have sent the spirit, why did He choose to do so on the 50th day after the "seven Sabbaths" from Passover, namely, during the Feast of Weeks? What was it about this Israelite feast day that it made it peculiarly fitting for this outpouring from above? In our discussion above, we have already outlined some answers to these questions. Now, let us proceed to explain more fully how the Christian Pentecost is an antitype of the Old Testament Feast of Weeks.

There is, first of all, a thematic connection between the two, namely, that the fifty-day period is one of waiting or anticipation. For the believers under the old covenant, the fifty day part of the time between Passover and Pentecost were symbolic of the forty (plus) years of waiting between their departure from Egypt and their entrance into the Promised Land. Only then could they finally offer to YEHOVAH God the first-fruits that sprang from the sacred soil of Canaan. For although Passover could be, and was, celebrated in the wilderness (Numbers 9:5), the Festival of Weeks, properly speaking, could not be, for to be able to sow, reap, and offer the first-fruits of wheat to YEHOVAH God, the Israelites had to be settled in the land. Thus, until their wandering years were over, Canaan conquered, and seed sown into that sacred soil, Shavuot was anticipated but not realized.

Similarly, the days between the Passover of the Messiah (i.e., his crucifixion and resurrection) and his Father's sending of the holy spirit at Pentecost were days of waiting. As Luke records at the beginning of Acts:

Similarly, at the end of his gospel, Luke records the Messiah instructing his disciples to “stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high,” (Luke 24:49). Everything was to take place in its proper time. Following the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of the Messiah, YEHOVAH God would send forth His promise of the holy spirit, on Pentecost. That day would bring to fulfillment the saving plan of YEHOVAH God, in a way analogous to how the entry into the Promised Land brought to fulfillment YEHOVAH’s saving plan for the Israelites. Until the promised spirit came on that promised day, however, the disciples had to tarry in the city, awaiting the celebration of Pentecost. Then, and only then, would they receive “the first-fruits of the spirit,” (Romans 8:23).

Speaking of first-fruits, this brings us to another link between the Old Testament Shavuot and the New Testament Pentecost. This link, however, is one in which the contrast between the two highlights the superior nature of the antitype. Like under the old festival, during which believers presented to YEHOVAH God the first-fruits of their wheat, at the new Pentecost first-fruits were presented as well, though these first-fruits were the holy spirit. Furthermore, these “fruits” were not man’s offering to YEHOVAH God, but His promised gift to His New Testament church. Rather than the fruits of earth being lifted up to heaven, the fruits of heaven are rained down upon YEHOVAH's people Israel in Jerusalem. The Apostle Paul likens the gift of the spirit to first-fruits in his epistle to the church in Rome:

Not only does Paul describe the spirit as first-fruits, this gift is connected with the resurrection, as a sort of guarantee of the “redemption of our body.” In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul speaks similarly of the spirit:

In viewing the first-fruits of the spirit as a pledge or guarantee of the resurrection, Paul is reflecting the Old Testament understanding of the first-fruits of the field. By offering to YEHOVAH God the first-fruits of grain, the believer bore witness that whole field and crop belonged to YEHOVAH, whose continued blessing was importuned through the sacrifice itself. Similarly, YEHOVAH places the spirit within the believer as a pledge that the whole person, body and soul, belongs to Him. He will continue to care for that person in whom the first-fruits of the spirit are present until the “full harvest,” as it were, of the resurrection of the flesh.

At Sinai, YEHOVAH identified Himself as the one who had led them out of the land of Egypt, then laid upon them the “ten words” of the covenant. The rest of Old Testament history, however, is, as it were, Israel’s “rap sheet,” Divine documentation of how the people repeatedly and oftentimes flagrantly broke this covenant. Indeed, even before they departed from Sinai, they rebelled against the First Commandment by attempting to worship YEHOVAH under a bovine icon on the very day of Shavuot (Exodus 32:5), thereby inciting Moses to smash the two tablets of the law (Exodus 32:19). The Father, however, in His grace, did not reject Israel but promised to establish a new covenant with them, “not like the covenant [He] made with their fathers, when [He] took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, [the] covenant with they broke,” (Jeremiah 31:32).

This new covenant the Messiah established with his church as he symbolically gave them his body to eat and his blood to drink (Luke 22:20). It is the covenant built upon his life, passion, and resurrection; the Messiah himself is, in fact, the embodiment of it, as Isaiah prophesied: “I will give you [i.e., the messianic Servant] as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations,” (42:6; cf. 49:8). What the apostles announced in their preaching at Pentecost was this new covenant.

Once more, YEHOVAH God spoke to Israel from the midst of the fire, namely, the fiery tongues resting upon the heads of the apostles. But He laid upon the listeners not the “ten words” for them to fulfill; rather, He proclaimed the fulfillment of the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms in Himself (cf. Luke 24:44). Betokening the fact that this Good News was for all the people of Israel, the spirit enabled the apostles to preach in languages unlearned by them. Therefore, for Christians, Pentecost is the anniversary of the perfect keeping of the law by the Messiah and the new covenant established by YEHOVAH God with His church.

One final observation is in order regarding the antitypical nature of Shavuot. As explained above, there is a very close association between Shavuot and the year of the Jubilee. Both of them were celebrations of YEHOVAH’s emancipatory deeds, His gift of the holy land, and His provision of rest from His people’s labors. All three of these benefactions were anticipatory of the greater blessings the Messiah bestowed upon his church through the spirit at Pentecost. In his Nazareth sermon (Luke 4), the Messiah read these words from the prophet Isaiah as descriptive of his ministry:

The spirit that anointed the Messiah to work these deeds is the same spirit that came upon the apostles at Pentecost. Through their ministry YEHOVAH God, acting through the Messiah, continued to act and speak. As YEHOVAH God had once brought Israel out of Egyptian bondage, so He preaches release to captives who are bound either physically or spiritually or both. As He gave Israel the Promised Land, so the Son of God proclaims the good news of a non-terrestrial kingdom, where the poor are enriched, captives emancipated, blind see, and the oppressed are liberated. Likewise, as in the Jubilee Year (of which Shavuot was an annual mini-celebration), debts were forgiven, ancestral property restored, and Israelites in servitude freed, so too in the messianic Jubilee and messianic Pentecost -- only better and on a grander scale! For, as Peter admonished the crowds at Pentecost,

Baptism into the Messiah is a washing into the ongoing Jubilee of grace. The debt of sin is forgiven. Israelite man is restored to the image of YEHOVAH God. Those in bondage to death are emancipated. All this the spirit gives to “you and your children and [to] all who are far away,” all of Israel who are united with the Messiah via the washing of water with the Word of YEHOVAH God.

As with Passover, so also with Pentecost, YEHOVAH God ordained this festival to be celebrated as a foreshadowing of what He was yet to accomplish for His people Israel. The final “Amen” in the liturgy of the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot would not be sounded until that momentous day in Jerusalem when the spirit came in wind and fire to announce the new covenant of grace to every Israelite nation under heaven.

YEHOVAH's Ecclesia has seen fit to continue the celebration of this Old Testament festival, only now in its perfected, messianic form. So yet today, in YEHOVAH's Ecclesias around the world, "seven Sabbths complete" and fifty days after Passover, the faithful gather not to offer first-fruits to YEHOVAH God, but to receive the first-fruits of His spirit -- and with that gift, all the blessings of him who perfected the law for us, emancipated us, and made us citizens of the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God.

In the New Covenant, whosoever of Israel desires to enter YEHOVAH’s house through the door may come in (the Messiah said he is the door, John 10:9). Thus the prophecy was fulfilled that YEHOVAH’s house would be a house of prayer for all nations of Israel:

The Messiah warned the disciples about the “leaven” of the Pharisees (Matthew 16:6–12), and eventually they understood that he was not referring to the leaven of bread but to the Pharisees’ teachings. Paul uses leaven figuratively in a much harsher sense in referring to the man who commits gross sin (1 Corinthians 5). Paul figuratively equates this sin to having leaven at Passover, saying malice and wickedness should not be a part of this spiritual feast that they, and we of Israel, have entered into.

None of this necessarily presents the twelve tribes symbolized by the showbread as bad Israelites -- full to the brim with leaven. It only acknowledges that all of Israel have sinned, and no one is righteous by himself or able to perfectly keep the law. Because of Adam the Israelite man at his best is not perfectly subject to YEHOVAH God and the law, neither can he be (Romans 8:7, as seen in the Greek text). However, YEHOVAH God loves and accepts those of us of Israel into His presence when we follow His commandments and are covered by the blood of the Messiah. This was true in the Old Covenant, and it remains so in the New Covenant, yet with a different blood.

How many of us understand this wonderful focal point in YEHOVAH's calendar? How many understand that Pentecost is not just a "forgotten feast," that has no special meaning or importance? It is one of the three pilgrimage festivals of spring, summer, and fall. It has very special meaning to those of us of Israel who are true Christians, depicting the salvation of the great body of Israelites who will be in the second resurrection following the Millennial reign of YEHOVAH God and the Messiah. Even so, come quickly YEHOVAH!