50th Day: Feast of Weeks & Pentecost

You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the LORD.     - Leviticus 23:15-16

On this day on the Biblical Calendar, it had been 50 days since the Israelites passed through the Red Sea. God called Israel to consecrate themselves and gather around Mount Sinai so that He could give them His instructions for how to be His holy nation and royal priesthood. God was calling Israel to be a kingdom of priests with Him as their King so that they would mediate His blessings to the rest of the world as His priests. All Israel was invited up the mountain at the sound of the loud trumpet blast. But when the people saw the fire of God’s presence and heard Him speak the ten commands, they were too terrified to ascend the mountain and instead, Moses was appointed as a mediator. Moses alone went up the mountain into God’s presence.

Exodus 19:16-18 ESV - 16 On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.

Each year, this day was also commemorated in the Feast of Weeks. 50 days after offering the first sheaf of the harvest, the first fruits of the harvest were offered to the Lord with loaves of leavened and unleavened bread. Israelites were also instructed to show their remembrance of how they were slaves in Egypt by not harvesting their fields up to the very edge, but leaving gleanings for the poor, the orphan, the widow, and the sojourner.

Many years later, this day marked 50 days since the resurrection of Jesus as the first sheaf of the harvest of resurrection. Jesus had ascended to heaven after forty days of appearances proving that He had been raised from the dead. Ten days later, which was the day of the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the first fruits group of one hundred twenty disciples of Jesus. The fire of God descended on them, with tongues of fire enabling them to speak other languages.

Acts 2:1-4 ESV - 1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Moses spoke of God sending a prophet like him, whom the whole world must obey and to whom the whole world would give account. Moses also expressed His wish that all people could have the Spirit of the Lord with them. Jesus is the One who has been appointed as the new and greater Moses, the only Mediator between God and man. Jesus is the only One who fully obeyed God from the heart perfectly, without sin, and as such, He alone has the right to approach God’s presence. Fifty-three days ago, Jesus offered His life as the eternal Passover Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. Fifty days ago, Jesus was resurrected, proving His authority over death as the Son of God and King of all Creation. On Pentecost, Jesus shared the promised Holy Spirit with the first fruits group of His disciples who obeyed Him to enable them to obey God from the heart and supernaturally empower them to spread the message of His mercy and blessing to the rest of the world.

From the beginning, it was always God’s will that people would obey Him from the heart and fill the world with His abundant life and love. Since Eden, it was God’s purpose to dwell with people as they lived under His authority, but all mankind has rebelled against Him. When God redeemed Israel, proving Himself to be the Creator and Most High God through the great plagues poured out on Egypt, He desired for Israel to obey His instructions. But when God tested them with manna by telling them to rest on the seventh day, they did not obey Him. Their ancestor, Abraham, had believed God and demonstrated this by his obedience, but since Israel proved not to obey His instructions, the Law became necessary, including the pattern for the Tabernacle, so that a holy God could dwell among a sinful people without them being destroyed. Eventually, the Temple was built by Solomon in a similar pattern to the Tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord filled the Temple. But when Israel chronically disobeyed God and refused to heed the warnings of God’s prophets, God removed His glory from the Temple and Solomon’s Temple was destroyed. When the exiles returned from Babylon, they rebuilt the Temple but there is no mention of the glory of the Lord filling this Temple, because the people’s rebellious hearts had not been changed by exile. Nevertheless, the prophets prophesied that God’s glory would again fill His House and more significantly, that God would give His people a new heart and a new spirit, His own Spirit, so that they could obey Him from the heart. (Malachi 3:1; Ezekiel 43:1-5; Habakkuk 2:14; Joel 2:28-39; Ezekiel 36:26; Isaiah 44:3-4, Jeremiah 31:34, etc.)

On the day of Pentecost, God fulfilled these promises by restoring Jesus’ disciples to His original purpose of obedience from the heart by giving them a new heart and a new spirit: the Holy Spirit in us. This time, He did not fill a Temple building because a building was never His intent. He filled those who obey Jesus with His presence and glory, so that they become a new creation and spread the message of His life and love.

So today, as you consider Israel standing at the base of Mount Sinai receiving the commands of God and the one hundred twenty disciples of Jesus receiving the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, consider your own walk with Jesus. Have you experienced the touch of His power? Do you hear His voice? Are you led by His Spirit or are you still making decisions by your own logic, emotions, and what is right in your sight? Jesus died on a cross, not just to forgive your sins, but to cleanse you so that you can receive the Holy Spirit dwelling inside you as a new heart and a new spirit so that you are empowered to hear God and obey God from the heart as a new creation in Christ. If you have not yet experienced the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, submit to God and cry out to Him until you do. Jesus died to give this to you and the Holy Spirit comes to all who obey Him.

Luke 11:13 ESV - 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Pentecost Scriptures

Israel at Sinai: Exodus 19-20

Feast of Weeks: Leviticus 23:15-22

Pentecost: Acts 2

The Fifth Month - Av

Today is the first day of the fifth month on the Biblical calendar. It is the month of Av, which means "father."

On the ninth day of this month, BOTH the first and the second Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed by Gentile invaders. On the ninth of Av 586 B.C.E., Solomon's Temple was demolished and burned by the Babylonians and on the ninth of Av 70 C.E., the Second Temple was devastated and thrown down by the Romans. Jews to this day observe the fast of Tisha B'Av to mourn these events and the continued absence of a Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

In the years leading up to Babylonian exile, a false prophet contended against Jeremiah in this month by dramatically proclaiming that Babylonian captivity would last only two years. Within two months, the false prophet died. In time, Jeremiah's prophecy of seventy years of captivity was fulfilled.

The elders already exiled in Babylon inquired of Ezekiel for a word from the Lord in this month a few years before the Temple was destroyed. Ezekiel proceeded to tell them of their long and repeated history of rebellion against God and the great mercy God had repeatedly shown them. Through Ezekiel's message, the Lord makes it clear that He acts on Israel's behalf for the sake of His Holy Name in the sight of the nations.

This month also includes Biblical events pointing to the fulfillment of God's promises for those who hope in Him.

On the first day of this month in the fortieth year in Israel's time in the wilderness, God called Moses' brother Aaron up to Mount Hor to die. Aaron's High Priesthood was passed to his son, Eleazar, who was ordained to lead the people alongside Joshua into the Promised Land.

Ezra and the exiles returning with him arrived in Jerusalem in this month. The hand of the Lord was with them because Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, to do it, and to teach it to the people so as to renew their devotion to the Law and to God.

Moreover, rather than mourning and fasting over Jerusalem and the Temple in this month, the prophet Zechariah encouraged genuine repentance, joy in the Lord, and a love for truth and shalom peace.

In Jesus' name, may you be blessed this month with the destruction of the things God is removing from your life, ears to hear and a genuine love for the truth of God's word, protection from false promises by false prophets, and the beginning signs of purified restoration. What a loving Father He is!

Scripture References this Month:

Numbers 33:38

2 Kings 25:8-21

1 Chronicles 27:8

2 Chronicles 36:15-21

Ezra 7:8-9

Jeremiah 1:3, 28:1-17, 52:12-14

Ezekiel 20:1-49

Zechariah 7:3-5, 8:19

Traditional Reading: The Book of Lamentations

Originally published as: "The Blessing of the Fifth Month (Av)" - Reprinted from Blessings of the Biblical Calendar - Copyright © 2015 Wendy Bowen – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WORLDWIDE

The Seventh Month

Today is the first day of the seventh month on the Biblical Calendar. Before Babylonian exile, this month was called Ethanim which means "enduring." Post-exile, it has been called Tishri which is a Babylonian name, meaning "beginning." Although this day is celebrated by Jewish people as Rosh Hashannah, which means "head of the year," the Hebrew calendar was not divided into civic and ecclesiastical order until exile. According to the Word of God, this is the seventh month.

This is the month when the Fall Feasts of the seventh month take place. These include the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot.)

The Feast of Trumpets is a day for blowing trumpets and a solemn assembly. This leads into ten days of repentance in preparation for the Day of Atonement.

The Day of Atonement is the only day of the year when the High Priest was able to enter the Most Holy Place with the blood of a sin offering to atone for the sin of the people. Then, he would transfer the people's sins onto the scapegoat and send the scapegoat off into the wilderness to remove sin entirely from the community. If the atonement offering was not accepted by God, the people were still in their sins and subject to destruction. But if the offering was accepted, they were cleansed and blessed. It is Jewish tradition on Yom Kippur to read aloud the entire Book of Jonah, the story of the reluctant prophet.

The Feast of Tabernacles begins five days after the Day of Atonement. This is a great celebration of the rich harvest God has provided. People offer multiple offerings and dwell in tents/tabernacles to remember God's faithfulness to their ancestors when they dwelt in tents in the wilderness before inheriting the Promised Land. In the course of Israel's history, it was during the Feast of Tabernacles that Solomon dedicated the Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, the place God had chosen to put his name. He prayed a marvelous prayer of devotion and consecration and offered so many sacrifices to the Lord that they could not be numbered. Years later after the exiles had returned, it was during this feast that Nehemiah read the Law of Moses to the returned exiles, telling them not to weep because the joy of the Lord was their strength.

Jews have an expression and believe that during these Fall Feasts, God decides for the year ahead "who will live, who will die, who will laugh, who will cry." However, these Feasts actually foreshadow the return of Jesus, Israel's Messiah and eternal Great High Priest. In the times to come, the trumpets of the Book of Revelation will sound off in succession until Jesus returns at the final trumpet for the ultimate Day of Judgment/Atonement. Everything not atoned for through faith in the blood of Jesus will be judged and all of God's enemies will be removed. After that day, those who trust in Jesus' as our eternal sin offering and scapegoat will rejoice in His salvation. According to Zechariah, we will celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles with the Lord on the new earth, remembering how He faithfully led us through this world and into the promise of eternity.

Other notable Biblical events in this month include Noah's Ark resting on the mountains of Ararat after the earth had been cleansed by the flood; Hezekiah completing an offering to give the Levites and Priests what was due them according to the Law of Moses; and the false prophet died after contending against Jeremiah by prophesying only two years of exile.

This is a month of reflection, humbling ourselves in genuine repentance, and celebrating all that God has done in our lives. Therefore, in Jesus' name, be blessed this month to reflect on the goodness and mercy of God. May you enter into new depths of worship in honor of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus as we eagerly await His return at the final trumpet!

Traditional Jewish Readings:

Trumpets: Genesis 22

Atonement: Book of Jonah

Sukkot: Ecclesiastes

Scripture References in the Seventh Month:

Genesis 8:4

Leviticus 16:29, 23:24-41, 25:9

Numbers 29

1 Kings 8

2 Kings 25:25

1 Chronicles 27:10

2 Chronicles 5:3, 7:10, 31:7

Ezra 3

Nehemiah 7:73,8:2,14

Jeremiah 28:17, 41:1

Ezekiel 45:25

Haggai 2:1-9

Zechariah 7:5, 8:19, 14:16-19

John 7

Revelation 8-11, 20-22

Originally published as: "The Blessing of the Seventh Month (Ethanim/Tishrei)" - Reprinted from Blessings of the Biblical Calendar, Copyright © 2015 Wendy Bowen – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WORLDWIDE

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