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