THE FEAST OF PENTECOST
or
The Feast of Weeks
This the second of the Three times, Israel was commanded to come before God.
Leviticus 23: 15-21
(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. (17) Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD. (18) And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD. (19) Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. (20) And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. (21) And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation (= a sabbath) unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
SEVEN WEEKS (Sabbaths) + ONE DAY = 50 days after the
SHEAF OF FIRSTFRUITS WAS WAVED BEFORE THE LORD.
Passover to Pentecost = 50 days. Acts 2:2 ‘when the day of Pentecost was FULLY come’.
Passover to Ascension = 40 days . . . + 10 day prayer time in upper room = 50.
The feast of Pentecost was a single day. . . . also called
THE FEAST OF WEEKS - Deuteronomy 16:9,10
the Feast of Harvest (WHEAT harvest) - Exodus 23:16
THE FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS (Feast of the firstfruits of the total harvest) - Exodus 34:22.
1. A NEW MEAL OFFERING
Leviticus 23:16 Ye shall offer a new meal offering unto the Lord.
observe . . .
a] Something Offered to the Lord . . . primarily A GIVING NOT A GETTING.
b] It is NEW . . . not been seen before . . . it is ADDED to the already given feats etc.
The OLD meal offering of Leviticus 2 stood for AVAILABILITY TO THE LORD FOR UNRESERVED DEALINGS AND FULL CONSECRATION OF ONE’S LIFE so that we might serve the Lord in a better equipped way.
The old was baked without leaven and included fine flour, oil and frankincense. . . but here it is a NEW Meal Offering . . . from above scripture . . .
(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. (17) Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.
To serve the Lord . . . both the ministering unto Him and the ministering unto man . . .is to have one’s tongue (speech, words etc.) purged with fire. It is our tongue, when not bridled, gets us into ‘hot water’ every time.
Isaiah 6: 5-8
(5) Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
(6) Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
(7) And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
(8) Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
After King Uzziah (flesh) had died, Isaiah saw the Lord and his tongue/lips (word producing operation) was touched by fire and he was THEN ready to be sent forth in God’s plan. Jesus in Luke 24:49 commanded the disciples NOT TO GO FORTH until they had received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit — the promise of the father. In the Book of Acts, when the Day of Pentecost was fully come (i.e. 50 th. day), there was a flame of fire (that looked like ‘dove’) that came upon each . . . and their tongue/language/speech was touched. The baptism of the Holy Spirit includes ‘with FIRE’.
TWO LOAVES BAKED WITH LEAVEN
Two loaves that bear witness to God’s next dealings . . . a loaf has to be baked and therefore that included some fire!
With the waving of these two loaves, there were 7 lambs, 1 bullock, 2 rams — relating to the BURNT OFFERING + 1 kid — relating to the SIN OFFERING, and 2 lambs — relating to the Peace Offering = a total of 13 offerings = (because of the POSITIVE nature of this feast) refer to the dealing with SIN AND SELF (13) which stems back to the tongue AND THE VICTORY THAT ONE WILL BE ABLE TO WALK IN as the offering of all of us including our tongue will bring victory over the flesh . . . i.e. the tongue.
James 3:4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.
The little rudder controls and steers a huge ship; the little tongue controls and steers a huge body. . .( singular and plural applications). When God gets hold of your tongue, He gets hold of you . . . all of you.
James 3:8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. (9) Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
There are TWO LOAVES covering both aspects of ‘flesh’ . . . 1. In our words before the Lord that they be ordered by the Holy Spirit and, 2. Similarly our words towards one another as what we say can carry the ‘word of the Lord’ for another.
No MAN can control (tame) our tongue . . . just cannot be done fully.
James 3:5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindles! (6) And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
Pentecost is the Feast of First-fruits of TONGUE CONTROL. . . which is moving LIKE JESUS did. “The things that I do”, said Jesus, “Ye shall do also and greater than these shall ye do”. To do the same things etc. we shall require the same equipment of His anointing, power and nature. (see later study on Adoption).
2. THE PURPOSE OF THE FEAST OF PENTECOST
It is first NEW and therefore ADDED to what has already come forth. It was not included in the Feast of Passover . . . it is new and distinct.
At Passover in our life, we received the mind of Christ. . . at Pentecost we receive a mighty release of that which is in HIS MIND. What is in your mind is WORDS which includes music and pictures. What is in the mind of Christ is His words wherein is His will.
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (2) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Included in this ‘living sacrifice’ of your body, is your tongue !
Psalm 39:1 I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.
Psalm 139:4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
The POWER of WORDS is almost immeasurable ( see separate study).
Proverbs 18:21 says that ‘death and life are in the power of the tongue.
The Aboriginals of Australia know all about this . . . when one member of one tribe dealt badly with a member of another tribe, the witch doctor of the second tribe would go to the culprit, point the bone and declare a curse upon him. Within a few weeks (sometimes days) the culprit was dead. Autopsies have been done and no cause for that death can be found.
In order to make a loaf of bread, there are certain things that must happen along the way.
To start with the WHEAT is ripe and therefore ready; it is then thrashed to remove from it all the husks that have no life in them . . . i.e. we likewise, remove the ‘letter husks’ to expose the ‘spiritual food’ in the Word of God (II Corinthians 3:5+6).
Then the kernels of wheat are ground down into flour. . . each individual kernel of wheat loses his identity and blends beautifully with the whole; water of the word is added + the leaven (yeast) and then fire is added to all that. The result - a loaf.
Luke 3:16 John the baptist said . . .
I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:
BREAD = THE WORD FROM GOD (Jesus being Bread which came down from heaven - the Living Word).
Bread is made by FIRE (baking) . . . both go together.
The two together - WORD and FIRE make up the Feast of Pentecost. . . and it is certainly NEW !!!
There is a NEW dedication as we desire to bless the Lord more. . . as we desire to see His mighty power flow through us. Referring to Acts 2 we see that the Feast or Day of Pentecost was experienced by the disciples and it was TONGUES (associated with words/speech) of FIRE (for purging) that came UPON each o those who had chosen to be in the upper room at that time (presumably the Lord got through to them to be there and they were obedient.
WHEN THE TWO LOAVES WERE WAVED BY THE PRIEST, it was sign for the people to bring in there WHEAT HARVEST. Similar to the Priest waving the SHEAF OF FIRSTFRUITS of Passover.
The two loaves were therefore a SIGN to the people that would now see an increase.
For us today, a SIGN is something that one SEES and/or HEARS. Jesus is the Sign when He was raised from the dead.
Acts 2: 33
Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
The 120 on the Day of Pentecost were certainly a sign to the people. . . both back there and for us today. Could the two loaves be ‘SEEN’ and ‘HEARD’? This is the evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
WHAT WAS NEW ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST? Answer = languages from those who had never learnt them. These languages came from the MIND of CHRIST within . . . for that is where ‘words are stored’. The words, called ‘utterance’ were given by the Holy Spirit, therefore had to come from His Mind.
The Holy Spirit within you HAD RECEIVED THE OFFERING of your whole being including your tongue, and He then gave His words in place of yours’. OUR OFFERING = our complete surrender of our tongues.
3. baked with leaven
This is the opposite to the Meal Offering loaves. The leaven declares that there is still the possibility that sin and self will creep in even though they are not wanted.
The RELEASE OF THE SPIRIT is a down-payment for the fullness of the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 3: 13b +14). This release of the power of the Holy Spirit is ‘with leaven-weakness’ to show that until the Lord has fully tamed the tongue, there will be sin and self manifesting. It shows that God sees this as a progressive feast . . . UNTIL . . .
The baptism of the Spirit will release the Spirit-Breath from within you and the ‘proof of the pudding’ will be the progress HE achieves in you . . . IT IS FOR YOU TO SEE THAT THE LORD, OUR GOD, DOES IT ALL IN YOU. You cannot achieve anything for the Lord. He does it by His Grace.
Such a release will also expose the flesh (of the uncontrolled tongue) . . . how can you deal with an enemy, if you don’t see him ? Speaking in a prayer language ( and all the other benefits of so doing) will do a mighty changing work in you..
Being as it is a ‘down-payment’, it shows that there is a FULL HARVEST of His control of your mouth just as Father-God had over the tongue of Jesus. Such control did not allow Jesus to sin at all.
THE FEAST OF PENTECOST CANNOT BRING FORTH THE BODY OF CHRIST TO PERFECTION OR MATURITY. It wasn’t intended to, by itself, to bring forth perfection: the reason, because there is leaven in the lump . . . and leaven just cannot go into the Holiest of All. . . the Throne-Room of God where Jesus sits saying unto us, ‘Come unto Me’.
As the ‘downpayment’ (‘earnest’ - Ephesians 1:14) to the fullness of the Spirit, this feast will open the way TO the fullness of Christ as shown in ‘the Feast of Tabernacles’.
4. two loaves
Leviticus 23: 17 above . . . there were TWO loaves from the ONE mixing of the ingredients. Both were waved before the Lord.
I Corinthians 10: 17
For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
ONE BREAD . . . ONE BODY . . . thus at Pentecost there began the formation of the one true Body called the Church. This expression of the Church was a NEW expression back in Acts 2.
NEW OFFERING was given back in Old times. . . the release of the mind of Christ was and is the NEW OFFERING. The OFFERING part is the offering up to the Lord of your SPEECH-MAKING parts . . . your lips for the fire, your soundbox, your breath, your open mouth and HE accepts what you offer and GIVES YOU HIS WORDS in your release.
Genesis 11: 1-9 God gave them languages SUPERNATURALLY and they caused the people to be separated.
Acts 2 God gave them new languages SUPERNATURALLY and they caused the people to come together and 3000 got saved.
IN HISTORY . . .
In the 1500’s Luther was used to bring back the Feast of Passover . . . saved by faith in the Blood of Jesus.
At the turn of this century, in Los Angeles, the fulfillment of the Feast of Pentecost began.
In 1948 God fulfilled the Blowing of Trumpets and right now in this time ( + or - 1997), the day of Atonement is fulfilled as we are in the FULFILLMENT OF THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.
QUESTIONS
1. Why was the Feast of Pentecost called a NEW offering ?
2. Relate the Baptism in the Holy Spirit of Acts 2 to this Old Testament Feast of Pentecost.
3. Why was ‘leaven’ (yeast) included in the two wave-loaves ?
4. Where does ‘FIRE’ come in on this Old Testament Feast and in its New Testament fulfillment?
Ray and Sheila Knight
2544 Summit Drive
Blind Bay BC V0E 1H1
Canada