Today is what the church calls Pentecost Sunday.
In Hebrew, it is called Shavuot (which means weeks), a feast day that occurs exactly seven weeks past the Feast of Firstfruits (in other words, seven weeks or 49 days must pass and then on the fiftieth day the Feast of Shavuot is observed); in the Greek of the New Testament it is given the name Pentecost (from pente which means five and koste which means times ten) as it is celebrated exactly fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb - Jesus being the fulfillment of the Feast of Firstfruits when He became the "firstfruits" of life everlasting by the power of Almighty God that raised Him from the dead. To the Hebrew mindset, Shavuot is the conclusion of the Passover season.
I want to depart from our study of Jeremiah for just a moment to recognize this feast day of the Lord's, for all the feast days belong to the Lord, not to either Jew or Gentile, even though most of the Lord's feast days are now celebrated only by Jews or Jewish believers in Christ, sadly. The gentile portion of the body of Christ chooses not to really "celebrate" anything other than the Sunday known as Easter [a name which I do not even like to use as its origin comes from that of the pagan goddess Astarte or Ishtar, whom Jeremiah reviles with the facetious name "Queen of Heaven"] and Christmas, a commemoration of the birth of Christ, which is not a feast of the Lord at all. In Protestant churches throughout America, a Christian nod is given to what is known as Good Friday, the day Christ was crucified which in Hebrew is known as Passover, and another nod is given to Pentecost, but there is very little celebration given to this day.
I wonder why that is, given that the church was in effect born on this very day, and draws its very life from the power of God given to them on this day?
But the gentile church as a whole knows very little about the Feast Day of Shavuot and what it was intended to represent to the people of God, so I want to take a little time to describe what it was meant to be, and how Jesus became the fulfillment of that Feast Day...His feast day. So, let's turn not to Acts, as you would think, but to the first mentions of the commandment to God's people to observe this feast day:
"And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel." (Exodus 34:22-23)
"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 shall give unto the Lord thy God, according as the Lord thy God blessed thee." (Deuteronomy 16:10)
The offering for Shavuot consisted of two long, flat, leavened loaves of wheat bread. This is because the offering to be brought to the temple on this Shavuot Feast was to be the firstfruits of the wheat harvest. Shavuot occurred in the summer at the time of the wheat harvest, while the Feast of Firstfruits brought an offering of the barley that was harvested in spring.
These two loaves of wheat bread for Shavuot were not burned as other sacrifices to the Lord were burned, but were waved by the priest standing before the altar. The two loaves were waved forwards and backwards, then up and down (does that remind you of the shape of a cross?). Then they became the festive meal eaten by the priests themselves later in the day.
It is important to note that their were two loaves, not one. Two. Two loaves joined together to bring an offering of worship to the Lord. An offering of the hands of the people of God, performed by the priest indicating the shape of a cross.
Now, watch how Jesus fulfills this Feast Day, and by fulfilling, I do not at all mean that Jesus caused the celebration of it to cease, but that He brought it into its full purpose, the purpose for which it had been intended from its very first origin at Mt. Sinai. That is what is to be celebrated even now today.
We begin at Luke: 24:44:
"And He said unto them, 'These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.' And He led them out as far as to Bethany, and He lifted up His hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen." (Luke 24:44-53)
I underlined the portion of scripture above that, to me, begins to indicate the meaning of the two loaves of bread...all nations, beginning at Jerusalem...not only for those in Jerusalem, but for all nations. Two loaves of bread raised up in worship to God, an expansion of the people of God, no longer Jewish only (the disciples), but also now including the Gentiles; one in Jesus Christ, one in Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus, the Messiah).
It was by the power from God (the Holy Spirit) that two people groups, now joined by their belief in Jesus Christ, would become one. It began with Jewish followers of Christ, but now includes both Jewish and Gentile followers of Christ. The Gentiles (the group to which I belong) became a part of the "people of God" on Pentecost, on Shavuot, through the power of the Holy Spirit, by the preaching of repentance to all nations, by Jewish disciples of Christ. What were the people of God called? Israel. At Pentecost, the people of God separated unto Him (the church) became one people called Israel. Israel was no longer a physical identity, but a spiritual one; no longer requiring physical circumcision, but circumcision of the heart only. Does that mean Jewish believers disappeared and are no more? No, not any more than Gentile believers lost their identity. But the identity of both developed into something even better; their identity became the "church" or the "bride of Christ."
As a result, the Jewish believers have no need to join with our Gentile church, they are the church, just as much as we Gentile believers are the church, the joining of the two was done by God on the Day of Pentecost over two thousand years ago...two loaves of bread that became one in Jesus, united in the power of the Holy Spirit. Instead, I often hear pastors say that Jewish believers are welcome to join "their" church. I have always felt that was a little bit of putting the cart before the horse. The horse that pulls the cart is the Jewish believers in Christ; the cart that follows behind, but is one with the horse now, is the Gentile believers in Christ. If anyone "joined" a church, it was, and still should be, the Gentiles that "joined." That was what Paul's metaphor of "grafting in" was all about. Gentile believers in Christ became one with Jewish believers in Christ...the Jewish believers leading the way...until both are completely "united" under the new identity of the bride of Christ.
"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto be both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth....these [the disciples of Jesus] all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren...and when the day of Pentecost [Shavuot] was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place [in Jerusalem]. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them, cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance....the multitude came together and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Gallileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel:
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit unto all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy: and I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, fire, and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Acts 1:8-2:21)
Two loaves of bread, representing Jew and Gentile, waved before the altar of God, with hands raised in Spirit-filled worship in the symbol of the cross; two people become one as living sacrifices, anointed by God in the power of His Holy Spirit, united together by the blood of Jesus that washed away their sins, appointed to bring into the kingdom of God those that would be saved (both Jew and Gentile) in the last days.
This is what we, Jewish and Gentile believers in Christ, should be celebrating today on the Feast of Shavuot.
I think it is worth celebrating....
In Hebrew, it is called Shavuot (which means weeks), a feast day that occurs exactly seven weeks past the Feast of Firstfruits (in other words, seven weeks or 49 days must pass and then on the fiftieth day the Feast of Shavuot is observed); in the Greek of the New Testament it is given the name Pentecost (from pente which means five and koste which means times ten) as it is celebrated exactly fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb - Jesus being the fulfillment of the Feast of Firstfruits when He became the "firstfruits" of life everlasting by the power of Almighty God that raised Him from the dead. To the Hebrew mindset, Shavuot is the conclusion of the Passover season.
I want to depart from our study of Jeremiah for just a moment to recognize this feast day of the Lord's, for all the feast days belong to the Lord, not to either Jew or Gentile, even though most of the Lord's feast days are now celebrated only by Jews or Jewish believers in Christ, sadly. The gentile portion of the body of Christ chooses not to really "celebrate" anything other than the Sunday known as Easter [a name which I do not even like to use as its origin comes from that of the pagan goddess Astarte or Ishtar, whom Jeremiah reviles with the facetious name "Queen of Heaven"] and Christmas, a commemoration of the birth of Christ, which is not a feast of the Lord at all. In Protestant churches throughout America, a Christian nod is given to what is known as Good Friday, the day Christ was crucified which in Hebrew is known as Passover, and another nod is given to Pentecost, but there is very little celebration given to this day.
I wonder why that is, given that the church was in effect born on this very day, and draws its very life from the power of God given to them on this day?
But the gentile church as a whole knows very little about the Feast Day of Shavuot and what it was intended to represent to the people of God, so I want to take a little time to describe what it was meant to be, and how Jesus became the fulfillment of that Feast Day...His feast day. So, let's turn not to Acts, as you would think, but to the first mentions of the commandment to God's people to observe this feast day:
"And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel." (Exodus 34:22-23)
"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 shall give unto the Lord thy God, according as the Lord thy God blessed thee." (Deuteronomy 16:10)
The offering for Shavuot consisted of two long, flat, leavened loaves of wheat bread. This is because the offering to be brought to the temple on this Shavuot Feast was to be the firstfruits of the wheat harvest. Shavuot occurred in the summer at the time of the wheat harvest, while the Feast of Firstfruits brought an offering of the barley that was harvested in spring.
These two loaves of wheat bread for Shavuot were not burned as other sacrifices to the Lord were burned, but were waved by the priest standing before the altar. The two loaves were waved forwards and backwards, then up and down (does that remind you of the shape of a cross?). Then they became the festive meal eaten by the priests themselves later in the day.
It is important to note that their were two loaves, not one. Two. Two loaves joined together to bring an offering of worship to the Lord. An offering of the hands of the people of God, performed by the priest indicating the shape of a cross.
Now, watch how Jesus fulfills this Feast Day, and by fulfilling, I do not at all mean that Jesus caused the celebration of it to cease, but that He brought it into its full purpose, the purpose for which it had been intended from its very first origin at Mt. Sinai. That is what is to be celebrated even now today.
We begin at Luke: 24:44:
"And He said unto them, 'These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.' And He led them out as far as to Bethany, and He lifted up His hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen." (Luke 24:44-53)
I underlined the portion of scripture above that, to me, begins to indicate the meaning of the two loaves of bread...all nations, beginning at Jerusalem...not only for those in Jerusalem, but for all nations. Two loaves of bread raised up in worship to God, an expansion of the people of God, no longer Jewish only (the disciples), but also now including the Gentiles; one in Jesus Christ, one in Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus, the Messiah).
It was by the power from God (the Holy Spirit) that two people groups, now joined by their belief in Jesus Christ, would become one. It began with Jewish followers of Christ, but now includes both Jewish and Gentile followers of Christ. The Gentiles (the group to which I belong) became a part of the "people of God" on Pentecost, on Shavuot, through the power of the Holy Spirit, by the preaching of repentance to all nations, by Jewish disciples of Christ. What were the people of God called? Israel. At Pentecost, the people of God separated unto Him (the church) became one people called Israel. Israel was no longer a physical identity, but a spiritual one; no longer requiring physical circumcision, but circumcision of the heart only. Does that mean Jewish believers disappeared and are no more? No, not any more than Gentile believers lost their identity. But the identity of both developed into something even better; their identity became the "church" or the "bride of Christ."
As a result, the Jewish believers have no need to join with our Gentile church, they are the church, just as much as we Gentile believers are the church, the joining of the two was done by God on the Day of Pentecost over two thousand years ago...two loaves of bread that became one in Jesus, united in the power of the Holy Spirit. Instead, I often hear pastors say that Jewish believers are welcome to join "their" church. I have always felt that was a little bit of putting the cart before the horse. The horse that pulls the cart is the Jewish believers in Christ; the cart that follows behind, but is one with the horse now, is the Gentile believers in Christ. If anyone "joined" a church, it was, and still should be, the Gentiles that "joined." That was what Paul's metaphor of "grafting in" was all about. Gentile believers in Christ became one with Jewish believers in Christ...the Jewish believers leading the way...until both are completely "united" under the new identity of the bride of Christ.
"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto be both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth....these [the disciples of Jesus] all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren...and when the day of Pentecost [Shavuot] was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place [in Jerusalem]. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them, cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance....the multitude came together and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Gallileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel:
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit unto all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy: and I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, fire, and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Acts 1:8-2:21)
Two loaves of bread, representing Jew and Gentile, waved before the altar of God, with hands raised in Spirit-filled worship in the symbol of the cross; two people become one as living sacrifices, anointed by God in the power of His Holy Spirit, united together by the blood of Jesus that washed away their sins, appointed to bring into the kingdom of God those that would be saved (both Jew and Gentile) in the last days.
This is what we, Jewish and Gentile believers in Christ, should be celebrating today on the Feast of Shavuot.
I think it is worth celebrating....
5 comments:
OK Janna. I'm still alittle confussed on the whole "Jewish" thing. I know that there had to be Jewish people who believed in Christ, but where do the differences lay? Do Orthodox Jews believe that Jesus Christ was born, died and raised? (OK...we might have to actually talk on this issue.) Jews are anyone born in Israel...and what do they believe? Gentiles are anyone else, outside of Israel, who study and practice the teachings of Jesus Christ. If an orthodox Jew accepts Jesus Christ as their savior, then would they not be know as Christians and no long an orthodox Jew? I really don't know alot about the Jewish people and the Jewish faith...other than they are Godly people.
Jews were the chosen people of God. They became identified with circumcision through Abraham, which was the original sign that confirmed they belonged to the people that God had chosen, that plus the fact that they followed GOD. Abraham's grandson was Jacob, whose name God later changed to Israel. The people of God then became known as Israel, a nation of circumcised God-followers; they were called Israel way before they ever had their own country called Israel which only happened in 1948. Prior to Jesus, anyone who did not trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, (i.e., anyone who was not of the "circumcised chosen people of God") were simply called strangers or foreigners (the Old Testament term); anyone who was not of the Jewish faith was considered a "foreigner" or "stranger", terms which God Himself used. However, God ordained that any foreigner or stranger who came to trust in the Jewish God, could convert, be circumcised, and be known as a Jew. But that was BEFORE Jesus died on the cross. There were no Christians prior to Jesus, there was only either Jew or foreigner, believers in the one true God of the Jews or believers in pagan gods. That was it.
But, AFTER the coming of Jesus, anyone who believed in Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile, became a follower of "the Way" or, a follower of Jesus. The pagan worshippers in Antioch were the first to give followers of Jesus the name "Christ-ian" (Christ being the Greek word for "anointed" or "Messiah"). That name is used only three times in the New Testament (Acts 11:26, Acts 26:28, 1 Peter 4:16). The term "Christ-ian" was meant to mock, but the believers eventually (during the second century) came to wear the title with honor. So, during and after Jesus, the Jews became divided into two camps: in the first camp were Jews who did NOT believe Jesus was the Messiah. The second camp was Jews who believed Jesus WAS the Messiah. I use the term "believing Jews" to denote those who believed Jesus was the Messiah, as I cannot just use the term Jew since there are two different camps. Within the Jewish non-believing camp were two groups: Sadducee and Pharisee (Sadducees did not believe in life after death, Pharisees did). Gentile, on the other hand, is only a New Testament term, designating anyone who was not of the Hebrew (or Jewish) faith. Gentiles were not circumcised either. Gentiles were pagans. BUT, some Gentiles came to believe in Jesus, just as some Jews (whether Sadducee or Pharisee) came to know Jesus. [The term "orthodox" probably came later, in modern times, indicating that they adhere to the law of Moses very strictly; in that sense, there could be some modern-day orthodox Jews who come to know Christ.) But when I speak of the believing Jews and the believing Gentiles that formed the early church, I mean those of both camps who came to trust in Jesus. The early church in the first century rarely called itself Christian. And Jews who came to believe in Jesus did not stop observing the feast days because Jesus Himself observed the Jewish feast days, such as Shavuot, as He was Jewish. He came first to the chosen people of God, the Jews, those who were to be the light of God to the Gentiles. But then, when the majority of Jews rejected Him, He sent Paul (a Jew), and other followers, to preach to the Gentiles, in order to make the Jews jealous of the gifts God gave to the Gentiles. The Gentiles then became the light to the world, in the place of the Jews, the believing Gentiles that is...those who believed in Jesus. But the believing Gentiles pulled away from anything having to do with Judaism by the end of the first century, to their detriment, I believe. They wanted to be so separate from anything Jewish, that any Jew who became a believer now had to forsake His Jewish customs, such as the feast days, in order to be a part of the "church." They even seemed to forget the at Jesus WAS Himself a Jew. This forsaking of everything Jewish was never the case during the days of the disciples. Paul even spoke of how the new Gentile believers would be in synagogue on the Sabbath and would hear the teachings of Moses (meaning the law), and that was considered to be a good thing (Acts 15 explains this and also explains that it was no longer a necessary sign to be circumcised to be a believer in God, because there was now a spiritual "circumcision of the heart" that took place in believers in Jesus.) But by the second century Jews could only be part of the church if they put aside anything having to do with their Jewishness, in order to become "Christian". I believe, we Gentile "Christians" were to be taught by our older Jewish brethren in Christ, but instead, we denounced the Jewish brethren in Christ until they "conformed" to us.
So, if that still doesn't make sense, and is still confusing, then let's talk on the phone whenever you have time. I am free all this week, so the sooner the better. Thanks for putting an excellent question out there!
Thanks! That really cleared up a LOT for me!! Having NOT studied the bible as much as I should have, I'm trying to keep straight who was who, what was what and where was...WHERE??? Lol!
You are welcome...glad it helped.
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