Trinity Baptist Church

 

We are studying the feasts of the Lord that were given to Moses to be taught to the Israelites. We have discovered that in every feast there is historical significance, messianic teaching and spiritual application. Through all of God’s activity and intervention in getting the children of Israel out of Egypt, there is a foretelling of what ultimately would be accomplished through Jesus in every believer’s heart. 

 

But let me point something out to you that I had not noticed before: For most of us, the focus in the Exodus is on getting the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses makes that famous statement to Pharaoh from God: “Let My people go!” But the statement didn’t end there. 

 

Exodus 5:1

 

In fact, in the original commission that Moses received in Exodus 3:18, God said you will request of Pharaoh to lead My people out so they may sacrifice in the wilderness.

 

In 7:16, after the first plague of the water becoming blood, Let my people go. . .that they may serve (worship) me in the wilderness.

 

10:9, after the eighth plague, Pharaoh had had enough, decides to let them go, asks “who is going?” Moses: everybody’s going, and our flocks and herds. We must hold a feast to the Lord.”

 

So God’s intention was that these feasts that He had pre-determined to be held would be constant reminders through the year to God’s people of His power and protection and provision on their behalf. 

 

Now, Pentecost is the fourth of the seven feasts listed in Leviticus 23. And each year when it was observed it carried the Israelites back to the time immediately after they were delivered from Egyptian bondage.

 

Look at Exodus 19:1-8

 

In the third month after the Jews left Egypt, they arrived in the Sinai desert and camped opposite Mount Sinai. Moses was then told by God to gather the Israelites together to receive the Commandments (Exodus 19:1-8). The Israelites answered, "All that the Lord has spoken, we will do."

 

It is interesting that they agree to do what the Lord says, even before they hear what He says.  

 

Then Moses gave the Jews two days to cleanse themselves, wash their clothes, and prepare to receive these commandments on the third day. At the same time, Moses told them not to come too near Mount Sinai. 

 

From early morning, dense clouds covered the peak of the mountain. Thunder and lightning were frequently seen and heard. The sound of the ram's horn came very strong, and the top of the mountain was enveloped in fire and smoke. 

 

The Israelites at the foot of Mount Sinai stood in great awe (Exodus 19:9-19). Moses then went up alone on the mountain, and as he neared the top, a mighty voice announced the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19:20-25, 20:1-21).

 

The Feast of Pentecost was designed to help the Israelites remember this particular experience on Mt. Sinai. 

 

Leviticus 23:15-21.

 

Now last week we looked at the feast of firstfruits. It was observed on the day after the weekly Sabbath following Passover. 

 

Here, in regard to Pentecost, the Lord commanded that seven weeks be counted from the time of the offering of the firstfruits. The next day following the seven weeks, or the fiftieth day, would be the day that Pentecost would be observed. 

 

Pentecost is actually the conclusion to the Passover season. Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits and Pentecost are all dependent upon each other for date and day setting. 

 

Passover – always Nisan 14

Feast of Unleavened Bread – always Nisan 15

Firstfruits – always the day after the weekly Sabbath following Passover

Pentecost – always 50 days after Firstfruits

 

What is the connection between the giving of the ten commandments and Pentecost?

 

 

Israel came to Mount Sinai on the third day of the third month (Exodus 19:1). The Lord visited the people three days later (Exodus 19:10-17).

 

Therefore, the commandments were given by God in the third month of the biblical religious calendar, which is the month of Sivan, on the sixth day of this month. This is exactly 50 days from the crossing of the Red Sea.

 

 

The spring festivals were fulfilled by Jesus, who was our Passover Lamb, and died on the day of Passover. He was without sin and is the Bread of Life. 

 

Jesus was in the sepulcher on the day of Unleavened Bread and He was the kernel of wheat that was buried in the earth. Jesus arose as First Fruits of the barley harvest, He Himself being the first of those to rise from the dead and received a resurrected body. 

 

Finally, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon all flesh during the Feast of Pentecost to gather all believers in the Lord to be God's spring harvest in the earth.

 

It’s difficult for me to separate the Messianic teaching from the Spiritual application and how it fits with us, so let me go ahead and move forward to that part of the lesson tonight. 

 

 

In the ceremony of observing Pentecost, God was communicating to great lessons about Himself and His relationship to us: 

 

-Two Leavened Wave Loaves - Leviticus 23:15-17

 

This was to be a new meal offering to the Lord (vs. 16). There were to be two wave loaves baked with leaven (vs.17). At Passover, leaven was absolutely forbidden (Exodus 12:15, 19-20) and in the regular meal offering, no leaven was permitted (Leviticus 2:1,4-5,11).  

 

We saw earlier that leaven represents sin (1 Corinthians 5:6-8, Galatians 5:9). The Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread spoke of the death and burial of Jesus who was without sin. Yet on Pentecost, God commanded just the opposite. Why?

 

Pentecost speaks of both the birth of Israel as a nation, and the birth of the congregation of believers in Christ through the Holy Spirit.

 

The two loaves represent Israel and the church. Even though both are chosen by God and are holy to Him, sin is still found in Israel and sin still exists in the congregation of believers. 

 

And by the way, the number two in the Bible is the number of witness and testimony. For example, two witnesses in the Bible establishes a truth (Matthew 18:19-20, Deuteronomy 19:15). 

 

The Ten Commandments were written on two stones

(Exodus 31:18). Also, the Ten Commandments are fulfilled by obeying two commandments (Matthew 22:34-40). So the leaven reminds us of the sin of mankind, and that there are two loaves reminds us of God’s plan of redemption revealed through His Word. 

 

We are also told that Pentecost involved a meal offering that was to be burned by fire upon the altar.

 

The work of the Holy Spirit is an immersion (baptism) of fire (Luke 3:15). Fire is what God uses to burn sin out of the lives of a believer in Jesus (1 Corinthians 3:13-15, 1 Peter 1:7). The followers of Christ are supposed to live a righteous life before God (Ephesians 4:17-32, 5:1-13, Colossians 3:1-13, Romans 8:1-4).

 

-Two-Tenths Ephod of Fine Flour -Leviticus 23:17

 

Jesus was the wheat that was planted into the ground (John 12:24, 1Corinthians 15:35-38,42-44). As wheat is beaten and refined to become fine flour, so our Lord Jesus was beaten and bruised as He became that fine flour (Isaiah 53:1-6).

 

The grinding and crushing of wheat produces fine flour. The fine flour speaks of the refining process that our faith goes through as we are conformed to the image of Christ and enter into His trial, testing, temptations, and sufferings (Romans 5:3-5, 8:29, 1 Peter 4:12-19).

 

-Holy To The Lord For The Priest - Leviticus 23:20

 

Even though the two wave loaves were leavened, the Lord counted them holy unto Himself for the priest. As mentioned earlier, the two wave loaves that the priest waved represented both Israel and the church. Both the Jewish believers in Christ, represented by Israel, and the non-Jewish believers, represented by the church, consist of individuals who are leaven. 

 

We still sin before God despite being believers in the Lord. In spite of this sin, because we are believers in Jesus and seek to serve and love Him with all our hearts, we are considered holy before God (Deuteronomy 14:2, Luke 1:68,72-75, Colossians 1:22-24, 1 Thessalonians 4:7, Titus 2:12, and 1 Peter 1:15-16).

 

Now in particular, there are two connections between OT Pentecost and NT Pentecost to us today. One is very obvious; the other is somewhat obscure. 

 

First the obscure: 

 

In Exodus 19, a wedding ceremony took place between God (the groom) and Israel (the bride).

 

Now as you know, the biblical wedding service that God designed, consisted of two stages. 

The first stage is betrothal. You enter this first stage of marriage as soon as a betrothal contract is made between the two parties. 

 

During betrothal, you are legally married, but do not physically dwell with your mate. 

 

Betrothal is so legally binding that you cannot get out of it without a divorce. 

 

In the New Testament, we know that Joseph was betrothed to Mary when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would have a son named Jesus, by the Holy Spirit of God, who would be the Messiah (Luke 1:26-35). 

 

When Joseph discovered that his betrothed wife Mary was pregnant, he decided to get a divorce until the angel of the Lord changed his mind by appearing to him in a dream (Matthew 1:18-20).

 

Betrothal is also mentioned in Exodus 21:8 and Deuteronomy 20:7 and 22:23,24. 

 

In Exodus 19, when God, by the leading of Moses, brought the children of Israel to Mount Sinai, God betrothed Himself to Israel.  

 

God made a marriage contract with Israel in Exodus 19:3-7.

 

In Exodus 19:8, Israel accepts God's marriage proposal.

 

Israel answered "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do."

 

What does the wedding mean in terms of the Messiah, and what is the personal application to us? 

 

Jesus is the groom and the believers in Him are the bride. When Jesus came to the earth almost 2,000 years ago, He came so that whosoever would put their trust and confidence in Him would be wedded to Him forever. 

 

Today, Christ does not physically dwell with those who trust in Him. Therefore, the believers in Jesus are currently spiritually betrothed to Him. We will enter the full marriage and physically dwell with Him during the Messianic age known as the Millennium. 

 

However, before we can physically dwell with the Lord during this time on earth, the wedding ceremony when the believers in Christ will be wedded to Him must take place. This will take place at the beginning of the tribulation period. It is called the marriage supper of the Lamb.

 

The second stage of marriage is the fullness or consummation of the marriage.

 

In the biblical wedding service that God gave, after you are married, you have a honeymoon. The honeymoon lasts a week. Seven days equals a week. In Hebrew, a week means a seven. It can mean seven days or seven years (Daniel 9:24-27, Genesis 29:27). 

 

After the rapture of the church occurs, the earth enters a seven-year period know as the Great Tribulation. But what about Christians? We appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ to receive rewards, and then the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is conducted. 

 

And that is not just New Testament imagery.  

 

In Joel 2:16, we see the marriage of the bride (the believers in Christ) and the bridegroom (Jesus) where the bridegroom is going forth from the chamber and the bride out of her closet.

 

The word closet is the Hebrew word 'chuppah', and the chuppah here refers to Heaven where the previously raptured believers in the Messiah have been enjoying a seven-year honeymoon with Him while the earth was experiencing the tribulation. 

 

After the seven-year honeymoon, Jesus will be returning with His bride to the earth, and we will rule and reign with Him physically during the Messianic age known as the Millennium (Revelation 20:4).

 

So that is one of the applications from Pentecost for the New Testament believer. It has primarily to do with the future. 

 

The second and more obvious application is for the here and now, and it is obviously the coming of the Holy Spirit. 

 

We are all familiar with Acts 2 where, on the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached and the Holy Spirit came, and cloven tongues of fire fell and everyone heard the preaching in their native language.

 

But go all the way back to Exodus 19 and observe the consistency of God. 

 

In Exodus 19:19, a trumpet was sounded. The trumpet that was sounded grew louder and louder. 

 

Exodus 20:18

 

I have been trying to read about these feasts from a Jewish perspective in order to really grasp the historical significance. I have to tell you I don’t know one reputable Jew from another. But I will tell you this: 

 

Most Jewish rabbis teach these particular verse in the same way in that they teach that when God gave the Commandments on Sinai He displayed untold marvels to Israel with His voice. What happened? 

God spoke and the voice reverberated throughout the whole world..."And all the people saw the thunderings." 

 

There understanding, from a Jewish perspective, was and is that God's voice, as it was uttered, split up into seventy voices, in seventy languages, so that all the nations should understand.

 

In Deuteronomy 32:8 we read, "When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. In Exodus 1:1-5, we can see that the number of the children of Israel who came to Egypt was 70. 

 

Therefore, the 70 voices as interpreted by these Jewish rabbis, represented all the nations of the world.   

 

So, it was seen that God's voice split up into the languages of all the people on the earth to be a witness to them.

 

This same experience that happened at Mount Sinai also occurred 50 days after the resurrection of Christ on the day of Pentecost almost 2,000 years ago. 

 

Hebrews 12:18-29

 

Therefore, we can see that the Pentecost at Mount Sinai was a rehearsal of the Pentecost that would occur immediately after the resurrection of Jesus, and what God designed for every one of His children to know and experience.