The feasts of God for a very fundamental message that God is giving us. Unfortunately, His feasts are either relegated to ‘not being for us today’ or buried under tradition.
Here, I’m just going to share a few verses that sum up the importance of Pentecost (Shav’u’ot in Hebrew).
Leviticus 23:15 – Pentecost isn’t tied to a specific day of the month. You have to count to it (anticipate its coming) from the day after the sabbath within Passover week. This also emphasizes that Passover and Pentecost are tied together in their message!
Leviticus 23:17 – Offer up two leavened loaves of bread. This is just interesting in that it is one of the few places that leavened bread is used as an offering.
Numbers 28:26 – Biblically speaking, Pentecost is called the ‘feast of first fruits’, specifically, the first fruits of the wheat harvest. Passover is at the first fruits of the barely harvest, and Yeshua rose on the day the first barely harvest was waved before Yehovah (the LORD).
Deuteronomy 16:11 – You shall rejoice, you and all those with you. Likely meaning ‘have a feast!’ Have fun, rejoicing before Yehovah! But remember that God brought you out of Egypt to be here! (We are no longer of this world, but of God’s kingdom!)
Acts 20:16 – Paul hurrying to Jerusalem for Pentecost. Paul never quit following God’s feasts! They were important to him!
1 Corinthians 16:8 – Paul remained in Ephesus for Pentecost. He didn’t want to be caught traveling during the feast. So, even though he didn’t make it to Jerusalem, he still apparently celebrated the feast!
Romans 8:23 – talks about the ‘first fruits of the spirit.’ Hmm, the spirit was poured out on Pentecost. The 10 statements (known as ‘commandments’ but that is a misnomer) were given on Mt. Sinai at the time of Pentecost.
James 1:18 – calls believers in our Messiah Yeshua ‘first fruits’.
Pentecost, and the theme of Pentecost, is prevalent throughout scripture. Actually, if we don’t understand about Passover being the beginning of the covenant, the time to Pentecost being about God revealing Himself, and Mount Sinai / Pentecost being about the sealing / signing of the covenant, we really miss out in what God has done. Worse, we may end up with slightly odd theology!
So, enjoy the feast!