After Pentecost

Numbers 28:26 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International

Bible Society

Feast of Weeks

26 " 'On the day of firstfruits, when you

present to the LORD an offering of new grain

during the Feast of Weeks, hold a sacred assembly

and do no regular work.

Leviticus 23 (King James Version)
King James Version (KJV)
Public Domain

Leviticus 23

1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto

them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye

shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even

these are my feasts.

3Six days shall work be done: but the seventh

day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation;

ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of

the LORD in all your dwellings.

4These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy

convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their

seasons.

5In the fourteenth day of the first month at

even is the LORD's passover.

6And on the fifteenth day of the same month is

the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD:

seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.

7In the first day ye shall have an holy

convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

8But ye shall offer an offering made by fire

unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is

an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work

therein.

9And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

10Speak unto the children of Israel, and say

unto them, When ye be come into the land which I

give unto you, and shall reap the harvest

thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the

firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:

11And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD,

to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the

sabbath the priest shall wave it.

12And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the

sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first

year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.

13And the meat offering thereof shall be two

tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an

offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet

savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be

of wine, the fourth part of an hin.

14And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched

corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that

ye have brought an offering unto your God: it

shall be a statute for ever throughout your

generations in all your dwellings.

15And 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:

16Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath

shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a

new meat offering unto the LORD.

17Ye 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...

21And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day,

that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye

shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a

statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout

your generations.


A quote from yesterday:
"The festival being celebrated in Jerusalem at

the time of these events recorded in Acts 2, was

called the Feast of Weeks, in this passage, the

'day of firstfruits'. The metaphor is clear.

This was the day that the Christian church began

officially. This was the 'harvest' that began

with the dramatic arrival of the Holy Ghost, the

'counselor' whom Jesus spoke about to his

disciples when they last saw him."

John 16 (Contemporary English Version)
Contemporary English Version (CEV)
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society

John 16

1I am telling you this to keep you from being

afraid. 2You will be chased out of the Jewish

meeting places. And the time will come when

people will kill you and think they are doing God

a favor. 3They will do these things because they

don't know either the Father or me. 4I am saying

this to you now, so that when the time comes, you

will remember what I have said.
I was with you at the first, and so I didn't

tell you these things.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

5But now I am going back to the Father who sent

me, and none of you asks me where I am going.

6You are very sad from hearing all of this. 7But

I tell you that I am going to do what is best for

you. That is why I am going away. The Holy Spirit

cannot come to help you until I leave. But after

I am gone, I will send the Spirit to you.


(This is a passage that records Jesus telling his

disciples that there is more to come. Like most

of what Jesus said, they didn't figure it out

until after the fact. You have to ask, Were they

looking at the script?)


8The Spirit will come and show the people of

this world the truth about sin and God's justice

and the judgment. 9The Spirit will show them that

they are wrong about sin, because they didn't

have faith in me. 10They are wrong about God's

justice, because I am going to the Father, and

you won't see me again. 11And they are wrong

about the judgment, because God has already

judged the ruler of this world.

12I have much more to say to you, but right

now it would be more than you could understand.

13The Spirit shows what is true and will come and

guide you into the full truth. The Spirit doesn't

speak on his own. He will tell you only what he

has heard from me, and he will let you know what

is going to happen.


The first mention of the festivals or 'feasts' as

they are called in the King James, is in the book

of Leviticus. Then, in the book of Numbers the

festival days are reiterated. In the passage

above the days of the feasts are specified. Note

that the calendar used in this passage is a lunar

calendar, not a solar calendar. So the date of

each festival in the lunar calendar falls on a

different date each year of the solar calendar.

That's just to point out that the dates we use on

a modern calendar, may not exactly correspond to

the feast dates in the lunar year. If I'm not

mistaken there are two calendars used in Israel

in modern times, a lunar and a solar. Use of a

lunar calendar is an indication that the

tradition goes back to an ancient civilization.

And later on, when we look at the book of Daniel,

the chronology is based on a lunar calendar.

'...it shall be a statute for ever in all your

dwellings throughout your generations...' is a

statement that implies the significance of the

event. There is a past, present and future

aspect to these prophetic events. They were to

be part of the life experience of every hebrew.

It's another way that people will be able to

recognize the hand of Providence that guides the

course of human history. In modern times that

seems to be a totally abandoned concept. But

there it is in the pages of scripture.

Another thing that comes to mind is the

uniqueness of these prophetic festivals. As far

as I know, there is no parallel in other

religious traditions. There is no prophetic

significance in other religious traditions. The

only vaguely similar concept, might be the

mention in Islam of a time when that tradition

will rise to prominence. But that is clearly at

odds with the message of ancient hebrew and greek

scripture, that make no mention of another

dominant religion, except to say that the

influence of worldly religions will end in ruin.


Act 2

Peter Addresses the Crowd

14Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised

his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews

and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me

explain this to you; listen carefully to what I

say. 15These men are not drunk, as you suppose.

It's only nine in the morning! 16No, this is what

was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17" 'In the last days, G-d says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious

day of the Lord.
21And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.'[c]
22"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of

Nazareth was a man accredited by G-d to you by

miracles, wonders and signs, which G-d did among

you through him, as you yourselves know. 23This

man was handed over to you by G-d's set purpose

and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of

wicked men,[d] put him to death by nailing him to

the cross. 24But G-d raised him from the dead,

freeing him from the agony of death, because it

was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

25David said about him:
" 'I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
26Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue

rejoices;
my body also will live in hope,
27because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
28You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your

presence.'[e]

29"Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the

patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb

is here to this day. 30But he was a prophet and

knew that G-d had promised him on oath that he

would place one of his descendants on his throne.

31Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the

resurrection of the Christ,[f] that he was not

abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see

decay. 32G-d has raised this Jesus to life, and

we are all witnesses of the fact. 33Exalted to

the right hand of G-d, he has received from the

Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured

out what you now see and hear...

40With many other words he warned them; and he

pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this

corrupt generation." 41Those who accepted his

message were baptized, and about three thousand

were added to their number that day.


This was the first message recorded in scripture

of the disciples preaching about Jesus. This

took place at the Feast of Weeks, where they

celebrate the 'day of firstfruits'. This is the

day that the Holy Ghost was sent to those

gathered at Jerusalem in celebration of the feast

that is associated with the annual grain harvest.

Over and over again, Jesus used the metaphor of

the grain harvest to represent those who would

listen and believe his message. So, again,

everyone is amazed at this strange event taking

place among believers in Jerusalem. But the

result is the first large group of converts who

respond to the preaching of the apostles. That's

the primary evidence of the work of the Holy

Ghost in the world today -- the harvest of those

who will believe.

What's the next event on the prophetic calendar?
It looks like that would be the Feast of Trumpets
and the year of jubilee.


Leviticus 25

8And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years

unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space

of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee

forty and nine years.

9Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile

to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month,

in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet

sound throughout all your land.

10And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and

proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all

the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile

unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his

possession, and ye shall return every man unto

his family.


I've heard before that the year of jubilee has

never been observed in the land of Israel. If

that's the case, then it is strictly a prophetic

feast. One that looks forward to a future event.

All debts are to be cancelled and every person is

to return to the place of his ancestry. The

metaphor is that all believers will be released

from their 'debt' toward G-d, and return to their

homeland, which is heaven. It is a metaphor for

what we call the 'rapture'. At that point, the

Jesus Bus is outta' here. Here's the quote from

yesterday:

"... at this point in time forget about the

evolutionary chronology and consider the

chronology presented in the book of Daniel and

you will see that we are standing at the

threshold of the return of Jesus." The feast of

trumpets is next on the itinerary, boys and

girls, moms and dads. When? Nobody knows. It

says it's every fiftieth year. There's probably

a significance to that number, and perhaps there

is a hint somewhere in the chronology provided in

the book of Daniel. In any case, there isn't any

question about what's the next act to play out on

the stage of human history. Is anyone paying

attention to the script???