Pentecost

 As we have seen, each of God’s commanded Holy Days builds on the previous one in picturing for us the great Master Plan that God has in mind for humanity. Passover pictures our acceptance of Christ’s broken body and shed blood—our forgiveness and reconciliation with God. Unleavened Bread pictures the need to come out of sin and to grow in grace and in knowledge.
     In describing how New Testament Christians can go above and beyond the carnal Israelites of old, the inspired writer of Hebrews tells us: “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it” (Hebrews 4:1–2). Through receiving the promised Holy Spirit, New Testament Christians can have genuine FAITH in God—far more fully understand His purpose—and be given a measure of God’s own character to help them overcome sin and grow in grace and in knowledge.
     Speaking of the magnificent promises of God, Peter writes that “through these you may be partakers of the DIVINE NATURE” (2 Peter 1:4). Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God places within us His very own nature—His divine character—as we walk with Him and grow spiritually. This is what enables us to genuinely overcome sin—in contrast to the ancient Israelites, who never received the promise of the Holy Spirit.
     Coming soon after the Days of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Pentecost or Feast of “Firstfruits” (Exodus 34:22) reminds us that God is now calling only a small “firstfruits” spiritual harvest, but that He will bless this small harvest by EMPOWERING us with His Spirit so that we can overcome and grow spiritually even though living in “this present evil age” (Galatians 1:4).
     In commanding the Feast of Firstfruits to ancient Israel, God told the Israelites to bring a sheaf of the “firstfruits” of the spring grain harvest to the priest (Leviticus 23:10). He was to wave this sheaf—in a solemn ceremony—to be accepted by God and thus obtain God’s blessing on this spring harvest and spiritually depict the resurrected Christ being accepted by the Father as the “first of the firstfruits”—the first human to be actually born of God by a resurrection. The “waving ceremony” took place on the Sunday immediately following the weekly Sabbath during the days of Unleavened Bread (v. 11). If you compare Matthew 28:9 with John 20:17, you will see that Christ presented Himself to the Father after His resurrection the previous evening (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23; Romans 8:29; Colossians 1:15, 18).
     The Israelites were to count 50 days beginning with this Sunday: “And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. You shall bring from your habitations two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord” (Leviticus 23:15–17). Pentecost literally means “50th.” By counting exactly 50 days from a designated Sunday, they would always end up a Sunday seven weeks later—but not, obviously, on any particular day of the month. If Pentecost had been commanded to be kept on a particular day of the month, the Bible would have clearly said so—and there would be no need to “count”!
     Then, on the day of Pentecost or “Firstfruits,” they were to offer two “wave loaves.” It was stated that these wave loaves “are the FIRSTFRUITS to the Lord” (v. 17). These “firstfruit” loaves evidently pictured both the Old Testament and New Testament people of God—since even the Old Testament prophets had the Holy Spirit of God (cf. 1 Peter 1:10–11).
     Again, one of the lessons of the “firstfruits” is that God is only calling out a small number of people—the “firstfruits”—in this age. As we have stated, the early spring harvest in Israel was a small harvest compared to the major harvest that came in the autumn.
     So it is today spiritually. Jesus Christ said: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are FEW who find it” (Matthew 7:13–14). And John reports Christ’s powerful warning: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day…. And He said, ‘Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father’” (John 6:44, 65).
     Strange as it may seem to millions of “mainstream” Christians who have been taught that God is trying to “save” the world now, the true God of the Bible is trying to do no such thing! If He were, then the vast BILLIONS of human beings who have lived for millennia in India, China, Africa and elsewhere would have been “called” to Christianity. But the vast majority of them lived and died never hearing the name of Christ!
     The Feast of Pentecost or “Firstfruits” reminds us, year by year that those few called out of this world today are only the “firstfruits” and that a FAR LARGER harvest of souls will occur later—as we shall see. And as we read of the “outpouring” of the Holy Spirit on the first New Testament Day of Pentecost, we can be inspired that though small in number—we “called out ones” today have the POWER of the Holy Spirit to do the Work of God, as well as overcome ourselves with help never before given to human beings.
     For the inspired Peter proclaimed: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:38–39). Then we read Paul’s inspired words in Romans 5: “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (v. 5).
     And what kind of love is this poured out by the Holy Spirit? The Apostle John clearly stated, “For this is the love of God, that we KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). Through the Holy Spirit, we receive the spiritual love of God—the kind of love we must have to fulfill God’s great spiritual law, the Ten Commandments, and build the very character of God. Yearly, the Day of Pentecost reminds us of our unique calling and of the strength we are given through God’s Spirit to make our “calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10).