King David was born and died on Pentecost. According to rabbinic tradition, Enoch was born and was raptured on Pentecost. The Church was born on Pentecost. Pentecost is known as “the festival without a date”—no man knows the day or hour! Jews believe that the “fruit of the trees” is judged on Pentecost. Hmm. They believe that on Pentecost the heavens open for a brief instant and that God answers prayer—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye! The Dispensation of Law occurred on Pentecost. The Noahic Covenant was given on Pentecost. Ruth, a gentile bride, was chosen by Boaz on PENTECOST!
Pentecost is a harvest festival that marks the passage of seven weeks after Firstfruits: “9 Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle into the corn. 10 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 shalt give unto the Lord thy God, according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee” (Deuteronomy 16:9 – 10).
Over the years we have repeatedly stressed that Pentecost is the most mysterious of all the Jewish festivals. Called by the Jews, the “Feast of Weeks” [“weeks,” or in Hebrew “Shavuot”], it is the festival of the early summer harvest. But its associated symbols and metaphors invoke meanings far beyond the mere harvesting of grain. Among the Jews, this is the festival that celebrates the giving of the Torah, or Law. Shavuot (Pentecost) was the time, they say, when the Twelve Tribes gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai. There, they heard the actual voice of God, as He spoke the commandments.
From its earliest days, Pentecost was known as a festival of the harvest. Long ago, the Omer was offered by the high priest, who stood before the Tabernacle, or later, the Temple. It was the token of the Festival of Firstfruits. In Leviticus 23:11, it is called,“the sheaf.” In its most common sense, an omer was a dry measure that amounted to a little over two quarts. The offering of the Omer marked the first day of a fifty-day countdown to Pentecost: “15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf [omer] of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: 16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. 17 Ye 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” (Leviticus 23:15-17). The counting of fifty days from Firstfruits to Pentecost is typical of redemption in general. Pentecost comes in the early summer (mid May-mid June). It’s the only Levitical Feast Day between the 3 Spring Feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits) and the 3 in the fall (Rosh Hashanna, Yom Kippur, and Tabernacles). The Hebrew name for this Day is Shavuot, which means weeks, so in Israel it’s often called the Feast of Weeks.
This is because it’s supposed to occur 7 weeks after the Feast of First Fruits (Lev. 23:15-16). Deut. 16:9 confirms this. “Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain.” The first cutting of the grain took place on the Feast of First Fruits. Since First Fruits was the first day after the Sabbath that follows Passover, it was always observed on a Sunday. Shavuot, being 7 weeks later, was always on a Sunday, too, and celebrated the beginning of the summer harvest. But in 140 AD, following the final defeat of the Jewish nation after the bar Kochba revolt of 135 AD, the Sanhedrin changed the focus of Shavuot from the summer harvest to the giving of the Law. They did this because Shavuot was one of the three feasts all Jews were required to observe (Exodus 23:14-17 tells us Unleavened Bread and Tabernacles were the other two) and the defeated and dispersed nation would no longer have any national harvests to celebrate. From that time on, the count down began from the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the day the Israelites left Egypt. So now Shavuot can come any day of the week and takes place on the 6th day of the Hebrew month called Sivan, which is the traditional day Moses received the Law from the Lord. Making this change placed the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai exactly seven weeks after the Exodus from Egypt and preserved the Feast of Weeks in Jewish life.
Christians call this day by its Greek name, Pentecost, from a Greek word that means “50 days”. There were 50 days from the Sabbath that followed Passover to the Feast of Pentecost, and that’s where the Greek name comes from.
In synagogues, the Book of Ruth is read on Pentecost. The story of Ruth has been called “The Romance of Redemption”. It’s about Naomi, a Jewish woman from Bethlehem who lost her land due to a famine in Israel and was forced to flee into neighboring Moab (Jordan), where there was no famine. Shortly thereafter her husband passed away leaving her penniless and alone in a foreign country.
After the famine ended, she returned to Bethlehem accompanied by Ruth, a gentile woman who had sworn never to leave her. Ruth was a Moabite who had married one of Naomi’s sons (who also died) making her Naomi’s daughter-in-law and a destitute widow as well. Once back in Bethlehem Naomi’s close relative, a prominent Jewish man named Boaz fell in love with Ruth and married her. In the process he also regained Naomi’s land as her kinsman redeemer. Both these events were accomplished according to the Law. For Naomi it was the law of redemption (Lev 25:25), and for Ruth it was the law of leverite marriage (Deut. 25:5-6).
The modeling here is dramatic, with Naomi in the role of Israel, destitute and alone; Ruth as the Church, the gentile bride; Boaz as the Messiah, and the story itself as a prediction of the relationship that would involve all three of them. In the process of redeeming Israel, the Messiah takes a gentile bride. In doing so, He saves both from their destitute condition and restores Israel’s Land. The identification of the Church with Pentecost began in the prophecies of Ruth. To learn more about these incredible prophecies, and enjoy one of the world’s classic love stories, read Ruth’s Story. By the way, Boaz was the son of Rahab, the harlot from the Book of Joshua (read “The Gospel in Joshua … The Story of Rahab” ), and 3 generations later his great-grandson David became the King of Israel. Rahab and Ruth are both listed in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus (Matt. 1:5), and King Solomon named one of the pillars at the entrance to the Temple after his ancestor Boaz.
By tradition Enoch, one of the patriarchs from Genesis 5, was born on the day later to be known as Pentecost. Enoch’s name means “teaching”, a primary function of the Church (Matt. 28:19-20) For this reason many scholars see him as a “type” of the church as well. Genesis 5:21-23 indicates that Enoch had a close relationship with God and was actually taken live (raptured) into Heaven before the Great Flood. Pre-Trib scholars see this event as one of several Old Testament hints that the Church will disappear from Earth before the Great Tribulation. These same traditions also hold that Enoch was taken on his birthday. So here’s a man identified with the Church being born and raptured on the day that would become Pentecost, the day the church was born. Will the Church be raptured on our birthday too?
PENTECOST THE FESTIVAL WITHOUT A DATE As mentioned earlier, Pentecost is called Shavuot (or Weeks), in the Hebrew. It is so named to reflect the nature of its dating. It always falls seven weeks plus one day after the offering of the Omer. Since it is based on counting the seven weeks following the Feast of Firstfruits, the date of Pentecost is fluid. Thus, when the Jewish calendar was still based upon visually marking the appearance of the new moon, Pentecost could fall on the fifth, sixth or seventh of Sivan. The final determination of the date would depend upon whether or not the months of Nisan and Iyar were full thirty-day months.
To this day, if one calculates the date of Pentecost as actually instructed in the Bible, its precise timing is always something of a mystery. Symbolically then, it becomes a perfect model for the rapture, since its date is also beyond reckoning. THE TRUMPET AND THE BRIDE Around the same time, Jews adopted Pentecost as the time to commemorate the giving of the Law. The 19th chapter of Exodus relates that the giving of the Law at Sinai came in the third month, in the period following the third day of the month (5th, 6th and 7th). This places the event at the time of Pentecost. They call it, “the revelation at Sinai.” This revelation and the symbols of harvest are intertwined to give full significance to the observance of Pentecost.
In the festival, they also commemorate the symbolism of the marriage between God, the Groom, and Israel, the bride. They view Mt. Sinai as an enormous huppah, or wedding canopy. The two tablets of the Law that Moses brought down from the mountain represent the marriage contract.
As mentioned earlier, this image is developed at Passover, which becomes the time of God’s courtship with Israel, and Pentecost comes to represent the marriage itself. In its traditional aspects, Pentecost pictures the catching away of the bride more clearly than any other festival.
For the Gentile, it represents the relationship between Christ, the Bridegroom and His bride, the church. As mentioned earlier, the resurrection of Jesus was a literal Firstfruits offering that looked forward to the resurrection of all the faithful: “20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection from the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power” (I Corinthians 15:20-24).
Biblically, the harvest of early summer is often seen to typify the “harvest” or catching-away of the church. As we have seen, this is the season when grain and fruit crops come to maturity. Fruit is judged and stored. Wheat is now safe in the graineries of the land. At Pentecost, a small sample is taken, ground into flour and baked into two loaves. They are the leavened “test loaves” of the new harvest. Scripturally, they typify the two bodies of the redeemed at the end of the age: Israel and the church.
Bread and fruit are the perfect picture of redemption, blessing and bounty. But to Israel, at the time of Jacob’s trouble, the harvest will not bring satisfaction. Instead, there will be the realization that something drastic has happened. This, we see in the words of Micah: 1“Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit. 2 The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net” (Mic. 7:1, 2).
Here, the prophet Micah speaks as the voice of Israel in the latter days. The time is set at the end of fruit harvest – late April through early June – the season that begins with Passover and ends with Pentecost.
The summer fruits have been “gathered,” or harvested. The Hebrew term asaph, means “to remove, or take away.” But one of its major meanings is, “to be gathered to one’s fathers at death.” This translation easily fits in the context of these verses. The good fruit of the righteous has been harvested and taken for inspection and storage. From Micah’s point of view, the friends of Israel have gone away. Peter preached the Gospel on Pentecost and 3000 people were saved. Its no coincidence-a perfect picture of law and grace! On the day of Pentecost, God, through the mouth of Peter, was addressing specifically the nation of Israel. As a result Scripture states that there were about 3000 souls saved on that day (Acts 2:41). Nevertheless the nation of Israel was still not saved as a whole onthat day. Therefore the “national redemption” of Israel’s still yet future, and it will come following the “fullness of the Gentiles” which is the completion of the body of Christ and the time of the Resurrection / Rapture of the Church (Rom. 11:25-27).
The apostle Paul states the following: Colossians 1:27….”to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. So, When the Holy Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost to indwell believers, and to commence the “Church / Church age”, then He “returned “, didn’t He! No, not in “bodily form”, but in “Spirit.” And He did so in order to “build His Church” whom He purchased at the cross. And when Christhas completed His Church, and its “fullness” has come, then He will come “bodily /physically” in the air in order to remove His Church, and take it unto Himself. And I believe that the very day of Pentecost future is a strong candidate time for the Lord to complete His body and return for His Church, His bride. I believe that Pentecost is a perfect time for the Church to come to “fullness.” The festival of Pentecost and the work of the Holy Spirit has been operating in the world as God has been adding to His Church daily ever since Acts chapter 2 unfolded. It makes perfect sense to me that God would bring to and END the Church age on the same day that the Church had its inception and beginning.
It would be a “reversal ” of Pentecost, in which the Holy Spirit who indwells the body of Christ and His restraining power would be removed. And so Pentecost is like “Bookends.” This festival sits between “Passover season” and the “Fall Festivals.” The Church was born on Pentecost, and God spoke specifically and directly to the nation of Israel concerning “Jesus” through the mouth of Peter.
Some Jews received Peter’s message and believed, and were saved, but the nation as a “whole” was not saved at that time. Now stop and think with me here for a minute! Is it possible then that God is going to Rapture the Church on the day of Pentecost and bring it to “fullness” on the very day in which it began, and therefore address the nation of Israel once again concerning “Jesus” whom they have rejected and crucified, just like God did in Acts chapter 2 through the mouth of Peter? Is God going to repeat Himself and speak to the nation of Israel once again on the very day of Pentecost following the Rapture of the Church which perhaps will take place and brought to “fullness” on that very day? This festival sits between “Passsover season” and the “Fall Festivals.” It therefore is a “parenthetical ” feast day where the Church had its beginning, and of which I believe the Church could very well have its conclusion. Therefore the day of Pentecost in the first century has NOT closed yet!
THE MYSTERY OF PENTECOST! Chuck Missler on Pentecost: “The first three [feasts] are associated with the First Coming of Jesus The last three [feasts], with His Second Coming. The remaining feast [Pentecost], in between, proves to be prophetic of the Church.” Gary Stearman on Pentecost: “Better than any other ancient Jewish festival [Pentecost]…embodies the elements that we associate with the catching-away, or rapture, of the Church.”
The Pentecost-Rapture Scenario: The Church is “betrothed” to the Lord on Pentecost, marking the commencement of the Church Age. Roughly 2,000 years later, the Church is wed to the Lord, also on Pentecost, marking the conclusion of the Church Age. This parallels the biblical wedding tradition that consists of two stages: The first stage is the betrothal, or erusin, at which time the bride and groom become legally married via a written contract (shitre erusin) but do not dwell together. The second stage is the fullness or consummation (nisu’in), when the nuptials are finalized and the bride and groom dwell together.
1 Corinthians 15:22-23 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
Paul says that in terms of the harvest when they wave the sheef up ,Christ is the first fruits of the dead in resurection and the full harvest will follow 50 days later…in resurection. Also the number 50 is about fullness, just like the fullness of the gentiles! Now in terms of harvests first we have the BARLEY harvest and i see that as the dead in Christ rise first , then the WHEAT harvest that is we who are alive and the final harvest of fruits who are the tribulation saints!
Acts 2:1, 2, 14, 22,….”And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. The Jewish prophets of the Old Testament did not see nor prophesy concerning the “Church / Church age.” The Church at that time was a “mystery” which was hidden and secret as the apostle Paul teaches in His epistles. The Jewish prophets of old only prophesied of the first coming of Christ, the coming tribulation period, the second advent of Christ, the 1000 year reign of Christ, and the new heavens and the new earth. For example, when the Jewish prophets prophesied It was like looking over a “mountaintop” to the next “mountain top” which comes after the first one. You don’t see the “valley” in between the Mountains. Therefore the Church was hidden away from the eyes of the Jewish prophets in between the two mountain tops so to speak. The Church, and the process of revealing it, was not made known until the book of Acts unfolded, beginning with the very day of Pentecost. The Church was born on Pentecost, and God spoke specifically and directly to the nation of Israel concerning “Jesus” through the mouth of Peter. Some Jews received Peter’s message and believed, and were saved, but the nation as a “whole” was not saved at that time. When the Church goes, then so does the “scales” over Israel’s eyes! And Pentecost is the perfect time for God to once again “speak to the house Israel” concerning Jesus whom they have for so long rejected, and who has just came and taken His Church home. The Holy Spirit descended on Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit ascends with the Church on Pentecost! This is Perfect timing as far as I am concerned! And so we have therefore The “bookends” festival coming to completion on the day it began!
1.The Church began on Pentecost.
2.The Law was given at Mt. Sinai on Pentecost.
3.Mt. Sinai was a picture of God marrying the Israelites – the Law = Marriage Contract Cloud = Huppah. A Bride was given to Christ with the Church.
4.Pentecost is during the Wheat harvest.Wheat is a picture of the saints.
5.The Story of Abraham (Father) sending Eliezar (Holy Spirit) to get Isaac (Jesus) a bride Rebecca (Church) – beautiful picture of what happened at Pentecost.
6.King David was born and died on Pentecost.
7.They gathered in the upper room, a picture of heaven.
8.Boaz (Kindsman Redeemer) & Ruth (Gentile Bride) married around Pentecost during time of wheat harvest.
9.There are three Spring Feasts and then a pause then Pentecost, then pause Three Fall Feasts. Redemptive works of Christ, 2000 years then Rapture, 7 years than 2nd Coming Israel redeemed.
10.Jews refer to this as a festival without a date.
11.50 is the number of jubilee or deliverance.
12.Day of judgment for the fruit trees.
13.Feast with no fixed date because Omer count starts morrow after the Sabbath.
14.Sheaf of Barley wave offering at First Fruits the grain is not complete for consumption / Two loaves at Pentecost is a finished product ready for consumption. The High Priest presents the loaves – a processed product of wheat with yeast (sin) being baked away from the heat. There is no other offering at any time that has leaven in it.
15.Was Shavuot fully fulfilled? Perhaps not, Jesus was not physically present at Pentecost. Will he be our High Priest who presents the Church to the Father on Pentecost
16.Pentecost timeline fits with Song of Soloman 2:10-13.
17.Joel was spoken of by Peter on Pentecost which is describing what will happen in the last days.
18.Enoch who was taken up spoke of the Second Coming Jude 12-16.
19.Dispensation of the Law began at Pentecost, will the Dispensation of the Age of Grace end at Pentecost?
20.Trump of God was sounded on Mt. Sinai – Exodus 19:18-20
21.Late Spring and Early Summer harvest time seems to be the harvest most related to the Church.
22.On Pentecost they gathered in one place. The next time the whole church will gather in one place is in the clouds with the Lord.
23.Pentecost was a gathering from various nations, tribes, and tongues. (Acts 2:5,6) At the Rapture there will be another!
24.Pentecost and Shavuot occur at the same time … Pentecost is when Christians celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit (Grace) and Shavuot is the feast when Jews celebrate the giving of the 10 commandments (Law).
25.A time of sealing, A prayday for redemption and a time of accountability.
