We’re not just counting the days
The promise of God is going to be fulfilled. It will come to pass in God’s timing. It can be difficult to wait. But the wait will be worth it. The season of Passover through Pentecost prophetically speaks of the interim between the word spoken and the word fulfilled. Habakkuk said “the righteous one will live by his faith.” Faith is having a tangible hold on the intangible. In the meantime, we wait in full assurance and expectation of God fulfilling His word of promise.
For the vision is meant for its appointed time; it speaks of the end, and it does not lie. It may take a while, but wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. Hab 2.3 CJB
The Prophetic Picture of Passover, Pentecost
and the faith walk in between
I fully intended to post something about Passover. Considering my focus on 5700 & Beyond is God’s calendar, it would have been appropriate. I kept waiting for something from Holy Spirit. This morning Holy Spirit highlighted the time period between Passover and Pentecost and the counting of weeks in between.
Many of us are in a time that seems to be like suspended animation. It seems like nothing is happening. It’s not that nothing is happening. It’s that we can’t see what’s happening. To believe for what we cannot see takes faith. What does this have to do with Passover and Pentecost? I’ll explain.
Background First
Passover/Pesach is associated with Israel’s deliverance from bondage in Egypt. God raised up Moses as their deliverer. With miracles, signs and wonders God brought His people out of bondage, as He had promised. The origin Passover is recorded in Exodus 12. The basic instructions from God was that they were to take some of the blood from a lamb and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses. That night the death angel was going to pass through the land. If the blood was applied to the doorposts death would pass over those houses. Otherwise the first born of each household would die. The Hebrew people all had followed God’s instructions and the following day they left Egypt.
Passover/Pesach along with the seven day feast of unleavened bread/matza is celebrated each year to commemorate this event.
It is a night to be observed for the LORD for having brought them out from the land of Egypt; this night is for the LORD, to be observed by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations. Exodus 12.42
Christ is our Passover
Jesus, the Lamb of God (John 1:29) corresponds to the Passover lamb without blemish (Ex 12:5) that is Jesus, had no sin (1 Pet 2:22–24, Isaiah 53.1-8). The blood of a lamb sprinkled upon houses equates to salvation by the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:7–9). Jesus rose from the dead on the third day becoming “the first-fruits of the dead” (1 Cor 15:4, 20, 23). Just as God delivered the Hebrew people from slavery to Egypt, He delivered mankind from slavery to sin, which results in eternal death. Rather than eternally being cut off from God through death, we receive eternal life through the sacrifice of Christ made on our behalf.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. ~ Romans 6.23
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; ~ Eph. 2.8
Let’s Keep Going
This morning my thoughts are on the in between. Traditionally, the days between Passover and Pentecost are referred to as the counting of the omer. So, what the heck is an omer and why are we counting them? Good question. an omer simply is the Hebrew word for sheaf.
Pentecost, (a Greek word meaning fifty) in Hebrew is known as Shavuot. Pronounced shah-VOO-ote. It means weeks. Shavuot is the day after 7 weeks or the 50th day after Pesach (Passover). Today, April 29, 2024 is the 21st day of Nisan, the 6th day of the Omer. This year Shavuot begins sundown of Tuesday, June 11, and goes through sundown on Thursday, Jun 13, 2024.
Shavuot commemorates Moses’ receiving of the Torah at Sinai and corresponds with the wheat harvest. Shavuot is one of the three times a year God commanded the Israelites to make a special pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Passover/Pesach, Pentecost/Shavuot and Tabernacles/Sukkot.
Before I get into why my thoughts are on the in between time let’s talk about first-fruits. My why is really more connected to first-fruits.
First-Fruits
Shavuot is referred to as the feast of harvest in Exodus 23.16 Shavuot is also called Yom HaBikkurim (Day of the first-fruits). Shavuot is the second first-fruits offering of the agricultural year. The first first-fruits is at Passover, when a sheaf of barley, called an omer in Hebrew, is brought as an offering on the second day of the Passover festival.
The Expectation that More is Coming
Barley is just becoming ripe at Passover. The first sheaf to ripen is plucked from the field and brought as an offering, a first-fruits offering. So, a first-fruits (omer) is done as an act of faith for the coming harvest. You didn’t wait until the whole crop is ripe. You grab the first sign of ripeness. It was the first sign of readiness. So that first-fruits offering is done in hope and expectation that a full harvest is surely coming. It isn’t an offering after the answer comes. It’s a sign that you see the full potential coming even though it isn’t fully here yet. That’s faith. That’s assurance. That is what first-fruits is all about.
Hebrews 11.1 AMP ~ Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses].
Only when our expectation comes out of a promise from God can we have complete confident assurance. Otherwise it is supposition and presumption. Presumption is an idea that is taken as truth but not anchored in certainty. That would be like standing in an empty field that hadn’t first been seeded and expecting a harvest. Yeah, that’s not going to happen. The seed planted is the word of the Lord. The first-fruits is a sign that the word is about to come to pass.
Faith is anchored in certainty. Faith is not presumption. It is absolute certainty based on what has been divinely guaranteed.
The Expectation of Bikkurim (First-Fruits)
Proverbs 3:5-12 says:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight. Don’t be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil. This will be healing for your body and strengthening for your bones. Honor the LORD with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest; then your barns will be completely filled, and your vats will overflow with new wine. ~ CSB
Prophetically Speaking
Many of us our in that in between place. Like a first-fruits offering we are waiting for the whole harvest.
Seven Sevens
Biblically, the number seven points to God (The Seven Spirits of God). But it also speaks of fullness. Seven times seven points to prophetic fulfillment. Like Daniel’s seventy times seven (Daniel 9.24), we are in that interim period. Seven is associated with covenant, specifically our covenant with God.
“Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and for your holy city: Then transgression will stop and sin will end, guilt will be expiated, Everlasting justice will be introduced, vision and prophecy ratified, and a holy of holies will be anointed. Daniel 9.24 NABRE
The Seven Weeks
The seven weeks that lead up to the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot) are a time of remembering God’s promise. It is a time of walking by faith and not by sight. It is a time to remember that no matter what the circumstances might look like God is going to fulfill His word. In this in between time it’s all about waiting.
Jesus during the Seven Weeks
Jesus died on the first day of Passover, He raised from the dead on the third day. According to the book of Acts, He hung out with His disciples for forty days. That would have brought us to the forty third day of the omer. That means a mere seven days later would be Shavuot/Pentecost.
In my first book I told you, Theophilus, about everything Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit. During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God. Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” ~ Acts 1.1-5 NLT
I find it fascinating that Jesus kept showing up from time to time. I find the topic of conversation even more fascinating. I wonder if in the moment they realized that Jesus was preparing them for their next assignment. I don’t think they really had any clue. I don’t know if they had any remote idea of the fullness of harvest that was coming. I doubt they would have. All they knew was that Jesus talked to them about the kingdom of God and then told them to wait.
Acts 1.3 from the CSB says: After he had suffered, he also presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God
What did it mean to them when they heard Jesus say “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Witness of what? Power? They had already been empowered by Jesus (Mt. 10) to heal the sick, cast out demons and even raise the dead. So what could He mean by this statement that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit would come upon them?
As you go, proclaim, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you received, freely give. ~ Matthew 10:7–8
We are in that “Jesus said it, but I don’t know what that means.” interlude. It reminds me of something we don’t see anymore during movies at the theater; intermission. Intermission was a pause. They stopped the movie in the middle. It gave you time to get up and go to the concession stand, hit the bathroom or whatever. It didn’t last too long, just long enough. Then the movie would pick up where it left off. It’s kind of like that. Sometimes we don’t appreciate the intermission. That’s probably why movie theaters did away with the notion years ago. But intermissions happen after God has given a word of promise.
We are in the wait. During the wait, we wait in faith that more is coming. Something is coming. During this time while we wait we aren’t just counting the days. We are counting on the covenant. We are banking on God showing up, just as He said He would. The disciples could count on Jesus to fulfill His word. He spent the past forty days confirming that fact. So when Jesus tells them that the Holy Spirit is going to empower them, they know that they know it is going to happen. They are convinced of what they cannot yet see. They know because He said it.
When the wait is over
When the seven weeks are completed, the following day is Shavuot.
The festival of Shavuot arrived, and the believers all gathered together in one place. Suddenly there came a sound from the sky like the roar of a violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire, which separated and came to rest on each one of them. They were all filled with the Ruach HaKodesh and began to talk in different languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.
Acts 2:1–4 (CJB)
Then Peter Stood Up
Then Kefa (Peter) stood up with the Eleven and raised his voice to address them: “You Judeans, and all of you staying here in Yerushalayim! Let me tell you what this means! Listen carefully to me!... ~ Acts 2.14 CJB
Acts chapter two is the fulfillment of the promise made in Acts 1. When the seven weeks are complete, Shavuot is the fulfillment. There may be a wait, but there is always a day of fulfillment. When God speaks a promise, the fulfillment of that promise will come. We can count on that. Shavuot reminds us that God fulfills His promise. There are many who have been waiting years for the fulfillment of a word of promise from the Lord. Wait for it. It will surely come.
We’re Getting There
The season of waiting from Passover through Pentecost prophetically speaks of waiting for the fulfillment of God’s word of promise. We accept by faith, like that first-fruit sheaf that the full harvest will come. The fulfillment of the word will come to pass. Remember during this time that God is as faithful to fulfill His promise as He has always been to keep His covenant. The blood of Jesus testifies of His promise.
The period between Passover and Pentecost symbolizes our waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promise. This season requires faith, akin to offering first-fruits in anticipation of a harvest. As Believers in Christ we can trust in the certainty of God’s word, as He has historically fulfilled His promises and will continue to do so. As surely as God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, He anchored them to Himself through His covenant at Sinai. As surely as Jesus gave His life for deliverance from sin, by becoming our Passover, and brought the promise of Holy Spirit at Pentecost, He will absolutely fulfill His word to us now.
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