A few weeks ago we talked about Jesus’ crucifixion
and resurrection at the time of the Passover festival. But it’s important to remember that Jesus’ resurrection
wasn't just a one-time experience for the disciples. They continued to meet with Jesus in his
resurrected body over a period of 40 days.
But then, after 40 days, he had to leave them. Why? So
the Comforter could come, the Holy Spirit: (“But
I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not
go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to
you,” John 16:7). So on the 40th day, he ascended into heaven. And then,
on the 50th day, the Holy Spirit descended on the Day of
Pentecost.
These amazing events were not just random miracles.
They were part of God’s plan from all eternity. How do we know that? Because they are a detailed fulfillment of the
festivals of Israel.
Passover and Pentecost are two of the three great pilgrim
festivals for which God commanded all the men of Israel to come up to Jerusalem
to appear before the Lord. What was the third pilgrim festival? The Feast
of Tabernacles in the fall. Passover is
a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt.
What is Pentecost in memory of?
In Jesus’ day, Pentecost was celebrated in memory of the Giving of the
Law on Mt. Sinai.
In the Bible, Pentecost is an agricultural festival,
celebrating the wheat harvest. In
Hebrew, it’s called Shavuoth, which
means “Weeks.” What’s the meaning of
this name? The Bible says that they are
to count seven weeks after Passover (49 days), and then on the 50th day there would be a festival day of rest (Lev. 23:15,16). In Greek, this day of rest is called
Pentecost, which means “fiftieth (day).”
Because of this connection between Passover and Pentecost, Pentecost is
sometimes also considered the conclusion of the Passover Festival.
During the time between Passover and Pentecost, the
Jewish people have a special ceremony that they do every evening to count off the
days between the festivals. This
ceremony is called the Counting of the Omer.
How do they do this? They read a
couple of verses about counting the Omer, say a blessing, and then count the
day. For example, “This is the
forty-eighth day, making six weeks and six days of the Omer.” Then they read Psalm 67 and finish with a
prayer.
Why do they count these fifty days? Because that’s what the Bible tells them to
do, in Lev. 23:15: “You
will count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day when
you brought in the sheaf (the omer) of the wave offering; there will be seven
complete weeks.”
Why did God have them count these days? The time of the counting of the Omer is the
time of the grain harvest in Israel. For
farmers, it’s a time of great uncertainty.
If there is too much rain, the crop can be destroyed, if there is too
little rain, the grain will not swell, and its quality will be low. Lots of things can go wrong. Because of this, it’s a time of prayer.
The first day of the Omer is the day when the barley
harvest begins. This was marked by a special
ritual, when a sheaf or omer of
barley was waved before the Lord. Sometimes
this is also called a first fruits offering —the first fruits of the barley
harvest. Until this offering was brought
in the Temple, no one was allowed to eat any of the new barley harvest. And then after this special wave offering the
counting began: the fifty days until
Pentecost, when a second harvest, the wheat harvest, began.
Let’s take a look at the section about the Omer in
Leviticus: “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'You will come in to the
land that I am giving to you, and you will reap its harvest, and you will bring
in a sheaf (an omer), the first of your harvest, to the priest” (Lev.
23:10). This is the first sheaf (the
first omer) of the barley harvest that
is given to the priest.
Lev. 23:11: “And he will wave the sheaf (the omer)
before the LORD for you to receive favor; on the day after the Sabbath the
priest will wave it.” He will wave the
omer before the Lord on the day after
the Sabbath. Which Sabbath was
this? This was understood by the
Pharisees to mean the first day of Passover, since the first day of Passover
was a day of Sabbath rest. This is the
15th of Nisan in the Jewish calendar. So the Omer was waved on the next day, the 16th of Nisan. The offering of the Omer was
one of the most important events to take place during the Passover week.
Lev. 23:12: “And in the day that you wave the sheaf (the
omer) you will offer a lamb without defect, a year old, for a whole burnt offering
to the LORD.” A one year old lamb
was the sacrifice that went along with the Omer offering.
Lev. 23:14: “And bread and parched grain and fresh grain
you will not eat until this same day, until you bring the offering of your God;
this will be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your
dwelling places.” This is the verse that says no new barley
could be eaten until this offering was made.
Lev. 23:15: “And you will count for yourselves from the
day after the Sabbath, from the day when you bring the sheaf (omer) of the wave
offering; they will be seven full weeks.”
This is the counting of the Omer.
Lev. 23:16: “until on the day after the seventh week;
you will count day fifty and you will offer an offering of new grain to the LORD.” This “fiftieth” day is Pentecost (Shavuot). And what will this offering be on
Pentecost?
Lev. 23:17: “From your dwelling places you will bring
bread, two loaves, for a wave offering; they will be of two-tenths of a measure
of fine flour. They will be baked with
leaven, first fruits for the LORD.” This
was the first fruits of the wheat harvest.
After this, there is usually little rain, so the time of uncertainty has
passed.
But beginning in about the time of Jesus, the
Festival of Pentecost was connected with the giving of the Law on Mt.
Sinai. Why was this? If you count up the days in the book of
Exodus from when they left Egypt, it’s just about fifty days until they arrived
at Mt. Sinai and received the Ten Commandments.
These were also 50 days of uncertainty. When they left Egypt, they were a disorderly
mob that Moses could only barely keep under control. They were always complaining, always thirsty
and tired. Would they follow Moses’
leadership? Would they obey God?
It wasn’t until they got to Mt. Sinai that God began
to build them into the new nation of Israel by appearing on the mountain and
giving them the Ten Commandments. This
is when they first entered into a covenant relationship with God.
Sometimes we as Christians forget how awesome this
day was, when God appeared in fire on the mountain. This wasn’t a volcanic eruption as some
people think. Moses went right up the
mountain into the presence of God, and he wasn’t hurt. No, this was a supernatural fire like Moses
had seen in the burning bush at that same mountain when God called him to go to
Egypt to set his people free (Exo. 3:2).
That fire did not destroy the bush.
It was a supernatural fire.
Most of us imagine that on that same day Moses went
up the mountain and brought back the two tablets with the Ten
Commandments. But that isn’t what the
Bible says at all. The tablets came many
days later, after Moses had been on the mountain for 40 days and 40
nights. So what happened on that first
day, when there was thunder and lightning and a thick cloud on the mountain
(Exo. 19:16)?
You have to remember that this was in the middle of
the Sinai desert, one of the driest deserts in the world. It’s not like here in Taiwan, where you see
clouds on the mountains all the time.
For at least half of the year, there are no clouds at all, from one side
of the sky to the other (except maybe dust clouds). And even in the other half of the year, when
it does sometimes rain, the rain is so little, you can barely measure it. It’s a real desert. And this was already the end of the rainy
season.
But this was not a rain cloud on the mountain. There’s no mention of any rain. And the cloud was only on the one
mountain. There are mountains all around
you in this area. Why was the cloud only
on one mountain? It’s not a big enough
mountain for this to happen naturally.
Mt. Sinai is nowhere near as tall as the tall mountains here in Taiwan. It only takes four hours to walk up to the
top of it. That’s like one of the lower
hills here in Taiwan: maybe twice or
three times higher than the hiking trails at Dakung.
And the Bible says there was a loud trumpet sound,
like a huge ram’s horn (Exo. 19:16).
That would have been very frightening.
This is when Moses brought the people out to meet God (Exo. 19:17). There was also an earthquake (19:18).
That’s when Moses spoke and God called out to Moses
from the mountain: “and when the sound of the ram's horn trumpet (the shofar) grew louder
and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with a voice” (Exo. 19:19). Some translations say that God answered Moses
with thunder. But in Hebrew, it clearly
says that he answered him with a voice. So
Moses went up to the top of the mountain, where God gave him instructions for
the people, and then he came down again (Exo. 19:20,25).
Then, while Moses was down below with the people,
God began to speak again (Exo. 20:1).
This is when they first heard the Ten Commandments: from the voice of God himself. Do you remember what they said when he finished? “And
they said to Moses, ‘You speak to us and we will listen, but let not God speak
with us lest we die’” (Exo. 20:19).
They didn’t want to hear any more from God, so Moses went back up again
and received the rest of the instructions from God for them. When he told them the rest of the
instructions (Exo. 20-23), the people accepted them (24:3). And they entered into a covenant with
God.
How did they do that? They built an altar with standing stones
representing the 12 tribes (Exo. 24:4).
And they offered sacrifices (Exo. 24:5).
Then the blood of the sacrifices he sprinkled on the altar and on the
people (Exo. 24:6,8). Now they were in a
covenant relationship. Then God called
Moses and the elders of the people up the mountain, and what happened
there?
They saw God!
“And they saw the God of Israel;
and beneath his feet there was something like tile work made of sapphire and
like the heavens themselves in purity” (Exo. 24:10). But wait a minute! Jesus said that no man has seen the Father
(John 1:18)! Even Moses was told that no
one could see God and live (Exo. 33:20).
So who or what were they seeing?
This was not an angel, as some say, because it clearly says that this
was “the God of Israel.” So who was it? It was the Son of God appearing in his
heavenly glory, the glory he had before he set that all aside to become a
man.
And what were Moses and the elders doing up there on
the mountain with God? They were eating
a covenant meal with God, confirming their covenant with God (Exo. 24:11). Only after this did Moses go up the mountain for
forty days to get the Ten Commandments.
So how does all of this connect with the events in
the year that Jesus died and rose again?
On the cross, Jesus fulfilled the Passover. He became the Lamb of God that takes away the
sin of the world.
He was crucified on the first day of Passover (Nisan
15), the Friday morning after the Passover Meal the night before. After he died, he was taken down off the
cross late on Friday afternoon. This was
at the end of the first day of Passover.
Then they hurried to put him in a tomb before sunset, since that would
be the beginning of the Sabbath, at sunset (Nisan 16). They got him in the tomb, the Bible says,
just as the Sabbath was beginning to shine (in Greek), which refers to the Sabbath lamps
that people were lighting in their homes just before sunset (Luke 23:54).
That same evening, just after Jesus was placed in
the tomb, as it was growing dark, a group of three men went out of the city of
Jerusalem to the Mt. of Olives to cut down the sheaf of barley for the wave
offering, the Omer offering in the Temple.
This happened every year. The
barley was cut just after the sun went down, even though this year it was a
Sabbath. Why did they do this work on
the Sabbath? Because this was a command
of God that overrode the Sabbath. (Remember,
Jesus talked about the duties of the priests in the Temple that overrode the
Sabbath in Matt. 12:5).
The cut grain was then given to the priests in the
Temple. Then, that night, Friday night,
they threshed the barley by beating it with canes or stalks (to separate the
kernels out from the husks), then it was parched on a pan perforated with little
holes so the kernels actually touched the flames, it was exposed to the wind,
and then ground into flour.
The next morning, Saturday morning, while Jesus lay
in the tomb, a container of that flour was waved before the Lord in the
Temple. This was done by lifting it up
and down in the hands of the priest and waving it back and forth. This was a symbol that the offering belonged
to the Lord. At the same time, a one
year old lamb without blemish was offered up as a whole burnt offering to the
Lord. This meant that the lamb was completely
burnt to ashes on the altar. Only after
this was done was the new grain of the barley harvest eaten in Israel.
What was the meaning of this strange ceremony? It’s a perfect picture of the sufferings of
Jesus: like the Omer, he was whipped for
our transgressions. He was parched in
the heat of the sun as he hung on the cross.
He was exposed to the wind, when darkness blew in over the land. And he was “crushed” in death, and put in the
tomb. His life was offered up, like the
Omer, as a first fruit to God.
But on the next day, he was “lifted up” out of death
in the resurrection. Only after this
would the new harvest of souls be acceptable to God. That’s why in 1 Cor. 15:20, Jesus is called
the first fruits: “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of
those who are asleep.”
Then began the counting of the Omer, the countdown
to the Feast of Pentecost. On day one of
the Omer (Nisan 16), Jesus was in the tomb.
On day two of the Omer, Jesus was raised from the dead, and the women saw
the empty tomb, as did Peter and John.
On day three of the Omer, Jesus appeared on the road
to Emmaus, and to the disciples in the Upper Room. On day eleven of the Omer, he appeared again
to the disciples in the Upper Room, when Thomas was with them. After that, they returned to Galilee where Jesus
appeared to them on more than one occasion. By the fortieth day of the Omer, Jesus had gathered
them back to Jerusalem.
Why was all of this time, when Jesus was appearing
to his disciples, a time of great uncertainty?
This was a big step for them. Would
the disciples believe that Jesus had risen?
Would they understand his message?
Would they carry out his plans for them?
This wasn’t a sure thing.
In John 20:9 it says that “they did not yet know the scripture that he must rise from the dead.” At first they thought he was a spirit (Luke
24:37). Some had “doubts” arising in
their hearts (Luke 24:38). Thomas didn’t
believe when he heard about his appearance in the Upper Room (John 20:25).
Later, when Jesus appeared to the eleven on a
mountain in Galilee, they hesitated.
They were uncertain (Matt. 28:17).
It was so incredible to believe that Jesus had actually, physically
risen from the dead. Peter and some of
the others had gone back to their old job fishing on the Sea of Galilee. They didn’t understand what was happening, so
Jesus had to explain it to them.
This teaching went on during the entire 40 days he
appeared to them (“Then he said to them,
‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that it is
necessary that all the things written in the Law of Moses and the prophets and
psalms concerning me be fulfilled.’ Then
he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,” Luke 24:44-45). Have you ever wondered where the Christian
gospel comes from? It wasn’t invented by
the disciples. Jesus taught it to them himself
after his resurrection. And they taught
others what he told them. And we
continue to teach it today.
These 40 days were a time of uncertainty, when the
disciples first heard the gospel and first believed the gospel. Would there be a good harvest? Or would the harvest fail? But over those days, Jesus continued teaching
them. And their weak faith slowly grew
stronger and stronger. But it wasn’t
until Pentecost that the days of uncertainty were over, when they finally were
filled with the Holy Spirit.
Even after Jesus gathered them back to Jerusalem,
just before the 40th day of the Omer, they were still wondering if
he was going to restore the kingdom to Israel ( “And so when they had come together, they were asking him, saying,
‘Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’” Acts
1:6). But then, on the 40th day, Jesus took the disciples across the Kidron Valley and up onto the Mount of
Olives, tracing in reverse the same route he had taken when he rode the donkey
into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
This route, going up and out away from the Holy
City, was the same route used in the ritual of the scapegoat on the Day of
Atonement (Lev. 16:8,10,21-26). What was
the meaning of the scapegoat ritual? The
goat led out into the desert carried away the sins of Israel. Now Jesus was fulfilling this same ritual on
the same spot it took place. On the
cross, he had all the sins of mankind laid on him. Now, like the scapegoat, he was carrying all
those sins away. And when he ascended
into heaven, he carried those sins as far as the East is from the West, as far
as the heavens are above the earth (Luke 24:50-51, Acts 1:9).
But the counting of the Omer continued. The counting of the 50 days of the Omer
follows the view of time we mentioned once before of a water clock filling up
with water. It gets more and more full
until it reaches the top, and the period of time is complete. But today, we think more in terms of a
countdown to the completion of a period of time. So perhaps instead we should consider the day
of Jesus’ ascension T minus 10 and counting, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5…
The disciples would have come back to Jerusalem anyway
for the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Pentecost.
But they had no idea that anything special was going to happen on that
day. Jesus had just told them to wait in
Jerusalem for the promise of the Holy Spirit.
He didn’t tell them how long they would wait (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8).
The disciples were able to go home to Galilee after Passover
and then return again for Pentecost because they lived nearby. But this was not possible for people who
lived further away. Because of this,
many thousands of Jewish pilgrims would remain in Jerusalem for the time
between Passover and Pentecost. If they
came from a great distance, it might be the only trip to Jerusalem in their
lifetime. So many would come for Passover
and stay over until Pentecost. This way,
they got two festivals in one trip. What
this means is that when the disciples returned to Jerusalem, many thousands of
people from all over the world were still there that had been there since Passover. They had seen or heard about all the things
that happened to Jesus during the Passover festival. Maybe they had heard him preach in the
Temple, or seen his crucifixion.
This includes the many different groups of Jews
mentioned in Acts 2: Jews from Parthia,
Media, and Elam (all today’s Iran), Mesopotamia (Iraq), Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia,
Phrygia, and Pamphylia (all in Turkey), Egypt, Libya, Rome, Crete (Greece), and
Arabia (Jordan/Saudi Arabia; Acts 2:9-11).
These people would all have heard the rumors that had been going around
about Jesus’ resurrection. And they would
have wondered what it was all about. Was
Jesus really the Messiah? But how could
the Messiah die like that? Had he really
been raised from the dead? Who were
these followers of his anyway? The city
would have been abuzz during the whole holiday season with stories and
speculations.
Not all of these visitors knew how to speak Hebrew
very well. So to help them, small
synagogues had grown up all over the city where services were held in the
different languages of these different groups of Jews. These synagogues also provided places to stay
and other assistance while they were visiting—just as some do today.
…3, 2, 1…
Tradition says that the disciples of Jesus were
gathered in the Upper Room for the Day of Pentecost. But the Bible says only that they were in a
“house” (Acts 2:2). According to one
tradition, this was the house of John Mark’s mother mentioned in Acts
12:12. The reason they were gathered together
was because of the holiday: Shavuot, the
Feast of Weeks. All the stores and
businesses were closed, and as they do today, people get together with their
family and friends for a meal and to visit with each other.
“And
suddenly there was a noise from heaven just like a driving, violent wind and it
filled the whole house where they were staying.
And separate flames, like fire, appeared to them, and stayed on each one
of them. And
all were filled with a holy spirit and began to speak in other languages just
as the spirit was giving them to speak out” (Acts 2:2-4). This was like a second Sinai! God was descending again in the fire of the
Holy Spirit!
That’s when that crowd of Jewish visitors from all
over the world gathered to see what was going on: “But
when this sound happened, the crowd gathered together and was amazed, because
they were each one hearing them speaking in his own dialect” (Acts
2:6).
That’s when Peter stood up and preached the gospel
for the first time. “But Peter, having stood with the eleven,
raised his voice and spoke out to them, ‘Men, Judeans and all those staying in
Jerusalem, let this be known to you and pay attention to my words. For these are not drunk as you suppose, for it
is the third hour of the day (9 am). But
this is what is spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it will be
in the last days, says God, I will pour out of my Spirit on all flesh, and your
sons and your daughters will prophesy and your young men will see visions and
your old men will dream dreams’” (Acts 2:14-17). All the weeks of uncertainty were now gone. Peter boldly proclaimed his faith without
fear, because now he was fully convinced of what he believed.
After that sermon, 3,000 were saved and baptized,
and signs and wonders and miracles were taking place (Acts 2:41-43). The Law was no longer written on tablets of
stone, but was now a new covenant written in their hearts. Now, the Spirit of God was in them and would lead
them and guide them in ministry, just as he leads and guides us today.
As Jesus had said just a few days before, “you will receive power when the Holy
Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). And from there they eventually went out to
Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
And today we continue their work.
Are you filled with the Spirit of Holiness? Are you confident of where you stand with
Jesus? You can be.
Let’s stand up and pray together. Father God, we come to you in Jesus’
name. And we pray that you would move by
your Holy Spirit on each and every one of us here today. We say “yes” to you right now in our
hearts: yes to your goodness, yes to your
plan for our lives, yes to the power of the Holy Spirit in us. Have your way with us today, Lord, we ask in
Jesus’ name.
Let’s continue to pray and allow the Holy Spirit to
have his way in our hearts. What is the
Lord saying to you today? What is he
doing in your heart? Lord Jesus, we ask
that you would minister to each and every heart here today. Touch your people and change us, Lord, just
like you changed the apostles, and so many generations since then. We are your people, Lord. We give our lives to you. In Jesus’ name. Amen?
