Feast of the LORD #4 - Pentecost - Required Attendance

Morguefile.com

When Moses was given and then passed along the instructions for the seven Feasts of the Lord, the Israelites were told that their men were required to attend three of them. After the Temple was built in King Solomon's day, this meant all the Israelite men were required to travel to Jerusalem to attend these three Feasts of the LORD:

• the Feast of Unleavened Bread, 
• the Feast of Weeks (which is Pentecost), 
• and the Feast of Tabernacles.

Deuteronomy 16:16 (ESV) says this:

"Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed."

Fast-forward to the time of Jesus. He had just been crucified. On the third day after his crucifixion, which was the Feast of Firstfruits, people began to see him. Alive! For the next forty days people talked to him and ate with him. And this was happening with more people than just his eleven remaining disciples. He had been spotted all over the place by more than 500 people! (See 1 Corinthians 15:6.)

Then Luke records this: Acts 1:4-5:

And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

We already know, according to Deuteronomy 16:16 above, that the Jewish men were required to be in Jerusalem for the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Tweet that!), which began the day after Passover and lasted for seven days. This is why Jerusalem was so crazy-busy, so full of people when Jesus was crucified. (Tweet that!) 

One week down, six to go.

For many men, especially those who lived a long distance away, it probably didn't make sense for them to go home and then return six weeks later. So a large number of men (and many with their families) stayed.

That means it wouldn't have been that unusual for these eleven disciples to stay in Jerusalem until Pentecost. They probably would have stayed anyway. (Tweet that!) 

I would like to point out one variation, however. At some point the eleven disciples must have left Jerusalem and gone to Galilee. In Matthew 26:32 and Mark 14:28 Jesus instructed them, "But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee." And in Matthew 28:16-20 we are told the eleven disciples did indeed go into Galilee and saw Jesus, alive, and worshiped him. Jesus prophesied before his death that they would meet him in Galilee, and his prophecy was fulfilled after he had risen from the dead. (For more, see chapter 52, "Meet Me in Galilee," in the book Prophecies Fulfilled in the Death & Resurrection of Jesus.)

So the Eleven must have returned to Jerusalem, and then Jesus told them, "Do not leave Jerusalem." Wait here, he said. And so they did.

Jesus ascended on the fortieth day after the Feast of Firstfruits (Acts 1:3). And then the Holy Spirit came upon the followers of Jesus in the Pentecost that is familiar to Christians, in Acts 2.

But they were in Jerusalem in obedience not only to Jesus' instructions, but also in obedience to the Law that required them to attend the Feast of Weeks, which is Pentecost, in Jerusalem. (Tweet that!) 

Related Articles:

• Saturday, May 24 - 35 Omer - Feast of the Lord #4 - Pentecost
• Tuesday, May 27 - 38 Omer - Feast of the Lord #4 - Pentecost Before the book of Acts

Feast of the Lord #4 – Pentecost Before the book of Acts

Morguefile.com

When Christians hear the word "Pentecost," what springs to our minds is what is described in the book of Acts 2. After Jesus was crucified and then amazingly resurrected, he spoke to his disciples and told them to stay in Jerusalem until they received the gift of the Holy Spirit.

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 1:4-5, NLT).

But did you know the Jewish people had been keeping the Feast of Pentecost for 1,500 years before this Pentecost in Acts? (Tweet that!) 

Yes, Pentecost was one of the seven Feasts of the LORD given to Moses. (Tweet that!) We discussed all seven of the Feasts of the LORD in the blog post on April 11, 2014.

According to the teaching of Mark Biltz at El Shaddai Ministries, on Pentecost the Jewish people celebrate the giving of the Torah (the Law) on Mount Sinai. (Tweet that!) 

This is when God wrote His law in stone on the tablets of the Ten Commandments. And they have observed Pentecost fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits ever since.  (Tweet that!) Christians only came on board with Pentecost after Jesus was resurrected, meaning the story in Acts 2. (Tweet that!) 

Interestingly, in the Old Testament (after Moses but before Jesus), God said through the prophet Ezekiel:

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules (Ezekiel 36:26-27, ESV).

See also Ezekiel 11:19.

On Pentecost, the Jewish people remember, observe, and celebrate the giving of the Law, written on their hearts and in stone on the tablets of the Ten Commandments. (Tweet that!)  Today, Christians remember, observe, and celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit, poured out on followers of Jesus, transforming our hearts of stone to hearts of pliable, teachable flesh. (Tweet that!) 

On the first Pentecost after Jesus' death and resurrection, God fulfilled His prophecy in Ezekiel 36:26-17 and 11:19. He transformed the Law written on stone in the hearts of His people to new human hearts of flesh led by the Spirit. This is the historical as well as the prophetic meaning of the Feast of Weeks, known as Pentecost. (Tweet that!) 

Related Article:

• May 24 – 35 Omer – Feast of the Lord #4 – Pentecost

Why Did God Give Us Prophecies? Part 2

www.Morguefile.com 

There is another reason God gave us prophecies. That is so we could identify The Anointed One. (Tweet that!)

The Anointed One is the Bible's term for "the one" person God was referring to. (Tweet that!)

This term, "the Anointed One," has become know by other words today: (Tweet that!)

• Messiah (Hebrew)
• Christ (Greek)

This Anointed One is the person God promised to send. This was the person all the prophecies pointed to. The One who would fulfill all the prophecies. (See Acts 10:36-43.)

That is how he--the Anointed One, the Christ, the Messiah--was to be identified. (Tweet that!)

The religious leaders in Jesus' time were supposed to recognize the Messiah when he came. But they did not believe Jesus was the Messiah.

They didn't look hard enough. Jesus accused them of willfully refusing to see (John 9).

But if they, the religious leaders of Jesus' time, had really looked into the prophecies and then investigated whether or not Jesus fulfilled them, they would have discovered he fulfilled them. All of them. Perfectly. (Tweet that!)

Some high-powered Jews did believe Jesus was the Messiah. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were two (John 19:38-39).

But in one of the biggest ironies in human history, most of the Jewish leaders who were trained to recognize Messiah and lead the people in knowing him did not recognize Jesus was the Messiah.

This is another reason why God gave us prophecies: so we could see when one person fulfilled them. And when we saw The One who did, we would know he was the Christ, the Messiah. (Tweet that!)


If you missed Part 1, find it here: Why Did God Give Us Prophecies?

Lifted Up: The Type of Death He Would Die – Part 1

Thanks Morguefile.com

Jesus knew that he was going to be crucified. He plainly said it earlier and more than once:

"Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, 'We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked an flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!' " (Matthew20:17-19).

"As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified" (Matthew 26:2).

" 'But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.' He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die" (John 12:32-33).

"Pilate said, 'Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.'

" 'But we have no right to execute anyone,' the Jews objected. This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled" (John 18:31-32).

As you know, Jesus was indeed crucified – put to death the way the Romans did it: crucifixion.

Everyone took part:  the Jews. The gentiles represented by the Romans. The religious leaders. The secular leaders. The people. Me. You. (Tweet that!)

(See related article: All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us…!")

Jesus knew in advance he was not going to be put to death the Jewish way: by stoning. Jesus knew in advance he was going to be crucified.

As we have mentioned before in this series of 40 posts counting down to Easter: Only the One True God knows the future. Only God can see with perfection every future detail. Only the true God can predict what will happen. This is prophecy. And the proof that he is God is that these prophecies have been perfectly fulfilled.

Jesus knew because Jesus is God come in human flesh.

There is no other like Jesus. There is no equal to him.

Jesus died on the cross to pay for your sins. There is no other way to be free from your sins and welcomed into the sinless presence of God. Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior? If not, why not do so today? (Tweet that!)