Sunday, after the Sabbath of Passover, Jesus rose on the Sunday. It was the festival of first fruit. What does that mean? He's the first fruit from among the dead. The Apostle Paul didn't make that up in First Corinthians. And so, every one of these great festivals point to something greater, and as Christians we have the privilege of reflecting back and seeing that every one of these spring festivals were fulfilled in the first coming of Jesus. They were types. They pointed us to a greater redemption. Why would Pentecost be any different? It's not. So, let's learn more about Pentecost. So it's the fourth spring festival. That means go, okay. Okay, so it's Shevuot. The word means seven because seven sevens or seven day weeks are to be counted by the Jewish people beginning with the Passover and then Shevuot is to be observed on the 50th day. Next slide. Leviticus 23, 15 through 21. And we won't read all of it, I'll just read verses 15 through 17. But if you have your Bibles, you can keep scanning. You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day when you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, there shall be seven complete Sabbaths." Now, two Jewish people, three opinions, okay? So there's a debate as to when this should be done. The majority opinion is this, that the Sabbath they're talking about, Moses was talking about, was the most obvious Sabbath. First of all, people make a big deal out of different kinds of Sabbaths in the Old Testament, and I think they go a little bit wild on this one. You need a Jewish believer to come in and say, calm down. For the most part, the Sabbath is Saturday. The Lord's Day is Sunday. And basically that's it. There are a couple of high Sabbaths and so on, but don't concern yourself with them. So the Sabbath is Saturday. And so all Moses is saying is, friends, on the day after the Saturday attached to Passover, take a sheaf and wave it before the Lord. That's all he's saying. That's first fruit. So you shall count, so there shall be seven, then from the day you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering, there shall be seven complete Sabbaths. So not only do we wave the sheaf before the Lord on the Feast of First Fruit, but it begins a countdown. And believe it or not, Jewish people count these days. and usually three times a day, three times a prayer. It's a long prayer, we just say, today is 12. That's it. You know, everybody gathers together, you know. And that's all we do. Why do we do that? I was raised in an Orthodox Jewish home. Why do we do it? Why not? God said to do it, so you just do it. He said count, so we count. So, there will be seven complete Sabbaths, so that's 49 days. So you shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Okay, so on the fiftieth day, then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord. You shall bring it in from your dwelling place, two loaves of bread for a wave offering. Made of two tenths of an ephah, they shall be a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to the Lord. Okay, I think there we go. Now we can keep going in verse 18. This is why people don't study the Old Testament, but stay with me. You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering, two male goats, one year old, for a sacrifice of peace offerings. If you've never done a study of the sacrifices, it's a great Bible study. The priest shall then wave them with the bread, the leavened bread, of the first fruits for a wave offering with two lamps before the Lord, that it be holy to the Lord for the priest, and then I'll just keep reading. On the same day you shall make a proclamation as well, have a holy convocation, don't do any work, it's to be a perpetual statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations. That last part are the similar points that we follow in every one of our festivals. It's a holy convocation, we don't go to work, we gather together for worship, We don't do any laborious work. Don't fix your roof on Shavuot. And then it shall be a perpetual statute in all your generations. You know, ever wonder why Orthodox Jewish people all live in the same area and work in the same places? Do you know how many days off you've got to get for the Jewish holidays? I mean, you not only need Saturdays off, but you wouldn't believe how many days off there are. for the biblical and non-biblical holidays. And so, Jewish people stick together in this way. Now, keep going. Okay, just stay there for a moment. So, there are some traditional Jewish names for Shavuot. Chag HaKatzir, the harvest holiday. Again, the holiday of the first fruits, Chag HaBiKarim, and so on. and Jewish people would never refer to it as Pentecost. That's the Gentile name. It's not Hebrew, is it? Okay, so let's look at some of these biblical commands. So, again, it falls 50 days after what would technically be the second night of Passover, And the 49 days in between are known as the Omer, which is a measure of wheat. And so that's what we count. And then the counting of the 50 days begins on the day after the Sabbath when the first fruit was weighed, which would have been the second day of Passover. And so it's offered, we offer two loaves of bread concluding the grain harvest. And the two lows were the result, obviously, of the one sheaf mentioned at the Feast of First Fruits. We should go back and read that, but I know your eyes are glazing over already by reading too many of these things. So take my word for it. All you were supposed to do on the Feast of First Fruits was to pick up a sheaf of grain and go like that. The symbolism of the two loaves is that the one sheep has now resulted, 50 days later, in two loaves. That's all. All we're saying with the sheep is, Lord, you've got control of the rain, the sun, the moon, and the seeds, and the ground, and Lord, I'm just a plain old farmer, so, you know, it's all up to you. And then, so that's the act of faith. Thanksgiving before it even takes place. And then, when we offer the two loaves, what are we saying? Good going God. You came through again. You did what I couldn't possibly do. You made it grow. And now I've made two loaves of bread. So that's all it means. One other point of fact that you should know, besides the offerings, is that it's one of the three pilgrimage feasts. These are called the Aliyah Feasts. Aliyah is a Hebrew word which means to go up. And the reason we say Aliyah is because everything centers around Jerusalem and Jerusalem is in the mountains. And so you always go up to Jerusalem, no matter where you are in Israel. Unless you are on Mount Hermon in Lebanon. Then you go down and then you go up again. Okay, so it's always going up. My daughter, my youngest, who's visited this church a few times, Jenny made Aliyah, which means she went off and left her parents. And so she moved to Israel. And she's serving the Lord there, she's teaching Greek at a Jewish Bible college. Go figure, Jewish girl. And so to make Aliyah always means to go up, means to go up to Jerusalem. And so there were three Aliyah feasts. Pentecost was one of them. Passover was one of them. Anybody know the third one? Tabernacles. On those three festivals, the Jewish male head of the house went up to Jerusalem. And it's very important to know that Pentecost was one of the Aliyah festivals. You'll see why. Now, let's get to the important part of this whole thing. Next slide. Before we get to that. Oh, I see. I don't have a slide for it. No, I should have a slide for it. Before we get to it. We read the book of Ruth because Ruth is a harvest time story. So a lot of Jewish people will stay up all night reading and rereading the Book of Ruth. And it's not the only time Jewish people do this. On the observance where we remember the destruction of the temple, on the ninth of the Hebrew month of Tisha B'Av, we stay up all night and read and reread and reread the Book of Lamentations, sitting down on the floor. If you've never done that, try it. The Christians have so much to learn from Jewish practice, you know? So, I mean, spend all day reading and studying the Book of Ruth and, you know, it will remind you of a lot of different things. Also, religious Jewish people will chant the Ten Commandments. And that's very important for the day of Pentecost. Then we'll decorate our synagogues and homes with roses and aromatic spices. There are a lot of reasons for that, too. But the chanting of the Ten Commandments is done all day. Remember, Jewish people don't just pray on Friday night and Saturday. We do three times a day. Three times a day. And so the chanting of the Ten Commandments is added to the times of prayer during the Feast of Pentecost, Shavuot. Okay, next one. That's what I meant by the most important part. I was jumping to the cheesecake. And so, on the day of Pentecost, we read the book of Ruth, we spend the night studying Torah, we chant the Ten Commandments, we decorate our synagogues at home, and we eat, that's supposed to be a Jewish joke, healthy milk products. That, by the way, is Junior's cheesecake from Brooklyn. which is everything else is a fraud. And the reason we eat cheesecake, you ready? This is the biblical basis for cheesecake. From the Song of Songs in chapter 4 verse 11, your lips, my bride, drip honey, honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon. So basically, the rabbis compare the reading and study of the Torah, of the Bible, as honey and milk, or milk and honey, by which we are nourished. That is the biblical justification for cheesecake. Okay, now let me see the next slide. Okay, very important. Now, you can already tell through all of these traditions that one of the important elements that's linked to Pentecost or Shavuot is something involving the law or the Torah. Now, technically, the Torah is the five books of Moses. That's usually what the Torah is called, refers to. But in Judaism, the Torah can easily refer to all of the Bible, the whole Old Testament canon. which by the way is the same as your ESV Bible. It does not include the Apocrypha or anything like that. And so it could be the five books or it could be the whole thing. And so the rabbis give Shavuot a very important name. They call it Z'man Matan Torah, which means the season of the giving of the law. And so, the Jewish people believe that the law was given on Shavuot or Pentecost from Mount Sinai. That's not in the Bible. The giving of the law is in the Bible, Shavuot is in the Bible, but the fact that the law was given on the day of Pentecost is not in the Bible. It's Jewish tradition. But it's a very, very important tradition. And that's why we eat the cheesecake. We remind ourselves of the giving of the law. That's why we recite the Ten Commandments. Because we remind ourselves this is when God gave the law. Now, of course, it's got to be tradition because the law was written down after it was given. It couldn't possibly be true biblically. But it's a very important Jewish tradition. And so basically the festival of Shavuot is viewed as the birthday of the giving of the law. That's the real heart of the meeting in Judaism. And so everything we do, we parade around with the Torah in synagogues, sometimes on the streets. And that's why we study the Bible all night. That's why we study the book of Ruth. And everything is designed to remind us that this is the day when God gave Israel the most precious gift in the world, the Bible. The Bible. Can you imagine if Christians were dancing through the streets of Port Jervis, one day a year, celebrating the fact that God gave us the Bible? You know, some of us would go out there. Okay, so again, let's keep going. Let's keep going again. One more. Okay, so this is a reminder. So, Passover points to redemption through the death of Christ, the Lamb of God. First Fruits reminds us of the First, results of the resurrection, the first fruits from among the dead, and Pentecost is going to remind us of the birth of something new. Something new. Predicted, a mystery in the Old Testament, but something that could only happen after Jesus died. And so, let's set the scene. And now, go ahead to the next one. Okay. So, you had 120 Messianic Jewish disciples in Acts chapter 1, verse 15, in one place, in one mind, praying and focusing on God's work. They were there in obedience to the command of Jesus in Acts 1, 4 and 5, and also in obedience to the laws of Shavuot regarding no work. Now, they were also there because in the first century it was a long way back to the diaspora between Passover and Pentecost, so most Jewish people who came up as an Aliyah festival on Passover remained for Shavuot, which was also an Aliyah festival, or they'd have to go back home and come back again. And so between Passover and Pentecost, Jerusalem, the population of Israel, Jerusalem in particular, swelled with pilgrims. So you have to remember that there were hundreds of thousands more people in Jerusalem than at any other given time during the course of the year. Even tabernacles didn't have as many because the two festivals came together. Jesus told the disciples to wait before they went out to carry out the Great Commission. And in Luke 24, verses 45 through 49, we read, He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures. I'm sorry, let me go to the end because we read most of this already. And he says, and you are witnesses of these things, and here's the important part. Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you're endued with power from on high. And then again, in Acts 1, 4, and 5, he said, don't depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you've heard from me, for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit from now on. And so, One more piece of background, just so that you understand it. One more piece of very important background. And that is... Go to the next one. You'll see that there were signs and wonders in this new day of Pentecost, but why? Go to the next one. Okay. because in the book of Exodus when the law was given, and I'll just read this, it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunderings and lightning and a thick cloud in the mountains and the sound of the trumpet was very loud so that all the people who were in the camp trembled and Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by his voice." So, the Jewish people believed that the law was given on the day of Pentecost. And so, here's what happens. Now you can open your Bibles. Acts chapter 2. So what happens? When the day of Shavuot had come, and they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Verse 5. Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem. The Greek word there could be dwelling, it doesn't mean permanently living necessarily. They were just there. There were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. Now why were they there? Because it was an Aliyah festival they were visiting. And when this sound occurred, when the sound occurred, the multitude came together and were bewildered because they were each one hearing them speak in their own language. And they were amazed and marveled saying, why are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that each one, each hear them in our own language to which we were born? Now what's interesting here is we don't know if this was a miracle of speaking or hearing. It's always assumed that it was a miracle of speaking. But it may have been a miracle of hearing. And so you had Jews, and then he goes on to list all of these nations of the Jewish diaspora of the first century. And Luke tells us that there were Jewish people there from every nation where God scattered the Jewish people they had come up for the Aliyah feast and they were in Jerusalem which you know if you've ever been to the Old City it's kinda small and I've been many times to the place where we say that this that was the upper room where this prayer meeting took place and only God knows where the real room really is but you can go on a tour and see it. But I will tell you this, without being New York cynical, if it's not that room, it's something like it. And so it gives you a good imagination of what it was like. And it was, I mean, there were people living everywhere. And so there's no way 120 people could have been standing up and shouting and not be heard by thousands. And the miracle that happened is that this multitude of people heard these people speaking in their own language when they were in fact right. They were probably most of them were Galileans because they were disciples of Jesus. And so the miracle took place where they heard this new Torah, this new law, along with signs and wonders, and they heard it in their own language. It was awesome. Now, why did God do it this way? Well, that brings me to one more Jewish tradition. So, according to Jewish tradition, very old one, every Jew who ever lived was at Mount Sinai listening to the law in their own language. And then every Jew who was there said, all that we hear we will obey. So every Jewish person who would ever live, including me, though I don't remember it, every Jewish person who would ever live was at Mount Sinai swearing allegiance to the newly given Torah. so that we are all without excuse. And did this really happen? Of course not. It's Jewish tradition. In Judaism, there's a teaching that when God created the nations of the world, he created all of the souls of those who would eventually get bodies. Okay? Which is why Orthodox Jews are so anti-abortion. They don't have any doubt what happens at conception. They know that, clearly. And so, Jewish people believe that, we're supposed to believe, Every Jewish person is supposed to believe that we were all there at Mount Sinai hearing the law in our own tongue and we said to God, all that we hear we will obey. So what happens at the day of Pentecost? Well, you have Jewish people speaking about the gospel, the good news, we don't know exactly what they said, but Jewish people around them heard it in their own language and would have understood that this is a similar miracle to what happened at Mount Sinai. And everything else was the same. There was smoke, and there was fire, and there were loud noises, and it was a supernatural event. So what were the Jewish people supposed to think? Well, their first thought was, these guys are all drunk. But then when Peter explained it, beginning in verse 14, they all understood that a new revelation from God that was as great as Mount Sinai had just taken place. And that's why when Peter gave the invitation, thousands of Jewish pilgrims who had come up for the feast, thousands of them came to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. And so that was the great miracle of Shavuot. Now I have to ask myself the question, why would God use a Jewish tradition like this to speak to his people? Why would God do this? Obviously the tradition can't possibly be true. In fact, I don't see anywhere in God's Word where He linked Shavuot or Pentecost with the giving of the Law. Why would God do all this? I've thought about it for a long time. The reason is because He loves us. And you know, God's the first missionary. He took up residence on earth, became Himself, you know, wrapped himself in flesh, went through what we go through, but lived a perfect life. He endured what we endured, didn't have to. But he did it, why? Because he loves us. And then he was better able to speak. face to face with us, like he did with Moses. And so why did he do what he did on the day of Pentecost? Because he wanted us to know that he understands us, that he cares about us, and that he speaks to us where we are. Now, two quick lessons, because I'm done, because we're going to take communion. Two quick lessons. Number one, God wants us to be like Him. And He wants us to have an incarnational ministry. He wants us to draw close to people. He wants us to listen. He wants us to understand what people are going through. and to take the powerful message of the gospel and apply it to people's lives in a way that they know God's love and they know that God knows them and understands them. And the only way they're going to know that is if we take the time to know people and to love them with God's love. That's one. The other lesson that I think is very important is the lesson of the two loaves. The one sheaf was waived That was the first fruit. Then came the harvest, 50 days later, and we offered two loaves in the temple of leavened bread, which speaks of humanity rather than a total purity. And so the two loaves come from one sheaf. You know, it's impossible to miss. On the day of Pentecost, God created the church. It's a new thing made up of Jews and Gentiles. There were always Gentiles who were included within Israel for one reason or another. So we have a type of the church in the Old Testament for sure. But God created something new. where Jews and Gentiles become one in the Messiah because we share a common life and we all come from the one sheaf. And that's the birthday of the church. So I hope that you know a little bit more now about Shavuot and about Pentecost. Just one last word, of course. I'm speaking at the luncheon so I can sell books and do all sorts of things there. But one last word because I think it's important. And that is Pentecost is all about the harvest. God gave his power to his church so that we could go out and bring in the rest of the harvest. Shavuot, Pentecost, is a missions festival because it reminds us that the reason we're chosen is not to simply enjoy him forever, but to enjoy him forever by fulfilling His plan, by going out into all the world in His power and bringing the good news of the Gospel to all. Let's pray. Abba, thank you for your love and goodness. Thank you for the time that we've had to study your Word. And Lord, I pray, Father, that even in this brief time together, that will have a better understanding of what you did in this great festival, the festival of Shavuot, of Pentecost. Lord, we thank you that you decided to speak in a way that these Jewish people gathered in Jerusalem could understand. And thank you, Lord, that you still speak in ways that you want us to understand, because you love us. Thank you, Lord, that you speak to us in so many different ways. Thank you that your truth, the truth of your scriptures is consistent. But it wraps up differently, in different ways, in different cultures, in different languages, among different people. And Lord, I pray that we might be your instruments and your power, to become your word to others in Jesus' name.