THE FEAST OF SHAVUOT: The Perfect Sabbath

 

The Church, the body of Christ, should consider the Omer count this year.  The Omer count is the fifty day period between the "sheaf wave offering" of First Fruits and Pentecost, the Jewish feast of Shavuot.  Shavuot counts seven Sabbaths with the 50th day being Shavuot. 

 

Shavuot, for Christ's own, stands isolated as the center of God's seven festivals ("mow'ed") and at the center of God's three pilgrimage feasts ("chag").  Shavuot represents the center position of the Jewish seven branched menorah candelabrum.  The oil which feeds the flame of each candle flows from the center branch.  This "Branch" represents Messiah Yeshua Jesus. (Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5, 33:15; Zechariah 3:8, 6:12)  As each of the seven branches of the Menorah represent the seven festivals of the Lord, so it is the center branch which is the source of the oil and light for all festivals.  These festivals are metaphoric for God's redemption plans for the Jew and Gentile.

 

In the Beginning

 

In the beginning, Elohim and the Word created the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:1; John 1:1)  The Word of God, Yeshua Jesus, stands together with the Father in Genesis 1 as the fourth and singular untranslated English word in the first verse of the Torah.  As Yeshua stands at the center of the Menorah candelabrum, so too, He stands in the center of God's creation.

The Living Word was with Elohim in the beginning as set forth in John 1:1-3 and 1 John 5:7.  Before creation of the heaven and the earth there were three which bore record in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are One.  And so after creation, there are three which bear record in the earth: the Spirit, the water and the blood and these three agree in one. (1 John 5:8)  Yeshua Jesus is He who came by water and blood and the Spirit of truth bears witness to these facts. (1 John 5:6)

 

The Lord God created the heavens and the earth in six days.  On the seventh day God ended His work and He rested.  God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in that day He rested from all that He had created and made.  The seventh day had no evening and morning as the prior six days of creation. The omission of the phrase "the evening and the morning" in the seventh day should cause one to wonder.  With no reference to times, we ponder the possible eternal aspect of the Sabbath and God's creative rest.

 

On the Eighth Day

 

The Omer count to Shavuot commences on the 8th day or the day following the weekly Sabbath on the day of the First Fruits offering to God. (Leviticus 23:10-11)  On this 8th day following the regular weekly Sabbath, the "wave sheaf offering of first fruits" was offered up to God as the first fruits of the harvest.  This is the day on which Yeshua Jesus was resurrected to life.  He was the first order of the resurrection of righteousness, the first fruits of the harvest. (1 Corinthians 15:23)   See: https://9-11-2017.com/2016/04/06/did-jesus-disciples-count-the-omer/

 

God chose the 8th day as instructive.  It is to be a New Beginning looking past the Sabbath rest to a new eternal era where all things will be united in Christ. (Revelation 21)

 

The Wilderness Tabernacle

 

And it came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel for the purpose of dedicating the wilderness tabernacle to the Lord God. (Leviticus 9:1)  Following this dedication, the Lord of Glory appeared unto the people. (Leviticus 9:4, 23)  The people sang praises and fell on their faces.

Why did this happen on the 8th day?  Should the appearing of the Lord of Glory to Israel be viewed as an  8th day event which will follow the Sabbath type Millennial reign of Messiah Yeshua Jesus?

 

On First Fruits Israel's Messiah was resurrected to eternal life as the glorified Son of God.  The 8th day, then represents the appearance of God's glory, first in the wilderness tabernacle and then later,  in the tabernacle of flesh, the Son of God.  For in Yeshua Jesus dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. (Colossians 2:9)

Now, the Jew has erred, not knowing the Scriptures, and refuses to commence the Omer count from the "morrow following the [regular] Sabbath" preferring instead to follow traditions and count from the "high Sabbath" of Unleavened Bread" fixing Shavuot as Sivan 6.   While the Jew fully understands the importance of the eighth day of Leviticus 9:1, he has missed the blessing of the Truth which dwelt among him in 30 A.D.

 

Shavuot/Pentecost is a 2-Stage Feast

 

The Feast of Shavuot is a 2-stage event which will nearly span two millennia.  Pentecost is a day suspended  in eternity.  See:  https://9-11-2017.com/2015/11/16/the-day-of-pentecost-a-day-in-eternity/

We can know that it has two stages based on the Temple practices of the "wave two loaf offering" conducted on Shavuot.  This is about the symbolism of the God ordained priestly practice.  It is a clue to the reality of the two loaf symbols.  

 

For each of us, when we received Jesus as our Lord, accepting His free gift of salvation in Him, He has imparted His Spirit in us.  This was the earnest deposit of the Spirit against the promised future redemption of our bodies when sin will be removed. 

 

In Jerusalem on Sunday, June 4, the Temple priests in Jerusalem should make the "two loaf wave offering" unto the Lord of Glory.  One loaf will represent the future resurrection of the dead in Christ and the other loaf the future translation of the living in Christ.  And so, this future resurrection event will conclude the metaphor of the Feast.

 

The Feast of Shavuot will be celebrated by Christ's own on June 3/4, commencing on Saturday evening and coming in fully at 9 a.m. Jerusalem time on Sunday.  God intended Shavuot to be represented by the eighth day, as a New Beginning, the Day of the Lord's Glory.   For the Church, the body of Christ, the next Shavuot, will likely represent the consummation of this feast commonly known to the Jew as the Feast of Conclusion (Shavuot) when the Lord of Glory will rise upon Christ's own completing the purchase transaction known as the "redemption of the body" when we shall be like Christ at His appearing.(1 Corinthians 15:23, 52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

 

And so, Shavuot will have been completed.  It began 1,987 years ago in Jerusalem about 9 a.m. on the 8th day, a Sunday, when the Holy Spirit indwelt Christ's own.  So, too, on a future Shavuot,  the Lord will descend with a Shout and the dead in Christ shall be raised and we who are living, in Christ, will be transformed, for the Glory of the Lord will be upon us.  And we shall live with Him forever.

 

Celebrating the Giving of the Law

 

On Sivan 6, May 30/31, the Jew will celebrate Shavuot.   They will celebrate is as the giving of the Law.  This is a tradition which was created in the First Century A.D.  to explain a feast which they never understood apart from its agricultural significance.   Moses never associated Shavuot with the giving of the Law.  This Feast was not to be celebrated until Israel entered the promised land.  What this means is that during the wilderness wanderings of Israel, Moses never celebrated Shavuot.   The Jew is without understanding in regard to this harvest Feast.  It will be the second order of the resurrection of righteousness in Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:20-28) 

See: https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/56426878/posts/1220409090

 

So, what can we teach the Jew about Shavuot?  If you are going to celebrate the Law on Shavuot, then know this.  The Law was to be your schoolmaster leading you to your Messiah, Yeshua Jesus. (Galatians 3:24)

 

While I believe that associating the giving of the Law at Sinai about 53 days after the exodus is a reasonable inference, it is not emphasized purposefully by God, except by its obvious contradiction to Shavuot.  In fact, Pentecost would appear to have no application to the Jew,  except the remnant Jewish believers in this Age who receive Christ.  (blindness in part Romans 11:25)  The sting of death is sin and its strength is the law.  (1 Cor. 15:56).  No man is justified by the law.  The works of the law are under a curse. (Galatians 3:10)   The law is not of faith. (Galatians 3:12)  

 

If the law were to be associated with Shavuot, it would seem to be a contradiction to the Spirit of Pentecost which is faith apart from works of the law.  (Romans 3:28)  It is for this reason that I believe that the Lord God did not emphasize the giving of the law at Pentecost.  Pentecost is about faith and life...in Christ, the Spirit of Prophecy, the author and finisher of our faith.

The Law is described as the "ministration of death"  and the "ministration of condemnation" written and engraved in stones. (2 Corinthians 3:7-8)  The apostle Paul distinguishes the Law and faith as contrasting the "ministration of death" and the "ministration of the spirit".  The Spirit was administered first on Shavuot in 30 A.D.  This "ministration of the spirit" continues today as we approach the end of the Age of Pentecost.

 

This contrasting imagery is best summarized by the events associated with the giving of the Law and the giving of the Spirit on the first Shavuot.  At the foot of  Mt. Sinai, following Israel's apostate celebration of the golden calf, God slew 3,000 Israelites, ministering death and condemnation to the disobedient.

 

Conversely, on Shavuot 30 A.D. following the specific instructions of the risen Yeshua Jesus, the Holy Spirit indwell and saved 3,000 faithful, ministering the Spirit and life everlasting.  These distinguishing events are conclusive evidence that Pentecost celebrates life and the Law death.  The Law has no place in Shavuot. 

The Lord's great prophet says in Isaiah 48:10:

 

"Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."

 

During Daniel's 70th week, remnant Israel will see the light of Yeshua, when the Lord's furnace is raised seven times hotter than ever, their faces as flames, then a remnant shall be saved. (Daniel 9:27; Isaiah 10:21; John 8:12; Daniel 3:19; Isaiah 13:8; Jeremiah 31:34)

 

The Jews saved in Daniel's 70th week will (1) keep the commandments of God, (2) have the testimony and faith of Yeshua, (3) will not take the mark, and (4) will endure to the end of their lives.  (Revelation 12:17, 14:12)

 

The Time of Jacob's Trouble approaches.  Set a watchman on the wall.  Prepare the trumpets of warning.

 

The Glory of the Lord, the Day of Christ, is nigh at hand!