Fulfillment of the feast of Pentecost
Hello John and Doves,
Dear brothers and sisters, we know that the Lord Jesus has already fulfilled the first three spring feasts during the Passover (Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits) and the last three autumn feasts will most likely be fulfilled at His second coming to Earth. So how can the Lord Jesus personally fulfill the feast of Pentecost?
The sending of the Holy Spirit two thousand years ago was not a fulfillment of the feast of Pentecost because Jesus did not personally participate in the events on the day of Pentecost. John 15:26 says: “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.” God sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost as a pledge (2 Cor. 5:5). This was a pledge of the feast of Pentecost, the fullness is to come in the future. The feast of Pentecost can only be fulfilled by Jesus personally by His descent on the clouds and the rapture of the church into heaven. This is what we expect to happen. It makes a lot of sense, and I don’t know what other work of the Lord Jesus could fulfill this feast. The feast of Pentecost is the next in a series waiting to be fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Himself.
A powerful prophetic sign of the rapture of the church on the day of Pentecost is the sacrifice commanded by God, which the priest performs on this very day.
The Lord Jesus was resurrected on the third day (Nisan 16) on the feast of Firstfruits. In Lev 23:10-11 it is written: 10 “...when you enter the land that I am giving you and reap its harvest, you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, that you may be accepted; on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.” This took place on the feast of Passover, when on Nisan 16 the priest waved a sheaf of barley. The Lord Jesus fulfilled this feast by His resurrection from the dead.
On the day of Pentecost, according to Scripture, the priest waves two baked leavened loaves. In Lev 23:17 it is written: “You shall bring from your dwellings two loaves as a wave offering; they shall be of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour; they shall be baked leavened as firstfruits to the Lord.” Because at the rapture of the church, people come to God, sinners who have been cleansed by the blood of the Lord Jesus, so they are brought to God as firstfruits from among people. Therefore, the two leavened loaves, on the one hand, the dead in Christ will be resurrected and then the living in Christ will be changed.
The feast of Pentecost is the only feast when something leavened is used as an offering to God, that is, leavened bread. On the feast of Weeks, according to Num 28:28, fine flour mixed with oil is offered to the Lord as an offering, so nothing with leaven is offered. These diametrically opposed offerings to God prove, among other things, that the feast of Weeks cannot be associated with the feast of Pentecost.
The two leavened loaves waved by the priest on the day of Pentecost are one of the greatest Scriptural proofs of the rapture of the church on the day of Pentecost, just as the Lord Jesus was resurrected from the dead on the very day the priest waved the sheaf of barley on the day of the feast of Firstfruits.
Another interesting thing connected with the feast of Pentecost concerns the Apostle Paul. In the book of Acts we have it written that Paul was in an extreme hurry to Jerusalem on one particular day, the feast of Pentecost. Acts 20:16 “For Paul had determined to sail past Ephesus, that he might not spend time in Asia: for he hastened, if it were possible, to be at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.” This situation occurred only once in his life, and that was on this very day. It is clear from the Scriptures that he had a great desire to be in Jerusalem for this feast and his behavior on this occasion was completely different from his usual behavior. Paul had a strong desire to evangelize and plant churches in the world of that time and subordinated everything to this. Suddenly something changed and he began to behave differently, he did not want to stay anywhere in Asia, even though the disciples persuaded him to do so. What was the reason for this change in Paul's behavior? Up to a certain point, Paul believed that the rapture would also affect him. He knew that the rapture would be a worldwide event, because it mainly affects Gentile Christians. Since Paul was not yet a disciple of Jesus at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out, he could not personally participate in this event. However, it is very likely that he had a great desire to be in Jerusalem and participate in this event together with the apostles of the Lord Jesus. From the later letters that Paul wrote, it is clear that he finally understood that the rapture of the church would not happen in his lifetime.
In Luke, chapter 21, much is taught about the signs of Jesus’ coming and the redemption (rapture) of the disciples of the Lord Jesus, which will occur when the events and signs described in this chapter begin to take place. The Lord is speaking here about summer and the coming kingdom of God (Luke 21:28-31).
From all the studies that have been presented on the feast of Pentecost, it is clear that God Himself clearly shows in many places in Scripture that He has appointed the day of the feast of Pentecost as the day when the most glorious wedding of all time will take place, the wedding of the Lord Jesus with His church. The feast of Pentecost is the most wonderful feast for the church in the New Testament, it is a biblical feast of Christians from mainly pagan nations. The church was born on that day of Pentecost. Lord, we wait for you. Maranatha.
Petr
Maran atha