Pentecost: the central feast  

Leviticus 23 is the chapter about “the Feasts of YAHWEH”. Seven altogether; even as the menorah in the Holy Place had seven lamps (Ex.25:37). That was a stylized almond tree (Ex.25:34) with six arms (branches), three on each side (Ex.25:32). In this blog, I would like to show the remarkable parallel between the seven feasts and the menorah. Considered from the middle (the shaft), the menorah has three lights on both sides. So the divine feasts also has two groups, each with three high days. In the first month (Nisan/Aviv) are the following three:

1. on the 14th, the slaying of the Passover lamb
2. from the 15th, the beginning of the feast of unleavened bread
3. “the day after the Sabbath” (during this feast): the wave sheaf of the barley harvest

These three high days, respectively, correspond perfectly with the following:

1. the death of Jesus on the 14th
2. His first day in the Tomb, on the 15th
3. His resurrection from the grave on “the day after the Sabbath”.

The high days in the first month, have found their perfect fulfilment during the first coming of Christ. Now we will consider the three feasts in the seventh month:

1. on the 1st, the trumpet sound
2. on the 10th, Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
3. from the 15th-, the Sukkot or feast of Tabernacles

These feasts in the seventh month, find their fulfilment in the second coming of Christ. When the trumpet shall sound, Israel’s day of atonement breaks forth, and the Feast of Tabernacles will be celebrated, worldwide. As both groups of feasts speak, respectively, of the first coming of Christ and His second coming, then it cannot be missed that the one feast, in between, (the feast of weeks or Pentecost) must speak of what takes place between the first coming and the second coming. And indeed, that’s exactly the case. During the feast (Lev.23:15-22), the first fruits of the wheat harvest is collected and offered to God. Fifty days before, was the day of first fruit (singular), but now it is the feast day of the first fruits (plural). And indeed, that is exactly the case. What God is doing in the time between the first coming of Christ and His return is to collect a people, far and near, for His name (Acts 15:14). This gathering is from out of this temporary, passing (sour) creation, but moving (= living) before God and in the hands of the priest (= Christ). The first-fruits with the highest destination, are an announcement of the overall, future harvest. This shows a ‘picture’ of God’s work at the present time!

Delen: