Pentecost
by Pastor Don Elmore
May 27, 2012
Scripture Reading: Acts 20:16
We learned last week about one phase of the Roman Catholic Church Menace. They substituted one Simon Peter, “Simon the Interpreter,” for another Simon Peter, the apostle of Jesus Christ; as their first pope, a so called 'apostolic succession.' This is an important doctrine, for if they are wrong on this—then their church is false.
They are wrong; for Peter is never in the Bible mentioned about being in Italy, but was a minister to the circumcised (the Judahites, the House of Judah) not the uncircumcised (the Gentiles, the House of Israel), which were the ones who were mainly in Rome. But there was a Simon who had a statue made of him in the Pantheon with the title of Holy God; who was buried in a pagan cemetery in Rome and who was well known as a sorcerer and a worker in witchcraft—this is their first pope.
But what about the holidays that the Roman Catholic Church celebrates; for they celebrate, among others, the big three:
- Easter
- Pentecost, and
- Christmas
In the Bible, there were three feast days a year that the Israelite males had to go to the Temple at Jerusalem:
- First Harvest: Barley
- Nisan 10: Pick out male, unblemished lamb;
- Nisan 14: Kill the lamb; Passover
- Nisan 15-21: Feast of Unleavened Bread,
- Nisan 18: b) First Fruits (waving the barley sheaf)
- Second Harvest: Wheat
- Sivan: 6-7 Feast of Weeks; Pentecost (waving of 2 leavened loafs), and
- Last Harvest: Many crops
- Ethanim 1: c) Trumpets,
- Ethanim 10: d) Atonement,
- Ethanim 15-21: Feast of Tabernacles
What is the difference between these holidays and holy days? One promotes universalism and the other exclusivism. Easter represents the death and resurrection of “Jesus” who died for people that come from all the races; Christmas represents the birth of the Savior for people that come from all the races.
“Pentecost” or “The feast of harvest” or “The feast of weeks” is another problem holy day for them. They changed the names of the first two holidays in order to sever their unique connection with Israel; on Pentecost they changed the whole meaning of this holy day, to do the same thing.
They say that God entered into a new relationship with the corporate body, the gentile (all races) Church, by pouring His Spirit upon the assembled believers. They say that Pentecost marked a shift of emphasis from works to faith and a great change in God’s dealings with man. They say that now the gentiles (all races) who had been “far off” were made partakers of God’s favor, having been “made nigh” by the blood of Christ. They also say that the church (all races) was inaugurated and set in motion. What they have done is they have made a different definition of what people are members of the church of Jesus Christ and gentiles; thus, they are wrong on what happened at Pentecost.
Today we will celebrate and look at Pentecost, the 50th day. Pentecost and Passover are forever connected in the Bible. Passover first happened in Egypt when the Israelites were trapped as slaves; even worse many of their sons were murdered at birth. But God’s unconditional covenant with Abraham and his son, Isaac, and grandson, Jacob, referred to this situation that Israel would be in at the end of four generations. It told of how Abram’s “seed would be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them…but in the fourth generation they shall come hither again….” Genesis 15:13, 17.
On the tenth day of the first month each family picked a male lamb that they considered being unblemished and thereby worthy of being offered as a sacrifice. Four days later, the unblemished lamb was killed and its blood was put around the door of each home; the top and the two sides. The lamb became a meal served with certain bitter herbs. The death angel came at midnight and “passed over” all the Israelite homes that had the blood of the lamb around the front door.
The Egyptians didn’t have any idea what was happening, and they had their first born son of each family die that night by the death angel. They had no Pass--over, as the Israelites had, for the death angel entered their homes. By daylight, the Israelites were on their way leaving Goshen, Egypt to the land promised by GOD.
Leviticus 23:15, 16: “And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths (49 days) shall be complete:
Even unto the morrow AFTER the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat (grain) offering unto the LORD.”
Pentecost was fifty days after the weekly Sabbath of Passover.
Leviticus 23:21: “And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.”
Pentecost was always a Sabbath. But Pentecost always comes after the weekly Sabbath. So what does this mean? Israel had two consecutive Sabbaths—a 48 hour Sabbath every year! This is why in our Roman calendar your birthday, throughout the years, falls eventually on every day of the week—but in Israel’s calendar they didn’t have days of the week; just numbers: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and the Sabbath. Once a year, at Pentecost, they celebrated a two-day Sabbath. After this two-day Sabbath, did they work five days or six days and then have their next Sabbath? Six days. This means that the weekly Sabbath day would change to all the days of the week throughout the years on our calendar—but on the Israelite calendar it was always a Sabbath Day, the seventh day of the week!
To entirely comprehend just what Pentecost commemorates, it is paramount that one carefully analyzes the events that transpired from the original day of Passover in Egypt until the original day of Pentecost at Mount Sinai fifty days later. As the original day of Passover was for ISRAEL ONLY, LIKEWISE EVERY PASSOVER SINCE THEN IS FOR ISRAEL ONLY! As the original day of Pentecost was for ISRAEL ONLY, LIKEWISE EVERY PENTECOST SINCE THEN IS FOR ISRAEL ONLY!
God has scheduled Pentecost so that it must be kept on the same day each year, always falling on the first day of the week, or our Sunday. This is determined by counting fifty days from the weekly Sabbath (seventh day of the week) in the week of Unleavened Bread. To determine what occurred on the first day of Pentecost, we will have to examine Israel’s journey from Egypt and see what happened.
The Bible gives the dates of the three months of the year that Israel left Egypt. These dates can be reconstructed from the dates in Exodus.
Exodus 12:3, 6:
“Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this mouth they shall take them every man a lamb, according to the house of their father, a lamb for an house;
And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.”
The first month, Nisan, on the tenth day the Israelites were to pick a male, unblemished lamb. On the fourteenth day the Passover lamb was killed. On the fifteenth day was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. On the eighteenth day was the waving of the Wave Sheaf. On the twenty-first day was the Last Day of Unleavened Bread.
On the third month, the fourth day Israel arrived at Mt. Sinai; the sixth day the Ten Commandments were spoken by God; the seventh day was the Feast of Pentecost. This is why many people read the law of Almighty God on Pentecost.
Jesus had a very enlivening conversation with the Pharisees in chapter 8 of the book of John in the Bible. Jesus said some very blunt, historical truths about the Pharisees; that God was not their father, but the devil was. At the conclusion of this conversation, the Pharisee Jews “took…up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by” John 8:59.
John 10:31a, “Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him….” The fact is, time and again the jewish authorities were trying to kill him by stoning. “His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone you, and go you [to Jerusalem] again?” (John 11:8).
What if they would have murdered Jesus at these times and not at Passover later? Could they have accomplished this? Would the death of Jesus Christ have saved any of His people if He would have been murdered at this time, instead of Passover? No.
But the dates in Passover till Pentecost were followed exactly to the time that Jesus Christ was crucified, resurrected and when the Holy Spirit was sent as His replacement.
There were two Sabbaths during the week of Jesus’ death (the high Passover Sabbath and the weekly Sabbath). Why do you think that this is so? Because it was the anniversary of the marriage of God with Israel. More on this later.
Let’s follow Mary Magdalene, Mary (mother of James) and Salome through the Scripture and we will see the evidence of two Sabbaths.
Mark 16:1, 2 “And when the Sabbath was past (Thursday was a High Passover Sabbath), Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices that they might come and anoint him.
And very early in the morning the first day of the week, (after the weekly Saturday Sabbath) they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun.”
Luke 23:56 “And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day (weekly Saturday Sabbath) according to the commandment.”
The crucifixion fell on Wednesday, Thursday was a High Passover Sabbath, the three ladies purchased the spices on Friday, and rested on Saturday (a weekly Sabbath) and went to the tomb early on the morning of Sunday to anoint the Lord’s body (the first day of the week), and when they arrived there, they found the tomb empty.
Matthew 27:62 “Now the next day, that followed the day of preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate.”
Remember, in the Hebrew calendar, the day begins at night; not at midnight. There is about a six hour difference. Evening followed by daylight made up each day. The day ended at the end of the daylight.
And you might remember that Jesus gave them the sign of his death and resurrection was the same as how long Jonah was in the belly of a great fish: three days and three nights.
Matthew 27:63-66 “Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.
Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.”
How long was the watch of the soldiers of the jewish Pharisees? One night or three? It was three; from Wednesday night to Friday night; Saturday was the weekly Sabbath. With this watch, the three ladies had no access to the tomb until Sunday morning, preventing the anointing of His body until that time.
A Friday crucifixion would have been impossible because the soldiers of the Pharisees would guarding the tomb for three nights, Friday to Sunday night; besides requiring a Sunday purchase and preparation of the spices, denying Mark 16:2: “And very early in the morning the first day of the week (Sunday), they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun.”
The soldiers left guarding the tomb when it got dark on Saturday night. The three ladies came to His tomb at daybreak on Sunday morning.
Look how Luke 23:55-56 fits in:
“And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulcher, and how his body was laid.
And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day (weekly Saturday Sabbath) according to the commandment.”
It should be increasingly clear that the original week of Passover, and countdown to Pentecost happened in identical month and days of the week as those of Christ’s crucifixion!
In addition, notice what the prophet Malachi said about how many of the Judahites had broken the marriage covenant that they had with God.
Malachi 2:10 “Have we not all one father? Hath not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the [marriage] covenant of our father?”
This is the conditional marriage covenant between God and His people Israel. As said by Jamieson, Fausset & Brown in A Commentary, page 871: “Why, seeing we all have one common origin ‘do we deal treacherously against one another,’ especially in respect to the marriage relation (1 Thessalonians iv. 3-6). ‘His brother’ is a general expression, implying that all are ‘brethren’ and sisters as children of the same Father above, and so including the wives so injured.
‘We deal treacherously’ by putting away our Jewish [Judahite] wives and taking foreign women to wife…; and so we violate ‘the covenant’ made by Jehovah with ‘our fathers’ by which it was ordained that we should be a people separated from the other peoples of the world…To intermarry with the heathen would defeat this purpose of Jehovah, who was the common Father of the Israelites, in a peculiar sense in which He was not Father of the heathen.”
Malachi 2:11 “Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.”
In the book, A Commentary, it is written that “In respect to the Jewish [Judahite] wives who were put away; by ill-treating the Israelites who were set apart as a people holy unto the Lord, ‘The holiness of the Lord’ means ‘the holy seed’. Or, ‘the holiness of the Lord’ means His holy ordinance and covenant, forbidding marriages with the heathen…The Jews [Judahites], as Nehemiah found on his return to Jerusalem had ‘married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab.” And the punishment for this sin?
Malachi 2:12a: “The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this….”
Like today’s climate, Israel has repeated this awful sin. Modern Christendom, the Freemasons and individual groups, such as Answers in Genesis, unashamedly proclaim interracial marriages; profaning Israel’s marriage covenant. They fail to celebrate Israel’s marriage.
At Exodus 19:5 is recorded that Moses was to take God’s words to the twelve tribes of Israel thusly:
“Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my (marriage) covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine….”
Exodus 19:8 is recorded the answer of the people back to God:
“And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.”
This was the vows of the marriage ceremony that both parties said—The LORD (Yahweh) and His people (Israel) became husband and wife; they were married. After their husband divorced Israel, Israel married other gods (false gods). Instead of marrying another wife, Christ died to satisfy His own law; He will remarry them (Israel) again.
We cannot understand “redemption” unless we understand that God married Israel. This wedding took place in Deuteronomy 26:17-18 as when both the people and God took their vows (second witness):
“Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice:
And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments.”
In other words Israel was asked: “Do you take the LORD this day to be your God?” And they answered: “We will.”
The LORD was asked: “Do you take this people Israel to be your ‘peculiar’ people?” God answered and said: “I will.” Therefore, Israel became God’s own possession. With this came a wife-husband relationship between the LORD and the twelve tribes of Israel. We do not have any record where God covenanted or married any other people as He did Israel.
To verify that this was actually a wedding that took place between Him and His people, let’s consider some scripture which prove this. Jeremiah 3:14; 31:32:
“Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you…”
“Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my (marriage) covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:…”
Once we understand this husband-wife relationship between God and Israel, then we can begin to understand what “redemption” is all about. This husband-wife relationship went well at first, but then Israel began to break her marriage vows by incorporating pagan religions and thus adulterating the true tenets of God. Because of this it became necessary for the LORD to divorce Israel for her unfaithfulness.
Now that God has married and divorced Israel where does that leave Israel? Being divorced from the LORD, Israel can no longer call herself by His name; therefore she became known by other names. At this stage of the game, things look hopeless as neither God nor Israel can remarry each other again lawfully. The only way by law that either can remarry each other is if one or the other’s spouse were to die. To verify this, we go to Romans 7:1-3:
“Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to any other man.”
Notice what Pastor Ramsey wrote in his book, A Kingdom Commentary on Romans, on page 129.
“What Paul is trying to say in this analogy is that when God died, the law had no enforcer as it relates to the Old Covenant, therefore, the Israelite was dead to the law (relationship). The New Covenant (relationship) was built on the Lord God’s indwelling the elect, assimilating their spirit and giving them the missing power to obey the law, which has had the stinger removed (death/condemnation).”
Romans 7:4 “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the (marriage) law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead (the resurrected Jesus Christ), that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”
What happened after the death of Jesus Christ—so that He could remarry His wife (Israel)? Again I will give you what Pastor Ramsey’s wrote from the same book, page 130 and 131:
“Paul did not say that the law was dead. He said the lawful relationship of marriage was dead. Just so with Israel and God under the old relationship. A new marriage is taking place. God resurrected is the new husband and Israel reclaimed is the new wife. Perfectly lawful….”
Pastor Ramsey later on continues, “God was married to adulterous Israel. He pled with her and finally put her away in II Kings 17. The law would not allow Him to take her back now because she was polluted, but He promised to buy her back and make her live without a king, prince, sacrifice, ephod and teraphim (idols) for many days (Hosea 3:1-5).
This is what the parable of the ‘hid treasure’ during the kingdom of heaven time, (now) in Matthew 13:44 is about. Jesus found his treasure, Israel, hid in the field (the world) and he sold all that he had and bought the field….”
“Now, the husband of the Old Israel is dead, the New Christ is alive and the children of the Old Israel have been redeemed and are espoused to be married to Christ. The law is satisfied.”
Why do you think Jesus Christ did those three days and nights before His resurrection? Was He asleep, as some ascertain? Or did He go to Hell and let loose the elect who had died and were stuck there until the time of Jesus’ redemptive death.
Conclusion
The original Pentecost deals with an issue that very few Christians know about-- the marriage of God with Israel. After the honeymoon and the good days, Israel went after other gods (committed adultery). After much pleading, God divorced Israel for committing fornication.
What was to happen now? Israel was in a position that she could do nothing to save herself. Her only hope was the unconditional covenant that God had made their fathers many years ago. Do you now understand the words that John the Baptist’s father spoke about Jesus Christ immediately after he regained his power to speak;
He was filled with the Holy Spirit when he said the following words:
“That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;
To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear”; Luke 1:71-74.
Notice how everything coincides:
Picking the unblemished lamb: Israel picks Jesus Christ (Roman Catholics wrongly call this day Palm Sunday) on the tenth day of the first month. As the 250,000 lambs entered the Sheep Gate, the Judahites were singing to the sinless Lamb of God who entered from the East Gate.
For the next four days, the chief priest, elders and Herod inspected “the lamb” to see if He were “unblemished.” They stated that they could “find no fault in Him”. He was “the lamb” without blemish, without sin.
Each lamb was killed for 10 people. The lamb was roasted and eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. The next morning the remains of the lamb were burnt up. The disciples then sang a hymn (Psalm 118) and then went out to the Mount of Olives.
The unblemished lamb dies: Jesus Christ dies for His people; Israel (His former wife) on the fourteenth day of the first month. At 9 AM when the lambs were being sacrificed at the altar, Jesus Christ was being bound on the cross-bar on the tree. At 3 PM when the High Priest slit the throat of the lamb for the nation, he stated, “It is finished.” At 3 PM Jesus Christ said, “It is finished” and He died; He fulfilled the Passover.
When the Egyptians buried their first born sons, God the Father, on the anniversary of the same day, buried His first born son.
The waving of the wave sheaf: The resurrection of Jesus Christ for His elect people (Israel): which means the offering was accepted. This occurred on the eighteenth day of the first month. At the same time that the High Priest waved the first sheaf of the barley harvest, Jesus Christ made His resurrection known; fulfilling the Appointed Day of First Fruits.
Pentecost: On the first Pentecost (dress rehearsal), the law was given and three thousand died. On the first day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was given and three thousand were added to the Lord’s church.
The Pentecost, 50 days from the burial of Jesus, was a type of the Year of Jubilee; every 50 years. The Passover was the barley harvest; the Pentecost was the wheat harvest.
Pentecost was celebrated with two baked leavened loaves. They represented the House of Judah and the House of Israel.
Jesus Christ told his disciples at his ascension after 40 days (10 days to go until Pentecost) to “not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father….”Acts 1:4. How long were they to wait…?
“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come…”Acts 2:1. In the first Pentecost, Israel was married to their God; in the following Pentecost’s, it was the date of their wedding anniversary. It also set the stage for the new Sabbath day of Israel.
In the first Pentecost after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; the disciples were to wait until Pentecost which solidified the remarriage of God with Israel. It began in earnest on Pentecost when 3,000 Israelites were added to the church. Israel once again has its God; there is wonderful news, the divorce has been ended.
Dr. Everett Ramsey in his Kingdom Commentary, The Gospels: The Life & Ministry of Christ, #8, pages 158 and 159 adds an important viewpoint on the importance of Pentecost. “The kingdom of heaven was reference to the rule of our lives by the indwelling Holy Spirit. That Spirit left when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, because of sin.
The Holy Spirit would be given back to the Elect, the race of Adam, the people of God on the day of Pentecost. John the Baptist and all before him never experienced the greatness of the indwelling Spirit.
The Kingdom of heaven began on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down and entered the people of God from 13 different countries.
Until John, the kingdom had been in captivity to the Nations: Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and now Rome. After the Holy Spirit enters into His people that bondage would cease over time….The next step is the return of the king and the renewal of the covenant of marriage to the Lord.”
The Fall Festivals would be the exact days in which the final days would occur; more about those later. But do you see how the spring festivals of the LORD were fulfilled completely and if you change their name, purpose and date it will mean whatever you want it to.
Blessed be the name of our LORD.
