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Pentecost is described in the Bible first as a celebration of the wheat harvest. Then the timing of it coincides with God’s giving of His Torah at Sinai. Then it is connected with the giving of God’s Spirit to the first believers of Messiah Yeshua. How are all of lessons connected?
Food for thought from the recorded discussion
Pentecost commemorates two events:
- The revelation of God’s Torah, encapsulated in the “10 Words” found in Exodus 20.
- The revelation of the Holy Spirit on Yeshua’s disciples after His ascension to Heaven (Acts 1-2).
Let’s look at some passages that talk about Pentecost, which is called Shavuot in Hebrew for “weeks”: Ex. 23:14-19; Ex. 34:18-23; Lev. 23:17-20. We are told that Shavuot is the time of the wheat harvest. We are told that we are to bring in offerings of leavened bread, which is different from all the other bread offerings, which were unleavened.
What some call the “Greek mindset” is actually the “Western mindset.” Ancient Hebrew was not a phonetic language, it was pictographic, similar to Chinese or Egyptian. We think that the West is wiser than the East, but this is not true.
The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is aleph 
, which originally was a pictograph of an ox head, which symbolized strength. Another example is the Hebrew letter lamed ל, which was drawn as a shepherd’s staff, which symbolized the leader. These two letters combined make the word El , which is one of the names for God. The ancient Hebrews saw the world in pictures not in sounds.
What did God create? Pictures. “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
Often called the 10 Commandments, the term literally is “10 Words” or “10 Statements” in Hebrew. So God gave us 10 statements, 10 pictures, of what He thinks. Think of apostle Paul’s statement, “Let this mind be in you that was in Messiah Yeshua” (Phil. 2:5). Don’t try to get a Western mindset or an Eastern mindset, ask for the mindset of the Creator of Heaven and Earth. If you don’t understand something, ask God and He will tell you (James 1:5).
When God confused the languages at Babel (Gen. 11:9), He confused the mindset as well as the language. Neither the Western or Eastern mindsets are unholy. God made them both. Humans can make them evil but God didn’t make them evil.
We read earlier that there are two loaves of leavened bread to be offered on Shavuot. The two loaves, the two lambs are not just food to eat. They are a picture of something. We are a fruit, either of the first, second or final harvest. We are still His fruit — we belong to the Creator of Heaven and Earth.
The people of Israel shortly after the reign of King Solomon were separated into two groups:
- the 10 northern tribes with the tribe of Ephraim as the leading force and often called the Kingdom of Israel.
- the Southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, collectively called the Kingdom of Judah
Both groups rejected the mind of God. The 10 northern tribes did that first, but the southern tribes did so shortly thereafter.
What did God plant at Shavout in the 120 closest disciples of Yeshua? (Acts 2)
Consider Matthew’s parable of the sower and the four soils (Matt. 13:3-9). Yeshua drew a picture of something coming from above and being planted on the earth. What was planted? What is the increase?
Who was the audience of this parable? Why did Yeshua use a parable to explain this point rather than plain words (Matt. 13:11-13; Matt. 13:18-23)?
What kingdom is Yeshua going to establish, as He promised the 11 disciples (Acts 1:6-11)? In the West, we have a different idea of God’s kingdom.
The Bible said that God took the kingdom away from those who opposed Yeshua (Matt. 21:33-46). How could he take it away from them if the Kingdom of God is a totally future event? Yeshua told the disciples in Acts that He is going to restore the Kingdom. He also said it’s not for us to know the “times and seasons” of this restoration. In Greek the words are kronos, from which we get chronometer for a clock, and hoerta, which is the way the Gospels refer to the moedim (Hebrew for “appointed times,” i.e. the “feasts of the LORD”).
Yeshua will literally restore David’s throne as well as spiritually restore it. We know the 12 apostles are the foundation of the Kingdom (Rev. 21:14), the 12 tribes are the entryway into the “heavenly” Jerusalem (Rev. 21:10-13). We will all have to enter in through the 12 apostles.
Isaiah tells us that God’s ways are higher than our ways (Isa. 55:9). Yeshua will restore the Kingdom of God on earth, as well as the earth itself (Isa. 65:17-25; Isa. 66:15-24; 2nd Pe. 3:11-18; Rev. 21:1-8).
Take a look at passages from the Apostolic Writings about firstfruits: Rom. 8:21-23; Rom. 8:28; Rom. 16:5; James 1:18; 1st Cor. 15: 20-23.
In what season did Yeshua’s death occur? What people are represented by the barley harvest?
If you are alive when Yeshua comes, you will not be a firstfruits of the resurrection. However, you be changed (1st Cor. 15:51-57; 1st Thess. 4:13-18).
The “time of Jacob’s trouble” will be a very difficult time (Jer. 30:1-9). However, what will happen when Messiah returns and sets His feet on the Mount of Olives, which now is covered with graves of the patriarchs (Zechariah 14; Revelation 14)?
Only God can plant his Word inside man. God started the planting at Shavuot — in our minds and in our hearts.
Speaker: Richard Agee.