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The Feast of Weeks, called Shavuot in Hebrew and Pentecost in Greek, commemorates the harvest of the second crop of the year, wheat. It’s connected to the Firstfruits of the harvest at Passover time. Yeshua is called the firstfruit of the resurrection of the dead.
Shavuot also is connected to the giving of the Ten Commandments at Sinai and the giving of the Spirit of God after Yeshua’s resurrection.
God loves the world but He shows His love in a different way than we might think. We must not hoard the mysteries of the kingdom of God all to ourselves.
Passages: Ex. 23:14–19; Rom. 12:1–3; Ex. 34:18–26; Isa. 6:1–10; Matt. 13:3-13, 24–30; John 4:1–42; 1st Cor. 15:20–28; Rev. 14:1–5
What is Shavuot all about? Some years ago, we went through a series of studies in the Torah called Journey to the 10, which covered the journey between the Exodus and Sinai. It was our version of counting the omer that year. Recall that the children of Israel had seven Shabbats from crossing the Red Sea to reaching Sinai. At that point, they received the 10 commandments.
They received the 10 commandments from God Himself. The sound of God’s voice terrified the people so completely they didn’t want to hear anymore. It doesn’t sound very pleasant does it? The sound of trumpets, thunder and fire. Like a parent who occasionally has to use fear to correct children, God does the same to us. Yeshua told us that we are to approach God as little children with trust and a touch of fear.
When we celebrate the Feasts of God, we are to bring a gift to God. Does He want money? No. Render under Caesar that which is Caesars. The dollar bills in your pocket were issued by a worldly government, not by God. What God wants from us is detailed in Rom. 12:1–3.
God gave the very first sacrifice recorded in scripture. He sacrifice a lamb for Adam and Eve as a down payment of the true once and for all sacrifice in Yeshua haMoschiach that was to come. These sacrifices recorded in Exodus 23 are a representation of God’s first and final sacrifice and He has strong standards on how those sacrifices are to be done.
Exodus 34 tells us that we are not to plow or harvest on the Sabbath.
There are two harvests, not one. That is why there are two loaves of bread presented on Shavout.
Yeshua’s Parable of the Sower shows us that one seed can scattered onto several different types of soils. The Apostles didn’t understand the parable and Yeshua responded to them and told them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.” He went on to explain the parable further and said, “For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.” Just as the first seeds that fell on road and the birds took them away.
What kind of secrets does God give? How hard is it to hold those secrets? According to this parable, it’s very hard. Whether it’s the “birds of the air” that snatch it away before they hold root or the “thistles” choke them when they are barely grown, these “secrets” from God are not easy to hold on to.
In Yeshua’s explanation to the Apostles, he quotes from Is. 6 when God first calls Isaiah to ministry and warns Isaiah that most of those he speaks to will not comprehend, understand or soak up his words. It was the same with Yeshua in His day.
Yeshua’s words did not soak into all those He spoke to. Only a small number understood Him enough to follow Him to the end.
God’s Holy Spirit came down on the 120 disciples on the Feast of Shavuot. Most Christians understand this as the holiday of Pentecost.
God is not going to spend His time giving His secrets to those who don’t appreciate them. He is not going to give them to those who are burdened with the cares of this world. He is not going to give it to those who have hardened and stubborn hearts.
Sometimes we don’t know what God wants to do, but the Torah is full of instruction about how we are to live our lives.
The next harvest parable Yeshua tells starts at Matt. 13:24, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.” The man doesn’t sow the seeds into a foreign field but his own field. The story goes on to say that an enemy sows bad seeds into the field and both the wheat and the tares together. At the end of the parable, the owner of the field says to get rid of the tares first and then bring in the good wheat into the storehouse.
This pattern is also reflected in the Exodus when God judges and “burns up” the Egyptians and only after that, He redeems the people of Israel from Egypt.
Most Christians believe that they are going to be delivered before the evil times comes but over and over the Scriptures reveal the opposite pattern. It is not the “left behind” that are in dire straights but those who are “taken away” who are in dire straights and will face condemnation and judgement.
Yeshua told the Samaritan woman, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father bin spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
What was Yeshua sent to do? His primary mission was to be God’s sacrifice and to fulfill God’s will, and He did.
God is going to spend His time where the ground is producing 30-,60-,100-fold. Does God spend time with you or do you spend time with God? Be thankful that God spends time with you. When you boast, you should only boast that you know the Lord personally. Don’t boast that you know the Torah or the “kingdom of God.”
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians that Yeshua was the first fruits of those who will be permanently resurrected from the dead. Yeshua Himself raised other people from the dead but they died again, but when the final resurrection happens, it will be a permanent resurrection for the righteous.
When Yehsua comes back, He will come with a sword and there will be blood on his garment. He will take vengeance against His enemies. He is not coming back with a bouquet of flowers.
Our hope is to be among the first fruits of that last resurrection.
God loves the world but He shows His love in a different way than we might think. God loved the world so much He destroyed in a flood and only saved eight people to repopulate it. He loves the world so much, He sacrificed His innocent son to save the guilty. God told Moses that it was good that the people of Israel feared Him.
We have a society that mocks not only its own laws but also God’s law. They don’t respect their own laws and they certainly do not respect God’s law. Their love has “waxed cold” because they break the law. When we see important people break the law, we must not use that fault to have a cold heart against that person but to extend mercy to that person.
We must not hoard the mysteries of the kingdom of God all to ourselves. As Exodus 13 tells field owners to leave some of the harvest on the corners for the widow, orphan and stranger to gather up. The owners of the field are not to keep all the bounty to themselves. They are to leave some of it for others to gather too.
Speaker: Richard Agee. Summary: Tammy.
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