We are ready to begin our study portion on the most significant event in Scripture. In the next three weeks or so we are going to come upon a very, very important festival known as Shavuot.

Shavuot is also called by other names, but we are going to call it “Shavuot.” That is the Hebrew name. And the word “shav” is related to the word “seven,” which means “week,” and is actually related to the word “Shabbat” as well.

But the word “shav” is pluralized by adding the “ot” ending. Whenever you see “ot” at the end of a Hebrew word, no, it does not mean “Old Testament.” That means “feminine plural.” So it basically means “weeks.”

And so, we are going to go through some scriptures and see what the scriptures have to say about this very, very important Feast. And, actually, every Feast that Yahweh gives us is important, and this is one of them.

And so, we are going to talk about the importance of Shavuot, how significant it is to us as believers in Messiah. And as I often do as I study Yahweh’s Word– on this, and so many other things– I just stand in awe of how amazing Yahweh’s Word really is. And so, I am going to share some of these things with you.

If you are brand new to the Feasts, brand new to Shavuot and Pentecost, I am also going to show you how to come across the day and how to define that day in your scriptures. If you have already kept Passover, it will be a little easier on you.

But we are going to go from the basics, and we are also going to dig deep, deep into the Word of Yahweh and find some very significant things that happened in Scripture around this time of Pentecost.

So let’s get started with some definitions here. “Shavuot” is how you say this festival in the Hebrew. “Pentecost” comes from Greek. This “pente” means “fifty.” And then, “Feast of Weeks” is how we would translate “Shavuot” into English. And so, those are the definitions.

And then, “Pentekonta,” basically, in the Greek, means “Fifty,” and “Pentekostay” would be “Fifty” in the feminine. And so, thus, we have our English transliteration of “Pentekostay” as “Pentecost.” And so, that is why we have these different names for the festival.

So to properly understand this, we have to have a little bit of understanding of how Passover came about. About six weeks, or so, ago… not six weeks ago, but not too many weeks ago… we had the feast of Passover, and it was a wonderful time… close to a month ago, or so.

And we had a good time in the Passover and in going through the studies and different things that Yahweh has to share with us on the Passover feast. And so, we are going to go and examine and kind of continue on that line and draw this thing out to Shavuot.

By the way, I want to mention, for Hebrew, a lot of people when you see this “ot” ending, you might have a tendency to say “awt”– “Sha-VOO-awt,” or something similar to that. But the “ot,” if it is a Hebrew word, has an “o” sound to it, a long “o” sound.

“Shavua” means “week.” “Shavuot” means “weeks.” Pronounced: “Sha-voo-OAT.”

So keep that in mind whenever you see these transliterations from Hebrew into English. The “ot” ending is pronounced “oat.” And so, that is the feminine plural ending.

In the same way, “im” (“i”, “m”), is not pronounced “im,” but “eem.” It is the masculine plural ending.

So let’s start here on the text in Deuteronomy chapter 16, verse 8. It says:

Deuteronomy 16:8 – Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there [shall be] a sacred assembly to YAHWEH your Elohim. You shall do no work [on it].

9 – You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from [the time] you begin [to put] the sickle to the grain.

“From the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain.” What is He talking about?

Well, we see here, during this Feast of Unleavened Bread, we have a special way of counting from this time that they “put the sickle to the grain.” He is talking about the barley harvest that happened around the time of Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.

And they would harvest this barley with a sickle. And here is a picture of some barley. And they would take a sickle to this barley.

And here is an ancient engraving of an Egyptian putting a sickle to the barley (240 B.C., approximately). That is how they would harvest their barley with a sickle.

And so, the instrument they would use– and some people still use those today– and they had until there were the mechanical harvesters, and so on, that we have in use.

But they would cut the barley down and extract the seeds out of the barley and they would eat the seeds– dry out the seeds, cook them, roast them, whatever they needed to do to make bread from them, grind them.

And so, the Feasts have significance in that they were connected to harvests, and that was the importance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was the time of the barley harvest, but they were not allowed to eat that barley harvest until the priest had waved that sheaf before Yahweh.

We may not be so connected or feel like we are connected to agriculture the way society used to be a long time ago. People kind of grew their own food. We mostly, if we go to Wal-Mart, see a pretty picture, maybe of a farm or something on there. But that is about the closest we get to a farm for most of us.

Maybe some of us will have a garden in their backyard, but very few people grow barley in their backyard. But, you know, we lose something in that. I really think we lose something.

We don’t realize the work that goes into the food and the animals that died as a result of the food that we are eating, and so on, and just, you know, go out and grab a hamburger, or whatever, and not give it a second thought. But it is a little different when you do it yourself. It really is.

So, anyway, getting back here to Deuteronomy chapter 16, verses 8 and 9. It says:

Deuteronomy 16:8 – Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there [shall be] a sacred assembly to YAHWEH your Elohim. You shall do no work [on it].

9 – You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from [the time] you begin [to put] the sickle to the grain.

Deuteronomy 16:10 – Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to YAHWEH your Elohim with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as YAHWEH your Elohim blesses you.

Shavuot.

Deuteronomy 16:11 – You shall rejoice before YAHWEH your Elohim, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who [is] within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who [are] among you, at the place where YAHWEH your Elohim chooses to make His name abide.

And so, this was, as we know, Yerushalayim.

And so, this is a rejoicing Feast– “You shall rejoice.” Much like the Feast of Tabernacles is a rejoicing Feast.

And we learned that this place is Yerushalayim. We talked here a couple of weeks ago about Yerushalayim, or Jerusalem, being the place where He chose to make His name abide. If you missed that study, take a look at it. Amazing stuff.

And so, anyway, Leviticus chapter 23, verse 6. It says:

Leviticus 23:6 – `And on the fifteenth day of the same month [is] the Feast of Unleavened Bread to YAHWEH; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.

7 – `On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.

8 – `But you shall offer an offering made by fire to YAHWEH for seven days. The seventh day [shall be] a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work [on it].’

This is referring to the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Leviticus 23:9 – And YAHWEH spoke to Moses, saying,

10 – Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: `When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.

This was His instruction to Israel that when they came into the land immediately they were to take a sheaf to the priest.

Leviticus 23:11 – `He shall wave the sheaf before YAHWEH, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.

And that was a command. And they would actually take this sheaf, and they would wave it before Yahweh. They would take the sheaf of barley.

“Now when you come into the land,” I want you to notice, if you back up here to Deuteronomy 16… “Count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain.” This is during this Unleavened Bread Feast you begin your count.

And so, we fast forward here, and we see where it says (Leviticus 23:11), “On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.” And so, when is the time that you would wave this sheaf before Yahweh? It would be the day after the Sabbath that occurs during Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.

But notice here it says “when you come into the land” you are going to reap its harvest and you are going to bring that sheaf in. And so, this is what they did.

In Joshua chapter 5 and verse 10, it says:

Joshua 5:10 – Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho.

This should be “between the evenings.”

Joshua 5:11 – And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain, on the very same day.

So on the day after the Passover they ate the produce of the land. That tells me that on that day after the Passover, which had to be a day after the Sabbath, they waved the sheaf before Yahweh. And they ate unleavened bread and parched grain, on that very same day.

Joshua 5:12 – Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year.

And so, if we are looking here on a calendar, in our case, we had Passover here on the 4th (of the 4th Month), and the day after the Passover would be the 5th, right here.

So when we are looking on our calendar, as far as when we put the day of firstfruits, when they waved the sheaf offering, we can include Passover Day as being this frame of time from which we can consider a Sabbath to have occurred. I hope you follow me on that.

So on the Sabbath that occurs during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. In this case, the Sabbath and the day of Passover fell on the same time. And so, the day after the Sabbath… which takes us right here to the 5th of what is called April.

We can count this as a day of firstfruits just as they did here. It was the fourteenth day of the month, and they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover. You cannot eat the produce of the land on the day after the Passover unless you have first waved that sheaf before Yahweh. And so, that is why we do it at that time.

Now I want to say, “Praise Yahweh!” for brother Chad Hammond who showed that particular point to me this year, this particular verse, or I might have been keeping it on the wrong time.

But looking at this verse, a lot of people are going to go ahead and count it and consider the day of Pentecost to be a week later than what I keep it. And the reason why is because maybe they haven’t noticed this element here.

Most people would say between the first day of the Feast, which is on April 5th, and the last day of the Feast, which is on April 11th, the Sabbath that occurs during that. And then they would actually keep the day of firstfruits here on the 12th.

But what I see here in Joshua 5 is that on the day after the Passover they were able to eat this parched grain. And so, why can’t I do it? And they can’t do that until they have done what Yahweh said to do here (Leviticus 23:10): Come into the land, reap its harvest, and bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.

So, to me, I think we are keeping it at the right time. Please pay attention to this, for those who might be keeping it a week later than I am.

So moving on here, this is the day of firstfruits on what is called April the 5th. And He says to count seven weeks from that point. So there is our day of firstfruits, on the 5th of what is called April. He says to count seven weeks for ourselves back in Deuteronomy 16.

And so, He says in Leviticus 23:12:

Leviticus 23:12 – `And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to YAHWEH.

13 – `Its grain offering [shall be] two-tenths [of an ephah] of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to YAHWEH, for a sweet aroma; and its drink offering [shall be] of wine, one-fourth of a hin.

So this is called the day of firstfruits. This is the exact same day that Yahushua rose from the dead, on the day of firstfruits. And He was the firstfruits of those who fell asleep. But more on that later.

Moving along here, we have our first week right here (the 5th – the 11th), and our first Sabbath is right here (the 11th). And so, I have counted this as being the very first Sabbath, out of the seven, being on what is called April the 11th.

And they call this the “counting of the omer” when you are counting the weeks and you are counting the days. It is going to be seven weeks, a total of forty-nine days, and then one more day giving us fifty. That is why they call it “Pentecost.”

So we are going to count the weeks here from the timing of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the day of firstfruits.

We are on the 7th day here on the 11th of what is called April. Moving along here… second week (the 18th)… third week (the 25th)… fourth week (the 2nd day of the 5th month), and that is where we are at right now.

We are on the fourth week, or twenty-eighth day of the counting of the omer. That is where we are at right now… fifth week (the 9th)… sixth week (the 16th)… seventh week (the 23rd). So coming up in three weeks we will be one day away from the day of Pentecost.

And He says in Leviticus 23:15-16:

Leviticus 23:15 – `And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed.

And that was this day right here (the 5th day of the 4th month): “the day after the Sabbath.”

Leviticus 23:16 – `Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to YAHWEH.

So we have counted fifty days. Here are forty-nine of the days (the 5th day of the 4th month – the 23rd day of the 5th month). And here is the fiftieth day, called May 24th on our calendar: Shavuot!

And so, we are going to keep this day of Shavuot on what is called May the 24th. And we have arrived at that by looking at Scripture and by counting days as He told us to do: “Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath.”

So from here (the 5th day of the 4th month) to here (the 24th day of the 5th month) we have counted fifty days… seven (the 11th day of the 4th month)… fourteen (the 18th)… twenty-one (the 25th)… twenty-eight (the 2nd day of the 5th month)… thirty-five (the 9th)… forty-two (the 16th)… forty-nine (the 23rd)… and fifty (the 24th).

And that is how we count the omer. You probably have heard that term, “counting of the omer.”

So at this time (Leviticus 23:17), what is actually done is a celebration, not of the barley harvest, but of the wheat harvest. And He says:

Leviticus 23:17 – `You shall bring from your dwellings two wave [loaves] of two-tenths [of an ephah]. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. [They are] the firstfruits to YAHWEH.

18 – `And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be [as] a burnt offering to YAHWEH, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to YAHWEH.

So we were supposed to bring bread to the priest, if we were living at that time, because the wheat harvest would be at that time.

Fifty days after the barley harvest, the wheat would ripen. Both are planted in the winter time. This is called the winter wheat, and they actually ripen by the time of spring. Both barley and wheat are planted in the fall and then they ripen in the spring. So this is giving thanks for the wheat harvest.

If you have eaten any bread this past year, then this is the time to give thanks for the wheat harvest that Yahweh provided. And the two loaves we see here is “two-tenths of an ephah.” That is about one-and-three-quarters gallon worth of wheat. And these are the wheat offerings.

So the wheat is brought to the priest. And so, that is the commanded offerings that the priest would offer before Yahweh.

Leviticus 23:19 – `Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats as a sin offering, and two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a peace offering.

20 – `The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits [as] a wave offering before YAHWEH, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to YAHWEH for the priest.

And so, this offering, in order for it to be accepted, had to be done by a priest in the holy place with seven lambs of the first year, a young bull, and two rams for a burnt offering, and a kid of the goats as a sin offering, and two male lambs for the sacrifice of the peace offerings.

Now there are some brothers today, they bake some bread, and it will be from the grocery store, this wheat they buy. And then they bring it and they bake this bread and they want to have a wave offering. If you want to do that, it is up to you. But we have to be careful that we don’t view this as the actual wave offering.

Number one, it had to be from this year’s wheat harvest– not last year’s, not the year before– and it had to be done by a priest. And so, it has to be done properly if you are going to think it actually fits the bill. And most people, hopefully, do not look at it that way.

It is for that reason I’m just not real comfortable about taking bread and waving it (like this) or doing anything with it because I feel like I am subverting the position of a Levitical priest. We are priests after the order of Melchizedek. In this case, we are actually the offering, but we will get to that in a minute.

But I don’t want to give the impression that I am following Scripture here when actually that is not what it says to do. I am not a priest, in terms of a Levite priest. They are responsible for managing the earthly tabernacle. We are responsible for managing our heavenly tabernacle, the one that is in heaven, the one we are a part of.

Now if you grow wheat and you want to take some of that wheat, bake some bread and give it to the poor, or something, maybe. That would be great. Maybe that would be all right.

But we are in exile right now. Yahushua is allowing that. But we can keep these Feasts in other ways He does tell us to do them.

And so, as one who wants to do all that Yahweh calls us to do, to the best of our understanding, the best of what we are able to here in exile, we want to do them– because there are some really awesome things about Pentecost. Just amazing!

You know, we have this day of Thanksgiving in the fall. Most people keep Thanksgiving, and all that. In the agrarian lifestyle more people realized, “Well, if it wasn’t for the rain He sent that one day, this may have never happened.” They had more of a connection to understanding Yahweh’s provision.

And so, they wanted to have this day called “Thanksgiving.”

This is similar. I mean, you are taking time to stop and give thanks to Yahweh for what He provided. Wheat is a major part of most people’s diet, even today, as it was back then.

And we may not think of that. You go to the store and you buy that package of bread, and you may not be thinking that a lot of the times, the work that went into producing it and the provision that Yahweh allowed in causing the wheat to come up from the ground. And we partake of that bread.

Because, really, there is this disconnect between us and the ground for a lot of us, especially if you live in the city. And just because it is agrarian or agricultural, it doesn’t mean it is an Old Testament time period. All you have to go back to is a hundred years and a lot of people were growing their own foods.

So it is not an Old Testament thing. It really isn’t. It is just the way it always was until farm machinery and other things took the place of man doing the labor.

But with these things, we have to be careful that we are not disconnecting ourselves from giving thanks to Yahweh.

And that is the most important thing that I am concerned about, that with this withdrawing and everybody kind of working in a corporate world or office environment, there is a tendency to forget the provision of Yahweh and what He did to make that possible. So we can’t forget that.

Leviticus 23:21 says:

Leviticus 23:21 – `And you shall proclaim on the same day [that] it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work [on it. It shall be] a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

So this is a day of rest, and I think we are still in that forever part, aren’t we? “All your dwellings throughout your generations.” We are still here!

So He says have a “holy convocation.” That means to rest, and it has to do with “miqra qodesh” in Hebrew. A “holy convocation” or a “miqra qodesh” in Hebrew has to do with a “calling out.” Basically, a reading aloud of the Scriptures.

He says do not do any “customary work.” That is a little different than a regular Sabbath. Whereas, servile work/customary work has to do with business and occupation. Take a break from your job. Come together with Yahweh’s people. Give thanks for what He has done for you.

And, yes, you can cook on this day since cooking does not involve occupational work. And we see that this similar servile work/customary work was used here in Exodus 12:16. He says:

Exodus 12:16 – `On the first day [there shall be] a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but [that] which everyone must eat — that only may be prepared by you.

So that was an exception given on a day in which it was also a day of rest of servile work/customary work.

And so, I think we can take that and apply that to the rest of the Feast Days as well, that cooking does not qualify as the kind of work that Yahweh is forbidding on these Feast Days since, by precedent, the first Feast Day of the year that was the case.

And so, on the Feast Day Sabbaths, we can prepare our meals, and, you know, the normal stuff that we would do on a Sabbath– except we would just go ahead and cook our meals. It is a Feast Day after all!

So another thing we should look at here in Deuteronomy 16, verse 9, if you look at it closely here, it says to bring this “tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as Yahweh your Elohim blesses you.”

Deuteronomy 16:9 – You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from [the time] you begin [to put] the sickle to the grain.

10 – Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to YAHWEH your Elohim with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as YAHWEH your Elohim blesses you.

Now we cannot give that tribute of a freewill offering, necessarily, going to a temple. But we can, again, give to the poor and needy, some kind of ministry, or some kind of thing to give to the poor or to Yahweh in some fashion. So if you want to help the poor or something in ministry, or whatever, I think it is good practice to give of yourself.

In fact, it says in Deuteronomy 16:16:

Deuteronomy 16:16 – Three times a year all your males shall appear before YAHWEH your Elohim in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before YAHWEH empty-handed.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread was three weeks ago, or so.

So in the spirit of not wanting to be empty-handed before Yahweh, we should give of what we are able to in some way, shape or form to our Father in heaven.

We might not have a priest waving bread for us. Actually, I don’t know that there was like everybody bringing loaves of bread, but there were two official loaves of bread from the tithe that had come in. They would bake that bread from the tithe of that year’s wheat harvest. And that would be the first bread that was baked.

I don’t know that everybody had to bring loaves of bread. But we can give thanks for the wheat harvest. We definitely can do that.

And there is also a spiritual side of it. You know, we are created from the dust of the land, right? And we are created in the image of Elohim.

My daughter asked me yesterday morning, “Dad, it says here that one of the ingredients in this box is iron. Are we allowed to eat iron?”

That is because the minerals, the things from the ground, we need them in order to survive, because we were created from dirt, from the dust of the land.

And so, the wheat grows up out of the dust of the land. We partake of the wheat. That is Yahweh planting life in the earth, the life feeding off the nutrients in the soil. It is put into the seeds for the next plant to grow.

We are partaking of those seeds when we eat wheat. And so, we are also partaking of the ground in that sense when we partake of the wheat.

And just as that wheat needs nutrients for it to survive, we need nutrients for us to survive. Either through a plant or through an animal that partakes of grass– and then in turn it is in the animal, and then in turn, in us– we are taking nutrients from the soil to keep us alive.

“Now man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh.” Hopefully, you remember that scripture in Matthew 4:4 and Deuteronomy.

Now what happened? What were some of the events that took place during this time of Pentecost?

Pentecost occurs during the third month of Yahweh’s calendar. And, it just so happens, Exodus chapter 19, verse 1:

Exodus 19:1 – In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came [to] the Wilderness of Sinai.

It was at this time (the third month, a few days after this) that Yahweh thundered His commandments from Sinai.

And so, remember what I said about “man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of Yahweh’s mouth”? And here are the words coming from Yahweh’s mouth on this day, or close to this day. When they would give thanks for the food from the ground, Yahweh would give His food from heaven– His Word.

So from Scripture we know there is a connection here. Yahweh gives Israel His bread, His Torah, from heaven. He comes down the mountain, says, “This is the way you need to live. This is the way of life. This is the way of love. This is the way of truth.” And we know Yahushua the Messiah obeyed every single one of these words perfectly.

And there are scriptures, which I could go through all these, if you want to, but there are scriptures that we know refer to Yahushua as the Word– the Word that was made flesh and dwelled among us. He is the living Word made flesh because we can look at Him and His life and the way He conducted Himself and it is like seeing the Word lived out.

It is just like witnessing the Word of Yahweh in action. And so, He told the people, in John 6:51:

John 6:51 – I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.

And so, when we partook of the Messiah (“eats of this bread”), partaking of the Word (living bread)– that is why the Word is written in our hearts. And it was around the time of Pentecost that the Word was given.

And so, the Word became flesh and dwelled among us. We partook of that unleavened Word three weeks ago for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And He is the Living Bread. We partook of Him personally in partaking of unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine.

So on the day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2, you may remember), the Spirit of Yahweh came down from heaven and manifested itself in the lives of the apostles.

That was evidence that the Word of Yahweh, Yahushua the Messiah, had come down from heaven and had dwelled in the lives of the apostles. And therefore, the promise of the New Covenant came to realization.

Jeremiah 31:31 – Behold, the days are coming, says YAHWEH, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah —

32 – not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them , says YAHWEH.

Jeremiah 31:33 – But this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says YAHWEH: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people.

34 – No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, `Know YAHWEH,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says YAHWEH. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.

And on the day of Pentecost, when the high priest was giving thanks for the bread that came from the earth, the apostles were sitting there, and the Bread came down from heaven and was placed in their minds and in their hearts, manifesting itself in a powerful, powerful way.

And this Law that is supposed to be in our minds and in our heart is the Law given to Israel. The New Covenant is with the house of Israel. And in Jeremiah, what was He talking about when He said “My law”? There was no other Law but the Torah.

And so, that is what came down and entered the apostles in spiritual form when the Word of Yahweh, Yahushua the Messiah– who is the Living Torah, who is the Living Word of Yahweh, the Living Law, the Living Commandments– came and dwelt in their hearts, written in their hearts, so they could walk it out.

And that indwelling is what enables Yahushua Ha Mashiach in us to have our sins forgiven. So it is no longer we who live. It is Messiah who lives in us. It all connects together in an amazing, awesome, tremendous, miraculous way.

And so, since the Word of Yahweh is written in our hearts, how should we live? We should walk as Yahushua walked.

How did He live? He kept the Torah. We keep the Torah as He did. Only by His power in us can we do it, but we do it.

And so, this is all significant– Passover represents partaking of Messiah, the coming in; the Spirit coming down on the day of Pentecost to empower us, to bring us cleansing, to forgive our sins, to enable us to keep the word of Yahweh.

And all of this is significant, and we are going to look into that more later, but let’s look here at 1 Samuel, chapter 12. Another significant event that happened around the time of Pentecost.

1Samuel 12:13 – Now therefore, here is the king whom you have chosen [and] whom you have desired. And take note, YAHWEH has set a king over you.

14 – If you fear YAHWEH and serve Him and obey His voice, and do not rebel against the commandment of YAHWEH, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following YAHWEH your Elohim.

Remember this story about the king being chosen? The people wanted a king. He didn’t want to do it, but he gave them a king, what they asked for. He gave them a responsibility, though– do not rebel against the commandment, fear Yahweh, serve Him. And if you do, you and the king both will follow Yahweh your Elohim.

1Samuel 12:15 – However, if you do not obey the voice of YAHWEH, but rebel against the commandment of YAHWEH, then the hand of YAHWEH will be against you, as [it was] against your fathers.

16 – Now therefore, stand and see this great thing which YAHWEH will do before your eyes:

1Samuel 12:17 – [Is] today not the wheat harvest? I will call to YAHWEH, and He will send thunder and rain, that you may perceive and see that your wickedness [is] great, which you have done in the sight of YAHWEH, in asking a king for yourselves.

This is Pentecost!

1Samuel 12:18 – So Samuel called to YAHWEH, and YAHWEH sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared YAHWEH and Samuel.

Very interesting. Just like at Sinai. He thundered down the commandments, which caused the people to fear when they heard the quaking and the fire. And this time, though, they asked for a king. And He put the fear of Yahweh in them again, the same way He did at Sinai.

And this time, when they asked for a king, it was around the time of the wheat harvest. The very same time of year, around Pentecost. And so, this was an interesting event.

A king was chosen. The Torah was given. Significant events around Pentecost.

Another event…

1Samuel 6:11 – And they set the ark of YAHWEH on the cart, and the chest with the gold rats and the images of their tumors.

12 – Then the cows headed straight for the road to Beth Shemesh, [and] went along the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right hand or the left. And the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth Shemesh.

Remember the Philistines that captured the ark and they were sending the ark back to Israel because of all the plagues they were having? They hooked up these two milk cows that they had separated from the calves, and hooked up these milk cows to the cart with the ark of Yahweh on it.

Now, if you don’t know anything about farming, milk cows are not going to leave their babies behind. They’re just not. And so, these milk cows literally leave their offspring and take the ark of Yahweh. And they knew that was a miracle. That couldn’t happen except miraculously.

And so, the cows… where did they go? They headed straight for the road to Beth Shemesh. But what happened here after this, the ark, basically, had no permanent home. It kind of hung out for a while there at the house of Joshua. Then it went to Eleazar for about twenty years.

And this ark is representing the presence of Yahweh. The ark is representing Yahweh’s presence in the throne room, right? And so, there are two “keruvim,” or “cherubim,” facing each other with the wings, and the ark of Yahweh is representing Yahweh’s presence between the cherubim. And so, the presence of Yahweh had no home.

It went to the Philistines. It went to Joshua. It went to Eleazar. And, finally, David, as we shared a couple of weeks ago, brought it to Jerusalem.

And what happened after that was, David had made a terrible mistake in choosing to number the children of Israel, and that is when the two major mistakes David had made.

He took a census, but this particular mistake David had made was there because Yahweh was angry with the people to begin with for what they had done– He had said, “When you turn away from the commandments, both you and the king will not follow Yahweh.”

So that is kind of what happened that opened the door for Satan to put that in David’s heart to number the people so that Yahweh would judge the people. I don’t have a scripture up right now, but we have been through this.

Now David, of course, was the one who did the wrong thing. It says Satan rose up against David and tempted David, and David had the people numbered. But Yahweh allowed this because He was angry with the people.

He allowed Satan to come in, took protection off of David, allowed the enemy to come in and tempt him to find out, “Oh, how many warriors do you have, David?” Pride.

And David had made this mistake, and Yahweh gave him three choices. He says, “You can have famine, you can be defeated by your enemies of war, or I can send a plague.” And David said, “Well, let me not be in the hands of man. Let me be in the hands of Yahweh because He is gracious. He is merciful.”

I love David’s attitude.

And so, the plague is coming through the land and is killing thousands and thousands of men. Yahweh is wreaking havoc. And so, David starts to feel bad about this.

1Chronicles 21:17 – And David said to Elohim, Was it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? I am the one who has sinned and done evil indeed; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, O YAHWEH my Elohim, be against me and my father’s house, but not against Your people that they should be plagued.

So David took responsibility, but we read earlier that when the people are wicked, the king will also be. And so, what happened when the people were wicked here, David did the sin with the counting of the people. And it worked kind of hand-in-hand.

But David says, “Let this be against me and against my father’s house, but not against Your people that they should be plagued.” That is an interesting comment. A very interesting comment. And I shared a couple of weeks ago, and I will share here in a minute, why that is an interesting comment.

Because 1 Chronicles 21:18, it says:

1Chronicles 21:18 – Therefore, the angel of YAHWEH commanded Gad to say to David that David should go and erect an altar to YAHWEH on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

And, as we shared a couple of weeks ago, this was on Mount Moriah, where Abraham was willing to offer his son Isaac.

1Chronicles 21:19 – So David went up at the word of Gad, which he had spoken in the name of YAHWEH.

20 – Now Ornan turned and saw the angel; and his four sons [who were] with him hid themselves, but Ornan continued threshing wheat.

I don’t know if he realized where he was, or what, but this is a commandment from the angel, to “go and do this.” And so, David goes up there, and here he is threshing wheat.

What time of year is this when you are threshing wheat? Pentecost. Right? It is the time of the wheat harvest.

This is the time of the wheat harvest. Pentecost. This is going on during the time of Pentecost. And so, around the same time of Pentecost, or Shavuot, a significant thing just happened. That is, the angel of Yahweh told David to erect an altar on Mount Moriah, or “the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.”

Therefore, the angel of Yahweh commanded Gad to say to David, “Erect this altar.”

“So David went up at the word of Gad, which he spoke in the name of Yahweh.”

He did what he was told.

“Now Ornan turned and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves, but Ornan continued threshing wheat.”

1Chronicles 21:21 – Then David came to Ornan, and Ornan looked and saw David. And he went out from the threshing floor, and bowed before David with [his] face to the ground.

He is a humble man, a Jebusite man.

1Chronicles 21:22 – Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of [this] threshing floor, that I may build an altar on it to YAHWEH. You shall grant it to me at the full price, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people.

23 – And Ornan said to David, Take [it] to yourself, and let my lord the king do [what is] good in his eyes. Look, I [also] give [you] the oxen for burnt offerings, the threshing implements for wood, and the wheat for the grain offering; I give [it] all.

He wouldn’t do it. He would not do it.

1Chronicles 21:24 – Then King David said to Ornan, No, but I will surely buy [it] for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for YAHWEH, nor offer burnt offerings with [that which] costs [me] nothing.

Because a sacrifice is not a sacrifice unless it costs you something.

And so, this place, this particular location, was a significant location where Yahweh said to Abraham, “Take your son Isaac, go to the land of Moriah, offer Isaac there as a burnt offering,” the place where Isaac was tied up to an altar, the place where the lamb was caught in the thicket of thorns, the place where Ornan the Jebusite had lived.

That is the place where the angel of Yahweh commanded the altar to be erected. Stop the plague here. Stop the plague here. Yahushua Ha Mashiach.

This is the time of Pentecost. This also occurred at Pentecost. So what I am seeing here, as it appears to me, is Yahweh gave His Word at Pentecost, His commandments at the time of Pentecost, He chose Jerusalem at the time of Pentecost, and He also chose Israel and allowed Israel to have a king at the time of Pentecost.

So at this place where He chose this dwelling place of the presence of Yahweh, Yahweh’s Spirit stopped. And at the time of Pentecost, He chose Jerusalem.

2Chronicles 6:2 – I have surely built You an exalted house, And a place for You to dwell in forever.

3 – Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing.

4 – And he said: Blessed [be] YAHWEH Elohim of Israel, who has fulfilled with His hands [what] He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying,

2Chronicles 6:5 – `Since the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel [in which] to build a house, that My name might be there, nor did I choose any man to be a ruler over My people Israel.

6 – `Yet I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name may be there; and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’

7 – Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of YAHWEH Elohim of Israel.

2Chronicles 6:8 – But YAHWEH said to my father David, `Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well in that it was in your heart.

9 – `Nevertheless you shall not build the temple, but your son who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for My name.’

And so, these words were spoken to David. Solomon was recalling these words as he dedicates the temple of Yahweh. But there is a dual meaning here, because Messiah is that chosen King who would build the temple. Messiah is the son of David who would build the temple of Yahweh, and He was able to do that because He was offered there at this place.

So all these events tie in together as significant things that happened around this time of Pentecost. And so, that is also tying in when Yahweh’s Spirit dwells in us.

John 6:63 – It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and [they] are life.

We have been looking at this scripture here lately, also– the significance of that. The words that Yahushua spoke are spirit, and they are life.

The word “spirit” in the Hebrew language has to do with breath. And so, Yahweh breathes in us the breath of life when we read His Word. Think about that!

When you read the holy Scriptures, He is breathing in you His Spirit, the breath of live. And so, when we receive Yahushua the Messiah, we are receiving His living Word, from that time the Spirit was given– Shavuot (Pentecost).

The Word was given at Sinai… Shavuot. A king was provided… Shavuot. The dwelling place of Jerusalem was chosen… Shavuot. The dwelling place was chosen… we are Jerusalem… Shavuot. And that is the promise of the New Covenant fulfilled in Shavuot.

And so, the Old Covenant being instituted at the day of Pentecost. Three thousand souls were killed that day because they were worshiping the golden calf. He had three thousand people killed, and at the same time period, three thousand souls were saved.

Have you ever noticed that? Acts chapter 2, three thousand souls were saved that day. And so, the Spirit gives life. The letter kills. The Spirit gives life. With the Messiah Yahushua, the Word can dwell in us by His Spirit, because He says, “I will forgive them of their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

And so, now we can look at the Word and not find it to be something that kills us, but something that empowers us, enlightens us and gives us life by His Spirit.

And so, when Yahweh chose Jerusalem to be His dwelling place as a representation for us to be the dwelling place for Yahweh, Yahweh is now building a temple on the same Jerusalem that we are. And He is using that Son that He predicted to build that temple.

Ephesians 2:19 – Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of Elohim,

20 – having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Yahushua Messiah Himself being the chief [cornerstone],

21 – in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in Yahweh,

Ephesians 2:22 – in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of Elohim in the Spirit.

The New Jerusalem. See, you used to be a Gentile. You used to be a stranger and a foreigner, but now you are fellow citizens. You are fellow citizens with Israel. It is no longer you who live. It is Yahushua who lives in you.

You cannot build your foundation on Torah. The Torah will only condemn you. And so, you have to build your foundation on Yahushua through the prophets and the apostles.

The prophets are the prediction of the Messiah. The apostles are the testimony of Him when He came. No other foundation can anyone lay but Yahushua the Messiah. We know that, don’t we?

And so, through the Messiah we are being built together a dwelling place of Yahweh, the temple, the son of David’s building, the place chosen– at Shavuot, at Pentecost. And so, now, let’s go out and expand that dwelling place, build the walls of Jerusalem and call other people in to build the walls.

And that is what they did at Pentecost. They built the walls of the New Yerushalayim as they proclaimed Messiah to the people, repentance and baptism in His name.

And so, I just look at this time of the wheat harvest, and I say, “Wow!” This is heavy stuff. This is amazing stuff– this Feast of Weeks and the giving of the Spirit and the giving of the Torah and the giving of a King and the giving of a dwelling place– all tying in together.

And I love how His Word comes together… and Jerusalem, as we shared two weeks ago… Genesis to Revelation. You say that Bible is written by forty different authors over a period of fifteen-hundred years, living on three different continents, yet all coming together like that, you just look at that, and go, “Wow!”

One cohesive Word, one end to the other. I love the continuing running threads from Genesis to Revelation. And to me, that is one reason I believe so strongly in the inspiration of His Word. But I am not finished yet.

Look at Matthew 3, verse 5. It says:

Matthew 3:5 – Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him

6 – and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

This is John the Baptist, by the way.

Matthew 3:7 – But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Matthew 3:8 – Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance,

9 – and do not think to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as [our] father.’ For I say to you that Elohim is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

10 – And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Why was He able to raise up children of Abraham from stones? Because we were made from the dust of the earth, weren’t we? But we know we are made the children of Abraham through Yahushua the Messiah, right? And so, actually, it did happen.

Matthew 3:11 – I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

This is John the Baptist talking here.

Matthew 3:12 – His winnowing fan [is] in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

The wheat harvest. We are the wheat harvest. Brothers and sisters, we are the wheat harvest. What we are reading here is about the wheat harvest He will come and gather. Remember, Yahushua gave this parable. We have to bear fruit.

The chaff He is going to burn up. The axe is laid at the root of the trees. We have to bear fruit… good fruit.

Remember Yahushua’s parable in Matthew 13:24. He said:

Matthew 13:24 – Another parable He put forth to them, saying: The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;

25 – but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.

26 – But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.

Now, what was he sowing? He was sowing wheat, right? But there were tares also among the wheat.

Matthew 13:27 – So the servants of the owner came and said to him, `Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’

28 – He said to them, `An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, `Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’

29 – But he said, `No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.

Matthew 13:30 – `Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.’

We want to be wheat, don’t we? We do not want to be tares.

You know, tares are at first nearly indistinguishable from wheat. It is when they begin to bear seed a difference starts to be revealed and you start to see the kernels coming out of the tare plant are not wheat. But Yahushua said, “By their fruits you shall know them.”

And so, if they are not bearing wheat kernels, they are bearing tares, and then they are planting from the enemy.

Now the seed is the Word of Elohim, right? Do you recognize that? The wheat seed is the Word of Elohim. And when we partake of Passover, what are you partaking of? The wheat harvest from the previous year.

You are partaking of wheat. You are partaking of the Messiah, right? You are partaking of the Word of Elohim, right? When you are partaking of the Messiah Yahushua, you are partaking of the wheat harvest from the previous year. But it has to be unleavened. You can’t have any sin in it. It has to be pure wheat. No leavening.

And so, we have to bear that. We have to be bearing the fruit like Messiah bore the fruit, the unleavened fruit. The leavening is representing sin. But we are called to be bearing good wheat kernels.

Now Jerusalem was the place where the king of Israel dwelled, right? That is where the king dwelled. Jerusalem was the place where the king of Israel lived. It is also the place where Yahweh’s Spirit dwelled in the temple.

Well, we are now that temple. We are the place of Yahweh’s Spirit. We are where the King of Israel dwells right now. The King of Israel dwells right here, right? Yahushua is that King of Israel. He is the One dwelling in us, right?

And so, Yahweh told Solomon that He would allow Israel to dwell in the land– unless Solomon turned to idols. He said, “Solomon, if you turn to idols, I will uproot Israel from the land.” And that is exactly what happened.

He turned to idols, caused his children to stumble, and over time the people became tares and the king wicked. But we have a righteous King now. We have a righteous King dwelling in Jerusalem right now. If we follow Him, we will never be uprooted from among His people.

We can safely follow this King Yahushua because He gives us Yahweh’s Spirit. Shavuot (Pentecost) happens to be marking this time when Yahweh did so in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2:1 – When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

The disciples of Yahushua are doing what? What are they doing here? They are keeping Pentecost! They are all in one accord in one place– all one hundred and twenty of them.

This is after Yahushua resurrected, and on this day they are keeping Feasts. They gathered together. If they were not keeping the Feasts, this wouldn’t have happened. But He gave the outpouring of His Spirit, which resulted in three thousand souls being saved.

And it says that Peter told the people, in Acts 2:38, when they wondered what the Spirit was:

Acts 2:38 – Then Peter said to them, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Yahushua Messiah for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

So that the Word of Elohim can dwell in you, too, right?

Acts 2:39 – For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as YAHWEH our Elohim will call.

Acts 2:40 – And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation.

41 – Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added [to them].

And so, we have to receive His Spirit. Contrary to three thousand who had died, three thousand are saved. So we have to receive His Spirit, for the “old man” has been killed by the Law.

The old man has to be put to death by the Law and the new man has to rise up with Yahushua the Messiah dwelling in him. So we are dead to the Law, but the Law is not dead to us. There is a difference.

We are dead. Not the Law. The Word of Elohim is living and powerful. And so, the Law cannot kill us, because Yahushua dwells in us.

And so, we are redeemed. We are saved. The Torah shows us the way Yahushua lived His life. When we read the Torah we learn all about the Savior, because that is exactly what He was about. That is how He lived His life.

The Torah itself cannot give us life. It can only show us the right way to live, but it cannot give us life. And so, there is this disconnect.

The Spirit within us, through Yahushua, brings us the life we need, the righteousness we need, to be called His children, to dwell in Him forever. If Yahushua is dwelling in us, yes, we will manifest the good fruit– Yahushua the Messiah.

If there is anything good coming out of me at all, it is Him. In my flesh there is no good thing dwelling. If Yahushua the Messiah dwells here, though, if there is anything good happening out of me, it is Him. It is Him. It is beautiful.

I like to see Him working there as much as possible. I wish I would be even more so manifesting Him than I am. I am a work in progress. I make mistakes. I fail. I fall short of His glory. So if there is anything happening from me, or from you, or from any of us, it is all Him. It makes sense. The complete picture.

So if He is living in us, then obedience and Messiah’s life will be manifesting. And what did He do? He kept every word of Yahweh from the beginning to the end.

So it makes sense. It is all clean. It is all complete– Genesis to Revelation. One Word throughout. Not trying to cut parts of the Word of Yahweh and toss them aside, and, “Oh, it doesn’t matter now. He did all that.” We don’t want to do that.

Look, Yahushua ascended to heaven the day after the Sabbath, right? It is still connected to Pentecost. That is the day when the barley harvest was waved before Yahweh. Remember?

Yahushua said to Mary:

John 20:17 – Yahushua said to her, Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, `I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and [to] My Elohim and your Elohim.’

He had not yet ascended to heaven. She looked and thought it was the gardener… someone carrying barley? I don’t know. She thought He was a gardener.

So on this day of firstfruits we talked about at the beginning of the broadcast today, the day after the Sabbath when the priest would wave this barley, Yahushua ascends into heaven, being the firstfruits. Not Easter. The firstfruits. Because He is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

1Corinthians 15:20 – But now Messiah is risen from the dead, [and] has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

He is called the firstfruits. Now did you know that we are also the firstfruits? Have you ever heard that before? We are the firstfruits.

James 1:18 – Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

How can we both be firstfruits? In John 12:24, Yahushua made a very interesting statement.

John 12:24 – Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.

He is talking about His own death and resurrection here. So the grain of wheat, which He was, went into the ground (went into the tomb). It died. But it has to die in order for it to produce much grain.

You know, literally, when a grain of wheat goes into the ground and comes into contact with water, that grain of wheat is destroyed through the water. It is. The grain of wheat softens the hard outer shell, so everything except the germ inside the plant actually begins to decompose. The germ, though, does not decompose.

And that decomposed material becomes the first nourishment for the germ of that plant to begin to divide cells, to begin to grow into a plant that will spring up out of the ground and again produce more wheat.

And so, through Yahushua’s death, He was buried in the ground, that the grain of wheat went into the ground and died. The Spirit of Yahweh came down and raised Yahushua from the dead. That germ came forth and produced much more fruit of which we are. And we have to do the same as He did. We do.

We have to die to self. And through our death to self, we manifest love. And by that love, we bring others into the sheepfold to build the walls of Jerusalem.

Romans 6:4 – Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Messiah was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

5 – For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be [in the likeness] of [His] resurrection,

6 – knowing this, that our old man was crucified with [Him], that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

Colossians 3:1 – If then you were raised with Messiah, seek those things which are above, where Messiah is, sitting at the right hand of Elohim.

2 – Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

3 – For you died, and your life is hidden with Messiah in Elohim.

And again…

Ephesians 2:4 – But Elohim, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

5 – even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Messiah (by grace you have been saved),

6 – and raised [us] up together, and made [us] sit together in the heavenly [places] in Messiah Yahushua,

Do you see yourself as sitting together in the heavenly places in Messiah Yahushua?

So what Peter was calling the people to do was to get baptized, representing the death of the old man, the resurrection of the new man through Yahushua our Savior and King, that we might be seated in the heavenly places, that we might become the dwelling place of Elohim in the Spirit, that the King of Israel might dwell in Jerusalem, of whom we are.

And with these things in mind, all on this Shavuot, all of this on Pentecost– the firstfruits of the apostles’ ministry, three thousand souls being saved, their being baptized in Messiah’s death and resurrection.

We become firstfruits through that participation in Messiah’s death and resurrection. That is what baptism is, a representation of death and resurrection.

But wait a minute. Are we without sin as He is? I mean, He is perfect, but we are still in the process of being perfected. So how can we be a holy offering on Pentecost?

Well, remember the two loaves that were waved by the priests were actually leavened loaves. They had leavening in it! Now, normally, Yahweh says do not offer any leavening with your offerings. But here is an exception.

They were loaves of bread that were waved before Yahweh just like the barley was waved. He is offering up to Yahweh from the land His wheat harvest that was brought. And these loaves were baked. And there is a contrast here. Pentecost has leavened loaves. Passover does not.

In fact, it says, 1 Corinthians 5:6:

1Corinthians 5:6 – Your glorying [is] not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

7 – Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Messiah, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

So the wheat during Passover week is leavened, which shows Yahweh deleavens us. Even though we may be not completely without leaven in our lives, Yahweh still accepts us on Pentecost. Just as He accepted leaven loaves on Pentecost, He accepts the leavened people on the day of Pentecost.

Why? Because He knows who removes the old leaven– Yahushua Ha Mashiach. And that is what Yahweh is teaching us. He is purging the leavening out through Yahushua our Savior and King.

And so, they would take that wheat from the previous year’s harvest, which was offered as leavened loaves, and when Passover came the following year, He says, “Get all the leavening out. Get it all out. You have a Lamb who is going to make your bread and make you unleavened.”

So it is knowing in the future there is a Lamb that is going to save us. And so, we are being taught here Messiah Yahushua makes us unleavened when we partake of Him.

And we eat unleavened bread for seven days representing seven thousand years of man on the earth when we are in need of His continual cleansing of the Savior.

But, you listen, the day is going to come when the trumpet is going to sound on the Day of Trumpets. Yahushua is going to be reigning over the whole earth this last thousand years and will put every enemy under His feet. And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

And man will have his sin atoned for on the Day of Atonement, and we will be granted access to the Throne Room on this Day of Atonement, and the heavens and the earth will be cleansed and made new. The tabernacle of Yahweh will be with men– the Feast of Tabernacles.

And, until then, brothers, we have some work to do, because people today think all these things are fulfilled. “Oh, Messiah fulfilled that. Wasn’t that already fulfilled when the Spirit was given?”

The whole idea that “fulfill” means “do away with” is not true. It is not in the Scriptures. Yahushua fulfilled the commandment: “Do not commit adultery.” Can you commit adultery now? No! Yahushua fulfilled the commandment: “Do not commit murder.” Can you go commit murder now? No!

Yahushua fulfilled the Feast Days. Can you disobey those commandments now? Why do you say “yes”? You better have a good reason for it because it is not in Scripture that I know of.

This whole idea that fulfill means you don’t do it anymore is contrary and foreign to the Scriptures. We know, for instance, that baptism is a shadow or a picture of our death and Messiah’s life being reborn in us coming up out of the water. We don’t do away with baptism because it represented the Messiah and Messiah fulfills all that.

But here are these Feast Days, also, beautiful, beautiful pictures and representations of what Yahweh was doing in man, showing His whole plan of salvation, the history of Israel– from the time that they asked for a king to the time that they chose Jerusalem– and all these things coming together.

And very few people know these things, because people have been told, “Well, don’t bother with that anymore.”

But you know, we are being called to fulfill those commandments as Yahushua did. The same way He fulfilled the Law, we are called to fulfill the Law through loving one another, through loving our heavenly Father. And the way in which we show love is letting Him dwell in us and manifesting Messiah to all. And that involves keeping the commandments.

And so, what has happened here is we have the situation in modern lives today where the Feasts that do manifest the Messiah in a powerful way are set aside in favor of pagan rooted things. What in the world? That is not in the Scriptures.

You see, people saw a need to celebrate something. They wanted to celebrate the Savior and they just couldn’t fathom the idea of Jewish stuff, so they adopted pagan things and tried to make them into something that would honor the Messiah– “Here is when Messiah was born.” “Here is when He resurrected.”

But listen, Yahweh already has observances that point to the Savior, and they show forth so much more, so far, far superior– the ministry of the apostles, the things that Yahushua has done, and the things He will do. And not to mention, giving thanks for the food that Yahweh gives us out of the ground, spiritually from on high, and here on earth.

We don’t need that other stuff, the pagan stuff. We don’t need that. And so, this Shavuot, give thanks to Yahweh for sending forth not only the food from the ground, but the food from heaven, for choosing a King for you to dwell in the Jerusalem that you are. Give Him thanks for that.

Give thanks for His Word having been written on the tablets of your heart. And the Word that is written on your heart, let it bear fruit. Don’t be a tare. Be a wheat kernel in Messiah and bear fruit to Yahweh, unleavened bread.

Yes, we are leavened, but we are being sanctified. In Messiah, by the blood of the Lamb, we are made unleavened. I love the fact Yahweh still accepts us. He knows we have a Lamb that we need that will make us unleavened.

And so, what I am saying here is, we also have a harvest out among the world today. Yahushua says:

Luke 10:2 – Then He said to them, The harvest truly [is] great, but the laborers [are] few; therefore pray the Master of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

Laborers are few. Man, have I ever found that to be the case. There are lots of people who want to tell you how to do things, not too many people are willing to do it for themselves.

And so, on Shavuot, we need to be praying for the harvest and the laborers. In Acts chapter 2, the Spirit of Yahweh was given, the Word of Yahweh was magnified, a great work was done on that day. It is because Yahweh wants to call forth people into His harvest.

And so, at the end of the age, the day is going to come when the reapers will come and gather us all to the place where Messiah has prepared for us, and we will be with Him. And He will gather the wheat into the barn because He is going to burn up the chaff. Let’s not be the chaff. Let’s be the wheat.

Remember the growing season that we are in, the responsibility we have to share our faith, and be sure we are not among those hiding talents in the sand, but that we are doing something with what Yahweh has given us. After all, why are we on this earth? Is it to live comfortably, eat, drink, be merry, enjoy the work of our hands and die?

I think Yahweh wants us to actually be the arms of the body of Messiah, reaching out to others. Even though we are not the arms, maybe we are doing something. But we need to redeem the time and be useful for His work.

If we are just focusing on our own stuff, the earthly things, our own pleasure, our own desires, and we are ignoring the work of Yahweh and the spiritual things that He has called every single one of you to participate in, you are just hiding your talent in the sand.

But the harvest, it is awesome! It is great in this age! This is an amazing time to be alive! To the best of my knowledge, since the first century, Acts chapter 2, and since the days of the apostles, I don’t know if there has ever been a time in history where so many people have embraced the Savior and the Torah. Probably not since that time.

The mainstream churches are crying out for, “Revival!” “Revival!” “Revival!” They are looking for some eighteenth century revival… some nineteenth century revival. But a first century revival is happening under their nose, and we are embracing it. Be a part of it.

Praise Him for the harvest. Seek to be the harvest. Seek to gather others to be a part of the harvest, because Yahweh wants to pour out His Spirit on so many more people.

Don’t be discouraged by the tares. Yes, they are growing here, but it cannot be rooted out yet until the very end. Don’t be discouraged by the leaven in your brother’s wheat. You have some leaven in your own.

We are all a work in progress, and we have an answer: Yahushua. He will cleanse us. He is cleansing us. Sometimes our wheat doesn’t look so great, but we are all growing. That is the main thing.

Some have this little thing growing out of the ground this high. Some have a nice tall plant. But we are all growing. That is why we need the water. We need the Spirit… the water… the rain… to make us grow… the Spirit to make us grow. We need the light of Yahweh and His Word to make us grow.

We need two ministries: We need the Word and we need His Spirit. The wheat kernel needs light and it needs water to grow– the light, the Word of Yahweh, to shine out for us and the Spirit to cleanse us.

And so, the water cleanses. The water cleanses us from all unrighteousness– the Spirit of Yahweh dwelling in us, to make us righteous.

And so, as we grow from Spirit and Light, let’s be laborers going forth, and saying this:

Psalms 119:126 – [It is] time for [You] to act, O YAHWEH, [For] they have regarded Your law as void.

Yahweh, it is time to restore what man has made void. These Feasts are a blessing, and they have much to teach us, Father. The world is missing out on this message, Father. Help us to share it with humbleness and grace so the full message of Your Word, not just Messiah, but also Torah and Messiah, will go out.

Yahweh, call Your people into the labor of Your Word, the labor of Your ministry, that Your Torah, Your Messiah, might be proclaimed to all the world, because we know Yahushua will not come until this good news is preached to all the world.

Father, we want to see restored relationships between You and the people on this planet who are just looking to and fro trying to find peace. But there is no peace until there is peace with You, Father. It is only until there is a restored relationship with You that we will ever have peace.

We want to be Your dwelling place. We want to be Your people. We want to be the place that You have chosen for Your name, that Your name will be written on our foreheads. We want to be the place You have chosen for Your Spirit to dwell, that Your glory may be manifested to all the world by Your Son Yahushua dwelling in us.

We know, Father, from reading Your awesome Word that all of these things took place, all these signs, all these connections that You have hidden in Your Word. And we look at them, and we say, “Wondrous, wondrous things out of Your Law, O Yahweh!”

We know all these things, and we see them. We see Your hand in Your Word on this wonderful time of Shavuot.

Thank You, Father, for Your love, for Your Word, for Your Savior and for Your Spirit. In Yahushua’s name. Amein.

And, brothers and sisters, as you embrace the message of Shavuot, may Yahweh strengthen you, may Yahweh guide you, may Yahweh call you into His service.

And as you do so, as you heed that call, brothers and sisters, may Yahweh bless you, and may Yahweh have mercy on us all.