Shavuot and Pentecost

Shavout Papercut

It has been ten days since the Church celebrated Pentecost, but Shavuot (the Jewish word for the feast) is still a week away. The de-coupling of the Christian calendar from the Jewish calendar has been a great loss to us Gentile believers. The LORD Himself set the yearly cycle of feasts, and He does nothing without reason. The early Church fathers emphasized the import of Israel’s Passover and Exodus in relation to Christ’s crucifixion and our salvation. They underscored this connection because they saw salvation as one continuous story unfolding across history. The New Covenant of Jesus’ blood is built upon the Mosaic covenant, which in turn is built upon the Abrahamic covenant. Even the New Covenant under which we live points toward a more glorious covenant, a fuller reality to come. Not that the New Covenant of Jesus’ blood will ever be annulled! Jesus will wear His wounds in glory throughout eternity. But His blood was spilled in order to redeem a Bride. And a Bride implies a Wedding, which in turn requires a Marriage Covenant.

There is a sense in which the Church is already a Bride, but the fullness of Her union with Christ is not yet accomplished. A day will come when man will live in God’s home and sin will be banished. God and Man will dwell together in peace and fullness of joy. The blood of Jesus is absolutely necessary to secure that day. It was “for the joy set before Him that Jesus endured the cross.” But in a similar way, the Passover and Exodus are necessary precursors to the cross. None of God’s covenants are ever forgotten. Rather, their import and beauty become clearer and more wondrous as the story of salvation unfolds.

We Christians know that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the feast of Pentecost - the celebration of first fruits. But we miss some of the significance of that day because of the rift that occurred between Christians and Jews in the first centuries of our faith. I have heard many excellent sermons about why Jesus was crucified at Passover, but I have never heard a helpful teaching on why the Holy Spirit was poured out on Shavout. I suspect that is because we Gentile Christians do not delve into the Talmud or Jewish tradition. We count only the Bible as a reliable source of revelation. I completely understand that conviction, and for the most part I think it is the safest path of scholarship. In the case of Pentecost, however, I think we are missing a vital perspective of the story.

For Jews, the feast of Shavuot is not only an offering of first fruits; it is a commemoration of the LORD entrusting Moses with the Law. It is a remembrance of the gift of the commandments. It is a renewing, in a sense, of Israel’s call to live as a holy people serving as a sign to the whole earth of YHWH’s righteousness. And it is a party! The biblical mandate requires Jews to bring their offerings, the first fruits of their harvest, and rejoice before the LORD.

In the time of Jesus, Jews from throughout the known world traveled to Jerusalem for the feast. This is why so many different languages were represented in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit fell. They came to fulfill the commandment by recalling the LORD’s deliverance (Passover) and His election (signified by the Law.)

Then you shall keep the festival of weeks to the Lord your God, contributing a freewill-offering in proportion to the blessing that you have received from the Lord your God. Rejoice before the Lord your God—you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, the Levites resident in your towns, as well as the strangers, the orphans, and the widows who are among you—at the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and diligently observe these statutes. - Deut 18:10-12

At the Passover, the Lord rescued Israel. At Mount Sinai He sealed her with the covenant of His law. The people were sprinkled in blood that day when they promised to observe the Law. The blood recalled the blood of the lamb they had sacrificed in Egypt not long ago.

And listen to the language of the text! The people were to rejoice for the LORD - “you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, the Levites as well as the strangers and the orphans and widows.” Do these instructions for The Festival of Weeks not sound like the text from Joel which Peter quotes on Pentecost?

And it shall come to pass afterward
That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions.
 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days…….

For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance,
As the Lord has said,
Among the remnant whom the Lord calls.

There was such great rejoicing on the day of Pentecost that people thought those who had received the Holy Spirit were drunk! Both men and women spoke with new tongues! Salvation was poured out on the strangers. The Holy Spirit was given to all flesh on that day - for the purpose of making the followers of Yeshua a sign and wonder upon the earth. The gift of the Holy Spirit was truly the “first fruits” of a new covenant promised by Jeremiah. “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost following the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus on Passover follows a similar pattern to the first act in salvation history. The lamb was sacrificed on Passover; the Law was given at Shavuot. This fact was not lost on the early Jewish disciples. I am certain they understood the gift of the Holy Spirit in light of the covenant of the Law. The writer of Hebrews says the Mosaic covenant came with “blackness and darkness and tempest,  and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.” (Heb 12:18-19) But we have a received an even greater gift of holiness - God’s Spirit within us.

The writer of Hebrews continues:
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,  to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” (Heb 12;22-23)

Note that the Law was given on Mt Sinai in the wilderness, but the Spirit fell on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. It is good for us Christians, I believe, to ponder the glory with which the Law was given. It is good for us to value the Law and consider how highly the LORD esteems it. For if we grasp the glory of the Law, we will treasure the Holy Spirit within us and guard this deposit of a New Covenant with greater care.