Yahweh- The name of God given in the Torah that is translated in English Bibles as LORD in all caps in KJV and sometimes translated as Jehovah. It can also be seen written as YHWH signifying the four Hebrew letters yod, hey, vav, hey.
Yeshua- This is the Messiah's name in Hebrew which means, "salvation." This has been translated as Jesus in the modern English Bibles. This is very similar to the name Yahoshua which is the English name Joshua which means, "God is my salvation."
Simon Keefa- This is the name of Simon Peter one of the twelve disciples.
Shavuot- Feast of weeks or mentioned in the New Testament Greek as Pentecost or the counting of 50 days.
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Pentecost/Shavuot/The Feast of Weeks
The Facts:
What do the Scriptures say about it?
Lev 23:16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
Lev 23:17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.
When is it?
Lev 23:15 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 shall be complete:Lev 23:16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
This calculation would be exactly 50 days from the day of First Fruits which is always the Sunday after the Passover.
What are we commanded to do?
1. Keep it Holy as a regular Sabbath, doing no servile work or the things associated with the seventh day Sabbath.
2. Have a holy convocation. This is a calling of the assembly or community of like-minded believers to assemble together and celebrate this Day of Atonement. If no one is able to convocate then call together your own family or travel to where another group of believers are assembling and keeping this day Holy.
3. This is one of the three pilgrimmage feasts to where all the males of Israel are to come and present themselves before the LORD in Jerusalem.
Spiritual/Prophetic Significance-The First Shavuot :
After the children of Israel were miraculously delivered from the bondage of slavery in Egypt they were led by the pillars of cloud and fire to Mount Sinai. It is there that Yahweh (THE LORD) delivered the 10 commandments and all of the Torah instructions to the people of Israel as a Ketuvah or marriage contract to accompany a sacred covenant between the nation of Israel and God Almighty. It is very important to note that this was a mixed multitude that came up out of Egypt and not only Israelites. Not everyone present was descendants of Jacob but everyone present was HEBREW. What do I mean? Abraham was not Jewish. That may surprise or shock you but Abraham was a Gentile who was called out of his former land into the land of Canaan. He was called a Hebrew which can be translated as “one who crossed over” or as a “sojourner, alien, nomad, or stranger.” So, this mixed multitude all crossed over the Red Sea and were wanderers and sojourners together at Mount Sinai. Before hearing the complete instructions the mixed multitude declared that they would do all that is commanded through Moses. Before the marriage could be consummated Yahweh tells Moses to go down to the people and stop their wickedness because they had built the golden calf, already committing spiritual adultery against the Almighty. The people were washed (Exo. 19:10-17) and made ready to meet God himself but the great sins they committed before the Mount caused a moment of great intimacy and impregnation of the Holy Ghost to be missed. The Law or Torah would remain in stone and not written on their hearts (Eze. 36:26,Jer. 31:33) . The Levites at this time rose up with Moses and slew 3,000 who partook of this great sin at the Mount and were selected to build and maintain the tabernacle and minister before the LORD. Had this great sin of adultery not occurred then there would have been a nation of priests but instead only the Levites would serve in the priesthood and in like manner the only way the presence of God would be among the people of Israel would be through the tabernacle and not in the temple of their flesh.Something to think about:
Let’s take a look at the Hebrew word Echad. The Hebrew word Echad means “one or oneness.” It is how God describes himself in the Shema Passage in Deuteronomy 6:4 and it alludes to the great mysteries of how God’s plan of redemption will take place. It speaks of many becoming one or several parts being made whole. Let’s look at a few examples:
1. The union of a marriage- a man and a woman being one or echad. (Gen. 2:24)
2. The evening and the morning were one day or echad. Separate entities but consists of one unified day (Gen 1:5)
3. The waters were gathered into one place or echad. It doesn’t mean there was only one body of water but the bodies of water were gathered into their places so the dry ground could appear. (Gen. 1:9)
4. Jacob called his eleven sons echad even though they were many. (Gen. 32:22)
5. Joseph dreamed of the sun and moon and eleven stars and the word for stars is again echad. (Gen. 37:9)
6. In Nehemiah 7:66 the congregation was gathered “together” using the word echad showing the unification of many parts.
7. In Ezekiel 37:16-17 Ezekiel is to join two sticks symbolizing the house of Judah and the house of Ephraim and bind them together and make one or echad stick or house, the echad house of Israel.
I think you get the point. The word Echad can either mean singular as in one in number or it can mean a unification of one or more parts. You can read traces of it in the New Testament as well and start to see the whole picture being formed.
1. John 10:16 “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.”
2. John 10:30 “I and my Father are one.
3. Eph 2:15 “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;”
4. John 17:22 “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:”
5. Acts 4:32-“And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.”
6. Romans 12:5 ““we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.”
This “oneness” is an example of Echad and brings us to the fulfillment of the New Covenant where sins are forgiven, the Torah is written on our hearts and there is a oneness in the spirit for those that are in the Messiah. Jew and Gentile, house of Judah and house of Ephraim are Echad in His hand through the power of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit).
The Second Shavuot:
The second Shavuot experience recorded in scripture is found in the book of Acts. Yeshua (Jesus) speaks to his disciples and speaks of the time he would leave them and ascend into heaven:
John 16:7 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter (Holy Spirit) will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”
After the crucifixion of our Passover Lamb on Pesach, Yeshua’s body (symbolic of unleavened bread) was buried and rose again on First Fruits as the First fruits offering of the resurrection of the dead (Rev. 1:5). After his resurrection, Yeshua showed himself to the disciples and gave them final instructions before his ascension:
Luke 24:49 “And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.”
The Greek word for tarry is kathezo which means to “sit down, set or appoint” or in other words to make a “set appointment.” What appointment? Remember that 50 days after his resurrection is the feast or “set appointment” of Shavuot. It is during this “set appointment” that the promise of the Father would come to fruition. Those that made this “set appointment” or feast would be “endued” with power from on high. The Greek word translated into English as endued is the word endyo which means to “be clothed or wrapped in” something. In other words, the Ruach Hakodesh which is the Comforter, the Gift from heaven and the promise of the Father would come and cloth those praying and worshipping at the Feast of Shavuot with power!
Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
Isn’t that exciting! Why would we ever want to miss an appointment with God? Why would we want to get caught up with traditions and manmade routines and not expect the endyo of the power of God? This reminds me of the great Prophet Elijah that carried a mantle or cloak and did great things in the power of God. After Elijah was taken in a whirlwind into the heavens, Elisha received that same mantle or outer clothing that Elijah had and moved in a greater outpouring of the power of God. In like manner, Yeshua walked in the power of God and was given the Holy Spirit without measure and remarkably he states that we (those that receive the endyo of the H.S.) will do greater things in his name.
The disciples did just as Yeshua had instructed and were gathered together for a holy convocation during Shavuot, the feast of weeks and they were accompanied by many others, both Jews and Gentiles. They were in one accord or echad. This was a mixed multitude just as the First Shavuot at Mount Sinai. Just as Moses went up the mountain to receive the Torah and witness the engagement of the LORD and his bride, Yeshua ascended into the mountain of God in heaven, who was the living Torah and providing the second witness needed to consummate the marriage. It is then that Holy Spirit was sent to write the Torah or ketuvah on the hearts of the bride and impregnate them with the life-giving eternal Spirit of God. Just as Miriam (Mary) was impregnated by the Holy Spirit and gave birth to the physical Yeshua of Nazareth, the Bride of Christ is impregnated by the Holy Spirit to bring forth the image or Spirit of Messiah within us.
Galatians 4:19 “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,”
Shaul (Paul), the writer of the letter to the Galatians understood this principle. He also understood that the Bride of Christ would be many parts but be unified into ONE or echad Body of the Messiah. He writes to the assemblies in Rome that the body of Messiah has been given many different giftings but they are of the same LORD and they are collectively or corporately used to edify and build up the body of believers.
Romans 12:4-6 “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us…”
And also in the book of Ephesians:
Ephesians 4:11-13 “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:”
Remember that the way God does things is in a certain pattern; first the natural and then the supernatural or spiritual. The mixed multitude at Mount Sinai received the commandments in stone and the physical tabernacle and priesthood. At Pentecost a mixed multitude received the Holy Ghost who wrote the Torah upon their hearts and made them kings and priests of the heavenly tabernacle with their own bodies as temples of the Ruach Hakodesh (1 Cor. 6:19).
1Corinth 15:46 “Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.”
3,000 souls were slain at Mount Sinai by the Levites because of adulteress sin before Yahweh and in the same manner Simon Keefa (Peter) preached under the power of the Holy Spirit and 3,000 souls were added to the kingdom. First the natural and then the spiritual.
It is traditional for the scroll of Ruth to be read during Shavuot. Do you know why? The great grandmother of King David was Ruth the Moabitess. She came to know and love the God of her mother-in-law, Naomi. David's royal line was not totally Jewish. There was a Gentile in it. Ruth married Boas, they had a son Obed, he had a son Jesse, and Jesse fathered King David. At the end of David's line Yeshua the Messiah was born. Yes, the Messiah of Israel was from a line that had both Jew and Gentile converging at the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. During the feast of Shavuot the priest would present two barley loaves with leaven before the LORD. During Pentecost Yeshua presented and brought together two peoples both Jews and Gentiles. Both barley loaves had leaven (signified sin) and both Jews and Gentiles were born with a sin nature (Rom. 3:9). Both needed a Messiah to wash away sins and to bring into relationship with the Father. It is during this special set appointment that the middle wall of partition was removed between Jew and Gentile and the many member body of Messiah began to assemble. The gospel message would be preached to the Jew first and then the rest of the world would hear the message of salvation and come to know the Jewish Messiah as the lost sheep of Israel are ingathered and restored.
1 Corinthians 12:13 “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”
