THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #125 | THE LIFE OF MOSES #106
Pastor Christopher Choo
Lesson 3810
THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #125
THE LIFE OF MOSES #106
MOSES AND MT.SINAI #5
THE DEEPER MEANING OF PENTECOST
Normally we think of Pentecost as one of the 7 Feasts of Israel mandated by God once they entered the Promised Land.
It is an agricultural festival of thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest of wheat.
But fewer realise it is also a commemoration of the giving of the Law to Moses at Mt. Sinai before their wanderings in the wilderness for 40 years.
A. Pentecost and the Giving of the Law at Sinai
In Exod 19:1, Moses writes that the Israelites arrived in the wilderness of Sinai “in the third month” after they had left Egypt. Since they left on the day after Passover, in the middle of the first month (Exod 12:2, 6), the fiftieth day after Passover would have fallen within this third month.
Also, in 2 Chr 15:10-15, the Chronicler describes a gathering in Jerusalem, during the third month, where the covenant was celebrated and renewed.
A later Aramaic paraphrase of Chronicles, called the Targum, says expressly that the Israelites gathered in Jerusalem during the festival of Weeks.
B. Pentecost and the Jubilee Year
The Israelites celebrated the Jubilee Year during the fiftieth year following every “seven sabbaths of years” or forty-nine years (Lev 25:8-55; 27:16-25; Num 36:4).
During this 50th year, any ancestral land that Israelites families had sold was given back to them.
Also, any Israelite who, induced by poverty, had sold himself (or been sold) into slavery to a fellow Israelite regained his liberty.
Not only the people, but the land itself was “freed” from being worked. No planting or sowing, harvesting or reaping took place during the fiftieth year.
Like the sabbatical year (every seventh year), the Jubilee year was a great sabbath or rest for the people of YHWH and the land that belonged to Him.
Therefore, because of the Jubilee Year, the number 50 is closely associated with the remission of debts, emancipation of slaves, and rest within God’s protective care.
Like the festival of Jubilee held every fifty years, so the festival of Pentecost ( Shavuot ) held every year on the fiftieth day proclaimed the following:
(1) God had freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt;
(2) He had fulfilled his promise to give them the Holy Land;
(3) He provided rest for them from their labors.
Conclusion
This underlying message of Pentecost is even more meaningful for believers who celebrate Pentecost annually in their church gatherings.
While it is called the Advent of the Holy Spirit who birthed the Church, let us not forget the three-pronged message of Pentecost for us:
1. Jesus has delivered us from the kingdom of darkness - of sin, death and decay, and the devil who lorded over us just as Pharoah ruled over the Israelite slaves before the Exodus.
2. Jesus has given us the gift of eternal life and a promise of being forever in Heaven with Him - our Promised Land.
3. Jesus indeed will give us the rest only found in Him.
Matthew 11:28-29
(King James Version)
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
May the Holy Spirit reveal to us the hidden manna of the Word to see the beautiful reconciliation of Old Testament and New Testament truths like the Feast of Pentecost and set us free.
