Overview
According to the Old Testament we are to celebrate the
‘Feast of Weeks’ throughout our generations.
In the New Testament the ‘Feast of Weeks’ is called Pentecost. Pentecost
means fiftieth
in Greek.
Pentecost is
celebrated seven weeks after the First
Fruits (Wave Sheaf) feast. The date
can also be calculated by counting 49 days after the First Fruits (Wave Sheaf)
Offering. It is always the day after a
normal Sabbath. It is considered a
Special Sabbath; therefore, no work can be done this day except the work that
is required to prepare the feast. The
book of Jubilees and the Dead Sea Temple Calendar confirm that the Feast
of Weeks is to be celebrated on the 15th day of the 3rd
Hebrew month using the Solar Calendar.
The Feast of Weeks is celebrated during the wheat harvest.
Leviticus 23:15-21 "You shall count seven full weeks from
the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave
offering. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath.
Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord. You
shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made
of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked
with leaven, as firstfruits to the Lord.
And you shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without
blemish, and one bull from the herd and two rams. They shall be a burnt
offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, a
food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. And you shall offer one male goat for a sin
offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings.
And the priest shall wave them
with the bread of the firstfruits as
a wave offering before the Lord,
with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. And you shall make a proclamation on the same
day. You shall hold a holy convocation [assembly]. You shall not do any
ordinary work. It is a statute forever
in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.
Deuteronomy 16:9-12 "You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count
the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. Then you shall
keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill
offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you.
And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your
daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within
your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at
the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there. You shall remember that you were a slave in
Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.
Noah was Saved with Water
The first documented Feast of Weeks celebration occurred
after Noah
and his family survived our Father in Heaven's judgement of his people by flood. They had built an ark and lived in it, as
instructed by our Father in Heaven, which allowed them to survive while the other corrupt
people drown during the flood.
Therefore, Noah’s family was saved by water from all the corruption that
had been taking in the region where they had been living. King David tells us that our Father in Heaven brought blessing
and peace to his people when he performed this judgement:
Psalm 29:9-11 In his temple everything says,
"Glory!" God sat enthroned
at the Flood. Yes, our God sits as King forever. Our God will give strength
to his people. Our God will bless his people with peace.
The Book of Jubilees tells us that the Feast of Weeks has
been being celebration since the beginning of creation and that after the flood
it is when our Father in Heaven made a covenant with Noah.
We are to remember our Father's covenant with Noah each time we see the rainbow and at every Feast of Weeks
celebration.
Jubilees 6:15 And He gave to Noah and his sons a sign that
there should not again be a flood on the earth. He set His bow in the cloud for a sign of the eternal covenant that
there should not again be a flood on the earth to destroy it all the days of
the earth. For this reason it is ordained and written on the heavenly
tablets, that they should celebrate the feast
of weeks in this month once a year, to renew the covenant every year. And
this whole festival was celebrated in heaven from the day of creation till the
days of Noah -twenty-six jubilees and five weeks of years [1309-1659 A.M.]: and
Noah and his sons observed it for seven jubilees and one week of years, till
the day of Noah's death.
The Book of Genesis documents the first Feast of Weeks
celebration here on earth and where our Father in Heaven provides the rainbow covenant:
Genesis 8:20-22 Noah built an altar to God, and took of
every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the
altar. God smelled the sweet savor. God said in his heart, "I will
not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, because the imagination of
man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again strike everything
living, as I have done. While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and
cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
Genesis 9:1-17 God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to
them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. The fear of you
and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of
the sky. Everything that the ground teems with, and all the fish of the sea are
delivered into your hand. Every moving thing that lives will be food for you.
As the green herb, I have given everything to you. But flesh with the life of
it, the blood of it, you shall not eat. I will surely require your blood of
your lives. At the hand of every animal I will require it. At the hand of man,
even at the hand of every man's brother, I will require the life of man.
Whoever sheds man's blood, by man will his blood be shed, for in the image of
God made he man. Be fruitful, and multiply. Bring forth abundantly in the
earth, and multiply in it." God spoke to Noah, and to his sons with him,
saying, "As for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with
your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you: the
birds, the cattle, and every animal of the earth with you. Of all that go out
of the ark, even every animal of the earth. I will establish my covenant with you;
neither will all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of the flood; neither
will there any more be a flood to destroy the earth." God said, "This
is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living
creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set my rainbow in the
cloud, and it will be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. It
will happen, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen
in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and
every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will no more become a flood
to destroy all flesh. The rainbow will be in the cloud. I will look at it, that
I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature
of all flesh that is on the earth." God said to Noah, "This is the
token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is
on the earth."
Israelites Saved by Water during the Exodus
Our Father in Heaven saved the 12 tribes of Israel from slavery when he divided
the Red Sea allowing them to cross the sea on dry land and then he closed the
path which made it impossible for the Egyptian armies to reach the 12
tribes. Therefore, our Father saved the 12
tribes by water. The 12 tribes escaped from Egypt on the evening
of the Passover feast and the Red Sea parting occurred during the Feast of
Unleavened Bread. Shortly after these
events our Father provided Moses the first five books of the bible that included
the instructions for celebrating the Feast of Weeks. The instructions for the Feast of Weeks
celebration were given in the Books of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy (see
above). Here in Exodus we are told that
the Feast of Weeks is the first fruits of the wheat harvest.
Exodus 34:21-24 "Six days you shall work, but on the
seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. You
shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits
of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering [tabernacles] at the year's
end. Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God,
the God of Israel. For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your
borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the Lord
your God three times in the year.
In the Exodus verses below, our Father made a covenant with the Israelites on Pentecost and then instructing the
Israelites to be cleansed with water and ready for HIS return in three days to provide the laws to Moses.
Based on Exodus, this covenant was made between our Father and
his chosen people on Pentecost:
Septuagint Exodus 19:5-6 And now if ye will indeed hear my
voice, and keep my covenant, ye shall be to me a peculiar people above all
nations; for the whole earth is mine. And
ye shall be to me a royal priesthood and a holy nation: these words shalt thou
speak to the children of Israel.
Exodus 19:10-11 God said to Moses, "Go to the
people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments,
and be ready against the third day; for on the third day God will come down
in the sight of all the people on Mount Sinai.
Therefore, our Father saved them by water again and renewed his covenant he made with Noah and provided the Israelites with the law on the Feast of Weeks. The 12 tribes were to live in peace by following the laws he provided.
The 10 Northern Tribes were Save by Water
The 10
northern tribes were taken into captivity by the Assyrians due to their
transgression of the law. Our Father wanted
these tribes moved away from where their transgressions were taking place. Ezekiel chapter 36 explains
that the house of Israel had to be removed from the heathen people.
Our Father parted the waters of the Euphrates and made a highway
for the 10 tribes to escape their captivity, just like he did with the Red Sea.
Isaiah 11:16 And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be
left, from Assyria; like
as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of
Egypt.
2 Esdras 13:40-45 these are the ten tribes which
were led away from their own land into captivity in the days of King Hoshea [Hosea], whom Shalmaneser the
king of the Assyrians led
captive; he took them across the river, and they were taken into another
land. But they formed this plan for
themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the nations and go to a more
distant region, where mankind had
never lived, that there at least they might keep their statutes which they had
not kept in their own land. And they went in by the narrow passages of
the Euphrates river.
For at that time the Most High performed signs for them, and stopped the
channels of the river until they had passed over. Through that region there was a long way to go, a journey of a year
and a half; and that country is called Arzareth [Europe].
So again, our Father in Heaven used water to save his people and bring peace to them.
The Mayflower Pilgrims Saved by Water
In 1620 our Father in Heaven provided the Pilgrims, who were Israelite
descendants, a ship called the Mayflower to carry them overseas away from
Europe so that they could separate themselves from the religious practices they
disagreed with that were going on in Europe. Where they had lived in England there were not free to follow our Father's laws and they
wanted to follow our Father’s laws as written in the bible. Again our Father used water to save his people by
taking the over the ocean and this brought them peace.
The Apostles and Baptism by Water Saves
According to Leviticus 23:17, we are to
bring two loaves of bread made of the finest flour to the Feast of Weeks
celebration that is known as Pentecost in the New Testament. I believe the reason two loaves of bread is
required is because there will be two fulfillments to this feast day. The first fulfillment was when the apostles
received the Holy Spirit and baptized 3000 Israelites during the Pentecost of
33AD which was the year Jesus was crucified and fulfilled
the other spring feasts. The two loaves of bread could also represent 2000 years of leavening before Jesus returns.
Acts 2:1-4 Now when the day of Pentecost
had come, they were all with one accord in one place. Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like
the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were
sitting. Tongues like fire appeared and
were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them. They
were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other
languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak.
Acts 2:37-41 [On the day
of Pentecost] Now when they heard this
they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers,
what shall we do?" And Peter said
to them, "Repent and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins,
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your
children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to
himself." And with many other words
he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from
this crooked generation." So those who received his word were
baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
John the Baptist explains that you must repent of your sin
to be forgiven and then be baptized with water.
It is only after you have performed these steps that you will have the
opportunity to receive the Holy Spirit when Jesus returns.
Mark 1:4-8 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for
the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem
were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan,
confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a
leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached,
saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I
am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I
have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Therefore at Pentecost, when the priest waves the two loaves
of bread with the two lambs, this is referring to two different advents. The first advent was when Jesus came and
was sacrificed as the Passover lamb, then shortly after the Apostles received
the Holy Spirit at Pentecost during the wheat harvest. The Apostles were received as the first loaf
of fine wheat bread at Pentecost. At
Pentecost the Apostles, provided the example of how we are to prepare today, in
order to be received as the second loaf of fine wheat bread when Jesus arrives a second time representing the second lamb.
Leviticus 23:20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread
of the firstfruits as a wave
offering before the Lord, with the
two lambs.
The other loaf of fine wheat flour bread will be fulfilled
when Jesus returns. So again, water will save us.
Pentecost Final Fulfillment
Jesus provided us a parable regarding the wheat harvest. The wheat is ready to be harvested during
Pentecost. He tells us that the weeds will be burned and the wheat will be
saved to his barn. His barn is another
way of stating he is saving the wheat harvest for his kingdom.
Matthew 13:24-30 He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed
good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and
sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore
grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the
house came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How
then does it have weeds? ' He said to
them, 'An enemy has done this. ' So the servants said to him, 'Then do you want
us to go and gather them? ' But he said, 'No, lest in gathering the weeds you
root up the wheat along with them. Let
both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the
reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind
them in bundles to be burned, but
gather the wheat into my barn. '"
I really cannot be for sure how the Second Advent will play
out since Jesus tells us in Matthew
24:36 that only our Father in Heaven knows. Jesus does tell us, in this same chapter of Matthew though, that is will occur as it
did in the days of Noah. During
Noah’s flood the corrupt people were drowning on Feast of Weeks/Pentecost
since the flood gates were opened eight
days prior to Pentecost. It was the
following Pentecost that Noah celebrated Pentecost and received the covenant
from our Father in Heaven.
This verse in Revelation may be referring to the wedding
feast on Pentecost:
Revelation 22:14
Blessed are those who wash their robes,
so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the
city by the gates.
No matter which scenario our Father in Heaven chooses, only those who have
repented of their sin and have been baptized with water will qualify to attend the Wedding Feast.
Past Pentecost Celebrations
The bible provides evidence that the Israelites did
celebrate Pentecost as stated. They did
have periods of time that they forgot this celebration; however, later the
celebration was renewed when Jesus was living. The Israelite descendants have also
had period of time where they did not celebrate Pentecost and then later
started the tradition again. Here in
American an 1870
newspaper dedicated a whole page to report how Pentecost had been
celebrated at various churches in their reporting area. Here is a 1909
newspaper article from Virginia that teaches the importance of Pentecost
and baptism for the remission of sin.
In this 1922
newspaper article from North Dakota explains that Pentecost is the
‘Birthdate of the Church’. Now many of
us know that the word ‘church’ does not belong in our bible, the word church is
translated from ‘ekklésia’
which means to assemble. Therefore, on
the Pentecost when the Apostles received the Holy Spirit could be seen as the
start of local congregations gathering to worship and baptism. This news article reflects that
they were calling the feast of Pentecost ‘Whitsun Day’. Whitsun is two words join
together, white and Sunday. It comes
from wearing white to get baptized on Pentecost Sunday. The article goes on to explain different
customs for celebrating Pentecost throughout Europe.
It is clearly evident that from the time of Noah to the time
of the Apostles that the Pentecost feast days celebration has always been
Christian in nature. The newspaper
articles above prove that the white European Christians have been the ones
celebrating Pentecost and are the people responsible for carrying on the
teachings of a water baptism being a requirement for being saved at Judgement
Day.
Pentecost Today
Today the Feast of Weeks, also known as Pentecost, should be
celebrated and we should remember the times our ancestors were saved by water
and then given covenants and laws to live by. All of our Father's Covenants were given on Pentecost, see this page for more information. These covenants were meant to bring us peace and freedom to practice
our Father’s laws.
On this feast day celebration, we should assemble and have a
nice dinner with two loaves of bread. We
should remember that one loaf of bread was fulfilled with the Apostles
receiving the Holy Spirt and the second loaf of bread will be fulfilled when Jesus returns. The bread is to have
leaven in it which represent the sins we have done and the leaven of the Pharisees. This leavened bread is also to remind us
that we must totally repent of these sins and be baptized in water prior to Jesus' second coming.
