Pentecost 2011

Pentecost 2011

This Week’s Feature Article by Jack Kelley

In 2011 Passover was celebrated beginning at sunset on
April 18. On the Hebrew calendar sunset marked the
beginning of the 14th day of Nisan. No matter what day of
the week it happens to be, Passover always comes on the
14th of Nisan. It’s like Christmas in that regard, which
always comes on the 25th of December no matter what day of
the week. “What’s that got to do with Pentecost?” you ask.

Well, Leviticus 23:11 says the day after the next Sabbath
is the Feast of First Fruits, always a Sunday. In 2011 that
was the 24th of April on our calendar, which happened to be
Easter Sunday.

And according to Leviticus 23:15 Pentecost (Shavuot in
Hebrew) is to be celebrated seven full weeks later. Verse
16 confirms this by saying that Pentecost would be 50 days
after the Sabbath that follows Passover. Which Day Is
Correct?

A disagreement between the Pharisees and the Sadducees
arose late in the 2nd Temple period as to whether the
phrase “day after the Sabbath” in Leviticus 23:16 really
referred to the weekly Sabbath that followed Passover, as
claimed by the Sadducees. Their method of counting would
always place Pentecost on a Sunday, exactly seven weeks
after the Feast of First Fruits.

The Pharisees argued that the count was supposed to begin
with the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which
was called a “special Sabbath” (John 19:31). Since the
first day of unleavened Bread always came on the 15th of
Nisan it meant Pentecost would always be celebrated on the
6th of Sivan (May-June) no matter what day of the week it
was.

Leviticus 23:16 says “Count off fifty days up to the day
after the seventh Sabbath.” Taking this literally lends
support to the Sadducean method. The Sabbath is a specific
day of the week, and the day after the Sabbath is always
Sunday. Because of this some Jews will celebrate Pentecost
on Sunday June 12 in 2011. Most modern Jews have adopted
the Pharisees’ interpretation and celebrated it on June 8,
but I’m going to vote with the Saducees on this one and say
it should be the 12th.

All the Feasts of Israel have both an historical and a
prophetic fulfillment. The historical fulfillment of
Pentecost was the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai. Some
believe that the hidden agenda behind this argument over
interpretation was an attempt to discredit the claim that
its prophetic fulfillment was the giving of the Holy Spirit
resulting in the birth of the Church. While this charge
can’t be proven conclusively it is interesting that the
Pharisaical interpretation of Leviticus 23:16 only emerged
“late in the Second Temple period”, which could refer to
the time after the Resurrection but before the Temple’s
destruction. Can You Blame Them?

If this is true, I can’t say I blame them. There’s
sufficient circumstantial evidence that the Church was the
prophetic fulfillment of Pentecost to be convincing. For
example, Pentecost is the only Levitical feast that
required bread baked with yeast (Lev. 23:17). Yeast is a
model of sin, in that it causes the dough to spoil, like
sin spoiled mankind. If you agree with my view that the
parables of Matthew 13 describe the church on Earth and
that the parable of the yeast predicts there will be sin in
the church, you’re beginning to get the idea.

But there’s more. In synagogues, the Book of Ruth is read
on Pentecost. The story of Ruth has been called “The
Romance of Redemption”. It’s about Naomi, a Jewish woman
from Bethlehem whose family lost their land and position
and were forced into exile in Moab because of a famine in
Israel. Shortly thereafter her husband passed away leaving
her penniless and alone. When the famine ended, she
returned to Bethlehem accompanied by Ruth, a Moabite woman
who had married one of Naomi’s sons (who had also died)
making her Naomi’s daughter-in-law and a destitute widow as
well.

Once back in Bethlehem Ruth went to work in the fields and
wound up in one belonging to Naomi’s close relative, a
prominent Jewish man named Boaz. Boaz was immediately
attracted to Ruth and after a time agreed to marry her as
part of the process of redeeming Naomi’s land. Both these
events were accomplished according to the Law. For Naomi it
was the law of redemption (Lev 25:25), and for Ruth it was
the law of leverite marriage (Deut. 25:5-6).

The modeling here is dramatic, with Naomi in the role of
Israel, destitute and alone; Ruth as the Church, the
gentile bride; Boaz as the Kinsman Redeemer (the Messiah)
and the story a prediction of the relationship between
them. In the process of redeeming Israel, the Messiah takes
a gentile bride. In doing so, He saves both from
destitution and restores Israel’s land. The identification
of the Church with Pentecost began in the prophecies of
Ruth.

By tradition Enoch, one of the patriarchs from Genesis 5,
was born on the day later to be known as Pentecost. Enoch’s
name means “teaching”, a primary function of the Church
(Matt. 28:19-20). For this reason many scholars see him as
a “type” of the church as well. Genesis 5:21-23 indicates
that Enoch was very close to God and was actually taken
live (raptured) into Heaven before the Great Flood.
Pre-Trib scholars see this event as one of several Old
Testament hints that the Church will disappear from Earth
before the Great Tribulation.

These same traditions also hold that Enoch was taken on his
birthday. So here’s a model in Genesis 5 of a man
identified with the church being born and raptured on the
day that would become Pentecost, the day the church was
also born. Does this mean the Church will be raptured on
our birthday too?

Personally I don’t believe the Rapture of the Church will
be the prophetic fulfillment of any of Israel’s Holy Days,
and Pentecost has already had both historical and prophetic
fulfillments. As you probably know, I believe the reason no
one on Earth can accurately predict the day of the Rapture
in advance is because it’s a number specific event, not a
date specific one.

In Romans 11:25 Paul implied the church has a “full
number”, when its ranks will be considered complete. When
that number is reached the Church will “come in” which
means it will arrive at its scheduled destination, like
when a ship “comes in.” Jesus said the destination of the
Church is His Father’s house (John 14:2). Put it together
and I believe it means we’ll be raptured as soon as the
predetermined number of Christians has been born again, no
matter what day of the week it is. June 12, 2011 (the real
Pentecost) would be a great day for the Church to be
raptured, but it’s no more likely to happen then, than on
any other day. But Wait, There’s More!

While we’re on the subject, there are other interesting
similarities between the giving of the Law and the rapture
of the Church that should capture our interest as well. You
can compare Exodus 19:10-25 with 1 Thes 4:16-17 to see
this, but here’s a summary.

The trumpet of God and an audible voice are present at both
events and both events create a kingdom. At Mt. Sinai the
Israelites were redeemed from slavery, at the Rapture the
Church will be redeemed from sin. They were consecrated,
we’ll be perfected. They washed their clothes, we’ll be
given clean clothes. God came to the mountain top, Jesus
will come to the air. At Mt. Sinai Moses and Aaron went up,
at the rapture we’ll go up. At Mt. Sinai Israel was wed to
God. At the Rapture the Church will be wed to Jesus. At Mt.
Sinai God dwelt with Israel and at the rapture the Church
will dwell with Jesus.

Since many Biblical models are necessarily incomplete,
there are also some obvious differences. Only Moses and
Aaron could ascend the mountain. Anyone else going up
passed from life to death. At the rapture we all go up and
the dead in Christ will pass from death to life. God
promised to dwell with Israel if they obeyed. We will dwell
with Jesus because He obeyed. They changed themselves
temporarily, He’ll change us permanently. Theirs was an
event accompanied by great fear, ours will be an event
anticipated with great joy. After all Mt. Sinai was the
presentation of God’s Law, and the Rapture will begin the
ultimate manifestation of His grace. You can almost hear
the footsteps of the Messiah. 06-11-11