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Bible Study Course Lesson 3 – 21
Feasts Of The Firstfruits
The holy days are almost universally mocked and dismissed by the world today as unnecessary
appendages of Moses’ law. Yet the holy days explain everything God is doing today, has done in the past,
and will do in the near future.
And no religion that doesn’t keep these days has even the faintest idea of the true plan of God.
Keeping these days isn’t enough, of course; after all, the Jews did that, and still do; but it’s a prerequisite.
It is one of the “precepts” which come before other “precepts” (Isaiah 28:10).
The early church was made up primarily of converted Jews, all of whom were thoroughly familiar with
these days, so they wrote and understood the New Testament in that light. They didn’t need to hear the
things you read in the previous lesson, because the authors of the NT took these days for granted,
mentioning them in passing, because they knew their audience had the OT scriptures already!
The NT was not a revision of the OT, as people seem to think, but an addition; not a correction, but an
explanation. Not meant to stand alone, but meant to stand on top of; not meant to repeal the OT, but to
explain what was beyond it.
And these days explain much, much more than you could imagine. But to see those things requires more
than an abstract study of the facts in the Bible; more than you can learn in a lesson. You must live these
things, in order to fully grasp what God was telling us.
This was the purpose of all ritual; to go through the motions in our lives, to understand the motions God
went through, or will go through, in His. This is one purpose of keeping the Sabbath, or of not eating
pork. To show us things we can’t see from print.
At first, we do these things because we are told to; but by doing them, we learn things we couldn’t have
learned from any book, not even the Bible. Israel had no choice but to do what God said, they had no
idea why they did them; only much later, by their actions, were the reasons for those things revealed to
us (1 Corinthians 10:11).
OC PASSOVER
Exodus 12 lays out the story of the Mosaic Passover. Go ahead and read all of it. We don’t keep the
trappings of the Old Testament anymore; the lamb isn’t killed every year, because our Lamb was already
slain once and for all (Hebrews 9:26).
We don’t eat it standing up, with a staff in our hand, or any of those other external things. But those all
had, and have, meaning for us today. You won’t learn what all that is today, but you need to know where
1to look for it, and that’s one reason to keep these days – to be continually reminded to revisit these
symbols, to better understand them.
This all happened on the 14th day of the first Hebrew month, generally sometime around April 4 (give
or take 2 weeks). And it was called the Passover because on that night the death angel passed over the
Israelites and killed the Egyptians (Exodus 12:27).
This is important, that it was on the fourteenth that the angel passed over, after the lamb had been
sacrificed at dusk. It was called the Passover, because it was on that day, after the sacrifice, that the angel
“passed over” them.
I stress this, because most religions that keep a Passover service in modern times (including most sects
of the Jews, but not all) keep it on the next night, the 15th. But the angel didn’t pass over on the 15th, but
on the 14th; again, that’s why it was called the Passover.
When the angel saw the blood on their houses, he moved on, because that house was under protection;
their sins had been paid for with the sacrifice just after sundown, beginning that 14th day. This is the
night that Israel was bought back or redeemed from Pharaoh by God, to secure the promise of their
deliverance from bondage to Egypt.
Moses had appeared before Pharaoh in the middle of the night, they had spoiled the Egyptians all day,
packed the belongings of perhaps 2 million people, and prepared unleavened bread because they had no
time to wait for it to be leavened, and left Egypt in haste (verses 29-36).
Yet still, hasting the population of a city the size of Dallas out of a nation without any prior preparation
took all day on the afternoon of the 14th. Then as the sun went down on the next night, the 15th, Israel
was actually delivered from Egypt, according to God’s promise the night before.
This was when they actually began to be freed from Egypt, with the light of a full moon (the 15th of the
Hebrew month is always a full moon). This next night is called in Exodus 12:41-42 “The Night to be
Much Observed”, which is an awkward translation better expressed by the GWV:
Exodus 12:42 That night the LORD kept watch to take them out of Egypt. (All Israelites in future
generations must keep watch on this night, since it is dedicated to the LORD.)
The Passover gave us the promise of leaving Egypt; The Night to be Much Observed fulfilled the promise
and began the deliverance; and for seven days we walked out of Egypt, and the seventh day Pharaoh
drowned in the Red Sea, just as on the seventh millennial day Satan will be cast in the bottomless pit
(Revelation 20:1-3).
NC PASSOVER
In 1 Corinthians 5:7, Paul refers to “Christ our Passover”. Christ replaced the Old Testament Passover
service, and gave us a new one by His personal example and instruction in all four gospels. Yet somehow,
no one reads and does what He clearly commanded.
What was Jesus’ command to His disciples? Luke 22:8. What did Jesus tell them to tell the master of the
house where they were to prepare the Passover? Verse 11. And what did they do? Verse 13. And what
did He do? Verse 14. And what did He call this thing He was setting down to do? Verse 15.
2So there is no doubt whatsoever that Jesus did in fact eat the Passover that night. Remember, Jesus had
to fulfill all the law in order to be a perfect sacrifice, so before instituting these new symbols of bread
and wine He first had to perfectly observe the original Passover service commanded by Moses.
Otherwise, He would have been sinning.
So contrary to what you might have been taught, there was a literal lamb killed and eaten that year;
because that’s what the disciples MEANT when they said “Where should we prepare the Passover”, and
Jesus said, “Prepare the Passover that we may eat”; this was speaking of the OLD Passover, involving
killing a lamb, which was prepared as Jesus commanded in Mark 14:12-18.
But did this fulfill the Passover? Luke 22:16. So it would be fulfilled IN THE KINGDOM – not before.
The Kingdom isn’t here yet, so it hasn’t been fulfilled yet… and so it is still binding on us! Then He gave
them two symbols – bread and wine (verses 17-20), and told us what they represent – His body, and His
blood.
The version related in John’s gospel adds more details, and omits others. As you read it, bear in mind
John’s gospel was written about 90 A.D., over 30 years after the other gospels, so John saw what the
others omitted and focused on filling in the blanks.
That is why John’s gospel is so different from the others. John omits the bread and wine, which the other
gospels say in such detail because parchment was expensive and everyone already had a copy of the
other three gospels!
So he compressed what the other gospels said over the course of several chapters, and put it all in John
13:1. That way he could devote his attention to the other events of that night they forgot to mention…
events which he, with decades of hindsight, realized desperately needed to be said.
Now in that verse, remember that “Feast of the Passover” was commonly used to refer to either Passover
OR Unleavened Bread (read both Mark 14:1 and Luke 22:1 to prove that). This was in fact at the
Passover service, the same night referred to in Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22.
John 13:2 says that it was AFTER the Passover supper commanded in Exodus 12 that these things he’s
about to write about took place. Then in verses 4-13, Jesus washed the disciple’s feet and then gave them
another command: verses 14-17.
So we have the commands of Jesus “this do, in remembrance of me”, speaking of the bread and wine,
and “wash one another’s feet” on this same night. But they did not wash one another’s feet that night, He
did; which can only mean that this command was to be observed on next year’s Passover when Jesus
was gone… and all future Passovers after that!
What can we conclude except that every year on the Passover, we are to do these three things – the bread,
the wine, and the foot washing? In Matthew 26:26-28 He tells us the wine represents His blood, which
was shed as the payment for our sins.
And the bread which makes us alive again. As you learned in the earliest lessons, these correspond to the
sin offering, for failing to keep the negative law; and the burnt offering, for failing to keep the positive
law. This is what He was referring to in John 6:53-56.
3Those are the symbols He later gave His disciples at the Passover. Notice how IMPORTANT this is. If
you do NOT eat His flesh and drink His blood, YOU ARE NOT A CHRISTIAN. Those are Jesus’ words,
not mine.
Without this service, this NEW COVENANT ritual, you have no life in you, and Jesus does not dwell in
you. This is THAT IMPORTANT. Without the Passover, you cannot be saved!
WHAT IT MEANS
No one really teaches these things were abolished, per se, they just ignore it; but how can they ignore it
when PAUL, whom most people suppose taught against all these things, was teaching GENTILES to
keep the Passover?
Read 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. Here Paul recaps the information which he says he received personally
from Jesus. Remember, Paul wasn’t converted until MANY YEARS after Jesus died. So many years after
Jesus died and had ascended to heaven, Jesus felt compelled to teach PAUL, an apostle to the GENTILES,
about the Passover service. Does it sound like it was done away to you?
But there is more in these verses than a casual reading reveals. First, he says, “in the same night he was
betrayed he took bread”. This means that the Passover Jesus ate was eaten at night, and on the same night
He was betrayed – which is the darkness portion at the beginning of the 14th day.
Meaning He ate the Passover at the beginning of the Hebrew day, an hour or two after sunset according
to the law, was betrayed and given a mock trial all night, and crucified the next morning and died the
next afternoon – on the daylight portion of the 14th.
Verse 24, Weymouth, says, “This is my body which is about to be broken for you. Do this in memory of
me.”
So we keep the Passover in MEMORY of Jesus. In memory of what exactly? Verse 26. And for how
long? (Same verse). So if He hasn’t returned yet, WHY doesn’t anyone proclaim His death this way, as
He commanded?
He said to proclaim His DEATH with this ceremony. He died on the 14th day and gave us these symbols
the evening before, at the beginning of the 14th, not long after sundown. Now this was not a full payment
of the sacrifice.
This was a down payment – a PROMISE of His sacrifice. He said take this bread in exchange for His
body which was ABOUT TO BE BROKEN, the next day. Just as Israel was given the lamb, and its
promise of deliverance, a full 24 hours before they actually left Egypt.
Likewise, in the New Testament, spiritual Israel received the promise of Jesus’ sacrifice the night before,
by partaking of the new symbols of the Passover before He died; the promise which was to buy us
out of bondage to sin.
But it wasn’t until the next day that Jesus actually died and was buried, and THEN we KNEW the
sacrifice had actually been made and we were truly delivered. Those who wait for the 15th to keep the
Passover are, in effect, saying they don’t trust Jesus to go through with the sacrifice.
4They are saying they would be more comfortable waiting until He is actually dead to partake of His
sacrifice. But being saved requires faith (Romans 3:30). This is why Jesus gave us these symbols 18
hours before they were really ready; they were, until then, a hot check – which we accepted in faith that
He would make it good.
NOT THE LORD’S SUPPER
The Passover commemorates the death of your Savior; God died to save you. Died for no reason, without
cause, in a quite horrible fashion in order to pay for YOUR careless sins and dig you out of a pit you got
yourself into. It is not a feast, and it is not a party. It is a solemn event.
But most religions have a celebration in the springtime, commemorating the death and rebirth of their
false god; the Corinthians were all newly converted from paganism and they were gradually changing
this Passover service into a feast to God, calling it “the Lord’s Supper”.
There was another contemporary Roman tradition at play here as well; when a loved one died, they were
entombed, and the family and respected friends would come together and recline near the tomb
underground, and celebrate a feast with the dead one last time, feasting and drinking in their honor.
This idea evolved into the Catholic wake; the celebration of life that has replaced funerals today. But the
Passover is not a celebration of life; it is a mourning of death. It is not a supper to honor our dead Savior,
but a ritual to remember His sacrifice, lest we forget.
Regardless of which motive, or both, the Corinthians were following, they weren’t trying to be evil –
they thought it would honor Jesus “that much more”! And so they were getting drunk and feasting at the
Passover. Did Paul approve? 1 Corinthians 11:20-22.
Of those few churches that keep anything close to a Passover service today, ALL of them call it the Lord’s
Supper. But Paul plainly said when you come together (for the Passover), “this is not to eat the Lord’s
Supper”, or as Rotherham translates it clearly “it is not to eat, a supper unto the Lord”.
This is not a time to gather and feast. It is not a time to come and get drunk. It is a solemn memorial
service for the best friend mankind ever had (John 15:13). Zechariah 12:10 speaks of the attitude you
should have as you commemorate His death – a bitterness or sadness of spirit.
The same word correctly translated as “bitterness” there was wrongly translated “bitter herbs” in Exodus
12:8, where it should read “with bitterness they shall eat it”; it was commanding those who ate that
Passover to eat it with the same attitude of solemnity and respect that we should show today.
HOW OFTEN
Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 11:25 “as oft as you drink it”, or as Weymouth puts it, “Do this, every
time that you drink it, in memory of me”. This doesn’t say, “as often as you want to”, like some claim,
nor does it say “whenever you get around to it”, but “every time that you DO drink it, do it like THIS,
like I just showed you”.
Golden rule time; when you do something in remembrance of someone, how often do you do it? When
you celebrate a birthday, how often do you do it? Daily? Weekly? Monthly? Of course not. You do it
once a year, on the day of their birth.
5When someone in the world loses a loved one, what is the worst time of year for them after that? The
day of their loved one’s death. Not every day, not weekly, not monthly – but yearly. Yearly they remember
the loss of this person they loved.
How often do you keep a memorial service of an event? How often do you remember Independence Day,
Veterans Day, or President’s Day? Exactly once a year, commemorating some important date. So why
do people eat the eucharist quarterly, weekly, or daily? They wouldn’t want that done for them…
why do it to God?
The Passover was commanded in the Old Testament forever. And it is to be kept forever. Jesus says He
will keep it again with us in the Kingdom – so if Jesus Himself will be keeping it then, how dare we not
keep it now as He commanded us? If we don’t keep it, year by year, on the day He commanded and
in the way He commanded, we are not following His commands, and we are not Christians.
WHO CAN EAT THE PASSOVER?
Read Exodus 12:43, 45, 48. Only circumcised members of the nation of Israel were permitted to eat the
Old Testament Passover. What does circumcision represent in the New Testament? Colossians 2:11-12.
So baptism replaced circumcision. Then the un-baptized are “strangers” from the New Covenant just as
the uncircumcised were strangers from the Old, and neither dare eat the Passover.
Read 1 Corinthians 11:27-32. After telling the Corinthians how to keep the Passover, Paul warns them
severely about eating it “unworthily”. And we needn’t guess at what “unworthy” means, for Paul makes
it clear in these same verses: “let a man examine himself”. Examine for what? 2 Corinthians 13:5.
“Judge ourselves”; judge what? Your sins!
Passover is a time when you will be symbolically taking the blood of Christ in you. It is a time to make
sure you are following God with all you understand; a time to do spiritual housecleaning and examine
yourself and see if you need to make changes, BEFORE the Passover. Because if you take the Passover
with a dirty conscience, you will be taking it “unworthily”, and God will judge you harshly for it
(1 Corinthians 11:29).
The Corinthians were sinning, and they were not judging themselves. Therefore, God was judging them,
and punishing them appropriately (verse 30). The Passover is not to be taken lightly! Not without first
committing to follow God and deeply repenting of your sins.
So if you’re learning this, and you aren’t baptized, and spring is coming, don’t worry (Acts 17:30). You
need quite a few more lessons before we’re ready to talk about that. God knows you are still learning this
and gives you grace to cover these things for now.
And you are far better off skipping this Passover than eating it unworthily – and eating it without
committing yourself permanently to God’s way of life by baptism, IS eating it unworthily. And you can’t
really do that because you still don’t know what it is.
Remember how eager Israel was to agree to God’s terms, not knowing what they were? Deuteronomy
5:27. And remember how that worked out for them? Acts 7:51. Better to wait, to fully know what the
contract is before you sign in, than to sign it and break it (Ecclesiastes 5:5, 2 Peter 2:21).
6UNLEAVENED BREAD
Israel left Egypt the day after the Passover, on the evening beginning the first day of Unleavened Bread,
the 15th day of the first month; and for seven days fled Egypt. Why did they do that, and what does it
mean for us?
Was Israel in bondage? Joshua 24:17. And does Passover/ULB specifically commemorate being
delivered from that bondage? Exodus 13:3, 14. Israel was in physical bondage, and was physically
delivered by the Old Testament Passover, and ULB commemorates their journey away from that physical
bondage.
Are we in bondage? Galatians 4:3. To whom were we in bondage? Romans 6:16. Who is the “king
(father) of sin”? John 8:44. Did the Jews know they were in bondage? John 8:32-33. What did Jesus
say? Verse 34. And how can we be made free from bondage? Verse 36.
So we are in bondage to sin; the devil is the king of sin. Israel was in bondage to Egypt; Pharoah was
the king of Egypt. Israel was delivered from bondage to Egypt by the blood of the Passover lamb, and
led out of Egypt over the next seven days until the king of Egypt was drowned in the Red Sea on the
seventh day of ULB.
We are delivered from bondage to sin by the blood of Christ, the real Passover lamb, and this stage of
the plan of God has mankind being led out of sin for seven thousand years. And on the seventh millennial
day of this plan the devil will be “drowned” (removed from power and covered out of sight, see
Revelation 20:1-3).
So you see Israel/Egypt/Pharoah was just a type of the relationship between the true
Church/Sin/Satan. This holds true throughout the Bible, where Egypt is often used as a type of sin; a
symbol of bondage to Satan’s regime that we all were in until we found the truth.
The shortest answer as to the meaning of these days is that Passover commemorates Christ buying us
back from Satan with His blood, and ULB commemorates Him leading us out of Satan’s world (Romans
8:21). Something that is being done to you, at least in a sense, as you read these words, and BY reading
these words.
HOW ULB SHOULD BE OBSERVED?
The next summary of the Passover and ULB is found in Deuteronomy 16:1-4. Here God reiterates what
you read above, making it clear that there must be no leavened bread “in your coasts” – that is, on your
property or in anything that you own – for seven days. For this reason we clean our houses, cars, offices,
and so on every year to remove any leavening.
Paul reminded the Corinthians of this command in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8. Paul makes the same command
that we must “purge out” (get rid of) old leavening. As usual, Paul is making a spiritual point from a
literal command. He shows us this old leavening that was not to be seen “in your coasts” represents
spiritual “malice and wickedness” – sin. Unleavened bread represents “sincerity and truth”. And for seven
days, we are commanded to avoid leaven, and eat instead unleavened bread.
Just as we keep both the letter and the spirit of the Ten Commandments today, so we also keep both the
letter (literal leaven) and the spirit (spiritual leaven) today. The command from God is clear, in both the
Old and New Testaments: get the leavening off your property for those seven days in spring.
7Clean your house. Clean your car, your office. Imagine that each leavened crumb is a sin in your life,
hiding behind your spiritual desk, lurking under your spiritual bed, and attack those crumbs as you would
your sins. You might be surprised what you’ll learn if you think about it as you clean your house, and
think about spiritual housecleaning.
If you do it lazily, half-heartedly, sloppily, put it off until the last minute, or make excuses and don’t do
it at all, it is certain you’ll do the same thing with real sins (Luke 16:10). If you get in there and shine
your house up like a hospital, you’ll probably attack your sins with equal fervor.
And throw away or burn the leavening you find; don’t give it to an unconverted friend. Would you give
a friend your sins to dirty him up just to clean your own house? Ten dollars’ worth of baking soda and
yeast and half a loaf of bread isn’t worth much to anyone, so destroy it; turn your back on it like you
would on your sins and hope you never see it again.
It is important to not only avoid leavened bread, but also to go out of your way to eat unleavened bread.
The command in Exodus 12:15, 20 is not only a negative (DON’T eat leavened bread) but also a positive
(DO eat unleavened bread).
Certain types of wheat crackers qualify; just check the ingredients and avoid anything that contains
leavening, yeast (including wild yeasted breads like sourdough), baking soda (also called sodium
bicarbonate, bicarbonate of soda), or baking powder – or you can make your own, it’s quite easy.
There is much more to say, as there will be about all these days, and those are things you will learn as
you keep these days and assemble with other true Christians who do likewise.
PENTECOST
Today, we have no particular rituals to observe on Pentecost, except not to work and to gather for a “holy
convocation”. But before I get into the meaning of the day, you need to know that the original giving of
the Ten Commandments was also done on the day of Pentecost; proving that is a fun little exercise in
Bible study.
Israel left Egypt on the 15th day of the first month. The first day they were still in Egypt, fleeing Pharaoh,
and on the last day they crossed the Red Sea and escaped. Then they worked their way to Mt. Sinai where
they received the law. But few realize it is possible to precisely date all these events.
Look in your extra material, and you’ll find those blank calendar sheets. Download and print three blank
calendar sheets with no day numbers on them. Don’t skip this step, it’s important, and fun! Now number
the months 1, 2, 3. Then read all of Exodus 16. The purpose of this chapter was to record how Israel was
officially given the Sabbath command, and when the manna began to fall.
They arrived in the wilderness of Sin on the 15th day of the second month (and no, the Hebrew name
“Sin” doesn’t mean “sin”). On this day, the Israelites were complaining, so God promised them manna
on the next day (verses 4-8).
Then the manna fell for six days (verse 22), and on that sixth day God said the NEXT day was a Sabbath.
So since that would be a Sabbath, the sixth day was a Friday; and so counting back six days shows that
the promise of the manna, given the 15th day of the second month, was made on a Sabbath!
8So on your calendar marked “second month”, find the Sabbath column, and on the third row down mark
that it was the 15th of the month, and write beneath it “the wilderness of Sin, manna promised”. On the
next day (Sunday, the 16th), write that the manna fell, and then find the next Sabbath and number it the
22nd day of the month.
Then fill in the un-numbered days in between, then count backwards; when you get to the first day of the
second month (a Sabbath), go to the bottom of the first month on the day before (it should be a Friday)
and write “30” (God’s ideal months are always 30 days), and keep going until you have all three calendars
filled.
Now you’ll see that the 14th day of the first month, the Passover, fell on a Wednesday; the Exodus on a
Thursday; and the drowning of Pharaoh next Wednesday. Until after the drowning of Pharaoh, they had
been fleeing Egypt. They didn’t take the time to camp until they were trapped at the Red Sea, on the night
that began the 21st day (remember, these days are always sunset to sunset!). This encampment was at
Succoth.
Now read Numbers 33:5-8. Rameses was where they left Egypt from (verse 3), the next site was
Succoth, where they spent the 21st. The 22nd was spent at Etham, the 23rd at Pihahiroth, and the 24th at
Marah. So Marah was on a Sabbath, which your calendar should show as well. So write “Marah” on that
day.
Back in Exodus 15:22-23, it again records that they went three days from the Red Sea and encamped at
Marah. The rest of Exodus only records encampments once a week; so every time it records an
encampment it was on a Sabbath, as you’ll see it lays out perfectly. Verse 27 says they came to Elim and
encamped; write “Elim” on the next Sabbath.
Exodus 16:1 says they left Egypt, and came to the wilderness of Sin. This is the third encampment after
the Red Sea, so write “Wilderness of Sin” on that day; the same day the manna was promised that you
already read about.
The next Sabbath they were still at the wilderness of Sin (verses 23-27). Then they moved to Rephidim
in Exodus 17:1, where water came from the stone. This event took place at Mt. Horeb (verse 5), and
Horeb is another name for Sinai – see Exodus 3:1 and Deuteronomy 4:15.
So they were at Sinai – but were apparently on the wrong side, for though they are in “Rephidim”,
Exodus 17:6 and 18:5 place them at the “mount of God”, “Horeb”, and yet Exodus 19:1-2 shows them
moving FROM Rephidim to Sinai. So Rephidim was near Sinai, on one side of the mountain, and then
they moved from there to the other side – a short journey.
Exodus 19:1 says they arrived at Sinai “in the third month… the same day…”. This can mean one of two
things; the same day of the month that they left Egypt (the 15th), or the same day of the week (a Thursday).
We know they were in the neighborhood of Sinai on the 29th day of the second month, it is inconceivable
it took them over two weeks to travel the rest of the way. So it probably wasn’t the same day of the
month.
But if they arrived on a Thursday, the same day of the WEEK that they left Egypt, in the week following
their last encampment at Rephidim, then they would have arrived at Sinai on the fourth day of the third
month. Write that in your calendar. The next day, Friday, Exodus 19:3-6 records that Moses went up to
the mountain to receive a message from God.
9Then he returned to the people, and then went up the mountain again to get more instructions in verses
8-9. What were those instructions? Verses 10-11. What did Moses do? Verses 15-16. So in your calendar,
on the 5th day of the third month, write “Today”, then “Tomorrow” and then “The Third Day”.
You’ll find it falls on a Sunday. In fact, you’ll find it falls after exactly SEVEN WEEKS from the Sunday
during the Days of Unleavened Bread! Because it was the day of PENTECOST!
THE MEANING OF PENTECOST
The church was started on Pentecost. On that day, God gave the holy spirit. Now God could have chosen
any day of the year to do that, but He didn’t – He did it then. Do you suppose God had no reason to
choose that particular day?
Did Christ’s disciples know when Pentecost was, and gather specifically to observe it? Acts 2:1. What
time of day was it? Acts 2:15 [Note: The third hour was about 9am]. And on the morning of that holy
day, what happened? Verses 2-4. So if someone had refused to keep Pentecost that year for any reason,
he would not have been there – and would have missed the giving of the holy spirit!
Did Peter explain what was going on? Verses 14-20. Did Peter say a particular prophecy (not the holy
day) was fulfilled on that day? Verse 16. And what did people who believed receive on that day? Verses
37-38.
So on that day God (by His spirit) spoke to man. The spirit “gave them utterance” to speak His will.
Remember that fact. On the same day, they saw fire descend from heaven, heard loud noises like wind,
and Peter said it fulfilled Joel’s prophecy of smoke and other signs.
When God gives someone His spirit, what happens? 1 John 4:13. Are there conditions on having that
spirit dwell in you? 1 John 3:24. Are you a place for God to live? Ephesians 2:22. So God lives in you?
1 Corinthians 3:16. And where is that spirit? 2 Corinthians 1:22.
But what is God trying to accomplish in you? Hebrews 10:16. How is God going to write that law in
your hearts? 2 Corinthians 3:3. Can you know God without keeping His law? 1 John 2:4. So God is
writing His laws on your heart by His spirit. Without His spirit – without Him living in you to help you
understand the law, you couldn’t understand it! (1 Corinthians 2:14, 16).
You could only understand the letter of that Law as ancient Israel did; but to understand the spirit of
God’s Law, you must have God’s holy spirit present within you, interpreting it during every experience
you encounter in life.
You may have noticed in 2 Corinthians 3:3 that Paul makes a clear contrast between the spirit writing
laws on your hearts and God writing laws on the tablets at Sinai. This is no accident – for the Bible
reveals the Ten Commandments were given ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST!
Over 1,500 years before the holy spirit was given, God gave Israel the Ten Commandments –
accompanied by many of the same signs as in Acts 2! Read Exodus 19:16-18. The third day here was
Pentecost, as you just proved.
Notice many of the same signs; smoke, loud noise, “the Lord descending in a fire” (compare with Acts
2:3), and God speaking His will to man. Notice also that it was at the same time of day in both places!
“In the morning”!
10And on this day, God gave man the laws that were to be written on stone – just as 1,500-odd years later,
He gave man the spirit to “decode” that law and make it apply to every conceivable situation!
The morning of that holy day, God gave mankind His law; the same day, a little over 1,500 years later,
God gave mankind His spirit to interpret that law! And on the same day, yet in our future… something
even greater is going to happen!
Anyone not keeping Pentecost with Moses 3,500 years ago would not have been a part of the Covenant
God made with Israel! Anyone not keeping Pentecost with Peter 2,000 years ago would not have been a
part of the NEW Covenant God made with His church!
And anyone not keeping Pentecost when God returns… just think about that.
BUT WHAT DOES PENTECOST MEAN?
God gave man His law on Pentecost, and His spirit on Pentecost. What do those have in common? Here
is a simple logical equation;
The nature of God is love (1 John 4:8) – a simple equation of A = B.
Love is the keeping of the law (Romans 13:10, 2 John 1:6, 1 John 5:3). A simple equation of B = C.
And that equation requires the conclusion that C = A: The keeping of the law is God’s nature.
To put it in clearer terms, the law is the most basic expression God’s nature. The law defines what God’s
nature is like. God cannot break any of those laws (James 1:13, 1 John 3:9). He wouldn’t even want to,
because it’s His deepest lust to live according to them, even as it’s your deepest lust to take care of #1.
So if you know those facts about God, you KNOW what God would do in any situation. You know what
God WANTS in any situation – He wants the solution that fulfills those laws, which is always the solution
that is the most loving, because love is the keeping of those laws in all four sides.
This means without those laws, you couldn’t know God. You might know His name, where He lived,
something He did 2,000 years ago… but you can’t know HIM, you can’t know His NATURE, without
the laws that DEFINE His nature! (1 John 2:4).
It would be like claiming to know me based on where I lived, my name, and the fact that I once traveled
to Mexico. You don’t know me! You only know a few unimportant things about me – and without God’s
law, that’s as good as you can ever hope to know God!
You can’t know anyone until you know their character;will they steal from you? Can you trust them
with your life? Will they lie to you, kill you, cheat you? The Ten Commandments answer all those
questions about God, so you can truly get to know His holy nature.
So for ancient Israel to have any hope of being God’s people, and KNOWING God, He had to introduce
Himself to them, which He did by giving them His law. But man is carnal, and his nature rebelled against
that law (Romans 8:7).
So God had to send the law AND a way of understanding it, which was His spirit – He lives in us and
helps us apply the law, so that we can know Him better. The giving of the law was God’s business card,
in a manner of speaking; it defined His nature on paper (well, stone actually).
11But that could be misinterpreted, because words on stone are not alive. So God sent us His spirit – a piece
of His nature living inside of us and explaining those words to us, helping us to understand them and
know Him better.
It’s rather like the difference between knowing a person through letters you’ve exchanged with them, and
knowing them over a telephone; no amount of words can convey the thoughts and feelings of a person
as well as a few minutes on the phone. This is the difference between knowing God through laws written
on stone and knowing God through His spirit.
And yet even over the phone, you can’t truly know a person. You can become quite close, but it’s still
not the same as literally knowing a person face-to-face (Deuteronomy 34:10). And so it is with God,
too. Read Revelation 21:3.
One day, far in the future when the Earth is cleansed and the plan of God is finished, God intends to
literally, physically, actually dwell with man. On that day, we will truly meet Him for the first time. No
more phone calls, no more letters… face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12).
And that is the ultimate fulfillment of Pentecost. Three successive stages of introduction; first in word,
then in spirit, finally in body; each Pentecost bringing us closer to that state Jesus prayed for when He
said…
John 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one
in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
And that’s the meaning of Pentecost.
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