Counting on Pentecost

Deuteronomy 16 is an incredible passage for us today. It outlines the three major feasts of Israels calendar year with astonishing brevity making certain to work precise details into the text so that we learn how to approach their realities in the New Testament fulfillment.

Deuteronomy 16:1 (ESV) “Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the LORD your God, for in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.

First, they were to observe the month in which they were to KEEP the Passover to the Lord. This happened every first month of the year. This practice rehearsed the nation's defining moment as God's new born nation from out of slavery. Their time as a people started the day God saved them. Today we celebrate the Lord's table as the start of the new work of God in our lives. 

Deuteronomy 16:9–10 (ESV) “You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. 10 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.

The next feast to be celebrated was Pentecost. The name means 50 because God commanded them to count off 7 weeks from the time they offered first fruits to God after Passover. So it took place beginning 50 days after the initial offering. This feast also celebrated the harvest that was to come in. 

In the Church we celebrate that the Day on Pentecost fully came to the Church beginning with Acts 2 and is continuing to this day as God brings in the untold numbers of people from the first to the last. Whomever the Lord God calls to Himself. 

Finally, the Feast of Booths in which all Israel would camp around the Tabernacle in makeshift booths together as God's people. Notice the wording:
Deuteronomy 16:13–15 (ESV) “You shall keep the Feast of Booths seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress. 14 You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns. 15 For seven days you shall keep the feast to the LORD your God at the place that the LORD will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.

This is a picture of heaven. After the harvest comes in fully, the Church is gathered into the place of God's dwelling. All are welcome, no distinctions are made according to family, social status or gender. It is a seven day feast signifying the completion of God's work in the world to save a people for Himself. 

This is a beautiful picture of the Church in the New Testament - past, present and future. 

We are to remember and observe our past - saved from sins through the blood of a lamb. 
We are to anticipate our future - one day God will call us home. 

But in the present, we are to rely on the power of God given to the Church in the Holy Spirit to bring in the harvest. It will cross cultures, it will encompass every continent and nation. It will bring us to places we have never been or dreamed. We will partner with God to see the hearts of men and women regenerated for His glory. What a task the Church has. 

How will we do it? Go back to the wording regarding Pentecost and take notice. Verse 9: "You shall COUNT seven weeks. Being to count from the time the sickle is put to the standing grain." I love that word, "count". As in, we are to count on the power of the Holy Spirit to see this happen. 

I've been in Churches that count on the Holy Spirit and those who do not. The difference is visible, palatable and grand. Only when a Church counts on what God supplied and not what they can do in their talents and abilities does that Church fulfill the destiny of God's purpose to reach those God is bringing to Himself. 

I don't want to count on my talents alone. I want to count on God's power igniting what He's given me to see His Kingdom come. I want to trust Him alone. We can and we should COUNT on Him. 

Holy Spirit help us. 



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