Lessons in the Ladder Days

Candace Long: I'm Candace Long with Lessons in the Latter Days, offering biblical commentary to make sense of the times that we're living in. Before I introduce today's topic, I want to make an observation about your response to this series, Lessons in the Latter Days. What has blown me away is seeing that the fastest-growing downloads have been the ones containing revelation that came from studying the Torah.

Such as the last episode called Torah 101: Counting the Omer, which has become one of the fastest-growing downloads in the whole series. That has thrilled me because one of my mandates is to connect you more with our Jewish roots to prepare you for the kingdom. We need to understand that God's kingdom is Jewish. Everything we read about in the Old Testament on how to approach God, how to worship him, how to serve him, how to walk in his ways, still goes on in the kingdom every day.

That kingdom is in heaven. There is a temple, and priests, and Levites, and very soon all of that will be established here on earth. Not as a church, not as a religion called Christianity, but as the real thing that we read about in the Torah. So what I'm seeing is a hunger that many of you have to learn more, which brings us to today's topic that I've been working on for weeks, called Torah 101: Shavuot.

Now in Hebrew, the word Shavuot means weeks. Shavuot as a festival is often referred to as the Festival of Weeks because, as you may remember from the last episode, we have just been through seven weeks of counting the Omer to get to this festival. Let's review. In Leviticus 23, the Lord told Moses, "Say to the people of Israel, 'The appointed feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, my appointed feasts are these.'"

And then he lists all of the times that the Lord wants his people to meet with him personally. Now this passage lists the seven festivals that happen every year. Remember the term used for these festivals is holy convocation, which is the Hebrew word miqra, and that's best translated as a rehearsal. Let me paint a picture so you can see how these festivals all fit. Not only each one independently, but how they work together to prepare us for the kingdom.

That's God's objective. He created a spiritual curriculum to help us transform from one condition to another, from rough-edged, scraggly, and worldly to refined, free of defilement, and of such quality reflecting God that we nourish the world. The festivals are these anointed encounters with God through which we become more and more like him, and we are then fit to enter the kingdom.

I want you to picture the menorah, which is the Hebrew word for lamp. As you may know, the menorah is the seven-branched candelabra originally used in the first and second temples in Jerusalem. Now the menorah is a tavnit or picture that in itself teaches us many things, but I'm only going to mention three of them and then pull them together so they make sense.

First, the menorah is a picture of the seven spirits that are always before the throne of God. Here are the seven spirits in the order they are listed in Isaiah 11. Number one is called the spirit of the Lord, which is considered mercy. Number two, the spirit of wisdom. Number three, the spirit of understanding. Number four, the spirit of counsel. Number five, the spirit of might. Number six, the spirit of knowledge. And number seven, the spirit of the fear of the Lord.

Each light represents its own attribute, but together they comprise the fullness of Ruach HaKodesh, the spirit of God. The second picture to put in your mind is the seven candles on the menorah are arranged in such a way that the middle candle, the fourth one, is distinct from the others because it is attached fully to the base. Now picture yourself standing in front of the menorah. The three candles on the far left, candles one, two, and three, point to the right, or they shine toward the fourth candle.

The three candles on the far right as you're looking at them, candles five, six, and seven, point backwards and shine back to the middle one, candle four, whose flame only points upward. Now the third picture, which I teach from a lot, is called the Seven-Day Plan of God. The whole period of time that God gave us on this earth, if you look at it on a straight line, is divided up into seven days, each day lasting 1,000 years.

God has given mankind six days, or 6,000 years, from creation to the end of day six. And then we come to day seven, which is different. This is the seventh day, the Sabbath, the Day of the Lord, which lasts 1,000 years. That's the kingdom. Now what makes this cool is that Messiah was crucified at the very end of day four. He's the one in the middle, rooted to the candelabra itself.

Days one, two, and three represent all the years before the Messiah, which points the way toward his coming, which is day four. Days five, six, and seven all shine back and reflect his glory. Now let me bring these three concepts together for you so that the seven festivals make more sense. Now you're still looking at the menorah straight ahead.

The three festivals representing candles one, two, and three are Pesach or Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and Bikkurim or First Fruits, the day that we celebrate Jesus' resurrection. As the Passover Lamb, the Bread of Life, and the First Fruits from the dead, Jesus fulfilled every detail enacted in these three festivals, which teach the world about his first coming.

This fourth candle is the next appointed gathering, which is Shavuot, and we'll explore its lessons in a minute, but let's finish the menorah imagery by saying that Jesus will also fulfill to the letter the last three festivals that have to do with his second coming. These remaining three, candles five, six, and seven, represent Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot.

Jesus will fulfill all of them at day seven when the final trump sounds at Rosh Hashanah, and that's when the kingdom begins. So in summary, the first three festivals prepared us for his first coming, and the last three teach us about his second coming. And by celebrating all of them, God prepares us for the kingdom. I need to pause here and say that if you never celebrate the festivals, you're not going to lose your salvation.

But you will not be fully prepared. You will not have a mature understanding of God's timetable. Now this is your choice to learn fully from God's curriculum or not. Let's turn now to this middle candle and learn more about the festival of Shavuot. It is such an important one, and I could say a lot about it, but today we'll focus only on three parts: number one, the procession; number two, when God shows up on the mountain; and number three, the betrothal.

Now, as with all tavniyot, we will look at the event in the natural and then draw lessons from it. And my primary resource for this teaching comes from Rabbi Michael Washer's book, When All the Pictures Are Restored. Part one: the procession. In preparing for Shavuot, all the men assembled in each village, town, and city of what's called the Ma'amad to prepare to go up to offer their first fruits at the temple.

Now the word Ma'amad refers to the 24 courses of the priesthood that David divided up in his organization of his kingdom. There was a specific way in which this ascent or going up to Zion was done, and it's described in the Mishnah. The men all slept in the street. They did not enter any houses so they would not become unclean. The priests and Levites from each town formed what's called a mishmar or temple guard to protect the offerings that were set aside for God.

So early in the morning, the appointed head would wake up everyone and shout, "Wake up, arise, let us go up to Zion to the house of the Lord our God." In front of the procession went a bull, its horns overlaid in pure gold, with a crown or wreath made of olive leaves on its head. This would be a peace offering given by the men of each city. And as they joyously went up to Jerusalem, a flute led the procession and they recited together the Psalms of Ascent, those are Psalms 120 to 134.

As they got near to the Temple Mount, the governors and heads of the priests would go out to greet them and say, "Men of such and such a place, be welcome." Now, Rabbi Washer writes, if you can catch a glimpse of this joyous time from God's point of view, it was like a party where his children bragged about how great their father had been to them that year. Shavuot is a large offering of first fruits, and it is a picture or tavnit for the resurrection.

The men of each city and village are a picture of every man and woman who is awaiting the coming kingdom of God after 6,000 years. They slept in the street so as not to become unclean before going up to the house of God. In the same way, those who arise in the resurrection will be clean. Messiah's Spirit will have cleansed them. And they will have been awaiting their aliyah or going up.

They will know the date, and they will have made themselves ready. The head of the procession calling to wake up is a picture of the angels calling to the righteous dead to wake up from their sleep and go up. Their ascent will be in rank, in order, Ma'amad. We see this in 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul writes, "Now Messiah has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who sleep. But each in his own order: Messiah the first fruits, after that those who belong to Messiah at his coming."

Millions of righteous souls will ascend in order, starting with Adam, and then Abel, and every succeeding generation in order. The sound of the flute, the pierced one, will lead the way. The bull represents a living sacrifice, adorned with gold and a crown. And offerings of all that grew in their ground were freely given to God. Now this gives you a little taste of the pictures that come to life when we celebrate the festivals.

I had a call recently from a man of God who was struggling with the concept of tithing because his church taught that offerings and tithes are part of the old law that Christians don't have to do anymore. I want you to consider this: a lot of people struggle with giving to God part of what he's given to us. Now I want you to compare that attitude to the joyous gathering of farmers and priests and Levites, all working together to guard their offerings in order to go up and joyously give thanks for all that God has supplied.

Now do you see a disconnect here? I certainly do, and I can't help but wonder if the droughts and food shortages that we are experiencing now have not resulted from our disconnect from honoring God's times to celebrate and be more mindful of our harvest. Part two: when God shows up. Shavuot is celebrated on the sixth of Sivan, exactly 50 days from the 17th of Nisan, which is Bikkurim, the day that we celebrate Messiah's resurrection.

This day, Shavuot, was why God sent Moses to get his people out of Egypt in the first place. Not to go to the promised land, but to come and meet with him at the mountain of God and receive his Torah. That's why the people spent seven weeks of counting the Omer every day to prepare themselves spiritually to meet with God. Now God chose Mount Sinai as his mountain. It's not the tallest, most impressive mountain in the land and in fact, compared to other mountains, it's rather humble.

But that's the one that God chose. And when the people arrived at the mountain, God set in motion his betrothal contract. Now we read about this in Exodus 19, when God gives Moses a message. "Tell the people of Israel, 'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will hear my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples. For all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.'"

Peter refers to this passage in 1 Peter 2 talking to followers of Jesus, saying, "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people." Same terminology. This is God's offer of betrothal to those who choose to accept this level of spiritual commitment. Now we need to honestly ask ourselves, does that describe me? Am I totally consecrated to serve God? Do I take time to listen to him and attend him when he calls an appointed meeting?

If not, something internally in your spirit is missing. And God gives us these times, yearly festivals like Shavuot, to make sure that we stay in right standing with the father. He is training us to become his nation of kings and priests, separate from all the other nations of the world. Shavuot was the day when Israel saw God. He showed up on the mountain. Here's how it's described in Exodus 19: "On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast so that all the people in the camp trembled."

Now it has long been taught by the sages that on Shavuot, God gave the Torah on Mount Sinai in a very unusual way. He gave what we refer to as the Ten Commandments. In Hebrew, this is called Aseret HaDibrot, which means the ten sayings. Now what's amazing is that God spoke these ten sayings in all of the languages of the earth. Now how many was that? Deuteronomy 32 tells us that God separated the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the sons of Israel.

And Genesis 46 tells us that all the persons of the house of Jacob were 70. So God thundered his voice in all 70 languages at one time. The rabbis teach that God spoke in tongues on Shavuot. Now this may shock you, but let me explain. Exodus 20 reads, "All the people perceived the thunderings and lightnings and the sound of the shofar." The word for thunderings is plural, Kolot, which literally means voices or languages.

The most common word for thunder was not used. So the rabbinical thinking as to what happened at Shavuot is described in the Midrash this way: "When God gave the Torah on Sinai, he displayed untold marvels to Israel with his voice. His voice reverberated throughout all the world. It says and all the people witnessed the thunderings. Wherefore Rabbi Yochanan said that God's voice, as it was uttered, split up into 70 voices in 70 languages so that all of the gentiles could understand in their own language."

Now this incredible event was repeated to the letter as we read in Acts 2 as the believers were worshipping God in the temple. "When the day of Shavuot had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came the sound of a violent rushing wind that filled the whole house. And there appeared to them divided tongues of fire distributing themselves. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them ability to speak.

The Jews in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven heard them speak in his own tongue." So just as the revelation of God, the Torah, was poured out at Mount Sinai on Shavuot. 1,500 years later on the same day, God poured out his Holy Spirit in his house on Mount Zion. Two mountains, two revelations from God, both spoken in the language of all nations so that God's ways could be carried into all 70 nations.

Part three is the betrothal. One of the main themes of Shavuot is that the Torah and Holy Spirit are one. Speaking the same language, expressing the one who is perfect. This is illustrated in the life of Messiah who lived totally by the Spirit of God and was described as Torah in the flesh. Sadly, a doctrine crept into the early church called antinomianism. This is a term that means "no law."

It basically states that Jesus did away with the law. But the Lord himself clearly said in Matthew 5:17, "Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I've not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." And then he says something even more unsettling a few verses later: "Whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven."

The covenant of betrothal that God made with his people was exactly the same in the Old Testament and the new. He poured out the essence of himself and gave an invitation how to be in covenant with him. Just as God's Jewish children will one day embrace the Messiah. He is also waiting for believers in Messiah to one day embrace and regard all that he gave to Moses in the Torah.

Zechariah sums up God's heart in chapter 14 when he writes, "In that day," which refers to the Day of the Lord, "the Lord shall be one, and his name one." At Shavuot, the Lord entered into a covenant with Israel. This is the foundation of the expression "the bride of God" or "the body of Messiah." It was made between God and Israel. This same covenant is offered to us gentiles as believers in Yeshua.

But this covenant was never intended to be apart from the Jewish body. On Shavuot, God showed himself to his people Israel, and they covenanted themselves by accepting God's betrothal terms. And we find this in Exodus 24:7 which sums up the heart of the Jewish people when they received the Torah. "Then Moses took the scroll of the covenant and read it in the hearing of all the people, and they said, 'We will do, and we will hear.'"

Now their response is the exact opposite of what the world does. In the world, somebody tells us what to do and then we obey. In God's betrothal contract, we do his instruction first and then we hear it or listen as God teaches about it. This is God's way. His curriculum. In closing, if you are looking for a way to reconnect better to the faith of our fathers but don't know how to begin.

Let me refer you to a monograph that I wrote about my own journey. It's called Jewish Roots: God's Call to Reconnect. You'll find it in my online store. Just go to candacelong.com/store and look for Jewish Roots. You'll find this episode in all of my podcasts and resources at candacelong.com. I hope you join me again next time for Lessons in the Latter Days. God bless.