One For Israel

Dr. Erez Soref: Thank you for joining us on our special Pentecost or Shavuot episode. Sisi and I are discussing the origin, the application, and the fulfillment of this wonderful appointed day. Shalom, Sisi.

Sisi: Shalom.

Dr. Erez Soref: The origin of Shavuot, of Pentecost... Shavuot in Hebrew, as we know, is "weeks." So, seven weeks after the first Sunday, the first day of the week after the Passover, which is the waving of the first sheaf. The first fruit of the first fruit is waved before God as a meaning of saying, "We give you our very first, our very best, in faith that you will bring a multiple harvest."

Once that was done, 50 days are counted, seven weeks, and then comes the time of the year, the summertime, where the wheat is harvested. There is great joy, a lot of work, but great joy. This is the main food in the Middle East—wheat and wheat bread and all that. That is the origin in the Mosaic covenant.

Sisi: There are several interesting things regarding celebrating Shavuot which are worth noting. For example, it says to bring a new offering. What's new about it? There are other meal offerings, but this is a new meal offering.

This is the only meal offering where leaven is required to be baked and waved before the Lord. That is in Leviticus 23. But in Leviticus 2, it says that no leaven should be in those offerings. We must ask, what is so significant about it having leaven?

Dr. Erez Soref: Let me sum up here just to make sure that everybody understands. Once a year, on the Feast of Pentecost, God said you bring the new... you bring those two loaves of bread, including yeast, including leaven, from the new flour that you ground from the new harvest, and you wave it, you present it before God. Why is that significant?

Sisi: Leaven is in it, and the other thing is it should not be burned by fire. That's two different things that we must talk about. First of all, leaven in Scriptures represents sin and corruption. All others, like in Leviticus where it says all other meals have to have no leaven, is because they represented Yeshua.

Yeshua is the sinless Messiah. He's the Lamb of God, the sinless Lamb of God who will die for our sins. So, leaven was not to be there. But here, this new meal—and the issue also on the "new," we will get to that later—but this new meal offering does not represent Yeshua; it represents us. It represents us as sinners, and therefore, leaven is there.

Now, a new meal offering means that there is something new about this meal. The fulfillment, the interpretation of it, we can see together as we go into the New Testament and look at the book of Acts and the Gospels. That brings us to the birth of the Kehilah, the church.

Dr. Erez Soref: Before we go there, what is the significance in your opinion of the fact that there are two loaves? It's not just one; it's two loaves that also stand out in the sacrifices.

Sisi: Two loaves on one sheaf. We know in the fulfillment that it represents two peoples. One loaf represents the Jewish people that come to faith, and the other one represents Gentile believers that come to faith.

They're put on the same sheaf. They're wrapped together. They're put on the same sheaf, not separately. That means there will be a new people to the Lord that will be the waving of the offering to the Lord. To be waved to the Lord means they're accepted.

The "no fire"—why no fire? Because the fire of God on the sacrifice meant wrath and judgment and death. But this new offering, this new people to the Lord, are not under judgment, are not wrath and death, but new life, a new birth, and accepted to the Lord.

Dr. Erez Soref: It's a beautiful picture. In Acts chapter 2, the chapter begins when we read about the fullness of the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. The Greek word there is actually very interesting. It doesn't mean just this time of year came around, the year was fulfilled, but it refers to the fulfillment, the ultimate fulfillment of that appointed day.

Just like the Passover was fulfilled, the feast of unleavened bread was fulfilled, and the waving of the sheaf in the resurrection of the Messiah was fulfilled. Now, the Feast of Pentecost has fully consumed. This is it.

I always find it super interesting. What's the first thing that happens on that day? They're all gathered. Jewish believers are gathered, 120 Jewish believers are gathered. Then there is a sound.

I think that the fact that the first thing that is happening in Acts chapter 2 is the noise, the rushing wind. Something happens, our ears are perked up, and that is a repetition or fulfillment of what happened in Exodus 19 when the people of Israel were on Mount Sinai.

The first thing that happened was they were prepared to meet him, and there was this great noise and thunders. It was a pretty scary experience. Here, it was also confusing. What's happening? But the sound is the first thing that happens.

Sisi: Following that, in Exodus 19, we read that there is a great fire and they see things. The cloud came down. Here, you see the tongues of fire. That's something also. The fire did not burn the meal offering.

But then fire comes down from heaven and fire lands on each one of them. That is a beautiful picture of what wasn't consumed by fire. They were not consumed by fire because Yeshua already did that for us. He took the rest so that we won't have to take it.

Then we are accepted, and the Holy Spirit landing on us is this enormous, interesting reality of being filled by it. Then also understanding that we were baptized by the Spirit into a new reality, which is into Yeshua. We become one with him, one body with him.

Dr. Erez Soref: That's beautiful. I still want to say a word about the fire. When the fire is coming down, that takes us right back to when God made the covenant with Abraham. There was the pillar of fire.

When God led the Israelites outside of Egypt and in the desert, there was a pillar of fire. There was a pillar that we were following. Now, as you said, it's different. It's coming down on each one. It's a personal thing.

Then the result... I can only imagine this day in Jerusalem. You have these fishermen from the Galilee and some other people that are not high up in society. But Jerusalem is filled with Jewish people from all over the known world at the time—throughout the Middle East and Europe of today. They all come to worship at the temple.

That's one of the three times a year that Jews are coming. Then this bunch of 120 people from the lower strata of society go out on the streets and they start speaking perfect Parthian, perfect Akkadian, perfect Roman, perfect Greek. Everybody is amazed. How does this simpleton speak our language perfectly, telling the glories of God?

Sisi: Can you highlight the fact of the first fruit of the harvest? There is a meaning in that there's a first fruit and who they are, and then the second loaf that comes on the same sheaf.

Dr. Erez Soref: That is a very beautiful picture of God's plan of salvation because God is the God of the universe and he has always intended for all people to come to know him. The fulfillment that we talk about of those two loaves put together, wrapped together, or put on a same sheaf is obviously the Jewish people and the Gentiles, the multitude of nations.

What we see in Acts chapter 2 is once those tongues of fire representing the Holy Spirit are filling those fishermen and simple people, they go out and they tell mostly Jewish people, probably some people that are not Jewish but they come to worship the God of Israel.

They're from all around, almost a perfect circle around the land of Israel. They tell them the glories of God, and then we read that through the power of the Holy Spirit, 3,000 people come to know the Lord.

Sisi: So, the first fruits is really the Jewish people that are in Jerusalem, which is significant, first fruits of the harvest. But then in Acts 10, we read how Peter goes to the house of Cornelius and then the Holy Spirit falls on them.

He claims and he declares that this is what God promised to do. The Spirit fell upon them. Therefore, what happened to us happened to them. That is the acceptance also of the Gentiles into this incredible plan of God to join into the one man, to be a one man in Yeshua. Not that all of a sudden we stop being Israelis, but we become the body of Yeshua together.

Dr. Erez Soref: What a beautiful picture. Would you say that the fulfillment of Shavuot, the ultimate fulfillment of Shavuot is actually the birth of this incredible church at Pentecost and the receiving of the outpouring of the Spirit?

Sisi: What is beautiful about that is that for the Holy Spirit to fall, there needed to be two things happening, and that was Jesus's ascension to the right hand of the Father and Jesus's glorification. Before that, the Spirit could not have fallen.

So, he ascended, he sat at the right hand, he was glorified, and then he sent the Spirit. That is what we should focus on. Jesus did everything. The Holy Spirit came. It was promised that not in many days the Spirit will come.

The profound thing that he did everything for us... the Holy Spirit came upon us. The Holy Spirit baptized us. This is now a period of an interval of four months. What I mean is that the first four feasts happen within 51 days. Those are considered the spring feasts.

Then we see that there is a four-month interval before the fall feasts—a dry, hot summer before fall feasts. You think, what is the meaning of this four-month interval? In those four months' interval, there is a verse. What does it say? It says leave gleaning for the poor, for the needy, for the widow. You wonder, is that just a side note? No, not unless you understand God's program.

This is significant, and it's very beautiful because at this time the harvesting and the labor harvesting of wheat represent evangelism, discipleship, and fruit.

Dr. Erez Soref: Amen. The feast of Shavuot, of Pentecost reminds us that this is a first fruit. There's even a greater harvest yet to come. We know there's a lot of work to be done. We see that among our own people, we see that throughout the world.

The need is increasing, not decreasing. So, the harvest is plentiful. We continue to, as Jesus commanded us, pray for more harvesters. That is a central point of prayer, not only for us in Israel but throughout the world.

Sisi: Maybe to end this, but we labor now in a new way. The Holy Spirit baptized us, filled us, and we have the power of the Holy Spirit in us to do what he's called us to do.

We no longer do it in our power. He is the power behind it. He will do it. He who began a good work in you, it says, will be faithful to complete it.

Dr. Erez Soref: Amen. Thank you for joining us, and we pray and trust this discussion was thought-provoking and encouraging for you. Please remember, you are that first fruit. You are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit to serve the living God and be his witnesses for this needy world. May God bless you. Shalom.