Where is Pentecost in the Old Testament Feasts?
by Kim Arnold
One of the things that I love about our church is that we celebrate the church calendar throughout the year. We get to remember, reflect and sometimes re-enact the Gospel story. As we just celebrated Pentecost this past Sunday, I wanted to take a moment and reflect on what occurred at Pentecost in the New Testament, and what the precursor to Pentecost was in the Old Testament. We read in Acts 1 and 2 that Jesus, having been with his disciples 50 days after his resurrection, ascended to heaven, at which time the Holy Spirit was sent to all believers. Jesus’ promise that the Holy Spirit would come (John 14 and 15, Acts 1) was fulfilled at Pentecost, and the Spirit continues to reveal Christ to us and unite us with him today, which occurs through a personal relationship with Christ.
Did you know, however, that the timing of Christ’s final week, death, resurrection and ascension was not accidental? Instead, it was a fulfillment in sacred time, where Christ fulfilled all of the celebrations of the Old Testament feasts. Leviticus 23 lists the annual feasts that the Israelites were supposed to keep. In order, the Israelites celebrated ever year: Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Firstfruits, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Booths. Pentecost occurs at the end of the Feast of Weeks. The Israelites offered a sheaf of the firstfruit of barley that was offered to the Lord in the sanctuary on the day after their Sabbath. Christ fulfilled this feast with his resurrection, offering himself as the firstfruit for all mankind, which occurred on the day after the Jewish sabbath!
Following the Feast of Firstfruits, the Israelites celebrated the Feast of Weeks, which were fifty days of allowing the harvest to ripen. Their festival culminated with a celebration where they commemorated the giving of the Law at Sinai. Have you made the connection yet? At Pentecost, we celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit to all believers. God sent his Spirit to unite all believers into one body. God’s plan was to write the law on the hearts of believers, as he had given it at Sinai.
Does the timing of all these events blow your mind? I’m reminded, like Pastor Rick often states, that all of the Old Testament points forward to Christ, and Christ fulfills all of the Old Testament. Erin Davis states that the feasts “are not just days on the calendar, they are an invitation to a forgetful people, given by a faithful God, to praise and remember.”
If you are intrigued by this topic and want to learn more, join Kim for a bible study by Erin Davis this summer titled 7 Feasts: Finding Christ in the Sacred Celebrations of the Old Testament. We will meet on Wednesday evenings from 6:15 - 7:30 p.m. in Missions Café. Register at www.councilroadwomen.org/calendar.
Further reading:
Ferguson, Sinclair. The Holy Spirit: Contours of Christian Theology. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996.
Ross, Allen P. Recalling the Hope of Glory: Biblical Worship from the Garden to the New Creation. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2006.
Author Bio
Kim has been a member of Council Road for 28 years, where she loves singing in choir and leading worship on Sunday mornings. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Church Music and Worship from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and enjoys teaching future worship leaders the importance of biblical training in worship leading. Kim and Jason have been married for 20 years and have one son, Nolan, and a yellow lab, Daisy. When not working, the Arnold family loves hiking in God's beautiful creation.