Week Five | The Feast of Weeks

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7 Feasts Online Biblical Study
Reading Assignment – Week Five (Pg. 148-181)
Listen to the Audio version | Reading Time: 4 minutes

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This year is a big one for me.  I will turn 30 years old in October.  As I am living out the final year of my 20s, I can tell you, without hesitation, that where I am today isn’t exactly where I pictured I would be when I made it to this milestone year.  

I remember in high school having a deep conversation about marriage with a few of my closest friends.  In this conversation, I laid out my detailed plan for the future.  This plan included waiting until I was 23 to get married, 24 to purchase my first home, and by 25 I would be ready to start having kids.  Logically, this plan made sense.  It gave me plenty of time to finish college and get established in my career before finding a husband, planting roots, and starting a family.  

So as I got closer to 23, I started counting down the days until I met my future husband, instead, years have come and gone, and here I am at 29, still counting.  Each day I ask myself, “How much longer will I have to wait?”

The Feast of Weeks

In week 5 of 7 Feasts by Erin Davis, we learn about the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost (in Greek), which is the fourth of the seven feasts.  This feast gets its name because for the first time God’s children are given a gap period between celebrations.  His children were instructed to count the weeks and days leading up to this feast. 

In Leviticus 23:15-16, NIV, it states:

“From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath.”
Leviticus 23:15-16, NIV

When it comes to Scripture, not a single word is ever wasted.  So, when God instructs His children to count fifty days, there is significance in that number.

There is no denying that we as humans are all counting.  We mark on our calendars while we count down the days until the weekend, vacation, or until we get that raise.  We count down during shorter waiting periods, such as when our packages will arrive. And we count during the long waits until debts are paid off.  Whether our counting is long or short, as Erin Davis says in her video recap, in our counting, “the number of days matter.”

In the span of the 50 days following Passover, which is known to the Jewish people as counting the omer, they are counting down to the commemoration of God presenting them with the law through Moses at Mt. Sinai.

New Testament Connections

See how these three initial feasts are beginning to tie together, as well as the sequential nature of them.

In the New Testament, during the span of those 50 days following Jesus’ sacrifice on Passover,  God prepared His people for a power they had not yet experienced, the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.  

“Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.  After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 1:1-5, NIV

Even in their waiting, He was at work in their hearts, minds, and lives. 

“And yet, even in the waiting, even when our hearts are faint, and our prayers seem unanswered, even in the ellipses… God is at work. Help is already on the way. As we’ll see in the days ahead, God never wastes the wait.”

erin davis, Pg. 155 of “7 feasts”

So often as we sit in our waiting periods, we forget the significance of each passing day.   We get so lost in marking off another day that we forget how important today is.  So, while in the midst of our waiting I challenge you, and myself, to reflect on how God is working in us and through us during this season. 

TODAY WE LEARNED:
1. The Feast of Weeks is also known as Pentecost, in Greek.
2. The Feast of Weeks is the fourth of the seven feasts, which occurs 50 days after Passover.
3. In the 50 days leading up to this feast, God prepared His people for the power of the Holy Spirit to live inside them.

ANSWER THIS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW:
What are you waiting for God to do in this season? What gives you hope as you wait?