Pentecost was a festival which stood by itself between the first set of festivals (Passover, Unleavened Bread and First Fruits) and the second set (Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles). Pentecost was held fifty days after the Feast of First Fruits and is described in Leviticus 23:15-22:
“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, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. Present the bread with seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings – a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering. The priest is to wave the two lambs before the Lord as a wave offering together with the bread of the firstfruits. They are a sacred offering to the Lord for the priest. On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.”
The anti-type is also well-known, it is the receiving of the Holy Spirit which we know happened at Pentecost in Acts 2:1-4:
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
At the feast of Pentecost the Jews would offer two loaves of bread made with yeast and the finest flour. One of these loaves stood for the Jews who would accept Christ and receive the Holy Spirit, the other stood for the Gentiles who would also come to believe in Christ and be able to receive the Holy Spirit.
The yeast represents sin in our lives because although we have received Christ we still live in a world of sin, the fine flour represents Jesus as we have seen when we looked at the Table of Shewbread when looking at Typology in the Tabernacle.
In terms of application this feast has great application in our lives, it is the receiving of the Holy Spirit that enables us to truly walk with God and to be witnesses for Him. It was the receiving of the Holy Spirit that truly turned timid Simon into the powerful preacher Peter. The Holy Spirit empowers us to fulfil God’s calling on our lives and as Jesus said in John 14:12 to do greater works than He did!
On Wednesday we will look at the Feast of Trumpets which starts the second set of festivals in the month of Tishri.
