Every now and again, something comes along that revitalizes your belief in God and the Bible. That morsel of truth or experience adds clarity and cohesion to the walk of faith. It’s an “aha” moment, a marker, an ebenezer.

Learning about Shavuot as a foreshadowing of Pentecost was such a moment for me.

We’ve covered in this “Year of Celebrating Biblically” series how Passover (on the 14th of Nisan), the Feast of Unleavened Bread (on the 15th of Nisan), and the Feast of Firstfruits all point to Christ’s death and resurrection. Those three feasts, much like the crucifixion and resurrection, were all clustered together. Now, however, we have a gap of 50 days. Not surprisingly, Pentecost literally means fiftieth; the name comes from the Greek word pentekoste, which means fiftieth. Pentecost is a Church holiday with which many of the liturgical churches are familiar.

But what comes 50 days after Passover in the Jewish calendar? Pentecost is such a Greek-sounding thing. Why were the Jews in Jerusalem fifty days after Passover? The answer is Shavuot, also known as the Feast of Weeks. We can expect, then, to find that Shavuot points to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers.

In Leviticus 23, the Lord says:

15“You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. 16 You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the LORD. . . 21 And you shall make a proclamation on the same day. You shall hold a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a statute forever in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.

This Feast of Weeks was another pilgrimage festival, which is why “there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven” when the disciples were gathered in the Upper Room (Acts 2:5). Jews would come to the temple to offer another grain offering. Leviticus explains that this was a firstfruits of wheat offering (as opposed to the barley offering of Firstfruits) to be presented before the Lord in the form of two leavened loaves (as opposed to being offered in the form of flour). Dr. Booker writes in his book, “Celebrating Jesus in the Biblical Feasts:”

The main activity on the Feast of Pentecost was the presentation of a wave offering to the Lord. This was two loaves of bread baked with leaven . . . Later, when the Jews were scattered among the nations, the Feast of Pentecost lost its primary significance as a harvest festival and was celebrated as a memorial to the time when God them the Torah at Mount Sinai.

Let’s pause for a moment:

The Holy Spirit came and indwelled Believers and wrote the Law of God on their hearts on the same day in history that God gave Moses the 10 Commandments.

Hearing this for the first time filled me with awe and reverence.

But does it hold up to the light of scripture?

Remember that Passover is the 14th day of the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Well, Shavuot is the 6th day of the third month. Dr. Booker explains it this way (emphasis mine):

Exodus 19:1 reads, “In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai.” The phrase “same day” is interpreted to refer to the phrase “third month.” The understanding is that they came to Sinai on the third day of the third month. Three days later, on the sixth of Sivan, God came down upon Mount Sinai and gave them the Torah (verse 11).

Wow. The Israelites encamped around Mount Sinai 50 days after the Lord freed them from Egypt— 50 days after Passover.

And yet the parallels continue as we look at the flames of fire, the number of Jews saved, and Gentile conversion in Acts 10. Let us look at Exodus (emphasis mine):

16 On the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and the voice of God answered him. 20 The LORD descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up (Exodus 19:16-20).

Dr. Booker comments on the verses in this way:

The English translation says all the people witnessed the thundering and the lightning. Jewish scholars believe that the people actually “saw the voice of God” coming out of the mountain in tongues of fire. . . Since it seems strange “see voices,” this phrase was translated as thunderings and lightnings. The voice sounded like thundering and appeared as fire.”

He ends his thought by quoting verse 7 of Psalm 29, a psalm describing the Mount Sinai event:

The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire.

Does this not remind us of the tongues of fire in Acts 2?

Further on, in Exodus 32:28, we read that 3,000 Israelites died after the Mount Sinai experience. Remember that the giving of the law took a while— about forty days. Moses, along with 70 elders, went up and feasted with God. Then the Lord called him up higher and communed with him alone for 40 days. In the meantime, Aaron led the Israelites in an adulterous rejection of God by worshipping a golden calf.

How great is our God that when the Holy Spirit was poured out in Jerusalem, 3,000 of His people did not reject Him but instead came to a new and intimate relationship with Him instead! Truly, He makes all things new.

And what about the two leavened loaves required by God as an offering? Could they point to a New Testament reality? Some wonder if perhaps the two loaves represent Jewish and Gentile believers, both brought to faith and new life by the power of the Holy Spirit and both “leavened” with sin.

How awesome it is that the entire Bible points to the Person and work of Jesus, who gave us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. This was the plan from the beginning.

And it is even more awesome to consider that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a deposit toward even greater things to come.

And so we say, “Come, Lord Jesus, come.”