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What is Pentecost and Its Jewish Significance? · Centrally Speaking

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Centrally speaking, it's the central speaking of the church's family.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: It speaks to beneficial.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: It would be of interest towards this family.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: In particular, in the jurisdiction of the Christian worldview, in the spirit with the Western speaking of the culture, in the spirit of the church's family, we take the perspective of the little women, which is in agreement with the historic Christian church.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: Our topic today is what is Pentecost and its Jewish significance?
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: And we're very fortunate to have Reverend Roger Wombold from our own area.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: He was born in Sibylsville, Pennsylvania, and is growing up in Montgomery County, where he attended the Seminoleon High School.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: And then he went on to do his studies not only at Philadelphia College of the Bible, but then also Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: His seminary studies were at Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, Indiana, where he graduated with the Master of Divinity with a concentration in Old Testament.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: Then he was involved with pastoral ministry for about 20 years, 17 years full-time, three years part-time, at churches such as First Brethren Church in Northeast Philadelphia, as well as Penn Valley Grace Brethren Church in Telford, Pennsylvania.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: We're coming up on his anniversary of his service with Hebrew Christian Fellowship, where he is the general director of that ministry.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: This will be 30 years as he started working with Hebrew Christian Fellowship in 1991.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: Roger travels to Israel frequently, approximately 35 trips so far.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: And he and his wife, Phyllis, have been married for 52 years and have three married sons and eight grandchildren.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: Roger, welcome to the show.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: So good to be with you.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: We're glad to have you to talk about Pentecost and then also some of its Jewish roots.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: What are some basic things about Pentecost for maybe somebody who's never heard of Pentecost?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe they've been around church a little bit or have heard that this is a Christian holiday.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: What was going on at Pentecost?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yes, Dr.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Drake, actually, uh in the Christian church, Pentecost is really the observance of the events that are recorded in Acts chapter two, primarily.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it was on that occasion, of course, that the first followers of Jesus, which I would point out, I think is very important, were all Jewish.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: So the first followers of Jesus, and according to Acts chapter one, the end of Acts chapter one, there were only about 120 of them.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Only about 120 followers of Jesus, Jewish followers of Jesus as the Messiah.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, moving into Acts chapter two, the account is that these 120 or so disciples, followers of Jesus, were gathered in Jerusalem.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we'll talk a little bit more later about why they were gathered in Jerusalem, but they were gathered together in Jerusalem when an amazing thing took place.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And the amazing thing that took place, according to Acts chapter two, was all of a sudden, those 120 who were primarily Jews from what we would now know as Israel, living in Israel, the land of Israel, began to speak in other languages.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: And Acts chapter 2, Luke records in Acts chapter 2 that there was a rushing mighty wind that filled the place where they were gathered.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: And there were cloven tongues of fire that were over their heads, and they began to speak in other languages.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: And there were other Jews who were gathered, many other Jews who were gathered in Jerusalem at that period of time.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Again, we'll talk in a little while about why they were there.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: But word started to leak out very quickly that something really exceptional and surprising and strange was going on in the place where these 120 were gathered, that all of a sudden, these Jews from other parts of the world, other than Israel, who were familiar with the language spoken in those regions, heard these individuals speaking in other languages, and that is in their own language that they could understand and speaking the great works of God.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, Acts 2 goes on to tell us that the explanation that some gave was that these 120 people are drunk, and that's why they're acting so strange.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, with that, the apostle Peter stands up and he begins to preach what we now know is the sermon on the day of Pentecost.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: And he preaches a sermon in which he says that clearly the behavior of these 120 is not drunkenness, because it was only the third hour of the day, which then would be nine o'clock in the morning, a little bit early for everybody to be soused.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so with that, he begins to launch into an explanation using the Old Testament scriptures as his basis.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: And from that, he declares the message of Jesus and says that Jesus, who was crucified, really just not too long before that, actually 50 days before that, Jesus who was crucified, was not only put to death, was not only buried, but he actually rose again from the dead, as prophesied in the Old Testament scriptures, using David's words in Psalm 16, and that in fact he had been clearly acknowledged by God to be the Son of God, God Himself incarnate, and the Messiah, the Savior of the Jewish people and the Savior of the world.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Acts 2 records that the response of those Jews who heard that sermon was that they were pricked in their hearts by conviction of their sins.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: And they asked Peter, what do we have to do to be saved?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: And Peter's response was, Repent and be baptized, and you will be saved.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Acts 2 tells us that on that occasion, 3,000 of those individuals responded to the gospel and also became followers of Jesus.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: So in one instant, really, the size of the followers of Jesus increased from 120 to 3,000.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so we fast forward now, Pentecost is the observance of those events that took place as recorded in Acts chapter 2, and specifically the ministry of the Holy Spirit who came upon those 120 and ushered in a new period of time when now every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has the Holy Spirit dwelling within him, giving him power and giving him direction and giving him strength.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: So really it is a celebration of the beginning of the Church of Jesus Christ, because we say that Pentecost is the birthday of the church, because it ushered in a whole new period of time, but also celebrating the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: And all of that is kind of wrapped up in what the Christian church recognizes as the day of Pentecost.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: That's a lot of things happening then when we talk about Pentecost.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: So it's after Jesus' life with the disciples.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: And then there are all sorts of things that are happening in Jerusalem as a result.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: You said the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: Most of our listeners, of course, will be familiar with a God in heaven and Jesus, his son, but this Holy Spirit might be able to share a little bit more about that.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, right.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, the Messianic Jewish community, that is the community of Jews who believe in Jesus as the Messiah.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I would say that community is growing.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: There are more and more Jews who are at least open to the message of the Messiahship of Jesus, and more and more Jews who are recognizing that he is in fact the Messiah.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: But in the Messianic Jewish community, the term for the Holy Spirit is the Ruach Chodesh, the Ruach Chodesh.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: That is the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Wind, if you will.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a sense in which even that is appropriate, because Acts 2 says that when the Holy Spirit was moving on the day of Pentecost, there was a rushing mighty wind that came into the room where they were gathered.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: So it is that third person of the Trinity.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: We understand God the Father in the Jewish community.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, there's no question about that, that there is God, only one God, as the Shema says in Deuteronomy chapter 6, Hero Israel, Shema Yisrael, Hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might, Deuteronomy chapter 6.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: So the Jewish community recognizes God the Father.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: The name of God is so sacred that in the Jewish community, they don't even use what we would oftentimes say is Jehovah or Yahweh, as that name is recorded, the tetragrammaton, the four-letter name for God in the Old Testament.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: But for the Jews, especially religious Jews, they don't even mention the name of God.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: They just refer to him as Hashem, and that's Hebrew for the name, the names.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: And you know when you say Hashem, it is the name.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: So that's God the Father.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: And God the Son, of course, we believe that Yeshua, Jesus, is the Son of God, that he is equal with God, that he is the second person of the Trinity.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: But in a very real sense, in many cases, the third person of the Trinity is the overlooked one, and that is the Holy Spirit.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, when he said that the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, would be arriving in the future, which he did on the day of Pentecost, of course, the Holy Spirit, points out that the job of the Holy Spirit would, in a sense, be sort of the silent person of the Trinity, kind of the low-key person of the Trinity, whose job it would be to bring glory to God the Father and even bring glory to God the Son, to Jesus.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: So the Holy Spirit's job is really to work quietly, if you will, in the world and to help people understand who God is and who Jesus is, and also to help us understand the Word of God, the scriptures.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: But beyond that, the Holy Spirit is the person of the Trinity who dwells in every believer, every child of God, and gives that child of God power, gives him wisdom, gives him direction.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: So the person of the Holy Spirit, that person of the Trinity is vitally important to us.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Ephesians chapter 5, 18, and following says we're not to be drunk with wine.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: That is, don't be filled and controlled by wine, but instead be filled or controlled by the Holy Spirit.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's what the Holy Spirit wants, is to be able to control us, to guide us, and to direct us.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_02: So Pentecost is a celebration of the Holy Spirit and the disciples.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: You said that the Holy Spirit's silent, uh, but he's not really too silent on this day, is he?
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: Not on that day.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: His arrival was pretty noteworthy.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly right.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_02: His arrival is noteworthy.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: People start speaking uh different languages, uh and people other than the disciples are hearing them speaking in their own tongue.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: And what type of people were there on that day?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's that's very interesting because Acts chapter two, which of course is the basis of the observance of Pentecost, tells us that there were Jews gathered from uh from all parts of the world.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, I'm just going to read a couple of verses here that emphasizes that it says in Acts chapter two, verse seven, that those who heard what was going on among these 120, these languages, were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these who speak Galileans?
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because you see, the majority, the great majority of the followers of Jesus were from Galilee.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Not only is it Israel, but it's a part of Israel, which is not noted for its sophistication and frankly, its religious affiliation, not particularly religious, not particularly sophisticated, and yet they're speaking foreign languages.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: And this is what it goes on to say.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: And how hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's a list of where these Jews who were gathered in Jerusalem on that occasion came from.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: It says, and we'd have to sort of identify each one of these as far as exactly where it is, but you get the idea that it's from all over the place.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: Parthians and Medes and Elamites and dwellers in Mesopotamia and in Judea and in Cappadocea, in Pontus, in Asia, in Phrygia, in Pamphylia, in Egypt, in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and sojourners of Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a big list.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: There were Jews from all over the place who were there.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: Now, if you're going to Libya and Rome and areas of modern-day Turkey, then yes, they're from a wide variety of places, and they're hearing all sorts of different languages that are coming through one Holy Spirit.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: And you've referenced this speech by Peter numerous times, but he seems to be giving in one of the length speeches in all of the Bible, he seems to be referring to the Old Testament as he speaks.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit, and he's talking about referring to things of the Christian church.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: Why is Peter using the Old Testament?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: What significance is that?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Great question, of course.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: And in a sense, I think we have to move a little bit from this to why it is that those Jews were gathered there in Jerusalem on that occasion.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: And in order to understand that, we have to realize that this particular occasion, and in fact, Acts chapter 2 begins by saying, and when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all, that is the 120, they were all with one accord in one place.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so Acts 2 says it was the day of Pentecost.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now we recognize that as a Christian holiday, but the fact of the matter is that the basis of Pentecost, Pentecost is a Greek word that means 50, and it indicates that on this occasion it was 50 days after the second day of the Jewish feast of unleavened bread.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: And now actually we know the feast of unleavened bread is the Passover that is recorded in the Old Testament scriptures as one of the seven major Jewish holidays or festivals.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Leviticus 23 tells us there are seven Jewish holidays that were to be observed by the Jewish people.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: The first of those is the feast of unleavened bread, or the feast of matza, when only unleavened bread was to be eaten, nothing with leaven was to be eaten.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: That is Passover.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: And another one of the major Jewish holidays takes place 50 days, actually, seven weeks and one day after the beginning of Passover.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that is the feast of weeks.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: The Hebrew term is shavuot, and that's Hebrew for sevens, if you will.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it's the idea of seven sevens.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: So it's the feast of seven sevens or seven weeks, seven periods of seven days, and that's 49 days, plus one day is the 50 days, which is the feast of Pentecost.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so Jews were told that they were to observe uh that special holiday.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: And we read in Deuteronomy chapter 16, verse 16, that the Jewish men were required to go up to Jerusalem for the observance of three of the major Jewish holidays listed in Leviticus chapter 23.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: And those three holidays were first of all Passover.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so they were to go to Jerusalem for Passover, and then they were to go for another one of the major holidays, which was 50 days later, and that is the Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then, and now those two periods of time are pretty close to each other, just 50 days apart.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: So Passover, 50 days later, is the feast of weeks, and then quite an extended period of time, they were to come to Jerusalem again in the fall of the year for the Feast of Tabernacles, that is the feast of Sukkot.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: So what we understand from Acts chapter 2 is these Jews from all over the world, really, had come to Jerusalem as they were told to do in Deuteronomy 16 for Passover, but they had come from a long distance.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so they're not going to go home and come back again for the next festival when they're to be in Jerusalem.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: And that is the Feast of Weeks.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: So they stayed in Jerusalem.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so these Jews from all over the world were in Jerusalem.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, they were all Jews.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: They were there to celebrate the Jewish holidays, the Jewish festival.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: And they knew the Old Testament scriptures.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: There were, of course, no New Testament scriptures at this time in Acts 2.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's natural that when Peter stands up and delivers his sermon, he's referring to the Old Testament scriptures with which all of these Jews were very familiar.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: And in particular, in Acts chapter 2, the sermon that he preaches references Joel chapter 2, which is one of the Old Testament minor prophets.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really uh his retort when some of these uh foreign Jews say, these men are drunk with wine.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: And Peter's response is, no, no, they're not.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is something that is related to what the prophet Joel says is going to happen to the Jewish people sometime in the future.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Joel chapter 2, verse 28.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then he continues his sermon by referring to David's words in Psalm 16 and also David's words in Psalm 110.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: So the reason for the content of the Old Testament scriptures is because Peter, Jewish, of course, himself, is speaking to a bunch of Jews.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: So the basis for that is really the Old Testament scriptures.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: So he's speaking to Jews, hence he uses Jewish scripture, but he's also using this Jewish scripture to point to what was prophesied previously is now taking place at this Pentecost.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: Am I right in saying that?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: You are absolutely right about that.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: That he is connecting that.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, when thinking of Peter's explanation for the behavior, the odd behavior, if you will, of these 120 of the foreign tongues and the ecstatic behavior and all that sort of thing, Joel chapter 2, verse 28 is the passage that he refers.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it says this, and it shall come to pass afterward.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is God speaking, of course, to uh the Jews through Joel in the Old Testament.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: It shall come to pass afterward, and the key there is afterward, later on in the future.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: It shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: So there's the reference to the spirit, the rua chodesh, the spirit of holiness.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Who are the servants and the handmaids in this day in Acts chapter 2, the 120?
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they are the followers of Jesus.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: And God says through Joel, I'm going to pour out my spirit upon my servants and my handmaids in those days, and I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, fire, pillars of smoke, the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then, and I'll stop there just for a moment and say that makes it clear that what happened in Acts chapter two is just the beginning of what Joel says is going to happen among the Jewish people in the future.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's almost as if Acts chapter two is a foretaste of what God is going to do later on in this great and terrible day of the Lord.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: But Acts chapter two, verse 32 says this, and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, and the King James Version says, shall be delivered.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Peter actually refers to that in Acts chapter 2, when he says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that evokes the response of these foreign Jews.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: What do we have to do to be saved?
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where Peter says, repent, be baptized for the remission of sins, and you will be saved.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: So it all wraps together in a beautiful way.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think that those uh who are listening to Peter that day thought the end of the world was upon them?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: I would say that because Peter is using that passage in Joel chapter two, uh, with which these Jews were very familiar, uh, they're saying, Oh wow, this could be it.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe there's a sense in which that prodded them a little bit more to say, okay, if this is it, what do we have to do?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: And they responded, definitely.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_02: This is the same general group of people who had just said to crucify the savior just some 40-50 days earlier, correct?
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly right.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly right.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: And and I think that the key, of course, is Peter's Peter's sermon included a clear reference uh to the fact that the messiahship of Jesus was uh was demonstrated, was proven by his resurrection from the dead, because the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is a key component to Peter's sermon.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: He refers, of course, to Psalm 16.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: And in Psalm 16, David is himself saying of himself that God would not leave his body in the grave just for the purpose of corruption.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite verses.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Is Psalm 16:11, Thou wilt show me the path of life, and thy presence is fullness of joy forevermore.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 16:11.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: And David holds on to that idea that grave is not the end.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: But Peter takes that message by David and he applies it to Jesus.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: And he says that David said, My body isn't going to be in the grave just to decay and deteriorate.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: I am going to be brought again to life.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: And Peter says, That's exactly what happened to Jesus.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's a prophecy, it's a messianic prophecy, really, of the resurrection of Jesus, that his body was only in the grave for three parts of three days.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then it was resurrected before it could actually uh decay and be corrupted.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: And Peter says that's demonstration of the fact that Jesus is the one of whom David spoke.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then he refers to Psalm 110, which is clearly a messianic passage as well.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so really Peter's emphasizing the resurrection as the proof of Jesus' Messiahship.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so therefore it's in the name of Jesus that Peter is really declaring the gospel.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: Doing all this on the Jewish festival of Shavuot.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_02: Have I pronounced it correctly?
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: You have, yeah, Shavuot, yeah, exactly.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: What's happening on Shavuot?
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, of course, in the Jewish community, it's very interesting because while the Christian community is celebrating Pentecost, that is the arrival of the Rul Chodesh, the Holy Spirit, and the birthday of the church of Jesus Christ.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: At the same time, simultaneously, the Jewish community is observing one of these seven major holidays listed in Leviticus chapter 23.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that would be, as you said so correctly, the Feast of Weeks, Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, it's just a one-day holiday in the Jewish community, and that is Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: This year in 2021, it begins at sundown, because remember, Jewish holidays officially the Jewish day begins at sundown and goes until sundown of the next day.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: So this year, a sundown, sunset of Monday, May 17th is the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, May 17th.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then it continues until sundown on Tuesday of May 18th.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: The question is: so what is it all about?
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: What is the Jewish community thinking about when they observe the feast of weeks?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: That is 50 days after the feast of Passover.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: And the answer is that according to the Old Testament, Leviticus chapter 23, for example, where this feast is commanded, that really it was a celebration of the wheat harvest, the beginning of the wheat harvest.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's kind of an agricultural thing.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's and the interesting thing is that 50 days before, during Passover, during Passover, which is a weeklong celebration, the Feast of Unleavened Bread is actually eight days in length, that the third day of that eight-day period of time is one of the seven, and that's the feast of first fruits.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that is a celebration of the earliest grain to be harvested in Israel, and that's the barley harvest.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then 50 days later, it's the beginning of the harvest of one of the main grains in Israel, and that is wheat, the wheat harvest.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it's the beginning of the wheat harvest over a period of time, uh, when of course the Jewish community has become less and less agricultural and more and more, shall we say, spiritual and religious in its observance of holidays?
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: The idea developed that when the Jews were leaving Egypt, which is Passover, of course, during that period of time, you remember the whole story of the 10 plagues that finally pressured Pharaoh to allow the Jews under the leadership of Moses to leave Egypt.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so they left Egypt at Passover, because it was, of course, the death of the firstborn child that finally convinced Pharaoh to let the Jews go, at least briefly, he gave that permission.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: So that was Passover.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: And the tradition is that the Jews, when they left Egypt, it took them 50 days to get to Mount Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so 50 days after Passover, they arrive at Mount Sinai.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: And we know, as recorded in Exodus chapter 19 and 20 and following, that Moses was called up to Mount Sinai, and God gave to Moses the Torah, the Jewish law.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that was 50 days after Passover.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so modern Judaism today, and actually for many, many centuries now, Jews have celebrated Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, 50 days after Passover, as the time when God gave to the Jewish people the Torah, the Jewish law.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so today, as Jews observe Shavuot or the Feast of Weeks, they are celebrating the fact that God gave to them as a people, the Jewish people, the law.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: That is the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses and the Torah, the law that is contained in those five books of Moses.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the emphasis today.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: So with Pentecost happening on Shavuot, it's as if the Lord would be giving instead of the law, he is now giving the spirit.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a great connection to make for us as we see the full picture, because the Apostle Paul reminds us that the letter of the law kills, but the spirit gives life.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: And we know that the Apostle Paul is heavily emphasizing the fact that the purpose of the law, and this is the book of Galatians, his letter to the church churches in Galatia, that the purpose of the law, God giving the law to the Jewish people and through them to the world, not just to the Jewish people, but to the world, the purpose of the law is to point out to people, in a sense, and it sounds paradoxical really, but in a sense to show people that they can't keep the law, that God's standard of righteousness is so high that people cannot keep the law.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's where the apostle Paul says that the letter of the law kills, because it is really the failure to keep the righteousness of God that results in spiritual death, our separation from God.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: But Paul goes on to say, but the spirit gives life.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so when we recognize that we can't keep the law, and that's why Jesus came and laid down his life on Passover, Pesa, laid down his life to pay the penalty for our sins, our inability to keep the law.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: By recognizing that, we are actually forgiven of our sins and we receive the righteousness of Christ.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: And the Spirit is the one who actually brings that to us and brings us to life and allows us to live that life, not by following the rules and regulations of the law, but by following the leading and the power of the Holy Spirit.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: So absolutely, I think there's that connection of the giving of the law, which was very important and to this day is very important for the Jewish people.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: But seeing that having the law isn't enough, we can't keep the law.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: We have to recognize we can't keep the law, and we have to recognize that that's why Jesus died on the cross for our sins.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: And by doing that, we receive the Spirit, and that is how we are brought to life.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, it is the complete picture.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm glad you mentioned that, Dr.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: Drake, because that really is a wonderful encapsulation of how the two are connected.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: The giving of the law that is celebrated by Jewish people on Shavuot, and the receiving of the Holy Spirit, which is celebrated by followers of Christ, the Christian church, on the day of Pentecost.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a great way of putting it together.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_02: Will you comment on maybe any other customs that were happening into the ancient festival of Shavuot that might have implications for our understanding of Pentecost?
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, absolutely.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, again, you can't escape the connection between Passover, the feast of unleavened bread, and then Shavuot, the feast of weeks, is basically based on Passover because it's 50 days after Passover.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the interesting thing is that Passover is the feast of unleavened bread.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: That is the feast of matza.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: Leviticus 23 makes it very clear that during that period of time, during Passover, no baked goods made with yeast, with leaven, are to be consumed.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: It is the feast of matzah.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: Matzah is the Hebrew word for unleavened bread.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so no leaven is to be eaten during Passover.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: The Apostle Paul reminds us that Christ is our Passover and he was sacrificed for us.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, leaven in the scriptures is a symbol of sin.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so unleavened bread is a picture really of that which has no sin.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, our Passover, was absolutely sinlessly perfect.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so it is appropriate that as the Passover lamb and as the bread of life, he should be without sin, or if you will, unleavened bread.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: So that's Passover.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now the interesting thing is that 50 days later in Leviticus chapter 23, and remember, it's the wheat harvest.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: So in Leviticus chapter 23, God through Moses says to Israel, On this occasion, 50 days after Passover, you are to take some of the earliest crop of wheat that is harvested in your land, and you're to make it into a flour, and you are to mix it with leaven.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: So in this case, it's not don't eat leaven.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now the commandment is do eat leaven, and you are to mix it with leaven.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: And Leviticus 23 says you're to make two loaves, two loaves of bread that are leavened, that is raised with yeast, and they are to be lifted up and offered as a sacrifice, a thank offering to God, if you will, for the harvest, along with some other animal sacrifices.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's significant those two loaves of bread.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter two that through the Lord Jesus Christ, the middle wall of partition that separates Jews from Gentiles has been broken down.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: And Jews and Gentiles, together as followers of Jesus, as believers in Jesus, become one new body.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that new body is the church.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now we know, any of us who have been around the church for a period of time, know the church is not without sin.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: There's some imperfection in the church.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: But think of the picture in Leviticus chapter 23, the feast of Shavuot.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: And now there are two loaves of bread that are baked with leaven.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a little bit of sin mixed in there, if you will.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: And those two loaves are held up as one offering to the Lord.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: What a beautiful picture of the Jews in one loaf and the Gentiles in another loaf, but being held up together as one offering to the Lord.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, Pentecost is the birthday of the church.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: So what a beautiful picture that is of what would happen in Acts chapter two.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: The interesting thing is that in Jewish homes today, and so uh at sundown on May 17th this year, Monday, the May 17th, in many Jewish households around the world, they will have an evening meal.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: And it's very important in that evening meal that there's not matzah that is eaten as it would be eaten during the feast of Passover.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: But now it is regular bread.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's probably chala, that Jewish braided bread, but it's made with yeast.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: And two loaves are held up in the Jewish home and are blessed and are eaten at the table, which is really a beautiful picture of the church, if you will, made up of Jews and Gentiles.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I assure you that uh the great majority of Jewish people aren't thinking of that when they're doing that during the feast of Shavuot.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: But I would hasten to say that there are many Jewish people who are thinking of that because they have become followers of Jesus.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: And when they observe the Feast of Shavuot, they see the picture of Jesus as the one who tears down that wall of separation.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_02: Interesting, how these ancient customs then uh bring to light ideas that maybe we would gloss over and read quickly if we're even reading the account of Acts 2 or how the church has celebrated Pentecost over the years.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_02: I'm wondering as we uh close this interview if you might have a few suggestions on how people might appropriately celebrate Pentecost today, whether they be Jewish or whether they are.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, great, great question.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: As we remember the significance of Pentecost, and of course, just to point out to folks that in the Christian church, Pentecost is observed mainly on Pentecost Sunday.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: And Pentecost Sunday happens to be the seventh Sunday after Easter, every year.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: So whenever Easter occurs, the seventh Sunday after that is Pentecost Sunday.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: So when you do the math, that's 49 days plus one.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: That would be 50 days.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it's basically 50 days after Easter.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: And this year that would that would actually be Sunday, May 23rd.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: So in 2021, it's May 23rd.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: We remember the events of Acts 2 that are commemorated on Pentecost Sunday.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: We remember the emphasis on the Holy Spirit.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I think an appropriate way for followers of Jesus who are in the church and every follower of Jesus throughout the world, no matter what language they speak, no matter where they live, no matter what their culture is, every follower of Jesus is part of this one body, which is the body of Christ, which is the church of Jesus Christ that was born on the day of Pentecost.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's an appropriate time, I think, for us to celebrate the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: And to keep in mind the Apostle Paul's admonition in Ephesians 5, to let the Holy Spirit control us and to thank God for this person of the Trinity, to thank God that He exists as the triune God, that the Holy Spirit is there to help us and to empower us and to celebrate the Holy Spirit and to not neglect the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's one important way of celebrating Pentecost.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think realizing also that all of these Jews from all around the world were gathered on the day of Pentecost, according to Acts chapter two, and then they went back to their home and they had been converted, if you will.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: They had become followers of Jesus and they themselves were filled with the Holy Spirit.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: I guarantee you, as they went back to their lands, whether that was Egypt on the west, whether that was Mesopotamia in the east, wherever it was, I guarantee you they took the message of Jesus and they talked to their fellow Jews and their neighbors and their relatives and their co-workers about Jesus.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: And Pentecost is a good time for us to commit ourselves to the important role of sharing the gospel with everybody around us.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, Jesus told his followers before his ascension that they were to wait for the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit would be arriving.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then he says, Acts chapter 1, verse 8, but you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: So what a great time it is to commit ourselves to world evangelism and starting right where we live, and saying, I'm going to take every opportunity I can to tell everybody I can about Jesus.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: I have the power of the Holy Spirit to do that.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to witness to everybody I possibly can, and I'm going to support every conceivable missionary outreach that there is out there that I can be involved with.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a great missions Sunday, Pentecost Sunday, to say it's all about spreading the gospel and it's all about celebrating the power of the Holy Spirit that we can do that.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you very much.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's a good practical application for us today, whether we have hollow bread at home or matzah bread, but we could celebrate the birth of the church as well as getting the message out further.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for joining us, Reverend Roger Wombold.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_02: We're very glad for these thoughts on a Jewish perspective on Pentecost.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_02: Well, my privilege.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for the opportunity and God bless everyone who's listening to this.