A Tangible Expression of Our Thankfulness & Gratitude
- Feast of the Harvest
- First fruits
- Feast of Shavuot
- Day of Pentecost
“Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me. . . .
(Exodus 23: 14 & 16a & 17 NASB)
[Then we have a list of the Three National Feasts:
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of the Harvest, & the Feast of the Ingathering.]
Also you shall keep the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; . . .
Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.”
- Feast of the Harvest
- First fruits
- Shavuot
- Day of Pentecost
“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the LORD’S Passover. . . .
(Leviticus 23: 5 & 16 & 20 & 22b NASB)
[Then we have a description of Passover—the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD.]
You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath;
then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD. . .
[Then we have a list of what shall be brought.]
The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits as a wave offering with two lambs before the LORD;
they are to be holy to the LORD for the priest.
[Then we have a discussion of what we must do & not do.]
I am the LORD your God.”
- Feast of the Harvest
- First fruits
- Shavuot
- Day of Pentecost
The Feast of the Harvest, also called “first fruits,” also called Shavuot means “weeks.” This “festival of the harvest” comes fifty calendar days (50) after Passover. The Day of Pentecost is an annual pilgrimage to commemorate what the LORD has done. In the Jewish tradition, all the people would travel to Jerusalem with pomp and pageantry with their baskets of “first fruits” on their shoulders, an ox, and a crown of olive tree branches. Once they reached the temple, all the males would take the “first fruits” to the priests. Then the people recited a passage from Deuteronomy 26: 5-10.
“Also on the day of the first fruits, when you present a new grain offering to the LORD in your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy assembly; you shall do no laborious work.
(Numbers 28: 26-31 NASB)
But you shall offer a burnt offering as a soothing aroma to the LORD: two bulls, one ram, and seven male lambs one year old;
and as their grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for each bull, two-tenths for the one ram,
and a tenth for each of the seven lambs;
also one male goat to make atonement for you.
Besides the continual burnt offering and its grain offering, you shall present them with their drink offerings. They shall be without defect.”
If we want our lifework to carry on, to flourish after us and beyond our individual efforts, then we need to consider who might carry on after us & how.
This was a Tangible Expression of Thankfulness & Gratitude. There was festival music and singing: a joyful procession.
Imagine the scene!
Scores of pilgrims walking into the city of Jerusalem, all carrying baskets on their shoulders filled with these “first fruits.” The Hebrew word is Yom Ha-Bikkurim.
“Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and live in it,
(Deuteronomy 26: 1-4 & 16-19 NASB)
that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground which you bring from your land that the LORD your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His name.
And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the LORD my God that I have entered the land which the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’
Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and
set it before the altar of the LORD your God. . . .”
[Then we have a discussion of how God delivered His people out of bondage
and brought them to the Promise Land.]
“This day the LORD your God commands you to perform these statutes and ordinances.
Therefore you shall be careful to perform them with all your heart and with all your soul.
Today you have declared the LORD to be your God,
and that you will walk in His ways
and keep His statutes, His commandments,
and His ordinances, and listen to His voice.
And the LORD has today declared you to be His people, His personal possession,
just as He promised you,
and that you are to keep all His commandments;
and that He will put you high above all the nations which He has made, for glory, fame, and honor;
and that you shall be a consecrated people to the LORD your God, just as He has spoken.”
- Feast of the Harvest
- First fruits
- Shavuot
- Day of Pentecost
On Sunday, May 28, 2023, we will remember & celebrate the Day of Pentecost. In some cultures, it is a day of remembrance, but in some cultures it is nothing more than a day off work because no one knows or even cares to remember why this is a Holy Day. Thousands of years from that first “Feast of the Harvest,” the “first fruits” look a little different, and the focus of “Shavuot” is on Bible study. The wildly held custom is found in that the people will stay up all night, studying their Bible—all night long.
- It is true, we may not be Jewish.
- It is true, we may be Gentiles.
- It is true, we may no longer give God the “first fruits” literally, but through Bible study, we can give God all that we have to offer—our best spiritually—as a sacrifice of thanksgiving.
We give ourselves to God—
- by studying His Holy Word,
- by dedicating our lives to His purposes, &
- by recognizing that HE ALONE is the source of all blessings!
“So Jesus said to them again,
(John 20: 21-23 NASB)
[Jesus Christ, the Son of God, spoke these words to His disciples
after His Resurrection from the dead.]
“Peace be to you; just as the Father has sent Me; I also send you.”
And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them,
“Receive the Holy Spirit.
If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”
- Feast of the Harvest
- First fruits
- Shavuot
- Day of Pentecost
How can you and I remit (forgive) sins?
- We can tell the Gospel.
- We can share our personal testimony.
It is staggering!
- We can share the Gospel message of Jesus our Savior.
- The Holy Spirit brings conviction to a person’s soul !!!
- The blood of Jesus covers their sins!!! &
- Almighty God saves their soul !!!
Yes, it is staggering how we are given the opportunity to become part of God’s Plan!
“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
(Acts of the Apostles 2: 1-4 & 20-21 NASB)
[The disciples of Jesus had returned to Jerusalem from the mountain of Olives, “a Sabbath day’s journey away,” and they were gathered together in the upper room where they had shared the Passover meal with Jesus before His crucifixion.
It is in this same room where they were hiding after the crucifixion, where the Resurrected Jesus showed them his nail-scarred hands.]
And suddenly a noise like a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
And tongues that looked like fire appeared to them, distributing themselves, and a tongue rested on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with different tongues, as the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak out. . . .”
[Many thought they were drunk on sweet wine, but then the Apostle Peter stood to preach, and he shared the Word of God from the book of Joel.]
“THE SUN WILL BE TURNED
INTO DARKNESS
AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD,
BEFORE THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS
DAY OF THE LORD COMES.
AND IT SHALL BE THAT EVERYONE
WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF
THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”
We are given the opportunity to become part of God’s Purpose—
- for all of humanity to come to know HIM!
Yes, it is “mind-blowing”!!!!!!!!!!
“But He said to them,
[Jesus Christ the Redeemer of the world, the Messiah, & the Savior—
spoke these words to His disciples—to us.]
“It is not for you to know periods of time or appointed times which the Father has set by His own authority;
but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;
and you shall be My witnesses
(Acts of the Apostles 1: 7-8 NASB)
- both in Jerusalem and in all Judea,
- and Samaria,
- and as far as the remotest part of the earth.”
A Tangible Expression of Our Thankfulness & Our Gratitude for all the LORD has done for us!
- We bring an “offering of sacrifice”
- We can bring to the LORD your God—share the Gospel message of Jesus—with those we encounter!
Sanctus Real sings a melody titled “Unstoppable God” that reminds us how our God continues across generations of time, how His Will is unceasing, and how our strength, power, might, and provision is found in HIM!
Listen today & Be Reminded & with Thanksgiving, praise the KING of kings—the LORD GOD of the whole universe!
HE ALONE deserves all thanksgiving, sacrifice, praise, & adoration!