Old Testament Observance

Leviticus 23:15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:

16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

18 And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD.

19 Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.

20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.

New Testament Fulfillment

Acts 1:4 And, being assembled together with them, [Jesus] commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

MEMORY VERSE: Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. —Psalm 110:3

CENTRAL THOUGHT: The Feast of Pentecost was observed fifty days after the Feast of First-fruits, which was the second day of unleavened bread following the Passover. These feasts point forward to Christ’s death, resurrection and the coming of the Spirit, respectively.

WORD DEFINITIONS

Leviticus 23:16 “Meat offering”: gift; tribute; grain or cereal offering, whether raw, roasted, ground to flour, or prepared as bread or cakes.

Leviticus 23:18 “Sweet savour”: quieting, soothing, restful, pleasant (to the Lord) odor or scent.

Acts 1:8 “Power”: force; specially, miraculous power; strength; ability; might. The English word “dynamite” comes from this word!

Acts 2:1 “In one accord”: with one mind; unanimous; having the same passion, the same desire.

Psalm 110:3 “Willing”: free-will offerings. “Day of thy power”: a prophecy of the day of Pentecost, when the disciples were endued with power from on high.

LESSON BACKGROUND

The Jewish year began with three important feasts. The Feast of Passover, commemorating the deliverance from Egyptian bondage, was observed each year with the Passover lamb being sacrificed and eaten with bitter herbs on the fourteenth day of the first month, one day before the Sabbath. This was followed by seven days of unleavened bread, during which no leaven was to be found in the homes of the Israelites.

On the second day of unleavened bread, the “morrow after the Sabbath”, the Feast of First-fruits was held. This “feast within a feast” was kept by the waving of a sheaf of barley before the Lord as a special sort of meat-offering, and the sacrificing of a lamb for a burnt offering with a common meat-offering of flour. This sheaf of the first-fruits of the harvest was to be offered before any of the new grain was eaten.

Pentecost, usually called in the Old Testament the Feast of Weeks or Feast of Harvest, was kept fifty days after the waving of the barley sheaf. (After the translation of the Old Testament into the Greek language, it was called “Pentecost,” from the Greek word for fifty.) It was observed by the bringing of two loaves of leavened bread made of the new wheat of the harvest, which was then supposed to be all gathered. These were waved before the Lord as was the sheaf of the first- fruits, and with it they represented the consecration of the entire harvest to God. This was also a special kind of meat-offering accompanying a burnt offering and a sin-offering.

Every Israelite was commanded to bring with him to the feast “a tribute of a free-will offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God, according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee.” (Deut. 16:10). The two feasts with the intervening seven weeks were necessary to include the entire harvest, from the beginning to the end.

The three feasts are connected in both type and fulfillment. As the Passover lamb was killed on the first day of this feast, so Christ was crucified on that same day, becoming our Passover–our Substitute (I Corinthians 5:7). The following feast typified His Resurrection, as the “first-fruits” from the dead (I Corinthians 15:20). And fulfilling the example to the day, the Holy Spirit, according to His promise, was poured out upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost. As the Old Testament priests consecrated the entire harvest to God in worship and dedication, the disciples, both men and women, who had been waiting and praying for some ten days in the upper room, consecrated their lives to Christ, their individual desires and ambitions being consumed by one passion–to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

—Sis. Angela Gellenbeck (Adapted from Shadows of Good Things by R. R. Byrum)

DISCUSSION:

1. Shadow/Substance: Show the parallels between Passover and Christ’s death, Feast of First-fruits and Resurrection, and Feast of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
2. Ye Shall Receive Power: What kind of power is meant here?
3. Consecration: How important is entire consecration to the baptism of the Holy

   Spirit?

4. Of One Accord: Explain the significance of this important factor to the disciples in the upper room and to us today.

COMMENTS AND APPLICATION

How may this lesson be applied to our hearts? First, there is no cleansing from sin or assurance of salvation without the shed blood of Christ. This was clearly shown in the example of the Passover lamb, and just as clearly proven to be fulfilled by Jesus Christ’s death on the cross. We must apply His blood by faith to our hearts, trust in it, and as the type of unleavened bread shows us, we must put away all sin—typified by the leaven—from our lives.

As the newly harvested first sheaf of grain, waved before the Lord in worship and consecration, pointed forward to Jesus’ Resurrection—like the corn of wheat that had fallen to the ground and died, to be raised again to new life—we also partake in His resurrection and walk in newness of life, looking forward to the ultimate resurrection with Him at His coming (I Corinthians 15:20).

Pentecost represented the offering of the entire harvest to God. So we, with willing hearts, offer ourselves to God for consecrated service. The prophecy from Psalm 110:3 points forward to the “day of thy power,” when the people were offering themselves as a free-will offering to God. Together, unanimously, having the same passion for the promised baptism of the Spirit, they waited unceasingly until He was poured upon them from on high. Let us do the same.

—Sis. Angela Gellenbeck

REFLECTIONS

Air is thin and light, seemingly so, anyway. I had opportunity to fly recently. Wholly yielding my body weight to an airplane seat while traveling 30,000 feet above the earth with nothing but that “thin air” beneath me takes faith! Yielding and consecrating myself wholly to an “invisible” God also takes faith. Is His power as great as the science that holds an airplane aloft? How can I be certain He will not betray me? Will fear hold me back because He might require more than I am able to give?

Charles W. Naylor and Clarence Hunter wrote the words and music to the song, “My Heart Says Amen to Thy Will.” In Bro. Naylor’s testimony regarding the inspiration for this song, he penned these words: “I had been passing through a time of sore conflict and deep trial. I had faced a situation that required all the strength of my manhood to meet successfully. It had seemed to demand the giving up of all my plans and hopes, and the making of a sacrifice than which none could be greater . . . I finally reached a point where I was perfectly contented with God’s will, no matter what it may require of me.” He then testified of a sweet-soul rest which followed that complete surrender. (–Heavenly Song Stories of Church of God Song Writers and Their Songs)

It is God’s will that we be filled with the Holy Spirit. God has always given the best of Himself to you and me in so many different ways. Always. We don’t need to be afraid. Just as the Israelites brought a free-will offering representative of their entire harvest to God and just as the disciples tarried in the upper room awaiting an infilling of the Holy Spirit, should we not also offer up and lay the best and worst of who we are on the altar of consecration and earnestly seek for an infilling of the Spirit? May our faith take wings and our answer be “Yes.”

—Sis. Julie Elwell