Bible Study 5: The Feast of Weeks - A Feast of Fulfilment

5.1 Key themes⤒🔗

In the seven weeks after the Feast of Firstfruits, the Israelites harvested their fields and saw how God provided abundantly for them.
After seven weeks (on the 50th day), it was time for the Feast of Weeks (or “Pentecost”).
The message of the Feast of Weeks is, Thank God, as you see how he faithfully fulfils his promises.
On this feast day, the followers of Jesus were filled with the Holy Spirit.
In this way God began to fulfil his promise of a “greater harvest.”
Because God’s Spirit is with us, our lives should be lives of thanksgiving.
- The Israelites had to bring normal bread to God. We should give our normal, daily lives to God.
- The Israelites had to share their harvests with the poor. We should share what God has given us, especially his gospel.

5.2 Leviticus 23:15-22←⤒🔗

^15. ‘You must count for yourselves seven weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day you bring the wave offering sheaf; they must be complete weeks.

^16. You must count fifty days—until the day after the seventh Sabbath—and then you must present a new grain offering to the Lord.

^17. From the places where you live you must bring two loaves of bread for a wave offering; they must be made from two-tenths of an ephah of fine wheat flour, baked with yeast, as firstfruits to the Lord.

^18. Along with the loaves of bread, you must also present seven flawless yearling lambs, one young bull, and two rams. They are to be a burnt offering to the Lord along with their grain offering and drink offerings, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord.

^19. You must also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two yearling lambs for a peace-offering sacrifice,

^20. and the priest is to wave them—the two lambs—along with the bread of the firstfruits, as a wave offering before the Lord; they will be holy to the Lord for the priest.

^21. ‘On this very day you must proclaim an assembly; it is to be a holy assembly for you. You must not do any regular work. This is a perpetual statute in all the places where you live throughout your generations.

^22. When you gather in the harvest of your land, you must not completely harvest the corner of your field, and you must not gather up the gleanings of your harvest. You must leave them for the poor and the resident foreigner. I am the Lord your God.’

5.3 The Lord had provided!←⤒🔗

After the first three feasts of the year (the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Firstfruits), the Israelites travelled back from Jerusalem to their homes. Back home they would work hard to harvest all the grain.

But they would also carefully count the days. After exactly seven weeks, they had to be back in Jerusalem for another feast.

In the Old Testament, this feast is called the Feast of Weeks, because it was celebrated seven weeks after the Feast of Firstfruits. In the New Testament, it is called Pentecost. Pentecost is a Greek word that means “fiftieth.” The feast is called this way because it was celebrated on the fiftieth day after the Feast of Firstfruits.

With the Feast of Firstfruits, God’s people had trusted that he would provide the harvests. Now with Pentecost, they looked at the harvests and saw that God had indeed provided. He had provided abundantly!

This is why there were so many offerings at this feast. For the Feast of Firstfruits, the burnt offering was one lamb. But for the Feast of Weeks, the burnt offering was seven lambs, a bull, and two rams!

With the Feast of Firstfruits, the Israelites had brought their first sheaf of grain to God. But now they brought two loaves of bread. This bread was also called “firstfruits” (Leviticus 23:20), because it was baked with the grain that God had just provided to his people.

With the Feast of Firstfruits, God’s people had trusted him to give them their bread for the year. Now faith had turned to sight. They had bread! They had food on their tables. What better way to thank God, than by bringing some of their first breads to his temple, for his priests to eat?

Thank God, as you see how he faithfully fulfils his promises. That is the message of the Feast of Weeks.

5.5 The greater harvest begins←⤒🔗

In Lesson 4 you saw that God’s kingdom is the “greater harvest” that he had always promised his people. By pouring out his Spirit, God began to fulfil that promise.

The Holy Spirit gave Jesus’ followers the power to be witnesses of Christ. On Pentecost day they shared the gospel with everyone around them. By the end of that day, more than 3,000 people were added to their number! This was truly an abundant harvest.

But Pentecost day was only the beginning. As Jesus had promised, the Holy Spirit helped his followers to spread the gospel “to the farthest parts of the earth.” Today there are millions of people who belong to God’s harvest, his kingdom. And the harvest is still growing, even in places where it looks impossible.

How faithful is our God! He never forgets a promise that he has made. In Christ and through his Spirit, he fulfils all of them. Let us do what the Israelites did, when they celebrated the Feast of Weeks. Let us thank God, as we see how he faithfully fulfils his promises.

5.6 Lives of thanksgiving←⤒🔗

It is true that we are still waiting for God’s kingdom to fully come. But through the Holy Spirit, we can already begin to enjoy the abundance of God’s kingdom (Ephesians 1:3). Therefore, every day should be “Pentecost day” for us. Our lives should be lives of thanksgiving!

You will remember that the Israelites brought two loaves of bread to God, to thank him for the harvest. This bread was normal bread (bread made with yeast). It was the food that they lived from, every day of their lives.

What does God want from you and me? He wants our normal, daily lives! As we read in Colossians 3:17, “whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” And in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.”

Let us thank God through the way that we live our lives every day. One special way of doing this is by sharing what God has given us. This is what the church did after Pentecost day (Acts 2:44-46). We also see this in Leviticus 23. The Israelites had to thank God by leaving some of their grain on the field, for poor people to pick up.

Above all, let us share the free gift of the gospel. Let us invite others into God’s great harvest