Month 4:25, Week 4:3 (Shelshi/Bikkurim), Year:Day 5936:114 AM
7 Sabbaths + Omer Count Day #47
Gregorian Calendar: Saturday 14 July 2012
Shavu'ot Preparations
The Right Place & A Right Heart
"Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high" (Luke 24:49, NKJV).
Shavu'ot or the Day of Pentecost is one of those 'short' one-day festivals that I admit I have never really made great preparations for in the past. Unlike the spring festivals which occupy a full eight days in virtual succession, and unlike the autumnal or fall festivals which are tightly squeezed together and preceeded by a traditionally long period of making teshuvah (repentance), the feast of Shavu'ot seems to come and go with great rapidity. But should that be so?
Having in recent times learned that Shavu'ot (Pentecost) is a summer rather than a late spring moed (appointment), I have started looking at this 'hinge' festival more closely and been wondering if we have done anything else wrong. But I realise that for many of you hearing the suggestion that Shavu'ot (Pentecost) has been taught wrong by both Messianism and Judaism may not sit comfortably so before I share my message with you today, may I ask those who are interested to know more, to first study the materials I have produced on this subject? I believe you will find them an eye-opener:
As we see from today's passage, the key to properly preparing for New Covenant Shavu'ot (Pentecost) is to ensure that we are:
- 1. In the right place ('Jerusalem', today wherever Yahweh has commanded us to live and assemble for worship);
- 2. At the right time (7 sabbaths + 50 days following Yom haBikkurim according to Yahweh's Creation Calendar) - not the Roman Gregorian Calendar and not the Talmudic Jewish lunar-crescent-based and sunset-based hybrid system); and
- 3. For the right reason (to renew Bethrothal Covenants and to receive a spiritual anointing directly from the Father Himself).
At the first of these anointings in 33 AD or thereabouts those first talmidim (disciples) gathered together were filled with the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) in consequence of which they were empowered to boldly preach the Besorah (Gospel) whereas before they had been timid, frightened and in hiding from the Judean authorities. This does not mean, as the vast bulk of Christendom (with perhaps the exception of Pentecostals and charismatics) teach, that this type of empowerment is over or that the gifts are associated with it are too. Neither does it mean that at every Shavu'ot (Pentecost) there should be an exact duplication of what happened in Jerusalam in terms of speaking foreign languages supernaturally - Yahweh did that because there were so many believers of foreign orgin there for whom hearing their own languages and dialects spoken by virtually illiterate fishermen would have been a major witness - or of tongues of fire visibly resting on people's heads. What it does and ought to mean is that Shavu'ot (Pentecost) is a time of renewal and spiritual equipping to meet the needs of both the area where believers are gathering and of the times. We definitely do gather to receive a 'refill', as it were, to enable us to witness and live victoriously in Messiah.
However, as this important festival teaches us, this in-filling is not given willy-nilly to anyone who claims to be a Christian or a Messianic. What Christendom calls 'Pentecost' has a context, and that context is what the first Shavu'ot was created for, and still is, namely, the establishment of a Covenant (in our case, the New Covenant, the Old Covenant having passed away) structured along the lines of a Ketubah or Bethrothal Contract.
What is the nature of that Contract? To be obedient to the Torah, which in the New Covenant is every mitzvah (commandment) given by Yahweh to Israel minus that which was fulfilled by Messiah Yah'shua (Christ Jesus), namely, the sacrificial system and the Levitical/Aaronic Priesthood system that formerly administered it. Read the Book of Hebrews for a full explanation. Today we operate under New Covenant Torah under the Melchizedek Priesthood, over which Yah'shua (Jesus) is our permanent Cohen Gadol (High Priest).
In a word, you have to be living in obedience to the mitzvot (commandments) as the betrothed Bride of Messiah in exactly the same way as the first talmidim (disciples) were. Therefore we must add a fourth and vitally important key to our list of three above, namely:
This means Yahweh's true talmidim (disciples) must cease all pagan observances like Christmas, Easter and also the sign of the Old Covenent, namely, circumcision. Additionally it means that talmidim (believers) must observe Yahweh's Health Code and abandon Jewish pagan practices such as wearing the kippa (skullcaps or yarmulkes), tallit (prayershawls), mezzuzah and phylacteries (wrist and forehead leather boxes). It means that men must wear tzitzit or tassels (but not according to Jewish customs) and women wear proper headcoverings (men are never to cover their heads in worship) to indicate, respectively, their submission to Yahweh and their husbands (when married) or fathers (when single). AlL OF THIS IS A PART OF THE NEW COVENANT!
One of the reasons there are so many false anointings and spirits in the pentecostal and charismatics movements is because they are antinomian (lawless) and why proper fuillings of the Ruach (Spirit) are absent from most of the Messianic Movement is because of all these false Talmudic traditions. If anyone is serious about having an authentic anointing and receiving a true Ruach-filling then it's high time they took all of the Scriptures seriously!
You don't enter the gate of Shavu'ot (Pentecost) by doing whatever you want. You can't pick and choose what you believe and reject. This is a betrothal covenant and if the allegorical wife does not subject herself to the rules of her Master, how can she expect to receive and experience a fullness of His ahavah (love)? Indeed, she is opening herself up for deception, trouble and an unsable marriage.
This is how we must prepare for Shavu'ot (Pentecost). If we refuse, then we can expect more of the same plague of false spirits, false teachings and lack of unity leading to schism. Shavu'ot (Pentecost) is the fourth of the Seven Pools and if we don't get that right, how can we expect to come to the fullness?
Shavu'ot (Pentecost) is what you do with the New Birth - it's the fruits-of-salvation part of the Besorah (Gospel), the evidence of your being owned by Messiah revealed in your works of obedience, confirming that your emunah (faith) is alive or dead or something inbetween (Jas.2:18,20,26). If you've been celebrating Shavu'ot (Pentecost) at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons, in the wrong place and in a spirit of disobedience that puts your Husband to shame, now is your opportunity to repent and enjoy Yahweh's spiritual anointing that is promised on this day for the faithful.
Please join with us in preparing for the authentic Shavu'ot (Pentecost). If you're not sure of the date, then please check our Dynamic Creation Calendar!
Continued in Part 2
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